RaysUp - California Surf-fering & a Return to the Trop w/ Longoria

361 RaysUp BaseballBiz On Deck

Mark Corbett: [00:00:00] Welcome to BaseballBiz On Deck. I am Mark Corbett and with me is the Mr. Mat Germain. How you doing, buddy? 

Mat Germain: I'm crying in my soup 'cause the Rays won't win me games, Mark. Oh, 

Mark Corbett: gosh. Oh, my gosh. Okay. You know, I, I was having this discussion with my wife Karen earlier today, and it was about pronouns. You know, pronouns are kind of a touchy thing for people, and as a fan of the Rays, you can find people going back and forth between their pronouns.

It's we and they. So we the Rays or they those Rays? Which pronoun, as a fan, are you using today? 

Mat Germain: I use the, the, the pronoun those guys. 

Mark Corbett: Those guys, yeah. We can't take ownership for everything that they did. Man, man, oh man. Nothing- Oh, r- before we end this show today t- since we're just starting, remind me to tell you a story I read about, Lou Piniella [00:01:00] and Bill Gates, and we'll get to that a little later on.

My gosh, but the Rays, it's been insane. They've been looking so good for so long, and they go out to California and I don't know if they just can't adjust to the time out there or what, but it, it, it has not been what y- we would hope from that team. 

Mat Germain: I think it's too many distractions. I don't know. There's must be something over there they're doing in Los Angeles.

I, I don't know what there is to do. 

Mark Corbett: Oh. 

Mat Germain: Maybe they're, they're being boxed in by traffic, you know? Like, there, there's something going on, but honestly, Mark, I, I don't know if I've ever t- like, kept track of how successful West Coast trips are for the Rays- Yeah ... on an annual basis, but I remember it as, like, generally, right?

It always is harder for the teams that go from east to west than west to east generally. 

Yep. 

, Because you're able to adjust the time more easily when you're moving from [00:02:00] west to east. , You're able to go to bed a bit earlier and then you're good to go sort of thing. So, um, yeah, I don't know what, what to make of it.

What I will say is the ca- the Rays are competitive. , It's not like the pitching's falling apart, it's more the offense like we've spoken about before, where that extra, you know, timing issue- Mm-hmm ... and that extra player being hot at the right time, they're just not able to get that right now. 

Mark Corbett: It has been hurting with that and it's

I, I don't know the mean- I don't think it's great to ha- um, have great expectations. For, for instance today, oh my gosh, just you never know what's gonna happen in a game. And here we are, the Dodgers, the last game up here in the series, and we have bases loaded, two outs, and lo and behold, you know, Cedric comes up there to

and he's gotta do it, and suddenly he is at a three and two count. And my gosh, that is baseball because he can go ahead and bring everybody in and, and make a great game for the Rays and get them that [00:03:00] one extra run they need to tie it up and possibly do a lot more damage so that the, that the Dodgers would have to do a lot more.

Those are the moments that bring a lot of excitement and a heck of a challenge. Unfortunately, Cedric was not able to, to close the door on that. ... And it's baseball, right? Okay, I keep telling myself that. Huh. You made a comment today about, hmm, a shortstop for the Rays, Mr. Taylor Walls. Y- you and I have bandied back and forth about that poor young man, and he has shown so much promise go ahead in d- in defending.

But when it comes time to be ... I don't know if he's above the Mendoza Line or not, but he has not really performed, I think, much higher than that 

Mat Germain: Right. Well, for me it's more of the SLUG, right? And, and the consistency of the underperformance. So if, if we look at, at just [00:04:00] his career overall, right? Like, at, on an annual basis we hold out the, the flame of hope a- and we expect him to potentially take a step forward.

, And generally he has moments here and there where he chips in , and that's great. , He's getting on base a tiny bit more than he had in the past, so- Mm-hmm ... I think his previous career high was, like, 314, and this year he's at 319, so like, a smidgen. But his SLUG has gone down to the lowest ever in his career.

Well, I think there might be one instance where he was lower. But it's a 280, so what happens there is even if you're the ninth hole hitter and you can't maintain a 300 SLUG at a minimum or above- 

Mark Corbett: Yeah ... 

Mat Germain: , you're really holding your... You're, you're basically giving , your line-up a little bit of a NL pitcher sort of feel.

Um, which is not good and it's not what a manager wants. He doesn't have a single home run this year. , His, his, uh, ISO is well below one, [00:05:00] uh, so basically he's not hitting for any power whatsoever overall. And he keeps swinging like he wants to hit homers, right? And that's my beef with it all, is, is I can, I can look at Chandler Simpson and I know he's trying to be himself, even though it doesn't always turn out.

He's going through a serious cold spell right now. Yeah. And so , there's reproaches there, but he's being himself. He's playing the game that he knows how to play best. With, with Taylor Walls, I have the same beef with him as I had with Carlos Gomez. He treats the game like he's supposed to be hitting home runs.

He's not. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Like, he never will be. Like, stop. Just be yourself on the field. Like, hit it. Uh, when there are stretches of time when he's taking what the pitchers give him and he goes with the short knocks and the hits and the hits the gaps, those are the times when I enjoy watching Taylor Walls. Even when he drops a bunt, um, because he's being the style player that he should be.

But every time that he starts swinging long and, and trying to go for, for the big power, [00:06:00] I find, like, there's just something holding that part of his game back, and I don't know what it is. If it, if the lineup was dominant, if, if Taylor Walls played for the Dodgers for instance, right? It wouldn't be a big issue.

But the Rays are the kind of team that need production from their best positions when it comes to the offense. 

Mark Corbett: Yep. 

Mat Germain: And, and that's where having Wander Franco was supposed to be, you know, a significant- You 

Mark Corbett: invoked that name. I'm sorry. 

Mat Germain: Yeah Continue. I know, I know. I brought it out. 

Mark Corbett: That, that's where Wander Franco, and now that I 

Mat Germain: Yeah.

And then Carson Williams is another one, right, where he, I think he hit his seventh home run of the season , in Durham. Yeah. And, , and that's his number, oddly enough. So he, he's got the strikeout issues. And so , , you know the defensive play can be there. They're moving him around the infield.

, But I feel like the Rays really need that offensive, , shortstop ability, and there's so many other guys that are struggling at the plate right now [00:07:00] for them, like Richie Palacios, Ben Williamson. , There's a lot of, of drag on the lineup. Having said that, there's hope Uh, Johnny DeLuca is back in AAA, doing his rehab.

Yeah. He is, he looks like he's gonna be back for the weekend, right? So unless there's a setback. And Jacob Melton has been playing in, in rookie league. I think he's getting moved up right now, um, unless there was a setback. , You never know why they're not playing the next game. , I just know that he did really well in the game that he did play, uh, in, in the rookie level or the two games.

, He hit a couple of extra base hits, had a couple of hits and, , stolen base, I believe. So those two guys for the outfield, when you're looking at amping it up, let's say Johnny DeLuca comes back. If they wanted to give Chandler Simpson a reboot and give him a little bit of time in AAA, that might be, , the thing to do.

Mark Corbett: Mm. 

Mat Germain: Richie Palacios has been making some stellar plays defensively, but again, offensively [00:08:00] he could use a rehash. So at some point, if he keeps struggling the way he is, maybe you bring up Jacob Melton and you give him a shot. And what both of those guys do also, which is something that in June has hurt the Rays a lot, is help out defensively.

Like the Rays have the third worst defense in the league over the last, , 17 days. So, it also brings light to how stellar the pitching has been because if you're struggling like that in, in terms of the defense- Yeah ... and you're still keeping the scores tolerable and low and , the pitching's been great, like that's impressive.

That, that shows you some, some good, uh, positive vibes that you can build on and, and hope will turn things around the second half of June. 

Mark Corbett: Well, Drew did a good job the other day facing, you know, the Dodgers. He gave up a run. Who, I mean, only one. Who was it? Oh, it was Ohtani. Ohtani. And, uh, oh my gosh. He's back.

I w- I wanna talk about him [00:09:00] in a minute, but I was so encouraged to see that was the only thing that would be given up is that there was nothing on the board for the Rays in that game. There was just the one run, one home run from Ohtani. So yes, what, what's happening? But let me come back to, uh, defensively.

Right now, if we look at the All-Star ballot, who's leading the, the third baseman in the the American League? It is Junior Caminero. 

Mat Germain: Mm. 

Mark Corbett: And what I've seen as of late, I would not necessarily put him there. There's a couple things that I think that people forget, and I was just d- checking a little bit on this earlier.

If I looked at the errors committed thus far this year, let's see, the Angels, Ne- Neto has got 13, and Washington, let's see, Abrams has got 12, Adames has 12, Caminero is fourth with 10, and then Otto Lopez is with him there, too, with 10. And I remember that one game early in the year with the [00:10:00] Brewers, and Junior gave up three err- had three errors in that game.

Was- it was, like, April 1st or something. It was early in the year, and that would make sense if it was April Fools' Day. But, um, it's... I'm, I'm looking at it, and then this week, I, I guess I'm hyper-attentive to that on him. When I saw recently Walls, w- a ball that Walls should've got, it's like Caminero got in front of it.

Uh, it was like, "Let me get over in your area where the shortstop is," and, and he kind of blew a play there that Walls was not able to get to. Then, I'd... Was it, uh, yesterday or the day before? Uh, Vilade, he was, he's got one. He's coming in from left field, and Caminero comes right out there like he's almost gonna run right into him.

Vilade, he's not able to get the ball because it looks like they're gonna run into one another. And I don't know if, if Junior still has to have a presence of where he is in the field, what his job is in the field. [00:11:00] I know he's hungry and ambitious and ready to, contribute, but much like you said with a, a batter who just expects a ho- home run each time, that isn't what we need from you all of the time.

And I'm, I was almost a little... I'll, I'll say it again, I think I was a little surprised to see Junior Caminero right up there as the top ballot for third baseman in the American League All-Star ballot right now. 

Mat Germain: I'm not surprised at all, just because, like- The, it's a show, right? Like, the All-Star Game is a show.

So who do you want in the Home Run Derby? You know? Like, there's only so many guys that- Right ... can actually knock the ball out of the park on a consistent basis. He's 22 years old. , W- I think sometimes we're a little bit too hard on the young players. I can remember Bobby Cox, uh, when, uh, Jason Heyward was coming up.

Yeah. And people were, were very hard on him, and he was like, "Guys, just give him some time to, to breathe and give him some time to grow. You're gonna love him." And, [00:12:00] um, and, and he did the same for Chipper and other guys. , There's, there's a timeframe for errors to be, I don't wanna say ignored, but overlooked.

So like last year, the second half, I even had a conversation with JJ Cooper about Junior Caminero online, where I was like, you know, for the second half, he looked like he was, , above average when it came to his defensive play. Right. And, and he was really playing to that point because he had put in the work.

He was being consistent, like you pointed out. That's part of what you want. A- and I don't know if it's because of the The, the first half having eased him into that kind of, "Okay, now I've got the repetitions and I'm getting used to it and things are going good," right? But there's also the learning curve of consistency with, young players and, staying focused and being able to do it month after month, game after game, year after year.

That part, I hope anyway, will come, and [00:13:00] Junior comes off to me as somebody that will definitely continue putting in the work, like you said. He has enthusiasm. He's very focused on being one of the best in the game, and that's the other part is you, if you look at, let's say, i- isolated power, on base percentage, weighted runs created, he's in the top three of the third basemen in the league for all three of those at 22 years old.

So, when you're th- projecting what he will be in his prime, he's gonna be a, a superstar, , across the board. So I think that's what fans are feeding on, is the hype of that helium that Junior Caminero has as he's getting acclimated in the league. And, yeah, th- he's just likable. Like, his personality- Yeah

the flair, the, you know, he, he loves to, to pimp the home runs a little bit and give it a little, you know- ... extra long stroll around. I remember, , Edwin Encarnacion used to walk the parrot. Junior Caminero has his own sort of [00:14:00] style when he's, uh, going around the bases. So I think the, the fans like him.

I, I think that's clearly, it's a, for a reflection of the fans just liking Junior Caminero. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. And rightfully so. So I was glad to see that. But, , coming back to , the Dodgers again, like I said, with, with Ohtani, I didn't realize, , what all had been happening with him as far as home runs, and I think it was like the last seven games he's had four home runs.

Hm. And I was like, "Good gravy." So again, l- looking at, at Drew the other day, I was like, "Eh, I get that." But Ohtani had another record day today, and I don't think it was one he'd like to repeat And I believe was it four or five hits that he gave up to the Rays all at once. And I don't think he's done that ever in one inning.

Uh, that's just, mm. 

Mat Germain: I predicted that a little bit in the first inning. He was so dominant in the [00:15:00] first inning. Yeah. He had some rise on that two-seamer. , He was really on. And a lot of times what I find, especially , with pitchers that are, I don't want to say worn, but , they have a lot of things on their mind, and a lot of innings, a lot of whatever.

You know, they, they tend to wear out their pitches a little bit earlier in the game than you would expect. Yeah. So along comes the fifth, and all of a sudden the Rays are on top of it because it's, that, that, all those pitches have lost one, two miles per hour, and he spent the whole first part of the game speeding up their bats.

So, you know, the two meet, and then you get that kind of collision. But, uh, it's amazing to see him work on the mound- Oh, yeah ... and on the field. Like, honestly, if you're going to pay the ridiculous money they charge for some baseball tickets nowadays- 

Mark Corbett: Yeah ... 

Mat Germain: he's one of those guys that if he's coming to your town, like get out there and watch him, because I still don't think Major League Baseball has done a good [00:16:00] enough job hyping Shohei Ohtani.

Like, honestly. Like, would you say Shohei Ohtani is as hyped as the, the biggest stars in football and basketball right now- No ... across the US? Like- 

Mark Corbett: No ... 

Mat Germain: is he anywhere near? Like how- No ... that he's not everywhere? 

Mark Corbett: Well, we, we should have had him dating Taylor Swift long ago. And that, that would have helped. But, but seriously, you know what I mean?

Mat Germain: Olivia Rodrigo. Can we get Olivia Rodrigo- 

Mark Corbett: Ooh, there we go ... to a 

Mat Germain: baseball game? 

Mark Corbett: A little bit more contemporary. I like that, because, you know, starting to age myself here, and poor Taylor as well. But no, but I mean, the, the Kelce brothers are, are out there all the time with or without Taylor. I mean, they got their own podcast.

But I don't see the clubs really promoting the players that much. I think sometimes players and owners are sometimes at an adversarial [00:17:00] position in baseball, and part of that's just contracts coming up, and that, that can be part. But you would think that would be the same in football as well, wouldn't you?

I mean, I, I don't, I don't know. Maybe not. 

Mat Germain: Well, so what is a good... So one of the things, like I think marketing wise, right? Remember that movie that, uh, that they put out about Nike and how, how they came to be, uh, such a huge company and how the Michael Jordan story sort of fed that? 

Yeah. 

Baseball needs that with Shohei, with some company of some sort, and I don't know what it is.

I don't know what product. I don't know, like obviously it can't be running shoes, 'cause they don't wear running shoes on the field. Yeah. Um, so but, but that maybe that's the problem is that there's no regular everyday product or brand that you associate with baseball that is used everywhere across the board.

I'll give you an example, like Adidas, right? If you think soccer, you think Adidas. 

Mark Corbett: Right. 

Mat Germain: [00:18:00] You think tennis, you think Adidas. You think basketball, you think Nike. Well, what is the brand for baseball? 

Uh- 

Mark Corbett: Nothing. 

Mat Germain: I got nothing ... the last time I remember a brand was associated with baseball was that ridiculous World Baseball Classic when numbers and names were falling off the jerseys.

Or, or the see-through jerseys that they switched out- Oh ... in Major League Baseball because they wanted to cheapen it, right? So baseball is not only promoting its products and players correctly, they're, they're they're going backwards. They're like, "Okay, these are not jerseys we wanna buy." 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, why, why don't we go to the point to where, you know, we have a little chaw in your, in the mouth there.

You know, we can do that, whatever. It's that Skoal, baby. Right. Uh, have, have a little pack of that to hit tobacco organization. And, uh, then let's see, what else can we do? Well, that we won. What do you know- Hmm? 

Mat Germain: What do we have on our heads, Mark? 

Mark Corbett: Oh, yeah, these ball... Yeah, that's right, man. Well, you 

Mat Germain: know- That is the product really.

Like, [00:19:00] that's the only thing you can say across the board. So I'll give you an example in terms of, like, my, my daughters were part of a dance group, right? And I was like, "You guys should make hats and sell them, and, and be, you know," even, even for the girls, the girls and the boys. Mm-hmm. And then you would look around in, in the town that I live in, we're in Nova Scotia, the west coast of Nova Scotia, and the girls love to wear hats that say LA, the LA Dodger hats, and the New York.

And because why? Because they're in all the branded stores or whatever that... But they won't wear any other teams because those are not the cool cities, right? So it's not about the baseball hat, it's just about the style and the cities that are named a- and because they recognize those logos. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, 'cause you're on the west coast.

Mat Germain: Right. But that should be amplified. That should be- Yeah ... amped up to the point where you're actually, , promoting things a lot more, and building off of it, right? Well, if you want the hat, buy this jersey with it. Ya-di-ya-di-ya. Get yourselves into more stores [00:20:00] than just at the MLB shops, right? 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: I don't know.

Mark Corbett: Yeah, yeah. You know, I, b- We do, there's definitely something that needs to be done here, and I, I, I'm not, uh, intelligent enough at this moment to be able to add the solution for the world on this. I'd like to, love to say that would. You know, I mean, some of the things you see teams try is the, oh, interesting names they give for, is the minor, the minor league teams, they'll have a, a mascot named team.

Um, was it, believe it or not, in Kentucky, uh, the team there, the mascot name is the Mashers, like bourbon mash, so they're the, the Mashers. And- 

Mat Germain: Right ... 

Mark Corbett: so a lot of these teams have it, and it, it's another way of trying to find another product to sell. But it's- 

Mat Germain: I want to give you, I'll give you an example, Mark.

Sorry. I just came to mind. Please. And I was like, "You know what? This would work." Lululemon, right? They make those yoga things, whatever. Major League Baseball should come to an agreement [00:21:00] with Lululemon where they sell hats that are made by Lululemon with MLB jerseys, right? Uh, uh, uh, MLB logos, I mean. The, and the jerseys, but in Lululemon fra- fabrics, so that they sell both the hats and the jerseys or, the T-shirts, whatever you wanna make it, that are of Lululemon material, so then you're getting the quality of Lululemon, et cetera.

You're getting, you know, extremely high-end marketing company that is recognized by women everywhere, so now you're getting women into the sport as well as, um, you know, th- that kind of forward-looking relationship building with companies that gets you there. Because that could then become that brand that you go.

And you can have- Right ... one that is more aimed towards the male population as well. Um, but I feel like that is what Major League Baseball is missing. Like, they're not [00:22:00] capitalizing as much as they should on what is one of the biggest stars in all of the sporting world. Can you imagine if Ronaldo or Messi were, were just ignored completely by their league?

Like, it's essentially what's happening, right? That we're, yeah, we've got this mega star, but we're just gonna let it lag and, and not really- Amp him up to the same level as Jordan, Gretzky, and the rest of them were back in the '80s. I, I'm baffled 

Mark Corbett: We gotta get a marketing person on here to go into that- Yeah

'cause somebody who can maybe give us a little better analysis of that. Mm. Um, you know, it would be fun to have back on and I, I need to reach out to her, and that's Jane Leavy. She's always got a neat perspective on something like this, and seeing what is working and not working in baseball. I'll reach out to her tomorrow and see if we can get her on here soon again.

She, she's a lot of fun. Geez, but anyway. Oh, brother. Well, if we're still looking at the Rays, I do [00:23:00] want to reflect on something that's coming up a month from now, and that's a Longo weekend. It's gonna be Evan Longoria middle of next month, and a whole big celebration retiring his number, and I just can't wait to hear Tantric with that down and out walk-up music that, uh, he always, he always had.

I... You, you remember that, that violin fiddle. I kept thinking at, at first I thought, "Well, is that, is that Jethro Tull?" 'Cause of the violin at first, and then, then later on finding out Tantric. The energy that came with that, it, I mean, it, it was almost empowering to all of us in fandom when we heard it as he, as he came up to the plate.

So they're actually gonna be playing it live during the event. I can't wait to see that. That should be a lot of fun. Uh, but Longo, let's see. I gotta bring this up here, brother.. Let's see. Longo. Obviously it's the statistics on him. I d- I knew ... another California boy, thinking about him, and [00:24:00] I always think about Glasnow for being out there, two, two of my favorite Californians from the, on the Rays. I hadn't really thought about what he'd achieved all in his career, and he'd, having played, you know, 1,986 games.

Wow, wouldn't have taken that much more to get to 2,000 on that. - 7,306 at bats. 342 home runs. An OPS 804. Uh, see-on base percentage 333. It, it's, , quite a record. And he, uh, he was missed. When he was... He left... I know people, it was ... It's like a lot of times. You, you lose a favorite player, and there were people who were saying, "I will never see another Rays game again."

And I guess this was probably one of Er- uh, Erik Neander's earlier decisions, one of his first year, couple years being with the Rays. 

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: , Man, this guy was something else. And I'm glad they're gonna honor him with that, with , the posting of his number, retiring his number, I should say, with the Rays, and that should be coming out here in, in, , just the middle of [00:25:00] next month.

So guys, check for your tickets on that. Should be a lot of fun

Mat Germain: Yeah, like when they build the new stadium, do you feel like they'll have either a statue or a memento, a plaque of some sort, set up in a certain area? Like, that's something you can think about when you're actually developing that stadium is, like, how are we gonna honor our players? I loved what the Yankees old stadium had done, you know, with that area where you can actually go and, and see all the different area.

I think Camden Yards does the same thing, where when you're walking in you can actually go off and see,, the mementos to the greats. , It- it'll be great. I'll be watching it from afar. They asked me to sing a song to everyone, but I was like, "Oh, I, I'm busy. My, my, my voice isn't what it used to be.

I have a lasagna in the oven," you know, all that stuff. 

Mark Corbett: Oh. 

Mat Germain: No, but I'm really happy, like you, that they're actually honoring him, uh, that they're going ahead with it. It should've happened a long time [00:26:00] ago. 

, Probably the day that he retired or the month after. , But I think that, like a lot of people, I believe, it's too bad that his career , was cut short through injuries, a little bit like Andrew Jones where, um, he slowed down quite a bit as his career of went on the other side of 30.

, I would have loved to have seen him, , healthy all the way through to 38- Yeah ... 40, 'cause I think he would have had that Adrian Beltre sort of overall career, right? - Yeah, and he's a stellar, he was, you talk about somebody being committed to a franchise- 

Mm ... 

at the time when that - franchise needed it, he was the perfect - go-to guy.

So once he is inducted the way he is and, honored, I, I hope he has a role with the Rays for the rest of his, , working period of time that he wants to do it. 

Mark Corbett: I was so happy , that they, , signed a one-day contract with him so he could finish his career as [00:27:00] a Ray. I thought that was one of the best things I've seen the Rays ever do.

, , He supported the Rays. I think he put himself second to the, to anything that he would come out of the front office. Uh, we've, we've missed him here. There's no doubt about it. So I am happy that they're gonna honor him with this, and, , I hope to be there for it as well.

Got so much going on because next month I'm looking at July 21st through 25th being in Rockford when the USA Women's National Team is going to be there for the world stage group level and playing other teams from across the world, including Canada, probably Australia. Uh, there's gonna be another group stage, I forget, somewhere over in Asia.

So from there, that's gonna be interesting in July. , July 26th through 30, I'm looking at maybe going to St. Louis and seeing the Cardinals. In September, September, Springfield, Illinois, that is going to be the s- [00:28:00] beginning of the, , the inaugural season, if you will, of the Women's Pro Baseball League. Now, what's interesting is between Rockford with the, , USA Women's National Team and with the Women's Pro Baseball League, you will find some of those players playing on both of those.

You know, they will be... And then if you wanna add another dimension, let's say at least four of them are with Savannah Banana teams. So these women baseball players are playing for the USA, they're playing for the Women Pro Baseball League, and some are playing for the Savannah Bananas, and I don't doubt there's probably one or two that are maybe even going to, uh, have a co- collegiate team that they're representing as well.

But it's, it's quite, should be quite the summer for women's baseball with that.

And by the way, we did just have a interview with a couple of, the folks, one from the International Women's Baseball Center, [00:29:00] and that was with Ryan Woodward talking about what's coming up, and then another one recently with Merrie Fidler from the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.

And what I wanted to talk to her about, Mat, was, , they tr- they were looking at having an expansion league going into the South, in the US South, but also into South America, and they actually toured with some of that. I mean, a little bit like barnstorming. They were looking at actually establishing something like that.

And I thought, "Well, man, that's what we need." Maybe that Women's Pro Baseball League will take on , , an international flair. Uh, the, the All Americans, because of the way s- some things changed with management of the, organization, didn't have the same strength of it as a, as a pursuit along. Certain, certain key players were not there anymore.

By key players, I mean executives who are making decisions about marketing and paying more to get, uh, great talent in. But- 

Mat Germain: You know what it, it brings to my mind, uh, Mark? 

Mark Corbett: What's that? 

Mat Germain: Is, is when the Negro Leagues were [00:30:00] around, , one, one of the things that they used to do is to travel, right? Yeah. So they went to Japan, they went to different areas, and, , I would imagine it strengthened the league in general in terms of getting them exposure and different playing time, and it spread the love of the game to certain areas that probably ended up helping to grow the game.

If, if you're the women's league that's starting up right now and, and you want to do the things the way that they're doing them in a con- concentrated area, concentrated amount of time so that you get the same, the best players with the minimal amount of overhead costs, it really should be a year-round league.

Mm-hmm. 

With like set up tournaments and key moments in time that they're able to set them up. Maybe you do three of them a year, right? Every four months there's another tournament. There's, you know, in a certain area that's strategically placed where you know eventually you wanna have a franchise. So I'll give you an example.

Like, if they go to Vegas, I'm [00:31:00] positive that they would be able to get some, good ... playing time. All those areas, , with that they, they feel eventually they'll have franchises if they wanna promote a certain, stadium where an own- future owner wants to take a look and potentially invest in that l- league.

You do a tournament in that location- Mm-hmm ... and then you move on, right? A- and it builds the, the momentum of the league as a whole. You can set up the, the TV coverage in any stadium really. Like, they're all preset for that kind of, uh, that kind of thing, so really it just becomes a timing issue with the stadium being available.

Mark Corbett: Wow. Yeah. I could see where that could happen in- I'm thinking more and more because there's key players here that if they're doing so many different things, sometimes it's difficult if you're not just in one league to get the continuity, if you will, of the image of those players [00:32:00] out there.

So I am so thankful that they have multiple opportunities to do things. But like you're talking about being able to do something like almost barnstorming, if you will, across the US, that might be a, a way to go for the Women's Pro Baseball League. And- 

Mat Germain: Mm ... 

Mark Corbett: uh, what was it? I, I, I don't have the exact numbers on this.

I th- I, I believe heard once that Satchel Paige, you know, he wouldn't go to Major League Baseball because he was being able to generate so much more with he was doing with barnstorming and, and his own th- that way. So I, I don't know. I sh- I'm probably speaking out of turn here, , but what I'm getting at is that we need to find a way for women's baseball, , to be consistently being out there, be, , continual sponsorship a- and make that happen.

But- 

Mat Germain: I'll give you an example, right? Please. Like, in Canada, baseball and softball are both very popular. You've got Rogers Centre not being used majority of the time in November. Schedule a tournament in November in Rogers Centre,, promote it on both in [00:33:00] the Detroit and in Toronto, in Canada in general.

Broadcast it on Rogers. They own the stadium. Yeah. They'll be willing participants, right? Like, set that up as a potential location that you would wanna have your league in. 

Mark Corbett: Mm. 

Mat Germain: I guarantee you you'll get a lot of promotion, and because it's indoors, it won't be impacted. Another one is in Tampa at the Trop.

Set a tournament up at the Trop. I guarantee you the Trop owners will, will wanna recoup some of that, , roofing, uh, cost. And they'll gladly welcome you, , especially if you're doing it at a time when the, it's not being used for other purposes. So let's say you set up that tournament in January.

, You have another, uh, period of time where I see it right now as, as in you're collecting money and building up hype and building up marketing- Right ... to the point where you can get brands in, and like a, an artist where, you know, the way that they make their money is with concerts. Well, you're trying to get as many people in the [00:34:00] seats, in the parking lots, in the eating, the concessions, et cetera- Yeah

to generate some revenue that, that you can use later on to kind of build up on the next step. So again, if you want to build up this league to the point where you can have a full league, let's say 12 teams, a full season of some sort, that might be the way that you build up to that so that you can have the 12 owners.

Um, the other thing I'd point out, Mark- There are ownership styles, like the Green Bay Packers are a good example, right? Where it is not owned by one person. The Women's Baseball League should go to all that model, because then the cities or the, they own that team. Right. It doesn't have to be a wealthy owner.

If you could set up a league like the Green Bay Packers are, it might be the strongest league of them all, because the way they're run is completely different than [00:35:00] what, you know, a, a, a for-profit, let's say you wanna call it that, sort of organization would be. So what it does is it, it doesn't allow the ownership to pocket all of the profits to the point where the prices of tickets and concessions and everything blows out of proportion to the point where you're not growing the game as much as you probably otherwise could, because it's about the profits in tho- in those cases, right?

So that's another suggestion I would make on the Women's Baseball League front, is that if they're able to do that and just lean on that style of ownership, and the marketing and TV rights and gambling, th- those things are still good revenue- Yeah ... , for the league, , then they wouldn't be, I think, , as hung up on, "Oh, I need to make this kind of profit to have a team there," right?

It lowers that threshold quite significantly. 

Mark Corbett: Wow Well, no, that sounds like it's... Sounds like a good [00:36:00] plan and a path that should be considered, and maybe they- hopefully they're, they're already doing that because- 

Mat Germain: Hmm ... 

Mark Corbett: it's, uh, you can't do this as a cookie, cookie cutter thing. This is, the market is diverse enough out there.

I mean, I was looking at something today, once upon a time, once upon a time when there were newspapers and nothing else, you know, yeah. Uh- I 

Mat Germain: miss newspapers, Mark, I do ... Uh. I miss newspapers. 

Mark Corbett: Well, I, I like them because you could, there were stories you'd see, and you would go to a jump page, could be continued on, and there'd be two other, three other stories that maybe you wouldn't even thought about reading, but something fresh.

Yeah. So it wasn't an algorithm necessarily putting, say, "Oh, you need to see this." But I, I miss that part of it. Plus what I've, I'm, now that I'm doing so much research on Shoo Shoo Wirth, using newspapers.com, and it reminds me how much newspapers used to cover community sports, boys, girls games, you know, all the local recreation leagues, all of that that was in there.

[00:37:00] And I, you know, I mean, those things are still going on, those activities, but when you had one source that you went to for all of that, it was more people could find it in one place and see the same story as to the kind of a, a shotgun e- effect with, uh, the multimedia and internet and everything else today.

Mat Germain: Well, I would go even further, Mark, if we're gonna evaluate newspapers. So I would argue that, let's say my grandfather, right, reading a newspaper every day probably did more reading in the course of a month than most people do in a year nowadays, right? Oh, 

Mark Corbett: yeah. A- 

Mat Germain: and, and that's just reading newspapers. So when you talk about educating yourself and learning how to write, how to read, how to, y- you know, facts about the world, political facts, geography, um, even entertainment, right?

There's a lot of stories that you were going to find in there, uh, and local as well- Mm-hmm ... uh, that you otherwise would never come across. [00:38:00] But, but the, it gave you a floor for reading abilities and focus and time to actually consider the world out there. Yep. So there was like a zen period of time. You're reading the paper.

A lot of times when I read the paper, it was always on my way to work or something like that, and you're having breakfast, and that's what you have. You have your breakfast, you have your paper, and you're in that zone, and you're just like, you're zen. And people don't have that kind of, um, timeframe as much anymore, I find.

It's more a, "I'm on my device," which is a different relationship than a newspaper. And I, I s- I doom scroll, right? Yeah. So I'm c- constantly bombarded by people telling me what to do, what I should like, uh, and it's all in video format. Video format has been proven that you're not learning in the same way and using as many parts of your brain as you otherwise would.

That includes everything from imagination [00:39:00] to your ability to think of things logically and con- and use your cognitive sense, abilities. Like, you, you need that kind of time to evaluate things. So I, I'm sad for newspapers. And I hope at some point there's a way to bring them back in some form. 

Yeah. 

Uh, because I feel like the, the other thing that they were was accessible, right?

So you went to a restaurant, they were sitting there, and you just grabbed one. At a, a doctor's office, at a, in the mall, or whatever. Like, you were able to find them everywhere. Yeah. And that had its own value as well because, you know, when you had some downtime, you wanted to kind of, um, busy yourself, you were able to just grab one and, and go.

I would say also the thing that it did was keep the world accountable. 

Right? Like, we, we need a little bit more of that, Mark. We need- 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, that'd be nice. That'd be nice. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: I mean, the, the thing of it is too, it was part of a ritual for a lot of people. Mm-hmm. They [00:40:00] expected to have that newspaper at their door at 6:00 AM the morning when they would go and they would ha- sit down, as you were saying, with a cup of coffee, and they would scroll through it.

I, I knew people that on Sunday when they'd get that big, thick paper- Right ... they would sit down, and they may take all the way into mid-afternoon- Yeah ... continually going through each section, reading each story. Mm-hmm. And that, as, that was, I, I think a well-read population is an intelligent population and p- can make better decisions than, than people who read something scantly across the internet or a 10-second or even a two-minute short on YouTube.

You know, those sort of things, they, they're, uh, they're, they're distractions to what's going on. They would, they, we, we don't take enough time to understand what's going on at the depth. Something that we may actually dislike, if we got a little further into it, we may like it, and vice versa. You know? Yeah.

It's like, oh, that, that's really... Oh, they got to... Wait a minute, there's more in here? Oh, good Lord, I'm not gonna [00:41:00] support that anymore. But, you know, this, yeah, we, we miss that. The newspaper I think- It's a slow death, if you will, or transition, uh, has, has been s- it's been a sad thing to happen. But, uh, it's what we are and, and as the large- as the newspapers begin to become less effective in print, you would find that there were larger, uh, corporations buying them up one by one by one.

And then you would find that the content started changing to where it was like AP or Scripps Howard News Service, whichever, Gannett News Service. So all the local stories started disappearing, and as they did, so did the effectiveness of a newspaper r- for enjoyment and as a tool by, in the community.

Mat Germain: Right. I, it, for a working democracy, Mark, this is what I'm, I'm, I've actually written c- like some of the political heads in, in our country [00:42:00] There needs to be a hands-off, um, accountable media, right? Yeah. Like, that, that's still, like to me, if you're looking at a, in Ca- Canadian instance, retired Supreme Court justices should be in charge of evaluating who would be in charge of these organizations so that they remain completely politically neutral, right?

And then those should be, uh, the two services that should be national and, and funded with no corporate ownership should be newspapers and media. And, and they, like I don't think it should be allowed that you make profit from selling propaganda- 

Mark Corbett: Yeah ... 

Mat Germain: to po- a population, and that's essentially what they've turned it into, right?

Um, and so I, um, I feel like that protects m- democracy because- Yeah ... like I said before, it holds people accountable, it gets them asking the right [00:43:00] questions with no filter, uh, based on facts, and for the population at large. Mm-hmm. And so that they can make up their own minds about the world out there. And, and I feel like in, if you're looking at it from a sports angle, 'cause we are on BaseballBiz, um, if you're looking at it, you know, there's so few entities that controlled the baseball information back in the newspaper days, right?

So you, like we said, you had your newspaper. That was your source. So in each town, in each newspaper, there was the guy, right? Maybe it was Buster Olney, maybe it was this, maybe it was that, but that's the guy you had to trust. Sometimes there was two or more, sometimes they included some national, but you had to trust those guys.

And so if you want to argue for what actually helps, right? So how much more do we digest out of baseball because it's so widespread now and so many people can set up their own little network, so FanGraphs was built, and Baseball Savant was built, and all that stuff. [00:44:00] That is outstanding. 

Mm-hmm. 

But you still needed The Athletic, which is kinda- Yeah

modeled after a newspaper, and it's still that demo- democratic thing. It was great, and then all of a sudden it got sold to you know, because it became for profit and everything else. So which version of it all is the best one to keep everybody honest and on the same page? To me, the wider the variety, the better.

So I'm not saying- Yeah ... you, you make it, like, completely illegal that it can't take place. I'm saying that there has to be a competitive- Well-built alternative that is nationally, you know, and not-for-profit. That way people can actually make up their own, uh, their own minds about which ones are factual and which ones aren't.

Mark Corbett: Well, you know, it's, it's gonna be hard to do in this country because we, uh, we got monster running up ads beside the White House. , I like that idea, Mat, and to have somebody who's governing it to the point of making sure that it's not [00:45:00] for profit. Mm-hmm. Um, and I'll... Here, I'll leave you a couple interesting stories about, , newspapers and marketing.

Now, the All-Americans, what they did when they had their teams, and talking about promotion, they found a way to make sure they were in the paper all the time. Yeah. And one of the things they did is they would approach the sports editor at that local paper, so in the town, say, South Bend, Indiana, they would approach that sports editor and say, "Hey, we need somebody to keep the score, okay?

Somebody to go ahead and do all that. We're gonna pay you to do that." So guess what? They're there and they're keeping the score, and that's something that they're doing for All Americans. And, "Oh, and by the way, since, well, I'm here, I might as well go ahead and write some copy too," you know? So they, they did that.

And that, I thought that was a good way of doing some marketing. , Another good marketing was, , here in T- here in Florida,, with the spring training. Well, when they brought [00:46:00] Babe Ruth to town and spring training, they were paying reporters to come down here and cover it because Florida wanted to get more coverage on spring training to make it more popular back early in the day.

So the story is that some of those reporters were paid to come down here by the city. I like the idea that they said, "We're gonna find a way to make sure as we're trying to promote sp- uh, spring training in Florida, that we're reaching out to them and bringing them in."

Mat Germain: So on that premise, right, Shohei Ohtani should be on Joe Rogan. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: And Joe Rogan should be broadcasting a baseball game at some point. Oh. And, you know, like, i- so this is what I'm talking about in terms of the marketing, right? There- there's other podcasts out there and everything else. Like, the podcasting world for baseball, Jomboy is another good example where there [00:47:00] should be a, a very much closer relationship between Major League Baseball and a lot of those channels- Yeah

that kids and adults are using everywhere. Um, I don't know. I, I, I think it's an opportunity. I think so too. Like, it, it really is because it hasn't been tapped yet, and when they do, they'll get so much benefit from it that, you know, it should in theory lead to a lot of good. Mm-hmm. But the other one, like we've said before, is if they set up that second tier for baseball and make it more rivalry, drama oriented, I think com- combination of those two things would really make the, the league reach another level.

Wow.

Mark Corbett: Well, now that we've delved into everything from marketing to baseball to, geez, we should probably be talking about W.C. Fields and the Three Stooges somewhere along here. But I don't know. What, what, what, what else you wanna talk about today, my friend? [00:48:00] 

Mat Germain: I do wanna point out a couple of tiny Rays things.

I know it is not exactly a Rays centric one today. Um, but we have, uh, a couple of promotions that are notable for the Rays affiliates. Emilien Pitt, which is a second baseman, , in the Rays system, he was in A+. He's doing really well. He got promoted to AA, so congrats to him. That's a nice, , boost.

And also, I know I've mentioned him in the past, , on the show a few times, Michael Forret got moved up to AAA. So as I was saying, with that ticking clock, remember I said four to five, maybe six starts, and then boom, I expect him in MLB. Mm-hmm. His first start, seven innings, seven Ks, two earned runs. He looked stellar in AAA.

I'm very encouraged with what he did, , there. Uh, there's a few other promotions. Connor Hujsak ended up in AAA. I don't know if it's long-term or just short-lived. Um, but, but it's starting to move, and we know the draft is coming up, so there'll be more promotions coming up as [00:49:00] well. But it's always nice to know because Emilien Pitt was an interesting one.

C- cold weather guy, ended up playing, , through the Rays minors very quickly. He has a lot of promise. He's got some... He hit his first home run in, in AA yesterday. Um, and I feel like he has, , more abilities than we've seen. So for the last four levels he's played, except for one, I think he had a 357 on base percentage in one of them, he's had an on base percentage over 400.

So he's the kinda guy who walks more than he strikes out. 

Mm-hmm. 

He's got a really good h- hit tool, really, really strong, uh, eye at the plate, and he plays very well defensively. So as a second baseman, that's somebody that you wanna keep an eye on who's now in AA.

Mark Corbett: Wow. It's, I mean, the, it's the first of all these. It's interesting 'cause over the years, you know, you've, you've pointed out folks to us and s- keep an eye on, and then, uh, suddenly they appear. It's like, "Oh, wow. W- Mat's been talking about him for a couple years now." 

Mat Germain: [00:50:00] Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: So, uh, that's really good to hear about, you know, those who are being promoted and, uh, who we may or may not see all the way up here onto the r- the Rays platform before you know it, come up for a cup of coffee.

I had somebody email me today about Alex Faedo from, uh, Tampa. He came up for a short bit too, and, uh, injuries I think kinda moved him down to the minor league. So we're gonna, uh, I know at the Tampa Baseball Museum, they gotta make sure we, we get him credit for, for being there as well. It's, you know, it's always a great thing being here in, uh, Tampa and all the players are still around.

And Lou Piniella's always a fun guy to talk about. I was listening to his book, Lou, and it was interesting 'cause he, he was one point, when he was in Seattle with the Mariners And he, he's figuring out, you know, was always doing the, figuring out what the lineup's gonna be. Uh, one of his things though was kind of his salary.

They [00:51:00] had a bonus if the attendance reached a certain number for the year. 

Mat Germain: Hmm. 

Mark Corbett: And the bonus was $50,000. 

Mat Germain: Ooh. 

Mark Corbett: And he said, "You know, I hit that, but I didn't feel like that was just me." So he took the $50,000 and he gave it to Metro United Way there in Seattle. Yeah. Yeah, thank you very much. Now, he, i- in today's world, he wasn't being paid as much as you would think a manager might be at that point, and so that was a piece of cash.

, It w- it was interesting 'cause he is in Seattle, somebody else took notice of that, and that was Bill Gates. Ah. And Bill Gates said, "Well, if you can put 50,000 up, I can put 50,000 up." It should've been, "If you can put 50,000 up, I can put 5 million up," but hey. That's... He did that. And, and the next thing you know, uh, Lou's recounting that, that, uh, Bill Gates came by and visited quite often, would even come into his office.[00:52:00] 

You know, I don't know that he was necessarily invited, but he came in. And he would tell Lou what he, his lineup should be. 

Mat Germain: Huh. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, yeah. Th- this is before Moneyball and all that. And finally one n- night Lou said, "Let's give it a shot." And damn it if he wasn't sh- sharp for what the, was going to be that night.

He ha- he had his own numbers however he was working them pre-Moneyball, and Bill Gates gave Lou Piniella a lineup that he used and it, it was successful that evening, and he gives a tip of the hat to Bill Gates for that game. 

Mat Germain: Oh, you just let the cat out of the bag. 

Mark Corbett: Oh. 

Mat Germain: That's when the, the Rays analytics machine was started.

Was when Lou and Bill got together and built that secret stash room program, whatever it is that's going on. 

Mark Corbett: That's the real Rays way. 

Mat Germain: So the question is does Bill still get a cut? 

Mark Corbett: Oh my gosh. Oh, no. No, [00:53:00] guys, we're having a lot of fun this weekend. Uh, there are always some great stories to, to hear. And that guy, I, I, I can't say enough about him.

I'm just gonna say this one last thing about Lou Piniella. Shame on the Hall of Fame for never having putting him in there yet. And if there's a way to do it, do it now. Uh, he's a great man. He's done a lot for the community around here. He's, it's nothing he beats his chest about, and that was, uh, from a book I read from 10 years ago I believe he did something like that.

So, uh, there's a lot of things that he does we don't hear about, and I th- I think that he's been overlooked for too long. A man with over, as a manager, over 1,800 and 50 wins as a manager, you know? As- I, 

Mat Germain: I agree completely. I think we've spoke about that on the show when we had Larry Rothschild on- 

Mark Corbett: Yeah

Mat Germain: where I think we, we kind of pointed out the, the competition, if you wanna call it that, or the comparables. Um, he compares above most of the most recent managers that have been inducted. [00:54:00] 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Um, so I, I firmly believe that he should be in there, and at some point I'm, I'm hoping he is, you know, uh, while he's still there to give the speech and, um, and be a part of that, uh, celebration.

Yep, yep. 

Mark Corbett: Well, with that, uh, bit of note, we'll, uh, salute Lou and all the great players from the Tampa area, and certainly the Tampa Bay Rays. Excited about things going on here. Maybe one day we'll talk again about that stadium issue, but, uh, right now it's just, it's, uh, just another memo- memorandum of understanding.

I hear there's, there's a few of those circulating right now. But, uh, we'll get there, boys and girls. So Mat, once again, thanks buddy. Glad to... we're here together and enjoying another good evening. 

Mat Germain: Yes. It's been a pleasure. Uh, anytime, Mark, and, uh, I'm hoping for a winning streak by the next time we talk.

Mark Corbett: Amen, brother. Bring them back home. They're coming back soon. So I think Friday, uh, [00:55:00] the, the g- boys return to the Trop, so get ready for that. Fingers crossed. Thank y'all for joining Mat and I here today, and we wish you all the best, and we look forward to talking with you again real soon. 

Mat Germain: Bong.