RaysUp Tampa Bay Rays - MLB Opening Week Review of Blue Jays & Rangers

MLB, Tampa Bay Rays, 227, RaysUp Opening Week with Mat Germain

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to BaseballBiz on Deck. I am Mark Corbett and with me is Mr. Mat Germain for yet another Rays Up edition of BaseballBiz on Deck. How you doing today, Mat? I

[00:00:17] Mat Germain: 'm having a lot of fun watching all the action in the, in the league. And, uh, it's hard to keep up with all the news pouring in to be quite honest.

[00:00:26] Mat Germain: So I've been, uh, going blind watching the X speed coming through. 

[00:00:31] Mark Corbett: Oh my gosh. You know, here we are, buddy. We've, we've just made it through opening week of what? Seven games for the Rays, seven games straight out and a lot of other ones as well. And. Expectations, some met, some not, and well, yeah, I mean, let's face it, I don't think you or I, either one, for instance, probably thought we'd see, oh, the Yankees doing quite as well as they did.

[00:00:57] Mark Corbett: Thus far. Yeah, geez, my knees. And you know, it just almost hurts my soul. What can I say? It almost hurts my soul and when I see them do so well, but let's see now. Oh, yeah. And they were in Houston, right? They defeated Houston straightaway in Houston and that itself was something. 

[00:01:21] Mat Germain: Yeah, you know, it's tough to see as a race fan, but, uh, uh, you have to tip your hat to the teams when they do well, and you have to, you know, be humble at the same time.

[00:01:30] Mat Germain: So, um, it's nice to see, uh, teams being competitive. And I think it was, uh, you know, interesting to watch both those teams go at it. And, uh. And kind of give us a glimpse of what they may be up to this year. 

[00:01:47] Mark Corbett: And then they faced the Diamondbacks and they've, they won those games. That wasn't really a, a surprise to see the Diamondbacks.

[00:01:54] Mark Corbett: Only the Diamondbacks took one of the three, didn't they? Yeah, that's right. So that's the one loss I think they have to date. If we look across the rest of the A East, we see that the Red Sox have a five to two record and. They, I don't think they had quite the challenge of facing the Astros or some other ones.

[00:02:14] Mark Corbett: So he would see, Oh, well, what was that? What was that? Like, let's see. No, no. Cause they, they started out with the Mariners and then the, the athletics. So it wasn't like the hardest sell in the world. You know, the Orioles, Orioles are three and two now. So their winning percentage is at 600. And I think again, we, what can you judge in a week?

[00:02:39] Mark Corbett: Uh, the blue Jays are three and three and we are now three. And that's not right. Three and four. Yeah. Three wins, four losses. Ooh. Yep. People. Can you believe it? We're in a losing season thus far. Scary stuff. 

[00:02:55] Mat Germain: Yeah, I think, you know, we we kind of got spoiled last year. Uh, all of us Raysd fans did where we kind of got a cushy lead and got to kind of cruise through the rest of the season.

[00:03:05] Mat Germain: And then we knew that wasn't going to be the case every year. Uh, so if you're hovering around 500 in April, it's fine. Uh, if, as we saw with the D backs and the Texas Rangers last year, I think it's Momentum going into the playoffs is way more important than your April record. 

[00:03:23] Mark Corbett: Well, absolutely. And I mean, I'm looking at here, what, seven games, seven days with the three wins, four losses.

[00:03:29] Mark Corbett: I mean, we, we were playing formidable opponents. The Toronto blue Jays are just amazing to watch and to play against. And we were playing the world series champions, the Rangers. And you know. It was, it was kind of tough. I mean, they, they hurt us, uh, at the beginning of the postseason last year. And it's still a strong team.

[00:03:46] Mark Corbett: The, the Boschies really got managing with and Meg, we'll see probably more great things come from them throughout the year. This past week, there was a lot else going on as well. I was looking at the, let's see, what was it? The, the April 1st, Boston's Taylor Hawk, he, he, uh, struck out 10. Yeah, he struck out 10 folks and six innings, and that was Boston defeating Oakland nine to zero again.

[00:04:14] Mark Corbett: Sorry, uh, Houston is for losing four games. The Yankees at home came back on April 1st trounce in the blue Jays tend to zip. And Oakland, it's just sad. I mean, the story with them, how that's been, they, they've had, let's look in here. And this is from probably 2 days ago. So the numbers are probably even more grave than I'm reading here.

[00:04:37] Mark Corbett: Let's see, they became their first team in 7 years to commit at least 5 errors in the first 3 innings of a game. Jeez. I mean, this, this is not the sort of thing you want to see for your team. Let's oh, let's go to Houston again, Ronald Blanco with the Astros in their fifth game. I think it's his eighth career game.

[00:04:59] Mark Corbett: Had a no hitter, man. And it was against the Toronto blue Jays. So after getting her butt kicked pretty harshly by the Yankees at home, they decided to step up and feed it to the Toronto blue Jays. And that's, that's fantastic. I love to see a young pitcher like that, be able to have a career high. 

[00:05:18] Mat Germain: He was impressive.

[00:05:21] Mat Germain: I saw some of the highlights. I didn't watch the game, but, uh, yeah, it definitely looks like he's going to be a, you know, uh, somebody to watch for the rest of the season as to how well he can pile it on. 

[00:05:33] Mark Corbett: Since this is a Rays Up edition, let's come back to the Tampa Bay Rays in, in the, this opening week.

[00:05:39] Mark Corbett: Look, what were the, I'm going to start. With something you said, and you know, I was shaking my head last week, he said, Mark, I think we're going to take 2 of the 4 with the blue Jason. I was like, oh, come on, Mat, you know, we'll do better than that. Maybe we just. We'll only give up one, but your prophecy came true, my 

[00:05:58] Mat Germain: friend.

[00:05:59] Mat Germain: Yeah. I even had the games they were going to lose. Right. And, and to be quite honest, like the one that stung more was how we lost the fourth game. Um, it was just a bad strategy from the get go. We knew what was to be expected. And, and the same day I was watching Jacob Lopez dealing against the Norfolk Tides in AAA.

[00:06:20] Mat Germain: And I, all I could imagine was why isn't Jacob Lopez in this game and why didn't they start with Tyler Alexander? Why did he have to come in and relief? And why did they go with Sean Armstrong when he gets lit up every time by the Blue Jays? Every time! His record is terrible against Blue Jays hitters, like horrid.

[00:06:40] Mat Germain: There is no need to go there. At all, they can Rays that a well rested pen. They could have used, you know, a litany of other guys, uh, or tried to get Alexander to go as deep as he can from the get go, like, there's nothing wrong with that. If you're going to prophesize that he's going to be, you know, used in, uh, in as a starter for now, then use them as a starter.

[00:07:03] Mat Germain: Don't mess around, you know, so, uh, I don't know. It was frustrating. But yeah, the prophecy came true. And I had a feeling that the Rays, especially with the litany of guys they have coming in that they have to sort of work through and get, you know, the kinks out of and, and, uh, I knew Zac Efflin kind of didn't have the strongest of springs.

[00:07:22] Mat Germain: He was still sharpening his tools when, uh, when we came out of spring. So I said, yeah, he might have a bit of a tough time. Kevin Cash did leave him in too long. And I can't believe he didn't have anybody warming up. When, when he was going through the sixth inning, uh, it's his first start of the year. You should always have somebody warming up in the sixth.

[00:07:40] Mat Germain: Like that's just should be expected. Uh, it's very rare. You'll have guys going deep, especially against the lineup that wears people down like the Jays do. Um, so I don't know. It was a little bit frustrating to be right, but yeah, it was okay. It was a good series. 

[00:07:56] Mark Corbett: Well, one of our fans referred to you as Mr.

[00:07:59] Mark Corbett: Wizard, and I'd have to say they're right, brother. But it's, yeah, it was hard to watch, but it was true, and, you know, you think of the criticism Kevin Cash got a while back about, oh, pulling people too early. And it seems like maybe he underreacted this time around. 

[00:08:16] Mat Germain: Well, they seem to be using a different philosophy this year.

[00:08:19] Mat Germain: They, they want, no Mater what, to let the guys go six. And like, today is another example where Aaron Savali could have been pulled after the fifth, just to say, you know what, you did your part. Now it's time to hand it over to the pen. They, the reason, like for years worked on a 50 50 kind of ratio between the pen and the starters.

[00:08:39] Mat Germain: Um, so even going five is still taking up a little bit more than 50%, right? And early in the year, I almost expect that to expect them to go three times through the lineup, you know, especially our lineup like Texas has, uh, is it's quite a feat. So the fact that he only allowed one run is, is pretty incredible.

[00:08:58] Mat Germain: And The most encouraging thing that's happened so far this year is Aaron Savali. I think he's earning some fans. He's gone through two, you know, impressive teams and, uh, and it looks like everything is looking up for him, um, for, for this year. And that's, that's great. Music to the ears of the Rays. If Ryan Pepeo can get on that same track, then they have those three strong guys.

[00:09:22] Mat Germain: They can lean on along with elite status. Zach Littell. How was it? 

[00:09:28] Mark Corbett: That's absolutely correct. I want to see more of that as well. Uh, you know, somebody who shines for me, not, not a pitcher, but Caballero. My. Gosh, he has been exciting to watch. The commitment that young man has, it reminds me in some ways of first time I saw Rosarina.

[00:09:49] Mark Corbett: Uh, but maybe without a, with a little less pop, uh, not pop, but pomp. But he, he, uh, that incident he had the other day, you know, we still in third probably shouldn't have, and with the Blue Jays. And it was a Genesis is correct. Can't say Cabrera, the pitcher for the blue Jays. He came back and pushed Caballero in the face.

[00:10:13] Mark Corbett: And I was like, dude, come on. And even Caballero was like, what, what, what he wasn't cursing. He wasn't trying to, to take some kind of active physical role against Cabrera. 

[00:10:24] Mat Germain: Honestly, though, Mark, like, you've seen a lot of these plays at third base, when the guy comes around, he gets, you know, tagged out. Why is the pitcher going up to the base in that moment?

[00:10:34] Mat Germain: There's no reason for him to walk up to the base. If anything, most of them end up walking off the field because it's a third out. You know, it's over. So there's no need for Cabrera to be there to begin with the fact that he stepped into the base because he was a good five feet away, backing it up before he's the one that instigated the whole thing.

[00:10:53] Mat Germain: And that's why he's getting the suspension. It's not just that it's because he literally had a, premeditated, uh, agenda when he walked up to the base. And, and the fact that Caballero got, got, uh, thrown out, I'm fine with it because what he was doing was forcing the, the perfect reaction from the guy mishandling the ball, uh, over on the first base side.

[00:11:14] Mat Germain: So he was expecting them to make a perfect throw. They made the nice throw, so he was tagged out. But more often than not, what we see in those plays is that guys throw the ball away again, and then the guy scores, right? And then he's the hero. So. The run had already scored, so it wasn't as big of a penalty for that play, but Cabrera, I mean, it's so early in the season, and it's not like Caballero did anything to him.

[00:11:39] Mat Germain: You know, he seemed, I love the reaction that Caballero had. It was completely on par with Ray's style baseball, where it was just like, what? I'm not, I'm just playing the ball, the game hard. Whoa, what's your problem? Ha ha 

[00:11:52] Mark Corbett: ha. Yeah, no, I thought it was appropriate response, you know, and I, I was like, I think too, like yourself, sure.

[00:12:00] Mark Corbett: Okay. Back up your gown third. Go ahead. Okay. He he's tagged him. He's out and you're still advancing toward third. What's what's what gives bud? Come on. Really? It's like he was too ashamed of having a bunt making that much impact on the field, that much movement. And he wasn't controlling it. And I think that's what it was.

[00:12:21] Mark Corbett: I think he was just probably ticked with himself more than anything. 

[00:12:24] Mat Germain: I'll take it another step further. The next time to Rays face, the Jays, if Cabrera is on the mound, I'm bunting. Apparently that's what got under his skin. He was like, I threw a nice pitch and you just bunted it for, you know, and that seemed to really get under his skin.

[00:12:42] Mat Germain: Like it was an insult. So, 

[00:12:43] Mark Corbett: yeah. 

[00:12:44] Mat Germain: I, uh, yeah, I don't know. There's nothing that came out of it overall. I think both managers handled it very well. That was a, you know, mature kind of result instead of the usual when we deal with the Yankees, you know, rhetoric between the two or something more aggressive. So it's nice to see level heads came, uh, came out of it.

[00:13:05] Mat Germain: And it was, didn't go any further than that in a series. 

[00:13:08] Mark Corbett: But Caballero overall, man, are you pleased with what you're seeing with him out there on the field? Love it. 

[00:13:13] Mat Germain: So when, when a trade first happened, so I happen to have watched a lot of late, uh, Seattle Mariners games and I was, um, I, I, I loved Caballero's play over there.

[00:13:25] Mat Germain: So I couldn't believe I would have kept him. and dealt J. P. Crawford. Like, I don't understand why the Mariners always seem to empty the excess infielders that they have. They always do. And it's a flaw of theirs, because first of all, guys get hurt. And second of all, like, they're, that's where you end up getting the most value out of players, because you can easily shift them out to the outfield.

[00:13:48] Mat Germain: So, There's a couple of defensive plays where he seems like he's speeding things up too much, and he's trying to, he's a little bit ahead of himself, but overall, the energy, the speed, the tenacity, the at bats, everything has been really, really, really solid, and it's promising, because they're going to need him to be there.

[00:14:10] Mat Germain: probably at least through June. And then what I like is that, you know, his, his utility kind of ability should translate really well to what the Rays need at that point. Um, whether or not he's able to do a lot of damage against right handers, we'll know that by then, and then they can decide what they want to do with them.

[00:14:30] Mat Germain: So I think it's great to have the options and, and to have brought him aboard way more value than what Luke really would have had, although we do need a left handed bat now more than anything. 

[00:14:41] Mark Corbett: Well, and that's a good point you made also about Seattle, not I guess paying enough attention to the depth of their infield.

[00:14:48] Mark Corbett: God knows. I'm glad that the Rays have because Jonathan Aranda, Josh Lowe, Brandon Lau. And I just go down this list and I'm shaking my head and I'm thinking, Oh my, what are we going to do? But folks that you've been talking about for a couple of years, I mean, whether it be junior, whether it be junior or Curtis are, you know, Jonathan Aranda, they've all come up and thank goodness we've had those guys there and others that we brought on because heaven knows we needed a man with all these injuries.

[00:15:20] Mat Germain: Yeah, and I think sometimes race fans forget how many infielders we dealt away. So right now you've got Miles Mastroboni and, uh, with the Cubs. You've got Alika Williams with the Pirates. You've got Brett Wisely with the San Francisco Giants. You've got Vidal Brouhon and Tristan Gray with the Miami Marlins.

[00:15:39] Mat Germain: So overall, they've been spreading the wealth when it comes to infielders as well. They're not hogging it all for themselves. So I think that's interesting in itself as well. They've had so much excess of higher caliber players and they, they refuse to just sit with those guys. And instead they went out and got Jose Caballero because they thought he had a higher ceiling and more impact than those guys would have had in their right.

[00:16:04] Mat Germain: Um, you can see it with the play so far. 

[00:16:07] Mark Corbett: You know, and it has to make for a hungry atmosphere, very competitive atmosphere for those young guys coming up, you know, through the farm system with the race, because they want to be able to stay there. They don't be, they don't want to be sent down to Durham. You know, they want to be here and at the trop.

[00:16:24] Mark Corbett: I mean, I get that. And I think, you know, you're probably going to get better performance for him. I hate to say that it's a bit of a squeeze, but I think that probably does draw even more of a competitive nature out of each one of those players. Transcribed 

[00:16:38] Mat Germain: Absolutely. You play on the winning team or a competitive team, and you definitely want to be one of those guys that adds to that.

[00:16:44] Mat Germain: And that, you know, chips in. So, uh, I think there's a, there's a lot of interest that around the league and players wanting to play for Tampa. And that's very interesting in itself. 

[00:16:57] Mark Corbett: Let's take a peek here, my friend, let's jump back out to the MLB for a few moments to looking at some of the other pieces where we're talking about some activities going on one note.

[00:17:07] Mark Corbett: I meant to mention earlier was Bryce Harper. He had, let's see, he had been old for 11 in his first 4 games of the season. And then the other night he had 3 home runs against the Reds and sits in daddy. So that must have been exciting night for him. Yeah. Whenever 

[00:17:24] Mat Germain: I watch Bryce Harper have success. I'm always wondering why Mike Trout didn't join the Phillies when he was a free agent.

[00:17:31] Mat Germain: Why would you stay with the Angels franchise, which is so, I mean, they're doing well early this year to be quite honest, like they're, they're actually getting some wins, but I don't see it lasting, you know, through the year. Um, I, I just think, you know, with the Phillies, he would have been a lot of fun to watch hitting behind Bryce Harper.

[00:17:51] Mark Corbett: Yeah, it just doesn't seem right. He's still there, you know, Oh, Tony was there, he was there and nothing really happened to the extent you thought it would and I wish he went elsewhere. Also, here's an interesting thing, though, getting back to the race, they, they're, they got a day off and then they're off to the Rockies.

[00:18:14] Mark Corbett: Then to the angels. Now the Rockies, there's an elevation level that things are done a little different there than just about any other ballpark. They actually put their balls in a humidifier. Our humidor, excuse me, humidor, like, like the cigars and have to keep them at a certain level because what's always interesting to me and you hear it from some of the pitchers, they talk about their spin rate.

[00:18:39] Mark Corbett: They can, they can not expect to have the same spin rate there. Uh, they, the ball doesn't drop as deep. Uh, they, I think more home runs can be hit there both because the size of the park and the air. I'm curious to see, we see in race performance when they go out there. 

[00:18:57] Mat Germain: Yeah, the first guy they're going to see from the Rockies is Austin Gombert and he can, you know, he can throw, um, but he, he hasn't really put it all together yet.

[00:19:07] Mat Germain: So, and part of it might be because of where he pitches. Um, but. With the Rays having a right handed heavy lineup, they should do some fairly good damage against Austin in the first game, and then the two other ones are guys they've never seen before. So whenever you see a new pitcher, it's always hit miss in terms of, uh, How the guys will be able to see, you know, the pitches they're throwing and with the elevation that you mentioned, it's possible to Rays have a bit of a hard time, you know, lining them up.

[00:19:38] Mat Germain: Um, but I think they should have a decent series overall. Um, the trickiest part is for the pictures. So the Rays, thankfully, you'll have some pretty good, uh, you know. Pitchers lined up, so they'll have Zach LaTelle, which, you know, that's just going to elevate his stuff, I think. And then Tyler Alexander, I don't know how they're going to use them, whether or not they're going to have somebody else start from, or, um, you know, maybe, maybe they will make a change at some point.

[00:20:07] Mat Germain: There's, uh, uh, Ryan Pepiot. Ryan Pepiot at Elevation, like, I would think his stuff would play up, but it might also flatten out some of the stuff. So, um, we'll see how it goes. I think he has something to prove. Like he pitched way better than the record showed in the, in his game. Um, and I think he was also left in a little bit too long.

[00:20:28] Mat Germain: I think he figured some stuff out. He got the jitters out and now that that's done, I'm expecting big things from him, you know, from now on, basically, 

[00:20:38] Mark Corbett: well, and he knows when the first time he took that bound. People are going to say, well, why isn't that glass now shouldn't glass now be there is, is this guy going to be better than glass now?

[00:20:47] Mark Corbett: I could just hear the rumblings, you know, from fans out there when Pepeo didn't do as well as everybody had hoped in that first outing. I'm sure he did feel a little bit of the pressure. Fans, you're going to have to be a little bit more patient with this guy. So it's 

[00:21:02] Mat Germain: absolutely from the second inning on, you could see it was just a completely different picture.

[00:21:08] Mat Germain: And so you have to give him a little bit of leeway. And I think the stuff proved to, to work effectively. It was just a Mater of commanding it. And once he got that sorted out, it was fine. He's going to be in my eyes, once they, they finished the product, he's going to be like Zach Eflin with more velocity.

[00:21:30] Mat Germain: Basically, that's that's what we're getting. And then they should be very excited about that because that is a heck of a picture. And if you have a healthy Tosh Bradley combined with the group that we have right now, uh, the 4 guys and how they're pitching, that's an elite rotation, um, because I have high hopes for for Tosh Bradley this year.

[00:21:52] Mat Germain: I still believe, and I know we haven't talked about it yet, but Shane Boz had a, um, a setback with his oblique. Um, so I think there's a possibility the Rays will make a move and what will end up happening is Shane Boz will go to the 60 day aisle. Um, so the The sad part of that is that it pushes everything back in terms of expectations, you know, of when guys will return and how long you need to fill that spot.

[00:22:19] Mat Germain: But in truth, I still think that the best course of action for Shane Boz is to bring him back in relief, uh, get him multi, multi innings in there, you know, two, three innings at a time, uh, build them up over the year. And then next year, look back at the, at a potential starting role, if he's good to go. 

[00:22:36] Mark Corbett: Yeah, I really hope he gets better soon.

[00:22:38] Mark Corbett: You keep hearing these injuries with this young man and I wish I should have dug it out. Tim Bassett was talking about it. Maybe it was even before opening day about injuries and how he has to do things a little differently, trying to make sure he doesn't have another injury. And he was talking about the amount of time and number of pitches that teams expect their pitchers to be able to perform out there and still say, still say.

[00:23:02] Mark Corbett: Can't speak still stay healthy and it's like, no, you know, it's, it's not going to happen. Uh, there was a, there was an athletic trainer a couple of years ago I spoke with and I'm not going to name him because I just thought it was wrong. And this particular person was saying, yes, well, this is just part of the game.

[00:23:22] Mark Corbett: And so, well, what, what can you do as somebody who's trying to help them manage their health? Well, you just realize these things are going to happen. And I'm thinking, well, that doesn't necessarily have to be, and I'm looking at what you're talking about earlier when the Rays are taking a starter, having him play for five innings and then bring in someone else.

[00:23:45] Mark Corbett: I think, I think that is a realistic approach to baseball without farming pitchers as much as we've had in the past. 

[00:23:53] Mat Germain: I think we need to look to Japan and also to, um, uh, well, what we do in the minors right now, so we don't need to have baseball on Mondays. And I know that's going to be controversial, but we don't.

[00:24:06] Mat Germain: And we need more marketing time in Major League Baseball, because right now it's such a marathon and it's such a, uh, Uh, no chance to take a deep breath kind of sport that the American public has a hard time digesting what's happened and knowing where things are headed afterwards and getting that kind of anticipation built.

[00:24:26] Mat Germain: So, to me, that where baseball needs to go is to a 6 man rotation on most teams and where you have a designated guy for a day. So, Tyroglass, that would be your Sunday starter, you know, whatever it may be, um, and that can obviously change when it needs to. To me the key to keeping guys healthier and it's ridiculous the amount of injuries that we have pitching wise, um, is and the careers that are being shortened as a result, right?

[00:24:53] Mat Germain: Um, is to have the six day and so if you have extra velocity that you're asking from them, then they need to have that extra rest. Basically, and we we have to stop thinking of pictures with 20 wins being glorified. It's wins are a team statistic. They are not a pitching statistic. There are a million things that happen on a baseball field other than the guy throwing the ball.

[00:25:17] Mat Germain: that need to happen. So the win goes to the team. It does not go to the pitcher, in my opinion. So get rid of that. Get rid of the mindset of guys making 32 starts in a year, which is ridiculous when you're asking them to throw the velocity that they're throwing. Go to a six man rotation. Take Mondays off.

[00:25:33] Mat Germain: Get And guys should be healthier as a result. And now you're also simplifying the travel arrangements that you have to make as a result as well. Uh, so I just think it's a win, win, win situation for baseball now to do that. And I've done the math on it, you know, especially if you don't want to start the season too ridiculously early and ended too ridiculously late.

[00:25:55] Mat Germain: Um, you're probably going to have to shorten the season to about 150 to 155 games. And I know Anthony Randone took a lot of flack for, for mentioning as much. So I'm not thrilled about that. And if there's a way to stop it from happening, great. I'm all for it. But, uh, if it, if it means that we're going to get the healthiest pitching and, and, and, uh, elite guys to stay on the field longer, like right now, how old is Shane McClanahan and, and he's already had two surgeries, so how long is he going to keep pitching, you know?

[00:26:30] Mat Germain: Uh, Nate Eovaldi is an example of a guy that reinvented himself to try to stay healthy after those two surgeries. So it's possible, but there's no guarantees with it. You could just as easily end up, uh, you know, being a third surgery guy like, uh, like Drew Rasmussen. And then your whole career is kind of, you know, teeter tottering.

[00:26:47] Mat Germain: Um, so I just think it's something that baseball is aiming. Towards and that's why they've put it into minors. That's how the minors work. And they're kind of testing it out and seeing it and just the travel arrangements alone would save them like so much money if they could actually make it six games all to one team at a time.

[00:27:08] Mat Germain: You know, like, imagine you pay you, you play, uh, A home and home series with the Yankees, right? Where you, you know, the first series is six games in New York, and the next series is six games in Tampa, right? Or St. Pete. So, it would be kind of intriguing to see. It would simplify a lot of things and force the players to actually, uh, see the entire rotation, which would be six men in that case, instead of having to jump around the way they do now.

[00:27:40] Mat Germain: I don't know how they would be digested by the players. The MLBPA would probably have a lot to say about it. And, and, but I think, you know, for a good portion of them, the same guys that are saying, Oh, uh, you know, he left me in there for too long, uh, would probably be fine with, with having the extra rest so that they can actually go deeper in the games, which is something else baseball is trying to solve.

[00:28:06] Mat Germain: And this might do it. 

[00:28:08] Mark Corbett: That's a very good point. And you talk about Nate Eovaldi and some of the other folks about Nate Eovaldi. And for what today he pitched 102 pitches in seven innings. Now I trust Nate Eovaldi is going to take care of his body. He's had some trouble in the past and a recent interview. He was saying he's learned from each time he's had to go out and have surgery about what he can and can't do, but that's him.

[00:28:38] Mark Corbett: You know, he's he is ultra unique and one other thing too. I want to give you credit. You called me out last week You You caught Mat. Yes, Mat. You caught me out. He said mark Winning is not the statistic you should use with pitchers. Cause I was saying, well, Jose Barrios with Toronto Blue Jays, he's had X number of losses and only a few wins.

[00:29:02] Mark Corbett: And you're right. I mean, the thing of it is, as you said, if they don't have anybody backing them up, you know, what difference does it make if, I mean, if, if they don't have anybody offensively backing them up, if they don't have anybody putting the ball into play for their, with their own team, it's not really going to Mater how great they are.

[00:29:23] Mat Germain: There's so many things wrong with WINS and ERA as statistics that I think we need to, I don't want to say eliminate them, you just have to look at them in front and then dig in deeper behind them. Because there's usually, so you can take an ERA for example and look at FIP, And and see whether or not it was the team that was costing him runs or whether or not it was his own doing.

[00:29:46] Mat Germain: Right? So, for example, if I'm a pitcher and I'm pitching in the 4th inning and my manager loses patience with me and takes me out of the game with 2 runners on and the next guy comes in and he doesn't get the out that I would have gotten then. I'm charged with those runs when it really wasn't me doing the work, you know, to get the, to earn quote unquote, those runs.

[00:30:07] Mat Germain: If somebody makes an error and forces me to throw extra pitches in an inning that now I'm tired, I'm laboring. And so my performance is lacking because of the team behind me, then that has an impact on everything else. And it's the same thing with wins. I think from the get go, I don't understand still why we're assigning wins to a pitcher.

[00:30:25] Mat Germain: So you've got Nine guys on the field, however many end up pinch hitting or coming in later in the game, you've got relievers, you've got managers, you've got all those things happening, millions of different things, you know, little things you got to think about and do. Including the catcher calling the game most times, and you're giving the win to one guy that's on the mat.

[00:30:43] Mat Germain: Why? The whole team was part of this, you know, nine inning event, ten inning event, whatever it ends up being. So why was it ever assigned to the pitcher to begin with? I don't understand it. It's a foreign concept to me. It's a team sport. It's a team effort. The team gets the win. I don't go to a hockey game and assign the win to the goaltender.

[00:31:05] Mat Germain: Right. That's just it gets to the team. Exactly. Just, I don't know. 

[00:31:11] Mark Corbett: Well, you know, here's the thing too about that, man. I would need to get an agent on here to tell me when they're negotiating a contract for a pitcher, there's usually incentives and in some of those incentives, maybe they can affect and some of them they can't.

[00:31:26] Mark Corbett: I mean, right. If, if you're only allowed to play so many innings because the manager pulls you out, and that's one of the statistics as far as what you're going to get a bump, maybe for, uh, additional money for playing that year, or if they're measuring something like wins, like you said, that's not really always in their control.

[00:31:45] Mark Corbett: It's the economy of. I should say the economics of the game. We got to get some more people on here talking about that, because whether we're talking about taking a season down to 150 games and how that could save money, whether through travel, whether that could save health on players, uh, there's, there's gotta be an economy center.

[00:32:06] Mark Corbett: Somebody doing Freakonomics on baseball. Hey, anybody out there give us a buzz. You got Mat, you can find him on Twitter at Freakonomics. Mat, M A T underscore Jermaine G E R M A I N underscore, or you can find me, Mark, at TheBaseballBiz. But man, you know, there's, there's got to be somebody out there. I've got to reach out to some of these sports business schools and maybe get a little bit more information on it because that's, that's a real bugaboo for me too, thinking, how can, what do you have for incentives and how much can a player actually control?

[00:32:38] Mark Corbett: If 

[00:32:38] Mat Germain: I'm a GM or of a team, what I'm pushing are the statistics that I care about. So I'm making those the incentive. So, for example, if I have, uh, I'm signing Shane McClanahan to an extension for, you know, just for, I think, I know he signed a minor one recently with the Rays, but let's say I'm looking at a 5 year deal, uh, I would tell him if you achieve this, You know, FIP, Fielder Independent, uh, Statistic, I will give you a bonus of X.

[00:33:10] Mat Germain: I will never base it on ERA because ERA has too many factors based into it. You know, he could end up, um, throwing however many innings because Kevin Cash keeps pulling him really early and end up with a 1. 5 ERA, but really his FIP or 3. 9 and I'm not really getting the value, you know what I mean? So if I'm a GM, I'm concentrating on the stats.

[00:33:33] Mat Germain: I'm trying to push those as the incentives. I don't know how the players would receive it, but I'm just playing devil's advocate in terms of, you know, the teams also should be looking at those incentives and what they mean and how there was a reliever one year. I can't remember who it was. It might have been.

[00:33:51] Mat Germain: It wasn't Trevor Richards. It was somebody else that had like called Colin Pache had 11 or 13 wins. Something like that. Um, with the race, right? Like if you had put incentives for him for wins, you know, for a reliever, you'd be stuck with that many wins. And it's ridiculous how we assign wins to relievers on top of it.

[00:34:10] Mat Germain: Right? Um, Anyways, I just think that it's, the business of baseball is a little ridiculous and how antiquated it is in the arbitrations and in the incentives programs. Like, we need to update it all basically. Uh, and, and I think that'll come over time. 

[00:34:29] Mark Corbett: Well, we've got our work cut out for us, man, because I, uh, man, I really do see, uh, there's, there's so many things and looking from the baseball biz business perspective, things I want to make sure we educate people out there with, and not going to do it in this episode with the Rays Up focus, but there is a lot to whether you're using FIP as a measurement, you know, what are some of these managers using it, or excuse me, what are some of these GMs using and what are some, something that the players manager is able to, uh, Get an arbitration with, um, in the, to go real deep into the weeds, you can even go into looking at the MLBPA and, you know, looking at the last CBA, you had a membership who was ready to accept the contract, but the leaders who were actually working there and sitting across the table, those players weren't, but they were also the players.

[00:35:19] Mark Corbett: Who are making the most money and many under scott boris's, you know, control if you might say It's it's a strange beast baseball, you know, I mean, it's it's great What we see on the field are able to enjoy that But if you go back in those dark little smoky rooms with the cigars being lit up, it's not going to be It's different than anything we can imagine when we're watching the game on the field.

[00:35:44] Mat Germain: It's true. And, and, uh, I think baseball also still has, you know, I want to say, I don't know any of the owners personally. I haven't talked to any of the owners, but just like any corporation out there, there's good ones, there's bad ones. Quote unquote bad ones. There's there's personalities. There's a lot of personality with a lot of interests that differ through the whole hierarchy and it's their game like as much as we want to say the fans own baseball really they're they're the ones who own the teams and who have the the the um capability of changing the game over time right and I think Generally, they've gotten some things right recently, and I give them, you know, um, a lot of kudos for that.

[00:36:33] Mat Germain: They've brought running back into the game. Game some way somehow, um, that are kind of forcing things a little bit in certain ways, like with the shifting and yet yet yet, uh, but I think it's working out well. And the pushback hasn't been too big. The clocks have been a great thing. So. I think the economics of it is, is the last thing we have to look at.

[00:36:55] Mat Germain: But we have to remember that technologically, um, how we digest baseball is, is kind of going through the biggest, uh, changeover from what used to be cable and cable packages and everything else to reinventing itself and trying to come up with the best version of whatever that is. Um, so we're kind of like in the middle, you Yeah, I don't know.

[00:37:18] Mat Germain: Let's say the last quarter of that, uh, transition. So I don't know if it'll go completely to MLB control or if it'll go to, um, uh, more Amazon slash Apple slash whoever else and just selling it in pieces like that. But I think the NFL is a good example of how you can do both and still end up with a winning product in both cases.

[00:37:42] Mat Germain: So, yeah, it's 

[00:37:44] Mark Corbett: interesting. Well, let's talk about your opening day experience, because man, all I can hear is Buck Martinez's voice just getting real nasal. Tell, tell folks what you did so you could actually watch opening day of the race. 

[00:38:01] Mat Germain: I will actually put on the Rays broadcast on the radio and turn down the volume because I have to, I'm blacked out basically because I'm in Canada.

[00:38:13] Mat Germain: So I'm forced to use Sportsnet as a, as the way that I view the game. So I had that on, but with the volume completely turned down, not only because the voice, the pitch, but more because of how the, the, uh, it's not as bad as the Yankees, right? You watch the Yankees and it's so crazy that you can't really, you can't really stand to watch it.

[00:38:38] Mat Germain: Um, I think it, it's almost antagonistic the way that they talk about the Yankees compared to everybody else. So the Jays are not to that level, but they're kind of close. So I, I enjoy watching, I don't know why, but I've gotten really, really used to, uh, to the Rays broadcasters and enjoy them quite a bit.

[00:39:00] Mat Germain: I love Tricia. And so to me, it makes more sense to listen to the broadcast of the Rays instead. 

[00:39:07] Mark Corbett: Wow. There's a great endorsement right there. So hey, ballet sports, we'll take the check. Go ahead and send it our way. 

[00:39:15] Mat Germain: Oh man. Sponsorships. There we go. Now we're talking. 

[00:39:20] Mark Corbett: No, but I'm with you. I know it's, um, I think it's interesting cause I was looking at the promotion cause I did, I signed up for both MLB dot TV and Valley sports and I think Valley sports said they, Cover 1 153 or 159 games, and I thought, that's today's world.

[00:39:40] Mark Corbett: That's pretty good. Yeah, you, if you told me that 10 years ago, I'd say I need all 162 of 'em to take on it. But with all the streaming services and all the other things, that ain't a bad number. 

[00:39:51] Mat Germain: Yeah, the frustrating part is when I do MLB TV as well. And, uh, because of that, I'm never blacked out with the race and other than when they play the Jays.

[00:40:00] Mat Germain: So, to me, that's kind of a great angle to it, except for they always black us out for the playoffs. Um, and so I always get a refund at the end of the year. Here for 30 bucks, but I have to write the letter yet and go through the process, but, uh, it's just so ridiculous. Like if you pay for a package, you should get the whole year, including the playoffs.

[00:40:23] Mat Germain: It doesn't make any sense. 

[00:40:25] Mark Corbett: I want to see the whole movie gas. Come on. Don't, don't kick me out the last 10 minutes. I want to know what's going on. That's crazy. Jeez. Oh boy. Well, I'm glad we got baseball back. I know it's the first week and. It's going to be exciting when we've had, we were playing a couple of really great teams between Toronto and the Rangers.

[00:40:45] Mark Corbett: And it was exciting baseball. I mean, you look at who's out there, you know, your competition and some really great players to be facing. Yes. 

[00:40:55] Mat Germain: It's so exciting right now that we just saw one white Langford, I watch him play at the end and the way that he stands at the plate and how hard he plays. And you almost get the sense that he's going to be a Hall of Famer by the time it's done because it just looks so natural to him that he just.

[00:41:14] Mat Germain: There's something that exudes out of the body. Same thing with Jackson Shurio with the Brewers and Bobby Wood Jr. with the Royals. You get that kind of sense of elite status. If they stay healthy and they have long, successful careers, you're just like the game's in great hands. And there's talent on each team.

[00:41:34] Mat Germain: It seems like that are that are coming through. How about the pirates this year? Right? They finally get some guys back and healthy and all of a sudden their team is taking off. They have a good veteran presence. Um, I, I love seeing new teams have success to me. That's always encouraging as well instead of the same old guard.

[00:41:51] Mat Germain: Um. So I love the way the game is going right now. And that's part of the exciting part of April is you find some new names to kind of follow where you're like, Oh man, look at this guy. Where did he come from? And we might see one or two in Colorado. Tovar, their shortstop is quite a player. And then he opened some eyes last year, but they have a few other ones that are coming, which will be fun to watch.

[00:42:14] Mat Germain: So we'll see how the series ends up, but I, I, I like, you know, right now I was watching before we talked, I was watching the Durham Bulls play and we got to see Joe Rock, um, on the mound for the 1st time for them. And, uh, you know, you get a sense that he's not far from MLB ready, basically, and, and the Rays kind of.

[00:42:35] Mat Germain: You know, gave up a lot with Greg Jones. He's going to be in Colorado. I don't think we'll see him in the series. He could. I think he's on the 40 man. The spring and then April and May is all for young people and getting the minor leagues chugging again and the young guys in MLB opening eyes and getting people excited again.

[00:42:55] Mat Germain: And then once they start going to the games, people will see those talents and it really sells the game. To me, that's That's the excitement that, because everybody's in it, right? Nobody's out other than the, you know, you can name maybe two teams that are not having success. And I predicted the Marlins. I mean, they lost three huge starters and people were asking like, what the Maryland's are going to be that bad.

[00:43:19] Mat Germain: I said, have you seen their lineup? Like I, I still want the race to go and get Louis Arrayes from them because I think him and Yandy Diaz at the top of the race lineup would drive hitter pitchers nuts. Um, but I, I don't know what the price would be like. They gave up Pablo Lopez. They're going to want something significant for him.

[00:43:40] Mat Germain: But, uh, I think the Rays are in a position to make that deal happen. They know Peter Bendix well. So, but other than them and the A's. All the teams are in it. Oh, they all have young, exciting guys, except for the A's who sent theirs down for no good reason. And, um, and yeah, so I'm loving baseball right now.

[00:43:57] Mat Germain: I just, like I said, I can look through my Twitter feed or X feed and, uh, and end up like spending a half hour on there. No problem. Just figuring out, Oh man, look at this. Oh, you know, a whole bunch of information coming through that you're like, your curiosity peaks and you're, you're digging into it. So it's a great time for baseball.

[00:44:18] Mark Corbett: It is indeed. It is indeed, Mat. Mat, I do, before we, uh, finish up here in a bit, I did want you to take us to a special place for the X Rays when we take a peek at what's going on out there in the world, and you had a tweet or a post, whatever you want to call it on Next These Days, about something going on with, out there in Milwaukee.

[00:44:41] Mark Corbett: You want to tell us about that? 

[00:44:43] Mat Germain: Yeah, well, the twins were facing off against Milwaukee, and it's always nice to see, you know, the names that you've grown accustomed to seeing for years, and you kind of covered for a long time, and so Manuel Margot was, uh, was at the plate, and he ended up getting, uh, or hitting into a double play, and Willie Adamas threw the ball to Jake Bowers, and that whole play was just The most x Rays moment you could, I, you could imagine in that game.

[00:45:10] Mat Germain: And, uh, and it was a lot of fun to watch cause he kind of figure, you know, in the background, these guys are kind of smirking and talking to each other after the game or before the game. And especially with Manuel Margot and, uh, Willie Adames having, you know, uh, kind of that Latin American connection. So, uh, I, I think it was a lot of fun to see and, uh, Uh, I like to see the guys having success.

[00:45:33] Mat Germain: Willie Adam is always has a smile on his face and Jake Bowers is found a home, a new home with the brewers and they're both doing well. So it's great to see. 

[00:45:41] Mark Corbett: Yeah. I was glad when you shared that because once I knew that Margot was gone, but I hadn't paid enough attention to realize he was with the, with the twins and.

[00:45:50] Mark Corbett: And bars, I remember being with the Yankees. Oh my gosh, he's at first base for the first. It's like, wow. Wow. No, you know, that's a nice thing. You, we enjoy our Rays and we enjoy the players on them, but we also know we could, we, if we're around long enough, we get to see him play somewhere else as well. And all right, brother.

[00:46:09] Mark Corbett: Well, you have any parting thoughts you'd like to make sure we share with the folks out there. 

[00:46:14] Mat Germain: Minor league season is going to be fully underway. That means all levels. Right now it's only triple A, but uh, low a, uh, high and double a kickoff, uh, on Friday. So, uh, if you have some extra time, and there's always, usually a game on at any time of day.

[00:46:30] Mat Germain: Past one. Um, once you have all the leaks chugging, so, you know, get on there and watch some of the prospects because you get to know a lot more about the players once they arrive than you, you would otherwise know. And, uh, it's interesting. It's fun to see where they came from. 

[00:46:47] Mark Corbett: Oh, absolutely. And I think I've said before, you know, it's interesting living here in the Tampa Bay area, because you've got so many of the spring training fields where you'll find the single lay teams and whether it be at George, George Steinbrenner Stadium, we'll watch the Tampa tarpons, the Yankees, uh, Affiliate or be over in Dunedin, see the blue Jays.

[00:47:07] Mark Corbett: I mean, there it's just such, such a great deal to see those. And of course, going all the way up to AAA and, and Durham. Uh, I mean, it's exciting. There's one other thing I talk about from living in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. You mentioned Langford a moment ago. He's also a Florida boy. It's like. You know, I guess if you live in a city, I said, if you live in a state that has sunshine virtually all the time or certainly decent temperature, you're going to be able to develop a lot of good talent in baseball.

[00:47:36] Mark Corbett: And he's just 1 more who's, uh, who we can look at to the future as well. Maybe he'll be arrayed before. You know what? Who knows? 

[00:47:44] Mat Germain: I have a feeling Texas will lock them up long term pretty soon. I'd be surprised if their agent's not getting the, the information right now, because if they push them as quick as they did, that agent is going to change.

[00:47:59] Mark Corbett: Too true. All right. Well, this is Mark Carbot. Talking with Mr. Mat Jermaine, Mat's of course, at Mat M A T underscore Jermaine G E R M a I N underscore and that's at Mat underscore Jermaine underscore on X and Twitter. Follow him. I do. He's always got some good sense about what's happening with the game and certainly with the race, whether it be all the way from single lay to the, all the way up to the major league, Mat, thanks again, brother, for being here.

[00:48:30] Mat Germain: Not a problem, and then hopefully we have a better week next week to talk about it. 

[00:48:34] Mark Corbett: Amen, brother. Okay, thanks again everybody for joining us here today and we look forward to talking to you again real soon. Just remember you can find us on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, YouTube, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, and of course here and also on BaseballBizOnDeck.

[00:48:54] Mark Corbett: com. Please go ahead and love us, like us, like I said, and leave your reviews. Also want to leave special thanks to Axtek RUX for the music rocking forward.