Daniel Vogelbach, New York Mets DH

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Download the Odyssey app today. Throughout the 60s and 70s. We continue. This is Zach Yelp's show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. World Series game number three coming up tonight in Philadelphia between the Astros and Phillies. And this postseason, T-Mobile is donating $5,000 for every home run to Team Rubicon, a disaster response organization that helps with hurricane recovery efforts in Florida and Puerto Rico. And you can make a difference, too.

T-Mobile will donate $5 on your behalf if you text RELIEF to 5-9-5-9-5-9, all up to $1 million. And now joining us from the New York Mets was a 2019 All-Star, and that is Daniel Vogelback. Daniel, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me, guys.

Well, I appreciate you coming on. Is this difficult to watch the World Series? Because you're on a Mets team. When you got traded, there was World Series expectations. Unfortunately, I'm a Mets fan, so I could say this as well.

We didn't get out of the wild card round. Yeah, I think that as a competitor at all, if you play sports, I don't really think it matters what team you're on. If you're watching the final series for a chance to win it and you're not in it, I think that everybody wants to be in that game. What do you play for and why you go to spring training every year? Do you have a rooting preference in this World Series between the Astros or Phillies? No, there's nobody. The only person, you know, connected to at all would be Shorber from the Cubs, and then I grew up playing with Efland from the Phillies.

So those are the only two that I really know. So obviously, I want them to play well, but I'm not really – I don't really have a hand in it. The Phillies are a heck of a story. They were 22-29, said goodbye to their manager Joe Girardi and promoter Rob Thompson.

Now they're three wins away from Hoiston, the trophy. Just wondering, and I know that you're focused on yourself in season, but you're an NL guy, did you kind of just think all throughout the season that it was kind of a little bit inevitable with Philadelphia that the way that they're built, they were just going to end up finding a way to play better? Yeah, I mean, if you look at that – if you look at their lineup and their team, I mean, they got superstars all throughout that team. You know, when they lost Harper in the middle of the year, and then, you know, when he was coming back, his presence was going to be pretty well known in that lineup when he came back. And, you know, you kind of use – last year, the Braves did the same thing. You know, the Braves got hot and had the firepower, and they just – they ended up winning the whole thing. So I think that just shows it's all about who gets hot at the right time.

Daniel Vogel back on the Zach Gelb show. You being associated with baseball clearly, just wrapping up a year with the Pirates and the Mets. You're well familiar with the Astros cheating scandal all those years back. Does that even matter anymore at this point when you watch the Astros in the World Series?

Yeah, you know, I don't think – you know, at least I don't. You know, I don't look into that like that because you look at those guys and, you know, they've continued to win, and, you know, they've continued to hit, and they've continued to, you know, just perform at such a high level that, you know, I think that they win the World Series, and they do what they're doing. I think that, at least myself, you know, I think that they just outright have earned that thing. When you look at Justin Verlander, out of the game the last two years because of injuries, has had an incredible season this year, probably going to win the Cy Young. I know he got beat up in Game 1 of the World Series, but whenever he gets back into the series to start, what type of Verlander do you expect most likely going to get the ball in Game 5? Yeah, I mean, anytime a guy with that type of stuff and the competitor that he is, and the guy, I would say that someone that's been successful as long as, you know, Verlander has, and I would use, like, Scherzer and DeGrom and these guys, like, when you've been that successful for that long, you know, it's not by coincidence.

You know, they've worked really hard, and they continue to change their craft and adapt to their craft. You know, they're years ago, and you would think that the Astros are feeling really confident when Verlander takes them out again. You're two to three months with the Mets. How do you kind of look back at the experience?

Loved it. I always say, you know, I always want to thank the Pirates for giving me the opportunity that they did. That group over there is special, the coaching staff special, and they got some good young talent. They gave me an opportunity to play every day, and when you sign a contract with a team that's rebuilding, you kind of figure that, you know, if you play well, you're going to be traded. And then getting traded to a team like the Mets with as many superstars and as much money as some of those guys are making, you know, you really don't know what to expect going into a clubhouse like that. And when you go in and, like I did, it was the easiest clubhouse to go into with the best teammates and the best group that I've been a part of.

They all, no matter if you had 10 years in the big leagues or you had a day in the big leagues, everybody treated everybody the same way, and everybody went to the field every day to win a game. And I think that that's why it was especially so hard losing because, you know, every year, no matter what happens, the next year the group will never be the exact same. So, you know, knowing that you're not going to have the same group and having as much fun as we had, that hurt, I think, worse than anything. You guys won 101 games. When you look at it just by that, you say it's a good season, but you know what happened in that series in Atlanta when you get swept and all you needed to do was win one game, just what happened? How do you kind of look back at that Brave series? Yeah, I mean, they just beat us.

I think that's all you can really say. We ran into some, I mean, really good arms. Those guys can really pitch. Their bullpen was throwing the ball extremely well. And, you know, they just seem to always, you know, get that timely hit that we just couldn't get. And I think that's what sums up baseball and that's what sums up, you know, big games.

You just need the ball to go your way, a ball to fall, or maybe a ball not to fall for them. And, you know, trust me, I always say nobody wanted those games more than those guys in the clubhouse. It wasn't from a lack of effort or it wasn't from a lack of preparation because we wanted them more than anything. I know you swept the series right afterwards, but mentally, and you talked about how positive the clubhouse was, even though it's the playoffs, you know, it's elimination. Was it tough to regroup just with a little bit of a negative feeling right before you guys went out to go play against the Padres? I don't think so because of, you know, the leaders that we had and it started with Buck.

I mean, at the end of the day, I think, you know, Mark Cannon said it best. You know, you don't go to spring training, you know, just to win the division. You know, you go to spring training to win a World Series. So I think that we still were trying to be positive in the sense of, you know, our goals and everything was still in front of us. I mean, obviously we made it harder on ourselves, but, you know, the goal of winning a World Series was still attainable. We didn't get eliminated from the playoffs by losing that series. And then we just ran into a Padres team that, you know, played really well. And, you know, they just beat us and we couldn't get over the hump. Wrapping up with Daniel Vogelback. Are you hoping the Mets pick up your option?

Like, how do you kind of approach that? Yeah, for sure. I would love to be back in New York. I enjoyed my time there. I think that the group there, like I said, is special. And, you know, I would like nothing more than the, you know, win a World Series in New York with that group. We know how important Florida is to you, obviously.

Tell me everything that you're doing with T-Mobile, Daniel Vogelback. Yeah, so, you know, obviously this hurricane, you know, you always have a soft heart for when a hurricane hits, but then when it really hits your hometown and a town that you've lived in your whole life, you know, really, really, it really hits home. Seeing people and seeing things that just are no longer here. You know, I always say, people say, you know, it's something got destroyed. You know, a lot of things here just didn't get destroyed. You know, they just got wiped out. They're just no longer here. People don't have homes.

People don't have jobs. So I'm teaming up with T-Mobile. And like you said, this postseason, T-Mobile is donating $5,000 for every home run to Team Rubicon, a disaster response organization that helps with hurricane recovery in Florida and Puerto Rico. And you can make a difference, too.

Because T-Mobile will donate $5 on your behalf if you text relief to 5-9-5-9-5-9, all up to a million dollars. And when I heard that, you know, just the fact that T-Mobile is doing that for a town that, you know, I see how effective it is, I'm truly appreciative on, you know, everything and all the donations that are coming. What was Daniel Vogelback like as a youngster growing up in Fort Myers? Just running around outside, and Mom wouldn't let me in until I was done playing with the neighbors, just because I just always wanted to be outside, just playing, fishing, hanging out with my brother and his friends. And I just enjoy, you know, being able to, being blessed to have a family that gave me the opportunity to kind of do those type of things and play outside my dad that worked and gave us all the accommodations that we wanted.

And, you know, I'm very thankful for the life that I got to live as a child. I know you're a big Florida football fan. Did you play football growing up? I played football, no, just as a freshman, just for fun. And I actually played basketball, basketball all the way to sophomore year of high school. And I never played year-round baseball. My dad didn't let me. I always played other sports just for fun and made me look forward to baseball season.

Wow. So how did you develop the timing then in baseball since you didn't play it year-round? I mean, I just played during, you know, season, you know, and I'm something that made me look forward to baseball season. And I could kind of flip a switch and then, you know, really focus on baseball when it was time to focus on baseball and didn't get burned out.

And I think that sometimes that's a lost cause nowadays. Everybody wants to play. If you're nine or 10 years old, they want to play year-round and play on five different teams. And, you know, it just wasn't my thing.

I just wanted to be a kid. And then when it was baseball season, play baseball. Two more quickies before we let Daniel Vogel back run.

I saw your interview with Barstool when you got to town here in New York City. Those Florida football games must be great to attend, especially when you're with all your buddies. What's your tailgate spread looking like? Yeah, haven't been great recently because we're four and four. That is true. Hey, you can always have a good tailgate though. It makes the game better.

Yeah. You know, we enjoyed just my buddy can cook a little bit. So usually we'll do something at the house normally outside. So my wife doesn't get mad at us because we can get a little loud during the games. But, you know, do anything from like ribs or chicken or we have time. He'll do a pork, butter brisket overnight.

Wow. And then we just hang out and watch the games. And I think our hearts into it probably more than it should be because we love Gator football.

Absolutely love that. So what's the deal with Diaz and DeGrom? Are we getting him back in New York? I think that's the question.

I don't know. I'll tell you what, that guy is special. He is so talented and, you know, you never know before you meet someone about the type of guy he is.

But I'll tell you what, he is about as humble and about as normal as human beings you can be for all the things that he's accomplished. So I hope for New York that, you know, they get him back and I'm anxious to see what happens. But wherever he goes, you know, that guy is special. So clearly you're talking about DeGrom.

As for Edwin Diaz, you play with him in Seattle. Does this surprise you that the year that he had how he was able to turn around? Because doing so in New York is not easy because that guy was getting killed left and right in New York. And the way he turned it around was one of the more impressive things I've seen. Yeah, it definitely didn't surprise me. That guy, I don't know how exactly he helped. I think he was 20 or 21 when I was with him in Seattle. And I mean, that guy, you would have never known.

He was closing games, big games, and about as dominant as he was with the match this year. And his stuff is unbelievable. And I feel like any time he's in a jam or any time, you know, things may go the wrong way.

At least every time I've been with him, there's no panic because you just feel like you know he's going to get out of it. Well, Daniel Vogelback, make sure everyone does text 5 9 5 9 5 9 to help hurricane relief efforts in Florida and Puerto Rico. Really do enjoy the conversation today and the time. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you guys for having me. This is the end of the free Odyssey app today. Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team, your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real time updates on everything you care about.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football, live and on demand wherever you are, whenever you want. And do we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today.