Buster Olney on MLB offseason, Scott Boras, Shohei Ohtani, and more Awful Announcing Podcast

Guest host Jessica Kleinschmidt interviews ESPN MLB reporter Buster Olney. Jessica and Buster discuss a wide range of topics including the slow pace of the MLB offseason, Scott Boras taking some losses in negotiations, helping Buster Posey be more media friendly, and more.
NOTE: We recorded with Buster on Friday March 22, so in between recording and posting, some details about the Shohei Ohtani/Ippei Mizuhara gambling story have been updated.
For even more discussion, head over to awfulannouncing.com and follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, TikTok, Bluesky, and YouTube: @awfulannouncing.
-:43: Baseball coverage changing over the years
-2:26: Relationship with players changing
-3:55: Clubhouse access
-6:00: Waiting around
-7:42: Covering Chuck Knoblauch during the "yips"
-9:30: Helping Buster Posey be more media friendly
-12:57: Embracing players as people in terms of social media
-14:16: Benefit to players having their wall back up?
-15:06: Embracing social media at the start
-16:04: Do the positives outweigh the negatives on social media?
-18:01: Buster being able to separate from work in his personal life
-21:06: This offseason compared to past years
-23:52: Who is a “middle class” MLB player?
-25:36: Players speaking up
-26:35: Buster’s take on a salary cap in MLB
-27:45: Top paying players involved in salary cap discussions?
-28:52: Scott Boras conspiracy theory
-31:26: TV concerns
-32:52: Increase in opt-out contracts
-34:54: Shohei Ohtani
-38:23: Ippei Mizuhara gambling scandal
-40:42: Personal relationship with an interpreter
-42:47: How would this go if it didn’t involve Ohtani?
-43:33: Not really unchartered territory
-45:20: Shock factor of Ohtani news
-46:42: Joey Votto
-48:49: Reds not bringing Votto back
-49:56: Votto’s potential post-playing future

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.