Free Agents, Failing Angels, Family Baseball & Oceans Cleanup

330 BaseballBiz On Deck _ Happy New Year

[00:00:00] All right, here we go.

[00:00:03] Welcome to BaseballBiz On Deck. I'm Mark Corbett, and with me of course, is Mr. Mat Germain. Happy New Year, Mat. 

[00:00:14] Mat Germain: Happy New Year, Mark. 

[00:00:17] Mark Corbett: Oh, brother, I tell you what, it has been an extravaganza this holiday season. You know, first Festivus, well, actually Hanukkah, then Festivus, then uh, Christmas and New Year's, and Kwanza somewhere in there too.

[00:00:30] But the fun thing is, is sitting down, enjoying food with family and friends and just kicking back. So alls I wanted for Christmas was my 2. Front teeth. I, I, I lost the cap. So if I, I sound a little different today. That's, uh, that's part of it. Oh my goodness. how was your holidays, my friend?

[00:00:52] Mat Germain: It was it, like I said, uh, to you before the show. I think , the focus for us was on relaxing, keeping things very simple , and [00:01:00] getting, , some downtime after a busy year. So we got all that accomplished, opened up a lot of gifts, had a lot of games and laughs and, uh, the company we had was great.

[00:01:09] So really couldn't ask for much more. 

[00:01:12] Mark Corbett: That sounds fantastic, brother. I know we had something similar as far as getting everybody together, and that's always fun to me. , You don't get to see all these folks necessarily all the time, so when you are able to get together, it is, it can be a lot of fun and.

[00:01:26] Here we are in the off season two of baseball, and I'm thinking a lot about it. I, I dunno about you, but I've already sat down with my calendar, start trying to figure out, you know, what games I wanna see if I'm gonna go any place in particular, all that sort of thing. And, uh, have you, uh, you got any plans, go to any of the ballparks or events that you'd really like to make sure you see?

[00:01:48] Mat Germain: Unfortunately, Mark with the, uh, the political state of affairs, I don't think my phone would make it across the border seat. [00:02:00] Oh. So, uh, I can't, uh, I can't go to the United States even if I wanted to. 

[00:02:05] Mark Corbett: Well, that. Completely sucks. 

[00:02:07] Mat Germain: Yeah. 

[00:02:08] Mark Corbett: But, uh, I hate to 

[00:02:09] Mat Germain: start the new year off on that note Mark, but essentially I've been politically blocked from the United States.

[00:02:16] Mark Corbett: Oh lord. 

[00:02:16] Geez. Well, and a lot of us that live here are kind of that feel that way too, but it's, uh, it. We have freedom of movement. As far as I know, there wasn't a checkpoint when I returned to Florida. We drove, so I was curious to see if there'd be a checkpoint. But no, we, we cruised right through at, uh, oh, I guess about 11 o'clock at night into Florida.

[00:02:36] And, uh. Smoothly. But I, 

[00:02:40] Mat Germain: I do wanna make one note on that just to, just as a setting the stage as to the impacts Right. Of, of things like this. And I, I know this wasn't on our list of things to talk about today, but the, the World Junior Championships are taking place in Minnesota right now. Right. That is not far across the border from what is really like a heart.

[00:02:59] Of [00:03:00] hockey just north of it in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta. And those people would've loved to go down and fill the arenas down there with people. And I watched the Canadian games, , and none of them were a third full. The stands were completely empty In Canada, we, we sell out every single game of the world Junior championships.

[00:03:23] So I, you know, you, you look at those games and you're thinking, what, you know, this isn't supposed to happen. So then you start thinking about the World Cup and you start thinking about a lot of other events that are coming up. So, uh, hopefully, you know, things change quickly. That's all I'll say about that.

[00:03:37] Mark Corbett: Well, as do we all, because I, I, I look at the entertainment value of the Kennedy Center. Which is no longer having the, a lot of folks stepping away because somebody else wanted to put their name above it and, and add to it. And that person a lot of, for a lot of folks and his persona, non grata 'cause of a lot of [00:04:00] reasons.

[00:04:00] But, uh, gosh, man, it, it pains me to think whether it be sports, whether it be the arts or whatever, that people don't have the opportunity. To go and participate or to listen or to see, and some of it may be by choice saying, I'm not going to participate with the Kennedy Center, but. In other cases, like, you know, for, you're looking at, uh, Canadian sports lovers not being able to come and, or attend to, to certain tournaments, even just basically across the border.

[00:04:36] That is just painful to me and it's something that I'm hoping politicians as if I can hope anything there will try to resolve. I, I didn't. I don't wanna make this a political show, but I, anybody who reads your stuff or listens to this show or reads my stuff pretty well, has an idea of where we are on the political spectrum.

[00:04:56] So folks. The new year, we'd like to [00:05:00] see it start off a little better and we'll, we'll talk about some things, maybe some resolutions we all can deploy. 

[00:05:06] Mat Germain: Yeah, I do want to note that I'm completely, Mark completely because of the work that I do. Completely apolitical. I have no political allegiance whatsoever.

[00:05:16] I am a good person and I expect good things out of government. , That's essentially the way I work. So I'm not looking to one side or the other. I'm completely in the middle on everything. And that's how, as a military officer, everybody should operate. 

[00:05:30] Mark Corbett: Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. And that, that should be the expectation too.

[00:05:35] But pardon me, Matt. But yeah, and it comes down to just being good to people and following the service that you know, you have in front of you. Whether as a, a person who's serving in the military and you're serving basically your Constitution and the people underneath that, and that's where it really starts.

[00:05:54] So the rest of it, figure it out folks, because we need some change [00:06:00] and, but as Matt said, we're apolitical here. And I would like to give back to the game of baseball. , It's funny because, last time we spoke about, uh, a person who was looking to make change. Mm-hmm. And that was Curt Flood and what he did to he and Marvin Miller and many others to do something about the reserve clause.

[00:06:23] You know, one of the few people that, uh, Kurt Flood had in his, uh. Cadre of friends, and there may not have been that Betty is backing him up, was somebody who had already retired from the game. That was Jackie Robinson, and there was a lot of people who didn't necessarily come out when Kurt was getting all this going on through the Supreme Court because let's face it.

[00:06:45] A lot of those folks had some self-preservation at stake too, because they knew that the owners could, you know, controlled all of that. But so just to say that, uh, kudos to Kurt Flood, Marvin Miller, and all those who've gone before to make a better [00:07:00] working environment for the players and give them the opportunity to make their own choices about the future.

[00:07:07] That in mind, another person who made a lot of positive change and is reflected each year. That's number 21 himself. Roberto Clemente, and I bring him up like I do curb flood during the holidays because in, in the instance with Roberto Clemente, it's actually because of a tragic accident. There were several people, I think it was UA, had experienced an earthquake, and Roberto Clemente was a great humanitarian and great person off the field as much or more so as he was on the field.

[00:07:45] And it came in this particular instance back in 1972 on New Year's Eve, when from uh, the people who had been in the middle of this earthquake, they had need for goods, whether it be food, [00:08:00] clothing, shelter, whatever. Well, Clemente was gonna make sure that happened and he was having. Goods flown into there for that.

[00:08:09] But they noticed after the first few plane loads went in there that those, uh, items were not actually going to the people. But some military and others were confiscating this and doing whatever they wish to, but not getting to the people in need. So Clemente thought that others would respect him enough that when he came in.

[00:08:34] That he would be able to get the food to there. So he scheduled another flight after those first two or three had gone through. And he had a difficulty finding one, but it was a, it was a hold plane and there was a crew of five who took that flight to take that food to the people in need. And the plane failed.

[00:08:58] Uh, the five [00:09:00] people all perished. Roberto Clemente being one of them. Um, so it was, it's a tragic event in that sense. But the spirit of Roberto Clemente really lives in baseball and with his family who still had the Roberto Clemente 21 Foundation, and that's something I think we can look to as far as the season of giving, if you will.

[00:09:26] Something that we, we all need to cherish and, and incorporate into our own lives because with so many things that are happening, sometimes people are getting what they need and we need to step up. So I think Roberto Clemente was, is a great, um. What I want to say, basically archetype almost, or are more than that.

[00:09:47] He's great model for what giving can be like him above and beyond looking at oneself. So kudos off to Roberto Clemente and to his family and folks who continue with that mission.[00:10:00] 

[00:10:01] Mat Germain: Yes, absolutely. I think, um, you know, if you read the, uh, I, I encourage people that are listening to kind of dig into the Roberto Clemente sTorre and, and, uh, what the foundation has done since his time. Uh, because a lot of times like. One of the Canadian greats, as an example, is Terry Fox, and he Raysd a lot of money for cancer running across Canada or attempting to run across Canada and, and ended up falling a little bit short.

[00:10:27] Somebody else stepped in and and did that, uh, after he passed. Uh, but it's the legacy after the fact, right? It's, it's, you know, the Terry Fox Foundation. After the fact when he passed away. And it's the same thing for Roberto Clemente, where the foundation and, and for youth baseball and for a lot of different endeavors.

[00:10:46] And, and when you talk about, we just talked about, about being a good person, right? What that means, what that entails, and these are the kinds of organizations and foundations that you can point to that, that. Lead the way in [00:11:00] how to be, you know, an influential person of positive experiences. And Roberto Clemente experience is essentially that.

[00:11:08] Uh, I also, I knew a lot about the sTorre because like Jackie Robinson before him, he was forced to go through Montreal, , because of segregation, racism, and a whole bunch of other things that were going on. His road through the Dodgers was not a smooth one. There was a lot of. Um, accusations of racism involved there in terms of how he was brought up and through the minors, et cetera.

[00:11:33] So there was a struggle for him to even reach the majors. Um, so I, I, I encourage people to read into that find out more about how he was able to accomplish what he did, that it wasn't. Always smooth, but that he never took it for granted either that first and foremost, he wanted to be a good person and have a positive influence in everyone's lives around him, right?

[00:11:55] So I think

[00:11:56] , when you read about the greats, right? Like the, the ones that [00:12:00] really put their stamp in a certain way on the game of baseball, you know, he's one of those cornerstone pieces that you really wanna know a lot about.

[00:12:15] Mark Corbett: Pardon me. Yeah. Uh, I that, I mean, that's the thing. He is, there's a, there is a great sTorre and there's a lot to read on him. There's, uh, I know the Clemente Foundation put up like a five excerpts pieces about his life and very short, but there's so much more out there too about him and it, it's amazing what he achieved.

[00:12:36] And like you said, the legacy that followed after him with Roberto Clemente 21 Foundation. By the way, uh, do you realize why he has the number 21? 

[00:12:49] Mat Germain: Uh, I don't know why he has the number 21. 

[00:12:53] Mark Corbett: You know, I, I guessed I met his, met one of his kids, Luis Roberto Clemente, Jr. Mm-hmm. And, and I [00:13:00] said, is that because it's half of number 42?

[00:13:03] And 

[00:13:05] Mat Germain: Oh, that makes sense. 

[00:13:07] Mark Corbett: Well, I was completely wrong. He, he pointed out to me in a very pleasant manner, but Roberto Clemente Walker, that name has 21 letters in it. That is the reason he chose it. He had the number 13 for like about seven weeks into the pros. And then, uh, I see, who was it? It was, um, pardon me.

[00:13:32] Earl Smith had had that number and, uh, number 21 was, but evidently he left or something changed and Roberto Clemente picked it up, so That's awesome. 

[00:13:43] Mat Germain: That's a good little nugget. 

[00:13:45] Mark Corbett: Yeah, I said, 'cause it always, I always thought, oh, it must be because he, he loves what Jackie Robinson was doing, and No, he, I'm sure he did, but nonetheless, oh man.

[00:13:57] You, you know, I, as we're going through the [00:14:00] holidays, you and I both were talking about family and what they can do, how can support one another. But to me, I've always been interested in seeing family members who are in Major League baseball, either at the same time or maybe years later, father and son. Um, and were looking particularly, I thought, well, who, who can I, who can I think, well, Wilson to William Contreras come to mind.

[00:14:26] Um, Joe Torre and Frank Torre. And looking more here from the Tampa perspective, from the Rays we got, we had Austin Meadows. His brother who wasn't here, but Parker Meadows, who I was able to see in spring training. And then more currently, well you got Kyle and Preston Tucker, both from Tampa, both from plant. High school, if I remember correctly. So that I thought was pretty cool. You know, it's, and I think Preston played for a few years. He may have even played in [00:15:00] Korean ball. And Kyle Tucker, I don't know where Kyle Tucker's gonna be playing ball. 

[00:15:05] Mat Germain: Um, yeah, I think Kyle Tucker has many, many, many, many suitors, which is why probably it's gonna take a while for him to, to settle on one.

[00:15:14] Uh, but like this year's class in the EL field was not very stellar. Uh, the, the main pieces that were available, um. Uh, you know, are either very, very, very pricey or a little bit more centered on one aspect, right? In terms of whether it's it's defensive ability or, uh, power or, so you had Kyle Schwarber, that was all power you had, uh.

[00:15:39] Harrison Bader, who I think is still a free agent, as a, as just a defensive kind of person, more so, but Kyle Tucker is, is one of the few, along with Cody Bellinger that can potentially give you all aspects, right? So you've got those two leading the way, and they're still both out there because they're, they're being sought [00:16:00] after by similar groups.

[00:16:01] So you have. The Blue Jays, the Yankees reportedly potentially the Dodgers, but they've been in and out depending on who you read. Um, but I still think that the, the team that would, that is most desperate to me is the team that, that tried to bring in, um. Uh, I don't know, at least a half dozen power hitters over the years.

[00:16:25] And try to get, somebody to hit over 30 home runs at that ballpark. And that's the San Francisco Giants. Um, I just think that when you're looking at their team and their strengths and their system as to where and how deep it is. And how much it would set them up for the future. Um, the San Francisco Giants would be a perfect fit for, uh, Kyle Tucker.

[00:16:47] They have the money they've kind of sat on it for, for many years, uh, because they missed out on Gian Carlos Stanton and a plethora of people afterwards. You're talking about Aaron Judge. They were like very last [00:17:00] minute. It was either Yankees or, or Giants. Right. So they've always been in play for those marquee players.

[00:17:07] Uh, Kyle Tucker might be one of those guys that, you know, if you're looking at a moment in time when the Dodgers may be weak enough to envision the Do the Giants making a play for it, and he just added Tyler Moley, uh, who I'd mentioned before in terms of a free agent picture. Um, you know, that that has some upside that they just signed and that buys a bit of time for some of the younger pitchers, but they have the infield set up to support the pitching really well.

[00:17:36] Like, whether it's Willie, Adam Es, uh, Matt Chapman, uh, Rafael Devs. You've got a lot of star power in there. You've got the best. Defensive catcher in the league. So go out and get that outfield set up, um, to actually support all those guys and round out your roster basically with a big piece, whether it be Cody Bellinger or Kyle Tucker.

[00:17:58] I think that makes a lot of sense. [00:18:00] 

[00:18:01] Mark Corbett: I'm gonna be really curious to see where he lands here. I really thought more of these guys would have a home by now. I mean, I don't know if we're going to see. Spring training and some of them still not picked up, but, uh, I, I certainly thought Kyle Tucker would be, you know, of course, initially I thought he'd be with the Mets.

[00:18:19] , I thought that was gonna be a solid thing for him to go there and, ' from leaving Cubs and moving on, and the Mets would be somewhere in his career. And of course, I think you had Rays as potentially some part of his future career. And, you know, we, we feel that anyway, just being Rays fans, but 

[00:18:37] Mat Germain: I think , we sometimes assume too much that we know what the players want or are looking for, right?

[00:18:43] So we don't know the mindset. That's basically why I threw the Rays on there because financially speaking, I kind of broke it down in, in other, uh. Posts where the Rays have about $24 million that they can offer a player and stay, you know, to that around a hundred million Mark. [00:19:00] Now if they deal Josh low, which would be presumed in this case, uh, then they add another two.

[00:19:05] So you're at 26 million. We all know you can structure contracts differently. You can, uh, defer some payments, you can back load, you can mid load. To me, Kyle Tucker is somebody that you want to mid load. Because you wanna have, you know, you want to be paying the productive years and those are gonna be the next, you know, five to six years.

[00:19:24] So, so you want to make sure that they're, the bulk of the money is in those years if you can help it. Uh, and the Rayss don't have commitments, you know, beyond next year. So, so you have that ability to kind of either decide to make and part of your core or move on. So. What, what I think Cal Tucker makes sense for, for the Rays is that then it opens up for them to trade.

[00:19:47] Some of their outfield prospects, which are really starting to become, uh, I don't know, an an impressive group of players of talents that they can use then to go get the pitching at the [00:20:00] deadline or other pieces that they need to round out the roster. Because when you look at a core of Kyle Tucker, Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda. Like in terms of bats, they have enough there to be productive and we know that the rays are good at developing pitching. So how far off would they be at that point from being a true contender? You look at the Baltimore Orioles, the division's not getting any easier.

[00:20:24] The Red Sox are still going at, you have Gerritt Cole and a bunch of pitching coming back , for the Yankees at some point in this year. So it's going to be a tough year again, but I'm looking more at the chunk of time when. If you sign, call Tucker now. He's gonna be there when you open a new stadium. Yeah.

[00:20:41] How great would it be to have that marquee, local name to have as part of that group? Right. And then you're drawing the fans in because of that. And, , you mentioned the whole family traits , and family, whatever attributes Bo Bichette is from St. Petersburg. Yeah. You don't have a more local guy than Bo [00:21:00] Bichette

[00:21:00] He's on the Market. His dad played for the Rockies. You never know what the ties are to that. Dante Bo Bichette was, yep. A big name. So, I the Rays have some intriguing choices that they could make. . To supercharge their season just instantly. , And who knows, they might be in on a pitcher like Zack Littell or one of the Japanese imports, uh, that they could bring in to help their pitching out as well.

[00:21:22] , But I, I think that there's more. Potential for the Rays. Now I'm not expecting it. I, I threw out there, , Mark , for Bobette a fun place for him to land would be the royals. . And the reason I say that is I see like him shifting to second base as improving his defensive output, then he, what he would have at shortstop and playing alongside, somebody like Bobby Whitt, Jr.

[00:21:48] Has to be attractive to him because, I mean, you know, you, you kind of want to go to a group where they have a good chance of winning. So he'd be getting out of the AL East they just, , [00:22:00] extended Michael Garcia, uh, to play third base. Their future looks very bright. They have some young catching coming up, a lot of strong pitching in, in Kansas City.

[00:22:09] So I don't know how you've used the city, but to me it would be fun to see. A superstar name go to somewhere other than New York or Los Angeles. So those are the few that I threw out there.

[00:22:19] Mark Corbett: Yeah, I, I, I agree, man. The one thing I keep saying, okay, you got Steve Cohen in with his wallet with the Mets.

[00:22:25] You look out at the Dodgers and they don't care about what a luxury tax is. They're gonna go in and spend, spend, spend. So. When you look at them and you think, who else is gonna be, I mean, and even the Yankees, we look at where money's gonna be spent quite a bit. So what happens with all the rest of us, you know, it's uh, I guess we get those early draft picks maybe, but.

[00:22:49] It's, it's not enough. And I, I do hope, I mean, I'm like you. I don't really anticipate Kyle Tucker being in Tampa. I would love to see him here and it would [00:23:00] be absolutely festive in this town with a new stadium in Tampa. I. And having a hometown boy like that. Uh, and it is funny too, you mentioned Bo Bichette

[00:23:11] A lot of folks forget 'cause he's just across the water that Dante, you know, was having a family and, and Bo Bichette right over was in St. Pete. But my gosh, man, I'll go back to what you said about Kyle. Wow. I, I wish we had, done something , to really bring him in, but, uh, wow. Uh, see, I'm trying to think what else.

[00:23:32] Oh. You had made some comments about the Angels too, about some possibility there, weren't you? 

[00:23:38] Mat Germain: Yeah. Well, I, I don't know if you remember in the off season when we first were starting, I said one of the biggest moves, biggest positive moves they could make was letting Anthony Rendon go, like, just move on, change the aura.

[00:23:52] In the team, and I think they've done that now. Like they've officially parted ways where he hasn't officially retired, [00:24:00] but they're basically paying him to walk away because they just don't want, 

[00:24:04] . 

[00:24:04] You know, there's certain things that weigh down the clubhouse, a team and the, they change the environment, they poison it, and he was exactly that.

[00:24:13] Now, I don't know what his personal demons are. I'm not stepping on him as a person. He has his own things going on. By all means, go and sort them out. I wish him all the best. And I hope he does come back with a team at some point and finds that passion or that ability to play the game at a high level.

[00:24:29] 'cause he can. He has the skills. He has the abilities, but if it doesn't make him happy and he decides to go somewhere and do something else, by all means go and do it. But now the angels are stuck with a, okay, well we still want to compete for whatever reason. You know, you can knock Arte Moreno all you want, but he is competitive.

[00:24:48] He does try. He does. Throw money at the problem, probably more so than he should in a lot of cases. But, but now they're eyeing up. Of course, you know, [00:25:00] this is the trend with the, um, the angels being the way that they are. They, they just can't, you know, go after a young guy. So instead they're looking at Nolan nato.

[00:25:09] Now, to their credit, we don't know what the Cardinals are willing to cover in terms of, of Nolan's salary if he were to be dealt. And Nolan Arenado still has to okay it. He has to say, yeah, I'm willing to go and pay there. 'cause he earned that right when he signed the contract. So by all means, you get to dictate things, but he's from the area, that's exactly where he's from originally.

[00:25:34] So if you assume that he wants to go home at some point in time, enroll home is relative. Um, you know, it would be a little bit of a home trip if he did, , get traded to the angels. Now he is overpaid. He's older in aging. He's not optimal defensively anymore. He's slowed down a step. He's not as quick in terms of reflexes, et cetera.

[00:25:55] And the angels are probably likely to eat a lot of money of his contracts. [00:26:00] 'cause that's probably what the focus is gonna be for the Cardinals. They just, they don't want to do what the angels did with Rendon. They sort of want to shift off a lot of the budget so that they can reinvest it.

[00:26:11] Which is smart, but that's the car. No way. It's not the angel's way. Right? So, so he's a perfect fit for Arte Moreno, uh, because of that, now, you know, you, we talked about Mike Trout and I think we're both in the same place where we want him to have success. Um, I still think that the most impactful thing is moving on from Rendon, but I think it would even be.

[00:26:35] A higher level if you're able to replace 'em with somebody that's positive in terms of mindset and attitude and performance, I don't know what Nolan Arenado is like day to day. I don't know if the whole sequence of events that have taken place last two or three years where things have soured. I don't know if that's Nolan wanting to be on a competitive team and, and to be in the [00:27:00] playoffs consistently, or if it's personality clashes within the team, but for whatever reason.

[00:27:07] It just has not worked out at all for him in St. Louis. So change should be good. Now, he nixed a, a shift over to the Astros last year where they had a deal almost in the work. Why he he nixed it? I have no idea. I, you know, so it can't all be about competitiveness when I look at it that way. Yeah. If all he wanted was to be on a competitive team, he would've said, okay.

[00:27:30] So then I start leaning more towards the sourness aspect. And so are you replacing a sour lemon with another sour lemon, or are you just, you know, so I really don't understand this one. Mark, maybe you can enlighten me. 

[00:27:45] Mark Corbett: Oh, brother. When it comes to Arte Moreno and the angels, I'm already, my mind stops almost there. Yeah. So, but Turkey's still going down from the holidays. Um, it's easy, but no, I, I, I have no clue. [00:28:00] I keep thinking back to Trout and Ohtani when I think Angels and I thought, my gosh, how do you build on top of that? And of course, you know, they weren't gonna be able to keep Ohtani.

[00:28:13] I don't know what they're going to be able to do, but you, you seem to think Moreno's gonna be at least. He's open to spending money, which that's not something you always hear from, uh, an owner. 

[00:28:26] Mat Germain: So the, the problem with with the angels for me, for a long time has been the lack of vision and commitment.

[00:28:34] To a certain direction. So they brought in Ron Washington, which was a great move to try to build up their defensive ability to try to get people passionate about the game again, yada, yada, yada. 

[00:28:44] Mark Corbett: Yep. 

[00:28:44] Mat Germain: But they didn't resolve all of the roster issues around them. They brought in Travis, d'Arnaud. They brought in Soler, all those guys and it was great.

[00:28:52] But they still kept the sourness in the team and they still kept that . The thing that works with the rays. If you listen to the ray and you [00:29:00] listen to Cardinals and, and all these teams that have a lot of success, same thing with the brewers or there's, there's a organizational think. Direction. Right?

[00:29:11] Where , they know who they are, they build that up from the minors up. Yeah. They treat people with respect all the way through. Whereas the angels are way too aggressive in my opinion. They will draft somebody and he's up in the majors two years later. They really don't care about the process of building the player up and, and having them part of, of success.

[00:29:35] Through the miners all the way up. So not only are they destroying the winning aspect of the P player as he's being developed into a major leaguer because they're throwing him to the wolves too early. Mm-hmm. But they're also making sure that everybody else in their system is on a losing team, which in the, you know, losing breeds losing, it's just, it's that kind of mentality after that.

[00:29:59] Right. So they [00:30:00] need somebody that's gonna come in and revamp their entire. Organizational way of thinking about how they develop players, who they target, when they target 'em, how they build them up from the ground, and to give themselves a wider range of talents to pick from as a result. Because it's not always about the superstar that you're gonna be able to throw the wol after two years.

[00:30:21] Yeah. It's about the supporting cast that. Person has the same as you just pointed out. When you have O and Trout, your job essentially becomes surrounding them with the best package possible so that you can follow through with their talents. The Blue Jays made that it same exact mistake for years with Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, and a couple of other guys.

[00:30:42] , And it's what he does now. Like how does he change his front office if I were him? I would pick up the phone and call Stu Sternberg and have a conversation and say, how did you pick your front office?

[00:30:55] And how do I make that happen for me? Because, you know, even if it's [00:31:00] an advisory role, just bring Stu as an advisor, even though I know he's a minor minority owner of the race. But, but there's a way of, of picking the right individuals in the right kind of. Frame of mind so that you can build your organization up.

[00:31:13] Because if you look at the Mets and the angels as examples of what not to do, like, like that's just, and for whatever reason, they refuse to learn the lesson and, and to kind of change things drastically enough to make the change happen. 

[00:31:30] Mark Corbett: They will, they do not have the patience to build. And I get that what you're saying because if you look at the Raysd minor league teams, many of them have had great success season after season.

[00:31:44] They'll have some seasons where they're not. But overall. Building a winning perspective, a winning season, whether, you know, you're playing with, uh, river dogs, whether you're playing with, uh, the biscuits, you're playing with the bulls, [00:32:00] hot rods. But if you're succeeding at those levels and your events, you are advancing slowly as your talent grows.

[00:32:09] Then by the time you get to the show, there's gotta be a positivity that comes with that. And if. If there are major league teams who are just thinking, I want to build a major league team right now, I want this. I want, this is what I want, right? If that that's the case, then you're short changing yourself of all the resources that you have out there and build a net positivity that you're talking about.

[00:32:35] Mat Germain: Right. And, and if you're like, I, I don't want to put so much weight on it that it becomes, um, you know, a scapegoat for them. But, but I do think that if, if I'm the owner of a team and I look at my assets, right, because this, that's essentially what all of your affiliates are, is that they're feeding your major league asset with, , talents, right?

[00:32:56] So you get to judge what, what you're. [00:33:00] What your team has done in terms of bringing in talent to support it. So right now in AA last year, rocket Cities is the Angels affiliate, and they were 21 and 48, so they had a .304 winning percentage. That's essentially telling me that there isn't a single player on that team that is going to help my Major League team.

[00:33:20] How do you, make sure that you have the support cast coming in for your major league team. That'd be essentially tells me You don't care. Yeah, you don't care about what your AA team has. So you're just saying, okay, well I'm gonna plug in major leaguers and I'm gonna keep signing major leaguers to fill holes.

[00:33:40] And so then you're just on a leaky ship plugging the holes with major league talents. Now every major league player comes with their own set of baggage. They've all been brought up a different way. They've all had different ghosts, different this, different that You haven't formed any of that in as an organization, so you're just a plethora of mercenaries.[00:34:00] 

[00:34:00] Gathered together and put into a group. And that breeds conflict Mark. Yeah. And it breeds a, a lack of cohesion. When my minor leaguers grow up together in the same organization, they know each other. They, they can relate to things. They, they have a mantra that's spoken to them through the organization about how to act, how to behave, how to, everything that goes along with it.

[00:34:20] To me that is clearly lacking in the angels and, and it's also applicable in their Triple A team, which was also below 500. But that Triple A to me is a little less pointed because you do have a lot of teams that bring in veterans and the, given chances. So I give them more, you know, room for that one, right?

[00:34:41] It's more the double A to me, if you have AA team that's strong, that tells me you're ready to compete the following year. 'cause you can plug a lot of those holes with the AA talents that you have moving up to AAA that year.

[00:34:58] Mark Corbett: Well, that's it. I mean, and you're [00:35:00] talking about the, the teamwork that comes with that too, because while every player is out there to advance their own career, if they have a winning strategy, and the .304 is their batting average instead of their winning average. You, you know it, it's looking better, but you, you see more of a support coming together to win at each one of those levels.

[00:35:22] Uh, Matt, I probably used this before, the image of, what is it? Like a bucket of small crabs and each one keeps, one starts climbing out and the other one's pulling back down. And what you need is, say crab on the top, who wants to pull every one of 'em out? And that's what the t, that's what players under a good organization.

[00:35:39] A good minor league organization like the Rays, you know, seems to enhance and bringing in some of those veterans you're talking about at AAA level, to, to give some depth and understanding to those younger players in, in the system as well. So, oh. Mat Brother. I, I tell you. We'll, we'll see [00:36:00] what they come up with this year and I'm looking forward to the season.

[00:36:03] I'm looking forward to seeing what's come up with that. Um, is there some points you wanna make sure, is there some topics we need to discuss that we don't have on this list? Let's. I, 

[00:36:13] Mat Germain: I, uh, I wanted to bring up one that I thought was funny about, you know, you, we taught, we started the show off with a little bit of politics, right?

[00:36:20] Yeah. But, um, the, the home, , values and kind of the, what do you call it, the. Home sales Market has been dropping a little bit in, uh, in Florida. Mm-hmm. Uh, recently for a variety of reasons. I'm not gonna dig into what the, uh, the reasons are for it, but it applies to the Rays because their owners, the luki, um, is, is part of the Dream finders homes.

[00:36:44] Right. Right. And so they've been putting some, uh. Pressure on him because the, the numbers are all going downwards and they're putting a lot of blame of his focus on the Rays and, and his new position as the CEO of the Rays. And he's saying, no, no, no, no. I'm going to [00:37:00] keep doing the job. As, you know, the CEO of the dream finders, yada y and doing all the stuff that goes along with that.

[00:37:06] I'm like, how can you balance those two? And if you're trying to put together deals for stadiums and you're, you're. You're doing a lot of, uh, outreach when it comes to favors and this, that, and the other thing. There's no doubt to me that he could do it. But then he also has an affiliate in, in Jacksonville that he has to run.

[00:37:26] Then he also has an affiliate in Akron that he has to run. And he also has, you know, at some point in time your bucket gets full enough that you want to drop a few of those. Mm-hmm. And kind of move on. So the thing that I want to throw out there is that there may be some, some sales of affiliates. There may be some changes in roles.

[00:37:43] Uh, but you know, when you're looking at the, um. The landscape of what's going on with the Rays. Uh, their ownership group is under the magnifying glass and under pressure from a lot of variety of different reasons. So give them some leeway if things are moving along as quickly as [00:38:00] you'd hoped. And, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm also gonna point out, Mark, I think it, this applies to you and you'll be, um, you'll be happy to hear that.

[00:38:09] Uh. The, the World Baseball Classic is not far away. Yeah. You know, and I think we need to talk about how, how quickly things are about to change, because we talk about a whole bunch of free agents that are still available. Alex Bregman, uh, Cody Bellinger. Bobette, yeah. Ranger Suarez. There's Fran Valdez. Like these are players that are going to change the outcomes of teams significantly.

[00:38:34] And we're only 50. Days away from spring training games. So you're talking, you know, what is that seven weeks? Yeah, seven weeks is pretty quick in, in terms of, uh, of timeframe because you're talking at least two weeks of spring training before that. And then. Yeah, that brings it to about five weeks. So teams have about five weeks to decide [00:39:00] the rosters, bring 'em in for spring training and get going and, and you know, pitchers and catchers will probably be there a little bit before that, but then you have 83 days from now is opening night.

[00:39:12] But between the two. Is, you know, 12 days after the first spring training game is the first W uh, WBC game, right? So the ones that are slated to go to the WBC are on an even shorter timeframe. Um, and so I think we're gonna see a ramp up. Of transactions over the next two weeks that is going to be very fast and furious.

[00:39:36] And so there's gonna be a lot of changes coming around, but it'll be exciting. It'll be something we can all kind of chew on through the cold winter , and enjoy., But throw out as many ideas as you want out there. Get excited about baseball because it throw, it keeps, keeps you warm in, in, in a very cold time period.

[00:39:56] Mark Corbett: Indeed. Indeed. My gosh, man. You know, it's, [00:40:00] it is trying to keep warm. But going back to what you're saying about the WBC, and I wanna remind folks that during spring training there are going to be WBC exhibition games at some of the different, uh, uh, ballparks around here. So that's something to see, you know.

[00:40:18] Early on, I, I haven't found out yet much about what it's going to take to get tickets to that, but I will, and I'll share that here also. And I am really excited about this upcoming season and I, I gotta tell you, Matt, I'm trying to. I, I want to talk about resolutions in a moment, but World Baseball Classic.

[00:40:39] It comes every three years. It, it seems like it just happened, but right after, it seems like it takes forever to get here too, because I enjoy it so much and. I did want to talk about some, the little oddities of the game. You know, what do you do during, off season? And I got friends who are, who are big into collectibles.[00:41:00] 

[00:41:00] You know, they, they found all kinds of strange things. I had one friend and I was looking at, uh, he, he brought in says, look at this. I, I got, I got Lou Pinellas baseball pants. That's nice. That's, that's okay. I I, I found one where a guy had a jockstrap from a player and it's like, come on please. Now this kind of caught my attention to get, what brought it to mind was I recently saw where Elton John, not a baseball player, Elton John, you know, he, uh, he was wearing some jewelry and the jewelry was not baseball.

[00:41:36] He was wearing. His kneecaps, his original kneecaps as jewelry. And I was like, good Lord, man. Well, I, I thought, how much weirder can he get? And then I saw that, uh, let's see. Karen Shamsky, she's a daughter of a retired dentist and a self-described sports nut. Paid [00:42:00] $7,475 for Ty Cobbs. Tincher hit us Sotheby's auction back in 1999.

[00:42:10] Mat Germain: Oh 

[00:42:11] Mark Corbett: man, 

[00:42:11] Mat Germain: collectors amaze me. 

[00:42:14] Mark Corbett: Oh, they really, 

[00:42:15] Mat Germain: and it, in a way, it drives me a little bit nuts, Mark, because sometimes, you know, you think about it, let's say a painting, right? A painting is. Literally paint on a canvas and people will spend millions of dollars on it. It's paint on a canvas, like think about it in terms of a, the simplest form, right?

[00:42:32] A baseball card's, the same thing. It's cardboard. You could literally print. The exact same picture on the front and the back of a piece of cardboard, and you have identical information. Yet people will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions sometimes on these things. I don't understand it.

[00:42:54] Collectors amaze me in so many ways. Yeah, I get it when it's game war and [00:43:00] stuff a little bit. Where, uh, let's say, you know, it, it's a jersey of a team that you really like, and it's not only because it's game worn and, and you have it on the wall, but it's also because you cheer for that team. So seeing that logo and that symbol and that player makes you happy because that's something that brings back a memory that you lived with that team or player.

[00:43:22] Right. Okay. I can kind of buy that to a point, right, where you're not throwing your family in the street to kind of spend money on this stuff. Because I do know, guys, I had a, a friend. Who was, uh, a fan of a certain team, uh, I'll remain nameless, but he was basically the type where he would have a, a rack of jerseys from that team and every single player from years and years and years.

[00:43:48] Every, every month essentially, or two months, he would buy another one. Geez. And, and it was just to the point where he had every single player that he could imagine and he would put one on for every game. So, and then [00:44:00] if they, if they ended up losing with that, you know, that guy's jersey on, then he wouldn't wear it again.

[00:44:04] He'd wear the next one and. I love it. I love it. But he had this track with like 50 different, uh, players on it and I'm like, geez, that's a lot of money. If you think about the investments you can make with that much money and, and, and what that would be worth with compound interest. Oh gosh. 

[00:44:24] Mark Corbett: You know, 

[00:44:26] Mat Germain: let's get '

[00:44:26] Mark Corbett: em all signed too.

[00:44:27] You know, make sure you get 'em Sand. Wow. Gosh almighty. Yeah. Yeah. It is insane to think that, uh, you know, the textile industry is dependent upon collectibles, but it's, it's insane. I, I, I. Don't get it. I, I will own up to years and years and years ago I bought collectible cows. Ceramic cows, but I, I, yeah, I did.

[00:44:52] And I bought these cows as somebody who would see them go up and value 300% in two months. [00:45:00] And sell 'em.

[00:45:04] Mat Germain: That's a good investment.

[00:45:05] Mark Corbett: Oh gosh. Little ceramic cows. But, uh, it, it amazed me, you know, they'd put one cow in a, in an astronaut uniform. Another one , who had some, a famous artist had painted on it.

[00:45:18] It was all, like you say, it's just a thing in, in paint. But it was fun and, and it, and I, I admire people who enjoy that. I just can't imagine they'll paying $7,475 for a pair of dentures from Ty Cobb. But hey, you know, I'm sure it, it meant something to that woman and, mm. So I, I've made one of my resolutions not to buy that stuff for 2026.

[00:45:46] I do have a, I do have one jersey my daughter bought for me, and it's, uh, Longoria and it hangs up. I can't, I can't bring myself to put it on um, a frame in a frame because. They want two or [00:46:00] $300 and they staple it to board and it's like, ah, you know, 

[00:46:04] make your own framework. It's not that hard there, honestly.

[00:46:06] There you 

[00:46:07] go. 

[00:46:07] Mat Germain: You really can. And, and it's a good little make work project, uh, make it however you want to make it so that it actually hangs up the right way. But you're right, like it's just one of those oddities, they charge way too much if you get the right piece of plexiglass. Yeah. I mean, you're never gonna expose this thing to the elements, and then you get just the wood to go around it, and all it is the rest after that is a bracket.

[00:46:31] Literally, it should cost you 20 bucks max. Honestly. I'm very serious, like I've done it. So it's not hard. You just, the plexiglass, you groove it in on the outside. So you need somebody that has the right power tool to make the right groove, right? But then you put in the bracket on the side of the door and you're done.

[00:46:49] It's, it's literally 20 bucks. 

[00:46:54] Mark Corbett: I, I, I like that. I, I, that is, well, maybe I'll make that part of the resolutions. Let's see what else I got on [00:47:00] here. Oh, uh, one of 'em is, I wanna have more guests on the show, so they're always fun and. Let's see. Oh, I want to do more with women in baseball and a project I'm working on, , with Sonida "Shoo-Shoo" Wirth, and I'll tell more about it in the Future show, but those are some of the things, you know, and look at maybe developing an educational program about baseball and some of the women from the All Americans.

[00:47:25] There's just different things like that that I, I've got on my list. What about you? Do you got any you wanna share? 

[00:47:30] Mat Germain: Uh, in terms of, uh, the, so my mine start with a don't do bad things, so I'm not going to gamble on sports. That, that's my number one resolution. Uh, my number two resolution is to set up a YouTube channel of some sort.

[00:47:47] 'cause I think we do, uh, I want to, I want to do a little bit more, um. Uh, immediate content to kind of try to ramp things up, but I don't know yet which direction I'm gonna lean in because I [00:48:00] do think there's a, there's a need on the political, uh. Landscape to have a, uh, conversation with white adult males, that that needs to be more, um, uh, well sourced is the best way I could put it.

[00:48:17] Mm. And more factual instead of reactionary and, and kind of, uh. Uh, assumes that influencers are correct, uh, at all times. Yeah. You 

[00:48:28] Mark Corbett: know, I, I heard that somewhere. I just can't remember, but, but it must be true, 

[00:48:32] Mat Germain: right? So I think we've, we've spoken to Craig Calera about this, where I think, you know, people need to, um.

[00:48:40] Be better critical thinkers, uh, about where they get the information, why people would put it out there in that way, and what it actually means. And it all goes back to being the good person again. Like I think that there's a need for that. So either that and or baseball, I think it's easy enough now to set up those things and just put it out there and see how it [00:49:00] goes and, and where it lands.

[00:49:01] Um, so I think that's my, my major one this year. Pardon me. 

[00:49:09] Mark Corbett: I want to part with an interesting thing going on with the Kansas City Royals and it actually starts with the NFL because right now. What's happening in NFL in Kansas City, Missouri, and that is that the chiefs are looking to move to Kansas City, Kansas.

[00:49:31] And I, I didn't realize, Matt, that the, uh, Kaufman Stadium where the Royals plays is adjacent, practically butts up to Arrowhead Stadium where the Kansas City Chiefs leave. So the idea is that the football team. There, there's already, I think, uh, a promise of 4.1 billion for a new stadium in over in Kansas City, Kansas, uh, [00:50:00] that they hope or anticipate to be there.

[00:50:03] The football team by thousand 2031. And by the same token, the Royals lease for Kauffman Stadium where they play in Kansas City, Missouri, ends in 2031. So 2031 could be an eventful year for the folks who, who live there in Missouri. Let's see. I, 

[00:50:26] Mat Germain: I've told you my feelings on that. I hope that by then they're able to rename the team to the Kansas City Monarchs.

[00:50:33] Yep. That the, the Montreal, uh, team gets, uh, brought back in as part of an expansion and that they assume the Montreal Royals name. 

[00:50:41] Mark Corbett: I love it. I absolutely love it. I mean, what better time to change the name than doing something in the midst of, uh, everything else going with this? Mm-hmm. And I hope that's true, that's about all the fun I got today.

[00:50:52] , I did want to mention to something that you had put up. Online on Blue Sky, and that's about the top 10 positive projects worldwide. As [00:51:00] long as we're looking at giving and looking at trying to make the world a better place, I'm going to direct people there, uh, as well because that's, uh, I think well worthwhile for, for folks to, to see what's going on and maybe how they could contribute as.

[00:51:16] Mat Germain: Right. And it, it, you know, it goes back to that whole where do you get your sources from and why would they be, you know, positive or negative. I think I try to do that with my daughters a lot too, is to look at the positives in the world instead of the focusing on the negatives. Yeah. Another company all throughout there is the ocean https://theoceancleanup.com/ cleanup.

[00:51:33] They're working on clearing the oceans of plastics, essentially. Hmm. And so they've come up with some systems that I, I hope people look 'em up, uh, you know, buy a t-shirt, buy some gear that helps them out. Essentially with every million dollars they can set up another, uh, uh.

[00:51:49] Unit, uh, to go out there and sweep the oceans of plastics. And they also have, uh, devices that they've put into rivers all over the place in Guatemala and Jamaica and a lot of places around the [00:52:00] world where, uh, it was needed. So essentially there's a thousand rivers that they've identified that result in 80% of the plastics that go into the ocean.

[00:52:09] And so they're trying to plug the, or to capture the, the. Biggest polluters, uh, immediately. And they've been working on that for years now. I've been supporting them for over a half decade, for sure. Um, but they. They also have systems that go out and they get pulled by tugboat boats, and it's essentially like a big sea that drags through the ocean and, and picks up the plastics and, and puts it in these nets.

[00:52:33] They dump them on top of the tugboats and they sort it out after the fact, and they make products out of the recycled plastics. Wow. So, so they're working through that. And so it's nice to see because then you're, you have some. Positive outlook. We talk a lot about the climate change, uh, issues that are going on.

[00:52:49] My list of the top 10 relates to that and wind energy for the US is part of that. So I know that's been in the politics recently. Uh, I just wanna note that if you paint every [00:53:00] third blade black, uh, instead of white, it actually lowers the impact of birds by 90%. 

[00:53:06] Mark Corbett: Wow. Wow. 

[00:53:08] Mat Germain: You talk about the, the problems that they point out in terms of knocking out birds.

[00:53:11] That's one of the solutions that was found in Europe and, and it's a simple one, but they'll never point it out politically for, for their own personal reasons. Right? Oh gosh. So, so yeah, I'm just throwing that one out there. And the list is awesome. It has China, it has Liberia, it has Canada, it has all the.

[00:53:28] You know, and different variety of ones. Ones are, are basically wind. Some of them are, uh, carbon capture, some of them are water cleaning. , So there's a variety in there. And I think if you look at the breadth of money and, and projects that are going on in the world, we're heading in the right direction.

[00:53:44] It's just not broadcast enough. Uh, and, and it's too. It's pushed aside too quickly how much progress we're making in a lot of, of climate change initiatives and, and if we trumpeted it lighter than, [00:54:00] or louder than some of the naysayers, you know, like to, to do people would be in a better mindset and more able to kind of, uh, go through days without getting so angry.

[00:54:12] Yeah. 

[00:54:14] Mark Corbett: Well, I like that. Being able to show, guess what, there are some good things happening. There are things that are encouraging and there's ways to participate. Could you tell me the name of that organization again about the, the cleanups and plastic, the 

[00:54:26] Mat Germain: cleanup. The ocean cleanup, and it was started with by a, uh, engineer from the Netherlands.

[00:54:32] And so the only government that I know of that has directly kind of invested in this, you know, is, is the Netherlands. Now, they do make deals locally with different places. So let's say they set up a barrier, uh, and Guatemala, let's say, well, the Guatemala. Are in charge of that, of, of extracting the garbage and processing it and doing all the things that are going.

[00:54:52] So it's a very involved way, uh, of, of setting it up initially. Mm-hmm. But once it's set up, it runs smoothly. And a [00:55:00] lot of the, the, um, the river capturing devices they have set up or, or. Vastly autonomous, like they're like a conveyor belt that brings the things and dumps it into these baskets. Wow. They go and collect the baskets and then that's it.

[00:55:13] They move away after that. So I know they have some systems in India and Malaysia, uh, all over the world, and, and they're really successful. What they do, and they, I think the timeframe they have right now is 2031. They'll have rid the oceans of about 70 to 80% of the plastics that are in there right now.

[00:55:31] Damn. 

[00:55:32] Mark Corbett: Wow, Matt, that that's, that's amazing. Well, I, I definitely wanna make sure folks, that'll be in the show notes and also how you can find a way to contribute to that organization, whether it's buying t-shirts or just direct funds to them. It's 'cause, I mean, there's few things I think I can think of that are more worthwhile than that.

[00:55:49] So, Matt, thanks for bringing that to our attention. 

[00:55:52] Mat Germain: My pleasure. All righty. 

[00:55:55] Mark Corbett: Well, boys and girls, it's yet another episode of BaseballBiz and Deck, and we [00:56:00] hope you've enjoyed Mat and i's conversation with you. I know sometimes I get a little deep in the weeds on some of the things in the world, but that there's some that need to be addressed and we do attempt to be apolitical.

[00:56:11] I know I do simply because I don't really care much for anybody in politics. God love you all, but, uh, I care about good people doing . Good things for everybody, you know, that you don't have to love 'em to do a good thing for 'em. So God bless you all and hope you're having a happy holidays. And Mat, any final words or thoughts?

[00:56:33] Mat Germain: Uh, yeah, I'll finish it off the same way we started and when you're evaluating politicians, evaluate them based on how much good they'll bring to your life. There you go. 

[00:56:42] Mark Corbett: Alrighty. Well thanks again everybody for joining us today on BaseballBiz On Deck, and we look forward to talking with you again real soon.

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