The Return Of Xander Bogaerts

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Another lens, team Netherlands, WBC, and that's where I caught up with him as he was working

out getting ready for the exhibition game against the Baltimore Orioles.

So every year we catch up with Zander.

Last year I caught up with him in LA, Los Angeles, and then again in San Diego.

If you remember, and we're going to reference this conversation,

is that I talked to him.

He goes four for four and then just goes on a heater after I interview him.

It was science.

And that's really what happened to a lot of people who were interviewed for the baseball

and boring podcast.

But Zander was maybe the pre-eminent guy in this respect.

Zander just got on fire after this interview.

So that's what we talk about and we talk about how that's going to lead to many,

many, many private jet trips for me anytime there's even a semblance of a slump,

whatever it is.

But it was just good catching up with Zander.

And then I caught up with Carlos Beltran, the GM of the Puerto Rican team, the WBC team.

He's great.

He's great to talk to, man.

He's great.

So it's a lot going on and I'm going to finish it off with Christian Vazquez,

who's on that team, Puerto Rico team who I've known Christian for a long, long time.

He's a free agent right now, but again, he's playing for WBC for team Puerto Rico.

That's just a few minutes at the very end, but it's always good to catch up with Christian.

All right, but first up, here's Zander.

Guess what?

There's no human being on the planet or rather we talk to one in Zander Bogart.

There's things that I love saying.

It's happened.

I haven't said that in Florida in a little bit, right?

Oh, yeah.

That's a little swaddling.

All right, so first of all, I have to show you

my tattoo.

If you win the World Series, will you get a baseballs and boring tattoo?

Joe Kelly at wanted me to ask you.

No, I promise.

I don't have any.

I promise my mom.

I promise my mom.

I won't get any.

So yeah, that's a tough one.

That's a tough one.

Yeah, I don't have any.

That's the reason.

But if you did, if you were going to get one,

I can.

Yeah, well, all right.

But if I did, I don't, I don't have any.

All right, that's true.

I always love catching up to you.

And this is great because I don't have to fly across the country to do it.

Six hours.

Six hours.

We're at the WBC with Netherlands.

And so I want to ask you, every year I ask you, every time I see you,

it's like you've evolved.

Man, we caught up with each other last year.

And you were evolving.

And by the way, you bring hits.

You bring hits.

Oh, my goodness.

That's guaranteed.

Like, are you kidding me?

Like, congratulations.

That's proven.

Congrats.

Science.

Congratulations.

That's proven.

Four for four after we get into interviews.

And then you went on a pair.

That's proven.

That's proven.

All right, so tell me, tell me why after this interview,

you're also going to, because not only because of science,

because I'm talking to you,

but because how do you, like,

who do you become, how you are, how healthy you are,

what you've adjusted, whatever it is.

How come you feel so good?

Or do you feel good?

Maybe a quarter.

No, yeah.

No, I feel good now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

After a little sweat there, but

I was just saying just now, like, I just feel like it comes with it.

You know, like, when you're young, you know, like,

you're trying to find your way,

but the more you play, the more experience you have,

the more time you have in the show, like,

I mean, there's a lot of young kids on the team.

They kind of look up to you.

Oh, man.

The same way, like, the same way I kind of looked up at Andrew,

you know, AJ, you know.

So he was the guy when I was younger coming up

or right before I signed this up there.

I can kind of relate or see some similarities

in that situation now.

So, well, the WBC side,

how was spring training going,

leaving up to this?

Well, it's a dude, like, it's a new team.

Like, every time I've talked to you with a partner,

is what is this third year?

Four.

Four?

What's spring training, yeah?

Really?

22, 24, 25, 26, yeah.

Oh, my goodness.

Anyway, so, how does this one feel different there?

New manager, obviously.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

New man, we got stamina right now.

Yeah, yeah.

You obviously had shows to show this over here

with the audience now.

I think I might see it for a little bit just now.

Well, yeah, you know, very different, very new manager,

a younger guy, a lot of younger coaches,

also guys that I played against a lot, Ryan Gones.

Well, actually, let's use the junior player.

Where can I play with?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I normally see people working a lot.

I kind of talked to them a lot.

So, it was actually cool to see them on the bigly staff now.

But yeah, just a lot of young guys, young faces,

fresh faces, you know, just trying to get you to write again

and trying to have us in the right direction.

Kind of like we've been these days,

that's a couple of years, we're just finishing the job now.

So, back to you, like you said, we've mentioned it.

I interviewed you at Doctor State.

You went four for four.

You went through the weekend, I talked, we talked again.

It was the only time I sat in the club house with a player.

Why they're vacuuming?

We walked out of the, like we talked for an hour,

just talking, which is like glove, right?

But you just tore it up after that.

So, obviously, that is, that is you.

That is the best version of you.

It's good that we're talking now before the season, you know.

We can have this going on, before the season.

You always come in late, maybe.

That's probably the issue.

Oh, sorry, that's probably the issue.

Sorry, I didn't come into line.

Oh, you came Joe July.

I know as June, you know how I know Joe July.

It's never as a district trend.

Oh, remember that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a giant, yeah.

Yeah, that's just a good thing you came early,

you know, when you got it in early.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Probably gonna have a good season there.

Yeah, well, so what turn for you besides this?

Like, because obviously, you've got a long way to go in your career.

And what is the thing that you found that worked for you?

This, how old are you?

32?

33 year old version of the interbow guards.

What, what, what have you found is a sweet spot that worked for you?

That maybe you didn't know.

You know, I would probably say it has a lot to do with off the field.

Oh, really?

Yeah, I take care of your body a lot more.

I'm not saying like, I, I do a really good job at that,

but I think more like more massages, more stretching,

sauna has been huge for me.

That's been a huge adjustment for me that I learned.

Yeah, that I learned last year on my body.

I mean, everyone's different, you know?

You're different, I'm different, but that's one of them.

You've never gone to the sauna before?

I have, but not taken it like the way I did last year.

Really?

I've only went in one some month or whatever.

You have a sauna in the clubhouse?

Yeah, they have one in the clubhouse.

On the red-sized clubhouse.

On the road, like the red-sized clubhouse, no?

Sun or sun is in the red-sized clubhouse.

When I was there, we didn't have any.

You know what they had?

They had a bit of day.

Oh, anyway, I don't want to take it.

Okay, so I forget everything.

Well, yeah, that's, yeah.

So you're taking care of yourself.

Which I do, but yeah, just finding different ways

I can really maximize myself for sure.

Who, how did you figure that out?

I mean, you just like, oh, I'm 33, I just got a...

No, you know, I think having good teammates like,

man, he was a big help with that.

Yeah, yeah.

That's why he plays a lot again.

He really does a good job with that.

Eglace is believing that I was used to that.

That was, yeah, I believe it.

I believe it.

Yeah, Eglace was used to that.

So it was nice getting that type of help.

I mean, I wouldn't say that I knew I really didn't.

You know, you do stuff that you know that you're used to the win,

but I think taking it a step ahead,

a step further is always, it was beneficial for sure.

You're one of the great mentors in the game.

Congratulations.

Thank you, mentor, thank you.

That along the lines, I just talked to David Ortiz.

He just came on the podcast,

like he's going to have a great year, too.

But he's still, he's still in the rom.

He doesn't have.

I saw him hit in the keys.

I mean, he seems to me.

It was the same thing, basically.

Oh, I guess so, yeah, yeah.

Well, he's working hard about selling rom.

But I talked to him about the mentoring stuff,

including the Debra stuff.

It's like, and I know that we had talked about it last time.

I was like, I know that your buddies with Debra's

and gone through that.

What is your take now that we're like nine months out from that?

I mean, he seems to be in a good spot.

Yeah, he does, he does.

I would imagine something that would catch you by surprise

of me being in his position.

I'm just saying, you know, but as I say sometimes,

time heals, you know, time heals a lot.

And I think him going over there,

he has a lot of guys from his country,

you know, and they just sign a riot.

And, you know, so there's just a lot of guys

that speak his language.

I just been helpful for him, you know,

not going in there with some faces

that he doesn't really know.

Yeah.

He kind of knew some of the guys,

you know, he was a big fan of Chappy,

I remember when I was with the best heart.

So, him being over there, I think he,

it took maybe some time,

but he's definitely going to go crazy.

You think so?

I mean, you talked to him.

Yeah, we'll catch everyone by surprise.

They catch you, right?

You know, we were sitting there.

That's why we're standing in the clubhouse for an hour.

We're almost starting to get our heads around.

It probably took a lot of people by surprise,

but I would say he's in a good place now.

He's pretty happy with it.

All right, so for you, for you,

I'm going to say you're going to be an all-star.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

I mean, especially now we're doing this interview.

Yeah, early, early.

Next year, we've got to fly here for a day again, you know?

Yeah.

Hey, if you want to PJ me over to wherever you are,

if you're in the slump,

come over there.

If you love the baseballs of the world,

you'll be like, baseball isn't boring, you know?

But so, but again, just to wrap things up.

Where, when you look,

when if I say, like, dinner,

bowlgrass is going to be an all-star,

and I know it's about team and everything else,

and I think I've said this to you before.

This could potentially be the best version of yourself.

If you hit the sweet spot of all you know about off the field,

your physical condition, staying healthy.

Yeah, healthy, yeah.

That's been a big key, too.

Yeah, yeah.

The last two years, normally with the

throughout my whole career, I've been on the field.

But yeah, these last past two years, I had,

I mean, there, there are some freak accidents.

Yeah, I mean,

dive broke my shoulder,

and then follow all of my foot.

But you don't dive anymore, like that's...

Yeah, I do dive.

You're a little, you're careful about it.

Yes, yeah, yeah.

I'm more careful, and also that was probably a dive at second base.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I wasn't too familiar with that position.

Yeah, yeah, you're back, yeah, yeah.

So maybe that also...

Well, everything, but the health, like everything else is like,

this could be the best version of standard progress.

Well, I appreciate it.

I know you think.

I appreciate it, I think, thank you for that.

You know, you definitely were sour as that in the off season.

Yeah.

You feel good, I had a good session today.

You know, it's been training, you kind of have good days, man.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You have a good day, so I'm looking forward to more days like this.

Is your rest is healed?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Everything's been good, so...

I mean, that's what I'd say, this is...

Your shoulder's healed.

Yeah.

I'm just going down the checklist, because if I'm going to say,

if I'm going to say that you're...

If I'm going to say you're going to make the all-star team,

you're like, you have to do it, right?

That is a lot of the end.

I know how you make it.

Yeah, listen, one of our favorites, I appreciate it.

Love talking to Xander.

Love talking to Xander.

Wish I could be longer and have had longer,

much longer podcasts, but we'll take what we can get.

Xander's getting ready for the WBC, running around,

so it was good catching up with him.

And it's also good catching up with Carlos Beltran,

who I'm going to chance to see before the game,

the exhibition game, Puerto Rico exhibition game for the WBC,

with Red Sox and JetBlue Park, a game which I called in the radio.

So I talked with a couple other reporters,

with Carlos Beltran, about a few different things.

Team Puerto Rico, but also the Hall of Fame.

So he's a good guy to talk to anytime,

but especially this time, where all of a sudden he's a GM

and all of a sudden he's almost a Hall of Famer.

I mean, he is a Hall of Famer.

All right, here's Carlos.

I got a point in the team together.

Yeah, it was hard, man.

It was hard.

But you know what, at the end of the day,

we feel that we have a good team, young team,

good talent.

You know, there's no doubt that, you know,

you miss some of the big pieces,

guys like Lindor, Correa, Byes, you know,

very old, but it's a good environment.

I think it's the opportunity to represent your country

and to play back in Puerto Rico.

It will allow some of the younger guys here

to have an experience for the rest of their life.

So I remember my four classes and I told them, you know,

early yesterday that 20 years that I played,

I don't know, man, like the four classics

haven't had any special place.

The opportunity that you get to have to be around

in the clubhouse with the guys that you never get the chance

to be around.

For example, my first clubhouse, Bernie,

was a teammate, Correa, I mean, Delgado,

Ivan Rodriguez.

So, happy Lopez.

And there were guys that never got the chance

to be in the same place with them.

So I got to learn a lot.

So one of the things that I told the younger guy,

this is like, I try to prove it.

I try to prove the coaching staff

that has a lot of wisdom and knowledge about the game

of baseball.

So I told the younger guys like, try to take advantage

of that opportunity, you know, for as long as we make it work,

you know, in the classic, you know,

you have Sandy Alomar, you have Edgar Martinez,

Juan González, Jardín Molina.

So you have guys here that play the game.

I have a very high level.

So as a younger guy, I think we'll be fun to try

to just gain something out of that

and add it to your game so you can continue to move forward.

You might have the most accomplished coaching staff

in the history of baseball.

I love it. I love it.

I'm proud of that, my friend.

And when I was doing the research, I was,

I needed, I mean, think about it.

Sandy had never been part of the World Baseball Classic,

you know, for some reason.

I don't know if he was an invited

or he wasn't there on thought about him.

And I'm thinking, man, did you see this?

This guy's been in the lead for a while.

He's one of the best first-based coaches in the game.

Joey Cora, also third-based coach.

Edgar Martinez, you know, he's an assistant

to Seattle, one of the best hitters in the game.

Jardín, one of the best guys in the game.

Juan González, one of the best power hitters in the game.

So super proud of our coaching staff

and looking forward to play.

I mean, we don't have probably the names,

but that, you know, I have learned in the game

of baseball that it's not about the names.

It's about the men's that, when you close the line,

you know, you got to give the best you have.

And the game itself is not about numbers.

It's not about, I'm sorry, it's not about the name.

It's about just being able to do the right thing.

Now we have to win this for, you know, for great people,

you know, to have this opportunity.

So how was that, was it WB?

Super impactful, man.

We take a serious, man.

We don't have this opportunity to wear VR in our chairs,

or VR in our heads, you know, so bone.

But when we get this opportunity, we try to show up.

We try to be there for our fans.

But a rigorous small island in the Caribbean,

but for years, we have proven the baseball is a religion

in our island.

So we love baseball, we breed baseball,

and the fact that we're playing home,

we're going to make a lot of fans proud

in the serious in Puerto Rico.

It's been fun, man.

It's been a lot also, but grateful for the opportunity,

grateful to continue to be part to a very special group of people.

I love the history of the game of baseball.

So when you go to Cooper Sound and you walk those halls

and now understanding that I would have a plaque there,

there will go generations.

My kids can't really talk to their kids

and grandkids that, you know, their father or grandfather,

you know, have a plaque in Cooper Sound is very impactful.

I'm thankful for that.

Just to be in the social special group,

with Roberto Cepeda, Roberto Alomar,

Iván Rodríguez, and Martín and myself.

So I'm the sixth Puerto Rican to be there,

and I don't know, I just want to continue to promote the game.

This is what I love.

Continue to open doors for the younger generation

and continue to influence the new generation of baseball players.

You could think for Puerto Rican baseball, right?

Yeah, it's great.

I mean, it's another platform that God is giving me

to continue to do what I have always done.

You know, I built the high school in Puerto Rico 15 years ago,

specialized in baseball to open doors for kids around the island.

So I just want to continue to do that.

I just want to continue to give the kids in Puerto Rico

a legitimate chance to compete.

I remember when Aluscora was the GM,

Puerto Rico in the game.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I remember the 2017.

Right, I remember the game.

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Which of him trusts now in the understands?

I don't know how you thought about watching these games

from that perspective.

How that's going to be.

Well, it will be fun, man.

Like, honestly, I haven't really thought about that.

I'm thinking this very likely,

meaning because I have relationship with everyone here.

I do feel that what I'm proud and most,

when I think about my baseball career,

it's about the relationships that I have with all those men

there and the European generation of baseball players.

So I'm going to enjoy how fun,

hopefully the guys can go do the thing

and make us look good, I guess.

You know, that's all I can ask for.

All right, finally just a couple of minutes

catching up with Christian Vasquez.

Christian has some still left in the tank.

He's going to play for Puerto Rico in the WBC

and now he's going to sign with somebody.

So he's a good guy to have on your team.

Always been playing with Minnesota Twins for the last few years.

Now he's a free agent, but before he signs with anybody,

he is going to join Martin Maldonado

as he catching tandem for Team Puerto Rico.

So for those who are big fans of Christian Vasquez,

I figured a lot of people would want to know what's going on with him.

So here you go, we're going to cap things off.

Remember, BB is in boring.com, BB is in boring.com.

I didn't say a lot about this at the beginning of the podcast,

but got the shirts, get the hats, warm around, big response.

All right, here's Christian Vasquez.

Yeah, it was a big mess for those three.

But yeah, I think the team we have is very fast.

We can run for the boy and play and run,

and I think that's very important for a win-again,

still basis, you know, and maybe, like, we're going to play that little game,

so it's going to be fun.

I'll pick with the three guys to add, I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to play for the USA before the static presence.

Yeah, it's very important to have somebody like him

here in the team, and it's going to be a Hall of Famer,

and it's fun to have those guys here.

How do you, how you doing?

I'm great.

Yeah.

Yeah, feel good.

Yes, that's very good.

So, when you come into this,

how do you feel compared to other year, other times,

or whatever?

I mean, you want me to say, you're the veteran guy now.

Yeah, I think it's going to be special this one,

because we're going to play in someone

for our everybody, and where we go,

all the islands are going to be there for us.

It's supporting every day, every night,

and I think that makes more special

than playing Miami.

I know everybody, you know, it was show,

the fans show up in Miami,

but here they don't need to play,

so they're on home,

and all that the stadium's going to be back,

so it's going to be fun.

Yeah, we have a couple of teams,

so I'm not aware about that, you know,

it's been my, I've got a couple of years

more in my tank, so it was good,

my body's good, and just shaped,

it was great, arm good, so

do you look at this as, what you said,

you feel great, everything's great.

This is a, people are going to see you playing like,

okay, he's right, you know, he's ready to go.

It's almost like a punctuation,

the team signing it.

I don't think so, because they know that,

you know, they saw me in,

four-week-old playing all the Wimbledon,

I was doing great over there,

so I think in this part of my,

you know, we don't find the time,

it's a specific time to sign,

so, yeah, we're nowhere about that,

so I think we're a good place right now,

I'm enjoying every day,

you know, like, there's going to be special,

special tournament,

I think we would have a great team,

and I think we're going to go to that here.

But when you're going to walk up,

we're going to go all the way through.

Oh, I thought I heard that,

you're going to be a lot of money,

it's going to be a lot of money.

They're kind of going to get two or four years.

Shot clocks, big shots,

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First, Atlanta Drive starts their repeat run

against Los Angeles Golf Club,

then, Rory's Boston Common Golf

and Tigers Jupiter links face-off

in their playoff debuts.

Who will advance?

Keep up, it's playoffs.

Tune in Tuesday, March 17th,

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