Former MLB Manager Buck Showalter Talks MLB Season Start

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00:00Then welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Great.

00:02It feels like we've made Buck Showalter

00:04like a annual visit here on the show

00:06to get his insights on what's going on

00:08in Major League Baseball.

00:09Of course, he's been fantastic to us through the years.

00:12I personally am still waiting to get Buck

00:15back there in the dugout.

00:16I think that's gonna happen again, in my opinion.

00:18I don't know, maybe we'll get Buck's thoughts

00:20on that at some point.

00:20But first, I would love his thoughts

00:22on the first 10 days or so, or seven days or so,

00:25of the Major League Baseball season.

00:26Buck, great to have you back here on the show once again.

00:28Thanks for making some time for us.

00:30Hi, Craig.

00:31Nobody's that busy.

00:32Oh my gosh, let me see if I can work it in my schedule.

00:36You know, we're not that important.

00:37But no, it's fun talking to you guys.

00:38Hey, we're talking baseball, right?

00:40So, you know, the season's starting.

00:43Yeah, it definitely has.

00:45I love your insights on that.

00:46So, you know, I'm very hesitant.

00:48You know, Donny, Don Mattingly taught me a long time ago

00:50to be very careful on April.

00:53I was with Donny for a long time,

00:54with the Marlins, of course.

00:55And he would always tell me, Craig,

00:57don't go crazy out there, don't say anything nuts,

00:59because April will make you look really foolish

01:02if you throw some things out there

01:04that are not really going to be sustainable

01:06over the course of the season.

01:07So we're about a weekend.

01:09Here's what I'm seeing, Buck.

01:10I'm seeing a lot of runs being scored.

01:12I'm seeing this new park in Sacramento,

01:14a lot of runs being scored there.

01:16More home runs, a lot of velocity chasing as well.

01:19I don't know if I missed anything there.

01:21But at least that's my initial thought.

01:23I generally don't see 15, 20 run gains

01:26in the first week of April.

01:27I feel like there's been a lot thus far.

01:31Well, I think 20, 30 years from now,

01:33if you're trying to project

01:34what ballparks are going to look like,

01:36you know you're being old.

01:38You know you're old when ballparks you remember as new

01:41are being torn down.

01:42That's where I am in my life.

01:44Some of them are on their third,

01:45Texas on their third stadium.

01:47But I think you're going to see people cover their fields

01:50and not let the elements affect it.

01:53We all know it rains at four o'clock every afternoon,

01:55it seems like in Florida.

01:56So you better have a good indoor cage in Tampa.

01:59Sacramento with the elevation,

02:01you know, I was in Utah

02:04and Salt Lake City's being talked about

02:07as a possible expansion or relocation.

02:10And I don't think people realize

02:12that it's not too far behind Colorado.

02:14That ballpark will be very conducive to offense.

02:18And the top three elevations are Colorado, Arizona,

02:23and a lot of people don't know Atlanta.

02:24That's why they call it the launching pad.

02:26So the elevation plays a lot

02:28into how you put the club together.

02:30But I think with Sacramento,

02:32it's, you know, we see all these trends.

02:35I've always gone by the adage

02:37that never judge a player in the spring or the fall.

02:41You know, you judge them over a track record.

02:45You know, the first thing I look at

02:46when I look at stats of a player

02:48and think about acquiring them

02:48is I look at games played.

02:50Can they post up?

02:51Can they play?

02:53You know, and, you know, with off days

02:55and load management and all the things going on,

02:57the guys that can post up, you know,

02:59that's what's so valuable about Lindore.

03:00He plays 155, 160 games.

03:03So you can count on it.

03:05You know, his 90% is better

03:07than the 100% of the guy you replace him with.

03:09But, you know, it'll be interesting to see

03:12how the Dodgers and the Braves play out in the long haul.

03:15But that's, what's different, Craig,

03:17is we play a sport every day for seven or eight months

03:19to roll the dice in October.

03:21And I think October's more of a roll of dice

03:23than ever before.

03:25But I just think that you gotta trust

03:29the length of the season and play the long game

03:31while people around you are in full panic mode.

03:34Yeah, that's a great point.

03:36And, you know, I went into the season

03:39and a lot of people were asking me,

03:41we'll go to the Dodgers here.

03:42A lot of people ask you about the Dodgers.

03:44And I was a little bit effusive with it.

03:47I was like, come on, there's no super teams anymore.

03:50I know they're really good and they're gonna win 100,

03:52but, you know, in the end,

03:54they're not gonna win 120 games.

03:56No one does that.

03:57115, no one does that.

03:58And Seattle had that incredible year several years ago.

04:01But, Buck, I gotta tell you, man,

04:03like I'm sort of regretting that a little bit here

04:06and I don't wanna get too far ahead of myself,

04:08but they're finding different ways to win every single night.

04:10This is as close to a super team as we have seen.

04:14I don't know that we will see one in a couple of years

04:16with the new CBA coming,

04:18which is a story for another day here.

04:19But Otani on Thursday, you know, hits that walk-off shot.

04:23Their pitchers just throw five innings

04:25and then they got these guys throwing sweepers

04:27and sliders at 98, 99,

04:29and they don't even need their guys

04:30to go deep into the game.

04:34Is this as close to a super baseball team

04:38as we've seen in a while?

04:39I'm a little scared to see these outcomes here.

04:42Well, seven games into the season,

04:44but the thing that would scare me

04:46if I was the opposition, not scared,

04:48would make me go, wow, this may play out,

04:50is their depth.

04:52You know, the quality GMs are always saying, what if?

04:56What if Otani goes down all year?

04:59What if Freeman goes down all year?

05:01We used to say, J.J. Hardy in Baltimore

05:04breaks his leg in spring training.

05:05What are we gonna do?

05:06Because the season doesn't stop

05:07and the other teams don't allow you to catch up

05:10until your player comes back.

05:11But what is challenging,

05:15because you're gonna have some issues along the way,

05:17is their depth and their rotation, their bullpen.

05:22That one would get my attention.

05:24I'm like, they are so deep.

05:26They're gonna be able to sustain something.

05:28You know, there are teams that are built,

05:29like that Mariner team, you remember,

05:32they were built for the regular season.

05:33There's really four times you manage as a manager.

05:36You manage in the spring, you manage in the regular season,

05:39you manage in September baseball, that's a different cat,

05:43and then you manage in the post-season.

05:44There's four different approaches.

05:46And unfortunately for the opposition,

05:50I think their team is gonna be able to stand

05:52all four of those quadrants.

05:54All right, and so Buck, now on the flip side,

05:56let's go to the Braves here,

05:58who, you know, had a pretty quiet off-season,

06:01but they did extend a bunch of their players

06:04a couple of years ago.

06:05I know they'll get back Strider

06:06and they'll get back Ronald Acuna Jr.

06:08And, you know, you certainly saw your fair share of them

06:10when you were the manager of the Mets.

06:12No team's ever made the post-season.

06:13I was shocked to see that after starting 0-7.

06:16Braves rebound, Buck, in your mind?

06:19I wouldn't bet against them.

06:20If I was a betting man, I would bet for them.

06:22I just think they've got a nice, calming influence

06:25with their manager and, you know, a guy that's been,

06:28when I look at managers, I look at their path.

06:30You know, the managers that have a path of experience

06:33in the minor leagues and winter ball

06:35and instructional league and different things

06:37that have actually been through the ups

06:38and downs of the season.

06:40I think Snicker does that very well.

06:43And they're going to get, you know,

06:44the Cavalry's coming there.

06:45You know, their catcher went out on rehab, Murphy.

06:48They're going to be okay.

06:50I, yeah, nobody wants to start out 0-7

06:52and have to answer all those questions.

06:54But if you look at the pure percentage

06:56of what part of the season seven games is,

07:00I would not bet against them.

07:01Just like I wouldn't bet against the Dodgers

07:03sustaining a really top flight season.

07:07All right, I would agree.

07:08Buck, always great to catch up with you.

07:10We'll look forward to catching you on the television

07:13and also, I hope, at some point back in the dugout.

07:15Thanks again for coming on.

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