Tom Glavine, Hall of Fame Pitcher

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For the fourth time. A dynamic search for NCAA March Madness right here in the Odyssey app to get started. As a pitcher, would you have wanted to be a part of it? Because I know Rob Manfred was saying we'd like to get more pitchers involved, especially with the United States. Yeah, I mean, I think that's something that I would pursue as well. You know, you look at the United States team's lineup offensively, and it's full of stars.

You look at their pitching, and it's a lot of guys you don't know. So, I would like to see something done about that. Now, I think every guy has their own reasons, right? I think there were times in my career that I probably would have been in, and I would have loved to do it. There might have been some other times during an offseason where I might have thought, eh, I'm not feeling real great, and I'm not sure that I'm going to be ready to start facing hitters that quickly.

So, I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, obviously how guys feel, but assuming guys feel good and feel like they can get ready for it, I think I'd like to see more guys try and do it. Some people say, Tom Glavin, the Hall of Famer, who joins us right now, they need to move the World Baseball Classic. Like, if they moved it to after the baseball season, I don't see how you would get more players to go.

So, where are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I don't know that there's a perfect time, right? I mean, I think the downside early in the year, obviously, is that guys maybe are not as ready as they would like to be, and there's always a concern for guys being ready that early to go out and start competing at such a high level. But I think that's a better concern than trying to get guys to play when the season is over, because either, you know, you're going to run into guys who have played in the postseason, who obviously are super tired. You're going to run into guys who late in the year have injuries and maybe shouldn't be playing.

So, I think you have issues on either end. I think you have a chance for guys to be healthier having it before spring training than you would having it after the season. The pitch clock, do you think it's good for baseball?

I think it is so far, yeah. Look, I mean, there are things about it that I think are going to have to be ironed out maybe a little bit. I mean, look, most of the games that I've watched have been a lot crisper than we're used to seeing. There's not a lot of downtime, there's not a lot of dead time, and I think that was an issue for baseball. I think it, you know, when you coupled the concerns of the three outcome game along with a lot of dead time, I think you were, you know, games were dragging and you were losing a lot of people because it just weren't interesting. I think at least now where there's not a lot of dead time in between pitches, it seems like there's more action, there seems like there's more going on, and I think that's more enticing for people to watch.

Now, I just, you know, I think we all will love the crispness of it. We're all going to hate it the minute our team loses a game on a pitch clock violation one way or the other, so let's hope that doesn't happen. Blake, here's the thing that I wonder, and I think it's great for Major League Baseball, but like through the first 130 games, I think it'll be really good when the games start to matter more down the stretch or in October baseball with the playoffs, I just wonder how strict they're going to be with the pitch clock.

Well, I agree, right? It's like, and that's no different than most sports, right? You see most sports, you know, me being a huge hockey fan, you know, you see a lot of ticky tack penalties called during the regular season that you know darn right well are not going to get called in the postseason.

So that's one of those things that I think you see in every sport. Now, it would be interesting to see how Major League Baseball deals with that because I agree with you, you're right. They might be a little bit more lenient, how they're going to be lenient about it, you know, remains to be seen, but you know, to your point, particularly in the postseason, you know, I don't think it's a big deal for the most part to get on the mound and throw a pitch within 15 seconds when there's nobody on base, right? I would argue like, what the hell are you doing in between pitches that you can't do that?

Now, with a guy on base, that's a little different. And I think it's going to be interesting to watch particularly younger pitchers at this part of the season, because every pitcher who's been and gotten to the big leagues, we've all been told the same thing at one point or another early in our career. Look, when guys start getting on base, and you know, things start getting hairy out there, you got to find a way to slow the game down. Well, it's hard to slow the game down in your mind when you got a pitch clock bearing down on you. So that's going to be interesting to keep an eye on here early in the season with guys. And I think that really becomes interesting in the postseason, because you really do have to slow the game down and there's so much on the line, it's going to be hard for guys to do that at times.

And you would know better than me, Tom Glavin, but I also wonder how much of an advantage it actually does become for a pitcher, because you don't have to think as much. Well, I mean, that's part of it. I mean, you know, look, I think when people would ever ask me about games, a game that I was on, what were you thinking out there? I'd always say, truth be told, I wasn't thinking all that much.

And sometimes you'd get somebody to look at you like, what? And my point is, when you're when you're having a game where you're on a roll and things are, you know, you're in the zone, so to speak, you don't think a whole lot. It's really give me the ball. What pitch do I want to throw? Where do I want to throw it? Let's go.

Here we go. You know, the games where you're not quite on and you're kind of scuffling to find something, you think a lot more. You're trying to think about your mechanics a little bit. You're trying to find feel. So you're thinking about, well, what did that pitch feel like? You know, you're thinking a little bit more along the lines of, you know what, normally this might be a really good pitch right here, but I don't have feel for that pitch tonight.

So I might have to go to something else. So all that stuff starts coming into your brain. Uh, but may, you know, it might help some guys. It might help, you know, that, that, that elimination of dead time might help some guys for sure. Get more in the mode of give me ball. Let me make a pitch and get away from thinking about mechanics and some of those other things that can get most of us in trouble.

Do you also like the, uh, the shift banning the shift Tom Glavin? I don't know how I feel about that. Right. Again, it's another one of those things. It's like, well, you know, if, if you stand in the batter's box as a hitter and there's nobody in the left side of the field, we'll just hit the ball over there.

Right. And I know I've had heard guys say, well, it's not that easy. And I know it's not that easy. I've heard guys say, well, it's just so much harder to hit in today's game. That part, I'm not so sure I buy into, but, um, you know, it is what it is. I, you know, I think for me personally, I might've been a little bit more of a fan of a hybrid situation kind of maybe easing into it. And by that, I mean, okay, if you want to shift, then you, you have to shift the same way, the whole at bat, you can't change your shift once there's two strikes, or if you're going to shift and you want to load up one side of the infield, everybody's got to be on the dirt.

You can't have somebody roping. I might've been a little bit more of a fan of some of that hybrid adjustment rather than just the all out ban. But again, I think, you know, the dilemma baseball had, you're trying to create more offense.

You're trying to create more strategy. And I think the numbers in spring training bore that out a little bit, you know, runs were up, hits were up, games were faster. That's a perfect scenario for baseball. Let's just hope that continues in the regular season. We saw the Padres go in a little bit of a run last year, Tom Glavin get to the NLCS and then they lose to the Phillies. We all know, and you know, it's a crapshoot once you get into the post season, but how loaded that team is that they got even better this off season, adding Xander Bogarts and eventually he'll get Fernando Tatis Jr. back. You've been on those teams that have been the team to beat. How do you think they'll handle those expectations this year?

Well, I mean, that's always interesting to see, right? I know. I think when I look back in my career, you know, when we won in 91, it probably was easier than 92 and every year after that, right? Because now you're you're the mark team. You're the team with expectations and everybody's gunning for you. It's a little bit harder to play under the guise of expectations than it is kind of be in the dark horse. Certainly San Diego yet, to your point, is one of those teams that a lot of people are looking at and saying, man, you know, these guys aren't, you know, number one in the power ranking, so to speak.

They're they're certainly in the top five. So, you know, expectations can be a difficult thing for guys to manage, whether it's individually or as a team. No question that team has has a ton of talent. Again, I always you know, I always I always look at the thing from a pitching standpoint.

And that's certainly not a lineup that you're going to look forward to pitching against when it's your day to go out there and throw the rubber. But, you know, having said that, they they have to prove that they can do it right. Because I think they're one of those teams over the over the last couple of years anyway, that has been that team that a lot of people are looking at. And they just haven't been able to get over the hump, whether it's been because they haven't been able to put it together or guys have gotten hurt or, you know, that thesis suspension. There's been a number of things that seem to have derailed them. And I think they have to prove not only to everybody outside their organization, but I think also to themselves that, you know, yeah, we are a good team and we can live up to the billing.

Now let's go out there and do it. Wrapping up with the Hall of Famer Tom Glavin here with us at the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I say this as a Met fan, but I still think the Braves are the team to beat in the NL East, even with the great run that the Phillies went on.

Eventually they'll get Harper back. Do you still view the Braves as the team to beat in the NL East? You know, I'm always kind of error on the side of the reigning champions or the team to beat until somebody takes them out. You know, the Braves are division winners again, so I think that lands them in that spot. Now, having said that, obviously everybody in the division got better. Philly got better, the Mets got better. Unfortunately for the Mets, you know, they have the injury that they're going to have to figure out. But, you know, the National League East is going to be a tough division again. And, you know, certainly it will come down to whatever team handles their business in that division the best.

But, you know, I think I would pick the Braves, but I would certainly not be surprised to see either the Mets or the Phillies end up winning the division when the year is over. What happened with Vaughn Grissom, by the way? I thought he was going to make the big league club right out of camp. Is it just that they want him to improve on his defense? I think so.

I mean, I think that's one of those guys. And there will be other guys this year that you'll watch and will be intriguing. I think given the ability to play under the shift, I think maybe, I don't want to say maybe, I think for sure it hid some of his lack of range, so to speak. Now, with no shift, I think guys who don't have as much range get exposed a little bit. And I think you're going to see that with a number of guys in baseball this year that, you know, you're going to be saying to yourself, well, huh, how come he's not getting to that ball anymore? Or, you know, he got to that ball last year or, you know, that kind of thing. So, I think for a lot of guys, the shift is going to show a lot about their range and their mobility. And I think Vaughn was one of those guys that it became apparent that he was one of those guys and he was going to have to work on that aspect of his defense.

I know that it's a marathon, not a sprint. And these things happen through a course of a season. Today, Justin Verlander placed on the IL. You also saw Max Reed start to lead the game with the hammy.

Probably heading on IL as well. Just when that happens right out of the gate, that's just got to be so deflating because you have this new life, this new hope, right? The season's here and it's just a miserable way to start off the year. Yeah, it is, but I think that that's where organizations who do their due diligence and, you know, think about these things, you know, that's where the depth of the organization comes into play, right? And particularly when it comes to pitching. I mean, most organizations will tell you today, and they probably said it the same in my day too, you can never have enough pitching. And I think that's more true today than it was in my day because, you know, so many guys go on and off the injured list. You have a bunch of transactions in your pitching staff every year, so that's where depth comes into play. But I think most teams will tell you, hey, if we're going to have one of our guys go down, we'd rather have them go down early because we have a chance to recover.

When they go down late, it's hard to recover from that. I think this is the last year for Otani with the Angels. A lot of people say maybe it's the Dodgers, maybe it's the Mets.

Where do you think Otani's playing next year? Yeah, I mean, I certainly think one of those two teams are in the mix and the Yankees as well, right? I know if you're Otani and you're going to become a free agent or you're going to get into that situation, those are three of the teams you definitely want in the game, so to speak. So I'm sure those three teams will be there. And there's always a surprise contender somewhere along the line. Teams have gotten, you know, some of the smaller revenue teams have gotten more and more creative. We're trying to get guys in those situations, so there'll be more teams in the mix.

But like I said, I'm with you. I would probably start with those three teams right off the bat. It's going to be fascinating, though, because we know we all want to see the Angels get into the playoffs.

You could have Trout and Otani, but that team doesn't have, in my opinion, World Series expectations. If they get that sense that he's not going to re-sign, and let's say there may be in it for a wildcard spot, how they will handle that towards the deadline. Well, I mean, your hands are almost forced, right? Dan, if you do, Dan, if you don't. Yeah, and if you certainly get to a point where you think, you know what, I'm not so sure we can sign this guy, you got to try to get something for him.

You know, you don't want to just see him walk away. So I know you're from Massachusetts, and obviously we're a great hockey player. Are you all in on the Bruins? Is that your team?

There you are, yeah. What a year. What a year. I mean, when the year started, I was hoping they were just going to stay above water with, you know, Marshawn Hurt and McAvoy Hurt. And, you know, somehow they got off to a great start, and it just hasn't stopped. You know, like we were talking about with these baseball teams, right? They've got a kind of depth, and it's really played a role for them this year. But, yeah, they've been some kind of fun to watch. Well, if my Rangers meet the Bruins in the Easter Conference Final, Tommy, they have to go to a game. Yeah, we'll have to do that. We'll have to have a little friendly little wager on that one.

Would you omit this? There's nothing like a Stanley Cup playoff environment. Do you think it's better than a baseball environment? Look, I love baseball. I love going to baseball games. But if I had to spend money to go watch one sport live, it's probably going to be a hockey game. If it's a Stanley Cup playoff hockey game, now you're really talking.

There's nothing like it. Well, Tom, always great to catch up with you. Appreciate the time. Thank you. All right, have a good night.