00:00I love that baseball season is back because we get to talk to smart people like Harold Reynolds from MLB
00:05Network.
00:05I want to remind you, MLB Network is airing live spring training games every day,
00:08including an upcoming Orioles game on March 9th, which will be available here to watch in Baltimore.
00:12You can also watch Harold on the Emmy Award winning MLB tonight throughout the season.
00:17Harold, thank you as always for your time. We appreciate it.
00:19So the Orioles were very active this offseason, but do you feel they did enough?
00:25You know, I was worried early on, you know, when you made the trade to Grayson Rodriguez and you started
00:31making some moves.
00:31I was like, oh, but yeah, I think they've done enough so far.
00:36Obviously, the injury to Holiday is going to set them back a little bit and Westberg as well.
00:41But I think overall, I got to tip my cap to Mike Elias.
00:45I start off worrying and I feel pretty good right now as the season is going.
00:49And the Peter Alonzo deal is just that's over the top for me.
00:53That's a huge move.
00:54Harold, I think the one move that a lot of people in Baltimore were hoping was a frontline starter.
01:01But someone that we talked about earlier on the show, Trevor Rogers, who was fantastic for them last year,
01:07pitching to an ERA below two.
01:09It was only 18 starts.
01:11That being said, are you expecting him to be an upper echelon pitcher this year?
01:19Yeah, I am.
01:20I mean, I was probably the only guy.
01:23I know I was the only guy on our network when the trade happened and he came over from the
01:28Marlins initially.
01:29I thought it was a good move.
01:31He did not pitch well after the trade deadline and went on.
01:35And then last year, turned it around.
01:37And I just thought, from what he'd already done before in his career in Miami, would translate easy.
01:45Obviously, he had some mechanical issues.
01:47He worked it out with the Orioles.
01:49And I think they got an ace.
01:51I just think he's big, strong, durable.
01:54This guy's 6'3", 230 pounds.
01:57He can 6'4", 6'5", I should say.
01:59And he throws a lot of innings.
02:02I think he's got to be a guy that can be a front-line starter.
02:05We're talking with Harold Reynolds' inside access here on the fan.
02:07A guy that I'm very intrigued to see this year is Shane Boz, who made his spring training debut today.
02:14Struck out four and two and a third.
02:15Had eight swing and miss.
02:17Where are you on Boz?
02:19He's a guy I know a few years ago the Rays thought he might be a top of the rotation
02:23guy.
02:23Had the Tommy John.
02:24What do you think of Boz?
02:27Electric stuff.
02:29Overpowering fastball.
02:30He can pitch at the top of the zone.
02:32I think he goes after hitters' weaknesses really well.
02:35And I think we haven't seen the best of him.
02:38He's a guy very similar to so many pitchers in the major leagues that they just don't have that top
02:44-end experience yet.
02:45And he'll just get better with age.
02:47If he stays healthy, you know, we always got to throw that in there with everybody.
02:51The pitchers throw so hard now, they get way more injuries.
02:54But I think he's got ability to be a number-one type starter.
03:00But if you can slide him in at a two or three right now, I think you're going to get
03:05great benefits from him.
03:07And I do like the fact that he's been in the AL East before.
03:11I think that plays a big part.
03:13I've watched guys go from the Central to the East, and it's just not the same.
03:18I mean, you look at the lineups in the American League East,
03:21and part of it's intimidation, and the other is comfort.
03:25And once you get past being intimidated with those deep lineups,
03:28then your talent shines forward.
03:29And I think that's a guy we're talking about in buzz.
03:32Harold, one reason why the Orioles really underachieved last year is you saw a lot of their young players regress.
03:39And Adley Rutschman certainly fits that bill.
03:42But it's been a year and a half now.
03:44Since the second half of 2024, Adley Rutschman just hasn't been that good of a player.
03:49Can he regain that 2023, first half of 2024 form where he was an all-star catcher?
03:58Well, I sound like Mr. Optimist today because I think so.
04:03I do.
04:04Look, here's what happens.
04:05A lot of times, these guys play through injuries.
04:08And Adley played through injuries.
04:10And I know you want to be the macho guy, and you want to get out there, and you want
04:13to help your team.
04:15But what happens a lot of times, you don't get credited.
04:17And the next thing you know, you've had a bad run, and you've been out there playing injured.
04:22And people don't know it.
04:23Look at Ellie De La Cruz, for example.
04:25First half of the year last year, he has 19 home runs.
04:28And nobody can talk about it.
04:30I mean, he's in every conversation.
04:32Second half, he tries to play through an injury and plays every day, and his numbers were awful.
04:38And he dropped from, oh, I think he's one of the best shortstops.
04:44And I think that's what's happened with Adley.
04:46He's a guy that handles the pitching staff great.
04:52Everybody's enthusiastic about him.
04:54He's got to learn at the big league level, too.
04:59Adjustments and struggle and all those things.
05:01And an injury hits in the middle of his adjustment time.
05:04And we buried him.
05:05So this is a big year.
05:07I've got to see where he stands.
05:09I've known Adley for most of his life, so I'm a big Adley fan.
05:14But I am realistic, and I really believe that he's going to bounce back and turn this thing around.
05:20Talking to MLB Network's Harold Reynolds inside Access here on the fan.
05:23A guy that is very intriguing to us, because you mentioned at the top they traded Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor
05:28Ward.
05:29And because of Pete Alonzo and because of these Gunner Hendersons and Adley Rushman, we don't talk as much about
05:34Taylor Ward.
05:35But I'm super intrigued to see what he brings to this team.
05:38And I'm also fascinated with the new ABS stuff, because he's so patient at the plate.
05:43I think he's going to be a fascinating case study with the ABS.
05:48Yeah, it will.
05:49And, yeah, he's going to be one of those guys.
05:52We were talking about this the other day.
05:54What guys do you sit there and say, all right, I'm going to trust his strike zone over the system?
06:01And Ward drops in that conversation.
06:04It was him, Soto, a couple of other guys we were talking about.
06:07But, you know, Taylor, again, here's a guy who he's played now, and he's backed his numbers up for a
06:14couple seasons.
06:14And I think he's going to be fantastic out here.
06:19That's a big ballpark he plays in Anaheim.
06:22And to put the numbers up he did out there, you're going to – well, it was Oakland two years
06:28ago, last year Sacramento.
06:30But you're playing a big ballpark.
06:32Seattle, you're going there a number of times, Anaheim.
06:35And he's putting up big numbers.
06:37So I think putting him in the AL East and hopping into Baltimore in the summer, going to New York
06:43in the summertime,
06:44Fenway Park, he's a big pool hitter.
06:46I think his numbers are going to hold.
06:50Harold, Gunnar Henderson, he dealt with injuries as well last year, the intercostal strain during spring training,
06:56and then shoulder impingement that really zapped him of his power.
07:00He hits his 17 home runs.
07:02Are you expecting a big bounce back for Gunnar?
07:04And also, would you like to see him back in the leadoff role this year?
07:11Well, definitely while Holiday's out, I would not have a problem putting him back up there.
07:17I think Gunnar's going to bounce back.
07:18He's one of the best players in the league.
07:20And, again, it's almost like the tale of two stories with the Orioles.
07:25If they stay healthy and their guys get healthy, they'll play at the top of the division like they're supposed
07:30to.
07:31If they're not, they'll be down at the bottom.
07:33And that's what we saw last year.
07:37Gunnar's a big part of that.
07:38Holiday's already injured.
07:39Hopefully he comes back.
07:41Adley's a big part of that conversation.
07:43You can go around the diamond.
07:44And they all have to be healthy.
07:46I'm not saying they've got to have career years.
07:48But if they're healthy and play like they're capable of, I think the Orioles are going to be battling for
07:53the division title.
07:54Well, that leads me to, Harold, this division seems like a gauntlet.
07:59Obviously, the Red Sox added some pitching.
08:01The Blue Jays were a couple outs away from winning the World Series.
08:04Yankees are running it back, a team that made the playoffs.
08:07We don't know what the Rays are going to be, but they always seem better.
08:09How do you stack this division right now?
08:13It's the best in baseball.
08:16Most competitive.
08:17Probably to spend the most money to fight the other teams off.
08:22And you better get off to a good start.
08:24It intrigues me with the Yankees because we're all talking about the Yankees coming back.
08:29But the start of the year, Cole and Rodon and most of their pitchers are still injured.
08:36And they don't come back until early May, probably, something like that.
08:40So maybe end of April, 1st of May.
08:42But you can be out of it in this division.
08:44You have to get off to a fast start.
08:46The Red Sox are way improved.
08:49And that was the team last year that kind of played about 50-50, gave some people some wins.
08:55I think they're better.
08:56They're going to be more experienced.
08:57They were very young.
08:59And the Yankees have to hold on early.
09:02And then that's the team I think you're going to have the most trouble with of all the clubs.
09:06Toronto, I think losing Bichette, you got some question marks out there.
09:11Guys are going to move around.
09:12How will they really do?
09:14I think they stepped back a little bit, but not much.
09:16So I see this division three, four games separating probably three clubs at the top.
09:23Harold, we're all really fired up for opening day less than a month away.
09:28But we have been taking the temperature of all the national guys that we've been having on about the upcoming
09:34CBA expiring in December.
09:37And now you're seeing some reports of salary cap limits and salary cap floors out there.
09:44The Tony Clark debacle that happened last week.
09:48Do you think we're heading to a contentious lockout?
09:52And also, as a former player, do you have a happy medium where these two sides can meet in the
09:59middle?
09:59Whether it's a salary cap, I don't know what it could be.
10:04Well, the human side of me says, I hope they can get this thing settled early.
10:09The baseball player in me says, buckle your seatbelts, enjoy the summer.
10:15It's going to be an amazing season.
10:17And nothing's going to get done until the 11th hour.
10:19And that's just where I think we're going to be.
10:22I don't think, as many others do, that it's going to be as long as a lockout.
10:26But I do think that there will be some contentious time.
10:30But I don't think anything's going to get done this summer unless there's a miracle.
10:34And I hope it does.
10:36But I just don't see anything happening this summer.
10:38You hear a lot of reports like we're hearing now.
10:41You hear a lot of things.
10:42That's why I say fasten your seatbelt.
10:44Don't believe everything you're hearing.
10:46Everybody's jockeying.
10:47But at the end of the day, I don't see anything happening until after the World Series.
10:52Harold, before we let you go, so Bone, my co-host, is young.
10:55And he don't know stuff.
10:57And I told him you led the league in stolen bases one year.
10:59And he was shocked to hear that.
11:00And I also told him you have a really funny story of Ricky Henderson calling you after you won the
11:06stolen base title.
11:07Could you please tell Tim that story?
11:10All right, man.
11:10I'll give it to you straight.
11:12It's one of the greatest stories ever.
11:14Ricky Henderson always talked in the third person.
11:17Like we could be, I'm sitting here now talking to you guys.
11:20And we could be playing cards.
11:22And he'd go, Ricky got a sweet hand.
11:24Ricky got an ace.
11:25You know, and he's always talking to the third person.
11:28So I had known him for a little bit but didn't really have a real close personal relationship with Ricky
11:34at this time.
11:35So I win a stolen base title.
11:38He'd been winning every year in the 80s.
11:40This is 1987 now.
11:42He's averaging 100, 110 stolen bases a season.
11:46So he gets injured in May.
11:47He's already got about 30 stolen bases in May off to another 100 stolen base season.
11:54I get 30 at all-star break.
11:58And then Willie Wilson and I are tied on the last day of the season.
12:02Ricky's been injured out all the rest of the year from May on.
12:04And we each have 59.
12:07I steal a base.
12:08Willie does not.
12:10I win the stolen base title.
12:12I get home the next day.
12:14It was on the last day of the season.
12:15I get home the next day.
12:17My phone rings.
12:18This isn't no caller ID.
12:20It isn't cell phones.
12:22Nothing like that.
12:23Pick up the phone on the cord.
12:24Hello?
12:25And he goes, Henderson here.
12:27Hey, what up, Rick?
12:29I'm figuring he's calling to congratulate me, right?
12:31He goes, 60 stolen bases?
12:34You ought to be ashamed.
12:36Ricky has 60 at the all-star break.
12:38Click and hung up the phone.
12:40No way.
12:41You didn't even get a word in.
12:44Oh, Howard.
12:45In my office here at MLB Network, he signed a poster when he got in the Hall of Fame.
12:52He was out here to the network after they do the whole thing.
12:55He signed a poster.
12:57He brought a poster with him from Oakland, okay?
13:01Knew he was going to be at MLB Network, and he signs it.
13:04You know stolen base champ, Ricky Henderson.
13:08Harold Rose, that's great.
13:09You're the best.
13:10Thank you so much for your time.
13:11We appreciate it.
13:12Look forward to talking to you again as the season gets going.
13:15All right.
13:16Go Orioles.
13:17It's going to be a fun year.
13:18Yes.
13:18I'll see you guys.
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