0:00

I mean the thing that I really appreciate

0:02

about Reuben when he was my pitching

0:04

coach for two years in AAA and

0:06

I appreciate honestly how blunt he was

0:08

he didn't he didn't try to sugarco

0:10

something for me you know if I sucked

0:12

one day he told me I suck if I

0:14

pitched well hey you did great this could still

0:16

be improved. I missed a bullpen one day because

0:18

of a rain out and he was like you

0:21

know what your fastball of course right now. Why

0:23

don't we stop throwing a four seam? Let's

0:25

just mess around with a two seam and

0:27

see how it works. We throw it inside

0:29

during a rainout. And I mean, that's as a

0:31

pigeon coach, you know, I guess that's a brave

0:33

thing to do. Just say, hey, ditch what

0:35

you've done for the last six years gives

0:38

you this point, because it's not working right

0:40

now. Let's try something new. Suea

0:54

we're back we're digging at home we're not

0:56

digging deep we're at home we're not on

0:58

the road right now it's the off-season

1:00

we get to catch up with some

1:02

buddies some buddies we're gonna see in

1:04

the future on the road and some

1:06

buddies we got to share and go

1:08

against in the clubhouse you got to

1:10

share a go against in the clubhouse

1:12

you got to share a club house you got

1:15

to share a clubhouse with Corey

1:17

clover I did not unfortunately had

1:19

to face him in Cleveland maybe

1:21

Was it? I love it. Sewa, you

1:24

got to spend some time with Cluber

1:26

and Tampa Bay, so I know you're

1:28

excited for this one as well. It

1:30

was. It was an awesome opportunity just

1:33

to get to know Cluber, especially at

1:35

that time of his career, to hear

1:37

the stories of you and Batter's facing

1:40

you and then had the chance to,

1:42

I'm going to be honest, learn from

1:44

you and to see all the other

1:47

younger players learn from you. I'm sure

1:49

we'll get into that. Absolutely. I

1:51

feel like there's a million different things we

1:53

can ask you. And obviously we're going to,

1:56

whether it's pitching mechanics, the way you train,

1:58

the way you lead, your men. because

2:00

it just seems like no one ever could

2:03

break you on the mound which we will

2:05

at some point But you know a big

2:07

thing is that Sue has got to tell

2:09

us over the years and just talking with

2:11

them about Tampa is your leadership So not

2:13

only your leadership that you know people would

2:15

always talk about from clubhouse to clubhouse, but

2:17

now you know starting cost of the club

2:19

and starting the player-driven media stuff kind of

2:21

like me I thought during my playing career I would

2:24

never get into this type of stuff, but you know

2:26

you find you want to help some of the the

2:28

younger kids not only in pro ball but the amateur

2:30

lap the amateur level and all that kind of thing

2:32

so how did everything get going will cost a clue

2:34

and then we'll kind of backtrack and go through the

2:37

career after this one yeah like you said I think

2:39

it's probably the last thing I would have

2:41

guessed that I was going to be doing

2:43

you know post playing probably everybody else too

2:45

but You know the opportunity kind of came

2:47

up and I wasn't doing anything at that

2:49

point in time was actually really bored. You

2:51

know you go through those first few months

2:54

of retirement not knowing so bored what to

2:56

do at all. And so I was like

2:58

yeah let's give it a shot. I thought

3:00

it was a unique opportunity like you said

3:02

to kind of give players perspective of things

3:04

a lot of what everybody's exposed to

3:06

like we all know is kind of

3:08

the mainstream media and a lot of

3:10

that probably has some of an agenda

3:12

tied to it. speak their own mind

3:14

and give their own side of certain

3:16

things. I do love that. So real

3:18

quick, talking about speaking your own mind

3:20

and talking about being bored. So when

3:22

I get traded over to Boston, I

3:24

go on the IL like two weeks

3:26

into being there, which was terrible, but

3:28

I'm on the IL for about the

3:30

IL for about a month. So I

3:32

get done with my rehab throughout the

3:35

day and I'm basically living the lifestyle

3:37

of a starting pitcher that's not pitching

3:39

on that day. I go into the

3:41

stadium, I do. And it is boring, man. And

3:44

I say that humbly speaking, being a baseball

3:46

player, someone that's a part of the action

3:48

plan, trying to play 162 games a year.

3:50

But with that being said, so many players

3:52

have so many great conversations in the

3:55

dugout and Sua. I mean, you of

3:57

all people have had some of the

3:59

most epic conversations. with people in the

4:01

dugout, but whole different lifestyle that

4:03

got to open my eyes when

4:05

I was in Boston being the

4:07

dugout. I mean, imagine doing that

4:09

four to five days not at

4:11

Fenway Park and it's even more

4:13

boring. Oh my. I'm actually curious.

4:15

Klooves, how many episodes have you

4:17

guys done on your podcast?

4:19

I think we're just shy of 25 and

4:21

awesome, by the way. What have you noticed?

4:23

Are there any governing principles or themes

4:25

that you have learned that maybe you

4:28

didn't expect whether things they've said certain

4:30

themes that keep coming up. What would

4:32

have you learned after talking to some

4:34

of these guys? You know, I think

4:36

the biggest thing that I've learned so

4:38

far is just how willing guys are

4:40

to talk about their experiences and stuff

4:42

that they're not normally asked. You know,

4:45

we've had some people come in that

4:47

I don't necessarily have a relationship with

4:49

prior to and you can tell they're

4:51

a little bit kind of feeling out

4:53

the situation at first and as soon

4:55

as they get comfortable, they're ready to

4:57

let whatever roll off. I think the biggest

4:59

thing with a constant theme from

5:01

everybody though is attention to detail in

5:04

whatever you're doing, whether it's your craft,

5:06

whether it's preparation, all that stuff, like

5:08

all these elite athletes that we have

5:11

the opportunity to talk to take so

5:13

much pride in doing the little things

5:15

that they know are like the separators

5:18

between being really really good and just

5:20

kind of hanging on. Yeah, that's so

5:22

true and clues. I don't know if

5:24

you notice, but I definitely took a

5:27

notice to when you're the athlete, when

5:29

you're a player, you're trying to get

5:31

as best as you can possibly get.

5:33

When we first got caught up to

5:36

the big leagues, it was like everyone's

5:38

going home in the off season. We're

5:40

gonna wait lift. We're training in the

5:42

off season, not only during season, but

5:44

spring training and off season to

5:47

get better. And now, it seems like

5:49

more guys are really paying attention to

5:51

that. the mental side of a baseball

5:53

game is I mean the baseball season

5:55

is absolutely crucial and it's almost like

5:57

as a hitter when playing every day

5:59

you and limit the at bats you give

6:02

away. So mentally, that's when you give

6:04

away your at bats is when you're

6:06

just kind of checked out, you try

6:08

and stay focused and locked in. I

6:10

mean, Kluz, you've been through so much

6:12

to your career. Everyone just sees all

6:14

the sigh youngs and the success, but

6:16

leading up to that, I mean, you

6:18

had some injuries in the minor leagues

6:20

and you never really got healthy until

6:22

a certain point. So I'm sure mentally,

6:24

that's gotta be good because you've got

6:26

to seem like you've been like you've

6:29

been like you've been like you've been

6:31

like you've been through kind of every

6:33

situation, kind of every situation, kind of

6:35

every situation, kind of every situation, kind

6:37

of every situation, kind of every situation,

6:39

kind of every situation, Yeah, I wasn't

6:41

a highly tied up prospect, didn't have

6:43

a very clean ascension to the big

6:45

leagues or anything like that. And I

6:47

think it kind of forced me to

6:49

develop that mental toughness, you know, that

6:51

you're talking about. And I think that

6:53

I realized early on how important that

6:56

was because it allowed me to get

6:58

over difficult times when I wasn't ready

7:00

to just call it quits yet. You

7:02

know, I wanted to keep trying to

7:04

chase that dream. And I think that

7:06

realizing that... allowed me to have an

7:08

open mind of working with people like

7:10

Sue or working with mental skills coaches

7:12

earlier on my career whereas I feel

7:14

like you know you were probably the

7:16

same way I'd imagine a lot of

7:18

people when we were first getting in

7:20

the big leagues there was still a

7:23

stigma about mental skills were working on

7:25

the the mental side of the game

7:27

and stuff because I think people thought

7:29

they were maybe too tough for it

7:31

or they thought you know somebody was

7:33

going to run back to the front

7:35

office they said something that that was

7:37

damning or whatever. I think nowadays it's

7:39

a lot different because I think like

7:41

you said people do realize how important

7:43

it is. We always talk about you

7:45

know the mental side when you start

7:47

doing these exercises and you start trying

7:49

to train the mind it becomes a

7:52

lifestyle. It's the same thing as nutrition

7:54

if you're trying to get healthy. You

7:56

can't just do it for seven days

7:58

or two months and then take some

8:00

time off or say you're going to

8:02

do it Monday through Friday. I mean

8:04

essentially it's got to become a lifestyle

8:06

for you to fully commit and make

8:08

that change. I've always thought that guys

8:10

like Klubbs and I Sua are in

8:12

a weird position because you get to

8:14

a point in time in your career

8:16

where like Klub said early on it's

8:19

almost like if you do go to

8:21

somebody like yourself Sua and say hey

8:23

man I'm struggling right now, I need

8:25

help mentally. It's almost like the organization,

8:27

we're gonna look at that and be

8:29

like, hey, I don't know if we

8:31

can count on this guy right now

8:33

because he's going through it mentally. We

8:35

gotta be careful to fast forward to

8:37

now, guys like yourself are some of

8:39

the most valuable people in the clubhouse

8:41

because guys, players are vulnerable and coming

8:43

up to you saying, hey, I need

8:46

to talk, let's keep this day-to-day dialogue

8:48

going. How many guys? Have you seen

8:50

kind of in that time era that

8:52

clubs and I came up 2010 to

8:54

now in the late or 22, 20,

8:56

whatever, 24? How many of those guys

8:58

were in between, started out one way,

9:00

then came to you and said, man,

9:02

I see all these younger guys doing

9:04

this crazy stuff and having success. Maybe

9:06

I should start going doing this stuff

9:08

mentally, whatever it is. I bet those

9:10

are some of those like dugout conversations

9:13

that you have during the games. What's

9:15

interesting about what you say, what you

9:17

ask, is I have a very, I

9:19

don't know if you'll remember this, Kloops,

9:21

hundreds of conversations over the past X

9:23

amount of years in different sports, but

9:25

there are some memorable conversations I've had

9:27

with Kloops, personally. He taught me something

9:29

that I will never forget, that I

9:31

asked him the question, because I didn't

9:33

know what Kloops is gonna be like.

9:35

You never know if you're gonna build

9:37

a friendship, and I don't know if

9:39

you remember this. And I actually asked

9:42

Corey, I said, like, how are you

9:44

like talking to me? Like, really, like,

9:46

we would just chat, like, we would

9:48

just sit and we would talk about

9:50

the team and talk about himself and,

9:52

and it was interesting, he shared that

9:54

he's out of place and correct me

9:56

if I'm wrong, Cloops, you're at a

9:58

place in your career at that point

10:00

where you were just so open and

10:02

vulnerable and transparent and it wasn't like,

10:04

and we didn't have, I didn't give.

10:06

Corey exercises like we didn't do like

10:09

skills we didn't do like here do

10:11

this breathing technique it was conversational it

10:13

was more he was open and breaking

10:15

down hey this is where my mind

10:17

is before this start this is what

10:19

my assessment of this last start was

10:21

this is my assessment of the culture

10:23

and leadership and we'd have these emerging

10:25

conversations. What was interesting, it's the veterans

10:27

who we would have these conversations with

10:29

and it was the younger guys who

10:31

didn't fail as much through the minor

10:33

leagues who came up and oh I'm

10:36

just gonna go out there and and

10:38

and play who were less open to

10:40

having more vulnerable conversations being open. And

10:42

I don't know if was that your

10:44

guys is that true clues I could

10:46

be making this up but do you

10:48

feel like you were I don't know,

10:50

just felt more secure, the older you

10:52

got, and you're like, okay, like we

10:54

can have these conversations. Yeah, I mean,

10:56

I think that at that point in

10:58

time, I was pretty, I don't know

11:00

if content is right word, but I

11:03

feel like I had accomplished more than

11:05

I thought I was going to accomplish

11:07

in my career at that point. So

11:09

that was trying to figure out ways

11:11

to keep growing as a player, you

11:13

know, I knew that I was probably

11:15

close to the end of the end

11:17

of the road in terms of my

11:19

career. If I was going to keep

11:21

playing for another couple of years, I

11:23

feel like I had to find other

11:25

ways to bring value with maybe the

11:27

physical skills weren't what they once were.

11:29

And so I think that you get

11:32

to that stage and like you said,

11:34

you're probably a little more comfortable in

11:36

being vulnerable because, you know, I had

11:38

accomplished a lot more than I ever

11:40

thought that I would and I wasn't

11:42

still trying to necessarily prove myself to

11:44

an organization like some of those young

11:46

guys are that maybe they're a little

11:48

more guarded. And then how clues, let

11:50

me ask you this, did you feel

11:52

like towards the end, it was, it

11:54

was not harder, maybe a little more

11:56

difficult or different to connect with some

11:59

of the younger guys that were coming

12:01

up versus maybe in Cleveland when a

12:03

younger guy was coming up? Did you

12:05

feel there was a little difference there?

12:07

Yeah, I think, I think on multiple

12:09

fronts probably because, you know, towards the

12:11

end of my time in Cleveland, a

12:13

lot of those guys that were being

12:15

called up had been in the organization.

12:17

when I was already there. So I

12:19

didn't, I feel like, you know, you

12:21

see him in spring training, you see

12:23

him, if they get called up for,

12:26

you know, a couple of coffee. here

12:28

there and by the time they get

12:30

there and establish themselves there's a little

12:32

bit of relationship built there already where

12:34

it is you you go to a

12:36

new organization like us in Tampa you

12:38

know it's my first year that I

12:40

had no prior relationship with anybody on

12:42

the team and so yeah maybe a

12:44

little bit more of that that feeling

12:46

out here to just to get guys

12:48

to feel comfortable I think that whether

12:50

if you're a young guy and you're

12:52

having a conversation with a guy who's

12:55

been around for a while There's a

12:57

little bit of uncomfort, uncomfortableness there because,

12:59

you know, you don't want to roughly

13:01

feathers or, you know, feel like you're

13:03

taking away from their time when they

13:05

need to do. So, yeah, I guess

13:07

it was different in both in both

13:09

cases. At what point in the Tampa,

13:11

your Tampa stint, did you realize, oh,

13:13

they're looking to me as a leader?

13:15

I think spring training. With the Wayport

13:17

Charlotte is especially being, it's a bunch

13:19

of different buildings, you know, scattered throughout

13:22

the complex. It's not one big building

13:24

that houses a weight room and a

13:26

food room and a lock room and

13:28

stuff. So there's always people moving around

13:30

to a lot of different places. Spring

13:32

training has a lot of movement in

13:34

general. But I feel like the way

13:36

that complex is kind of put together,

13:38

the guys that were in the group

13:40

that I was in for PFPs, throwing

13:42

pens, all that kind of stuff. Yeah,

13:44

you develop relation relation with them. aside

13:46

from the little bit of time in

13:49

the locker and stuff, had much time

13:51

at all with any position players up

13:53

to that point. So there's maybe a

13:55

different relationship with the pitchers when the

13:57

season starts as opposed to some of

13:59

the position players. Because I was also

14:01

living in Tampa at that point. I

14:03

wasn't in Port Charlotte, so commuting a

14:05

lot and not a whole lot of

14:07

time to go out to dinner or

14:09

that kind of thing to build relationships

14:11

with guys either. But it happened pretty

14:13

quickly, I think, once a season with

14:16

this other. I will say one thing

14:18

that's very memorable to me is every

14:20

team as you both know has their

14:22

own identity because of the roster construction,

14:24

the age, how many wins and losses,

14:26

there's a lot of variables that go

14:28

into the identity of a given team

14:30

any given season. and there are certain

14:32

things you do and you don't do

14:34

what worked in one season may not

14:36

work in another season when you're trying

14:38

to build culture with the team. There

14:40

was one thing that you and I

14:42

experienced clubs with the year you were

14:45

there that I in my entire career

14:47

for any sport I've ever worked with

14:49

I've never done and I don't know

14:51

if you know what I'm talking about.

14:53

You probably know what I'm talking about.

14:55

We did something where we would have

14:57

Maybe we did it three or four

14:59

times, where we would have a players

15:01

only roundtable discussion around different topics. And

15:03

there was no teacher, there was no

15:05

instructor, there was no one leading the

15:07

conversation, it was just a topic. And

15:09

the topic was, what do you got

15:12

on? What do you got on? How

15:14

do you stay positive during down times?

15:16

And everyone would talk about it. Clubes,

15:18

can you talk about what were those

15:20

like for you and why do you

15:22

think? Those were beneficial. First off, I

15:24

was floored by how many guys came.

15:26

You know, the first time we did

15:28

it, I think you sent out a

15:30

message to everybody two or three days

15:32

beforehand. You know, we're going to do

15:34

this at say 2.30 before we go

15:36

stretch or something like that. No pressure,

15:39

but if you want to show up,

15:41

this is where it's going to be.

15:43

There was. almost an entire roster unless

15:45

I started a picture that day. There

15:47

was Spanish speaking players or translators in

15:49

there. I think a lot of people

15:51

bought in initially, but once they kind

15:53

of heard other people talking about doing

15:55

it, then that fear of doing something

15:57

different or maybe a stigma attached to

15:59

it went away pretty quickly. But I

16:01

think it was cool just to hear

16:03

guys openly layout, you know, what works

16:05

for them, what they've struggled with, things

16:08

like that, and then you bounce off

16:10

those conversations. It worked very organically. And

16:12

I will say, as a reason I'm

16:14

bringing this up, Paz, I was terrified

16:16

to do this. And I was actually,

16:18

the reason I was terrified is because

16:20

because this wasn't my idea. I didn't

16:22

want, I was like, there's no way

16:24

this is going to happen. And you

16:26

probably hate me saying this, Kluber's idea.

16:28

He was like, let's do it on

16:30

my clues. I don't know, man. What

16:32

if no one shows up? And he's

16:35

like, what if no one shows up?

16:37

And he's like, I'll be there. I

16:39

think we need it. I think we

16:41

need it. Let's do it. It sounded

16:43

like I'm telling everyone to do it.

16:45

We have to be there, just make

16:47

it autonomous, make it up to them.

16:49

And I respected that. And it was

16:51

neat to see the leadership of Cluber

16:53

to kind of guide me and direct

16:55

me. And I'm like, OK, I'll follow

16:57

your lead. I'll like, well, we'll do

16:59

this. And it was a leadership of

17:02

Cluber to say, this is what this

17:04

team needs. Let's get in here. We

17:06

don't need anyone teaching us. me if

17:08

I'm wrong clues. Well we were trying

17:10

for bringing that up. We were very

17:12

young and pretty easy to see. You

17:14

were very aware of it. I was

17:16

aware of it. I think a lot

17:18

of other people were that that there

17:20

wasn't there wasn't any of the just

17:22

sitting around the locker room having conversations

17:24

really. If guys were sitting in their

17:26

locker it was with the face and

17:29

the phone you know there was never

17:31

any just actual like camaraderie being developed

17:33

or conversation happening that might lead to

17:35

you know. I mean, it's a real

17:37

thing, going out there and having more,

17:39

more give a shit for each other

17:41

when somebody else is struggling through a

17:43

hard time, right? That kind of stuff.

17:45

And just trying to invite conversations amongst

17:47

guys to, to kind of develop those,

17:49

I guess, relationships a little bit more

17:51

than not just, you know, having 26

17:53

individuals sitting in the clubhouse. Yeah, I

17:55

love that. That's that's the experience talking

17:58

for sure because that's when as you

18:00

get older as a player you're just

18:02

kind of seeing everything unfold in front

18:04

of you and you have your opinions

18:06

and you want to help. And that's

18:08

what's So funny, Sue, you said how

18:10

each team has, you know, kind of

18:12

their identity. And it's the same thing

18:14

with players. And, you know, Cluber going

18:16

to Tampa with, you know, two plus

18:18

side or two side Young's with all

18:20

star games, big contracts, all that kind

18:22

of thing. There's still a system in

18:25

a way of going over there doing

18:27

things the right way for the clubhouse

18:29

culture. And it's like, you're going to

18:31

go over there, spring training is a

18:33

perfect time. And then you have that

18:35

three weeks to be like, all right

18:37

guys, before we go and break for

18:39

season, you know, this stuff kind of,

18:41

this stuff has to change. But Clubes,

18:43

you, I mean, we're with the Yankees,

18:45

the Red Sox, ALEs, obviously Cleveland, but

18:47

then to go to Tampa, Tampa's always

18:49

had that identity of doing that kind

18:52

of sit down like you're saying. So

18:54

it's like dating all the way back

18:56

to the Joe Madden days, they had

18:58

a week called Legion Ball, where they

19:00

wouldn't. and it was like a mental

19:02

clear up for them. So what is

19:04

your kind of evaluation on the difference

19:06

between the Yankees, you know, super buttoned

19:08

up from what it seems like on

19:10

the outside to a Tampa to where

19:12

it seems like they're kind of quirky

19:14

and they're willing to do whatever anybody

19:16

says or do whatever you want to

19:19

do and they get the max out

19:21

of all their players every time. I

19:23

think a lot of it is is

19:25

what the resources are, right? Or how

19:27

you want to allocate the resources that

19:29

you have. New York, I feel. it

19:31

more so allocates those resources to a

19:33

roster of players. Whereas if Tampa Bay

19:35

maybe doesn't allocate as much of their

19:37

resources to the roster, but they find

19:39

other areas to allocate more than other

19:41

teams to do, whether that be, you

19:43

know, somebody like sewer, whether to be

19:45

scouting or... analytical stuff, things like that.

19:48

So I think it's it's choosing, I

19:50

guess, first of all, you got to

19:52

know what your resources are. No, they

19:54

don't, they probably don't have the $300

19:56

million payroll. Okay, if that's the case,

19:58

what are we going to do to

20:00

maximize what we are capable of going

20:02

out there and putting out on the

20:04

field. So that was interesting for me

20:07

to see because going from New

20:09

York, where don't even wrong, they

20:11

spent a ton on technology, scouting,

20:13

analytics, all that stuff, maybe just

20:15

a different way of going about

20:17

doing it in relation to the players

20:19

that were out on the field with Tampa,

20:22

you know, finding, not necessarily finding

20:24

a way to, every team wants

20:26

to make their players better, but.

20:28

identifying something very very

20:31

very specific within each guy and

20:33

going about improving that quality

20:35

of them to build the best 26

20:37

player roster. Yeah I always feel like

20:39

with the technology and the new information

20:42

as a coach you really need to

20:44

be able and players need a coach

20:46

to be able to translate the information

20:48

to them and a way to make

20:51

it make sense to them and I

20:53

feel like Tampa I mean Cleveland you

20:55

guys have had so much success developing

20:58

pitching It almost feels like they can

21:00

just translate that information

21:02

better and basically take out whatever

21:04

pitch is getting you in trouble and just

21:06

hammer whatever pitch is good for you.

21:08

I know Ruben Diable, I was with

21:11

him in San Diego, he's a big,

21:13

I mean guys love him in San

21:15

Diego, he's a big, I mean guys

21:17

love him, it's almost like they talk

21:19

about spagnola, defense coordinator with the chiefs,

21:21

I mean this guy is a pitching

21:23

guru, so was he kind of just

21:25

good at translating that kind of what?

21:27

He was my pitching coach for two

21:29

years in AAA and then he was

21:31

the minor coordinator after that, but obviously

21:33

still had a relationship with him. I

21:35

appreciate honestly how blunt he was. He

21:38

didn't he didn't try to circle something

21:40

for me. You know, if I suck

21:42

one day, he told me I suck.

21:44

If I pitched well, hey, you did

21:46

great. This could still be improved. And

21:48

then I think when it came down

21:50

to the point of trying to find

21:52

a way to make me better. He wasn't afraid.

21:55

suggest it might be out of the

21:57

box to take a risk. Like, I mean, it's...

22:00

it's well documented,

22:02

but you know, we're, I missed a

22:04

bullpen one day because of a

22:06

rain out and he was like,

22:08

you know what? You're fast balls,

22:10

poor shit right now. Why

22:12

don't we stop putting a

22:14

force in him? Let's just

22:16

mess around with a two-seam

22:18

and see how it works. We

22:21

throw it inside during it right

22:23

now. I mean, that's as a pigeon

22:25

coach, you know, I guess that's

22:27

a brave thing to do. Suea

22:29

honesty man we talk about that all

22:31

the time how important that is I

22:34

actually have a question about that for

22:36

even both of you on this I loved how

22:38

you said one of the things you valued

22:41

about him was his blunt he's

22:43

blunt just cuts right through it could

22:45

any coach just be blunt with you

22:47

like did you give that permission that

22:49

leeway both you to just allow anyone

22:52

just be blunt or what differentiates

22:54

those who you allow to be blunt

22:56

with you versus those who you do

22:58

not allow to be blunt with you. I

23:00

mean, I will say that there's

23:03

probably, um, there has to be

23:05

a trust factor to both their first,

23:07

you can't just come out the first

23:09

day of spring training and tell

23:11

a guy you've never worked with

23:13

before to shick and what you've

23:16

done to this point and all of

23:18

a sudden, I was in a position where

23:20

I had to. Probably mid five

23:22

in AAA. I wasn't going anywhere at

23:24

that point. Like what I have to

23:26

lose. We talk a lot about coaching

23:28

on this on this podcast. What do

23:30

you guys? I'll start with you, Clubes,

23:32

and then I actually am curious what

23:34

you have to say, Haas. How do

23:36

how do coaches, a lot of coaches,

23:38

listen to this? How do coaches, build

23:41

trust with elite athletes such as yourselves?

23:43

I love how you said that you got

23:45

to trust him. How does a coach do that?

23:47

How does a coach do that? What's going

23:49

to work for me is going to work for

23:51

us isn't going to work for somebody else

23:53

being able to identify that. And

23:55

I guess maybe that comes from building

23:57

relationship with us. I think the best.

24:00

which I had were always the ones who were, they were in

24:02

the clubhouse, they were going around talking to guys,

24:04

they were out in the openness, they weren't just

24:06

huddled up in the coaches room, scrolling through a

24:08

computer, looking at reports, and then you see them

24:10

out there for the throwing program, and then you

24:12

don't see them again until it's the dug out, you

24:14

know, for the game to start. No, I agree. I agree

24:17

with clues. I think first and foremost, I

24:19

mean, you want honesty. You want coaches to

24:21

be blunt with you. You don't want them

24:23

to just say, you know, good job, good

24:25

job, go to the next one, whatever. You

24:27

need that honesty. And at the end of

24:30

the day, I think the relationship is so

24:32

important because you got to know this coach

24:34

believes in you and you got to know

24:36

he's pulling for you and he's in your

24:38

corner. I think at the professional level there's

24:41

times where the you know have a rehearsal

24:43

for the manager to keep their job alive

24:45

that that then spreads to the player and

24:47

the player can feel that and it's almost

24:50

like the coaches like hey i've been telling

24:52

him he needs to make this adjustment he's

24:54

just not doing it and then it becomes

24:56

that internal battle and for me that's where

24:59

like what your guys is players sit down

25:01

in Tampa what i love about this is

25:03

i feel like the best teams the good clubhouse the

25:05

good culture it's all out in the open i mean

25:07

you can have a funny way of joking about things

25:09

and sending a message out there to a guy being

25:12

like okay I need to kind of lock it in

25:14

a little bit and then the bad teams it's

25:16

all whispers I mean these people are huddled up

25:18

in this locker these people are huddled up in

25:20

this locker and it's all just whispers and

25:22

they're all pointing to finger at each other and

25:25

then by the time you know it it's like man

25:27

we can't compete like this if everyone's not pulling

25:29

on the same rope so that's the stuff

25:31

that I felt like Tampa Bay was always Why

25:33

that clubhouse culture mattered and why you

25:35

guys would get everything out of your

25:37

players is because I feel like if

25:39

there was any mix up like that

25:41

It's boom. It's nipped right there that

25:43

day on the spot You know one of the

25:46

things that Snide said to me. I think in

25:48

spring training He said I work for you

25:50

the raise employment, but I worked for

25:52

you and the other pitch off the staff. I'm

25:54

like damn all right. Snise got and both

25:57

you guys can talk about him a

25:59

little bit because I mean, I was

26:01

locker mates with Blake Snell and Sue, I've

26:03

told you how much Snell has talked about

26:05

you, but Kyle Snider is probably the second

26:07

most talked about guy that Snell would talk

26:10

about because he loved this dude. I mean,

26:12

he would run through a brick wall after

26:14

reading a text message from Snide. So is

26:16

that just him? You felt like he's in

26:19

your corner? You felt like he's just, he's

26:21

there for you for whatever you need? Yeah,

26:23

he was whichever guy had a side that

26:25

day. He was all in from four o'clock

26:27

to four 20 with that guy. He was

26:30

out there watching long toss Go over their

26:32

sides sit there talk about it with him

26:34

for 10 minutes afterwards. All right, so talk

26:36

about it with him for 10 minutes afterwards

26:39

All right. That's done. I'm all in for

26:41

these other 10 guys out there. Talk about

26:43

it with him for 10 minutes. All right.

26:45

Nobody nobody else bother me. Like yeah. Give

26:48

me one minute Drop everything he's doing and

26:50

come talk to you. And Sue, the sense

26:52

I get, I've never gotten to share a

26:54

club, I've never had a conversation with Snides,

26:56

but the sense I get from the outside

26:59

kind of looking in is he just has

27:01

so much confidence in his craft. Whether or

27:03

not he's talking with Clubes a two-time Sirem

27:05

Award winner, a guy that's the 27th, 28th

27:08

man, however many they have now, up and

27:10

down, it feels like you're gonna get the

27:12

same answers, the same truth, the same truth,

27:14

and he's the same truth, and he's the

27:17

same truth, and he's the same truth, and

27:19

he's the same, and he's the same, and

27:21

he's the same, and he's the same, and

27:23

he's the same, and he's the same, at

27:25

shaping the messaging to the player. And I

27:28

think he knows what levers to pull and

27:30

push on to get the best out of

27:32

a player. He knows, and I don't wanna

27:34

speak for you too. I'm not an elite

27:37

athlete to myself, but I think that elite.

27:39

Based on my observation, elite athletes respect coaches

27:41

who know their stuff. If you know your

27:43

stuff and you have paid the price to

27:46

gain knowledge and listen to players and know

27:48

how the body works and metrics and you're

27:50

just not. It seems like elite athletes like

27:52

you guys know, you respect and trust that

27:54

person. Oh, there's a process and a purpose

27:57

to what you're telling me. You're not just...

27:59

throwing up hell Mary's and snides is very

28:01

good at doing that and sharing the right

28:03

amount of information with the right person even

28:06

to the point like Kluber saying he'll go

28:08

and find motivational videos for some guys who

28:10

love that kind of stuff he'll find data

28:12

and metrics for guys who like this kind

28:15

of stuff and he'll find body what do

28:17

you call it's kinetic chains stuff for certain

28:19

players it's wild how much he knows and

28:21

he knows about too like he can. Yes,

28:23

that's what I look. I took notice towards

28:26

like the last couple years of my career

28:28

when coaches would talk in meetings or have,

28:30

you know, just little quick presentations. I would

28:32

always kind of just sit back and listen

28:35

and just kind of evaluate what they were

28:37

saying and want to ask them questions after

28:39

and want to ask them questions after and

28:41

want to pick their brains more about it.

28:44

And I always felt like the ones that

28:46

I respected the most was you can catch

28:48

them at any point in time and ask

28:50

them a pitching a pitching question about the

28:52

body. to where some of the analytical guys

28:55

towards the end were I felt like if

28:57

they didn't know they were having a presentation

28:59

tomorrow at one o'clock and you just hit

29:01

them right on the spot and asked them

29:04

I just felt like they were never that

29:06

confident and didn't really know the craft like

29:08

like a snides did you know if they're

29:10

just making up an answer you can see

29:13

through it pretty quick too. Yes, you cannot

29:15

fool big league players, let alone professional players.

29:17

You cannot. That is a great goal. I

29:19

told somebody this, and I think it's because

29:21

of the nature of baseball. Not even so

29:24

much football, not so much basketball, but baseball

29:26

players. You have such an awareness of, I

29:28

don't know what it is about you guys,

29:30

I don't know why, but when someone walks

29:33

into that clubhouse, your guys' radar, your BS

29:35

radar, you can kind of feel when someone

29:37

opens their talk, like, I don't know what

29:39

it is, how fast you guys are, I'd

29:42

be able to detect someone who's lying or

29:44

detect someone's off on their routine. There's something

29:46

about you guys. just read it. You're ability

29:48

to read human beings as elites. It's crazy.

29:50

Oh man, everyone's got the guy in the

29:53

clubhouse. Six months, so yeah. Just let the

29:55

normalism on something's off. Somebody new walks in

29:57

there, you just sit back and start evaluating

29:59

what the hell's going on here. Who's panicking?

30:02

What's going on? Looves. Let me ask you

30:04

this man, because they're from that 14 to

30:06

18 run you had. There was not much

30:08

panic in your game at all. And I

30:11

feel like a Pitching coaches, hitting coaches are

30:13

there for mechanics, but like we've been talking

30:15

about, like you'll go up to a coach

30:17

every now and then and say, hey man,

30:19

my, this feels off, what do you got

30:22

here? But mostly it's mental and I think

30:24

it's preparation and routine and approach from those

30:26

years were you just so locked in of

30:28

like, if I just execute what I need

30:31

to execute, nobody can hit my stuff because

30:33

I mean, that four year run, whatever it

30:35

was, however many years, it was, it was

30:37

damn near unhittable, unhittable, A lot of times,

30:40

not always, but a lot of times it

30:42

would be somewhat of a struggle to kind

30:44

of find my groove out of spring train.

30:46

You know, you get in the flow of

30:48

the season. You hear about pitchers and hitters

30:51

talk about that all the time. But then

30:53

when I feel like I found that groove,

30:55

it was, as long as you have these

30:57

mental cues that work for you. Same with

31:00

your swing. It wasn't necessarily always the same

31:02

thing for me because sometimes I try to

31:04

revert back to what worked and it. click

31:06

in the same way I recognize what the

31:09

cues were there working for me at that

31:11

point in time and I think you know

31:13

a lot of a lot of the same

31:15

way when a hitter is hot you kind

31:17

of you stay with the same routine but

31:20

a lot of you just kind of want

31:22

to stay out of your own way don't

31:24

complicate things things are going well just keep

31:26

writing it out and so kind of having

31:29

the recognition of what was working remembering that

31:31

I would always write it down you know

31:33

if I felt something that worked right right

31:35

it down I go back to and look

31:38

at I was always, I think, most guys,

31:40

there's always ideas coming in and out, you

31:42

know, bouncing around. Something felt off. All right,

31:44

let's try this to make the adjustment. That

31:46

didn't work. all right well I want to

31:49

go back to that again so right down

31:51

what works that I remember there's going to

31:53

be good starts bad starts mixed in but

31:55

for me I was always trying to keep

31:58

that whatever that baseline is keep that as

32:00

high of a level as I could when

32:02

I got to that sort of groove stage

32:04

I love that when you're rolling it I

32:07

feel like the thoughts everything is simple and

32:09

if you can just keep it simple for

32:11

that long then you're rolling it's just boom

32:13

and I always I mean towards the end

32:16

it felt like It was then became a

32:18

battle between yourself. If you can just feel

32:20

healthy and feel like you can kind of

32:22

do the things you need to do, then

32:24

you were going to go out and have

32:27

a good day because you knew what you

32:29

needed to, you know, if you're facing, if

32:31

I'm facing you, I know your face, or

32:33

you've got the two-seem, you got the slur,

32:36

the sweeper, whatever they call it now, and

32:38

then if you got a Salzar, it's going

32:40

to be four seemers, it's going to be

32:42

four seemers, it's going to be four seemers,

32:45

it's going to be four seemers, it's going

32:47

to be four seemers, it's going to be

32:49

four seemers, three seemers, three seemers, three seemers,

32:51

three seemers, three seemers, three seemers, four seemers,

32:53

three seemers, four seemers, three seemers, four seemers,

32:56

three seemers and be able to roll and

32:58

go and perform. And let me ask you

33:00

this, Glooves, because we kind of mentioned it

33:02

a little bit earlier, but as an athlete,

33:05

I tell Suea and I talk to him

33:07

all the time about this, I feel like

33:09

again, our time that we were at the

33:11

big leagues, there's a generation, or there's an

33:14

era of now these young guys are coming

33:16

doing all these different type of training methods,

33:18

different, I don't know if you were a

33:20

heavy ball guy or whatever, but they're doing

33:22

this, As an older player, once you kind

33:25

of have a year that you don't really

33:27

feel is up to par, you start thinking

33:29

like, do I need to start changing? Do

33:31

I need to start trying some of this

33:34

stuff? And then you kind of get, you

33:36

know, away from your natural stuff. And I

33:38

felt like that happened to me in San

33:40

Diego, try to get the ball in the

33:43

air, try to get the ball of the

33:45

pool side. And that kind of took away

33:47

from my natural ability to go to the

33:49

opposite field. Yeah, I wish I would have

33:51

been maybe less open-minded to certain things that

33:54

younger guys would do and you see them

33:56

doing. It was stuff that I hadn't done

33:58

for the first thing. 12 years of my

34:00

career and then for the last one or

34:03

two, you experiment with it and it doesn't

34:05

work, but I feel like some of that

34:07

experimentation for me took away

34:09

the ability to get those feelings that

34:11

I was talking about. You know, you're

34:14

introducing new ideas into your chain and

34:16

now of a sudden the stuff that I used

34:18

to be able to easily rely on going back

34:20

to is a lot more to find. And I

34:23

think that I did the same thing. I dug

34:25

myself into a little bit of a hole, especially

34:27

in Boston my last season trying to

34:29

hard. to make a change when I

34:31

didn't get results right away instead of

34:34

maybe having enough confidence that

34:36

I could still revert back to

34:38

what has always worked for me and

34:40

it was going to be good enough. Maybe

34:42

a little bit of a sense of panic

34:44

setting. So yes, I agree with you. Is

34:46

there such thing as being too coachable and

34:49

then do you want to be stubborn? Like

34:51

what's that fine line as a player?

34:53

So I'll answer that and then I

34:55

have a follow-up question for both of

34:57

you on what you just said, uh,

34:59

clubs and the uhas. So every, every,

35:02

every positive character trait has

35:04

a shadow side. So a player who's

35:06

open, open the change, open to coaching,

35:08

the shadow side is. being, like Kloop

35:11

said, too open. And all of a

35:13

sudden, you're taking the pitching advice from

35:15

the clubhouse manager, where you're taking advice

35:17

from someone who has nothing to do

35:19

with hitting. You're just open to just

35:22

learning from anybody. That's the shadow side

35:24

of it. Based on what you both

35:26

are saying, there's something called hindsight bias,

35:28

which is essentially is like, I wish.

35:31

I wish I would have done this

35:33

and it's normal, it's natural, because

35:35

now we can say that based

35:37

on the information we have now,

35:40

the experience. But at the time,

35:42

Klube, you were going through it

35:44

in Boston, Hauser, going through it

35:46

in San Diego, you didn't have

35:48

the information you have sitting here

35:50

today. If you were to get in

35:53

that time machine and go to speak to

35:55

that version of you, you know what that

35:57

guy is like? You know his personality?

36:00

might push against you. He might push

36:02

against you. But what could you possibly

36:04

tell him to not make that, I don't

36:06

want to say mistake, but not go down

36:08

that route to be too open to make

36:11

all these changes? Like, what would you have

36:13

done differently? So me, you know, I felt like

36:15

at that point in time, I would go

36:17

tell myself, listen, you have to find that

36:20

line of being coachable, but at the

36:22

same time, knowing what works for you, because

36:24

at that point in San Diego. You know,

36:26

I'm eight, nine years into my big

36:28

league career, plenty years into my professional

36:31

career. So I love like what

36:33

Cluber said when you're trying something

36:35

different, it's a whole different movement

36:37

for your whole, you know, kinetic chain, the

36:39

motion, all that kind of thing. So I

36:42

would, you have to really identify yourself

36:44

as a player and understand, hey,

36:46

you know, you have to really

36:48

identify yourself as a player and

36:50

understand, hey, listen, you're going to

36:52

a new system. It was almost

36:54

like from Kansas. So I then was

36:56

like, hey, I want to be coachable, I

36:58

want to be part of the team, I

37:00

need to buy into what they're trying to

37:02

get me to do and what I'm trying

37:04

to be productive for this team. So I

37:07

think that's where I have to balance it

37:09

in and you're eight, nine years in, you've

37:11

earned the right, you know what made you

37:13

successful to be like, hey, this is what

37:15

makes me good. You got the player that

37:18

I am and this is what I need

37:20

to be the player that, to be

37:22

the player that. right clues yeah and

37:24

i think it's like you said when

37:26

you go to a new place new

37:28

organization a new you know structure that

37:30

there's there's gonna be

37:33

numerous differences between what you

37:35

experience prior and there's

37:37

i think there has to be a

37:39

feeling out period of you know the

37:42

information the coaching that i'm getting

37:44

here is different i have to figure

37:46

out what what will and won't work for

37:48

me i i need to know what makes

37:50

me good what clicks with me and

37:53

I need to be able to sort out the

37:55

stuff that is not going to work.

37:57

And if something doesn't work, I have

37:59

to. tell them, like you said, that's not

38:01

for me. We've played with guys who they

38:04

go in and they don't, they're not open

38:06

to anything. Maybe a little bit of a

38:08

mix of some of those. You still want

38:10

to be true to who you are, be

38:12

a, be coachable, be a good teammate, be

38:14

a good teammate, be a leader, whatever it

38:17

might be, but at the same time, be

38:19

able to be confident enough in yourself to

38:21

know what does and does not work. I

38:23

felt like I always relied on another pair

38:25

of eyes where there was a hitting coach,

38:27

a teammate to be like, hey man, you're

38:30

doing this, you're off here, you're off there.

38:32

But in reality at the professional level, you

38:34

know, you're bouncing around to so many different

38:36

places, coaches are bouncing around. So you truly

38:38

have to understand it and know on your

38:41

own and not rely on a different set

38:43

of eyes or anything like that. Baseball, man,

38:45

it's all about that accountability, you know, whether

38:47

or not you're learning mechanics, whether or not

38:49

you're on your routine, what not. Just to

38:51

tie up what you both said, I really

38:54

want to make sure we don't miss this

38:56

point for anyone who's listening to this. You

38:58

both highlighted three things, like a three-step formula,

39:00

essentially. I just wanted to make sure you

39:02

both said the both same thing. Number one,

39:04

know who you are, like know your fundamentals

39:07

and what works for me. corollary is like

39:09

no it doesn't work for me like this

39:11

doesn't work and then I think you said

39:13

the key point both of you said it

39:15

communicate it say it's have that hard conversation

39:17

there's a phrase I love if you don't

39:20

know what you want people get you to

39:22

do what they want and so if it

39:24

looks like you're flustered you're searching and then

39:26

coaches and other people who want to help

39:28

they literally want to help they're gonna give

39:31

you try this do this do this do

39:33

this but once you are emphatic on this

39:35

is who I am this is what I

39:37

want I'm gonna communicate it I'm gonna this

39:39

is this is what I'm gonna do people

39:41

like oh okay you know what you want

39:44

got you especially if you're a veteran and

39:46

paid the price and and have that but

39:48

I just wanted to make sure as we

39:50

move on like you two came up with

39:52

a great like that was awesome what you

39:54

both said I love that. Let me ask

39:57

you this, So as a younger player, how

39:59

do you come up to, you know, say

40:01

you come up to the big leagues, you're

40:03

doing stuff on your own, the Meyer leagues,

40:05

you get to the big league club, and

40:08

the big league coach or big league team

40:10

is asking something different of you, but you're

40:12

in a different position. You're young. How do

40:14

you then, you know, what's that fine line

40:16

of being coachable, being young and wanting to

40:18

buy in? But at the same time wanting

40:21

to stick to your own stuff? I actually

40:23

am very curious on what you two say.

40:25

I actually experienced this so many times and

40:27

I'm going to be honest, like there are

40:29

moments where I don't know what to say,

40:31

like because you're trying, you just got to

40:34

the big leagues, you don't want to do

40:36

anything that's going to get you sent down

40:38

or be perceived as a guy who's disagreeable

40:40

and is not coachable and is not a

40:42

team player. Oh like, yes, this helped me

40:44

in the minor leagues. But if this coach

40:47

or this. this analytes is saying this will

40:49

help me stay longer in the big leagues,

40:51

I'm gonna do that. Even if it gets

40:53

away from my own identity, and then they

40:55

start doing it, and then it's not working,

40:58

not working, they're like, uh-oh, now I'm getting

41:00

away from building bad habits, I'm getting away,

41:02

do I say something? I'm a young kid.

41:04

There was a time this happened, and I

41:06

was lost. I didn't know what to tell

41:08

the player because I don't know. this like

41:11

what do you do and then the veteran

41:13

told me I would do this hey do

41:15

you mind talking to that young player you

41:17

to have like this eat together and and

41:19

let's just kind of talk about it for

41:21

his situation but that's tricky what what advice

41:24

do you guys because I'm sure there's a

41:26

young player listening what would you would you

41:28

do in that situation if I'm if I'm

41:30

I'm gonna make clues a right-handed hitting right

41:32

fielder that's got 50 homers in his last

41:34

year because if I'm a young guy on

41:37

the New York Yankees and I'm Aaron judge

41:39

and you have your in the locker room

41:41

and I go in the off season and

41:43

I got this weird style of hitting that

41:45

I snap my barrel and I do all

41:48

this stuff but then I go to the

41:50

cage and And the hitting coach is telling

41:52

me to pull down my hands and do

41:54

this different thing that I've just trained all

41:56

off season to do. I'm going right up

41:58

to a veteran, make that clues, the right

42:01

filter with 50 homers and being like, hey

42:03

man, what do I do in this situation?

42:05

Like, I just trained myself to do this.

42:07

I know this. I know the coach wants

42:09

me doing this, but I got to buy

42:11

in. And ultimately, I think that's that culture

42:14

that we talk about that. Everything is out

42:16

in the air, everything is out in the

42:18

air, everything is out and open, everything is

42:20

open, and open, and open, and open, and

42:22

open, and open, and open, and open, and

42:24

open, and open, and open, and the communication,

42:27

and the communication, and the communication, and the

42:29

communication, and the communication, and the communication, and

42:31

the communication, and the communication, and the communication,

42:33

and the communication, and the communication, and the

42:35

communication, and the communication, and the communication, and

42:38

the communication, and the You just redirect that

42:40

difficult conversation to a veteran or somebody you

42:42

trust that's been there that's gone through probably

42:44

a lot of these same experiences that you're

42:46

going through now Have a conversation with them

42:48

first and I think that Guides you on

42:51

how to approach it how to have the

42:53

conversation with a coach if you're feeling like

42:55

something's not there to me. Yeah player to

42:57

player so we always talk about how important

42:59

a player to player can be Yeah, I

43:01

agree and if you're a coach watching this

43:04

and if I'm a coach I'm like, oh

43:06

wow, I need to be aware that, oh,

43:08

I might be trying to change something that's

43:10

fundamentally different, difficult for this player, and to

43:12

have the feel to know that, oh, this

43:14

player might be thinking all of these things,

43:17

so I need to articulate that and say,

43:19

hey, you might be feeling this, or you

43:21

might be feeling we're changing our identity, or

43:23

you're going to wonder, can I trust this

43:25

process? And just to normalize that, oh. Yeah,

43:28

I am feeling that. So yes, you as

43:30

a player, please be open with me. Let's

43:32

have a conversation. Let's talk. I want to

43:34

know how you feel. This discomfort, it's going

43:36

to be hard, it's going to be awkward,

43:38

but let's have that conversation. But as you

43:41

both know, it's easier said than done once

43:43

you're in the middle of a season and

43:45

the losses start stacking up and jobs are

43:47

on a line. It's easy to talk about

43:49

this in the off season sometimes. I feel

43:51

like coaching now. personal pitching coach their own

43:54

personal hitting coach who's teaching them a certain

43:56

method of doing things and if you're the

43:58

raised pitching coach the raised coach or any

44:00

team, you have to have a knowledge of

44:02

probably five or six different ways to

44:05

hit that you can then relate to and

44:07

talk to you guys about as opposed to,

44:09

I don't know, maybe five, ten years

44:11

ago, I feel like pitching there was stay back

44:13

over the rubber, you know, out in front,

44:15

down in way, you know, all that kind of

44:17

stuff where a lot of time that

44:19

stuff still works, but guys have their

44:21

own ways system going about getting results

44:24

now that might be different than just

44:26

what that coach is accustomed to custom

44:28

to teaching. Yep, I used to tell all

44:30

our coaches man the super super old school

44:33

ones that I ain't learning that new analytic

44:35

blah blah I'm like dude, you don't have

44:37

to buy into it But you need to

44:39

know what it is because these young kids

44:41

now. That's their language. You need to relate.

44:43

You need to understand and speak their language

44:45

We got a couple phone ones for you

44:47

clube. You're the man. Do you spend

44:49

a lot of time? We appreciate this

44:51

but real quick. I know you want

44:53

to love on Tito man Terry Francona.

44:55

He's back in the game definitely want

44:57

to get your opinions or your thoughts

44:59

on Tito because again I wish I could

45:02

have shared a clubhouse with him. He's

45:04

the best. You know you talk about one

45:06

guy kind of creating that overall culture.

45:08

Yeah I think he's the best out.

45:10

I think anybody's played for him to

45:12

say he's the best out. I think

45:15

anybody's played for him to say he's

45:17

the best out. What can I do

45:19

to make you feel more confident, more

45:21

comfortable? Yeah, I don't have enough good

45:23

things to say about him. Oh man, you

45:26

got any good Tito stories. I heard

45:28

when he got the job in Cleveland

45:30

that whoever, I don't know if it

45:33

was Antony, whoever was the GM walked

45:35

into the manager's office to meet him

45:37

and he was in the shit and

45:39

he's like, hey I'm in here just

45:42

come on in, let's go, let's start

45:44

it. Oh man, what a beauty dude,

45:46

what an absolute beauty. Okay, so the

45:49

Soto contract, obviously that's a big one,

45:51

I mean crazy amount of money, whatever,

45:53

that's close to a billion. Paul Skeens,

45:56

you're kind of, you guys have the

45:58

same, you know, stoic mentality that. unbreakable

46:00

type thing. Paul Skeens gets

46:02

a free agency 27, 28 years old and

46:04

I mean, the first year it was unbelievable

46:07

a lot of work to do. But

46:09

I mean, what that, what's that contract

46:11

kind of look like? I mean, the

46:13

way, the way salaries are escalating. It's

46:15

hard to imagine what it might look

46:17

like. Yeah. Obviously, with a pitcher to

46:19

stand healthy is the first and foremost.

46:22

I'd be interested to see more so

46:24

than this free agency. What kind of

46:26

effort Pittsburgh makes in a couple

46:28

years like. Because players are pretty

46:30

knowledgeable nowadays. They know, you know,

46:33

what the benefit to signing or not

46:35

signing early is. And I feel like

46:37

teams are going to have to start

46:39

getting even more aggressive in signing guys

46:41

early and maybe not trying to get

46:43

them at such a discount that they

46:45

used to try to. Yeah, definitely. Because

46:47

I mean, you look at some of the

46:50

contracts now like Soto and then some

46:52

of the guys that signed extensions earlier

46:54

and you're thinking about what money they

46:56

messed out on and it's like. Geez,

46:58

that's insane, man. Top three hitters you faced,

47:00

and since we've already joked about this on

47:02

your program, you don't have to say me,

47:04

because I know I got lucky off you

47:07

a couple times, so we'll just, we'll skip

47:09

me and you can go three other guys,

47:11

it's all good. Uh, toughest three, uh, Miggi's

47:13

hands down, number one. And that's so

47:15

crazy, because if you're two seamer, right on

47:17

right against Miggi and he's still that good.

47:19

Yeah, yeah, I think he knew what I think

47:21

he knew what I was my what I was my way.

47:23

I don't know. He was never fooled.

47:26

Or if he was fooled once,

47:28

he definitely wasn't fooled a second

47:30

time. Oh man. Yeah. That whole

47:32

lineup too in Detroit. Yeeh.

47:34

Nasty. It's unreal for a long

47:36

time. And then maybe let's just

47:39

go one lefty. We won't make

47:41

you go top three. One lefty. If

47:43

I had to go one lefty that

47:45

probably gave me, I mean,

47:47

Kenry's malice crushed me. That

47:49

guy can hit, man. That guy. I'm

47:52

gonna, we're seeing him. We have our

47:54

10 year reunion coming up this year

47:56

and I cannot wait to see him.

47:58

No one's seeing him in that. since

48:00

won the World Series, think that you're after

48:02

when he signed away. you're seen him since.

48:04

I can't wait away. No one's seen him legend. When

48:06

you gave him a high This was was a

48:08

to a When you gave just high a block

48:10

against your hand. was so hard, man. just

48:12

Clubs, you're the man, dude. Thank you so

48:14

much for coming on here. was so we

48:16

love what you're doing. It costed a club

48:18

over there. guys are hand. It was man. This

48:20

is the new wave. Hopefully you're turn on

48:22

MLB Network one of these days. You'll

48:24

see both of our shows for we can

48:26

continue to give back to the game, the

48:28

players and all that type of stuff. stuff.

48:30

Awesome having on here, here, pal. sure. sure. Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys.