Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is brought
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi,
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Progressive Field
in downtown Cleveland, where the Guardians are in the midst of a new home
stand. They're taking on the Angels this weekend, and then the Tigers come
in the first of next week as they get back in the division against the
surprising Detroit Tigers for the first time this season. Coming up a little bit
later on in our show today, we'll have another edition of at the Ballpark
with Bobby d Ruben Amaro will be his guest. This week. We'll also
be joined by Guardians RELAEF pitchers Nick Sandlin and Scott Barlow, and we'll talk
some pitching in the organization on the minor league side with Minor League pitching coordinator
Caleb Longshore. But first, our weekend review and for the Guardians. It
began on Tuesday, after and off day on Monday in Houston, a while
back and forth game against the Astros that went ten innings. The Guardians fell
behind eight to three, but came all the way back and actually took a
lead late in that game, only to see Houston win it on a Victor
Carrottini walk off home run in the bottom half of the tenth inning by that
ten to nine final, but Cleveland returned the favor and extra innings the following
night down in Houston. Good pitching in this one, as Justin Verlander was
matched up against the Guardians Tristan McKenzie, and both pitchers were sharp early.
McKenzie's ready. Here it comes another curve hit on the ground, a short
till second for one by Rochio him in his relay double play and inning ending
double play three in the books, Cleveland Houston scoreless. The Guardians broke the
scoreless tie as they got on the board in the fifth, starting with Will
Brennan. Brennan trying to get it rolling againy going through a tough patch here.
The next pitch to him is swung on and skied to deep right center.
This one has a chance way back there. Leaping at the wall is
Tucker, but it is into the bullpen a home run for Brennan, and
the Guardians snapped the scoreless tie on Brennan's home run. It is one nothing
Cleveland. Later on in the inning, with a man on and two outs,
Steven Kwan came through. Here's the pitch, swung on line drive right
field, fair ball, down the line, into the corner. It goes
motoring. The third is Rochio. They're gonna send him. Here comes the
relay throw. He slides the tag safe at home plate. Oh, it
was close. Put Rochio over the head first slide, got that front hand
in there, and the Guardians take a two nothing lead. But the Astros
responded with a run in the sixth another in the seventh that tied the game
at two, and for the fourth consecutive game, the Guardians headed to extra
innings. Now the two old swung on line drive toward bright Flooria takes a
chest tide catch. We've got extra innings for the fourth consecutive game. Tied
at two. After nine, Gabrielarius was the runner starting at second base.
Brian Rochio let it off with a walk and that brought Stephen Kwan to the
plate again. In an RBI situation, Cleveland trying to get to twenty and
ten. Now the two to one delivery swung on ripped to laugh. Fair
ball inside the line, It'll scoot into the corner. Arius to score on
his way to third. Rocchio in sliding, and a stand up double for
Stephen Kwan. He's got a three hit night as he shot it down that
left field line. He's now single tripled in double to night three to two
Cleveland, and just as importantly, Runners still had second and third with nobody
out, and then it was up to Emmanuel Classe in the bottom half of
the tenth inning to preserve that one run lead, tying run at second,
one down in the tenth Houston wanted last night. With two outs in the
tenth, the pitch a swing and a little flare left center on the round,
Kwan diving cans he made it. Cartini's around third, coming home,
He'll be doubled up. Ball game. The Guardians get out of Houston tonight
with an ext running win. As Caratini thought the ball was dropping, he
was crossing home plate. Guardians were stepping on second base to end it.
Wow, what a road trip. Final to night in ten Cleveland three and
Houston two. What a ballgame it was on Wednesday night down in Houston,
and again the fourth consecutive extra inning game that hadn't happened for a Cleveland baseball
club since they were the Naps back in nineteen ten. Thursday Series in road
trip finale in Houston in eight to two victory for the Astros, and then
the Guardians returned home to open up a new home stand on Friday night,
only to see the Angels toss a shutout six nothing the final score of the
Angels over the Guardians on Friday. Well, Tristan McKenzie had a tremendous outing
for Cleveland on Wednesday I Houston with seven strong innings, allowing just two runs.
And we had a chance to catch up with him the following day and
he talked about getting more confident with each start and some of the keys to
his progression since the beginning of the season. I mean, I think it's
all been about trying to stay consistent of my routines in between starts and then
just taking the positive from meat start and trying to build off of them.
And I think step by step it's been getting better and better. And when
you look at at this game, patience can be really tough. How difficult
was it as you went through those ups and downs in spring training? And
then your early starts of the season. Yeah, I mean it's I mean,
it's the name of the game. It's a it's a game of failure,
but being able to take the fails and stride and just learn from them
and be able to understand that there's always tomorrow and that you can come out
here and put your best foot forward. Because of the year last year,
with some of the issues you were going through, is it more difficult to
kind of believe in that process that you'd be okay eventually. I mean,
I think it just there's a certain level of competition and eagerness that you have
when you're out there that I feel like I needed to get back to.
I think missing last year was tough, but I think I've been trying to
compete every outing. But I think it's just gradually gotten closer to what I
feel is more normal for me. And I think the guys have seen it
too. And it sounded like your teammates noticed it last night. And is
that something you feel sometimes when as a game's developing, especially a close one
like you had on Wednesday night. I mean, I think I'm always trying
to do that for my teammates at least give some energy on the mound so
that they know I'm out there competing, and I know that they're always doing
their best out there, so I think they can always expect that from me
too. Tristan McKenzie joining us after seven strong against Houston on Wednesday night and
earlier in the day today, CC sabbatia is announced they'll be going into the
Guardians Hall of Fame. You have a good relationship with him. Explain that
and what it means to you to know that in August he'll be having a
special day at the Black Mark. Yeah. I mean, I know CC
not only is the baseball player that I grew up watching him as, but
as a person. I've been able to hang out with him a couple of
times, and I just know he's a great mentor to me, being able
to talk to him and bounce ideas off of him, and even just ask
him about the game of baseball, on the trials and tribulations that he went
through as a competitor, injuries as well as having success in the game.
I mean, I don't think anybody deserves it more than him. When you
look at at some of the things he can help you with. Anything specific
that that you guys get into that you can share. I mean, I've
asked him tons of questions. One, what does it feel like to winnasi
young? What does it feel like to win a World Series? As well
as like some of the I guess the darker side of our sport is more
just like how do you deal with injuries? How do you deal with going
out there and competing and not having your best stuff or getting traded or being
in different organizations. I think he has a wealth of knowledge that I'm able
to just pick his brain about. So I love hearing any information you can
give me. And this organization has had some great pitchers and you've had seasons
where you certainly belong in those conversations too. And does that kind of connect
itself when you talk about the cc Sabathias of the world, Yeah, one
hundred percent. I think being able to even be in the same room or
have conversations with those guys always makes me want to strive for more, and
it always see, it always allows me to try and pick their brain to
see if I can get an edge of my competition. Hey, this team
is off to a great start. You've been with good teams here before.
What is it about this one that's allowing it to win games like Wednesday night
extra inning games and just in general play really good baseball. I mean,
I don't think I don't think Wednesday's any different from the previous three extra inning
games that we played this year. I think just being able to go out
there from pitch one to the final pitch and know that we're out there grinding,
know that we're out there trying to win the baseball game, but not
just with one player, just with one or two players, it's a team
effort is huge for our morale. It's fun to watch too, and maybe
not for you guys been living through it, pitched the pitch, but it
sure has been entertaining. And Team Mac thanks left for coming back, no
problem, Rosie, thank you. That's Tristan McKenzie again. Seven strong innings
on Wednesday and no decision against the Astros, a game that the Guardians won,
but McKenzie was terrific and that bodes well if he can continue on this
latest path of success for the Guardians in their starting rotation. Well, pitching
development has been such a key for this organization for a long long time.
And we'll talk to one of those who is a key in the pitching development
department. He's the pitching coordinator in the minor league system. Caleb Longshore,
He's our guest when we continue. After this timeout, low Perfido has singled
and struck out. The rookie leftfielder takes a swing and comes up empty.
Try to hold up chase the curveball six stray outs for McKenzie Houston. I
said, what an effort by Tristan McKenzie Tonight two two ballgame seven in the
books at Progressive. We know money can't buy you happiness, but money did
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Progress a casualty Insurancempany affiliates another insurance not available on states now. The O
two swig and a miss blow them away with the heat, and Timhern continues
to dominate with two more strikeouts here in the sixth two strikes quickly on Torres
in a four to four game. In the eighth, here's the next offering,
swing and an ass got him with a slider. Goodness, what a
job again by Hunter Gaddis the next pitch a swing and a mess. He
got it again. Kate Smith in a set of brawl as a bridgemand a
clause today and passes this test with flying colors, striking out a pair nothing
into the count four to one. Cleveland face is empty. Two down in
the night Claws, let's hit rip and a bray. You a swing and
a mess. Bogging Clause pumps that fist in the gloves, strikes out the
side and the Guardians with another dominant pitching performance tonight. Welcome back to Guardian's
Weekly Jim Rosenhause back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. Well,
it's called the Pitching Factory by many. That is Cleveland's development system for pitchers,
and it starts in the minor leagues. One of two pitching coordinators at
the minor league level is Caleb Longshore, and we had a chance to visit
with him in Atlanta last weekend as he had an opportunity to take in Big
League Baseball and be a part of the staff for the weekend in Atlanta,
and he talked about how exciting it is right now to be a part of
a group that continues to develop pitchers into impact major leaguers at a high rate.
It's a really unique situation for us, you know, the amount of
homegrown talent that we end up you know, having in the major leagues,
whether it's in the bullpen or starting rotation. I think it's one super fulfilling
for our group, but a testament to the people that we have working in
the organization and the job there our coaches do with the mind early level.
And i'd relate a story to you in spring training, a lot of the
younger pitchers who are in camp for the first time and then back in the
minor leagues, they pointed to you having a direct impact on them, and
as a coordinator, how do you make that happen where you can have some
impact on that? Yeah, super humbling to hear that. I think,
first of all, like we have really really good players and good humans that
you know, want to be coach and partnering with our coaches and partnering with
the player like this is their career and so at the foremost we're working for
them. And I think that engagement and them understanding that, you know,
as a group from Joel Mangrom or other coordinator and our coaches as well as
our pitching leadership group, what we're able to work through and collaborate together and
then portray to the players and be able to you know, put it on
a level that they can understand the build off of you know, that just
makes us work and click as a group. And lastly, you know,
to all of our coaches that drive our player plans and our day to day
that's where we really see these guys take off and watch them start to grow
throughout the system. Before you were a coordinator, your first job was Lake
County pitching coach. A couple of decent pitchers went through there that you had
a chance to work with. Tell us about that staff who came through there,
that that would be recognizable to our fans. Yeah, a couple of
names, Gavin Williams and Tanor Bibby obviously at the forefront of that, with
Kate Smith that was in that group as well, and then some of our
younger guys that are an accron right now and in TRIPLEA with Columbus, Doug
mccazy, Tommy Masayer and Davenport. Was the starting crew that was there,
Lenny Torrez who's throwing the ball really well. So I walked into a really
good situation and seeing those guys compete every day, watching how they've grown since
twenty twenty two, things that once again a testament to everybody that's involved in
our minor league pitching group. Caleb Longshore is joining us. He is a
minor league pitching coordinat for the Guardians and it was with the ball club in
Atlanta when the team was there, and Caleb, not everybody can be an
instructor or a coach, but I know you've made a career out of that,
and what is the key to relaying things that are helpful for young pitchers
to make them the best they can be? First of all, super blessed
to be in the position that ALM obviously love the game. You know,
I think the foremost thing is the relationship that you build with the player.
You know, they have to know that your number one interest is in them.
You have to build a relationship of trusts and then you work through it
together, you know, And I think that's you know, if I was
going coaching one oh one, It's like, that's the foundational piece is how
do we get the player to understand that, you know, we're in this
business to help them become the best that they can. And once that foundation
is there, you work together to improve their player plan and the direction for
their career. Yeat a lengthy stretch as a college code. Biggest difference for
you coming to pro ball that you found working with this organization the ability to
work as a group for what's best. We we typically don't make any one
person decisions, especially at our minor league level, like the amount of resources
that we have and the amount of experience from you know, Carl at the
top to Owen Do, who's our triple A pitching coach has been the org
for you know, seven years, Tony Arnold, that's thirty plus years with
us, and then our pitching leadership group with Joel Mangram, Stephen oster Ben
Johnson and Eric Bender at the top, like there's so many resources and so
many opportunities for us all to work together alone with support from our analyst group,
that we feel like together as one big group, we can put together
a good plan. And that to me has been the biggest difference from college
to pro ball is the ability to work with people to come up with the
best plan going forward for each player. We'll close with it. You're from
Alabama, tell us the name of the town there. You live in Cleveland,
Alabama. So pretty ironic, but just tells me I'm at the place
I need to be. That is one of two pitching coordinators in the minor
league system for the Guardians, along with Joel Mangram. Caleb Longshore does great
work and it was great to visit with him down in Atlanta last weekend.
Well, the bullpen has been a big key for the Guardians so far this
season. Nick Sandlin and Scott Barlow have been a big part of that and
we will visit with them when we return after this. The one too swam
of this fastball get him Nick Sandlin gets it done again stretch time at the
corner of Carnagen, Ontario. Jim Rose announced back with you from Progressive Field
in downtown Cleveland. It is Guardian's Weekly, The Guardian's taking on the Angels
this weekend Saturday night six' ten, first pitch Sunday afternoon one, and
then the Tigers are in town for a three game series starting Monday night.
Weather relievers have either been at or near the top of Major League Baseball in
terms of lowest earned run average in all of baseball at various points in time
throughout the season so far, and that's been a big key to the hot
start for Cleveland. Nick Sandlin has been a key part of that, a
reliable and versatile piece in that bullpen. He picked up his first major league
save asked Saturday in Atlanta, and when we caught up with him recently,
talked about what it means knowing the pitching staff has confidence in him to pitch
in a late game role. Yeah, it's definitely a cool feeling to be,
you know, on the Mount Layton games and whatever the situation is.
But to finish a game and you know, to come out on top like
that and against a good team, good atmosphere, it was a it was
a great night and you had family there. How much family and what did
it mean to you to have them on hand? Oh yeah, I had
about like fifteen people that family and friends, you know, in the in
the family section, seeing them after the game, everybody together. So yeah,
but we've been waiting a few years to go to Atlanta, which is
the closest to uh, you know, where I'm from in Georgia, So
it was it was really cool that they got to for for most of them
my first their first time seeing me pitch in the Major League, So it
worked out well. Re a Braves fan growing up, I was yeah,
just I mean, like I said, the closest team down there in Georgia.
So yeah, you know a lot of games that in the field,
but that was the first time being to that stadium. Beautiful ballpark for sure.
When you look at at how you've been used so far this year,
you've been extremely strong coming on mid inning and leaving runners on base. Is
there something to that that's that's a key to have success at that and maybe
more so than when you start an ending fresh. I think for me,
it's just coming in and you know, trying to get ahead, work ahead
of hitters, and you know, continue to attack. You don't want to
add fuel to the fire, or you know, any situation that you come
into by giving them extra free passes where one hit could you know, be
two or three runs. So for me, just yeah, you know,
just trying to get ahead and get to where I can you know, attack
guys. And yeah, just gotten used to it over the past couple of
years, so a little bit more comfortable in situations coming in with with guys
on. I thought it was interesting Steven Vote had mentioned about pitching in that
situation. You may allow a runner two to score, but as long as
you leave while the team is still leading, then you've done your job.
And is that how you look at it or do you even think of it
along those lines? I mean, you definitely want you never want anyone to
score, right, but you know if every once in a while there might
be a situation, okay, got on a third and no outs, it's
like, yeah, you you don't want him to score, but also you
don't want to be pitching too careful like I said, where you know you
might end up putting a couple extra guys on base and it leads to a
bigger inning. So yeah, keeping them at you know, one run tops
or just avoiding avoiding the big inning and and situations when you come in.
Is is really key when you look at the bultpen, the relief crew has
been tremendous really most of the season. I have some new faces down there.
How how is the the vibe down in the pen compared to years past,
and and how quickly has it gelled here early this season? It's jelled
really well. I think part of that is just you know, the team
playing well and you know, guys pitching good. But yeah, I mean
guys like uh, Tim Harron, Kate Smith, Hunter Gaddis, you know,
and Bad's just it's it's good to have all these guys here. We
have a good group and you know, everyone's done a good job so far,
being ready to pitch every day, being ready to come in spots,
pick each other up and yeah, look to continue. Nick. Always good
to have you on. Thank you, all right, thank you. It's
Nick Sandlin is off to a terrific start for the Guardians out of their bullpen.
So too is Scott Barlow, who's really beginning to come on another key
piece as a veteran in that bullpen, and we caught up with him in
Houston as well, and he talked about how he's settling in so far as
a new member of the club in twenty twenty four. Yeah, you know,
first month down, I feel pretty good so far. So uh,
you know, you always want to see, you know, progression. You
know, first couple of games maybe not where I wanted to be, but
you know, working with the guys here, I mean just going over to
small things and you know, they just instill so much positivity in you on
just the day to day basis that you know, it's it's hard, you
know not to you know, let it affect you. You know, having
the positive you know mindset affects you and just being okay, like you know,
I got some stuff to work on a little bit, but you know,
still having faith and everything and just trusting the process. And now I
feel, you know, pretty pretty darn good right now mechanically and and especially
with the guys in the clubhouse. Everybody's you know, has a lot of
camaraderie and togetherness, so just build upon that and in addition to that positivity
part of it. For you, what's been especially helpful so far during your
two and a half months here with the ball club when once spring training began.
Uh. I think the biggest thing is just you know, you know,
whenever you kind of come to a new team, you know, having
fresh eyes, fresh coaches, getting new just ideas out there, you know,
stuff that you maybe I've never thought about or have brought to my attention.
And and and them just being you know, super open about everything,
and you know, just the communication has been awesome. And then you know,
just being able to you know never you know, whenever you're working on
something, you know, you always want a little bit of like you know,
free space to you know, explore and just try new things on your
own. And I feel like here they just you know, give you a
ton of that. And you know, then if you have questions and say,
hey, you know, is this the right idea, you know they'll
come and just have a really good conversation with you. When you look at
at how you get it done. Uh yeah, that that good breaking stuff
that that really seems to give hitters a tough time. And you talk about
having confidence in that pitch, do you almost have to have more confidence in
that that you can put it where it needs to be as opposed to say
someone who just comes in and rares back and fires, the herd stuff.
Yeah, you know, I've definitely felt my spin has developed quite a bit
as my kind of career has gone on, and you know, confidence of
you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be the most perfect. You know,
you know when you're looking at the TV, the the white line and
putting it directly on that, you know a lot of it's just the mindset
and just commitment to the pitch. I know, you know, your first
couple of years, you know, you can be a little bit overwhelmed of
trying to be maybe too perfect, and you know that's when the balls start
coming in and you know, you try to make an adjustment. You're like,
oh, I gotta get this over the plate, and you know you're
a little bit more timid over it and just never spins right or you know,
it just doesn't have the same kind of oomph behind it, and those
are the ones in the zone that might get hit. And you know,
it's just comes comes with the territory of just being compied on the mound and
knowing that you know, you know, I put full commitment behind it,
and you know, and and and not afraid of contacts. Really, you
know, good things are gonna happen over the course of the season team wise.
Obviously, with a lot of wins, it's usually fun from most teams.
What's made this a real fun team to be around. I mean just
the I mean camaraderie of everything. You know, I love the interaction between
pitchers and position players and everybody's just kind of gelling. And there's never like
a separation of oh, there's the bullpen guys at one table or the starter
or whatever maybe at another table. It's no, it's you know, everybody
mingling and everybody cheering for another and you know, everybody's just everybody gets to
the ballpark every day and it and they're just excited about the game. You
know, everybody's you know, getting their stuff done and you can just see
everybody just laser focus on Okay, what do I have to do today to
win today? And that's just super infectious and I feel like everybody's kind of
feeding off that, and you know, I can definitely see it in every
single game. You know, when one guy's maybe scuffling, the next day,
you know he's he's the hero. So I mean, you know,
it's never it's never like one guy doing everything. It's you know, a
different guy is stepping up every single day, and I think that's just a
testament to everybody feeding off of the positivity. Been working well for sure.
Scott, thanks a lot for coming by. Appreciate it absolutely, Thank you
for having me. That is Scott Barlow, a veteran presence and what is
a very young bullpen for the Guardians, and he's really been coming on as
he settles in to this twenty twenty four season. Stay with us when we
come back for our final segment. It's at the ballpark with Guardian Senior Vice
President Bob Dbacio. That is next. Stay tuned, folks, is puppy?
U is it over? At Progressive? We know money can't buy happiness,
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Auto from Progressive and buy more happiness or something close to it. Progressive Casualty
insurance company affiliates, an insurance not available in else seats. Welcome back to
Guardian's Weekly Jim Rosenhause along with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, and
don't forget a lot of different ways to catch our show. Each week.
It airs at seven am on our flagship station in Cleveland WTAM, and check
your local listings for airtimes on your Guardians Radio Network affiliate. Also, you
can catch it in podcast form wherever you download your favorite podcast and in need.
It is our final segment for this week's show, and that means we
check in with Guardian Senior Vice President bob Y Bassio. It's at the Ballpark
with Bobby D and his guest this week, Ruben Amorrow. The perfectly manicured
fields, the unmistakable aroma of a ballpark hot dog, and the electricity celebrating
another victory. This is at the Ballpark with Bobby D. Thank you,
Hammy. Welcome to at the Ballpark, where we hope you enjoy our conversations
with those involved in the wonderful game of baseball, those who may be behind
the scenes or the colorful personalities who have provided so many exciting moments and memories
Today, we're joined by former outfielder Ruben Amaro, who enjoyed an eight year
big league career two here in Cleveland. Roupe, thank you for being with
us. Bobby, it's an absolute pleasure to see again. You have literally
done everything in the game of baseball. You grew up in the game of
baseball. You played your coach, you were a general manager of a World
Series champion, now a TV broadcaster for the Phillies. But before we get
into all of that, let's talk about your two years here in Cleveland,
nineteen ninety four and nineteen ninety five, two pretty fun seasons in an Indians
uniform. It was an absolute blast we've had I think about those days all
the time, and in fact, you know, we opened up what was
Jacob's Field then at that time, I did not make the team out of
spring training, but came up later on in May and and I had an
opportunity to spend some time with some great, great players, did a lot
of bench time, but great people, wonderful coaching staff and some really super
teammates. You have literally done it all in the game of baseball. Grew
up in the game, played coach, and was a general manager. Pretty
remarkable. Yeah, I'm very fortunate obviously with my dad's background on my grandfather's
background in baseball. It's the only thing I ever knew, Bob, and
it's something that I'm very proud of the fact that I'm able to at least
carry on that baseball legacy in our family. And I was just very fortunate
to be around baseball, fell in love with it as at a very young
age, and have had the great fortune of being able to continue that on
the broadcasting side. Now, your dad was born in Mexico, had a
eleven year major League career, mostly with Philadelphia. You were born when he
played for the Phillies, a team you played for and became the general manager
of, and now do television. That's so special. Yeah, it really
is. I mean it's been you know, I believe Phillies read there's no
question about that. Born and bred there, and the bulk of my family
still lives there, my mom's there, my brother. But it really is
a dream come true for me to have done this many things in the Red
Pinstripes, and I'm really fortunate to be able to talk about the team now
and be involved in even last year in postseason play. It was just really
cool to be a part of it. Your playing career ends in nineteen ninety
eight, and you immediately get hired by our friend Eddie Wade, who was
the GM at the time. Was that something you always thought about, was
getting in the front office? I really did not. Actually, when I
went to him that spring in ninety eight, prior to the end of the
season, I actually just told it, Hey, listen, I don't know
how long much longer I'm going to be allowed to play on your teams,
so at some point I'd love to maybe scout or be in the organization as
a coach or something like that. And he said, well, I haven't
hired anybody as my assistant yet, and he had already been, you know,
named the official GM at the time. He said, uh, would
you have any interest in that? And I thought, I thought he was
kidding, But we ended up I ended up playing one more year that year,
and then during the course of that season we talked a lot about that
opportunity, and probably around mid season, when I was hitting about a buck
twenty, I figure, you know what, I better not let this window
close, So, you know, I accepted that opportunity and then jumped right
into the front office. You spent ten seasons as an assistant GM three under
the Hall of Fame executive Pat Gellick. You guys, your assistant GM Pat
Gellick, you win the World Series and the day after the parade you get
immediately named general manager. What kind of pressure is that. There's a lot
of pressure. I remember my brother David and my older brother saying, you
know, most gms get their first opportunity when the team's really, you know,
terrible. But you're taking over a team that just won the World Series.
There's only one way to go but down. I said, well,
this is this is it. But the opportunity that presented itself, I'm very
grateful for had a great team to work with and great people, David Montgomery
and and and others. David, the late great David Montgomery gave me this
opportunity and I couldn't have been more grateful and really enjoyed two or three really
really super years in that role. And I remember my one of my assistants
at the time, Benny Looper, had worked with Pat Gillick for a long
time, said, you know, when we got back to the playoffs,
said, it's the first team that Pat Gillick walked away from that ever made
the playoffs, and so you should be very proud of that. We ended
up going to the World Series, unfortunately losing to the Yanks, but I'm
still pretty proud of those moments. Well, we're talking with Rubin Tomorrow,
who spent a couple of years in a Cleveland uniform, and as he said,
Bleeds Philadelphia are red. You did some great things as GM divisional titles,
you had the best records in Major League Baseball. The guy I want
to chat about briefly because you did win a World Series with him as your
skipper, Charlie Manual. Those in baseball who know him, what a multi
dimensional, fun, unbelievable baseball guy. Charlie a great friend of mine,
and really I got a chance to work with him. He was my hitting
coach here in Cleveland, and I'll tell you the greatest thing about Charlie is
that he really took care of me. I was a guy who got probably
sixty at bats and there's others who had six hundred, and yet he treated
me, you know, very very similarly to how you would treat a guy
like Kenny Lofton or Carlos Byerga or O Marvis Skeal, and so I was
very fortunate to have had him as my hitting coach, and when we had
an opportunity to bring Jim to me to Philadelphia, I thought to myself,
no better person to help make that happen than Charlie. Manually ended up being
one of our special assistants before we hired him as our manager. What were
some of the traits of Charlie that you did see as skipper? You know?
I think his relationships with the players. That was one of his biggest
strengths. He loved being out in the clubhouse, didn't like to be in
his office, and I thought that was in this day and age, as
we were transitioning, game was kind of changing. Players needed attention and they
needed some love, and I think that Charlie really was. His relationships with
the players was I think one of the most important things. And I think
he was kind of sly like a fox. I think he understood the game.
He'd been around the game a lot, He'd watched a lot of baseball
played in Japan, He'd been all over the world playing baseball, and I
think those experiences helped him as well, you had a shortstop, and every
team needs a great shortstop. Here you got to play with Omarvis SkELL As
you mentioned Jimmy Rollins at Year Ball Club in Philadelphia. Special player. Is
he a Hall of Famer? I think he is, of course, I'm
very biased. I that chance to watch his development as a young player.
Remember my dad telling me when he was working for the Phillies, as he
was actually one of our infield instructors in the minor leagues and coordinators. He
said, Ruben, don't you worry about Jimmy. He's going to be fine.
And he worked his way through the big leagues and he said he's going
to be a special player. And he sure was. I means as electrifying
as Kenny Lofton was. I think that in a lot of ways. You
know, Jimmy Rollins was sort of the Phillies catalyst. What a tremendous uh.
You know, we used to talk about two out shortstops. Dallas Green,
who was on one of my many mentors, used to talk about too
out short SUPs and I don't know if there was a better one than Jimmy
Rollins. Rope. This has been an absolute last catching up many things.
I really enjoyed it, Bob, thanks so much for having me. We
hope you enjoyed our two part series with former Cleveland outfield or Ruben Amaro.
We look forward to another edition of at the Ballpark on the Cleveland Guardians Radio
Network. And that's another edition of at the Ballpark with Bobby d. Thanks
to Bobby Biassio as always for some of his great interviews with great guests from
times gone by in Cleveland baseball history. And that's going to do it for
our show this week. As always, want to thank Brian Matse for all
of his help in putting together the show each and every week. We'll catch
up with you next weekend when the team is in Chicago playing the Chicago White
Sox on a new road trip for the Guardians. Until then, this is
Jim Rosenhause reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic
Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive Helping Guardians
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