World Baseball Classic & Mat Germain

BaseballBiz On Deck 
 with Mat Germain & the 
 World Baseball Classic

[00:00:00] 

Mark Corbett: Welcome to Baseball Biz. I'm Mark Corbett your host, and with me today is Mr. Mat Germain. Hey Mat. How you doing, buddy?

Mat Germain: Excellent, man. Always you. 

Mark Corbett: I am doing wonderful my friend. , geez, Man. I'm so glad to see spring training open up down here in Florida with a Grapefruit league. If I was in Arizona, I would definitely be out there with The Cactus league, but my mind really hasn't been on spring training it's been on this World Baseball Classic dude.

Mat Germain: Yeah, it's great to see it back in full force. The crowds have been really fun to. The atmosphere is great. The players seem to be really embracing it, and there's a lot of strength even in the younger teams. And the teams that have I would say a lack of depth they're showing a lot of heart and hustle and it's great to see.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. I mean it has that post-season vibe, we're in the playoffs. That's what it feels like when you're watching these and just the quickest, shortest introduction folks who haven't ano a clue what I'm talking about with World Baseball Classic. [00:01:00] This is where several teams. Go ahead and get together to face off almost a kind of Olympic type situation as far as to win the World Baseball Classic.

And what happens is players who, whether they come from a certain country, if they're playing the M L B or not, they may be playing for their home. Country, and they don't necessarily even have to be a native from there, but it could be, ooh, somebody who maybe has a grandparent or somebody else's affiliation.

And we can talk about some of those people in a few moments. But basically what it comes down to is 20 teams that are broken up basically into four pools, five each one, and they've compete with one another. Each team battles the other four teams and then they advance. So we'll get a little bit into that, but I wanna give a brief intro.

into what that is. 

Mat Germain: And I think one of the keys to point out too, just before you, you continue, is that teams also earn some money to, to support baseball in their home countries as well, which is pretty significant. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, because let's face it, there's a lot of [00:02:00] these countries they don't have much support so I'm really glad to hear that. I didn't realize that, man. So that's, thanks for sharing. No problem, but I love this. Cuz think about it. This is, this has only been going on what, since about 2006 and about every four or five years it pops up again.

And the last one was 2017. But because of Covid and everything else, we're just now getting around to the. This version or this edition, if you will? Oh, the baseball biz. Baseball Biz . Geez, where'd that come from? World Base. Yeah. World Baseball Classic. Oh, Lord, man. It's 

Mat Germain: actually every three years that they do it now and I think they, that's a good tempo.

When you consider the the lifespan of a career in the majors, right? So most players will get, three or four chances to really be in their prime during the classic and also get the edges right. So if you're a weaker country, you might be able to play, up to five or six times for that country I was looking at Great Britain and Harry Ford.

And he'll be able [00:03:00] to suit up for them. Oh, good God. At least another half dozen times before his career is over, assuming he stays healthy. But it's great to see that kind of, of leadership they'll have for years. 

Mark Corbett: It's good to see them have the opportunity like that. There's no doubt. 

Think about it. When you have the All-Star game in the middle of the season, each. , you get to see players matching up with their opponents either on the National League side or the American League side, and they get an opportunity to chat with one for a little bit. But what this does in the World Baseball Classic, they have the opportunity for a few weeks to meet with other players that they've never really played with before.

They learn a lot. They've built up a different kind of camaraderie, and I think it builds up a unique energy with these teams as.

Mat Germain: It builds up the sport in general, I think and it gives it an international flavor that it so badly needs. They need to have that interaction between all these countries that love the game or that wanna learn more about the game and give them an opportunity to embrace it.

Being [00:04:00] from Canada, soccer has never been the strength of ours. And this year or last year, we finally got into the, the World Cup. And that was a huge deal. And even though all these Canadians probably didn't know much about the sport, having followed it passionately, all of a sudden became passionate about it.

And I compare that the exact same way with baseball and the World, world Baseball Classic is it gives the opportunity for Great Britain Czechoslovakia. A whole or Czech Republic, a whole bunch of different nations that come up and. Have some success and show some pride in the sport that they may not really know that well.

And the crowds, man, the crowds are so much fun to watch in some of those places. It's a lot of fun. 

Mark Corbett: You think about that, the , like I say, the size of some of these crowds, the energy that they have out there, it's just numbing. If we're looking at real quickly, some of the teams.

There have been broken out into four pools. The first pool is Cuba, Italy, Netherlands, Panama. The second pool B is Japan, Australia, Korea, Czech Republic, [00:05:00] China. The C pool is Canada, Columbia, Mexico, USA, great Britain. And Pool D is Venezuela, Israel, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua. Now just throw all that out there.

But when all this first came forward, I. I know there's gonna be a few teams I'm really gonna look at closely. It's easy to say. Okay. U S A. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Nothing. I love them. But the team I was gonna look at the most, I said I think that the Dominican Republic. And Venezuela, they're gonna two really good teams of sea playing out there in Pool de in Miami.

Mat Germain: Yeah. The fact they ended up in the same, division or whatever you pool they is incredible because they played that game against one another so tough and it's, it's a little bit more of a rivalry because of the proximity of being Latin American, .

, have had a really fun game and I think everybody un underrated Venezuela on initially and they're noticing now, like they, they're all switched on and [00:06:00] playing, I don't wanna say they're playing at their best cuz it's spring training still for most of these guys but they seem to be a little bit ahead of where Dominican Republic are and and that, that's what I've seen with a lot of teams so far.

It seems to be like the teams that are have a lot of players in the winter leagues, including Australia, are doing much better than the teams that don't have many players that did some winter ball. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah Altuve, Rees, you've got Acuna Jr. Salvador Perez. Geez man, he's watching that big man come up to the Plate. It's been amazing. Santander. Let's see who else. Cabrera's. And my favorite, David Peralta. . Yeah.

Mat Germain: They were describing like the bottom of their lineup and how two of the three in the bottom of the lineup had to hit 30 home runs in the last two or three years.

Mark Corbett: So geez. A couple of those guys, fairly seasoned Peralta and Salvador hit it's seating in it. Yeah. Perez, both of those two, both of those guys have been in a game for a bit.

 Probably mid to late thirties. That's, But they, the man, did they put on a show? 

Mat Germain: Yeah. [00:07:00] And I don't know if you, Jo caught Jola. Soza and the passionate, jam that he got Italy out of. And and he was pumped. I don't know if it was the most hyped moment ever in WBC, but he was just amped and vibrating off the mound after he was done.

And then that tweet went viral afterwards it was so fun to watch and. I was pretty happy to see that. Cuz I think, they can talk passionate beforehand, they can say the right things, but the show, the passion on the field is another, thing altogether. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, he was just walking off the field.

Wasn't that like the game was over at that point? It was just he had achieved what he wanted to achieve on the mound at that 

Mat Germain: point. Yeah, bass is loaded. He had to get out of the jam and got it done. Another example would be Randy Arozarena. Oh yeah. And he was gonna fist pump will Smith at the plate Will Smith shut him down,

And then he said, okay, I gotcha . And then he went off and became one of the highlights of the, of that game. and beating, the USA So it's there's a lot of little idiosyncrasies in [00:08:00] these games. And you're seeing a lot of, national camaraderie going on that you don't normally see in a in a regular 

Mark Corbett: baseball game.

One of the things that's interesting too is I was mentioning earlier where the players are from, doesn't necessarily mean if you're playing in the m l. you may be playing for another team, obviously someone like show Tani's playing with Japan. And then you have someone like Freddy Freeman playing for Canada.

 And, he was doing this, cuz his mother was from there and he felt like he wanted to honor her as well as both his parents actually are. Both of 'em are. Okay, great. I didn't realize that's that, that's, I think that's great that he's doing that. And Canada, Canada woke up a lot of folks because, What it been since 2006?

The team scored as many runs as they didn't they? , yeah. 

Mat Germain: The lineup is potent for Canada. Nobody should underrate their lineup because I think a lot of their young guys are, may not have the pedigree of being at the upper echelon of the minors. , but they are all have significant talent and high ceilings, so they can come up big in big [00:09:00] moments and get some really good at bats going.

The weakness is always going to be the pitching and some defense in certain areas, like Canada's never had the strongest shortstops, for example, or strongest center fielders, although this year their outfields a lot better than it normally. . 

Mark Corbett: Now, Canada's playing the US tonight, and Canada has a one zip victory, and the US has played two games already and they're one to one.

Mat Germain: . Run differential though they're way down like US is in trouble. Because they only scored six runs against Great Britain. Now I know Columbia probably put themselves in the hole too with their performance against but if it were to come to a, like a tie, , let's say we say Mix Mexico is able to pull it off because they've had the most success so far.

And then Canada is somehow able to to get two wins total, maybe three. And then US is able to do the same. Then the run differential comes into play with this tournament and it's huge. So the fact. Canada had 18 runs against great Britain plays [00:10:00] big time in this . 

Mark Corbett: Yeah it's exciting, man. I'm curious about tonight's matchup, though. Cause here it is Monday, March 13th, and tonight at 10 o'clock, Lance Lynn's gonna be taking the field for u the U s a and was it Mitch Brat taking it for. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, I honestly don't know anything about him. 

Mark Corbett: I don't know anybody does.

I looked a little bit Fri dude said, where is he? And yeah, I think he was somewhere in the Rangers organization 

Mat Germain: And sometimes that works to his advantage though. We've seen that, right? Where Oh yeah, first look at someone. It can be tricky. 

Mark Corbett: I'm interested to see what the young man brings to the table, and you were talking about somebody who could be in the, for a career for a while. He's only 19 years old . So he could be in the World Baseball Classic a few times. That's for certain. 

Mat Germain: It's too bad. Some of the pitchers didn't show up for Canada, like Mike Soroka has been dealing with injuries forever.

James Paxton, the same thing. Those are two big arms that they could have really used. And Jameson Taillon is [00:11:00] the one that I thought. , he should be there by all. Like in all honesty, unless there's something physically wrong with him. And you can't ask everybody to jeopardize their careers and their season just to play in this tournament.

I get it. But it would be fun at some point to see some Canada with some of their better pitchers, cuz they do have a lot more potential overall that way. I think if there's one thing that a lot of these countries that are in the margins like the smaller nations and the ones that don't have as much talent pitching is where you see the big difference.

Even Puerto Rico, which has a really good lineup, they're lacking pitching so much in terms of depth and you see it come up later in the games and some hear some there. But when I saw John Axford come out for Canada at 40 years old and cover first base, like quick as lightning, I was like, where did this come from?

Wow. That's awesome. Yeah. And then Matt brash came in and he's gonna be a really good arm for Canada for a long time. So they have some youth and some good arms [00:12:00] coming through. Just a matter of finding, at least a. Eight arms that you can ride for this tournament and get you through the 

tournament.

Mark Corbett: It is gonna be interesting too, cuz we were talking about the 18 runs that Canada put up there on the board the other day, but good gravy, man. Can you imagine being China today? 

Mat Germain: 22 to two. 

Mark Corbett: 22 to two. Yeah. 

Mat Germain: They've had a really rough time. I don't understand it either, because a lot of these countries have really good cricket backgrounds.

Yeah. And so you would think that they'd be able to translate a lot of those skills over, you would think India would be in this tournament. New Zealand a lot of other countries. I know New Zealand's now part of the. The Australian Baseball League. So they have a team now in, in Auckland. So maybe that jo that, generates some talents to come out of New Zealand.

But there's a lot of countries out there, you would think. And China is one. They have a lot of people . Oh yeah. And then, so I don't understand why they're not able, obviously it comes to playing it. 

Yeah, eventually I would've [00:13:00] thought National Pride , the government would scour the country to find some folks, put together a team.

for something like this. , it's just I was surprised with China, by the way. I love China's hat. I love the logo, the little golden dragon, flaming dragon on, on a red field. So I love that, I think, but that's the best thing China's got going for them is design. 

Do you see in Gibo?

Close it out for Great Britain. The T fell off of his jersey just fell off. It was a sticker. Yeah, just said Grea Britain . 

Mark Corbett: Oh brother. Oh 

Mat Germain: yeah. Hope. Hopefully they get jerseys the next time around. like piece at once. 

Mark Corbett: Oh geez, man, that's, that sounds like a Charlie Brown type operation doing something like that.

Oh, I don't know. See 

Mat Germain: the shooting budget that these guys are operating with though, that, that's the sad. Is that a lot of these teams are just there, like it's, it, they're lucky to be there, quite honestly. So that's why it's so huge that they win and get some funding for themselves to help 'em out.[00:14:00] 

Mark Corbett: I'm always intrigued, like I was saying earlier about different players where they're appearing and obviously like some Shohei Ohtani. Yeah. Japan, , the one that kind blew my mind was a guy he brought along. and that's Lars Nootbar. . Yeah, . I said, wait a minute. I said, this sounds like a Dutch candy bar something, but no , but no, this gentleman I know he and his heritage, his his mother.

She'd lived in Japan or her parents, and I was really glad to see that he was able to go there with them. And, and there's others out there too, you see that are, they're going across this. So I'm glad to see as many MLB players out there. I always just, always hope they're not usurping a spot from somebody from that country, but great players, if they can play for those teams.

FFantastic . 

Mat Germain: Yep. The leadership for this one came right from Mike Trout and then all the way down behind him. So I know there's a lot of people that pulled out and it probably would be a better tournament if if they could do it mid-season when everybody is in mid Formm. But I think N [00:15:00] H L is the only one that shuts down the league to do that kind of thing.

Completely. Wow. . So maybe in the future if they, if MLB decides for whatever reason to to shorten the season, maybe they decide they can do that. But I don't see it in, in the near future by any means. I do know one thing that probably is motivating the stars to to participate in these things so heavily.

Not only these national pride, but if you follow the World Cup for soccer, they make a lot of money. From appearing in that tournament. And so there's, there is, some monetary benefit to being in these big things, sponsorships, this, that, the other thing. So I think eventually they're seeing, maybe not this time around, but next time and next time, they're able to amp it up each time and add some coin to their pocket.

Mark Corbett: The World Cup wasn't that long. . So I think that sort of excitement about the whole international feel has probably elevated the the popularity [00:16:00] of the World Baseball Classic. So we'll see how this plays out now. Like you was pointing out to think of if dollars are there, , the rest of the strategy will follow behind it, and MLB would find a way to make this work That would be interesting to see if they could do a break in the season.

The All-Star game is nice, but I would love to see something like this in the middle of a regular season as. And I'm 

Mat Germain: actually a proponent of the All-Star game being what starts the season? Ah, it'd be for the previous season's. Stars kick off the season with an All-Star game right at the end of spring training.

And then you do the hall of Fame induction at the same time. So you, everybody's there, all the stars are there, they're all together. You do the Hall of Fame induction and and then you go on. 

Mark Corbett: I like that. That's a great way to launch the season. , when you think about it. For one thing that inducting the induct tees of the Hall of Fame, I like that.

To start off the season instead, just put it in the middle of the season. Right now, [00:17:00] those folks are waiting, until, like I said, mid-season before they're gonna be getting the award. It's nice. I know they build it up and over time and we got Fred McGriff from here in Tampa.

 He's gonna be in there. But I just thought from the time they announced him on the veterans until the actual handing over to him, I thought is, it's gonna be probably 6, 8, 10 months almost by the time, at least from him on the Veterans Committee. But it's, yeah. I like your idea of actually putting that up at the beginning of the season.

Mat Germain: , 

I would be based on the full season. You always see the at y star game. Some guys, I have a hard hot first half and. , I think it should reflect the entire season. The other benefit that you have then is that everybody's, re semi-healthy and able to go. They get to set their sites on the season, and if you plan it out correctly, you can actually run the season from then on, on a six day basis.

Kind of what they do in the minors in most levels. where you play Tuesday to Sunday with six starters and you don't have an all-star break and you just run it all the way [00:18:00] through the season. And you could even make each week one series against one team and less travel. But that's going way down the rabbit hole,

I just think the, they're like, Every year we get to some point in the season when you got the Hall of Fame, votings begins, and then nobody's talking about real baseball anymore. They're talking about the past. Yeah. And all the conversations and all the. Hype tends to be about the Hall of Fame during the season when there's actually stuff going on.

And so you always start losing sight a little bit about, what teams are doing what, how well are they doing? What's this, what's that? And nobody's talking about it because they're talking about the Hall of Fame. That should happen in the off season. That's when you have the time to reflect.

and to think and to look through everything and to digest the arguments for and against all these players. That's when you do the voting, in my eyes, not in the middle of the freaking season. . It just doesn't make any sense. 

Mark Corbett: No, I'm with you, brother. I really am. I, I had so much issues too, once upon a time with the All-Star [00:19:00] game, and even when I first heard about the World Baseball Classic years ago, I thought this is just a great opportu.

for your star players to get hurt and not be able to play for your team . And there's some of that, some guys actually didn't even make it to the World Baseball class. Let's see, Vlad Jr. I believe, and there was, I'm sure several others, but he's the one that comes to mind first. Yeah. But Dallas Keuchel and some other ones I think who may have been physically able, but there may have been something contractual with the team.

that said, yeah, no, you can't go in your contract. You can't be doing these other things. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, and I don't even think it needs to be a game. If they wanted to change it and make it the future stars play, right? So the young guys, the prospects, they're the ones who play the game and the older guys just have a skills competition of some sort.

You can have the home run hitting competition, yet you don't even have to play an actual game. , we know what these guys can do in the field, but like the skills I think to me are more interesting to people than the actual game. . [00:20:00] So like in Japan and in Korea, they have all these games to make them do all these drills to show you know what the skill an infielder is and what this is and what that is.

And you can have all these things set up, not even have a game. And then after that you have the prospects game that launches the season and you're like, these are future stars. Go watch 'em on M I L B T V, which is now part of MLB tv and support them and at the stadiums. And then boom, you kick off your season, you're good to go.

Mark Corbett: Yeah, I was really glad to hear that about M I L B T V, coming underneath the M L B TV, if you will, to be able to see those games. I know man, Mat, when I think of what you do, I know as far as your ability to watch games and how you have to. Snare video from here and there and watch shaky cameras that somebody may have put up in a field for a what?

A single A or double a team . I dunno. Maybe this will make it a little easier. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, I'm hoping they need to invest some money in the cameras at least. You don't even [00:21:00] have to have announcers if you don't want, but at least have good video. I think people wouldn't even me mind watching that with the sound on and just listen to the sounds of the game.

Yeah. , but I, the cameras, like I said, I think I said this to you the last time a 10 year old could go around with, a GoPro and set them up in better locations than what M I L B teams have been doing. So I don't know who's running the show down there, but they need some help.

Big time. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah you can't give the guy who's doing, your janitorial services and selling hotdog to also be the guy that sends up the cameras. And sometimes I think it's the deal. Okay. Yeah, . 

Mat Germain: It's true. I don't know. Maybe cause they don't watch the broadcast, they don't see how bad it is.

I don't know. But I don't know. 

Mark Corbett: But like I say, once you attach a dog to it, they'll they'll find a way. . I'll just say one last thing about the World Baseball Classic. We can talk more about it, we were talking about bringing up the young people and this Mitch, Bratt. I'm really excited about watching this game tonight because here's a guy you and I [00:22:00] go who's he?

Oh, he is 19 years old. It looks like he might be with the Texas Rangers, . I don't know much more than that. So I'm looking forward to seeing what he does and a lot of the other young people in this classic, and let's see, we're gonna be going into the quarter. Quarter finals for all this? No. Yeah, pretty soon.

Quarter finals. Yeah, 

Mat Germain: there's still a few days left. I mean in the quarter finals already, you have Australia and you have Italy. Now, just right there, you have two teams that nobody would've picked at the beginning to Australia I knew could be stronger than most people thought because they do have consistent, strong veteran leadership on that team.

That is. , seasoned because of the league they have in winter. So I just don't know if their pitching is going to be there. But imagine like somebody like Curtis Mead, if he had been allowed to go, would've really helped Australia Elevate even better. So they're, they're doing well as it is.

And then Jimon Choi being, stopped from going to South Korea really [00:23:00] helped hurt them. But I. . Yeah. The youth movement is so interesting to watch because like you said they're just they're going to be there for a long time. They're gonna enjoy the classic and they're gonna show up again next time.

So that's intriguing 

Mark Corbett: to me. This looks like a good place for a transition cause we're talking about youth and you're bringing up Curtis Mead and you and I are, the last time we talked, we said, he said, mark, you know what, there's gonna be a lot of guys in spring training. Many more rookies than you would see previously because a lot of the regular members are gonna be going to the World Baseball Classic.

Yeah. Yankees, I think we talked about has as many as 29 people coming up that were not on the regular list. It's anybody who wants to make any kind of conclusions from wins and losses during spring training this year. They're setting themself up for failure if they think it's gonna be reflective of the regular season.

But it has made for some interesting games and some interesting players. We talk. Going back to something about Curtis Mead with the Rays, who are some of the other young [00:24:00] people you've seen come up in the Rays organization through spring training this year? 

Mat Germain: The ones that you mean like the ones that weren't supposed to be?

Like big highlights are notable or 

Mark Corbett: the ones that we would not necessarily expect. And have there been any real surprises or wonders going, yes. Where'd this guy come from? 

Mat Germain: I've watched him a lot, so I know him pretty well. But Jordan Qsar, I think, is making a really good impact with the Limited at bats.

He could have. Osleivis Basabe is one that I think opened up a lot of eyes and he's somebody that has the versatility in the infield. He can play second all the way through, through third, and he did really well defensively and offensively, and I think he opened up some eyes and. Put Vidal Brujan and Taylor Walls on notice, like your spots are not secure on this roster.

And that's a great thing. Kyle Manzardo, I think showed off his power and yeah, that was expected. But if I was to dig a little bit deeper and a lot of these things are like smaller, margins because they're only, seen a couple of times and then you don't see them [00:25:00] again.

But I, I think. Trevor Brigden is one that I'm really intrigued by. And Joe LaSorsa is the other one that I mentioned before with Italy. He's doing it with Italy. But I think performances like that are ones that kind of, Bring you a little bit closer to saying, huh. We have some intriguing pieces that we haven't really seen before, but by far the most encouraging performance so far in Ray's camp has to be Luke Raley and seeing him hot early with showing power making consistent contact.

He's got a different approach this year at the plate than what I saw last year when he first came up. He was a lot more. He's basically using the approach that I wish Isaac Paredes would use because he's more aggressive at the right times. Instead of allowing the umps to call strikes, anyways, I won't dig too deep into that, but he's another one that I would say is is really showing, Strength I think if he could actually give them the left-handed power they were looking for. Along with Josh Lowe, who's been the biggest star I think of all of Ray's camp then [00:26:00] they're in business cuz they've got that left-handed power.

And today Brandon Lowe came alive. So that's three big left-handed bats that they could potentially have to go into the season. So I think that's what they were looking for. On the downside, I think Gary Clevinger is looking a little rough. Maybe he's a little tired or he is not sorting stuff out.

But I always want to point out one weakness to even it out, but the young guys will be fine. I know they sent five guys down to the minors today. So Colby White, Curtis Mead, Greg Jones Basabe and Bradley. Bradley's definitely on the radar, but now they're starting to clear up room for the regular roster and.

One thing that's interesting to note is that they have a spot open or that they can open once they put Shane Baz on the 60 day IL. It'll be interesting to see who they pick for that.

Mark Corbett: I know you got a little grief earlier today, man. She, you were actually commending Randy Arozarena first doing such a great job out there and putting something on Twitter and somebody hey, aren't you the guy?

We should [00:27:00] dump him . 

Mat Germain: I didn't say we should dump him. I just, they, the ray said that they were the ray said, so there were rumors that the rays were shopping. I never said I wanted to dump him. I said that if they can get what they want for him, then yeah, they can move him. And I know the way that the rays deal, players.

So for instance, if you trade Randy or Arozarena and you put Curtis Mead in left field, are you really that much worse off, assuming Curtis Mead hits the way we think, but you will you're not really. So he is not indispensable to the Rays. Is he electric and is he somebody that you want in the playoff?

Most definitely. Is he much better now with the bigger bases than you would've been before? Absolutely. . Oh yeah. So he's, there's a lot of benefits to keeping Randy Arozarena around. I was by no means saying dump him. 

Mark Corbett: Thank you for clarification, cuz I, I thought they were coming on a little hard at you this morning.

When I saw that on Twitter, I said, really?

Mat Germain: I don't pay attention. 

Mark Corbett: Smart man.[00:28:00] 

Oh brother. No, I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be a great season. And I, there's things we knew we weren't gonna be seeing people come back. We knew Zunino wasn't gonna be there. We knew Kiermaier wasn't gonna be there. I really hoped that Peralta would be there cuz I saw him as a leader..

I saw him maybe as a mentor. I was surprised in some ways. See Corey Kluber. That wasn't, I don't remember what his contract was, but I don't think he's been shining as much as I think expectation was there. I don't. 

Peralta, you would be blocking Joshua a 

Mat Germain: lot. Good point. So I'm la I think they tried that last year just to try to go and see what they, if they could make any noise in the playoffs.

They knew Glasnow was coming back, y yada. They said, ah, we'll give it a small shot, but, Josh Lowe had a heck of a July, and he was the best hitter in AAA from that point on. So there's no reason to not give him that job and see what he can do between now and July. If he fails, then yeah, you look for a David Peralta [00:29:00] style guy maybe to, to jump in, but I think he's going to be a 25 home run, 30 plus stolen base player this year and you're gonna see him become a fixture at the top of the lineup.

Mark Corbett: I am looking forward to seeing what kind of difference there's going to be as far as stolen bases with all the players this year. , I know recently I had Chris Smith on here and we were talking about Ricky Henderson. He said, , can you imagine if Ricky Henderson had these larger bases in the new rules that no, it's a whole other dynamic, but it should be a little bit more excitement, whether you agree or don't agree with these rules I do find that there's gonna be more excitement with the.

Definitely, yeah. I don't think there's anything wrong with any of the rules that they're bringing in and trying them out and I know they've went back and forth on some of the rules that they've put in. So the fact that they're at least trying, and , the pitch clock is one. I've been, admiring from afar for a long time.

The, automated strike zone will be the next one. I'll be really hyped about. The shifts and all that. Yeah. You know what, like having people really have to show off their [00:30:00] defensive skills. I don't think there's much wrong with that. I just also think that you shouldn't punish the smart teams. But I get it.

If you really hammer a ball that 90% of the time pre-shift would've been a hit and all of a sudden the guys right there to be really frustrating. So I get it. We'll see. What do you think the rules are gonna turn out? Are you. Expecting a huge offensive 

outburst, or 

I am expecting more stolen bases.

 Offensively, I don't know. I would like to see, I would guess that we're gonna see one more run per game. I think that's what's gonna happen if you ask me. I don't think you're gonna see much more of an increase in the, I think the time has already proven to. The the reduction amount of time the games are being is there, that's apparent.

But the larger bases, not sure they're gonna do much for safety, but I definitely do believe they will increase the amount of times the bases are stolen, especially when a pitcher can always step off the base twice, far and at bat. 

Mat Germain: One of the most intriguing things I [00:31:00] heard, and I was listening to one of the older guys on on SiriusXM on Saturday morning, and he was talking about the time on your feet.

So the amount of time that baseball players spend on their feet is going to diminish drastically now. , you might not think that's a huge thing, but come September, that's a huge thing. There's a lot of older players that are gonna benefit from this change because they're not gonna be on their feet as much.

They're gonna have more energy to put into those later months in the season. So you, I think what you're gonna see is a more sustained offensive, approach to the game. And conversely, for pitchers, You're gonna see them have to do way more adjustments than anybody else. So how that's the one ingredient I can't figure out.

Some pitchers are gonna benefit cuz they're not gonna overthink things. Some pitchers are going to, have a hard time with that because they're, they feel rushed. You're gonna have so many different scenarios playing out. I think it'll leave an out in the end and it'll just make for more interesting, consistent baseball games, I think.

And that's what I think the [00:32:00] key is overall. . But it, it is a factor that when you're looking at the amount of time players are gonna spend on the field in really hot conditions, if you're in Texas and some other places, like it gets to be pretty pretty warm and toasty.

I think it'll be fun to watch. I think the fans will really enjoy it. But the stolen base ones making. The bases bigger, I think irks me the most because it renders all previous statistics irrelevant. 

Mark Corbett: Thank you. Thank you. 

Mat Germain: It puts them in a bowl and then you get to watch them, but you'll never see them again unless they put the bases back to what they were.

But you're gonna have this outlier now and everybody's career, the lasts, but played X amount of years with larger bases. So that one I think is just not necessary to be. 

Yeah, I hate asterisk in the game and this, I do believe it's gonna do that. Cause we was talking a moment ago about Ricky Henderson , who, whoever achieved something this year, you can't compare it to what he did.

Because of that almost. 

Yeah, [00:33:00] it's on its own. It'll be the first of new statistics, right? Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: Oh brother. I know it's alright. 

Mat Germain: We won't cry about it. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, I know. I'll wait till all the injuries start happening and then I'll cry. See, my team's got more than your team and boohoo. Woohoo. So we'll see how it comes.

There's no, crying in baseball. . Thank you. I forgot about that. 

Mat Germain: There is no crying in baseball. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, brother. Oh I'm excited about it. Geez, we're only three weeks away from opening day. It's it's fun. Boys and girls and I. I've almost forgotten about spring training cuz I've got my head buried in this World Baseball Classic.

And this is gonna be going on through, I think about the 19th or more this month. Let's see, I bring it up real quick 

here.

Mat Germain: I've been glued on watching pitching and watching, who's injured, who isn't injured. , oblique, BL . I. I think there should be a sponsor called Oblique for baseball. . 

We need some chiropractors and physical therapists who are sponsoring, different parts of the game with all that.

I [00:34:00] think that would work. 

Yeah, there's a lot of fortunes being changed before the season even starts and the Yankees are feeling it, I think a lot on the mound and the Mets are too, so I think the New York teams both overspent on the older pitchers. and it we're not even started. So what's happening?

July, August, September. Nevermind. Playoff night. . . 

Mark Corbett: So 

tell me, do you have a projection for tonight's game with Canada and the us? 

That's really hard to talk cause can's, pitching is So weak. I don't know if they can use Matt Brash again. And same with John Axford. I don't think they threw many pitches.

Oh, that's a tough call, man. . 

They did so well with that score being so high the other day. It sounds like the energy's gonna be there for Canada 

Mat Germain: and I'll say 9 to 4 US. . 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Okay. I'll go with us, but I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be a little a [00:35:00] little more generous with Canada. Cause I'm thinking more like 12.

Okay we'll see. We 

Mat Germain: have to wind up to do some damage. I don't, Lance Lynn's not really on his game right now, very much I could see it. All right. 

Mark Corbett: Brother, I'm gonna get set up here. Ready? You get my popcorn and everything cooking, , just sit down, enjoy the game. And I hope everybody else gets a chance to enjoy all these fantastic games to watch.

My favorite still, I'm gonna be looking at Mexico. I'm, I wasn't so much looking at them and pulling for them. And definitely Venezuela those teams are top for me as ones I really wanna see continue to move forward. 

Mat Germain: ? Yep. I agree. I think they're very strong. As long as they're con, I think Venezuela is the most consistent team right now, so they'll be hard.

Mark Corbett: All right. I wanna thank you again, Mat, for joining us here today on Baseball Biz On Deck as always, and wish you a great time, my friend. It's always fantastic having you here and always enjoy the conversation. Absolutely. Anytime. Okay. Thank y'all again for joining us here today on Baseball Biz On Deck, and we look forward to talking with you all again real [00:36:00] soon.

Remember, you can find baseball biz on deck on@www.baseball bizondeck.com on. Dot com. Is that enough? ? And you can find me, mark, at the baseball biz Twitter. And Matt, where can they find you on Twitter? At 

Mat Germain: m a t underscore, g e r m a i n underscore. 

Mark Corbett: There you go. So check us out. We look forward to talking with you guys again.

And Mat stay safe. Best wishes for your team and see what's going. 

Mat Germain: Same to you, 

Mark Corbett: buddy. All right.