Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Cedric Mullins: The last three to four days have been controlled chaos
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It was a super cool event. And like you said, like, thank you to sponsors for helping get all that set up. It was awesome. We had a great time, you know, really engaged with the fan base. Well, you know, hitting some golf balls off a little friendly competition, you know, just a little bit everything. And the guys that came out to help support the event had a great time as well. They were talking about it the next day and, you know, it was just really fun. Well, Cedric, I mean, the baseball is crazy. We had Austin on last week promoting the event. Austin was one of the signature guys, you know, who was a part of this. And then obviously Austin's traded to Philadelphia. And he talked us a little bit last week about, you know, you try to block everything out, but you're human, you know, and it is sort of an interesting time in the baseball calendar. Like you guys, anybody, right, could be Wayne Gretzky was traded. Babe Ruth was traded. Like what was the last three or four days like for you guys? It was kind of controlled chaos. You know, like you said, it's one of those moments where it is in the back of our mind because we do want to keep up with, you know, what's going on in the workplace, but at the same time on the other end of it, we're out there to play baseball, compete and win with the team that we're with. So it's just one of those weird feelings where you add things to be changing in the blink of a knife or any one of us, but our task at hand was still to go out there and win some games. You and Austin have been together so long through a lot of thick and thin individually, right? At various points of your climb to the majors and then you're assent to the majors where you guys have both, you know, been all stars. Like how difficult is it not to have him riding with you anymore? And I'm guessing you've had a chance to chat with him since the trade. Yeah, it's something that even when we were younger, it was one of those things was like we would want this to be to go on for as long as possible. We know the odds of that. We're always somewhat low, but you just never knew. So, you know, for that move to finally be made and I have talked to him a little bit, but, you know, we've kind of let each other have our space and kind of process everything that's been going on. There's still where many moves to be made. And just kind of key in and locking in on, you know, the changes. You know, he, you know, moving him his entire family out to Philly is a lot. So, you know, wasn't going to bombard you like that. But, you know, seeing him settle in pretty well out there and, you know, me continuing to make my improvements here with the team. It's been fun to watch. We're speaking to Cedric Mullins. It's inside access on the family. Cedric Michael Elias was very busy. The Orioles made several additions. What have you thought of your new teammates? Yeah, the guys are still filtering in now. You know, I haven't had a chance to meet everybody yet. I still don't think I've come across Rogers or Menes. It's been crazy. So, I know the dust is going to be settling here pretty soon with everyone getting to their designated teams. But it's going to be fun to get to know these guys. You know, been playing against them for a few years and you never really know your competition. So, it's just one of those things where it's cool to, you know, meet some new guys, get a feel for their personalities and go out there and compete hard with them. Cedric, you referenced, you know, you being, you know, locked in right now and what you've done individually to kind of turn your season around. It feels like as a group, like just watching the last four or five games, maybe versus some of the ones previous, feels like a lot more line drives, you know, a lot more sort of power alley to power alley, maybe shorter swings at times, like a lot of damage being done, even when the ball doesn't leave the yard. Yeah, I mentioned it to our media a few days ago. I said, we just need to get to that brand of baseball that we're used to putting out there. You know, being being tough out in the box, you know, drawing our wall, stealing bases, the power is going to be there. We, you know, we always know that. But it's being able to manufacture those runs when we need them. And then we have those big innings with a long ball involved, that's our game. So to get back to that past few days, it's been very encouraging for us and we continue to keep that going. Temp check, what kind of summer are we having this year? 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With offline maps and on-trail navigation, download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep, and when you don't get the rest you need, your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience, because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips, and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1,400 air chambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the Restore Hybrid Collection. The combined gel flex grid with coils and the Rejuvenate Lux Collection, the height of luxury, with over 112,000 5-star reviews to prove it. Visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast10 to get 10% off. Cedric, it was a really bittersweet day yesterday. You guys just won your fourth win in five games, but unfortunately losing Jordan Westbrook for an extended period of time, fractured right hand, just your reaction to the news. Yeah, you know, it's definitely disappointed in the news. And, you know, Open West, he's doing all right because, you know, that can take a toll on, you know, the person that it happened to as well, let alone the team just because of the season that he was putting together. You know, in terms of what's next, it's that next man up mentality, unfortunately. But, you know, it's just a matter of guys stepping up into a couple of bigger roles and, you know, being able to replicate the production he was putting out. Cedric, Dave, obviously Major League Baseball has sort of altered the landscape of the postseason with the extended wildcards and it impacted the trade deadline. Last year, we saw an impact October, right? A lot of the wildcard teams, well, heck, both the final two standing were wildcards. And we've asked different people about this, Brett Boone, among others, like obviously you want to win the division. But at this point, is it just more about getting in the dance than anything else? Like have they sort of, I don't want to say devalued, but have they put maybe a little less of a premium on actually being the quote unquote one seed versus maybe just being able to play baseball on a regular basis as soon as the playoffs start? Uh, I can't really speak on that as a whole. But what I can say is we want to take first place regardless of what that looks like as opposed to, you know, if it's just continuing to put our best foot forward and just continue to show our dominance as a team. I think that's kind of what the goal for everyone is, whether you're in a wildcard position or not, like maintaining first place makes you a threat, you know, regardless of what the playoff situation looks like at that point. We're speaking to Cedric Mullins. It's inside access on the fans. Cedric got to get your thoughts on James McCann. I mean, that was one of the more scary scenes that you will ever see in a baseball game, but I mean, did you think there was any way he was staying in that baseball game? I mean, badass doesn't do justice to James McCann. Yeah, that that was that was one of the crazier moments. I think I've seen in a game on a long time for him to literally wear a ball to face. And because of how long it took him to, you know, come off the field just to get that additional look, I had a gut feeling that he was going to try to stay in. You know, it was scenario at hand. You know, we were playing a double head of that day. You know, if he's not in that game, the rest of the catch to, which you obviously get tired, do it out. So he stepped up big time for us in that scenario and, you know, he, you really showed us what he was made of. And I think that carried over to, you know, what the mentality is with the teams. Like we are a bunch of grinders were gritty and we're going to continue to ball out regardless of the situation. Cedric, will Anthony Santander hit 50 home runs? I think Tony can do it. He wants that man has been on an absolute hair. It's been fun to watch. It's always crazy when he gets going, especially after, you know, a slower start than he's probably used to for him to pick it up like he did. It's been nothing short of impressive. Cedric, before we let you go, are there, we know the event just passed with big league impact, but are there any other ways that people could get involved with big league impact? Uh, yeah, if I'm not mistaken, uh, you can go to, uh, you can find their website online. I'm not mistaken. It's daily impact. Or, uh, I have to verify that. I don't have the website. We'll double check it. We'll double check it. Yeah, but, uh, you know, there are plenty of ways to get involved. Like I said, you can donate the specific causes if you want to their, uh, their website kind of give you some guidelines as to how you can be a part of it. And they're also nationwide. So it's not like we're there specific to, uh, Baltimore. They're, they're all over the place. So they're helping people across the nation, across the world. So there's plenty of involvement, uh, opportunities there. You nailed it, big league impact.org. Cedric, we really appreciate it, man. Um, and we'll be watching tonight. Thanks so much. Hey, you guys have me. I have a great one. Thank you. You too. Yeah. I'm on the website now. I mean, there's different events and different markets going on campaigns. They've got fantasy football. Yes, you can be in fantasy football leagues with major league ball players. You can just make straight up donations to big league impact. Again, big league impact dot org. It was an awesome event. Just seeing, and there were probably gosh eight or nine players coming out. Um, and again, that's a really tricky time for a lot of guys. I mean, no, I, I thought it was a great turn. And the players, you know, interacting with the fans and also the city of refuge. Baltimore, I mean, an awesome, awesome charity that $27,000 went towards, uh, really, uh, great, great cause there, trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again with north sides. And bullion is your 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. This season, the W is going to new heights and that means the queens are ready to take it to court and the court. Welcome to Queens of the court and Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoops and I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long. You can count on us to bring you interviews with some of your favorite WNBA stars, analysis of all teams and hot takes you can only find in this courtroom. Listen to Queens of the court, a WNBA podcast presented by AT&T on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.