Awful Announcing Podcast: Buster Olney on MLB offseason, Scott Boras, Shohei Ohtani, and more

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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