Nothing Personal with David Samson

Today’s word of the day is ‘struggle’ as in what a struggle as in everybody struggles as in Rob Manfred did a press conference on Thursday and it was a struggle. It’s now Day 2 of the MLB Lockout and we have a few items we need to discuss from that press conference. But first let’s chat about some of the differences between the owners and players that we’ve seen. What is going on with CBA talks? Why aren’t players faces on MLB dot com? What happens to players who are doing rehab? (8:15) Here is what Rob Manfred said and why it was such a struggle to listen to. Who is Rob Manfred addressing with his comments? Who is Tony Clark addressing with his comments? (21:15) What does the bargaining table look like? Is it Godfather style: Manfred and Clark face-off? No. The room is full of players, owners, lawyers, Clark, and Manfred. (27:00) Review: Old Henry. (29:35) What happened with the Peng Shuai saga in China? The WTA has announced its pulling events out of China. The IOC came out and said everything is okay! Interesting. (34:35) NPPOD. (37:40) Antonio Brown is back in the news. Why? He used fake vaccine cards and gave them to the Buccaneers and NFLPA! Wonderful! Great teammate! (43:50) NBA has punished the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls for tampering. Big time! They will lose 2nd round picks… Ha!

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Today’s word of the day is ‘lockout’ as in it is December 2nd and Major League Baseball has announced a lockout. Stay with us here at Nothing Personal and we’ll talk through all the details of this. How did it get to this point? (9:30) The updated MLB dot com. MLB pulled all highlights and player information. Fun! (13:55) Rob Manfred released a letter to the fans. Ha. Let’s break this thing down. (29:10) What did the MLBPA have to say? The Union released its own letter to fans.

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Today’s word of the day is ‘balls’ as in baseballs as in sticky substances as in MLB used different baseballs this season!? Did they? Is it true!? A report came out about MLB using multiple baseballs this season without telling players. This is another thing that the union and owners are going to fight about. Let’s discuss. (11:45) A lockout is looming. Union reps and owners met in Dallas and presented their sides. They left the meeting. They returned to the meeting. They left the meeting. They returned to the meeting. They left the meeting. (24:48) Review: Bergman Island. (28:55) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about the Yankees and not spending money. They wanted to know if there was any truth to this. (38:40) Non-tender deadline was here. It was moved to November 30th because of the possibility of the lockout. 

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Today’s word of the day is ‘Chuck Norris’ as in Walker, Texas Ranger as in the Texas Rangers now have the most expensive middle infield in the history of baseball. That’s right. Corey Seager, 10-year, $325M… Marcus Semien, 7-year, $175M. Holy! The team just opened up a new stadium last season, but now they’re spending like they want fans there. The Tigers gave $140M to Javy Baez. Teams are spending spending spending! Being afraid of the lockout have caused a craze in the market from ownership like we’ve never seen before. (11:55) Robbie Ray is headed to the Seattle Mariners. The Toronto Blue Jays replaced him with Kevin Gausman. Why would the Blue Jays want this swap? Was this Toronto telling us something? (16:30) Yankees fans are FURIOUS with Brian Cashman right now. The team has yet to pay big money for a free agent yet. Why not? Is it a smart business move? Is it fear of the market? (18:50) The negotiations are ongoing. The deadline is tomorrow night. What are they arguing about? Is there going to be a joint lockout announcement? Do the players get paid? Do they get an extra year on their deal? (30:20) Review: True Story. (33:20) Tiger Woods has returned to the camera life. He spoke openly for the first time since his February accident. Let’s discuss what he said. (37:40) NPPOD. (39:20) Marcell Ozuna only gets a retroactive 20-game suspension for domestic abuse. Ridiculous. Rob Manfred can now use this for when Trevor Bauer’s time comes up. Extremely disappointing. (42:50) MLB expanded playoffs are the new talking points. It leaked yesterday that this crazy idea of teams picking opponents and more teams making and so on. What is happening here? 

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Max Scherzer to the New York Mets! Steve Cohen said he was ready to spend money and he is. This deal is reported as a 3-year, $130M, which would be around $43M per year. The richest AAV of all time.

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Today’s word of the day is ‘scared money’ as in scared money don’t no money as in you have to risk it for the biscuit as in MLB teams are spending out of control money right now to land players. With the lockout looming… this is insanity. Scherzer to the Mets? Gausman to the Blue Jays! Semien to the Rangers! Buxton staying with the Twins! All getting over $100M deals. Why is this happening!? (13:20) The Mets are spending money. Steve Cohen has opened the bank. Mets fans should be happy about this. The Blue Jays signed Kevin Gausman for a huge deal. Toronto wants to win so they’re paying big money. (18:50) What is Rob Manfred doing today? Negotiating! There’s only a few days left before the potential lockout. (33:25) NPPOD. (36:00) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about my pal Scott Boras. They wanted to know what Scott Boras had to do with Bruce Meyer.

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Today’s word of the day is ‘grateful’ as in yesterday was Thanksgiving and let’s talk about what we appreciate in our lives. Yes, we’re getting sentimental, deal with it. (12:20) The Detroit Lions are a bad football team. Dan Campbell was fired up as his introductory press conference talking about knee caps and all this nonsense. Now what? Winless. What about the Bears? Matt Nagy was supposedly getting fired. The chairman said, not that’s not happening. The Bears beat the winless Lions on a last-second FG. Okay. (18:00) Stan Kroenke has to pay the city of St. Louis $790M. That was the settlement price. It could have been in the billions! Well, where does this money go? How is this money paid? (29:05) Review: Maid. (35:15) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me if I, or my teams, were ever late to a game like the Minnesota Wild were on Wednesday night in New Jersey. (42:45) NPPOD.

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Today’s word of the day is ‘Mon dieux’ as in MY GOD as in the Tampa Bay Rays have signed Wander Franco to a massive 12-year contract! 11 years and $182M guaranteed! He’s played 70 games in his young career. This is not very Rays-like so what is happening here? (16:20) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about Steve Cohen eating dinner with Javy Baez. They wanted to know if this meant it was a LOCK for the Mets to sign Baez. (21:20) MLB tender deadline was moved up to November 30. MLB and MLBPA made this joint announcement. Why would they do this with the CBA ending on December 1? (28:30) Review: Tick, Tick… Boom! (33:00) Steven Matz decided to snub the New York Mets for the St. Louis Cardinals. That happened early this morning, but the big news is that Cohen is having a meltdown on Twitter about it right now. Uh oh. (39:00) NPPOD. (45:00) The Giants fired Jason Garrett on Tuesday after 26 games as the team’s offensive coordinator. The fall guy. Someone had to be it and it wasn’t going to be Joe Judge… yet.

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Today’s word of the day is ‘encore’ as in running it back as in trying to hit the jackpot again as in what we tried to do with the Marlins after the 2003 season when we won the World Series. Every front office wants to try and do this at the end of the season: “We’ve got the group. We’re so close to getting it done.” This is what we’re seeing this year with a team like the San Francisco Giants. (11:00) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about the new MLB Hall of Fame ballot. Alex Rodriguez is on the ballot! This person wanted to know if A-Rod will make the Hall of Fame. Well, let’s take a look. (22:00) Review: King Richard. (26:45) LeBron James was suspended by the league for his hand to the face of Isaiah Stewart over the weekend. That means LeBron will miss the national TV game against the New York Knicks. (29:10) Baker Mayfield skipped out on a media session after the Browns game. Not great! Especially on a team that has backed Baker against all the talk of dysfunction with his wide receivers. (33:55) The NFL and Congress are still going at it. Let’s dig a little deeper into this and explain what’s happening. (42:55) The Oakland Athletics are still threatening to move. What did they do now? The team made an offer to buy land in Las Vegas. Uh oh.

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Today’s word of the day is ‘nostalgia’ as in we traveled to Austin, Texas and saw The Rolling Stones. It was time to get out of work mode and just live a little. (7:35) Another travesty occurred yesterday. Someone drove a SUV through a holiday parade in Wisconsin. As of the recording of this, 5 are dead, and over 40 are injured. Why? For what? What is wrong with us? (15:30) MLB commissioner Rob Manfred met the media last Thursday and he just can’t ever say the right thing. He spoke about a possible lockout. He spoke about housing for minor leaguers. But he the way he spoke did nothing to help calm things down. (22:50) Noah Syndergaard was in a war of words on Twitter with Mike Francesa this weekend. We need more of this from players. Own your narrative. Own your story. (27:40) Review: The Morning Show S2. (29:20) Let’s talk about what’s going on with China, Peng Shaui, and Enes Kanter. The IOC has now gotten involved and that means… nothing. (40:15) NPPOD

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