RaysUp - Thank you First Responders & a look at Rays 2025

255 RaysUp BaseballBiz w Mat Germain

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to BaseballBiz on deck. I am Mark Corbett

[00:00:12] Mat Germain: Doing great, Mark. How about you? 

[00:00:14] Mark Corbett: I'm having the time of my life, my friend. Is that your line? Did I steal that from you? Living the dream, living the dream of, MLB. I absolutely love it.

[00:00:28] Mark Corbett: I mean, there's, there's total insanity. You never know what's going to happen. You see great players. You do not so well and you see other guys rise up. So it's, it has been an exciting time, but before we get into the fun, I do want to talk about something a little bit more seriously. Here we are, it is Wednesday, September 11th, and you can't be in any hemisphere without knowing what that means as far as a great tragedy that's took place and seeing a great response from a lot of firefighters and others to take care of people in New York and actually everywhere, uh, the skies fell silent for a while and.

[00:01:11] Mark Corbett: Uh, Matt, I want to thank you because I know you're involved as a, as a first responder and rescuer in, uh, up north. And the other thing I, I was going to say too, is I've had the good fortune of having a few firefighters on the show. Veronica Alvarez, who managed the USA Women's National Baseball team this year.

[00:01:31] Mark Corbett: And, uh, also Tamara Holmes, who was on the Silver Bullets and also on the USA Women's Baseball team. National baseball team. And then there's a, another lady who have not had on here, Val Perez, also a firefighter who I think previously had been with USA Women's National Baseball team, you see people who find different ways to give and our good friends to the North here did a great service that I didn't realize.

[00:01:57] Mark Corbett: Let's see a few years back, Matt. And that was when I was visiting, what is it? Uh, Gander up in Newfoundland and discovered that when this terrible tragedy occurred and all these people made planes stranded in the air, coming from Europe back to the. To the continent here and they were being diverted and it was up in Newfoundland, which is probably about as a crow flies.

[00:02:22] Mark Corbett: It's probably about 1200 miles from New York. Candor took the, these people from several plates and basically put them up for a while they did. I was, I was so glad to be introduced to that when I was up there about, let's say about 8 years ago or so. To the whole idea of what those, you know, the great people of Gander, Newfoundland did.

[00:02:46] Mark Corbett: And I was like, my gosh. We need to thank them a little bit more often, and certainly I want to do that today as well. 

[00:02:54] Mat Germain: Absolutely. They more than doubled the population of their town over that time frame. And, uh, from what I gather, because I have a lot of friends that are over there, um, and I work in search and rescue circles, so, um, that, that's primarily why Gander exists as a base, is, is both to coordinate the Canadian Rangers and, uh, also train the search and rescue and, and, You know, base them out of there.

[00:03:19] Mat Germain: Um, and, and so they, they still, to this day, from what I gather, have relationships with people that they, they kept, you know, uh, safe for a while, um, and built relationships with. And, and apparently they go back and forth. A lot of them, it was with people from Mexico, from the United States, from, uh, Southern parts, Western parts, all over the place.

[00:03:39] Mat Germain: And, and some of them in Europe as well. So, uh, it's, it's great to see people come together in advance like this. And I, it's pretty much the entire Eastern seaborne of Canada took, uh, took part in it to different degrees, depending on which area you're in. Uh, but I still remember that day because I was at the warfare center in Halifax when it happened and my wife called me and she said, uh, the U.

[00:04:02] Mat Germain: S. is under attack. The U. S. is under attack on the phone. I was like, what is she talking about? So I ran across because we didn't, we weren't allowed any TVs in the warfare center at all. Like you have no connection. There's top secret areas and all that stuff. So I ran across the base to the area where I knew there was televisions and I got there in time to see the second plane hit and it was just a room full of people that were just in shock and awe about what was happening, trying to make sense of it all.

[00:04:29] Mat Germain: And a few months later, I was on a warship on my way to the Gulf of Oman and, uh, sailed there for seven and a half months patrolling the Gulf of Oman, uh, heading the international portion of that. So it impacted all of NATO. Well, not just the United States on that day. Um, and I can speak to that personally.

[00:04:50] Mark Corbett: Thanks for sharing that part, man. Thanks for being part of a network of folks from Canada who really did a lot to make sure those. Those people who were stranded were taken care of and, and, you know, you say, well, the, the good side, there's no good side, but it is good to hear there from the fallout. There was actually people who had built friendships, you know, cross countries, people who, who, uh, kept in touch and good people stand up to help other people.

[00:05:18] Mark Corbett: You know, difficult times. And that, that was really good to hear. I think it was called operation yellow ribbon. I'm not sure. Wow. All right, let's get to some of the more mundane stuff in life. But I did want to say thank you to you and to, uh, those ladies and all the first responders and law enforcement folks.

[00:05:36] Mark Corbett: So thank you for all y'all do. Okay, let's put my clown nose back on here with baseball. And man, Matt, it's, it's getting grind time, brother. You know, that's, is, is there any reason to continue to look at wildcard standings? 

[00:05:56] Mat Germain: No, there's no reason to look at the wildcard saying that the things to look at right now is, is who they're going to keep for next year.

[00:06:05] Mat Germain: And then why? So there's an evaluation going on with all these players and basically say, okay, what do you have to offer? What is your ceiling? What can we do with you? Your, your skill set and, and there's some of them that are shining in that moment, like Jonny DeLuca is a good example. Yeah. He's been handed a lot of responsibility and he's out, uh, out muscling, uh, Christopher Morel and, uh, Dylan Carlson so far in, in making his case for next year.

[00:06:33] Mat Germain: Um, Some others are struggling a little bit more. I would say we expected more out of Junior Caminero. He's had flashes and he's been about MLB average overall, but as a phenom, you were kind of expecting a little bit more. Now, he's still very early in his call up, um, so he definitely has time here in the next three weeks to say, Hey, this is what, you know, I'm going to bring to the table next year.

[00:06:59] Mat Germain: And, and that's fine to, to look at it that way, uh, it's, it is a little bit sad cause you're seeing the pitching, it was there to kind of go on a run if, if they could get some scoring. 

[00:07:09] Mark Corbett: Uh, right. Last night, you know, watching the game and, and just seeing things devolve completely. I mean, I turn on the TV, it's four to four.

[00:07:19] Mark Corbett: I walk out of the room and it's nine to four. It seems like it's like gravy. What did I miss? I can't leave the room anymore when the TV's on. It's obviously the solution to this, but so you got the 

[00:07:33] Mat Germain: power, Mark. You got the power. 

[00:07:34] Mark Corbett: I take full responsibility, brother. I, you know, it's, it's all on my back. So there, there we go.

[00:07:39] Mark Corbett: So send, you send your hate mail here. And, but it's, uh, it's been interesting. You know, you brought up giant to look at. It's like, I was, I was saying the same thing. I was looking at some of the numbers. Let's see. Duluth is batting. Let's see. It says here 435. 10 for 23, over six game on base streak. And man, he is just kicking a man to see two doubles, uh, see one triple three home runs and seven RBI as in his last 16 games, he ranks among AL leaders over that span since August 24th in average third hits.

[00:08:16] Mark Corbett: But I mean, this is the kind of guy that you hear that walk up music, go, go Johnny, go. He's living up to it, man. 

[00:08:24] Mat Germain: Well, the intriguing part is, uh, Mark, and I said this when they traded away Randy Arozarena, is that we already knew he was going to improve the defense, uh, you know? So when you're looking at the outs above average or what baseball savant rates for, uh, right fielders, he ranks second.

[00:08:43] Mat Germain: In all the Major League Baseball, so if you add up what you just stated in terms of the offensive potential and he were able to do even, you know, 20 percent below that over the course of a full season, you're talking about a heck of an outfielder to have for the Rays next year, whether or not that's achievable remains to be seen.

[00:09:03] Mat Germain: But why wouldn't you take that shot when he's definitely affordable next year? 

[00:09:08] Mark Corbett: Man, oh, man, I mean, that's, I'm, I'm real excited about him. So yes, there's a, I felt like a lot of people are on the chopping block for next year. You know, we, we talked in the past about Yandi's salary. You know, we've talked about that in the past and saying, well, will we keep him for that?

[00:09:23] Mark Corbett: I don't know, but the others as well, Randy was gone. I, I was really, I was a little surprised, but you know, as much as I put into Randy land. But you see, Siri, you see flashes of what he can do out there in the outfield and sometimes at bat. But then there's other times where it just seems like it's just not happening for him.

[00:09:43] Mark Corbett: And I don't know, we've got young guys coming up what today looking at who is it? You brought him up 100 times before Chandler Simpson, right? Yes. Yes. Tell us a little bit more about Chandler. What's going on? 

[00:09:56] Mat Germain: Uh, Chandler Simpson's just a picture of consistency and he's going to be a major league player.

[00:10:01] Mat Germain: Uh, he's going to be a top of the lineup hitter and he's going to drive pitchers nuts and catchers nuts. Uh, he's going to be essentially, uh, you know, Uh, the kind of player that's a little bit like Kenny Lofton, where he just, uh, steals the show whenever he's on the bases, you can pretty much write off the fact that he's going to run, the question is just when, and most times it's early in the count because he knows he can beat you.

[00:10:26] Mat Germain: He's already stolen a hundred bases this year, uh, whether or not he steals anymore once they get to the, you know, the playoffs as well, and they're still going through their season in double a, uh, that remains to be seen. But. Um, you know, it's just quite a feat to have him there and doing even better in double a than he did in a plus.

[00:10:45] Mat Germain: He's got a shining personality. Players love him. Uh, he works his tail off every game he shows up. He doesn't take a night off, which you love to see. So to me, that's a consistent guy that you want and his energy is just electric. So yeah. I think the Rays lineup is going to change quite. I mean, we already know they've adopted speed as one of the tools they can afford, and they can concentrate on to gain an edge.

[00:11:11] Mat Germain: And we're seeing it with Jose Caballero, who is leading the American League and steals. And he's one of those players that's also shown like, um, Like Johnny DeLuca and made a case for himself for next year, not to the same degree, but his defensive play has been stellar and some of the plays that he's making and some of the hit, you know, the hitting that he's done, um, since I would say more like September for him, uh, he's kind of emptied things up a little bit more consistently.

[00:11:42] Mat Germain: Whether or not he has another level, I don't know. He's about 28 now. It will be 29 next year. So, you know, you can bet on him being at the very least a utility player. The question that brings is whether or not Taylor wall sticks around if that happens. But back to Chandler Simpson, he's part of a group of double A players that are going to, I imagine begin, um, you know, probably two or three of them in AAA next year and really push the envelope for the guys that the Rays do decide to bank on.

[00:12:10] Mat Germain: Yeah. 

[00:12:11] Mark Corbett: Let's see the double A that's Montgomery biscuits and check it here. It's got their season thus far. There's not much left. I don't think they make seven games. They've got 77 wins and 54 losses. Now that when I'd like to have that win loss ratio, man, uh, you know, that's, I think they, and see the hot rods are 75 and 54, and I don't know Durham, but I think they're almost, they're a little bit above 500 if I remember correctly, Right.

[00:12:44] Mat Germain: So go ahead. The thing with Durham is that they actually, they had so many players drawn up to the Rays over the year. It was a chaos. And I don't think we can evaluate their season as a whole. 

[00:12:55] Mark Corbett: Yeah, I, I always hated that, you know, when I was in Louisville and I'd see our team and just soon as your seem to be breaking that you're doing wonderful, I guess no longer there.

[00:13:05] Mark Corbett: Come on, guys. We had a chance. Yeah. And we said, we, we brought so many folks up that it is kind of diluting the ability of what you're able to field. Uh, today they were, uh, let's see, like I said, I saw a bit of the Montgomery biscuits and then what was it? The Durham Bulls today? 

[00:13:24] Mat Germain: Yeah. One five, nothing. 

[00:13:26] Mark Corbett: Yeah, man, that was something to watch.

[00:13:28] Mark Corbett: And, and I think they got all five runs in one inning. I mean, it seems like that seems to be a trend. There's more and more times I see a team putting up a bunch of runs in one inning. I just don't know if it's the, the pitcher failing or if the juices just start going rolling all the time. It's, it's been interesting to watch.

[00:13:46] Mat Germain: The managers are stubborn. They stick with the guys a little bit too long. A lot, a lot of times. 

[00:13:52] Mark Corbett: Well, let me ask you this. This is something I question. I mean, I love the Rays. I love Kevin Cash. I'm sure every time that there's a Raysd law, somebody criticizes the heck out of Kevin. You know, they're going to go over and get the microscope out, buddy.

[00:14:05] Mark Corbett: And, but this year overall, there's been injuries. There's been slowly, maybe some pictures coming back. And I felt like Kevin last, you know, few weeks has been trying everything, man. So it's time to throw a spaghetti at the wall and, and with his lineup and figure out what's going to happen. So I give you credit for trying some new things, but I guess I was, I thought, well, one more thing I'll say when I was looking across ALEs and early this morning over the last 10 games, none of the ALEs teams, Yankees, Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Rays.

[00:14:42] Mark Corbett: None of them. I mean, I forget, sorry, I forgot Blue Jays. None of these teams have won more than five of their last 10 games. I don't know. 

[00:14:51] Mat Germain: Yeah. I think with Kevin Cash, like I said, I try to take the broader view, uh, not the per game view. Uh, and I just find that Yes, he was dealt a terrible hand in that all of his left handed hitters got hurt when the season started.

[00:15:06] Mat Germain: And that just put a big wrench in the first two months of the season. What I hate about how he managed from that point is that he didn't instill any faith or confidence in the players he was handed from the front office to replace those guys. That's where I think his failure is this year and, and it would have garnered in my opinion at least a handful of wins where they would have been in the picture for the wild card.

[00:15:32] Mat Germain: But because he lacked that faith to push the envelope and really force guys to, um, Put themselves out there and perform because they are the best option against a right handed pitcher or they are the best option again and just go with the role instead of looking at the player and saying, well, that guy has more experience, so I've got to use them here.

[00:15:51] Mat Germain: No, that's not how it works. That's not how you've won all these years. How you've won all these years is the fact that you've actually played. Put guys in a chance, uh, in a position to perform based on what their skill set is. So the Austin Shenton thing really torqued me and it still does. He's still on the bench today.

[00:16:09] Mat Germain: Like he's still, you're facing right handed pitching and he's on the bench. And, and I just, Hey, I, I can't do it anymore. I can't, you know, um, it's, it's such a, a handicap when you're using so little of your roster. 

[00:16:27] Mark Corbett: No, I was waiting for you to say the name Austin Shenton because I bet when you first brought him up, I guess over a month or so ago, I've been closely watching saying, okay, well, you know, he is on the 20 man roster.

[00:16:39] Mark Corbett: Oh, I hadn't seen him. Okay. Cash is buried him on the bench because he's not coming up 

[00:16:45] Mat Germain: and gave him two at bats. One of them was a double cheese, cheese 

[00:16:51] Mark Corbett: crackers. 

[00:16:52] Mat Germain: Well, he still has one of the best OPSs right now for the Rays against right handed pitching. He's top three. He still won't use them. I don't know what he did.

[00:17:01] Mat Germain: He must have stepped on his toes in the dugout or something. There had to be something because he crushes right handed pitching. If you want to sit him against lefties, by all means. And if you have a better option, if you happen to have another lefty, like Brandon Lowe, yada, yada, and you want to use them at first base.

[00:17:16] Mat Germain: Sure. Okay. But don't go and sit there and tell me you don't have the ability to field a team where you can score runs against right handed pitching. Well, when you're throwing out there, Chris Morel, who's striking out at a ridiculous rate against right handed pitching, and then you're Austin Shenton's on the bench, Austin Shenton is a way better hitter than Christopher Morrell.

[00:17:37] Mat Germain: Yeah. I'm sorry. He just is. And so why are they pushing the envelope? Because Morel has a name and was with the Cubs for a while. Is that the focus? I don't understand. 

[00:17:48] Mark Corbett: I can't imagine. You know, sometimes I think Like if a family member buys you a gift, you feel like you have to use it. Or maybe it's one of those gifts that you say, Oh my gosh, why did I get that?

[00:17:58] Mark Corbett: But I feel like that maybe, maybe this is 

[00:18:01] Mat Germain: a great explanation. Mark. I love it. 

[00:18:06] Mark Corbett: So. Maybe that's, maybe that's how it is with morale. I think here's the gift and you got to use it. Uh, 

[00:18:13] Mat Germain: I like it. You just cheered me up for tonight. 

[00:18:17] Mark Corbett: Oh, good brother. Good. Yeah, it's, uh, it's a game. We all know that. We know there's front office decisions.

[00:18:23] Mark Corbett: We know there's decisions being made in the dugout by cash and company. And then there's just what goes on in a player's life. They can be hot and then they can be cold. And sometimes they can just be moody. 

[00:18:36] Mat Germain: It happens. Like I said, I think once Kevin Cash reflects on a season, he may identify that as one of the weaknesses of his managing over the course of this season is that he really didn't amplify, uh, his lineup potential by putting guys in the best guys for the situation.

[00:18:56] Mat Germain: Another thing was like. For a while and I think we spoke about this when we were talking He wasn't using guys that were best against the fastball for instance At the top of the lineup when they were facing a pitcher that's going to rely on a fastball like 80 percent of the time So why is that like there was a bunch of instances and things like that where it just wasn't It just took a lot of time for him to get used to the lineup.

[00:19:21] Mat Germain: He was forced to use for a bit And then, like I said, I think there's a good handful of games they could have pulled off over that time. Uh, and, and that's the frustrating part. They are close. They are a decent team, despite all of the losses, all of the trades that they, they, they showed a lot of tenacity and an ability to beat some pretty darn good teams over the last month and a half.

[00:19:46] Mat Germain: You know, they haven't looked completely out of sorts. They're in the games. They're just not Able to put it that one notch ahead, 

[00:19:57] Mark Corbett: as you said, and I figured we're pretty much wild cards, not the choice anymore. Not a consideration, but so we had to find those special moments. We've got to find those little pop it up like Johnny DeLuca doing real well.

[00:20:11] Mark Corbett: We got to look at the fun things with Chandler Simpson. And certainly with Caballero, you know, these are players and moments that make the game great. Uh, what was it? Okay. And then there was, I feel for Taylor wall every time, man. But to see him that one day he had, what, um, he had an RBI. He had a home run and then a hit, and I can't remember if it was a single or a double, but I thought, yes, yes, one that he finally got one to go over the fence because it seemed like it was never going to happen.

[00:20:44] Mark Corbett: And, you know, I thought, good Taylor. I mean, I don't know if I'd want to keep you or not, but I was so glad for you as a human being Taylor that you got that it was necessary. But, uh, Oh, here's some more fun facts though. Looking at the Phillies. I didn't realize. That Kevin Cash's dad, Mike, had played for the double A team for the Phillies back in 1978.

[00:21:14] Mark Corbett: Was he a catcher 

[00:21:15] Mat Germain: as well, or what position did he play? 

[00:21:17] Mark Corbett: What little I've got here doesn't tell me. I'll have to do some homework on them, because I'm curious, too. It's been fun watching You know, as it's saying about interplay, I mean, interdivisional, whatever, and you're seeing players who had been on your team before, you know, you see closers like Diego Castillo, or you see Jose Alvarado, you know, it's, it's hard to pull against them sometimes, but tank on it, guys, we're going to win.

[00:21:42] Mark Corbett: We got to beat you, but it is still fun to see those familiar faces, you know, up there on the mound. 

[00:21:49] Mat Germain: Yeah, I was looking today at the top pitchers since the trade deadline and there's three x rays that were on there. One of them is, you know, pitching for the Phillies now, Christopher Sanchez. He's the one that we traded for Curtis Mead.

[00:22:03] Mat Germain: Um, there was Blake Snell in the top, I think seven. Wow. And there was also Tobias Meyers at the, at 30th who was the, the pitcher we traded for junior ro. Oh. So, you know, three x-rays in there in the top 30. But yeah, you're right. It's, it's, you know, you go to some teams, you can tell that they definitely scouted the heavily because they, they seem to have a glut of them on board.

[00:22:28] Mark Corbett: Well, used this joke I had on the show before, instead of little. We're, uh, Santar had somebody calling the, you know, it's Mr. Eric Neander calling. He said, well, hang up because it felt like whatever deal he worked, it wasn't necessarily going to be win win back those days. So it's, uh, it's, it's been interesting again to see some of those players out there.

[00:22:48] Mark Corbett: Um, let's see, is Pepio's pitching tomorrow? Who's pitching tonight? We're playing tonight, aren't we? 

[00:22:56] Mat Germain: Yeah, Shane Baz and he, he handed Nick, Nick Castellanos was the guy who got hit by the ball pitch yesterday by Edwin Uceta and he hit a home run off of Shane Baz tonight. So, uh, you know, that was payback and, and everybody was all over it once it happened.

[00:23:12] Mat Germain: But, um, yeah, that, that whole scenario with you said, uh, hitting the, the, the. You know, the hitter, I think, you know, the Rays having that kind of an edge next year, potentially, uh, let's say with him and Pete in the back of the line, uh, the pen, you know, I don't mind that. And you know what, you want to show some pizzazz and I'm not saying you go out there and injure players by any means, but, but you want to show some life in the fact that you care so much that you're so pissed off that you're, you know, you're, you're doing it a little bit of a Pedro Martinez sort of thing where you're just saying, I just don't have it tonight.

[00:23:47] Mat Germain: I want out of this game. Get me out. And, uh, and I just, uh, you know, I'm all, it was more about him, I think, than it was about the Phillies. Um, and I think, you know, uh, it shows the fact that, that he's really, uh, uh, wants to be an elite arm, you know, and then when he's not there, he's, he's extremely frustrated.

[00:24:12] Mark Corbett: Looking also at, uh, At Taj, Taj, you had a spectacular month. What was it? July and he's still doing what me wrong, but you see a person reach a pinnacle and try to keep them up there the whole time. It's sometimes difficult. I have been really, you know, I was really happy to see like, love lady. I think he's.

[00:24:32] Mark Corbett: Done pretty well. Um, true coming back. That was, that was encouraging. I mean, even at a limited amount of how he's doing that. But how do you feel about, do you think they'll keep him is a kind of middle inning guy? Or do you, what do you think of do in 2025? 

[00:24:49] Mat Germain: They better keep him as a multi inning reliever, because if they don't, they're jeopardizing his career.

[00:24:56] Mat Germain: And I really don't support that at all. There's no need to push him to be a starter. He's proven over and over and over again that despite them really lowering his pitch counts to sometimes, you know, around 60 or 70, and then he still got hurt. Um, now you're talking about a guy that, you know, if he has one more surgery, that could be his career.

[00:25:16] Mat Germain: It could be like a johnny venters scenario. So, uh, they definitely need to pick and choose their moments and they use them accordingly, not, you know, abuse the arm. Like you want this guy to last. Uh, you don't want him to phase out again, you know, in the Rays. I know it's a heartless, uh, machine grinder, I guess the way that they, they operate in a way that they use relievers.

[00:25:41] Mat Germain: But I will say it was encouraged by the fact that they shut down Jeffrey Springs and they put them on a 15 day IL. I don't know if it was his call or their call. Uh, but I would much rather have him start of the season fresh next year. Now that we know what's going to happen this year, uh, try to push the envelope, you know, through the rest of the season in terms of Todd Bradley.

[00:26:00] Mat Germain: I just find there's less run on his pitches where he was, you know, A little fresher at the early on in the season, and people have to be realistic. So, uh, Taj Bradley, this is his first time exceeding 130 innings in a season. And now, right now, he's about 25 innings above what he's ever done before. So to kind of pick on him for that, well, I shouldn't say that, I guess if you're including the minors, I think he's about even with what he did last year, but but he's at the end of that.

[00:26:32] Mat Germain: He's still a young pitcher. He doesn't really have his stocky man build on yet, right? He's about 22 years old. So if you're looking at him in that frame, right, when you look at Blake Snell, let's say back in the day when he was first coming up before he had it, Uh, you know the man body going along with it.

[00:26:51] Mat Germain: It was the same kind of thing where you know He was just building innings and it took until he was 25 Before he really was able to amp it up and do a full season at 180 um, and at that point the stuff took off and he was able to kind of um, Dominate guys all the way through the season and the next year it showed as well.

[00:27:10] Mat Germain: So I would say give Taj a little bit more time and a little bit more, um, uh, you know, leeway and not be so hard on him. I, I've seen a lot of it on, on X where people are just down on them big time. They're like, he's always going to give up the home runs. He's always going to do this. He's always going to do that.

[00:27:25] Mat Germain: He's 23 years old, give the guy a chance, you know, 24, 25, when he reaches 25, if he's still not showing the dominance that we, we know he's capable of based on the stuff, then by all means, you know, they go ahead and just, you know, berate him. If that makes you, 

[00:27:46] Mark Corbett: yeah, you get those in the cash critics in a room.You know, we'll, we'll send them some sour cheese or whatever they got. No, no, it's, it's been great, man. I'll tell you what, this it's been a good year. It's been a great year to watch the team, you know, try to struggle through some tough times. And, you know, we still got some games ahead. I mean, still worth watching.

[00:28:06] Mark Corbett: Yes. Yeah. Of course, may not say that in Oakland or Chicago white socks land these days. Oh, by the way, you know, that's. Who is it? Karen, who's that ball hawk? What's his name? Zach Hamphill? Zach Hamphill. Do you ever see his stuff on YouTube? Uh, maybe. You'd know if you did. Don't worry. Yeah. He's out there. He runs and gets his balls.

[00:28:30] Mark Corbett: He's there before the game and all that. He was at a White Sox game about a week ago, I guess. And it wound up being a midday makeup game for the White Sox. And I forget who they were playing. Maybe the Cardinals, but he was there and it was a half hour before the game. And he looked and he counted less than a hundred people in the stands, man.

[00:28:55] Mark Corbett: And it's like, granted, it was a game that wasn't scheduled and it's in the middle of a week, you know, day, but wow. Um, I hear more and more people like, Nick Morawski talking about, you know, is he going to keep his season tickets? Maybe not. Hmm. Yeah. I haven't looked on SeatGeek to see what they cost these days, but 

[00:29:16] Mat Germain: Did they ever sort out the stadium issue for the White Sox?

[00:29:19] Mark Corbett: I don't know. Honestly, I do not know. 

[00:29:23] Mat Germain: Because there's a good case to say that you, you should move the White Sox. Yeah. You know, and just keep the Cubs as the Chicago team. But I know a lot of people are gonna hate the fact that I'm saying that. Uh, but, but when you're talking about, you know, covering the largest area possible, um, you know, in, in certain cases, it just doesn't make sense to have two teams in the same place and then have such huge gaps across certain parts of the U.

[00:29:48] Mat Germain: S. where you're, you're looking at it like, okay, well, this entire area Belongs to the Rockies. Now, I know the population isn't really massive in, in those areas sometimes, but, um, It seems to me like there's, there's like a good example would be like, could Utah support a team, right? Um, could Portland support a team, Nashville, Montreal, you have a lot of other areas where you would cover.

[00:30:16] Mat Germain: You know, first of all, a second language in Montreal, plus all the networking that comes along with that. And then you also have other regions, I'm sure, where I'm not really well versed on, in terms of population growth, that are, you know, maybe good potential areas. So it would be the same as if we looked at Florida, and let's say instead of Miami and Tampa, they had put a team in Orlando.

[00:30:40] Mat Germain: And that was central then would have still made sense to put any team in Tampa or in Miami, maybe not. And I feel like it's the same with the Cubs where they're trying to force a second team on that city when one of them has all of the glitz and glamour. I guess you could call it with the Ivy and the whole, you know, take me out to the ball game and all that.

[00:31:02] Mat Germain: Romanticism that goes along with it. And then you have the dark side, which is completely opposite of that, where it's doom and gloom and the worst owner in baseball potentially. And, and you're just sitting there going, how does that work? How do you make, you know, that work? And especially with the black socks, uh, whole thing, like, yeah.

[00:31:23] Mat Germain: That's fine. Maybe it's time to move on. Yeah. I know they've, they've touched on it. The Tampa was supposed to get the White Sox at some point, weren't they? 

[00:31:31] Mark Corbett: Yes. Yeah. Yes, there's, there's a whole story about how that all went down to the last hour at midnight and things were changed. I have to dig that out.

[00:31:40] Mark Corbett: Well, we can talk about it sometime because that was truly curious about the whole thing about how Tampa got a team and. And they didn't and how long they had a stadium before they had a team, but yeah, there's, there's plenty to be said about that, man. I'm thinking like, you almost wonder what, why do we need expansion?

[00:32:00] Mark Corbett: If you have a team, it's no longer be in Oakland and 1 that won't be in Chicago. You know, if you're going to take me both those teams, you know, do we do that and still find 2 other cities to expand to? I don't know. 

[00:32:10] Mat Germain: So are you, do you have like, I have a countdown for every year for Christmas, right? I have a little board and the girls and I update it and we say, okay, now there's 106 days left till Christmas.

[00:32:22] Mat Germain: Whatever it is. Do you have a countdown on right now for when the shovels are going in the ground for the new Ray Stadium? 

[00:32:28] Mark Corbett: Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm waiting for April's fools of 2028. 

[00:32:39] Mat Germain: I like it. That's awesome. 

[00:32:42] Mark Corbett: I hope it's sooner than that. Actually, I, I would like to, geez, that's a good question, man. It's, it's kind of a sad one too, but yeah, well, we'll see brother.

[00:32:53] Mark Corbett: I'm maybe April fools. We'll see if they do an April fool. So I don't know 

[00:32:57] Mat Germain: what was the date they proposed that they actually have one or have they announced one? I don't know. 

[00:33:02] Mark Corbett: Let me tell you something. Well, we're talking, yeah, yeah. Anybody who starts with say, let me tell you something. Nothing good's going to come after that first off.

[00:33:10] Mark Corbett: But, uh, all I could wonder is, you know, Karen and I had the good fortune to go see the Rays a week ago. Somebody got us some tickets and it was a great time. And we get there early to rain was just coming down and sheets. And all I could think was, man, this is, this is. What's it going to be like in the new place?

[00:33:33] Mark Corbett: Because still traffic can be a challenge if there's actually real excitement and real engagement for a number of people coming in. For those two days when the rain was coming down like sheets, it was very limited, the number of people who were going to be able to attend. Matter of fact, let me tell you, it got so bad, they actually had it where they said the rain was coming in through the doors at some points, it was coming in sideways.

[00:33:57] Mark Corbett: But, uh, so in a roundabout way, coming back to what you're saying is, I hope to hell they get the parking and the traffic figured out, but I don't know if we'll be there in 2028. I'd like to think they're going to be cutting, uh, breaking ground in 2025, April Fool's Day. That's my, my goal. That's what I hope we're getting.

[00:34:20] Mat Germain: Yeah. Well, I, I just think that getting the process started and getting that money flowing to contractors and everything's, you know, uh, torn up to the point where you're committed, you're pot committed at that point, I think that's, that's a big, you know, eye opener for everyone. Then all of a sudden. Once you have that going, you can make all those surrounding investments in the area itself, right?

[00:34:44] Mat Germain: And not have to worry about who, what the centerpiece is going to be and how everything else is going to fit around it. So that's why I say that there should be a countdown for the shovels going in the ground because it's such a, an economic impact for the region. Uh, that, you know, I don't think people understand what, what spending a few billion dollars is going to do for, for that area.

[00:35:10] Mark Corbett: Well, now that you shared that, especially about the, the family calendar for Christmas and countdowns. I love that by the way, I'm going to take, I'm going to create something for that, for the Rays and when we're actually going to have a stadium and when we're going to break ground, you know, I mean, what is it, uh, the little calendars where you sometimes you little open up.

[00:35:29] Mark Corbett: A window or something for each day. And there's something that's going to happen. All right. Okay. Well, I've got to build something like that for us, man. I got to put together a calendar where we, you know, in be little mysteries. What's going to be there. We'll, uh, we'll guess what's going to happen and find out what the truth is going to be.

[00:35:47] Mat Germain: He has next brawl will be on. 

[00:35:51] Mark Corbett: No, 

[00:35:52] Mat Germain: no, no. We won't go there. 

[00:35:55] Mark Corbett: Well, there are any other nuggets you want to make sure we share with folks before we wrap it up today? 

[00:36:00] Mat Germain: Um, I would just say to keep an ear on the ground for, uh, for the minors affiliates. And if you have time, just watch their playoff games. Uh, I watched the, the Charleston game and there was, uh, Gary Gilhill getting some playoff action under his belt.

[00:36:14] Mat Germain: Didn't look as great as Drew Dodd who took over from him and, and threw outstanding, was just poised under pressure. And, uh, uh, five innings, I think he went and, um, Just take a look because those guys are getting a shot to, uh, to shine in high pressure situations, and you find out a little bit more about their character and their ability to come up in big moments, and also you get to see some at bats under, you know, high pressure, which, you know, I think is important, um, so yeah, if you can on, uh, MLB TV, take a look, uh, or if you have MLB.

[00:36:49] Mat Germain: com TV, MLB TV. Um, I think they're free at that point. So, and the other thing is they're, they're going to be announcing some rosters, uh, eventually I think the Rays are still planning on sending players over to, uh, the Australian baseball league. Now that the minor season is over there, usually they make the announcement within a couple of weeks of that finishing and they head over to, uh, Australia to start play usually sometime in late October, early November.

[00:37:17] Mark Corbett: Wow. 

[00:37:18] Mat Germain: Uh, so you'll, you'll probably get a handful to seven. I think seven is the most they've ever sent. Um, I don't know if Curtis Mead will go back and play for Brisbane, but he might, you know, be, or sorry, Adelaide is who he's pleased for. Uh, but he might won't consider it because of the kind of season he had overall.

[00:37:35] Mat Germain: He might just say, you know what, I need to put in a little bit of extra time. And I think he still has a contract with them that allows him to do that. And the last thing I'll say is the, those who stay. States side also have the AFL, right? The, uh, the fall league. Um, so some names that are being thrown around that would be interesting to see in that league would be Chandler Simpson and Trey Morgan, uh, who I think would be awesome to see on that stage and in that kind of environment and to see really how they stack up against some of the best, uh, prospects in the league.

[00:38:10] Mark Corbett: Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I'm curious. I'd like to see Curtis Meade continue to succeed. I haven't done enough viewing of what's going on in Australia with Adelaide or any of the other ones, but I would, if he goes back, I would certainly watch a little bit of that. And I want to point out too, one of my things, and that's working with the good folks at the All American Women's Baseball Classic, and that's going to be coming up October 11th and 13th.

[00:38:38] Mark Corbett: And that's going to be in Durham. Okay, boys and girls, that's right where the Bulls are playing. You're going to be able to see some of the greatest women in the game. A lot of the women who played at the USA women's team in Canada, but you will see women from, you know, from everywhere. You'll see women from Canada, my gosh.

[00:38:54] Mark Corbett: And if you missed the WBSC World Cup this year, you missed a lot. We'd be able to see some of those folks here. By the way, Matt, looking at the folks who did play in Canada playing as well as they did, there was one woman. And, and she, she took up like four of the top categories, uh, performance. I think it's, I cannot think of her name at the moment.

[00:39:17] Mark Corbett: Those are the kinds of people you get to see play with four teams in a classic from October, uh, I guess, 11th through 13th. So it should be a lot of fun. 

[00:39:27] Mat Germain: Wow, that's a great event. I wish I could go. I love that stadium in Durham. I think it's a great place, a great environment. And, uh, it's definitely great to see, uh, women's events being attended at really high levels in all sports.

[00:39:40] Mat Germain: So I encourage everybody that can make it absolutely go out there and cheer them on. 

[00:39:45] Mark Corbett: Alrighty. Well, thanks again, brother. That's Mr. Matt Jermaine and that you can find him in his commentary at a match or it's let's try again at Matt M A T underscore Jermaine G E R M A I N underscore. And that's on x.

[00:40:04] Mark Corbett: com, twitter. com, whatever you want to call it. Matt's there. And he's always had some great insights to share. And so Matt, thanks once again for letting us, you know, Peek into your brain and get a bit of knowledge. 

[00:40:16] Mat Germain: Art plays, Mark. Thanks for having me. 

[00:40:20] Mark Corbett: Oh, well, thank you all once again for joining us today.

[00:40:23] Mark Corbett: And we look forward to talking with you again, real soon. Remember you can find baseball biz on deck dot on baseball biz on deck. com. You can find it on iHeartRadio, Spotify. Oh, we're everywhere. So thank you again for joining us and just remember we're here. I don't know. But hey, Matt, thanks, brother. I don't know.

[00:40:46] Mark Corbett: I don't know. I don't know. That's how you should 

[00:40:50] Mat Germain: end every podcast. I don't 

[00:40:53] Mark Corbett: know. I think I feel that. I don't XTaKR U X for the music, rocking it forward.