Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Buck Showalter: There's only about 3-4 dominant closer's now in the game
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Right now, everybody's kind of jockeying around the back stretch to get in position. I think the trade deadlines had a lot to do with it. You know, very different clubs in a lot of ways. And it's going to be intriguing and fun to watch. I'm just I'm happy for the Orioles fans because they're going to have a lot of fun the next two months. And, you know, just keep a long memory of how good they are and the way things have turned for them. And, you know, the expectations now. That's what I was waiting to see this year because the first time my young team has expectations of going to the next level and they've responded very well. And it's been fun to watch. Buck, when we get to the deadline, we often think of it through the general manager's portal, right? Or what does it do for the fans? Or how does it maybe energize a clubhouse that needs some energy in the shot of adrenaline? But you obviously see it through the manager's eyes. And after the Austin Hayes trade, I was actually wondering what you thought of it. And I'm driving home from the studio. And you're talking about Dominguez and saying, you know, Hey, I kind of would prefer a sure thing. Like, Oh, does he have to drop his sinker? Like, can he get left these end righties out? Why is he gone from high leverage to low leverage? Like fixing guys in August can be tricky. And Soto's another one who clearly needs some fixing and he can't get righties out. How difficult can that be as a manager when you're taking on maybe guys who are projects or guys who are going to be asked to do more here than they were able to do for the Phillies, for instance. Well, they have a track record of having done it in the past at a higher level and they were doing it the first part of the season. But, you know, I was very careful as a manager when you're talking about trades and this player and wanting this and wanting that well, it's going to affect someone in your clubhouse. I mean, it's very it's not fair to an Austin Hayes or somebody to be saying we need this and we need that because the players know that's not your job. This time of year, the players know someone's going to be leaving there. They just don't expand the roster to 40 anymore to make room for all these guys, especially in August. But I try to always try to stay in my job description if they ask me about how this did or what have you. I think the Orioles made seven deals. You know, they're out there now. You know, sometimes when you say, okay, we're going to build with the prospects and that's who we are and that's our identity. That's fine. Now, a sudden you make a lot of these deals and you start moving some of these young guys, you know, you got to keep your identity and you you know, you don't want to confuse the fans, but you know, it was obvious that they had the ability to go do some things that they did and sometimes it's a change of scenery gets somebody going a little bit. I'm always real careful when I hear people say, well, let's get him because we could fix him. Oh, really? So you're smarter than all the other pitching coaches and all the people that I I'm careful about thinking that we're going all of a sudden solve the. I think they at the end of the day, guys are kind of who they are, but it's always been fun to watch these young players because you don't know where the feeling is on them. There's still six or seven guys that were there when I was there and it's been fun to watch them develop. Buck the closer situation. We've seen Craig Campbell really take his lump slightly. He's gotten taken out of the ninth inning role. We've seen you near Cano. We saw Sir Anthony Dominguez yesterday. Do you expect this to be a possible closer by committee? Do you think that Kim Broul will get his job back? Well, everybody would love to have Mario and Rivera sitting there. There's only about three or four of those in the game. I mean, it's just, you know, I think sometimes managers, we could all all of a sudden take everybody that you go out of it and the pay scale and just say, listen, we're going to put the best guy out there that's most rested and the best match up for them with the hitters they have coming up. There's an advantage step because you know, you can't force something that's just not there. You know, Kim Broul's got a track record of it and you never know when a star might be falling on you. But you do, you know, if the won't do and the health is there, there's something to be said about having been there. But you're looking at all avenues because games mean a lot now. And, you know, let's look at the playoffs a little bit. I'll just get in and then roll the dice. You know, October is a whole different time for teams. So, you know, yeah, you'd love to win the division and that's right at the top. You'd love to beat the Yankees and have some advantages in the playoffs as far as home games. But at the same time, it's just stay consistent and try to be who you are. Talking about show altars inside access here on the phone, but you mentioned in comment, you're talking about this team and the 101 games a year ago. And you want to see what they look like this year when there's no pressure on them. And here they are in first place. And it takes me back to the being beyond this rebuild. And the rebuild doesn't always work. Look at the Chicago White Sox who, you know, one year they did go to the playoffs and now they're 60 games under 500. So, rebuilds aren't guaranteed. Does that make you more impressed with what they've done here in Baltimore? No, you know, I think there's some blueprints for it. The way other people have done it. I think, say, there's a great job behind the scenes with player acquisition as to a lot of their other people. He's not the only one. I just, you know, everybody wants to very quickly take away from what somebody's done. You know, yeah, you're drafting the first four or five picks for two or three years. And heck, let's face it, guys, you and I could take that guy. But what really is impressed me is that second through seventh round picks, you look down through the history of some of these guys that are starting to burst on the scene, they're not all that first 10 guys picking the country. You know, they do a good job. When I look at a scouting department, I want to know how they're doing two through 10, tooth and seven in today's game. That really tells you, you know, your knowledge and your ability to project players and also have faith that your people can take a flaw and make it, and fix it. You know, you always said, let's have enough confidence when I'm only the development people having been there to draft that un, that flawed player that they can develop and fix whatever might need fixing because they can run real well. They can throw real well. Those two tools don't usually improve a lot. But Buck, we, as much as this rebuild has been incredibly robust and them being on the other side of it, we're kind of waiting to see like, when does, when do they extend somebody? When does somebody get a multi-year deal to stick around here? You were, you were privy to the very beginnings of Anthony Santander's career and him being plucked away, you know, as a high A player, whatever in the Carolina league for the, for the then Indians at the time had a different name. Um, when you see him now and, and what he's become and, and one of the best switch hitters in baseball is our part of your their wonders. Is, is he a guy who you buy his age 30, age 31, age 32 season and try to keep him around here? It's tough guys. To be able to project that, you know, I remember the first time I saw Anthony was talking to Banduchette and he was basically hurt and Abel and Kingston, I believe it was, and what, what a job of projecting. Obviously, we had to suck it up a little bit for a year or two with him before he started hitting his stride and, you know, you look back at anybody having success. I'll show you some people that had to kind of wear it for a little while, but he, he, you know, when people say you've got to sign somebody, be careful. No, you don't. No, you don't. I can name you three or four guys right now that, oh gosh, you got to sign this player. Oh, you got, well, now you look back at it, you know, being on a project where that, that's going to go down, you'd also have to have somebody replace him. I'd love to see Anthony play his whole bigly career there. I think everybody would, but I'll leave that up to the people that evaluate. They know a lot more about it than I do. And, but I just be careful about saying, oh, you've got to do this. You know, Buck Jackson holiday, his first call up earlier in the year looked really, really overwhelmed, went down for an extended reset. And boy, has he been hitting the cover off the baseball. What have you seen from young Jackson holiday in this second stint? Well, obviously his contact to damage ratio is real high. I love the fact looking at his history, this guy's had a lot of baseball balls, every word has been. And that's, you know, it doesn't always initially correlate to the big leagues initially, but then it eventually will. Obviously, he's had a couple of hits that have been, you know, big damage. But they all go through those growing pains. It's the biggest jump in professional sports and baseball from the level of AAA to big leagues in the pitching that you see. So most guys are going to have some struggles when they first come up. You can count them on one really small hand. The guys that just pick up right where they left off in AAA just doesn't happen. So those growing pains, you know, sometimes it's two or three times back and forth before the good ones figure it out. Billy Martin told me a long time ago, Buck tries, you may, you can't screw up the good ones. And I think he's a good one. Buck Showalter, it's always great to talk to you, sir. Thank you so much for your time. We always appreciate it. Hey, thanks for having me. Nobody's that busy. God bless you guys. Take care. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again with north sides and bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive through and do dinner at home. Nor taste combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit nor.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home cooked weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good. Now with the MLB app, you can get baseball your way. Pick your favorite team, your favorite players, and get customized highlights, stories and breaking news right on your home feed. Follow the action with game tip where 3D replays add another dimension. Plus notifications can keep you connected to every pitch, every hit, every game. The MLB app, baseball, your way. Download it now for free from the app store or Google Play. Blackout and other the research and supply major league baseball trade parts used with permission.