Nothing Personal with David Samson

It’s a Samson Sit-Down! Legendary Yankees play-by-play Michael Kay joins the show. David and Michael share stories from the book and their journey through baseball.His new book CenterStage: My Most Fascinating Interviews from A-Rod to Jay-Z is out now:https://www.amazon.com/CenterStage-Fascinating-Interviews_from-Rod-Jay-Z/dp/1982152036/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=centerstage&qid=1623857116&sr=8-1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ’crisis’ as in MLB is in crisis mode. This foreign-substance dilemma has taken the baseball world by storm and it is in trouble. Tyler Glasnow, superstar pitcher for the Rays, is likely headed to Tommy John and he was not happy about the balls. He stated that his injury is a direct result of having to change his pitching style. Shane Bieber is hurt. More pitchers are hurt. More will get hurt. Bad news. (27:05) Tyler Glasnow’s injury should be fixed now. It’s not the time to be conservative. Get the TJ and don’t risk 2022. (31:18) Review: Lupin Season 2 (33:40) Let’s talk about NBA contracts being connected to All-NBA selections. It makes no sense, but it happens. Jayson Tatum is missing on potential $33M in earnings for not being voted. Why is this? (38:45) NPPOD (41:28) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about Brian Cashman and the comment he made about Aaron Boone and the Yankees roster. What was he thinking? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ’grumpy’ or is it grumpy? Maybe I’m just grumpy. Let me tell you about my last 24 hours. It’s been a journey, but we’re back. (4:10) Spin rate is back in the news. MLB is getting serious. It’s time to fine people and suspend pitchers and spin rates are down and our pets heads are falling off! Foreign substances have taken over and MLB has FINALLY had enough. Ha. (17:40) Bubba Harkins was a clubhouse manager for nearly four-decades and now he’s exposing MLB pitchers for using foreign-substances. Is it true? Well, Adam Wainwright admitted to using the stuff. Gerrit Cole had texts leaked asking for it. Uh oh. (27:59) Review: Official Secrets. (31:10) NBA rule changes are coming. The James Harden and Trae Young rules are coming. (35:35) NPPOD. (38:35) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about Mark Cuban vs the media. This is an interesting ordeal about a story being published about the drama regarding Luka Doncic and a shadow GM causing trouble inside the Mavericks locker room.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mailbag! It’s a mailbag! A bonus bonus mailbag! Someone asked me about my experience on Survivor and wanted me to expand on what my adventure was like. You can watch this on Survivor: Cagayan, Season 28. (27:03) Someone asked me about showing weakness as a president of a team and how other teams can exploit that. (33:03) Someone asked me about the Los Angeles Angels and how poorly they have been with the best player in baseball, Mike Trout. (35:49) Someone asked me about the buying market in professional sports. Who wants to buy a team if they aren’t making money? (45:03) Someone asked me if pitchers pitch to the scoreboard. Let me explain what this means.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mailbag! It’s a mailbag! It’s time for some mail! We get so many questions so even when there’s no show… there is still a show! (1:20) Let’s talk about leaks. Someone asked about leaking information and what would happen when someone got caught leaking information. What about intentionally leaking information… (12:40) Someone asked how you would describe the relationship between players and the front office. Can you become friends with players? (20:12) Someone asked me what the state of Minor League Baseball and the MLB Draft is. Which direction is this league headed in? (30:18) Someone asked me about the Beloit Snappers plan for naming rights. The team announced it would be done on a daily basis. (37:48) Someone asked what’s easier in terms of expectations: running a big market or small market team? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

*DISCLAIMER* We are sorry about the audio quality. Our recording setup in the dinghy took on some water.Today’s word of the day is ’Oliver Stone’ as in the American film maker as in it’s time for a movie as in Pete Alonso has conspiracy about MLB that we need to talk about. Alonso says that MLB is messing with the baseballs based on what the free agency class looks like.(13:26) Gerrit Cole squared off against Josh Donaldson on Wednesday night. The Yankees vs Twins. The story was that Donaldson wants to expose pitchers and Cole is America’s most wanted right now. (20:32) Review: Riders of Justice. (23:55) Montez Sweat made some alarming comments about the COVID-19 vaccine. He answered a question about the vaccine saying he doesn’t have enough information on it yet… he doesn’t trust it… what information is he waiting for? (31:20) Starling Martels is going to be a free agent at the end of the season. He said he wants to remain a Marlin for life. Not going to happen. Why do players say this when it’s time to be a free agent? (36:10) NPPOD. (37:10) Signing young players to long-term deals can be a great thing to do. Sometimes it’s an awful investment. Let’s talk about what the Philadelphia Phillies did with Scott Kingery. (43:00) I will not be appearing on the Local Hour of Dan Le Batard’s show this week. Sorry. But it’s…….. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ’spider tack’ as in foreign substances as in a new kind of sticky paste used by bodybuilders that MLB pitchers are apparently using. Gerrit Cole was asked about his use and his answer is now an all-time great one…. NOT. (13:50) Let’s talk about this new book that just came out by Andy Martino about the Astros scandal. It goes into detail about Jose Altuve and how he tried to fight back against the sign-stealing. Do we believe this? (19:40) Kevin Durant was not very happy with Jay Williams of ESPN. Williams claimed that Durant had said something and Williams said that something on the air, and Durant called him out for it. Let’s discuss this sort of dilemma and why it’s happening more. (30:45) Review: The Dry. (34:40) NPPOD. (36:32) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about the College Football Playoff and the possible expansion to 12 schools as opposed to four schools. Interesting. Why would the committee want to expand? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ’39’ as in 0-for-39 as in Jarred Kelenic is currently hitless in his last 39 at bats. The all-time record is Chris Davis who went hitless in 54 straight at bats. So what did the Seattle Mariners do with their top prospect? Sent him back down to the minor leagues. Did the Mariners bring him up too soon? (13:40) Do you want to be an owner? Now you can! You can buy a piece of Manchester United! Let me explain. (22:25) Review: Four Good Days (26:20) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? Someone asked me about Aaron Rodgers not showing up to mandatory minicamp. They wanted to know if I’d fine him if I were part of Green Bay Packers front office. (34:45) NPPOD. (35:12) Jeff Bezos is going to space. He’s out of here. Taking a flight on Blue Origin to space because he wants people to experience that trip so he’s testing it out himself. (41:05) Daryl Morey was fined again. This time for a tweet on Steph Curry. Guy can’t help himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘gotcha’ as in you’re caught as in it’s all over as in MLB says it is going to start cracking down on foreign substances used by pitchers. What does that even mean? (15:55) So You Wanna Talk To Samson!? (18:30) John Rahm was leading the field by 6 strokes at the Memorial Tournament and as he walked off the 18th green he was told he tested positive for COVID. Whoa. PGA immediately told him he had to withdraw. (27:19) Review: Together Together. (31:30 NPPOD. (37:10) Is there parity in the NBA now? No LeBron and no Steph Curry. Are we at a point where teams are this close in terms of competition? (40:42) The Portland Trailblazers fired Terry Stotts over the weekend and Dame Lillard is said to be highly sought after. Portland wants Dame to be involved in the search. Jason Kidd turned down an interview. What will happen here? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s word of the day is ‘gnome’ as in Le Batard called me that. Can you believe it? How dare he? First it was the poster.. didn’t care. Then another poster… didn’t care. And now a gnome? The dinghy is coming for the ship. (4:12) LeBron James and the Lakers have been eliminated from the NBA Playoffs. First time in his careers he’s lost in the first round. Anthony Davis could only play five minutes through injury. LeBron was the latest person to come out when he said he was just burnt out. Let’s discuss. (14:35) Players always want to be scouts. It’s their favorite thing to do. They all want to sign a guy they saw or a guy they played with. Tom Brady is the latest on this list as the Buccaneers used him to help scout WR during the NFL Draft. (23:24) Review: Bo Burnham’s Inside (30:15) Johnny Manziel was recently on a podcast where he talked about all the money he made in college. Cash money. Would NIL have helped curb this? (37:45) NPPOD. (43:05) Who will be the first manager fired in MLB this season? I’ve got a list of four because it’s bound to happen soon.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices