Brett, how are you, man? What's happening? How you doing? I'm hanging in there. I got no complaints in the world. Today is like Christmas, huh?
We got we got Major League Baseball games all day. Here we are. You excited for the start of the season? Yeah, I am. I am. You know, we had a long off season.
I had to kind of start sharpening it up, find out what's going on. So yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready for today. For me as a player, I love the opening day just because of the festivities and it kind of kind of launches like, all right, it's go time. But it was really getting past the first day and all the pageantry and and, you know, coming in from right field, lining up on the line at the smoke. And I always felt like you just survived day one. Try not to embarrass yourself.
Try to get a win. I think day two is really what a season is. Well, Brett, before we get into the pageantry of the Dodgers, who are currently in action right now on their way to defending their championship. Am I wrong? Spring training, does it not get boring after about a month, especially a batter? Aren't you kind of like, this is a waste of my time.
I'm good. Well, I'll tell you, when you're young and hungry, you love it and you want to be out there and you just want to be playing games as you get into your career and you establish yourself. It's a way to get ready for the season. And yes, some years you're in spring training and it's long. Pitchers usually need a little longer than us to get their arms to where they want them to be for opening day. But a lot of times as a hitter, after about three weeks, I was ready to go. And it seems like that last 10 days of spring just drag, you know, that clock just freezes.
It seems like you're never going to get there. So, yeah, it does drag on. It's a little longer. But you think about it, if you ask position players, they say we shorten spring training by two weeks.
But I think Florida and Arizona and their economies, what they've planned over years and years would like that. So it's part of the deal. It's always been that way.
It's always been a six-week thing. So you just kind of pace yourself. The guys today, with all the data and all what exactly you need, the guys on the field really run it well and really pace the players to get them to right where they need to be.
There's a lot of communication. So for me, if it was that last two or three games before we break camp, man, I want to be in that zone. Not necessarily, you know, we always want to get hits.
We always want to be feeling great. But as long as I was on time, and I could tell I was on time by the bat, I might fly out that at bat, but I could come back and I have that smile on my face like, all right, I'm there. My time is there. Let's start the season right now. You know, sometimes it was there early in camp for me the first week.
And sometimes as I got a little bit older, it seemed like it didn't quite click. It felt like that's the very end of camp. But yeah, we're through all that now and ready to rock and roll.
So day one just about the books. I think Dodgers are playing and then I think the nightcap, you got the Mariners playing the A's and then we'll turn to my day, day two. Absolutely. We got Brett Boone joining us here on the chair, our sport re-show Coast to Coast. Yeah, Detroit is currently up on the Dodgers right now two to one to start the game, to start the festivities off. The Dodgers obviously raising their World Series banner from last year. Should we have just raised another banner for this year as well? How are you feeling about the Dodgers, all this new talent that they brought in that they didn't need necessarily?
Well, I mean, it's kind of putting it in everybody's face a little bit. What they, not only the year they had a year ago, they ended up winning a World Series, but they just added to it. I mean, this is, I'm usually very, at this time of the year, I kind of look, I'm very open-minded. You always see a lot of surprise teams come out of nowhere and teams that really, you know, shine that you didn't expect to shine. Yeah, the main players at the beginning of this season, the main teams, you can have an idea who's going to be good and who's not going to be very good, but there's always those surprises. This year, I look at some really good teams. You know, I look at that NLE and it's going to be a battle over there with the Atlanta Braves and the Mets have revamped and the Phillies who have been a great team on the cusp for the last few years. I look at those battles and there's a lot of good teams around baseball, but I look at that Dodgers ball club, I look at the talent level on paper. I don't know if in my time on this planet, I've ever seen a more talented roster than the 26 guys that the Dodgers have on their roster this year.
And in the day and time, in 2025, where being healthy is a premium, it seems like ice dropped like flies these days. Everybody gets hurt all the time. So having that depth on a roster is really important. That's the problem for the rest of Major League Baseball is the depth. If they get hurt, they might be bringing a guy up from AAA. This Dodger rotation, it's ridiculous how talented they are, the starting five.
And if they're not, you know, if somebody goes down, they can replace them with an All-Star and that's not even getting to the offensive side of the ball. You know, you add a Kirby Yates who was one of the best relievers in all of baseball last year. You add him to that bullpen of Trenton and it just goes on and on who they add. And that offense with Lukey Betts, Freeman and Otani, and now Otani's going to come back and pitch. They got the phenom Sasaki from Japan, who's going to, I think, pitch in the three or the four holes, go with Yamamoto, and you bring in a Blake Snell, who is a Cy Young candidate every year.
And that's not even mentioning Glass now. And who starts on the IEL, you got May and then Clayton Kershaw signed back, one of the greatest left-handers in the history of the game. He's getting a little bit older now.
He's 37 years old. But if all these guys are healthy, anytime you can say Clayton Kershaw is our seventh or eighth starter, you're pretty talented. So yeah, it's going to be tough. I don't see anybody being able to beat this team. They're just too good.
They're too deep. Three-time All-Star Mariners legend Brett Boone here with us on the JR Sport Reshow, the Infinity Sports Network. You talk about injuries, and that's my thought process. I don't think anything can stop the Dodgers but injuries, but then they're so deep. There's some other teams, specifically the Braves. They've had to deal with so many injuries. You go further north to New York in the Bronx, Giancarlo Stanton.
Is this always something hurt? You mentioned that there's so many baseball players, they drop like flies. Why do you think that it feels like there are more durability issues today now versus when you or your dad or your family played? It's just different. It's different, and I think it's the culture. It's the way these players are brought up. It's the way they're monitored. It's the way they're tracked. I mean, you go into a training room right now and complain of a sore shoulder. It's a test right now, and it's, oh, and we've got data to back this up that you need to go in the IL for 10 days.
In my day, it was kind of like, especially when you're an established guy that had some clout. I could go into the trainer room and say, listen, my hamstring is killing. Give me a shot of this or give me one of those. I'm playing. And you had that before with your trainer, and if you were a veteran guy that had earned his stripes, you had that kind of the trainer would trust you, kind of wink and a smile like, are you sure?
Yes, I'm good. And you develop that rapport over time where he trusts the fact that you going out there is going to be better than the alternative, and you will tell him when it's bad beyond bad. That's not the way it is anymore. You come in with an injury, and it's just shut you down.
We've got to get you back to 100 percent, and that's just been the way it is right now. I understand with the economics of the game changing over the years, and obviously the game is thriving as far as salaries and how much money these guys are making. Maybe it comes from an owner's perspective. He wants data. He wants his investment to be 100 percent when they take the field. He doesn't want to risk long-term injury to these guys that he's got.
Maybe in some cases, 100, 200, 300 million dollar investment. So I can see that. I can see that.
I can see that logic coming from the owners. But as a player, as a guy, I was pretty lucky. I stayed pretty injury-free my entire career. I think I went on the DL twice in my career. Man, I just see a guy take one off, get hit by a pitch, and automatically in my mind, I go, well, he'll be out for 10 days.
We're up some dirt on it. No, we're playing not only this game, but we're never going to miss the beat. So I miss those times of the guys just kind of fighting through. You've got to know the difference between being hurt and being injured. There is a difference. When you're hurt, it's not good for anybody.
You're not doing anybody any good. But if you've got a little bit of an injury, a lot of times a veterans player especially kind of has the wherewithal to know, hey, I'm better than the alternative, and I can get through this. But today's, it seems like, man, if we see anything, we're going to shut you down. From the era I came from, I hate to see that because I want to see the big boys out there all the time. Today, they got some quick hooks out there. They get them off the field.
They certainly do. Well, Brett, I want to ask you about your brother Aaron. We saw him go to the World Series, leading the Yankees there last year, losing to these stacked Dodgers, and we saw a big part of that team, Juan Soto. You talk about money. This guy left the New York Yankees for the Mets for $765 million, something that you would have never imagined. There's a lot that's been said about the Yankees culture and how he was treated. Now the Yankees allow beards. And what do you think about that power structure between the Yankees and the Mets now with Cohen in charge? Well, I think Cohen's kind of, you know, Cohen, I've got to give Cohen credit. I mean, he came onto the scene and said, this is my plan.
This is what I'm going to do. And he's doing it. He doesn't care about how much a player costs. I think everybody was surprised when Soto got the number he got. We can kind of explain it and kind of accept it when Otani got it because he's essentially two players. And you get that two MVP players, MVP type, Cy Young type candidate as a pitcher. And obviously with the MVPs, he's already won as a hitter. So you expect that.
I don't think, you know, I was expecting this off. He's, oh, he's probably going to break trout's record, you know, four in a million. All of a sudden you broke, you went, you surpassed Otani. It just shows you that Cohen, Hey, he wanted his guy. He went out, he got him. Soto played it perfect. I'm sure he had an unbelievable year for the Yankees. A big part of that that got to the world series.
And then he basically said, I love New York. I love playing for the Yankees. I love the fans, but I've earned this right as a free agent to sit down with 30 teams and decide what's best for me and my family.
Ended up working out great for him, you know, and I think in the long run for teams that have to operate on a budget, I think it was better for the game. Now, if you'd asked me about the Yankees six weeks ago, they were in great shape, but all of a sudden, Cole goes down. We don't know what's going to happen with Giancarlo Stanton, who was a huge part of that post-season run. And really you need him to be a presence in that lineup. But Mayhew got hurt. Matt thick in their bullpen. Schmidt goes down. He's going to miss some time. He'll come back mid April.
Hamilton out of the bullpen. And the rookie of the year, a year ago, which was a heel, a big part of that rotation there down. I, you know, you hear six weeks ago, I'm sure you saw the sound bite of Marcus Stroman saying, I'm a starter. I'm a starter.
I'm a starter. At the time he was the sixth starter. Now he's the third starter.
So that's not really good for the Yankees that they've lost three of their guys. That being said, you've added a gold Schmidt. It was an MVP three or four years ago. He's 37, but I think he's a good addition and a good guy to be in that clubhouse. You get a Cody Bellinger. Hopefully you're getting a Cody Bellinger of his MVP. You're his comeback player of the year, a year, and not that Cody Bellinger that kind of wallowed in LA his last few years. And yet he added a max free from the Atlanta Braves, who's a huge boost to that.
That started rotation. I think we're done went out today. He was, he started open today. He did a great job. Max free goes tomorrow.
That's pretty darn good right there. And you got Devin Williams now closing game. Almost went over to the vet, started for the Mets today. Now you're going to have Williams finishing games with Weaver kind of going into that eighth inning spot. So bullpen wise, you got a wise guy who's going to be coming back. Bullpen wise, they're going to be good, but early on in the season, you're going to have to look for some real contributions from the jazz chisms of the world, from the Cody Bellingers of the world, from the goldsmiths, they're really going to have to pick up the slack for the lack of Giancarlo Stanton in the middle of that lineup. Now they're capable of doing it, but time will tell if they really step in and do that. I think until these guys get back, you get the heel back and you get that bullpen back. I think you kind of just got to play good baseball, not let yourself get out of it and then get healthy. And who knows what you add on your way to the playoffs as far as another arm for that starting rotation, but they should be pretty solid.
I think it's going to be a tough division. I think the Orioles didn't get any better. They're really good team, won 91 games a year ago, but you lost Corbin Burns, the horse on that staff.
So I don't see how you're better. Toronto's a little better, but they've been trying with that group of players for a long time. They keep that the team I'm looking in the A.L. East, they're going to have to get them looking in the A.L. East that really very quietly got a lot better was the Boston Red Sox. They got crochet at Chicago White Sox. You bring in a Walker Bueller for the Dodgers.
And if he's a Walker Bueller of three years ago, he's a horse. He had a really good stretch in the postseason last year. And you bring in Bregman, who I think with his skill set, any other park, any other team that Bregman would have signed with, I'd say you got a nice player, but in Senway Park with his offensive skill set, I think Bregman has the potential in Senway Park to be an MVP. So I think that's a huge get for them.
Crochet and Bueller at the top of that rotation. You got a G Alito coming back. He's on the I.L. now, but they're setting up to be a really good team. Chapman's there at the end. Liam Hendricks, who starts on the I.L., but he's had some great years as a closer. It's going to be interesting to watch.
I think the A.L. East is going to be a real fun division. And I think if you're going to see the Orioles, Boston and the Yankees battling all this. Well, let me ask you this.
I could not have you here, Brett. This is my final question to you without asking you about those Mariners. We saw Cal Riley just get that big old contract. We see the pitching depth that the Mariners have. But there's certainly been a lot of conversations about whether or not the organization has been spending to actually be competitive, knowing the pitching that they have. What do you expect from the Mariners? And do they need to kind of shell out a little bit more to get over the hump? Absolutely.
I mean, for me, you know, that's kind of my place. You know, I'm kind of known as a Seattle Mariner and I hate to see them not go to the postseason year after year. I look at this pitching staff with with Gilbert and Miller and Kirby and Castillo and Wu with with take the Dodgers out of the equation. Seattle Mariners have the best starting rotation in all of baseball. They had the best starting rotation statistically in the American League last year and didn't make it to the postseason. If you just told me they'd pitch better than anybody else, you're automatically going to the postseason.
But they didn't. It's probably one of the worst offenses. Julio Rodriguez had a down year. I expect him to be better. Well, he's become a really good player and he's going to hit 30 plus home runs. But it's what he does behind the plate. He's a rock. Catch throw is really good.
And really, he just has a way about him. He's kind of that that that rock that clubhouse Crawford's got to have a better year. The Rose Arena has had a lot of success, a lot of posties. That's what they had a down year last year. To be interesting to see how Robles, the kid that came over from Washington, he had a really good tenure with the Mariners. He looked really promising.
We're going to see if that's for real when we do it for 160 games. The bullpen's really good. He got a brash that they missed all last year. He complements Munoz at the end of that bullpen.
He's going to be back in about two weeks. That's huge for them. But you're right. They didn't make, they're no better on offense than they were a year ago. And if I'm not mistaken, they were at least 13th, 14th, or 15th in the league. I was very disappointed they didn't go out and make a splash. It puts a lot on Julio's shoulders. I think it's going to be a similar year to a year ago. But if they pitch in the top five and their bullpen's in the top five like they were a year ago, I see them making the postseason. But yeah, I'm disappointed that they didn't really go out and add and take advantage of a once in a generational type starting rotation. Really add and poke that offense and go for it. Try to really win a World Series. But I can't control it.
I'm not writing the check. So you're going to have to go with what they got right now. But that's going to be a battle too. You got Houston's had a death grip on that division for a long time. And Texas is back.
I know that Texas, they were in 23 when they won the World Series. Offensively, that team healthy is as good as anybody. And always the big question is Jason DeGrom going to be able to stay healthy. If he can stay healthy, he's the best pitcher in baseball. But he hasn't been able to do that consistently over the last five years. Yeah, that man is a beast.
Point nothing ERA when he's actually healthy enough to be out there. Hey, Brett, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you unless you pick up the bat and help out the Mariners? Check out the Brett Boone Podcast and what they tell me always to say is, hey, make sure you like it, subscribe. You can find it anywhere you download podcasts. I think we've got our own YouTube channel. They just started putting them out there. We put them out a couple times a week and then Twitter. I don't know.
It's Brett Boone 29. I think Instagram. I'm on all of them. I'm learning. I'm learning my way. My kids are helping me with the social media side of things. But yeah, podcast is what's most important to me. Check that out. I think you'll like it. A lot of great guests and a lot of good baseball intel. And thanks for having me on today.
