Guest host Jessica Kleinschmidt interviews ESPN MLB reporter Buster Olney. Jessica and Buster discuss a wide range of topics including the slow pace of the MLB offseason, Scott Boras taking some losses in negotiations, helping Buster Posey be more media friendly, and more.
NOTE: We recorded with Buster on Friday March 22, so in between recording and posting, some details about the Shohei Ohtani/Ippei Mizuhara gambling story have been updated.
Here’s the full breakdown:
- :43: Baseball coverage changing over the years
- 2:26: Relationship with players changing
- 3:55: Clubhouse access
- 6:00: Waiting around
- 7:42: Covering Chuck Knoblauch during the “yips”
- 9:30: Helping Buster Posey be more media friendly
- 12:57: Embracing players as people in terms of social media
- 14:16: Benefit to players having their wall back up?
- 15:06: Embracing social media at the start
- 16:04: Do the positives outweigh the negatives on social media?
- 18:01: Buster being able to separate from work in his personal life
- 21:06: This offseason compared to past years
- 23:52: Who is a “middle class” MLB player?
- 25:36: Players speaking up
- 26:35: Buster’s take on a salary cap in MLB
- 27:45: Top paying players involved in salary cap discussions?
- 28:52: Scott Boras conspiracy theory
- 31:26: TV concerns
- 32:52: Increase in opt-out contracts
- 34:54: Shohei Ohtani
- 38:23: Ippei Mizuhara gambling scandal
- 40:42: Personal relationship with an interpreter
- 42:47: How would this go if it didn’t involve Ohtani?
- 43:33: Not really unchartered territory
- 45:20: Shock factor of Ohtani news
- 46:42: Joey Votto
- 48:49: Reds not bringing Votto back
- 49:56: Votto’s potential post-playing future
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