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

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