Phil Terrano, Spring Training Start, Youth baseball & MLB RSN changes

337 BaseballBiz On Deck with Phil Terrano

Mark Corbett: [00:00:00] Welcome to BaseballBiz On Deck. I am Mark Corbett. And with me of course, is Mr. Gering. We have a very special guest coming back and visiting us again, Mr. Field Toronto. How you doing, buddy? 

Phil Terrano: I'm doing great, mark. How you doing? Happy New Year to you. I'm 

Mark Corbett: telling you, it's, 

Phil Terrano: it's, I know it's a little late in the in the new year wishing, but it's my first time on for the year, so I wanna wish both of you guys a very happy New Year.

Mat Germain: Happy New Year.

Mark Corbett: Happy New Year to you and as well, and it is a new year this week as I sit here in Florida and I look around 15 teams coming to town, and pitchers and catchers are reporting as we live and breathe. So that excitement is just ripping through the state. And the same with Arizona. My gosh, there's so much going on.

And Phil, we're gonna talk a bit about your business in a bit, but there's a few things I want to hit on right now. 'cause being a Rays [00:01:00] fan Oh my it's gonna be a crazy year for us. And there's always some news coming out, certainly now with new ownership, it's a lot of fun. Matt, he, what's been, what have been some of the topics that you've seen on the cooker for the Rays right now?

Phil Terrano: It looks like you guys are planning on another bid on a new stadium, and that looks exciting. I definitely saw that in the news and keeping up with my current events as as I'm supposed to be doing here. But look, we're just excited baseball's back and I'm hopeful that the rays get the new home that they desire and I think it'll be great for the fans.

I think it'll be great for, everybody in Tampa wishing them the best of luck with that because I believe they do need one. 

Mark Corbett: There. That is something we've all been waiting for a long time. And quite honestly, Phil, I keep saying I'm not gonna talk about it anymore because it has been a long, ongoing conversation.

We've been doing this fo show for seven years and it's, [00:02:00] we've milk milked that puppy to death already. I don't know. I'm looking forward to these new owners and having something new, but yeah. But wow. Big thing for us right now. We got the fan fest coming up here. It's with the rays. And this weekend it's the Saturday.

Yeah, today is Wednesday. And lo and behold. It's not gonna be held actually inside the Trop, it's gonna be held outside. 'cause I guess they're putting the finishing touches inside the stadium right now as we speak. So instead of just calling it Fan Fest, they're calling it Fan Fest Block Party. So it's gonna be a big parking lot.

It's gonna be biz busy. I'm excited looking forward to that as well. Usually they have some, oh, some of the old uniforms and such that they're willing to sell, three for one or something like that. I'm curious to see what's out there. Matt, you were talking about something about some uniforms recently too.

What was going on with that? 

Mat Germain: Yeah, so the I guess Patrick responded to one of the the fans that was riding 'em and begging the rays for them to bring back the road [00:03:00] Gray uniforms, the ones that have the tail that goes across the entire front of the jersey. So apparently.

Patrick's, rolled back with two eyes saying, oh, he sees it and I'm guessing he supports it. So it's something we can anticipate the Rays bringing back, and as we spoke about before, mark we think there's gonna be a more I shouldn't say that, because the whole, grit and glow thing was pretty cool.

Yeah. What Stu Sternberg brought in. So the rays have always had, an ability to transform their uniforms back and forth. And I made. Do they have the most uniforms in MLB, like different versions they've gone through? I don't know, but it's it's something that Patrick obviously is a fan of and is looking into and I wonder if they'll make all of them more available for sales, which is something that I've heard a lot of people gripe about what's available for them to purchase.

Mark Corbett: That's it. And you're talking about Patrick, and you're speaking of one of the triumvirate of owners of the Rays. And [00:04:00] I'm curious, God knows I'm one of those people who will probably buy just about every jersey that I could afford to. Terrible. But I love it.

Even the gifts I've got in the past were from, oh, here, mark, here's a jersey for you. But the design I was really curious to see. What our city connect was gonna be. And they came out with that grit and glow and I absolutely love it. It's one of the most creative things I've ever seen any of the teams do.

I mean if you was it, you go up Chicago and they put south side across, and there you go. That's it. Here we'll put south side on the uniform and that's who we are. And I don't think the grays man, that's that's interesting. I do like the tail of the stingray on there. But I gotta tell you, every time I see gray, my first, my mind goes to the Yankees and I see those road uniforms and grays.

So I just, part of me just snarls anytime I even think about that. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. So Phil what are your feelings about baseball in Florida in general? Like right now, we're seeing the Rays. They're [00:05:00] doing it a little bit differently than what the Miami version did. They seem to have been taken to the cleaners a little bit by getting taxpayers to pay for their stadium.

Jeffrey Lo Loria made out like a bandit, pretty much retired himself from baseball shortly afterwards when he sold it. When you look at the Rays situation coming up and all the inner workings that are gonna happen with Steinbrenner Field, and Jacksonville and possibly having the Rays owners having to sell all that, but all together in terms of baseball in Florida with spring training started, what are your feelings about baseball in the game and the state of Florida?

Phil Terrano: Look baseball and Florida is obviously, definitely needed. It's probably one of the best, in my opinion, best states to have it right. There's a tremendous, amount of people that obviously play the game here from a youth level all the way up, which is well we'll be talking about later on with some of my ventures.

But for the most part, I, I truly believe that the organizations are needed here. I believe that there's a [00:06:00] good opportunity for even maybe more organizations to come later on down the road in certain other markets. But I do believe that having spring training here, having two good organizations here is definitely helpful for the fan base.

I'm not necessarily in agreeance with some of the locations. I'll say that and go on the record of saying that I never believed that the Miami Marlin Stadium should be where it is. I just, I'm not a fan of the location, but, I am a fan of the fact that they have baseball in Miami and there should be baseball in Miami.

I always thought out West was always a great spot for it just because of the ability to navigate and geographically get to it a lot easier than where the location is currently right now. But the both organizations are great from my perspective to deal with.

I have a lot of close people that I've dealt with over the years that are, great individuals that work for both organizations and I enjoy it. And it should be here, based the fans deserve it. As Florida's grown tremendously and you get a lot of Northerners and [00:07:00] everybody coming down here, and of course they wanna see baseball and they wanna see their teams play, but they also want to have a home team that they could probably be proud of.

Big advocate for baseball, being in Florida, when I first moved to Florida, there was no baseball. We were baseballless if you'll and then of course the Marlins came around later on. But I moved here back in the late eighties and then, of course, baseball wasn't here at that point, but came a few years later.

And it was very exciting. So it's exciting to have baseball in my belief in any state because baseball's the greatest, game, of our culture, of our being a part of the game is just been a blessing for me. And it's just, most people that obviously understand and love and enjoy the game deserve it in their markets, it's just, yeah.

I would love to see it in more markets. Nashville especially I'm a big component of the Nashville. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. Absolutely. No, they're all great points. I think one thing that comes to mind in my mind when I look at, 'cause Mark and I have talked about the Australian Baseball League, and they're struggling, like they've cut the number [00:08:00] of teams down there in half over the winter.

And one of the things that I think baseball may want to consider down the road, we see a lot of players go back to the Dominican, go to Mexico, go elsewhere for winter ball. In the winter there's, there has to be some sort of, space, where they could have a winter league that's all based in the southern states at a point where you could actually, get a lot of the people that wanna prove themselves that were injured during the year, that are looking to add, looking to improve and even mix in some of the youth that, want to step up and be a part of that and make some sort of Winter league.

I think it'd be a lot of fun and a good addition to, 'cause you have the, you guys have the facilities, like you've got all those spring training facilities that you could use. You've got, a lot of overhead that's being paid for anyhow. Yeah. It would only make sense to actually use a lot of that for business purposes.

Phil Terrano: That's a very good point. , Matt, , and I'm not, I'm, . I'm curious why nobody's ever thought of that. Seriously and personally myself, I [00:09:00] have never thought about that, but you bring up a very valid point. We have the facilities, we have the the ability to bring players here all year round and play all year round.

Puerto Rico's been a very big avenue for winter ball these years. Probably within the last five or six. It's grown tremendously as well. So you got, you got Columbia, you got Mexico, you've got do Dominican, you have Puerto Rico and of course the Australian leagues and a couple of the other ones.

So yeah I would be a big advocate for that. And thank you very much for that idea because that's not a bad idea. I would I'll bring that to the next meeting. 

Mat Germain: There you go. You never know how things start, right? They. Kindle somewhere, and I'm glad that that it piqued your interest.

Phil Terrano: Yeah it makes sense. We're probably one of the warmest climates during that time of the year. Although for Mark and I'm sure you too have heard about the cold weather we've been getting here for the last couple weeks, but starting to warm up again. But for the most part, it's been 75 and, degrees and sixties at night.

That's. How could [00:10:00] you complain about playing in that weather,

Mat Germain: exactly. And there has to be like a complimentary thing. I know one of the things baseball is talking about right now is trying to work in more international awareness and more spotlight on baseball as a whole. The w BBC's gonna do that a little bit.

Yeah. But even if you had some sort of competition within that season where you go to the Dominican winter leagues and you have some sort of competition or tournament Yeah. Once the champions are chosen, maybe after the fact, et cetera, where you have a, a short three or five game series between the teams.

Yeah I think it would people would watch it too. Like it could be an add-on to a lot of the sports networks. And I think they would have interest in showing that as well, even if it is in football season. 

Phil Terrano: Yeah, true. But nine outta 10 times the, I'm probably gonna get ridiculed for this one, but nine outta 10 times the dolphins aren't in the playoffs anymore, so what difference does it make?

Oh 

Mat Germain: yeah. Now of all the Miami teams, [00:11:00] they get the worst rap, even though the Marlins struggle, they've won some championships recently. 

Phil Terrano: Yeah. Yep. I see. Yeah, I would say so. You got the heat, you got the Panthers. Of course we were doing it phenomenal. The Miami Dolphins just can't seem to.

To get that situation under control and get, look at New England this year. That's been, that's been a pretty impressive run for a team that just got back to it. I'm, and I'm by far no New England fan, but at the same time that's pretty impressive to get back to where they got back to this season.

Mat Germain: And let's not forget Vielle Messi, getting them to build a new 

Phil Terrano: yeah, and soccer. L 

Mat Germain: yeah. 

Phil Terrano: Yeah. Got soccer, which is huge here at Tampa. I'm sorry, port se Lucy's now getting one as well. They're building that facility, so soccer's growing. Florida's just a great place to have all sports.

Literally. It is. Again, when I moved here, there was no baseball. There was no hockey either, it was the dolphins and the heat. That was it. And then of course, college sports, which really kept you going. 

Mat Germain: That's a good point. I wonder if [00:12:00] anybody's ever considered how many athletes have gravitated down to Florida compared to what it used to be like back in the eighties.

Yeah. Like that. That is a really good point. 'cause I've never even put the, the brain power towards that, but it has to be really significant. 

Phil Terrano: When I moved here, the Yankees and the Orioles were in Fort Lauderdale. 

So that's how far back I go of being in in South Florida.

And that was all we had. That was it. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. I am very curious to find out, and especially when you talk about the money, so the money that's been poured into all the stadiums, all the arenas, all the fields, all the, that is a significant amount of capital. Yeah. And once you have that infrastructure, that's what attracts.

Future athletes. And then they get That's right. Spotlight on them. And as you're talking about before, you have ventures that are tied into that, be making use of those facilities. Yeah. And it, it starts the machine turning. I've seen it here in a different scale and in our area [00:13:00] where once you have certain levels where you can see like the whole ladder, right?

The ladder is in front of you, you can go here for that. And then you've got the whole trajectory to get yourself to the optimal level. It becomes possible. So then in your mind you're like, oh, that's a possibility. I can climb that ladder and actually make it all the way to the top.

I've seen it happen. 

Phil Terrano: Absolutely.

Mat Germain: And that's, that makes dreams happen. 

Phil Terrano: Again, you gotta start somewhere. Like I said, Miami had the heat and the dolphins and that was it. And Nashville's now, growing in that area of more sports and more opportunities and. I think you'll start seeing a lot more of that too in other areas.

But the more sports grow and continue to keep growing and from a youth development standpoint and the the areas start growing from a population standpoint. 

Mark Corbett: That, Matt, I'd probably like to start up with what you're doing right now as far as growth in baseball and some of what is going on with your organization.

Can you tell us a little bit about that? 

Phil Terrano: Yeah, [00:14:00] sure. So I think the last time I talked to you guys I had started a a travel youth travel league as a by accident really. And I say by accident because what happened was is my kids started playing in the youth, travel ball organization standpoint, or traveling around, playing in different tournaments, playing in different leagues and I just felt a need to do something different and to give back in some sort of fashion and way to where it was making it more memorable and not always about the bottom line dollar.

And because that's what a lot of what I was seeing was a lot of, just as I called it the show and go cluster in a sense from youth sports standpoint where, parents are paying harder earned money to go to these different areas of baseball and in South Florida or, joining these different leagues and they were just not getting what I thought was a great value for their money, so I decided to start this league.

It was called the Florida East Coast or stole, was called the Florida East Coast Travel League. [00:15:00] And we did well. We we had our hiccups along the road, like every new organization and new person coming in and stepping into somebody else's pool, if you will from a competition standpoint.

So we, we had some trials and tribulations that went along with that, but for the most part, I always sat back and said, as much as I'm always the guy that likes to be liked and wants people to understand why I'm doing things and wearing my my motion sometimes on my sleeve a little too much I definitely.

I am glad I did what I did because what I feel like I did is I changed the way people had to go about their business. You started seeing what I was giving out from a trophy standpoint or from an award standpoint or from a no gate fee standpoint or whatever the case be was going on at that time of how I was trying to think of different ways of giving instead of taking so much.

You started to see we were doing press conferences with the kids [00:16:00] and putting up a nice step in repeat with logos and all kinds of stuff, and having actual reporters sit there and interview the kids during, in and in between the games and after the games as post-game interviews. And parents were loving it and kids were feeling like they were big leaguers.

And that was the whole point feeling let them get an opportunity of something that maybe one day they could go back and remember because they didn't make it to the next level and actually get to be a part of a post-game or a pre-game press conference. What you started to see was a lot of people starting to do that and starting to change the way they gave out their trophies or rings or whatever.

So we, I feel like I made an impact of allowing people to realize there's a new person in town that's doing something a little bit different, and people are starting to really gravitate towards it because it's different. It's more memorable, it's a better experience, and that made them step up their game.

It's maybe a bad analogy, but when a McDonald's has to beef up its hamburger because the whopper [00:17:00] is moving next door. You know what I mean? I felt like that's what I was doing and you don't see it on the outside looking in because you're so focused on doing what you're trying to do to better it.

But what I was getting was a lot of people were saying to me and sending me articles or sending me posts of somebody else's Instagram, and what I was seeing was other people doing the stuff they weren't doing before. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Phil Terrano: And it was very heart welding. But. I was only one guy. It was a family owned and operated business.

It was me, my wife, and my kids running 90 16 tournaments and running 78 80 team league divisions from eight U all the way up to 14 U. And I just wasn't in enough hours in a day for me. And I, and when I go at something, I go at it. I don't do anything half, the cup is full when I do it, and I go at it to make sure it's full and I give all my attention to it.

But between my agency, my clients, my own personal time with my family, watching my kids grow up and watching [00:18:00] them play, and my son becoming very, even more heavily active in sports and both my kids I was running myself ragged. So what we recently did within the last couple of weeks actually is we finalized a deal to partner up with Prospect Wire, which has been in the business for over 20 years.

And brings a very good reputation of not only the aspect of travel baseball and tournaments, but also the memorable experiences the opportunity to give back a little bit to the community. But what they didn't have was the younger divisions. They were doing a lot more of the 13 and above.

For that showcase app opportunity for kids getting ready to try to get to the next level. And what they saw and what we were doing was the younger groups, which I always said that I was great at the younger groups, but always having that hard time to get the 13 and the 14 and 15-year-old groups, which was weird for me as an agent.

'cause those are the kids I really wanted to watch. No offense. But, I love watching [00:19:00] 8-year-old baseball. It's cute. It's funny, but my, from my profession, I wanna see the older kids that maybe I have an opportunity to represent someday. It was weird that I never really grabbed that niche of grabbing the 13 and 14 and 15-year-old groups in a large capacity.

But that's what they have done. And now with having a brand that, you know, fleet, as everybody calls it, Florida East Coast Travel League, but it got a nickname of fleet. It's stuck. And people love calling it that. And and we branded it. Pretty good with that. So having fleet's ability to go out and get younger divisions and bring in younger age groups and to collaborate with their older age group professional opportunities and that, what they've brought to the table with that, it's been it's gonna be really exciting.

I'm very excited to be on board with them as a partnership with them staying on as a consultant with them on a national and a local level for five years. So we didn't sell we partnered and they kept me on as a good advisor to what I've done and keeping the good times [00:20:00] rolling.

Mat Germain: In terms of going in with that organization, I know a lot of times they have their own sponsors and their own 

Phil Terrano: Yep. 

Mat Germain: Equipment that they can help with, et cetera. How does that improve your situation for that essentially. 

Phil Terrano: Look every bit helps, right? No matter what. And I've had a lot of good connections over my years with vendors and stuff like that.

In fact, I'm wearing one right now, which is another project I'm working on and another collaboration. I've joined a part of which is Stinger Baseball and and Stinger Sports. But the 

Mark Corbett: you don't slow down, do you? By the way? 

Phil Terrano: Don't, I don't. I just enjoy sports. I enjoy helping people.

I enjoy something new on my plate. Sometimes my wife thinks I'm crazy, but that's, just the way it is. But, and answer to your question, Matt, it's just, what they're bringing to the table for their resources and then combined with mine and all the relationships I've made over the years from my profession, and of course with Fleet too.

We had Gatorade sponsors at one point in [00:21:00] time we had Rawlings, we had Marucci and now we're gonna have Stinger stinger Sports. And, it's just the two great minds think alike. And then when you bring all those minds together it can only grow and it couldn't get bigger.

Mat Germain: That's awesome. 

Mark Corbett: I, I've really been glad to have you as a friend and a visit on the show. And one of the things that's encouraging, because I always feel like you put those young players, those young athletes first, and we've talked to the past too because I, sometimes my, I wear blinders. I know this.

When it comes to this field, it's about thinking about travel leagues and it's like suddenly. Stigma just comes right there in front of me. It's like I can't see anything else. It's everything's terrible with it. It's because all this money has to be spent and everything else, and all the travel and the expectations that some of these kids are gonna become pros.

And if they don't, oh my gosh, what happened with that money is that [00:22:00] I, I know my prejudice. Okay, but I've seen what you do. And it, it diverges from that. And was that mode that you were breaking and you're starting to see a little bit of change with how other teams or other organizations are working with their players, whether it be through awards, et cetera.

How are you seeing that as, I guess I'm still concerned about it being a negative impact on community ball, American Legion Ball and that sort of thing. 

Phil Terrano: Look again, big advocate of Little League and Legion. I played coach Legion, I played Legion Ball, I played Big League Baseball, which was a part of Little League baseball up, at the highest level of little League baseball at one point in time.

And they unfortunately got rid of that division, coached in that division many years ago. Years. Look, what I think is people did see somebody new come in and do something different. I don't think the mindset has changed and I don't think it's ever I think we're lost on that aspect. I think we're lost on the [00:23:00] aspect of trying to be realistic with what the game and how hard it is to get to the next level.

I think everybody still thinks their kid's gonna be the next Derek cheater or whoever, and that's okay. It's okay to have good aspirations, but it's also, there comes a time when you have to be realistic about it, right? There's not a scout watching an eight U game. There's not a scout watching a nine U 10, U 11, u 12 U 13 U.

There's not, right? So this situation of wanting to be hungry to do a tournament every single weekend, I is somewhat not necessary. If you're doing it for fun, great. If you're doing it for rankings and points and thinking that, Clemson's gonna be there watching you, or the New York Yankees or the Tampa Rays, or the Miami Marlins or any other one of the 30 affiliate baseball or major league baseball clubs or thousands of colleges out there, you're sadly mistaken that's not [00:24:00] happening.

Develop your kids. Develop them in practice. I had a coach say to me one time, and I'm sorry I have to say this, that he develops his kids during the games and I wanted to hang up. 

And I think I did hang up actually, because how do you develop a kid during a game? Yes. Things during the games that you could work on in practice, but you don't develop kids during, in a game.

No. You develop them at practice. You develop them to, what do they say? You practice to get to the game to perfect the practice. And that you learn from the practice. 

Mat Germain: They go hand in hand. Really? 

Phil Terrano: A hundred percent. There's no I coach for many years before I became a an agent and I'm still a student on the game and I don't learn on the field.

I learn off the field 

On the sidelines while I'm practicing and I develop myself. So how do you do that during a game? I just never underst say this is an eight U nine U coach and [00:25:00] I was like, if you had that mindset, you know what if the ball's never hit to that kid during. What if he never sees a play?

Okay, maybe he needs to learn that he has to back up the right field or, the the the play, the right field has to back up the first baseman on his particular situations in the left field of the third basement, whatever. But he's moving around. Yes. But what if the ball never reaches him or never touches a soul of that leather?

How did he develop? 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah. You wouldn't want a coach like that as chemistry teacher, that's for sure. Trying to figure it 

Phil Terrano: out. No, I, I wouldn't. And that's a very, another very good point. Mark is you guys are coming up with some really good stuff tonight with, some ideas and analogies because you just can't, you don't teach chemistry by.

Testing it out. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Not in the middle of an experiment, Hey, how about add some potassium to that? 

Phil Terrano: Yeah. Let's see 

Mark Corbett: what happens, shall we 

Phil Terrano: not, and not in my house. I wouldn't do that. And truthfully guys, my house has [00:26:00] been the baseball fields for my entire life. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, wow. 

Phil Terrano: Because I've grew up on the baseball fields.

I've devoted my life to this game, and I never, ever developed during a game I developed with my coaching and my coaching staff. On practices. 

Mark Corbett: Okay. I think with FLETL and what's your commitment to the game and what people see that, what you do with the use there, it's not just this portal to MLB, it is for a life experience.

Then it's for enjoying the game, learning the little minutiae before they ever get onto the field and supporting them, giving them, a sense of enjoying the game itself and in a good competitive atmosphere. And so I salute you on that, buddy. I appreciate a great deal. 

Phil Terrano: Thank you. Yeah. There's nothing better than competition.

I'm as competitive as anybody else, I wanna win and when I wanna win with grace and lose with integrity, and it's just unfortunately, I think we've gotten away from a lot of that stuff these days,

Mat Germain: [00:27:00] I think what it teaches a lot of kids is showing up.

Phil Terrano: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Like I always say, like one of, like you were just saying, it never touches the glove in Denver, but every kid gets to go at the plate and face that picture. And 

Phil Terrano: maybe,

Mat Germain: You hope, but maybe it's one of those things where I think sports and music and performance, even dance, et cetera, on a stage in front of people you're as a kid, doesn't matter whether the scouts are there or not.

You're always feeling like you're being evaluated and you're being tested, right? So you're testing yourself and you're growing that risk. That that confidence and that all those little details that you need as a person, as an individual, whether or not like you said, 99.9% of the people are not going to make it to the show, but it's going to make them into stronger and more capable human beings down the road.

I think that the interesting part with this FLETL thing is the test to me is do the parent, the kids that go through it when they have kids, are [00:28:00] they, putting their kids in that same program? That's going to be the test of time that'll tell you it's like a self-evaluation. If when they have kids, they're putting them in the same program, it, then we've been successful because we're getting that whole, machine going and it's a reflection on us that they enjoyed it so much that they're willing to put their own kids in through it.

Phil Terrano: And truthfully, that's why I, I. Went with prospect wire, right? Because not only have they been around for such a long time, but they bring a national setting to the equation, right? And that national setting could last forever. And some, somehow, some way my legacy lives through that of what I've built with Fleet and I have my own kids.

And like I said, it was a family o operated business. My kids were out there flying drones and 'cause their father doesn't know how to fly a drone and they were out there doing interviews with the kids and putting a mic [00:29:00] in front of their face and giving them an opportunity to speak into a microphone.

I love it. And bringing baseballs to the umpires. And that's something that we built together as a family and but now we've taken it to a national stage that's pretty, pretty impressive that a nationally recognized organization such as Prospect Wire, recognized what we were doing in the youth level of a sector that they weren't in down here in South Florida.

And. Thought enough of us to partner with us and be a part of what we've grown to this point, but could never really take to that level doing it as a family. And I operate and maybe I could have, but there's just not enough time in the day for everything else I'm doing. You know what I mean?

And that's really was my sole purpose of if I'm gonna do this with somebody, I want them to be able to take it to the next level because. I just don't have the time to do it. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Obviously, pardon me, obviously about what you've been bringing to the table with this, has made it easier to build those kind of relationships and make [00:30:00] something like this happen in this expansion.

And just even on this show, I wanna remind folks, like I said, sometimes I've been a bit of a naysayer in the past, but that was, if you look at something from oh, I dunno, 15, 20 years ago now, looking with what you're doing today in incorporating that and seeing a much broader perspective of FLETL is something that I would certainly say that people should look at closely if they wanna and have, give a path for their child to, to enjoy the game.

To understand the game as much as anything else. So that's great. You're doing it, brother. 

Phil Terrano: Just make it memorable, that's the, I have always kept it. 

Mark Corbett: Yep

Phil Terrano: in that mission statement. Make memories because you don't know when you're never gonna play this game again. Yeah. You just don't. From a little kid to, look, I give anything to play one more great game.

And enjoy every moment of it. But my time has passed now I live it with my kids and enjoy watching them play and watching my clients perform and doing everything I do [00:31:00] on that aspect. But there's one thing that I always tell my children especially, is that have plan B. 'cause you don't know when this game is gonna end for you.

And if you love it that much and you wanna stay in it, plan B could be staying in it but have plan B,

Mat Germain: My plan B is if I play a softball game and the ball is five feet that way, or five feet that way, it's a home run. 

Phil Terrano: I like it. I like it. 

Mark Corbett: You brought up one thing I made me think about injuries and helping young people through those as well.

Not knowing also what the future holds. Having a plan B and my gosh, we jumped back to what's going on professionally. If you look at the Rays right now with Shane McClanahan he's had so many challenges over the years and we're hoping to see him come back. And Matt, I know you were talking about that was, how do you say it properly?

. Hamitate bone. Hamitate bone what? 

Mat Germain: Hamate bone. 

Mark Corbett: Hamate bone. Why can't I say that thing? 

Mat Germain: Yeah. The injuries [00:32:00] that are going on, they, what? What are your thoughts on injuries in general, I guess is the best way to say, yeah. Because I can remember a time, it's not that far that long ago, maybe in the 2000 tens ish it was just, don't throw any splitters.

Like they, they didn't want anybody to throw any splitters because they thought that's what caused all the Tommy Johns. And then all of a sudden it was all about the sliders, and then all of a sudden it was, it doesn't matter what you throw velocity. And so with the kids at the levels that you, from what you've seen what would you say is the the overall advice that you could give people on how to monitor those kinds of things?

Especially if you're a parent and the coaching is pushing your kid towards a certain direction. 

Phil Terrano: That's a good segue into what I wanted to talk about too. I talk a lot about my kids because obviously I love my children and I'm a proud father of boys that play sports of a dad who basically has made sports his entire life.

Especially baseball. My [00:33:00] advice in that situation would be, you don't need to play every weekend. You don't need to be at a tournament every weekend. The body needs rest. And I say this because my son is now attending the Wellington Sports Academy here in Wellington, Florida, which is was opened this year by John Bostic who was a football player and really opened it as a baseball academy with the the emphasis of, opening it up to more sports later on down the road.

But part of his crew that opened up the and I should say his staff and partners now is Devon Travis, who played for the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays, Brad Peacock who played for the Houston Astros. These are some of the guys that are training my kid today, which is pretty cool. And I know a lot of 'em because of my relationships and sports, but mostly because of them, them being a part of this community too.

And my son just played his first game this past week since. [00:34:00] October. 

Mat Germain: Wow. 

Phil Terrano: Why? He's been developing. He's in the, he's in the academy. He's in the gym. He's learning how to properly lift weights at now 14 years old, he just turned 14 in December. He's learning how to treat his body. He's learning how to stay healthy.

He's learning how to do everything you're supposed to do that we just talked about, that you're not developing during the game. 

Mat Germain: Right. 

Phil Terrano: You're developing on the field for practice. And he gets plenty of that. He's in the cages, he early morning workouts and late workouts and all this good stuff. To answer your question and not drag it along is basically there's a time to rest the body appropriately to where you're not throwing a million sliders in a weekend and you're not throwing split fingers and you're not throwing curve balls and you're not trying to shoot for the gun radar.

You know what I mean? And blow the arm out or. Do something that's gonna get you injured, right? And don't get wrong. You can lift weights and get injured. We [00:35:00] can do that too, but at least we're not constantly making a, a sudden move and a and an elbow, and I'm doing this, we're doing things to properly get our body up to strength to prepare for seasons.

Because there are seasons in baseball. These guys get time off for a reason, yeah. Now some of 'em don't take it and they go play winter ball and some of 'em do this to do that. And I get it because they're trying to better themselves in their careers, but the body needs rest. 

And it needs to be able to develop appropriately.

Mat Germain: Oh, that's great to hear. 

Phil Terrano: So that's my advice. Try, play games. I love playing games. I love being around a game. Practices said can be boring sometimes. We all know that it's, they may be boring because they're not an action packed game. But you're learning and you're developing.

And then when you get to that game, man, is it sweet? He's got a double header coming up this weekend. I'm excited. I've been looking forward to Sunday since last time he [00:36:00] played. But for me, I get to see this every day. There's a lot of people that are just so impatient. They gotta play games, they gotta play games, gotta play games, gotta play games.

It's not the way to do it. And that's why you're seeing the injury rate go up significantly.

Mark Corbett: It's a good strategy. I'm glad to hear that's a path That, was it Wellington? Wellington 

Phil Terrano: Academy? Yeah. He said the Wellington Sports Academy, which is in Wellton, Florida here. Palm Beach County, Florida. 

Mark Corbett: I'd heard Brad Ke, Brad Peacock was doing something. I didn't realize where he was with it.

Yep. That's fantastic. 

Phil Terrano: Just saw him this morning. And again, that's cool because now these guys are giving back too. You're watching that. I watched Devon Travis who is, one of the coaches and happens to be, I've known Devon since he's 10 years old. He was on that World Series team back with 2003 East Boyton Little League world Series, Boyton Beach Little League World Series team that went all the way to Williamsport and won.

So I know him since he's 10 years old. Yeah. And now he's coaching my kid and I tell him all the time I, and [00:37:00] I say to, I love what you're doing. I love how you coach. And he laughs at me. He is where did I get that from? He, I was there when he, I was coaching when he was part of that team.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Phil Terrano: But no, he didn't get that from me. He got that because he's so passionate about the game. He's passionate about helping these kids. He's passionate about, the way he coaches and when he coaches every play, literally every play. You see how that kid moved on first base and wanted to catch that ball, you see how he did this?

You see how he did that? You see what you need to be, do every play. I don't know many coaches that do that anymore. I don't. 

Mat Germain: Yeah I interviewed Devon Travis way back when I was covering the Blue Jays. And and we we're, at the time, unfortunately, we were talking a lot about the injuries that he was struggling through to try to get enough Yeah.

To make good on his skills at the time. And so when you're talking about somebody that can relate to a lot of what we were just talking about injury wise, oh, he perfect [00:38:00] kind of advocate for that. He can literally speak to how that can put a roadblock in your career, your progress all the way through the minors.

Phil Terrano: He'd give anything to be injury free and a lot of other guys too, his brother's Jordan Travis great quarterback with FSU and, unfortunately sustained a bad injury. And it happens in professional sports and sometimes it ends careers. Again.

It treat your body right and you give yourself a little bit of a better chance of not sustaining something like that, but it can happen, right? We can fall and slip on ice and it could happen. Look at the skier that just went through, she's out there skiing with a torn ACL and then hits the flag.

That doesn't even cause her accident, which was the injury that almost prevented her from getting into the Olympics, hits a pole and then, and has another situation where she's gotta have another surgery besides the one that she was gonna need once the Olympics was over. [00:39:00] So it's anything could happen.

It's sports. Yeah, that's, it just goes that way.

Mark Corbett: There's so many great things we would talk about, but I'll tell you one thing. This kind of goes the whole other way 'cause I'd written some notes on this whole other topic, and that is where are you going to watch your games on tv? I, it isn't until today I am starting to hear about yeah, I knew MLB TV was gonna be able to, I could watch my team when they were, away, but I wasn't gonna be able to watch 'em here and I, all the regional sports networks and who's gonna be left, man?

Oh man. That has been a free for all watching. Who know who's going to be left to this? Because there's so many of 'em have gone away. I'll tell you, Phil, here in Tampa, let's see, I think there used to be Fox Sports, ballet Sports geez, what was the most recent FanDuel, whatever, the diamond group.

And sooner or later I said who actually runs [00:40:00] this? Team anymore or as far as that. But evidently looking just at a microcosm in Tampa, the those, the RSN has FanDuel has gone the agreement with the rays. And now MLB is doing both from the local perspective, where we had a guy like Dwayne Staats and Brian Anderson, that group that we've known for so long and, may become our friends on tv.

I was scared I wouldn't go to have 'em again this year. But they're going to be there, they're gonna be just, I guess within the MLB portal instead of that regional sports network with FanDuel. But it has been a, it has been a nasty time. 'cause I see, I'm looking over my notes real quickly. Six handed over production responsibilities to the leagues media division last week, including the Brewers, Marlins, Royals, Cardinals, reds, and of course the Tampa Bay Rays.

, The Braves are still figuring a few things out, but it's interesting to see all this change. 

Mat Germain: [00:41:00] Interesting is not the word I would use. I would say the timing is intriguing. And then I think Phil can speak to this a little bit. If, when you're getting ready for CBA talks and you're dealing with the turmoil, that is the bulk of the money that MLB counts on, in terms of the TV contracts, et cetera, being completely altered.

How do you go into a war room after that and start bargaining on financial details when you don't even know a lot of years who's gonna be covering what with how much money? 

Phil Terrano: Yeah. Look I've always said, the major dollars are coming from the TV networks. Obviously, I think we all can maybe figure that out.

Some people have the misconception that it comes from the ticket sales and it really doesn't. It comes from major networking contracts and stuff like that. You know what I will say to that point is that I love the MLB network. I love everything about it.

I love the commentators happen to know Harold Reynolds pretty well and a lot of those [00:42:00] guys over there. I wish we would be able to just figure it. Oh, look, streaming's becoming very popular now, obviously, most people don't even have cable boxes anymore. It's all streaming, YouTube, tv MLB network or Hulu or whatever.

Obviously a lot of these platforms are trying to stay creative too, and they have to because there's just there's illegal ways of doing it too. And people are, the networks are getting messed with, I, sorry to say it, but there are and I don't know any of 'em, but they are.

Mark Corbett: Yep. 

Phil Terrano: I don't, I don't use them. I have my YouTube TV that I probably pay for every year and or every month I should say. And I buy the MLB package and I watch it just like every other fan, right? Yeah. But they have to stay, they have to stay relevant and they have to do what they have to do to keep the, the money flowing in from the network deals, obviously. And then, and that's obviously gonna be a very big discussion along with the cap if that poten potentially gets to the table again. 

Mark Corbett: We've talked about the cap and the floor quite a bit on this show, [00:43:00] Matt, that back and forth on this and looking at a floor, I think it's always been saying, okay, some of these teams, and I'm not trying to get you to talk about any specific ones.

Some of these teams obviously have just really almost taken advantage of when the Dodgers are paying that ungodly luxury tax and way over what anybody would imagine. And these guys who are just basically siphoning all that money up with not really reinvesting in, in their team to have a competitive, strong team now.

I'm also of the mind saying yeah, okay, I get that. But if a team, the Rays can do more with less with a Eric Neander type of philosophy, if he can find a way where you're bringing and developing players early on through the minor leagues and bringing them up through that system and making good trades.

I don't think they, that a team should be called out if they can have a successful season after season. [00:44:00] 

Phil Terrano: I don't think it's any any secret that the, what the Dodgers are doing is pretty incredible. I'm not breaking any rules by saying that, but look. I grew up a Yankee fan, right?

Obviously I'm a fan of where all my players play, 

Mark Corbett: right? 

Phil Terrano: These days. And that's how I've, navigated through my career being an agent is, I root for my players. I root for the guys. And I happen to know, like I said I speak to a lot of teams all the time.

30 all individual clubs and then teams over in Asia and Korea and Japan and Taiwan. And what I think is going to happen here is that we're gonna have, start getting a little bit more creative of allowing teams to stay competitive and do, and doing it in a way where the system isn't totally broken.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Phil Terrano: And I don't think it's broken now, but I definitely think it's. [00:45:00] You're utilizing it to your advantage in a lot of different ways. And that's okay because that happens. Look, sniper did it for years, right? He always went after Cole and then he went this way and he went that way and he got every big player, but that didn't always buy him a championship.

Mark Corbett: No, 

Phil Terrano: it didn't. Right? And Marlins are a perfect example of that, right? They bought themselves a championship and the next year what happened, HIAs old and they were completely, dismantled. And it's happened multiple times. So there's gotta be some sort of of compromise here somewhere.

And we will let the good people at the PA and the and people that I believe in that are at the helm of it to. Get what we need to do to get to that point where we can collaborate, sit down at a table, be reasonable, come up with great suggestions. Yes, come up with great ideas and make it work 

Mat Germain: right.

Phil Terrano: Is it working right now? No. That's why we're going back to negotiation table. [00:46:00] If it was working, we wouldn't try to break it. No. So it's not working, so we gotta figure out how to make it work. 

Mat Germain: My stance on it has always been if the players demand enough of a open book policy for whatever gets agreed to, and they agree on an even split 50 50 where, the end result of whatever system is put in place, its 50% goes to the players, 50% goes to the owners.

There wouldn't be any war whatsoever. But I don't think they're ever gonna open those books. So it's irrelevant. But the one thing I threw out today that was interesting is I threw it back to Mark and we were talking about the cap and floor system. If you were to say the floor right now of all the American League teams was 125 million and the ceiling was 250 million.

So basically the floor becomes half of the ceiling. Okay. What would happen is that it would cut 72 million off of two teams total combined, [00:47:00] and it would add 172 million because of the five bottom teams have an add so much. So the net profit for the players would be a hundred million dollars. This is why I don't understand the player's position at all, because they would gain so much if they just pushed for the floor to be high enough that it basically blows the whole thing out of the water.

The focus should be on making sure that gap between the top and the bottom is reasonable enough that you don't have one team driving a ladder and the other one's got a Ferrari every single year. That's what gets mind-numbing as a fan to watch. Yeah. We'll see every fifth year, or every sixth year, the bottom teams come up and have a year where they're competitive and then they go back to sleep.

And then we know the owners are raking in profits. They're not gonna complain. And they, we know that the top teams are happy to be in the playoffs continuously to the point where they're happy. So then it just [00:48:00] becomes, a self-defeating prophecy. And I told Mark this before, I couldn't care less to see the Dodgers back in the playoffs.

I couldn't care less to see the Dodgers win another championship. It means nothing to me. If you tell me the Pirates next year in the World Series, I will watch every single game and be passionate about it. Yeah, of course. That's the thing that it, that starts to lack when you have dominant teams like that.

It was the same thing with the Patriots and football for a while when they were winning continuously with Brady.

Phil Terrano: Right. Look, but look at Milwaukee though. Milwaukee has really stepped up their farm system. Yep. They're being competitive every year. They're not a huge market team, right?

Not, they're not a Yankees, they're not a Boston Red Sox. They're not a Cubs, 

Mat Germain: but they're in a division where nobody's spending like the Yankees and the Dodgers.

Phil Terrano: Very true. But kudos to them for putting a good product on the field. 

Because they could say stagnant too.

They could. And that's, I like seeing [00:49:00] stuff like that. I love watching the Brewers come. I love watching Oakland come out. Formerly Oakland. I like watching teams like that come around. That's what makes baseball awesome. Again I hate to revert back to football, but, 'cause that's not my area of expertise.

But look at New England again. They were, they're a big market team. One of the, best quarterbacks of, NFL history and somehow figured out a way to come back again. And that's what sports are all about. And that's what makes it exciting. So you're right, if you're seeing the Dodgers in every single year, is it gonna be fun?

No, it's not. But maybe you get the Dodgers in the Brews, what are, obviously not happening, but you know what I mean by that. It's, maybe you get, maybe that starts to, to trickle down and does take effect when it happens. And hopefully we can get it to that point, look, I, again, I'm a Yankee fan. I always will be a Yankee fan. No. That despite my job of choice and my career of choice, and we can't figure it out somehow. So wait, we pay a lot of money out to players. [00:50:00] Yeah.

Mat Germain: Entitlement there's a sense of entitlement. We spent this much, we're supposed to win.

Phil Terrano: But that's my point. On paper, it all looks great. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, I know. It's crazy 

Phil Terrano: and people don't mean nothing when it comes to October. 

Mark Corbett: I'll tell you what though, man, I have to, I'll have to say thank you to Major League Baseball for the last season for the postseason, because I have, it's, how long ago has it been where I've seen a oh my gosh.

A world series like that and Seven Games, exciting games, some great players of both teams, some young players, that were just fascinating to watch and through all that, the game is still healthy. There's room for improvement. God knows there's room for improvement. And hopefully we'll see a day where it's maybe a little bit more balanced.

But to your point, Phil, about the unexpected. I won't say unexpected, but you don't know what's gonna happen in this sport. There's is never written in stone what's gonna happen in each game. There's so many things that go on within it, whether [00:51:00] it's a strategy, whether it's a change in lineup. It's just always something fluid and exciting when it comes to baseball.

Phil Terrano: Agreed. Best, best game in the world. 

Mark Corbett: Amen. 

Phil Terrano: Hands down and stuff. 

Mark Corbett: Mat do you have outta got any other things you'd like to offer today? 

Mat Germain: The only the last question, and it's just for fun. It's just a joke. When are you guys starting to add the gambling into your tournaments in terms of getting the. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, brother, 

Mat Germain: because we're seeing it everywhere and I just feel like it needs to be introduced at the eight, nine, 10-year-old level.

There you go. Because the parents need something to do while they're in the stands.

Mark Corbett: You say you kid, but I was talking with a fellow today, he's about 55 years old, and he was talking about when he was a child growing up in Ybor, in West Tampa and all the little community games, how much side betting was going on.

Really? Oh yeah. Way back in the when. And it is, it's interesting when you look at baseball from [00:52:00] a lens from the past, where I grew up, there were bookies everywhere in, in Louisville, Kentucky. And they would, you could go into anywhere, any bar, and they would bet on anything even the local community ball.

But anyway, I digress.

Mat Germain: I thought it was a funny comment. I just thought it was it's getting a little bit outlandish in terms of how much it's in your face now. Everywhere. 

Phil Terrano: Oh, yeah. 

Mat Germain: Commercial, every, just, 

Phil Terrano: yeah. It's a lot. It may be heading there one day, but I hope it doesn't head there too soon.

Mark Corbett: Yep. Agreed. That being said, Phil, is there any special project you'd like folks to know about, or any special charity or thing that you'd like to remind people about? 

Phil Terrano: Now that we've shifted gears with Prospect Wire 'cause FLETL was a not-for-profit and I'm working on a new profit or not-for-profit that I'm probably gonna put into, some sort of college fund situation that I plan on doing.

So I, but I don't have that name just yet. I haven't really thought about it. Everything has happened within the last couple weeks, and of course, I got spring training right around the corner. I'm [00:53:00] leaving for the World Baseball Classic here. In fact, earlier tonight when you were texting me and I was watching my son's game, I was ordering my ticket on Delta to get out to Houston, and then I'm heading out to Arizona right after that.

But nothing quite yet. But know that I am always thinking about how to give back and do something, making, I was actually thinking about putting I don't know if I've ever told you this guys, but I lost my sister in a car accident when I was 11 years old, and I'm thinking about making a, charitable foundation in her name. I think I would like to do that. I know I had the not-for-profit before, but now I still have technically a not-for-profit, and I can take that and transfer it over to another name. I think I would like to do that in a memory of my sister who passed away in a car accident many years ago.

So I am thinking about doing that, but I do wanna give a shout out. One of the questions I wanna ask you guys, what's, what do you think is the biggest thing that prevents people from playing baseball? 

Mark Corbett: Video games,[00:54:00] 

Phil Terrano: that kind, the area I was going in, but, okay. No. 

Mark Corbett: That. 

Mat Germain: Getting enough people to the field. More than likely. Yeah. All at once. I think organizing it, 

Mark Corbett: that is key. And that goes back to, where I've, with community, where I'm thinking you had adults in the community, maybe the neighborhood who basically brought that brood underneath their umbrella and got them to gather together.

Maybe they, the whole idea of whether you're getting the kids pizza after the game, all of those things, that sense of community, whether it's with a travel league or whether it's through a community, YMCA ball, whatever else. I think that's a big part of it. Phil, 

Phil Terrano: I like where you guys are going, but I was really more referring to the cost.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. 

Phil Terrano: The cost has been tremendous and I'm guilty of it. I buy my son a new bat all the time. Because, quite frankly, they grow like weeds too, right? And we're constantly buying cleats and we're constantly getting a new glove and we're [00:55:00] constantly getting there. So one of the major situations with why people choose other sports compared to the baseball, I believe truly is the expense of it, right?

The travel aspect of it, the cost that goes into the equipment, the everything that kind of surrounds the game of baseball, right? And I was mentioning Stinger Sports earlier, right? So Stinger Sports is a gear company apparel company team, uniform company. We do wood bats, we do BB core we do U Triple SA bats, we do custom gloves.

We do custom batting gloves, batting grips, arm sleeves, you name it, we do it top to bottom, right? And I just recently got involved with this company after many months of looking around and seeing quality. Versus cost and also the expense that has gone into the game, right? And for parents and for the youth sports community.

And this company by [00:56:00] far beats everybody out. And I've dealt with the major brands, right? The Rawlings is the Wilsons, the Louisville's, the everybody you could possibly imagine Nike, so on and so forth. And from a quality standpoint and cost effective standpoint, this company is beyond I'm still questioning how they do it, honestly.

And now I'm part of it. So I'm learning and I'm learning how they're doing it, and I'm understanding the margins of it and everything else. But I also understand the quality of it. And if I can make a plug, if you don't mind, is for, the youth parents that are out there and check, take out, check out Stinger Sports.

And you won't be disappointed. You're getting a BB Court bat that's normally going for $400 and plus, okay, in certain situations on the combats and the hype fires and all these bats that are out there for 199 bucks, and it's the same quality and it's exit velo off the same situation. That everybody's so [00:57:00] caught up on. My exit velo was 110 off that bat, and the Bat Brothers are on YouTube and we're all watching them, and what's the next hottest bat coming out? They were part of the, one of the hottest bats that Bat Brothers actually was had on their their show of what they do.

So check it out. Gloves at a very good discounted rate. And just in general, if you're looking to play the game and cost is a, is an issue, but you're also worried about quality at the same time, check 'em out. 

Mark Corbett: Okay. Yeah, if you would send me that information, I'll make sure I put it in the notes for anybody who wants to follow up and find out more about that as well with Singer.

Phil Terrano: Absolutely. 

Mark Corbett: That's all I got, Matt. Anything else? 

Mat Germain: No, I'm good to go. Thanks for coming on, Phil. Appreciate it. 

Phil Terrano: Matt. It's been a pleasure. Mark, as always, thank you again. I love joining your show. You guys are just awesome and you have great ideas and good analogies and good stuff. I really like that winter ball thing as much as I keep saying you gotta take a break.

[00:58:00] I like that winter ball thing down here in South Florida, so I may bring that to you the next time I talk to you and say, Hey, I decided to do a winter ball team down here, guys. 

Mat Germain: I will, we'll have enough 

Phil Terrano: to do. 

Mat Germain: I would love to see it, Phil. I really would. Yeah. You get good support and others wanna join along, along with you.

Phil Terrano: If I ever get my complex to getting going and I'm still working on that guys that, that dream has not died and it will not. 

Mark Corbett: Good. 

Phil Terrano: Maybe we'll host the first winter ball situation there. 

Mark Corbett: Fantastic. Stay with us for just a bit. 

Phil Terrano: Sure. 

Mark Corbett: I wanna thank you all again for Journeys here today on BaseballBiz on Deck, and we hope you enjoyed it this week.

 come back with you next week, so look forward to talking with you again real soon. 

Find out more about the products that were discussed with Phil from Stinger Sports.

The BEST wood and BBCOR baseball bats, batting gloves, custom uniforms – Stinger Sports at WWW dot stingerwoodbats.com