Mark Shapiro

At his pre-draft workout, my son shagging fly balls.

His dad was throwing BP to him and our scouting staff on field one in Dunedin, Florida.

So I can remember back to him being a high school senior in the pre-draft workout.

So he's been a special part of this organization and a special part of us building towards this.

And he certainly makes our team better.

So as we go through the off-season planning, I'm sure that will be factored in.

I mean, again, speaking globally, yes, there are franchise players.

Franchise players contribute in all facets, are leaders, members of the community.

There's a bunch of different components to that and obviously are very talented as well.

And I think there's obviously financial realities that come with that, but the possibility for multiple franchise players in a market of this size certainly exists.

It always creates challenges elsewhere in building a roster because you start to put concentrate payroll and just a couple of players.

But again, I think those are recommendations that Ross will lead our group through and ultimately I'll discuss with ownership at the right time.

I mean, I think you're never done thinking about that.

But, you know, I've often said when people say, what's your why?

I say to make this the best place to work and the best place to play.

You know, and there's a lot of things that fall underneath that.

And the outcomes of that are hopefully winning, you know, at the highest levels.

And ultimately, I think I would say this, Rob, whenever your players are kind of saying things organically and naturally that you believe deeply in the values more than anything, their love and care for each other, you know, their belief in what it means to be tough, their their appreciation for our fans.

That is gratification.

You want to hear the players naturally say those things without being coached to say those things.