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Go to shopify.com/mlbpodcast to take your retail business to the next level today. Shopify.com/mlbpodcast. We're going to talk baseball to start off our number two. We are joined now by Odyssey MLB Insider. Brett Boom, insider calls are presented by Granger. With supplies and solutions for every industry, Granger has the right product for you. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Brett's also the host of the Brett Boom podcast featuring the most notable names in MLB and around sports every single week. Brett, it is Andrew. Good morning. Thanks for the time. How are you today? You got it, Andrew. I'm doing good. Doing good. So I did not expect to wake up this morning to Jurex and Profar being the least liked non-politician in Washington. How did we get to that spot? Well, Profar, you know, he hits the walk-off a couple of nights ago and at that point I don't keep up. You know, I kind of turned the TV off. He had great ending. Padra. I live in San Diego. So I get, you know, I keep a little closer eye on the Padres. I guess there were some words exchanged, some glances, and I wore bad blood going into yesterday. And yesterday, it just kind of starts in that first inning and there's chirping and, you know, Machado's going to be the go-between and he talks to Ruiz and the catcher. Everything's good. We think. umpires come out, they give the, you know, the gestured warning to both benches to the starting pitcher or obviously, or thrills them with the first pitch. You know, as a player, it kind of, you know, it's kind of ballsy. I kind of like the gorgeous drill to break the face of everything. That being said, he doesn't get thrown out of the game. I know. Chilt gets thrown out of the game. The Padres manager, who up on the manager, what's going on here? You warned us seven seconds ago, he drilled the man in question with the first bit. He hit him in the back ankle, no big deal. But you know what you're doing as a big league pitcher. So you don't throw him out of the game. I don't care if it's intentional or it's not intentional. It's not about intent at that point. The warning was issued, like I said, seven seconds before the pitch. He doesn't throw him out. Anyway, he gets on first base, pro far is laughing. Next pitch, Machado hits a two run home, and that's, you know, we're off and running. But I just, I just looked at it, and I thought, what is going on with the state of the umpires at that point? You know, it ended up being Padres and enough winning the game in the long run. But it's just kind of crazy. I'm sitting there and going, why even issue the warning? Don't issue the warning. If let's play, you know, if you get drilled, you get drilled. That's what we used to do. We handle it as players on the field, I, for an eye, and we move on with our life. But if you're going to get involved, be the arbiter on the field. Well, you've got to enforce what you said. So that's my take on. Yeah. And especially since, you know, more than once I've seen umpires throw a pitcher out for hitting a guy when we knew that he wasn't trying to hit them, and they misread that situation last night, whether it was you knew or not, you have to throw Mackenzie go out of that game and they didn't. So as usual, the umpires leave us scratching our heads. It's funny. I mean, I like less, believe me, Andrew, I'm a fan of let us handle it on the field. Let the players keep it in our hands as much as possible. You know, there's obvious extreme conditions where you have to issue warnings, but I wish, you know, there's less warnings that's better. It's always handled better amongst the players because then it's then it's squashed and it doesn't, it just doesn't continue to extend on and on and on because we're going to look for a place to get you as players. I mean, if we felt our player was wrong, we're going to, we're going to get you. It might be next spring training in a B game on a back field, but we're going to get you. That's, that's the way we operate. Always have. I've been on the receiving end of it. I knew I was getting some. I didn't know when it was coming. It's like that boogie man. I'm always looking for a back, but when I least expect it, I'm going to get drilled and it happens to everybody. It's part of the game. Always has. But I did want to ask you now, you mentioned this, this, this all started two nights ago because after getting a game when he hit after they intentionally walked the batter before him to get to pro far, so they pitched to him, he gets the game ending hit. His celebration includes kind of running towards the net dugout and yelling at them and stomping his fear, like pointing to like this is my, I don't know what he was doing, but he was my house. Right. He was going at them, which I don't, I can't remember seeing that before. But in this, in the game today, we know we've got bad flips. We've got a home run celebrations every time somebody gets a double. They've got a hand gesture back to the dugout. There's a lot more demonstration. Do you think there's too much or could baseball like guys be even more personality driven? I think there's way too much, but that's me being an old man sitting here off my lawn. You know, it's better when I played and I don't like to be that guy. I sit there, you know, in my family and the way I was brought up, you know, I was brought up on a big league field with my dad for years. One of my biggest mentors as a kid was my grandpa. And I remember, you know, many talks with grandpa after the game, you know, I come to San Diego, he lives here and after the game come out, you know, I could, it didn't matter what I did. It was grandpa's time with me and I knew I was going to get a good game, bad game. He was always one of those guys, you know, Brent Bob feller in my day. We would have done this and that I heard that a million times. And I said, Graham, Randy Johnson is pretty tough. And I like our guys, you know, but that was grandpa and it was endearing and that was the way it was. But I always told myself, I'm not going to be that guy. So I'm sitting there in this, of course, my generation. I loved how we played. I loved how we policed ourselves. Today, a lot of celebration, you know, I've got a son in the minor leagues and I've watched the nonsense and I just sit there. But it is what it is, you know, when I was asked the question recently of what are the unwritten rules? What do we do? I thought about it long and hard and I came up with, you know, what the unwritten rules or whatever the players in today's game on the field currently active decide they are. It's not for Brett Boone or anybody from my generation, the generation before to decide what the unwritten rules are. If Justin Burlander, you know, is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, is okay with somebody pimping a home run off and flipping the bat into the other dugout, running around the bases and he's okay with it, well, then who am I to sit here and tell you what you should do or what is acceptable. These guys decide that current players on the field decide what is acceptable, what is not, and the rest is history. It's their game. It's not my game anymore. And history will judge each and every one of us. We'll judge each and every one of our generations. So now as a fan of the game, you know, I'm kind of used to it. I think we all are now that the game has changed. I love a lot of the things in the modern game. I'm envious of the technology and the data they have at their fingertips, but there's definitely some old school stuff in me that wish, man, I wish the game was kind of this way now. It's a love, hate, but you got to give and you got to take. And as this game goes on, if you don't want to be left in the dust, you kind of got to grow, roll with the punches and roll with the changes going forward. Now, I'm closer to you and age than anybody than most guys playing the game these days. And I'm all for letting the guys have personality. You want to have crazy bat designs, colorful cleats or what that stuff's great. The thing that, that I still, I guess, old man issue for me is like the context of your behavior. Even last night, I'm watching Mets Yankees and Juan Soto-Homer's to make it nine to Mets and Juan Soto is my favorite. I got a phone call. I got a phone call from a buddy going, what's Soto doing? Well, and like he's my favorite player in the game right now. I think he's a remarkable hitter. I could watch every single that bat even on my hated Yankees. So he's my favorite, but he is a home run that makes his team down seven and it still takes him 90 seconds to get around the bases and he still does like a toe tap and a gesture to the sky when he gets home. Like when you're down by seven and you do anything good, I don't know that you should do, you should just run fast and be done with it. So the next guy could come up and try to get you even closer to the, to the other team. I think you're right. And the key to what you said was context. And I think today's the game, we don't have context. It's just we're performers and let me say that the athlete today, man, it's impressive to walk into those glove houses in 2024 versus even when I was first come up, these athletes today, they're superior. They're bigger. They're stronger. They're faster. They're more athletic, but you're right. There's no context to the game. It's kind of know where you know your place, know who you are as a player, know what the situation of the game is, know, know, know, put all these things in, in the perspective when, when something like that happens. I love one. So there's a young player is a talented player. He's going to make a lot of money probably just, but you're right. There is no context and it goes both ways. The pitchers on the mound, they could give up seven, seven earnings and punch out one guy. They celebrate and that's their thing. They're going to do that in that situation, and it, it, I get to the point where I don't get angry at it. I just look at it. You kind of like, well, that's what the game is now. It's just celebrate. I don't, I don't like some of the new things. I don't like that you can't take the runner out the, the second baseman out on the double plate. I don't like that you can't drill the catcher when he's blocking the plate. Those are things that make baseball, baseball, they made him great and they made the great catcher's great. They made the second baseman that could turn that big double play in the ninth inning, which is near and dear to my heart. That's what separated you from, from the rest of the field. I look at that second base now turn it to the Peanut Bureau can turn to now, but a left, any decent left fielder can turn a double play in the big leagues because there's nothing to impede you. So yeah, the little things like that, I wish would change, but you're right, context is the whole thing. And today's game, today's player, nobody's held accountable on either side because everybody is accepting of it. And it makes it kind of throws context out the window. That's the voice of Odyssey about the insider Brett Boone, the host of the Brett Boone podcast joining us here this morning. Insider calls are brought to you by Granger for the ones who get it done. Granger offers professional grade supplies and solutions made for every industry and backed by product experts call click granger.com or just stop by. So Brett, this conversation began Padres gnats and they're two of the teams. It feels like 29 of them that are in the race for the NL wild card spot, but they're all barely or under 500. Why? There seems to be too many underperforming NL teams right now. I know there's not a common thread, but are you surprised by how many teams that we thought were going to be good are struggling this deep into June? Well, if you're going to check a week ago, I think there were only three or four teams over 500 in the entire national league. I think now we're. I think we're on six. I think we're up to six now in that NL wild cards changing daily. I think there's two elite teams in the national league. I think it's a Philadelphia Phillies. I think it's the LA Dodgers. LA Dodgers will beat up now some key players on the IL, but they're so deep. They're able to weather that and still be a top team. I think Phillies, the other elite team, and then it falls to the next category of not quite there, but still really good and you look at the Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves. I throw the rest of the league with the exception of Miami and Colorado. They're the only two teams that have really played their way out of it. They're not a factor anymore. I think you throw the rest of the teams into this big bundle and say, who's going to come out on top? I have no idea schemes coming to Pittsburgh, added a lot of life to that franchise. The Nationals are a young team. You've never heard of anybody playing well. San Francisco has been banged up all year pitching wise, especially Snell Robbie Ray hasn't even been on the field yet. Harrison just went down for them, so they've been beat up. This Padre team to me, you, Darvish, must grow two guys at the top of the rotation. They've been missing now. Darvish for a month, must grow for a couple of weeks, a few weeks ago, and now he's on the IL again, so they've been banged up. St. Louis Cardinals are back. They're in the wild card today if the season ended. I think you're right. Metts were buried and dead at the end of April. Now they're a factor. Game and a half out of the wild card, so you're right. After you go those top 14, Philly, LA, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, I think it's just a coin flip now. Who's going to make the moves? Who's going to make a trade? Who's going to stay healthy as to who's going to grab those other two wild card spots and fight for? It's going to be interesting in the national league. I'm sitting here in New York, and I don't always want to bring up the Mets, but the Mets are interesting in this because 10 days ago, we were talking about how many guys they actually can trade at the deadline that other teams are going to want, whether they're starting pitching. Maybe the big trade of Peter Lanzo, but now the Mets have played themselves until wild card contention. So now do you change plans and try to add and sneak in and see what happens in October? Or do you still have to think longer term and move Severino and Menaya and guys like that to get future more future pieces for for down the road? It's a tough spot to be in all of a sudden. Well, yeah, and I think New York's a unique spot with Cohen and the money he spent and the expectations and the Yankees doing what they're doing this year. There's a lot of pressure on the Mets to not, can you imagine right now, if they just went into sell mode and the fan base in New York, I don't think it's realistic. So I think these guys are foot on the pedal as long as Cohen and the brass decide that there is a chance. It's foot on the foot on the gas right now and when it all costs. I think that's going to be their attitude. With the changing the rules, I think it's better for the game. The deadline, they've moved it back a month. So now you get to that trade deadline and man, it's a sticky situation. You've got to be smart, you've got to do your homework and it puts you in a predicament because two months out of the season, it's not clear. It's kind of like what do we do? Do we buy? Do we sell? I think it's exciting. I think it becomes really strategic. I think we're a month away from that right now or a little more than a month. But I think the Mets right now are looking at this sheet like I'm looking at it, all hands on deck. We're a game and a half out of the wild card and we're going to go for it. Now in a month, we'll see we're at and we'll reconvene and we'll figure it out. But I think Cohen, all the dynamics that come with being in New York, a New York sports franchise, all the pressure, all the expectations, I think the Mets at this point got to be in go mode. I think they will be and they'll check their status in a month from now and kind of like I said, reconvene and figure out what they're going to do next. I don't think you did it on purpose, but you just said sticky situation, which takes me to my last question for you. Give you a lead in. I appreciate that. Edwin D as the Mets closer is the latest person to be ejected and suspended for a sticky pitching hand and after the fact, I've been left wondering Brett, do we need more information on the end of this stuff from MLB? Like do we need CSI? Like I want a scientific breakdown of what they scraped off of his hand. So I know that he was actually cheating. Well, I think you've got to use common sense, look at it, look at the reaction of the picture. Look at everything. I don't think there's a perfect science to this. Pictures have been doing this since the beginning of time. You know, I've known pictures. I've had teammates that I helped do it because they're my teammate and then when they get traded and we're on separate teams years later, I have a little conversation with them for the series and say, if I see anything, I'm going to call it out. So for this series, put that stuff away. When we leave, I don't care what you do. It's been going on since the beginning of time. It's the toughest thing to catch, the toughest thing to prove and I don't think it's going away because once they come up with, oh, this mix is illegal. You can't use this actual sticky stuff in this. They're going to come up with other formulas, other substances to mix together to get that same sticky effect. It's never going away. It's like scuff in the baseball. It's never going to go away. That's why you see so many balls being thrown out of the game today. If it comes close to hitting anything, the dirt, it's automatically thrown out by the hitter and as a hitter, that's what I used to do. I mean, I used to have catchers throw it down for a guy that uses the scuff. There's two things. With a scuff baseball, the pitcher needs to know what to do with the scuff. If they do, well, then it can be a weapon form. If they don't, it's going to be a detriment form. I used to have pitchers that wanted a scuff on the ball. So in between innings, I'd have to catch or short hop me, land it in the dirt and pick it on the throw down in between. Now he's got a scuff ball to work with the first pitch. Now it might be thrown out of foul ball in that first pitch and now he doesn't have that scuff ball anymore, but so I used to sit there on deck and watch what was going on. If I saw that ball in the warm-ups, even come close to hitting the ground, I wanted that thrown out of play. Back to your sticky situation. I don't think there's anything you can do about it, except for checking now when you come off the sidelines, but these guys are going to continue to do it. They're going to try to find that edge, try to find a way, and a lot of these guys have been doing it for a lot of years until they put this new rule where they check you in between innings. Guys have been brought up on it through the minor leagues and all of a sudden it's taken away. It's always been illegal, it's always been illegal, but it's something we couldn't catch. As a hitter, I knew when a guy was loading the pitch up, but it's like, "How do I prove it? How do I find it? He's too good. He knows how to get rid of the evidence." And it's that cat and mouse, if you catch him great, if you can't, that's always been a part of the game. So I don't think you're ever going to get rid of it. I think the situation with DS, they were pretty darn sure in that umpire's room. If they look at it, they look at these things every single day. So the fact that they threw him out, gave him a 10 game suspension, they were pretty darn sure that it was definitely a substance. Brad, I've heard of a number of ways where guys help the pitcher have a scuff ball. I've never heard the fake short hop throw to second base to get a scuff on it. That's a good one. Absolutely. Absolutely. This is a great shot. Thanks for waking up for us. We appreciate it. We'll talk to you again soon, hopefully. You got it. Thank you. Thanks for joining us, we'll see you next time on "The Insider Host of the Brepp Boone Podcast." Insider calls is always presented by Granger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Take your business further with a smart and flexible American Express business gold card. You can earn four times points on your top two eligible spending categories every month, like transit, U.S. restaurants, and gas stations. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Four times points on up to $150,000 in purchases per year. Terms apply. 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