Rays Keep Rolling – March to ALCS & World Series - RaysUp

Rays continue to win series: Mets, Tigers, & a strong start against the Royals.

Cincinnati Reds’ Chase Burns strikes out the Yankees' top batters in the first inning. 

Chandler Simpson is back in the majors, though his defensive growth remains key

2021 Rays roster that won 100 games - who remains

Contrasts between veterans like Clayton Kershaw & players who never make it to free agency.

Impact of MLB Cutting Minor League Teams

Manfred’s reduction from 160 to 120 minor league teams has affected player development—especially for international players.

Lost opportunities for Latin American players 

Rays’ workaround: sending talent to the Australian Baseball League (e.g., Junior Caminero).

Latin American Pipeline Challenges

Limited playing time in complex leagues like the FCL (Florida Complex League) due to rehab assignments and draft influx.

Some Players that are promoted too quickly, risking their development.

Discussion on Rays’ strategic patience and international development system.

Reduction in the number of minor league teams reduced the number of Latin America players 

Mat’s strategy for Merging minor league teams with collegiate teams 

Comparing the path to the majors of Jac Caglianone to that of Junior Caminero

Australian Baseball League 

Propose 2 collegiate teams associated with each MLB team

Ideal scenario of Yankees & Rays fighting it for the ALCS championship with the keys to George Steinbrenner Field given to the winner

The Rays have gone “Old School” including bunting, running the bases

Unknowable pitch of Chris Bubic’s “Ghost Pitch” – reminiscent of Brent Honeywell 

Yankees v Reds sneak peek – Elly De La Cruz

Mat observes - pitchers that have a, a strong reliance on split fingers or sliders & throw them the hardest, tend to have the most surgeries

Need to keep the Bullpen happy

Trade Deadline - 8 to 10 days out before we see Trades start to come in 

Shortstops across Rays Minor Leaguers - Adrian Santanam Gregory Barriosm Carson Williams – also playing 3rd base as Ha-Seong Kim is currently SS

Rays path to replace Wander Franco includes trading Luke Raley trading for Jose Caballero has proven well worth his versatility from SS or anywhere on the field

Praise to Rays Scouting & Analytical teams for discovering new talent

Fun new team names for proposed expansion teams to 
 Vancouver, The Killer Whales, Nashville, The Nashville Whiskies

What if the Kansas City Royals renamed themselves the Kansas City Monarchs

A Montreal Expansion team could be the Montreal Royals these would reflect back on the history of the game in the Negro Leagues & Jackie Robinson

Losing the Expos names removes the stigma of the past

A trip to Kansas City to see the Royals & Negro League Baseball Museum

Alan Alford at Rickwood with Dusty Baker

Jack Stack’s as a must stop in Kansas City for Barbecue

Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen’s has increased variations of his pitching

Avoiding predictability in pitching – Taj Bradley 

Tampa Baseball Museum with Larry Rothschild & Dave Magadan Coaches Corner 

We will soon see X-Rays now with the Athletics, Jeffrey Springs + Jacob Lopez who is leading K/9

Mat at @matgermain.bsky.social or Mark at  @baseballbizondeck.bsky.social‬ BaseballBiz on Deck, at iHeart Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and at www.baseballbizOnDeck.com 

Special Thanks to Scott Holmes for the music Stomps & Claps

Transcript

Tampa Bay Rays Moving Up
 BaseballBiz On Deck #300

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to Baseball Biz on Deck. I am Mark Corbett. With me of course, is Mr. Mat Germain. It's tell you what, Mat. I am ready for this time. I dunno about you, brother, but I'm here. The thumping drums, marching, marching to the all-star games and marching.

[00:00:15] Then onto the World Series with the Tampa Bay Rays. 

[00:00:19] Mat Germain: I, you know what? They're, they're, they're winning. They're winning. They're winning, and they keep just winning series. It. It's really impressive to see. And they're putting themselves in contention for the division lead Mark. Oh yeah. What are,

[00:00:31] Mark Corbett: what are we maybe a, a game back right now?

[00:00:35] Mat Germain: Game back and like, uh, I think the Reds are, are putting in some good work with the Yankees. So by the end of the week, you know, things can change pretty significantly. 

[00:00:45] Mark Corbett: Oh, and that, that young pitcher that the, uh, Cincinnati had up last night. Today's Wednesday, by the way, folks.

[00:00:51] So Tuesday night and watching him strike out the first three guys who come to bat in the first inning. [00:01:00] You're, you're talking about your powerhouses with the Yankees, and that just chilled me. I mean, I, I was just like, oh my gosh. I would love to see them sweep the Yankees. I just, you know, Cincinnati, that would just be huge.

[00:01:16] Mat Germain: There's a lot of good young pitching that's been coming up. Uh, I think Jacob over with the brewers and, and this guy and, and Burns, I mean, you're, you're seeing a lot of great talents. It's spread out, you know, across the, all the teams. So it's always fun to see and like we're seeing with the rays with the royals right now, like seeing, uh, Jac Caglianone actually, you know.

[00:01:36] Make it up as quick as he has to a major league team. Like it's great to see all those young talents moving and starting to, get here and adding some energy and some intrigue to a lot of teams. They don't always perform day to day to day, and sometimes they make silly mistakes, but there are a lot of fun to watch and a Rays, have, be beneficiaries of, uh, of all the work that the rookies are doing.

[00:01:59] And seeing, uh, [00:02:00] Chandler Simpson back in the fold is great as well. 

[00:02:02] Mark Corbett: Were you surprised he came back so quickly? 

[00:02:06] Mat Germain: Um, I am not surprised based on his hit tool, but I, I didn't know exactly how long they wanted to work on his defensive abilities. To be quite honest. I think it has more to do with the lackluster performances at the plate from, , Kameron Meisner, and they did not want to let that fester too long before they made right.

[00:02:25] Speech back. Uh, I think they were happy with the work Chandler put in and that he could continue to keep working on his routes up in the major league level. Um, which I think is the last hurdle for him. I mean, it, you, you watch some of the more confident outfielders out there defensively and, and it, it takes a certain moxie, it takes a certain, I know I'm going to get this ball.

[00:02:47] Right. And I think that's where Chandler is trying to get to. He has the attitude for it, but he doesn't have the experience in the outfield, uh, that he probably should have. So, I think he will get there. No, no doubt. And, and the Rays [00:03:00] are, are getting, uh, somebody that's going to actually inject some, some, uh, balance to the bottom of the lineup and, and allow them to score more runs as a result.

[00:03:11] Mark Corbett: Well, you know, last night I was looking at Chandler. I thought, eh, you know, it's okay. Wasn't anything spectacular coming back, I was expecting a lot, but right now we are in what the middle of the second. inning, and Chandler's already been up to bat and it's got a hit already tonight. So cheese & crackers, what three to zip?

[00:03:32] Nothing like going ahead and taking to somebody at their home and the, I mean, I'd love to see the first thing, but here we are, top of the second and the Rays have put three on and the royals have the zip at the moment, so Wow. 

[00:03:44] Mat Germain: I'm gonna speak to that for a second because I mean, we've launched the Rays, sweep the Mets, and I mean, they made them look bad and they put the Mets into a slump.

[00:03:53] At that point, the Mets were like, what just happened? Like they just tossed them around essentially and said, what is [00:04:00] this? Then they go up against Detroit, and I don't wanna say that they should have swept because Detroit, you know, showed well in the last game, but if it wasn't for Riley Green. They probably would have swept that series as well.

[00:04:11] You're talking about two powerhouse teams for 2025, and then to do this to the royals so far, , in terms of just really, , looking strong in all areas. I mean, the rays are just, you know, , they're opening up a lot of eyes and I think even the most pessimistic of, , non-believers , is starting to kind of creak open and go, oh, well maybe they are for real.

[00:04:36] Mark Corbett: Well, heck yeah. I mean, come on, Mat. I'm looking at this and saying, okay, we're facing Detroit and these guys are leading right now today, even after losing two to us, they are leading all of major League baseball. And it's like, whoa, just that just blows my mind. Let's see. They've got 50 wins. Does the Dodgers have 50?

[00:04:57] No, they got 49. [00:05:00] So they're leading the pack as of this moment in time and. Facing them and taking two away from them. That was amazing. Of course, the last game in that series with the, with the tigers was a bit distressing. Yeah. Folks, if you ever wondered why you need a dome in Florida for a baseball team, that was it.

[00:05:21] My. Gosh, Mat, what was it? The, I dunno, it was at the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth, but the rain just came and it came hard. And 

[00:05:30] Mat Germain: I don't know who turns those faucets on, but they gotta put that, I mean, you know, give us a warning. 

[00:05:36] Mark Corbett: Oh, brother. It went, I think, I think Tigers put up like seven runs or something in the, in the ninth, uh, top of the ninth.

[00:05:42] It was nuts, but, um. It is baseball and Florida boys and girls. But tonight, tonight we are facing, uh, the royals and I love watching the interplay between teams and players and, and two players are always kind of fun for me is, [00:06:00] is when you, Salvador Perez and you know, our good friend Mr. Yandy Diaz kind of cutting up him at the plate and there's a playfulness there.

[00:06:10] Um, I, I'm gonna jump from that to a moment to something you put on. Mat, you, you were looking back today on some postings that you put up on, um, on Blue Sky and the post was, looking back at the players we've had, I guess it was 2021, it was just had Yandy and, um, Brandon, Brandon Lowe, I believe.

[00:06:34] Is that accurate or is it earlier than that? 

[00:06:36] Mat Germain: No, it was Andy and Brandon Lowe. And, and basically it was more about, you know, you look back at some of the seasons and, and I always like to look at a glimpse, right? So four years back is not a long time. 

[00:06:48] No. Over 

[00:06:48] Mat Germain: four years you would figure, you know, uh, and the reason I chose 2021 is because the Rays won a hundred games that year.

[00:06:56] And normally if you win a hundred games with a roster, you have some sort of [00:07:00] allegiance, some sort of, you know, sign these guys, keep 'em around, we wanna keep winning a hundred games, yada, yada, yada. But what struck me the most when I looked at it was that seven out of the, the 10, uh, batters that are listed in that game are no longer in Major League baseball.

[00:07:17] And that to me was, was just baffling. I was like, how, how quickly does baseball happen to the point where you get, you know, that kind of, okay, move on to the next thing. You know, like, so your, your career is very tedious. I guess the best way to put it, when you're in baseball, one minute you're winning a hundred games.

[00:07:38] The next, you know, couple of years later you're, you're out of baseball together. 

[00:07:44] Mark Corbett: Well, in the future I want do a show taking a closer look , at, at the ages of players, you know, and how they age in the system. Mm-hmm. We're gonna see some pitchers who've been around forever and a day. You know, you look at Kershaw and some other ones, and then you're gonna have some of these guys 'cause their arms, they, they [00:08:00] don't make it to free agency, but they got a great arm.

[00:08:03] It's gonna be interesting to me too because I know I, I think back to when Rob Manfred cut Minor League teams from 160 to 120 teams. And I was kind of appalled at that at first, not 'cause I thought it took away opportunity 'cause I really don't think it did it. It's, it's some of those lower leagues, but I, it took away a touch of the game for some small localities and to have, be able to see that they saw that player in their hometown and then see, you know, move up to major league baseball years later.

[00:08:38] Mat Germain: Can I speak to that for a sec? Because Please do. I, I see it in a completely different way than, than most people, and I think it's because of my focus on the minors. Um, I saw the, the, the teams that they took away as being mostly the ones that Latin American players and international players would be.

[00:08:58] Would be jumping [00:09:00] into once they were done with the complex leagues. Right. So that was their, their kind of hurdle forward. So they're not ready to commit to them in Single - A ball yet, but they wanna give them more tutelage in a rookie level team to get them more, uh, more of a base. So basically what they've done is they've taken that opportunity away from all those players.

[00:09:23] Mm-hmm. And. Forced them to fight for the playing time at the FCL or Arizona League level, which is really hard. Like I've been watching the Rays one version, for example, in the FCL, so many rehab players are taking at bats and game time away from those players. It's almost impossible, and that's been up to this point for them to get that playing time.

[00:09:45] Then we have the draft and all those drafted players start filtering into that. To that team as well. So if you're a Latin American player and you're trying to prove yourself, you have extremely limited opportunity right now, and it's, it's [00:10:00] completely off kilter at this point. So what ends up happening is they get promoted very quickly and then if you know, the ones that stand out or the ones that they quote unquote, have hope for, right?

[00:10:10] So those guys get that opportunity, but they're rushed. They're rushed along to a higher level that they probably aren't ready for a lot of times, and then that kills their chances. So. Unless the team is smart and has patience and gives them that extra, you know, oomph and, and opportunity. So what the rays have done to try to mitigate this is sent a lot of them to, uh, the Arizona, uh, sorry, Arizona, Australia Baseball League.

[00:10:35] And that's why you're seeing so many Latin American players. The rays have sent up to six outta a year in on some cases. Down there to get that extra playing time and extra, you know, and Junior Ca was one of those players at one point that went down to the Australian Baseball League, and he, he was a standout during his year, but that, you know, is something to Rays the side to do on their own.

[00:10:56] Some other teams are starting to copy them on that front now. , [00:11:00] I always saw that cutting the, the minor league teams as more poignant, I guess, than was led on, um, originally. 

[00:11:09] Mark Corbett: Yeah. You know, there's, I think I've told you a story before. I had a boss of mine and we were working on a presentation in front of a client.

[00:11:18] And there were some questions and answering, going back and forth and pardon me. And the thing she told me, it was interesting 'cause she goes, mark, you gotta learn how to read the room. Mm-hmm. And she said, we've got an objective here. The people we're talking to have an objective here. And the people, their support people have an objective.

[00:11:34] So the questions that they're asking sometimes don't seem relevant to what actually we're trying to achieve. It's either they're trying to show. You know, the strength they have are, they're trying to undermine what you're saying. So the, there's things that go on that people don't see in something like that.

[00:11:50] I, I can understand that. 'cause I mean, at face value with the minor leagues. If by taking those away didn't necessarily see at face value that [00:12:00] it's taken opportunities away from, you know, from folks who are coming from Venezuela, maybe Dominican Republic, uh, or several other Latin countries. And I hadn't, I quite honestly, man, I hadn't thought about it from that perspective, but I see that clearly.

[00:12:15] Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. There's other players too, like when you, when you're the Raysr, another team and you sign somebody that hasn't been drafted, somebody like Mike Brosseau for instance. If you don't have that API league, like Appalachian League, you know, team to send them to originally just to try to get their feet under them and get them set for the next season when you wanna.

[00:12:33] Stick 'em into a full season ball, then you don't have as many opportunities. So I always saw baseball as, you know, I, I know we, we used to have a ridiculous amount of rounds, like in terms of the draft, like 40 rounds was, it was a little bit insane. Like yeah, you know, you're picking through a, a crazy amount of players, but what it did do is it gave opportunities.

[00:12:55] So it was fair in that everybody got that playing time [00:13:00] so that they could let their heart. Guide them to that next level. If k Kevin Meyer was coming through baseball today, he would never, ever, ever, ever have gotten that opportunity. And what would we have missed? You know, one of the best defensive center fielders in the game, and, and we would've missed it.

[00:13:19] So. I understand the financial aspect of cutting teams and, and all that stuff if they, that's what they want to focus on. But Major League Baseball makes enough money to have as many minor league teams as they want to have. I'm sorry. Like there is no excuse, uh, on a financial basis. And if anything, I think, you know.

[00:13:40] There's, there's something to be said about allegiances and, and people caring more about the game. So one idea that I've toyed around with eventually, and we can get into this further, I just want to mention it right now, quickly. There should be some thought given to merging minor league teams and college teams.

[00:13:59] The [00:14:00] allegiances that fans have to colleges is so strong. Oh yeah. Because players move so quickly, year to year from, or even during the season in minor league teams, they don't get that same allegiance. So if you would be able to create a system that actually merged the two, sort of like what happens with the draft players and the Latin American players.

[00:14:19] But you do it all on, on in one, you know, scope. I don't know exactly how it would work, but that would be genius because then you would have everybody caring and being involved in, and quite frankly, I hate to mention it, mark, but probably gambling a lot of times. On these teams as well. Right? Uh, so there's a money aspect to this as well that major league owners would probably enjoy.

[00:14:45] But that being said, it would also Rays the level of play for everybody because you would be mixing a lot more talents and there would be way more opportunities for everybody. 'cause how many colleges are there, you know, in America. So, um, 

[00:14:58] Mark Corbett: yeah, it's just a thought. [00:15:00] No, it's, it's a good one too. 'cause when you're talking about collegiate baseball, certainly in Florida it is big.

[00:15:06] I mean, real big. Mm-hmm. And for instance, too, while we're looking at the Royals tonight, Jac Jac Caglianone is from, uh, he's from Tampa. He went to Plant High. He was also, he was. Just, just playing. It seems like a couple of years ago at the University of Florida, there wasn't a whole lot of time in the Maters. I mean, I think he was there weeks, not years.

[00:15:27] And bang, here he is up there with Bobby Witt Jr. And, and that that's a young looking group of guys. But going to your point, he was coming from a college row straight, almost directly into major league baseball. So how does that look if you, you try to blend a minor league team with a collegiate team? 

[00:15:46] Mat Germain: So, how old is Jock CAG Leone?

[00:15:50] Mark Corbett: Well, I think he's like 21. Hang on here. I'll find out here. But it's, he's, he's young brother. He's,

[00:15:56] Mat Germain: so the, the thing that I wanna mention is like, he's 22. [00:16:00] 22, so he's a year older than Junior Caminero 

[00:16:04] Mark Corbett: Yeah, 

[00:16:05] Mat Germain: think about the path that Junior Caminero had to go to in order to get to Major League baseball and think about what, what Jack had to do. Like there's, and that's my point previously is like right now, you look at through the Raysd minors, and I can point out the youngest player at every level, and they're all Latin American.

[00:16:22] Why is that? Right? Because they have the a, a different path to the majors than what, um, uh, the major, well, I say that they're international, so like the, the Canadian guys also the, the mothers tend to be a lot younger as well. But, but that's just, I think when you're looking at the age differences, uh, that's what I would say.

[00:16:43] Would work well. So basically the way that I see it is as in the Australian Baseball League, you could have teams assigned to colleges, right? So let's say you're, you mentioned FSU, so maybe the rays are assigned to FSU and they get so many spots to fill every year on [00:17:00] that team. And they could be from any source that they want, whether it's late draft guys, guys that were injured and didn't play the year before, yada, yada, yada.

[00:17:09] And they play with the team. Uh, and it could be an even split, it could be three pitchers, three hitters. It could be whatever, you know, like they, they would talk with that team and come to an agreement on what, and I, that's exactly what happens between the rays and the Perth Heat down in the Australian baseball League.

[00:17:24] Basically, they get together at the, during winter, and I've, I've talked to the Perth Heat, CEO, uh, on occasion, and, and he's explained to me the process that goes on. And, and basically they sit down, they hash it out and they say, okay, how many players do you wanna send down? And this is how many spots we have.

[00:17:40] This is the rules that we're dealing with this year. Sometimes there's rule changes, sometimes, like right now the Perth Heat are starting to bring in, uh, players from from South Korea, so there are, or China or other Asian countries there, there's a different mix now that they're looking for from the Rays compared to what it used to be.

[00:17:57] So you do that on a regular basis. But what I'm seeing [00:18:00] with Major League Baseball is if you had that and you could actually have two colleges for every Major League baseball team so that they get to spread out a little bit more of their players, then you would have not only the team allegiance. People like the fans of that team following those colleges from then on.

[00:18:17] But you would also have the colleges suddenly interested in the Major League team that is associated with their college. So it would build that fandom across the board. And I can't think of a better way to build up the game. I mean, "Welcome to Rexham", his making soccer fans out of Americans and Canadians and people all around the world.

[00:18:38] Yeah. And there are nowhere near Wrexham. Some, right. So it's just an example of how you can build fandom for your sport and for your game and make money off of it as well, just by thinking a little bit outside the box. And in those leagues they delegate, like they, the mold teams from league to league to league. So in theory, the White Sox would've been in AAA a long time ago.[00:19:00] 

[00:19:00] Right? And, and so yeah, that's just my idea in terms of amping up the minor leagues. And I do think. Yeah, for a lot of players that, that kind of, you know, I, I hate, there's nothing, I hate more Mark than turning on, let's say the Montgomery Biscuits and I see 500 people in the crowd. Right? And, and I think, you know, at a college, how many people would be in the crowd?

[00:19:23] How much more MLB ready would those players be? We talked to Kevin and he was talking about that it's important to get them in front of lively crowds that are, and it's hard to do in the minor leagues right now because there just aren't, you know, those gluts of fans that are Yeah. Clamoring to be there even during the playoffs, to be quite honest.

[00:19:42] Mark Corbett: Yeah, y'all can hear some of that too. Kevin Boes was on the show, the managed for the Montgomery Biscuits and he, he shared quite a bit of insight with us. You know, you're mentioning the CEO of the Perth Heat, and I think you had really captured my imagination with this whole idea of Mat, I'm trying to, of pulling together [00:20:00] collegiate and minor leagues and then I'm, I'm just gonna try to figure out, okay.

[00:20:06] Do when you're looking at bringing people into the colleges who can't afford scholarship, I guess shouldn't, can't say afford scholarship, couldn't afford, uh, tuition, you know, then, I'm sorry, I'm already thinking 10 levels into this already. This could be a whole show just in and of itself because could dig deep in this and write a book,

[00:20:26] 'cause I think it's a great idea. 

[00:20:29] Mat Germain: And it started with an awkward, more awkward version of it because I thought, okay, what if you just had all the minor league teams involved in the leagues that the college is play in? 

[00:20:39] Yeah. But 

[00:20:39] Mat Germain: then it gets a little bit too scrappy. 'cause they're not teammates, they're opponents.

[00:20:43] What if you break somebody's wrist when you're throwing a pitch inside? You know, it gets a little bit nastier and a little bit to, uh, us versus them. Um, so I thought it would be better to combine them and just have them on the team and it's a more smooth. Landscape. 

[00:20:57] Mark Corbett: Well think, think about the NIL too. So is that just gonna be the [00:21:00] collegiate students that are getting the NIL and uh, is there gonna be some way that's a minor league player?

[00:21:06] I don't know. There's, there's a, there's a lot of P pieces that you're gonna mix into this soup, but I think it's doable. Mm-hmm. And it's certainly worth being pursued, that's for sure. 

[00:21:15] Mat Germain: Major League Baseball at least, has proven that they're open to change, and to me, like there's always a, a way to improve.

[00:21:22] I think that Savannah bananas are, you know, perfect example of that. You'd be shocked with what people stick to and, and love and, and gravitate to. So when you have a chance, make the change and, and try it out. There's the worst that can happen is you still have 500 people in the stands, right? 

[00:21:39] Mark Corbett: There you go.

[00:21:40] Mat Germain: Yep. They couldn't get any worse than that, brother. 

[00:21:43] Mark Corbett: I tell you what. Yeah. Yeah. Mat, I, I, I have yet to be to a game here in Tampa this season. Um, when I go, I am not going to a day game. God will bless everybody who does those, my gosh, at three or four o'clock in the afternoon. That is gonna be the most [00:22:00] unbearable thing.

[00:22:00] And between humidity and temperatures and finding a way to block out the sun, you know, got the SPF 500 or whatever to keep. It's, it's something. But there, besides all that, we're seeing a great number of people come out to those games. Uh, it's, you're not gonna see empty stands, that's for sure. Obviously, 'cause there's a limited number.

[00:22:21] But by the same token, people are enjoying this team. I think they're enjoying this team now more than they have in the last couple of years. 

[00:22:28] Mat Germain: Absolutely. And you, I've got the cherry on top of the cake mark. If, if, if the Rays and Yankees meet in the playoffs, let's say it's the ALCS, you know, that would be the best, you know, way for them to meet.

[00:22:41] I want them to play for the keys to George Steinbrenner field.

[00:22:50] You know, win and they get permanent, you know, uh, it would just be fun and it'd be funny to see the, the Yankees play, uh, you know, as the away [00:23:00] team in Steinbrenner Field. Oh my gosh. You know, forced to know that they're spraying facilities being used by the rays and, um, yeah, no, it. I think the rays are a lot of fun to watch and I think people are, well, what's the best part of the Rays?

[00:23:15] And I think anybody that watches baseball and has been kind of, I. I want to say mad or angry or I want to say like they, they thought it was too much home run or nothing. Or strikeout, right. It was too much of that style of baseball that was happening for a long time. The rays have gone. Old school so much and have such a wide versatility of tools available to them on their, in their lineup and on the roster that it's bringing back.

[00:23:45] They're bunting. Every single one of their players is attempting bunts. Everybody's running out, you know, uh, to first base. Everybody's running to base is, uh, fast. Everybody's throwing their bodies around on the field and hitting doubles and singles and, [00:24:00] uh, the whole gamut, like people are running and having fun.

[00:24:03] So I think they're not only. You know, enjoying the game because the rays are winning. They're enjoying it because of how they're winning, which is great to see. I, I love it. 

[00:24:14] Mark Corbett: I mean, I'm looking for Mallex Smith out there to be running between the bases. Can you remember him? Geez. Because yeah, there's that kind of speed.

[00:24:20] He, he brought in excitement to the game when he was stealing as many bases as he did with the Rays way back and the win. But yeah, there's, there's a lot of that now that's happening. I think it's keeping people excited and the bunt are increasing, but there's times like the other night I thought Taylor hit a bunt.

[00:24:33] We hit a man on first, maybe, and I was like. I, I, I didn't really see a purpose. I thought, okay, I get bunts at certain times, trying to bring somebody in or, but that one just kind of blew my mind. 

[00:24:47] Mat Germain: Yeah. I don't know who decides when they bunt and if it's a, if it's coming out of the dugout or if it's, uh, the player themselves doing it.

[00:24:54] But in, in any case, they're, they're still trying their best at least. And, and sometimes there's a method to [00:25:00] the madness or madness to the method. So you have to pick which one you, you think it was. 

[00:25:05] Mark Corbett: I did wanna mention something else you were talking about Mat. That was Chris Bubic, I believe that's how you say his name.

[00:25:11] And, um, geez, a pitcher really was looking forward to see what he was gonna be doing. Tell folks what you talk, the type of pitches he has of what you posted today. 

[00:25:23] Mat Germain: Yeah, so Chris Bubic just has a, a different kind of. Profile as a lefty, like it, you know, I, I like to try to think of them as sort of like a Colin Poche, but with more the velocity.

[00:25:37] And in terms of how the fastball actually comes out and, and how it's viewed by all the. The opponent, uh, hitters. So it's funny because when you think back at Colin Poche, nobody could really put in the words why that fastball was acting the way it was and, and how he did it. And I've interviewed him and actually had I.

[00:25:58] Him explain to us [00:26:00] how he does it. And it's still, you know, it comes out like voodoo and like magic. So, uh, so it's funny 'cause when I was looking up his, uh, Chris Bubic's start and trying to figure out what he was doing and looking at some of the statistics, it came out that baseball savant couldn't identify one of the pitches he was throwing and he threw it nine times.

[00:26:19] So you would think at some point baseball Val would go, that fits in this category. But it was such an awkward pitch that they couldn't fit it in any category. So all I kept thinking about was Brent Honeywell and his ghost pitch basically. , And so I wondered, you know, if, if you ask Chris, you know, what would that pitch be?

[00:26:38] What would you call it? Maybe he can name it. And, and then baseball savant will, will make that change in her system. 

[00:26:44] Mark Corbett: Yeah, that, but they had a whole other dimension to it. My gosh. He was fun to watch as long as we kept hitting last night, but, and. Again, you see different talent out there from different teams and you know you wanna see 'em perform well.

[00:26:59] You [00:27:00] just, as long as you see your own team perform better, and, and that's, that's what it's been with some of these games. I do wish I was tonight in Cincinnati with my, my brother and sister-in-law and watching. Let's see what's going on right now with the, uh, Yankees facing the Reds there, the Cincinnati Reds.

[00:27:18] What's the game going right now? Let's find out. Well, the Yankees are doing well right now. They've got, uh, three to one in the top of the fifth on the Reds, but I. To go there and see Elly de la Cruz. That's what I wanna see. I wanna go see Elly do his thing. Man, that is just amazing, uh, that how tall that man is and how fast he is.

[00:27:40] You know, I, I almost wonder, I. I'm a little prejudiced about this. I see a tall guy. A lot of times I automatically go pitcher. You know, I think tall guy from the mound said is, is he as, uh, see as tall as Kyle Snyder? That was my first metric. And I, I, I, but uh, Elly is man, Elly is fast and he [00:28:00] is hell Dalicious at the bat.

[00:28:01] So the Cincinnati's got a great player with them. We'll see how they do tonight. 

[00:28:06] Mat Germain: The, uh, the Orioles are getting, uh, shut out by Jacob deGrom there in the seventh, and he's got a no hit bid going on through that stretch, I think. So it's nice to see Jacob back in action and, and doing well. Um, I know he's struggled with so many injuries and I was looking at.

[00:28:23] Um, you know, the pitchers that have had the most surgeries recently, and, and what I noticed is the, the pitchers that have a, a strong reliance on split fingers or, or. Or sliders and throw them the hardest, tend to have the most surgeries from what I could tell on baseball savant, I look back at 20 21, 20 22, 20 23, and you look at the top of the list and every single one of the guys that was throwing the hardest in terms of sliders, um, was, , injured or, , showing cracks.

[00:28:58] So wouldn't. Gave me [00:29:00] some, something to think about is that Ryan Pepiot is not far off from, you know, being one of those strong slider throwers. So I'm, I'm hoping he can avoid that and kind of, uh, mitigate how many of them he throws so that he doesn't end up on the injured list as well. 

[00:29:17] Mark Corbett: I know we were talking, I think it was last week, about the length.

[00:29:21] Of time, or I should say the number of pitches, the cash is allowing some of these pitchers to stay in the game. Mm-hmm. And I don't, I don't think there's so much last few games, but, and he's seeing some go up there into the nineties, I think, even if they've gone up to over a hundred pitches. And I wonder if that's going to be a regular trend for the rest of the year with them.

[00:29:40] Mat Germain: I, I don't think so. I think it's more of a touch and feel based on how zoned in the pi the pitchers are and also how much work he needs to keep the bullpen having as well. I think that's a key component. 'cause you don't want your bullpen to sit too long. 

[00:29:56] Yeah. 

[00:29:57] Mat Germain: Uh, I mean, it'd be great to have five complete games [00:30:00] in a row.

[00:30:00] Uh, but your bow pen would be sitting there like, some work man. Come on dude. Get. So I think there's a balance to it. I think what you want is to give them the opportunity to do it here and there so that if it happens in the playoffs again mm-hmm. Sort of like what we saw at Blake Snell, then you know they can handle it and you know what to look for.

[00:30:23] For in their performances over that stretch. Even if it ends up firing like backfiring, then you know what to look for as they're doing that the next time. Right. What happened with Blake Snell is that he just had never been trusted beyond a certain point. So it was like the little boy that cried wolf.

[00:30:39] Right. So, um, it was his own doing. In reality. It wasn't Kevin Cash, it was his own reputation that got him off that mound. 

[00:30:46] Yeah. 

[00:30:47] Mat Germain: And, uh, you couldn't help it. So I think that's what they want. They want to build some trust between Kevin and uh. And you know, when they can manage it, let them go. 

[00:30:57] Mark Corbett: Well, we'll see how it continues.

[00:30:59] I've, [00:31:00] I've been real pleased, like I said, this year, seeing what they're doing and we're looking at what trade deadlines coming up, but a couple, just a couple of weeks away. 

[00:31:09] Mat Germain: Yes, I would say we're like, maybe. Eight to 10 days from like trades really starting to come in. Yeah. If you remember last year, the Rays, when they decided to make that, that change, uh, and, and kind of, I don't wanna say throw their cards in for the year, but they made a transition to focus more on 2025 than 2024.

[00:31:29] They started making all those trades like July 3rd. 

[00:31:32] Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:32] Mat Germain: So somewhere around there, right before the All Star game teams start moving some of those players and making decisions and, and getting guys moving around. I, I think you're going to start to see that more steadily across the majors. And it's gonna be interesting because some teams, including the royals that we're playing right now, have some tough calls to make and a lot of their.

[00:31:53] Best players are still hurt. Like pitching wise, the, we're not seeing the best from the Royals in this series, right? They have some [00:32:00] that should have been there and aren't. Um, so which teams are gonna bank on those guys coming back strong and which ones aren't, uh, what the budgets look like. Uh, you know, there's a lot of pressures going on with.

[00:32:13] Because of the wild card teams always want to be in it, right? Yeah. Oh, all we have to do is squeak into the wild card and we could be the DBAs or we could be, you know, whatever. And so I, I think the Rayss are in a very, very strong position. They have a lot of draft picks, they have a lot of, uh, prospect capital of the trade, and I just wanna run through.

[00:32:35] What I've been seeing in terms of the, the short stop position for the Rays. Okay. Just quickly, um, a plus you have Adrian Santana, who's 19 years old. So he is at the a plus level at 19. That means that he's probably looking at AAA by 21, uh, which is the same timeline that Carson Williams had. He for the month of June, he's hitting 360 1.

[00:32:57] With a 4 22 on base percentage [00:33:00] and a 4 58 slug. Uh, that comes with, uh, now he stole three bases tonight, so he's up to 27 stolen bases on the year. Uh, sorry. Yeah. On the year on top of it. So he is on base for about 60 stolen bases this year. Um, then you go over to the person ahead of him on the chart, uh, which would be Gregory Barrios, and he's one of the guys at the Rays.

[00:33:23] Got, uh, at the trade deadline last year, and they brought him in and he was, he had some injuries early on, you know, in the season, but he's hitting 2 86 and he's also showing really good speed. And, and the month prior he had a 3 85 OnBase percentage, and so he's showing very, very well, and he's only 21. So he's 21 at shortstop.

[00:33:43] Both of those guys play a stellar shortstop. They're like elite level defensive abilities. You can throw either of them in the L field and they would be fine. It would be like Chandler Simpson. They can handle it. Uh, you can throw them to third base. They have the arm for it, you know? So positionally when you look at the ray and how they grow [00:34:00] these players.

[00:34:01] That's how, and that's how they also keep the pitchers doing very well at each level. Then you go above Gregory Barrios and you have Carson Williams. You know, everybody knows about his struggles to start the year. It hasn't been as sharp as everybody had hoped, but in the month of June, he's hitting 3 24 with a 4 25 on base percentage and a 6 62 slug.

[00:34:22] Uh, so that's. 10 extra base hits and 68 at bats. It's a really, really, really good month, and he's chipped in four stolen bases along with that. So what we're seeing right now is power, speed, outstanding defense, the interesting part. Is that a lot of those games have come at third base because Ha-Seong Kim is getting playing time at shortstop.

[00:34:45] And so, you know, not only is he performing well at the plate, but he's also getting some versatility built in where he can handle third base if needed on occasion, which is always a bonus. Right. It's great to have that kind of of versatility. So [00:35:00] all that to say that the rays. At shortstop are extremely strong as per usual.

[00:35:05] Uh, but those three players in particular, like when you talk about the Rays, having such strong franchises all the way down to affiliates, that's where it, to me it starts is with a strong shortstop, defensive play, everything else feeds off of that, and they're pitching benefits all the way across as well.

[00:35:24] Mark Corbett: You can't say the word shortstop at Tampa Bay Rays. Without another image, name, face coming to mind. That's Mr. Wander Franco. And there's, uh, supposedly a judgment that's gonna be handed down on Thursday on, uh, where's it on his trial. So we'll, we'll see what comes from that. And I, I, I think of the past that the rays have had to take, you know, while wanderers there waiting for something to happen in Puerto Rico, what the rays have had to do over the last few years to, to build a shortstop [00:36:00] system.

[00:36:00] And, and it seems like we, we, I don't say we have a, a dearth, a large. Gross amount of people there, but we, we have some really good players there. There you were just talking about 'em and I'm like, it's cheese manese, 

[00:36:13] Mat Germain: so let's just go, go there. Down that rabbit hole that you just opened, the rays took a um, a minor league relief pitcher called Trevor Dobson and traded 'em to the Dodgers for Luke Rayley.

[00:36:25] They got Luke Rayley, they got him to play a very strong. Outfield after the Dodgers had had essentially said, I, we, we don't think we can make it happen. So they got Luke Rayley to be a credible trade chip. They traded Luke Rayley for Jose Caballero. That's how they got their short, one of their half of Shortstops to cover Wander Franco, when you think about the path for the Rays to get that replacement for WA Franco, or half of it, that is insane.

[00:36:52] Like that, you're able to turn a minor league reliever who never made it to the show. You know, into a [00:37:00] viable shortstop that plays all over the field. I put a, a Jose Caballero appreciation post up on blue sky if anybody wants to go watch it. The catches that he's made and the plays that he's made all over the field so far this year is just awesome.

[00:37:14] And the energy he brings and the clutch abilities and certain key moments. I just love the way he plays. And then when you talk about the Rays success, having those kinds of guys off the bench that you're able to use and plug in whenever you want or need, that's, that's just luxury. That's gold. You look down, up and down a lot of lineups in, in major league baseball, and a lot of teams struggle to find those players that are able to provide like.

[00:37:37] Jon Berti is an example where everybody tries to bring him in and make him that guy, and he doesn't have half the electricity that, that Jose Caballero does. I, in my opinion, and I don't think he can handle a lot of positions as well, defensively as Jose Caballero has, but it's just another example of the Rays, you know, having different pathways to cover what they need and, and addressing it [00:38:00] effectively just by being very intelligent about the way they go about it.

[00:38:04] Mark Corbett: Well, whatever that happens with ownership here, whenever that happens, I just hope that we have meander or somebody equivalent, uh, to his talent to be at the helm because we all know that the rays wouldn't be the team that they are now without him there and however many assistant GMC has underneath him, we know still that his, his hand kind of guiding all of this.

[00:38:28] Mat Germain: I would think he, if you asked him, he would say that it isn't him, it, it, it's him That signs a dotted line and that says, okay, we're, we're going ahead with it. That makes the final call. But it's the fate that he has and everybody below him to come together to the right call. That's, that's what's unique.

[00:38:47] How many times did we see Artie Moreno get involved in deals, and how many times did we see, you know, other owners or, or head of this guys like Shapiro, et cetera, et cetera, get involved in deals where. They, [00:39:00] they want the control. They want to be the ones that make the calls instead of the people that have the data and the, the instincts to, to put it all together.

[00:39:09] So I, I don't think we throw enough praise to the Ray scouting and to the Rays analytical side of things when it comes where we, when we judge Neander and his moves, um. I, I'm glad that we don't, because I don't want them to get poached to be 

[00:39:27] Mark Corbett: quite Oh. Oh my gosh. All right. This is something just completely insane.

[00:39:33] Okay, here we are, Mat. We're expanding the MLB. And we've gotta come up with a team name. Well, well I'll throw a city out and see if you can come up with a name you like. Okay. Vancouver. Say Vancouver's gonna be the ne one of the next expansion teams. What would be a team name that you would think would be appropriate for Vancouver?

[00:39:54] Mat Germain: Um, Vancouver Killer Whales. 

[00:39:58] Mark Corbett: Ooh, I [00:40:00] like that. I like that. I mean, it's regional, it's real. And you know, it's got a. An ump to it. I like that. Let's see if I had one. I'm trying to think. Uh, let's see. Hmm. Nashville. Nashville, yeah. Well, what do you do with Nashville? There's so much. Uh, hard Nashville hard notes.

[00:40:19] No, that doesn't work hard. Nashville. Yeah. Nashville Hard liquor maybe. No, that's like a win. 

[00:40:27] Mat Germain: Just go ahead and just call them the Nashville whiskeys. 

[00:40:30] Mark Corbett: I like that. Nashville whiskeys would be good, man. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Nashville Country Boys just sounds wrong. There's too many other things that we go with that.

[00:40:40] But I like Nashville Whiskeys. We do that. 

[00:40:42] Mat Germain: Yeah. Yeah, there's, I mean, there's, there's going to be contests. There has to be, I mean, the, the, the latest trend that I've seen, like how long did it take the Utah hockey team to actually name itself? Uh, you know, the Washington team did the same thing they were, or the Washington [00:41:00] Football Club for a long time.

[00:41:01] And, uh, so I think there's a trend of really taking a long time to think about your team name because they know how much it would impact things. Right. But I have one that's even more intriguing, so I. What if, um, the Kansas City Royals became like, they're gonna get a new stadium right? When they move into a new stadium in this, in the center of their town.

[00:41:24] Um, what if they renamed themselves the Kansas City Monarchs? Ooh. And the expansion Montreal team became the Montreal Royals. 

[00:41:33] Mark Corbett: Oh, I like that. I like that a lot, man. I mean the, the history with the monarchs and being in Kansas City with the, the Negro Leagues people. If you, if you don't know anything about either one of us, look it up.

[00:41:43] 'cause that is, that is huge. Oh my gosh. I love that. Yeah. I could just see the president, I can't name of his name right now from, uh, the Negro Leagues Museum and I could see him just, he would be fantastic rolling this thing out with him too. 

[00:41:56] Mat Germain: Wow. Three things to me in my opinion. Number one, [00:42:00] it takes the bad taste out of the mouth of that Montreal Expos fans.

[00:42:03] Yeah. Where it turns a new leaf, it brings a new team, but it's a different name so it doesn't have all of the garbage, you know, uh, baggage that the expos had, right between the strikes taking away playoff series and the way that the team left the town, all that goes away. It's a new name. But also a relevant historical name that had like the Montreal Royals.

[00:42:27] For those that don't know Jackie Robinson played for them. There was a lot of big names that came through the Montreal Royals. Um, so the name is still historical for that town. The other thing it does it, like I said, is it brings Jackie Robinson's team back into the fold that he, yeah, and there's a Negro Leagues aspect to it.

[00:42:45] So I know Major League Baseball brought the statistics into baseball, but why not? Have at least one of the teams named after the Negro Leagues that would be representative of, of merging the two together, finally, once and for [00:43:00] all and, and kind of moving on on that path. 

[00:43:02] Mark Corbett: Geez, I like that. I like that a lot.

[00:43:05] Wow. I know a friend of mine, uh. Alan Alford, and he's in Rickwood. He's there for the East west game and they, they try to recreate some of, you know, from the ne Negro Leagues and so there's, there's so much history there that we just kind of forget. And to be able to think about bringing Jackie back with the Montreal Royals, that is huge.

[00:43:27] Mat Germain: And not only that, mark, when they build a new stadium and they call them the Monarchs, you would have a museum brand new. Going in with it. Oh gosh. 

[00:43:38] Mark Corbett: Oh, that'd be something. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:43:40] Mat Germain: Right in the center of downtown Kansas City. Yeah, it would be pretty cool. 

[00:43:45] Mark Corbett: All right. Well I gotta put that on the list, brother.

[00:43:49] And I keep saying we're gonna go somewhere this year. We keep saying that it's going to be Kansas City because Well, the museum, the Royals. Yep. The jazz museum. [00:44:00] And doggone, I gotta try that barbecue. So 

[00:44:04] Mat Germain: go to Jack Stacks. I've been there and I spent the weekend, uh, in Kansas City watching the Royals play, and, and I had so much barbecue.

[00:44:12] Mark. I was, I was having meat sweats by the third day when I left Kansas City. It was pre pretty crazy, but it was well worth it. I, I had dreams afterwards for years. So, uh, all good. 

[00:44:27] Mark Corbett: Oh man. So let's see if you got the game up right now. What's the score at the moment? 

[00:44:31] Mat Germain: Uh, the score is three. Nothing for the Rays though.

[00:44:35] So obviously that means that the pitching from Drew Rasmussen has been elite. Uh, he's helped them scoreless for four. Let, let me see here just for a second. 48 pitches to get through four innings. 

[00:44:47] Mark Corbett: Oh, good gravy, man. That's just outstanding. Yeah, 

[00:44:51] Mat Germain: he's efficient. He was only allowed two hits in one walk. He struck out four.

[00:44:56] So, uh, drew is great, like when he's healthy and he's [00:45:00] going like this, uh, you can just tell that he's, what I liked most about Drew this year from compared to previous years. He was susceptible before of being predictable. Which is the same thing that Taj Bradley was struggling with early this season, in my opinion, is that if you're too predictable, then people are going to attack you effectively eventually when, maybe not in the first inning, second inning, whatever, but they're gonna have those moments where they predict.

[00:45:26] Correct. So Taj Bradley yesterday did something unique, which was use the fastball like he normally does, but he aimed lower. So he was attacking the bottom of the zone of this fastball instead of working high. So that limits the home runs, right? It's harder for hitters to hit home runs on low pitches generally, unless you're facing a lot of lefties.

[00:45:48] We tend to golf a few out, but. It, it also, you know, for Taj it, that's, I think that's what threw off the royals. They weren't expecting that they were expecting more pitches high in his zone, and so they were swinging [00:46:00] over top of everything. Uh, but I still think he needs to vary his pitch mix and that's what Drew Rasmussen's done.

[00:46:07] He's varied his pitch mix way more effectively this year than he has in the past. And that's. Keeping hitters guessing and they're not really sure what's coming when, and so he's very, very, very effective. So I'm, I'm, I'm just hoping he's healthy for the playoffs when the raids get there, because if he is, he is gonna be one of those three starters and he's gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

[00:46:29] Mark Corbett: Geez, what can you hear that? No. Good because for like the last 20 minutes I've had lightning go in the background continuously and thunder and blah, blah, blah. But anyway, oh, I can't stop the show here without talking about a special event for the Tampa Baseball Museum going on this Friday, and it's called Coaches Corner in the people who are gonna be there to get two guests, Dave Magadan.

[00:46:59] And [00:47:00] Larry Rothschild. So Larry was the first manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. He was also hitting coach, uh, with the Yankees. And he was a two, three players who have hit, had 3000 hits and under 3000th hit. They've also had a home run. And Larry was the, with the team, each one of those. So was it, it was Jeter.

[00:47:23] He was there at the, the Yankees. It was also, uh, Wade Boggs and the third one escapes me. But I thought, man, can you imagine being a, a coach on our manager? Either way on one of those teams with a, a player hits their 3000th run and it's also a home run. Geez. I'm looking forward to getting a few moments chat with him too.

[00:47:43] Uh, see maybe about getting him on the show in the future, but that's gonna be at the Tampa Baseball Museum. This Friday evening, check if their website, Tampa baseball museum.org and you will find that your way there as well. There's already a great group of people and I won't mention [00:48:00] names that are supposedly gonna be there, but there are a few other, um, Tampa born major leaguers who will be there from, uh, the past as well.

[00:48:08] So it should be a lot of fun. 

[00:48:10] Mat Germain: So in Canada, when you say Co Coach's Corner, it means Don Cherry's coming on to talk hockey. That's, that's what that means. So I, uh, at first when you, when you mentioned Coach's Corner, I was like, what? That they're bringing Don Cherry down to the baseball museum. Talk about there.

[00:48:30] Mark Corbett: You never know who's gonna arrive there. I'll tell you how much. It's, it's unique every day. It's just when they're, there's somebody from the seventies and they come in, some major league baseball player and I don't recognize them and I'm like, oh my gosh. You know? But, uh, it's always fun there. Anyway, I'm gonna go and watch the rest of the game here, my friend.

[00:48:47] Any other, anything else we need to share with our folks? 

[00:48:49] Mat Germain: Uh, no. I would say though that uh, uh, just one little nugget I came across that surprised me, but not really because I liked the player when the rays traded him. But, uh, the rays are [00:49:00] gonna be facing the athletics coming up shortly and they're gonna face Jeffrey Springs and also Jacob Lopez, who is the other pitcher in that trade.

[00:49:08] And as part of the rookies in Major League Baseball this year, he is leading in K per nine, uh, among rookie pitchers at, with 12.2. You know, per nine. So he's getting a lot of strikeouts. He's doing, you know, pretty well for somebody that was just, uh, considered a throw in, quote unquote in the trade, and he's looking really solid.

[00:49:29] So I'm happy for Jacob. I followed him a lot in the Rays system, so it'd be nice to, to see him, uh, you know, cross paths with the Rays and see how well he does. 

[00:49:38] Mark Corbett: Thank you for that, Mat. Folks, if you don't know about now, Mat, Mat does have his nose the grindstone when tracking players coming up and the history of 'em as well.

[00:49:48] And much of that you saw probably from a couple of weeks ago when we, again, we had Kevin Boles from the, uh, Montgomery Biscuits on here. And I know he enjoyed the, your depth of your understanding of the, [00:50:00] the Rays system all through the, the Minors. So thanks, Mat. It's always a pleasure week to week being here with you buddy.

[00:50:06] Mat Germain: Absolutely. Anytime, mark and I hope you have a, another good week and a lot of Raysd wins along the way. 

[00:50:11] Mark Corbett: All right, my friend. Well, thank you all again for joining us here today, Mr. Mat Germain. And I'm Mr. Mark Corbett. And we'll bring baseball biz on deck back with you next week.