Chapter 1: What insights does Jared Sandler share about Marcus Semien?
I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I'm here to build you up. I'm here to build you up. It's a great way to start the day. First of all, how are you? You good?
All good? Rob, I'm great, and I love talking baseball with you, and I appreciate everything you do to promote this sport that we all love. So it's great to talk to you.
Put that on the reel. One of the things, this is sort of a wonky thing, but I think that when we talk about broadcasting and how things are done, one of the things I really appreciate about seeing you work is is that you get into the clubhouse, you talk to so many people, like... Listen, everyone does their own thing, and everyone can have a reason for doing their own thing.
I love the way that you do your thing. And I think why I'm saying this is because you take it upon yourself to... Like a good reporter, any good reporter would be, which is you go in there, that guy's there, I'm going to strike up a conversation with him, that guy's there, I'm going to strike up a conversation with him. Anyway, I've said this to people...
even without you in front of my face right now, like just talking about this dynamic about you. So good job.
I appreciate that. Rob, I think, you know, there are two things. One, I genuinely enjoy talking to people. So I don't care, you know, professional athlete, teacher, lawyer, doctor, random person. I enjoy learning from people and having those conversations. And the other thing is I still remember, you know, when I was a,
a young Rangers fan growing up in Dallas, I used to love all the little tidbits, right? And now with the internet and Wikipedia and all these websites, it's a lot easier for the fan on the couch to get to know the players. So
I think that makes our challenge a little more fun because some of the basic information items that, again, you could just find on a player's Wikipedia page, that wasn't available when I was in sixth grade trying to learn about this new player. So now I want to go even deeper. And I think that a part of the fun is
to bring these players to life, to humanize them, and to allow the fans to connect with them through our conversations and things that you might not be able to find on the internet, or at least with just a cursory search. But 98% of my conversations are just shooting the breeze and talking about the Mavs game the night before, or the fantasy draft, whatever it might be. It's just...
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Chapter 2: How does Brandon Nimmo fit into the Rangers' lineup?
Oh, my God. Oh, he grew up in Canton, Ohio. That was a forced one. What's it like? Do you get discounts to the Football Hall of Fame?
But again... Yeah, but it leads to something. And now the next time... What I always tell... If there are any young broadcasters who are listening... The curiosity, constantly digging, not in an annoying way, but that's when you get the good stuff.
But the 98% of the conversations that aren't with some sort of professional intent allow you then with that 2% of the time when you really, hey, can you walk me through this or can you explain this or whatever? Especially if it's a guy going through a tough time, you have that relationship.
They're more willing to talk to you or be candid with you than if you're just some guy who all of a sudden shows up and they don't have any pre-existing rapport or relationship with you. But I don't want to make it seem so transactional. At the end of the day, as a broadcaster, we're around these guys for decades. eight months essentially with them on planes in hotels.
I mean this, you know, you hear the cliche about you see these guys and gals on staff more than your family, but it's true. And so may as well get to know them and, and, you know, develop relationships. Otherwise it takes a lot of the fun away for me at least.
Yeah. And by the way, like you really quick about that COVID year, one of the things that it made, it sucked, like no question. Like, I don't know if you know that that year sucked, but yeah, It was for baseball, for covering baseball, that was the ultimate reminder of why covering all the things that we're talking about.
Because it took away the ability to do exactly what we're talking about, about just going up to guys. And, you know, as a broadcaster, you know this. You have one game. You have about 20 things that you could probably go up and ask them. For the COVID year, you had to basically go up and schedule a Zoom call for two weeks down the road, right?
But that was almost like a reminder that we didn't know was coming. Like, hey, this is what's great about it. I don't think it's like that in any other sport. Honestly, I don't think it is. So, yeah.
Yeah. Well, I mean, the dynamic of, you know, we have to get to the field at a certain time because that's when the manager is going to talk or that's when the club has a long day and you get, yeah, you get all this time. So no, I, I think, I think you're totally right. And you know, with the pitch clock, you don't get as much time to tell stories the way that maybe you used to.
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Chapter 3: What impact did the Rangers winning the World Series have on the team?
I, I don't know, Rob. I wish I had an answer. Everyone fans differently, right? Some people are super cynical. Some people are blindly positive. Some people throw stuff and they really ride that emotional wave and other people create distance so that they don't ride that. And there's no wrong way for the people who create that distance. They probably be like, see, this is why. Right.
You know, I'm an emotional fan. Don't be that guy. No, no, no. But, like, I'm an emotional fan because I enjoy the highs and lows. I think that's a part. I think riding that roller coaster is fun. And so I don't – I wish I had advice for Blue Jays fans who are still – because I don't think I handled it well for several months after 2011.
I mean, it's – I drove away from Toronto. And it was sort of the next morning. I got like an hour of sleep. You know how that is. When you're in the playoffs, you're just pedal to the metal. And I didn't even know it was daylight savings time. I didn't even know that I had an extra hour until the next night. But you're just going, you're going, you're going. But then it hit me.
I felt, like, so bad for these people. So, anyway, that's... No, we're turning the page. And one of the things is, like, much like the Rangers turned the page 12 years later and won the World Series, what a segue this is. And then a couple years later, now they make this big trade for...
for Brendan Nimmo, for Marcus Simeon, and I'll come back to it, is that I just like the way Chris Young goes about business. Now, there's probably a million things I don't know, but the stories that I hear, what he does, what he does at the trade deadline, I like the way he goes about business.
And talking to him at the GM meetings, he just reinforced that by him saying, like, listen, I'm a player. I... I got the emotions of a player. I get it. But this one, this, so they make this trade for Brandon Nemo. How do you, when you heard about it, what was your guttural reaction to it?
Yeah. So trades in general are so tough to forecast, right?
Uh,
And I think at the end of last season, there was a thought that maybe the Rangers would try and move Marcus Simeon. Unfortunately, his offense has declined, and the Rangers were pretty clear that they were going to shed some payroll. To what degree, we don't know.
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Chapter 4: Why was the trade for Brandon Nimmo necessary for the Rangers?
didn't have guys like Travis Jankowski and Brad Miller and Mitch Garver and Austin Hedges, who, while not star players, helped a lot in that regard from a position player standpoint. And so he goes to the Mets, and you've got Francisco Lindor, who's already kind of that guy. And I think that Marcus will fit in really well because he can be a lieutenant.
He can be the lead-by-example guy and doesn't have to – I think Marcus probably at times felt like, hey, I'm just trying to get things right for myself offensively. And the responsibility of being the foremost leader and maybe having to – to eat a little bit more of the pie than, than what's typical.
Cause you know, this, we like to, we like to identify guys as, as the leader, the captain, this, you need, you got a 26 guy clubhouse and really more than that. You need more than one, right? You need more than one position player. You need more than one pitcher. I think Marcus was, you know, kind of in a position where he felt like he had to do a lot of that.
And I think going to the Mets with some established veteran leaders, or at least one for sure that I know, you know, with, with Francisco Lindor, I think that will be a really good fit for Marcus.
I totally agree, and I could talk for another hour about the stupidity of putting a C on a chest when it comes to a baseball team. Again, there's outliers, there's the judges, there's the Ortiz's, there's those guys, but you put it very, very well. You need a lot of leaders. Anyway, so the Rangers get Nimmo. how obviously they needed offense. And this is with an eye on that.
What else do they need? How close are they? Was there just sort of this past year, a little bit of an aberration where things just didn't break, right? Like, how do you feel this team right now?
Well, I'll tell you just quickly on Nemo, Rob, it, I think what the Rangers have seen the last two years is that it's not – and I don't want to make it sound like the baseball operations staff didn't know this already, but fans maybe have seen you can't just throw nine guys who are talented together and think that it's always going to work, right?
You've got to have the pieces that fit together. And so I think maybe the last couple years, last year especially, they had too much of the same hype. And not enough balance in terms of personality as a hitter, not talking about personality, you know, and interpersonal communication.
And so with Brandon Nemo, one, the ability to draw a walk and the ability to see pitches and also the ability to avoid the strikeout. He's not like elite striker.
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Chapter 5: What challenges do the Rangers face in rebuilding their bullpen?
I don't know. So you've got to fortify the rotation and then – I think you're going to see some more reshuffling of this lineup. They're going to be without Adolis Garcia. They non-tendered him. They non-tendered Jonah Heim. Now no more Marcus Simeon. I don't know that that's the last guy under contract who's going to be traded.
I think that the underperformance of the lineup the last two years is going to really light a fire under Chris Young to be really aggressive in reshaping this lineup.
building it around Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford and having the complementary pieces that fit so I think you're going to see this team be aggressive still in the trade market I don't think this is the end for them all right last thing this is just a dream fantasy baseball question who's the guy that you say this would be a good fit this would be a good fit for this team
Oh, free agent? Yeah, sure. I mean, you could do a trade, but that gets really complicated. Well, yeah.
I mean, okay, this is dream. And I'll give you one that's like you're going to hear a lot of, and then I'll give you one that maybe isn't as popular of a name. But I just think because this team does need to figure out the leadership piece from a position player standpoint, I'd pay a lot of money for Kyle Forber. Everything I hear, he has that.
He is a unique leader, kind of like Nathan Evaldi is on the pitching side. So I think that would be a great one. I think – I'm trying to think of someone who's not as popular – You know, they did a really good job last year in finding a guy – two years ago in finding a guy like Tyler Malley to help fortify the staff.
Oh, yeah.
Unfortunately, he didn't stay super healthy. But I'm thinking about, you know, a starting pitcher who, you know, maybe could be that guy that it's not a huge – I got one. I got one for you. Well, Adrian Hauser was the name I was going to throw out there. That's a good one. Who's your guy?
Well, it doesn't matter righty-lefty. I mean, I don't know, but – Yeah, I mean – Yeah. They are very right-handed, so maybe a lefty would – Okay, then I'll take it back. No, but I'm like what you're talking about, Zac Eflin.
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