Episode 104: Jared Carrabis (DraftKings)

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 104 of the Marine Lair podcast.

[00:00:04] We welcome on noted baseball personality Jared Carabas of Draft Kings and the Baseball is Dead podcast.

[00:00:11] We have a conversation about his life, baseball, and his content journey.

[00:00:16] The Mariners also make a couple of minor transactions as spring training rolls along in Arizona.

[00:00:21] Your reminder before we start the show, if you're listening, make sure to download the episodes.

[00:00:26] Leave us a five-star review. It helps us out a ton. that are very online and on Twitter like we are will know what I'm referencing. You know those highlight videos when people be like, I don't know, ex-player's time in certain city like, I'm just going to throw out an example of, let's say Anthony Rendon, he's been in the news this week, he's like, Anthony Rendon highlights with the Angels and it's hot by gunna that plays, but it's just a black screen for like five seconds and then it ends.

[00:01:41] That's Cane and Smith and Jigma's time. So we thank you, Canaan. But it's funny enough that it's a small world that he's just at this place. He started 13 days. That's what it lasted. I believe 13 days Mariners claim him off waivers from the Pirates and then the Pirates claim him off waivers from

[00:03:00] the Mariners. So it's a small world. I hope he didn't I hope he didn't sell is his Pennsylvania

[00:03:04] property. He's going to show up to AAA. I'm happy they made this signing and it looked like Levi was too. Ryan Davis wrote an article that came out today here on Monday about Levi Stout coming back to the Ems. His girlfriend, while Levi was on waivers, wore Mariner socks for two days to try and make this happen, to try and will the baseball gods and put Levi back in Seattle. And yeah, they had to find a seven starter. Look, all the credit in the world to Tommy Malone for sticking around as long as he has and grinding it out in the minor leagues at this age. But I am much happier seeing Levi Stout in the number seven spot than somebody like Malone, who's an aging veteran because Levi Stout still has a chance to be good. And if he can't throw strikes, they can put him in the bullpen. Like that's

[00:05:42] an arm that still has potential. So I am't a very clear direction, which I mean, my first day back here, I can already feel the difference. And I mean, that reflects some of the conversations we've had with Mariners pitchers this offseason on this very platform. The Mariners will pick a thing that you do really well and say, why aren't you doing that more?

[00:07:01] You should do it more.

[00:07:01] Meanwhile, the Reds are like,

[00:07:03] oh, like what it sounds like at least.

[00:07:05] The Reds are saying, oh, go throw,

[00:07:07] and we'll talk about it after. a game for the Mariners this season. So the Mariners want to make sure he's ready to do that by the time that time comes calling because it's going to come calling sooner than he thinks. And I'm excited for him. Again, I think people should feel much better for where they're at right now in terms of their rotation depth than they did just a few days ago. You've got two young arms waiting in the wing. Not everybody can say that. And that's two young arms after Brian Woo

[00:08:24] and Bryce Miller got up last year. After, it was Andrew Moore, but not that Andrew Moore. Mm different Andrew Moore, a younger Andrew Moore, a high school pitcher Andrew Moore, right? Right. So I was just curious. We're gonna get get

[00:09:41] that one on the fly, but I'm sure some of those other pitches will come back as well. Again, I'm looking forward to it. I always liked Levi Stout when he was a prospect before he got traded away. I'm happy he's back. I thought it made way too much sense when he hit waivers to say, let him go.

[00:11:02] Like it would have made no sense to let him go.

[00:11:05] The Mariners needed rotational depth.

[00:11:07] They're familiar with Levi Stout. Well, man, oh man, oh man, am I excited for this one. We have had a lot of awesome guests on. Every guest has been awesome. But I think I can speak for the both of us and I know I'm speaking for myself when I say I'm just about as fired up to have Jared Kravitz on this podcast as I have been for

[00:12:20] maybe any guest we've had so far.

[00:12:22] Very, yeah, very, very exciting.

[00:12:24] So just a note, we might not know who he is, I'm guessing most of you do. I would assume most of you do.

[00:13:41] But for those who don't, if you follow TJ and I,

[00:13:44] you know what the two of us try to be.

[00:13:46] We wanna be ourselves, we wanna have fun, for like over a year. We've really, he is one of our white whales. We've said that for a long time. And in terms of media people, he might be the white whale person we've wanted to have on. So I'm so fired up for this one. I don't know what else to say other than I cannot wait to talk to him. If the rest of you are as excited as Lyle won't keep you any longer. Let's get to our conversation

[00:15:00] now with Jared Karabus. All right, we've got the rocket. It ties from the Mariners to the Red Sox that we just had to run by you. So over our first year doing this podcast, we've got to talking with some of the players and doing some social media stuff with the guys. And one of the things we've kind of uncovered is this bullpen has some takes about some baseball topics and two of them, which we thought would be right up your alley are as follows.

[00:16:20] Number one, they think Babe Ruth is a total fictional character like the entire bullpen

[00:16:24] believes he didn't exist. there I believe in 2006 somewhere in there and he took batting practice at Fenway with an aluminum baseball bat so this is like the prime of his career if it was 06 that was the year that he broke the Red Sox single-season record for home runs so like the prime of his power with an aluminum baseball bat and

[00:17:40] still couldn't hit the Red Sea or come close to it red seat. I don't care if it was in a category five hurricane. Like it doesn't matter. No one hit a baseball that far, but it is, you know, it's a nice little thing to point out when you go to a tour at Fenway Park, it's like, oh, what's the red seat mean? Like, oh, Ted Williams hit a ball 502 feet.

[00:19:01] And by the way, Manny Ramirez, and I believe 2001,

[00:19:07] it might've been his first season in Boston. that was just head and shoulders above everyone else because he didn't play against anybody of color, didn't play against Latino players. He was bigger. You have to think about the time period. The average height of someone back then was probably like five, five.

[00:20:21] You were probably looked at as a huge dude

[00:20:24] if you were like five, seven.

[00:20:25] They're like, whoa, why isn't this guy playing basketball The average fastball velocity back then was like high school batting practice today. Like you should be hitting 700 plus home runs when you're facing midgets that are throwing 71 miles an hour. And that's like a blazing fastball for the time.

[00:21:40] Like, yes, you should be doing that.

[00:21:42] So it's like, yeah, like maybe he did all those things, but I'm not

[00:21:46] going to give him credit for it.

[00:22:46] that was like 520 or whatever it was like Sammy Sosa was hitting them like like 500 plus. It's like we've seen 500 plus foot home runs before. It's not like it's inconceivable that someone

[00:22:52] could hit a ball 502 feet. I just don't even believe that the seat is 502 feet away. Like

[00:22:58] I think that the measurement is wrong. If we and then there's a shoe horn of eight other 45-inch TVs around it. So there's nine screens and I'm watching all these games every single night.

[00:24:24] And obviously, as an East Coast guy, I start out watching the last game on the slate. Like it was, um, I can't remember if it went into extra innings or not, but it was a lengthy game. So all the other games had ended and I was live tweeting it from like the first inning, like trying to get people to pay attention to this storyline. And then it got to the point where it was the only game that was on.

[00:25:42] So people were tweeting me being like, I wasn't even paying attention to this game, but like,

[00:25:46] I saw you tweet about it. baseball fans that didn't have any vested interest in either team leading up to that game. And then the payoff was just so cool with the Dylan Moore Homer. And then I kind of just rode the wave with the Mariners the rest of the way. It was a fun season. I had a great time,

[00:28:21] like kind of getting invested over the summer and What is it about that day that you remember vividly? What stood needed to sit down, you were also accepting the fact that you weren't going to be able to see the game because everyone was on their feet for all 18 innings the entire time. And nobody left period. Nobody left.

[00:29:40] That might be the most amazing be there because of my job, but I felt bad about being there. So what I did was I bought two tickets to the game and I gave them a way to...

[00:31:01] I put the tweet up, you're like, hey, tell me why you deserve to be there.

[00:31:04] I wanted to make sure that two diehard Mar just that they've been waiting 18 innings to erupt they've been waiting 20 years for this I think I maybe was Julio that had like a laser double off the wall at one point like that to would never understand it in a million years, but like you get it. Like you've done it. You've went through, you've gone through it. Like you understand it. Like I want to normalize that more. Yeah. My, uh, one of my best friends got married. I think it was the October of 21. Yeah. So it was the October before and he, he reached out like the summer leading up and

[00:33:45] he was just like, he was like, Hey, especially for baseball because, uh, you know, the most revenue is generated in October. Like that's when the, the, the revenue is created. Like, of course you're gonna, you're gonna bring in revenue over the course of the

[00:35:02] season, but everyone wants the playoffs.

[00:36:04] It was the first time that my girlfriend was meeting Coley and his wife. And she was just like, you know, how has the, uh, you know, how, how did the season go?

[00:36:10] You know, like talking about it like it's like this traumatic experience or something.

[00:36:15] And um, she was telling my girlfriend the story about their wedding day, how I had to

[00:36:23] basically make an agreement because it was a day game and it was a day wedding. plummeted but I love Jack Leiter he was someone that I was dying for the Red Sox to draft. I think he went at two to the Rangers so we didn't even get the chance but there was that and then she was my girlfriend started telling Coley and his wife about like one of the first dates that we went on.

[00:40:21] We went to this like indoor mini golf place and I had known about Leiter since he like went to Vandy. Because there I don't know if you guys follow's get him so I was yeah I was happy either way so Jared getting to this offseason I'll say the start of the offseason for both the Mariners and the Red Sox were remarkably similar the the difference is now I think the Mariners have remade themselves a little bit more like, hey, we need you to kind of bounce back. Like we know how good you can be. But we need you to turn the clock back a little bit. And it's not like he's in his mid 30s. Like he's still at an age where it's more than conceivable that he could

[00:41:43] bounce back. Like I know was last year's your team, you're like, are we overhyping our own guys? Like do other people agree and see the same things that we see?

[00:43:01] I think it's kind of like it's the Yankees and the Mariners. So that's what made me say, and knowing that publicly he had rejected the Yankees offer, that's why I was like, okay, so then process of elimination

[00:44:22] here, it must just be the Mariners. They must just be figuring out't know if that's true. Like I feel like Seattle was at least in the mix. Um, but who knows maybe like, cause I've said that, you know, not necessarily with the Snell situation, but with like other guys that it gets reported that they only have one offer and you're like, there's no way that they only have

[00:45:41] one offer, maybe only one serious offer, like only one offer worth considering.

[00:46:44] somewhere in the region that he would say yes to. Is there something that is at a good starting point? But like as far as like is the source credible? The source

[00:46:50] is credible. So but yeah that was basically all it was was that the

[00:46:58] Mariners and the Yankees were in the in the picture. No other team was mentioned

[00:47:02] and then we heard from whoever that the Yankees offer was rejected. So I was like Spring training has started games will be starting in a week So instead of kind of using the offseason as a way to kind of like leverage Players or teams or whatever. It's like, all right More so leverage the players you want a job before spring training starts you want to know where you're reporting to so we have leverage

[00:48:20] over you well

[00:48:22] Now you have the Kyle Bradish injury in Baltimore

[00:49:23] during Thursday night or Sunday night football during Thanksgiving. He or somebody in his camp must have said something to the NBC crew because he raised

[00:49:27] the 12th man flag during that Seahawks 49ers game.

[00:49:30] And Mike Turico says, Blake Snell, a Seattle native, he's a free agent.

[00:49:33] He wants to pitch for the Mariners and we like sit up.

[00:49:36] We're like, what did he just say?

[00:49:38] He's like, you just put that on national TV for the whole world to hear.

[00:49:41] So it's been made very clear that Blake Snell, who, as you know, is a Seattle native, like

[00:49:44] he wants to play there about as much as I've ever seen any free agent want to play there. Like the Red Sox aren't going to suck, but they're going to be very mediocre. Adding a Jordan Montgomery, it's like, all right, that could swing five wins from what you would have had before. Now you could be an 85 win team that maybe sneaks in or maybe you're good enough at the deadline to maybe you add at the deadline and that guy puts you over the top. Um, in, in kind of what you're saying about Snell is like he's from here.

[00:51:03] He's clearly, uh, his preference is to pitch in Seattle and Jordan

[00:51:07] Montgomery is like my wife works here.

[00:52:06] If we're being completely honest, I almost, I'm not gonna say I prefer it, that's crazy. I can appreciate the experience because now, like you never want to be, I guess, kind of

[00:52:17] the position that Patriots fans are in right now.

[00:52:19] It's like, you just had a dynasty for over 20 fucking years.

[00:52:25] Nobody cares that you're four and 12 this year. We also have to sit through absolute dog shit baseball. And I know the Dodgers, like they get made fun of for being one and done all the time. So yeah, you won 110 games and, but you lose in the first round all the time or like you choke in the NLCS. I don't, I don't mean this, but I have this thought sometimes.

[00:53:44] The regular season is six months long.

[00:53:46] The playoffs is one month. I don't know what it feels like to go into a season being like hey showing up for work again About to watch a great baseball team. We don't know that like we've never had that we've never had a real consistent run of like Hey, we're here and we're showing up and we're gonna we're gonna do the damn thing. I Guess it was like oh three

[00:55:01] But like not even like like

[00:55:04] 2006 they missed the playoffs

[00:56:07] as you are. Where did the combination of your fandom and wanting to just put your ideas, whether online, on paper, somewhere else, etc., where did that start for you?

[00:56:15] So, I mean, people, how old are you guys? You guys are in your 20s?

[00:56:19] 25.

[00:56:20] Yes, you guys were never on MySpace, I'm assuming.

[00:56:24] No, no, we missed that.

[00:57:22] sent me a message and he was like, Hey, like, I feel like you could do a better job with this page than I can.

[00:57:24] So if you want it, it's yours.

[00:57:25] And I was like, Oh, cool.

[00:57:27] And it had like 3000 friends on it.

[00:57:31] And I was like, Oh wow, that's great.

[00:57:33] So then I obviously went in, did my HTML thing, dressed it up and like, made it

[00:57:37] look like an official like Red Sox page or whatever, and then pretty much.

[00:57:43] By the end of that year, you had, 150,000, 175,000. By 2009, MySpace was just a ghost town. No one was kind of just that. I remember that summer in 2007 was very instrumental in my career because I got my tonsils out. And that was a horrible, horrible situation.

[01:00:22] Getting your tonsils out when you're older.

[01:00:24] I mean, I'm not going to say don't trailblazed it before us and for you, like one of the, I mean, one of the reasons I've always loved following you over the years is you're such a pioneer for that. Certainly in baseball, but I think in sports media as a whole. So I guess my question for you is when did you start to notice that your personality and your brand was resonating with other people and saying, okay, he's

[01:01:44] not an like objective, went to journalism for this. And I can tell you that because as the consumer or like through the mind of it's like alright, how many I made it moments have I had I've had a lot And I feel like sometimes when people look at me that they're just like well Yeah, he's mainstream like he you know He made the big time and like you know He's not like one of like the little guys anymore And he's he's not like scratching and clawing anymore like he said he's at the top and it's like well

[01:04:24] No, dude So every single news outlet in 2012 had the chance to bring me on. Nobody did it. So to finally be at a spot where it's like, yeah, we, we acknowledge you. Like we, like we understand that if we want to connect with the younger audience, we have to break down that barrier between the, the, the bloggers and the podcasters

[01:05:43] and be like, yeah, like these guys are like, you know, they're part of the

[01:05:46] media too, and people consume that.

[01:06:42] They didn't really have an answer for that. So we kind of found like a common ground where it's like, all right, well,

[01:06:45] let's start with this and like, we'll start here and we'll start small.

[01:06:48] And then eventually it's like, I kept going and going and going and wanting

[01:06:51] more from it because I felt like I earned that.

[01:06:54] Like I put in the fucking time.

[01:06:55] I didn't just spawn and say, Hey, I'm this dude from Twitter that has a following.

[01:07:00] Give me press passes.

[01:07:01] Like I didn't do that.

[01:07:02] Uh, the Red Sox by that point had been familiar with me since I was 18, since 2007.

[01:07:08] It took me until 2018. down those barriers. Um, and I was the first like that, like the blueprint before me was Bill Simmons and Bill Simmons did something completely different than what I ended up doing, like Bill Simmons was the blueprint in the way that he was basically the guy that made a career out of not hiding the fact that he was a fan.

[01:08:22] That was the only parallel between me and him because he went on to like, he

[01:08:26] was writing columns on ESPN.com and he was writing books and stuff, which I where it's like, all right, this is, you know, like newspapers, they're going to be gone soon. And like the bloggers are the future. Like, let's not fucking give this guy the weapons. Like if let's let them like, you know, fade out eventually. And it didn't happen that way. I just stuck with it. Like I was stubborn. I did not take no for an answer. I did not accept,

[01:09:41] you know, eight years of making zero dollars as failure How receptive were they to your fan style of covering the Red Sox and showing up at these games and writing about them online and stuff like that? How is that different than what the organization sort of gave back to you over those years when you're fighting to get in?

[01:11:03] Depends on the year.

[01:11:05] Because like when I first started.

[01:11:07] Yeah, like when I first up at Barstool in 2014. Um, so they had had the world series in 2013. So a lot of the guys on that team became fans of Barstool. And then in 2015, I show up for my first full season, just tearing the team to shreds because they're in last place again, back to back last play seasons.

[01:12:23] And a lot of the guys on the team read the website and they're like, well,

[01:12:26] fuck this guy, like who's, where did this guy come from?

[01:12:28] And why is he talking shit? complaining that I was in the dugout. And I was like, dude, get this guy up here and we'll have a conversation, we'll talk this out. And he wouldn't show face, and any time that he walked by me in the dugout, he wouldn't even look at me. So he would just talk his shit. He was basically doing what I was doing. He would talk shit, but then not wanna have any consequences for it. And I'm the opposite.

[01:13:41] I will go there.

[01:13:42] My only purpose of going there is showing face

[01:13:45] and being accountable.

[01:13:46] If you have a problem, here I am, of your favorite baseball team who trusts you. And like I remember throughout the whole season in 18, like we were in communication the entire time. I met him in person during that series in Oakland when it was like the first road trip of the season, met him there and we just, we hit it off and we went. And you would think, right, like if your favorite team,

[01:15:03] like it's like, even if you like have a good relationship

[01:15:06] with the manager, if they one of the most fun seasons ever. At least post-season runs. I was at every home playoff game, and it was because of Cora. He would just be like, run it back. He would just leave me tickets for every.

[01:16:20] And they were right behind, right next to the Red Sox, dog out.

[01:16:23] And he's just like, let's go.

[01:16:24] Need you there.

[01:16:25] Let's go.

[01:16:25] Let's run it back. topic, like fast forward to now. I know you talked about it took some time, but it's not just the red socks you have relationships with. I mean, you're friends with a lot of guys throughout baseball, a lot of noteworthy guys, like Tyler last now is one, or you didn't interview with Cal Raleigh this past year. He talked about the guy at Chili's who came up to him in the bathroom and said, stop switch hitting or all that. Like there's a lot of guys in baseball.

[01:17:44] That really have like taking a liking to you and are much different with you than they are with most people in the media, where you see a lot of guys be

[01:17:47] very reserved when they get asked the same questions every day.

[01:18:42] the spikes up tour spring training 2019. Like we hit every camp in Florida and Arizona.

[01:18:46] So like we just showed face and like we met these dudes

[01:18:49] and we built relationships with them early.

[01:18:52] And then next thing you know, like we're, you know,

[01:18:55] if someone came on the bus and we interviewed them,

[01:18:56] I asked them for their number.

[01:18:58] I kept in touch with them.

[01:19:00] If they sign contracts, like I text them congratulations.

[01:19:03] If they have a big game, like I'll hit them up and be like,

[01:19:06] I was watching that there are some players especially like Yankee players or whatever Like I'm sure there's some players that are like, you know what? Like fuck this guy like he talks a lot of shit and like I think that you know players probably look at Quote-unquote media is like oh he's trying to get like inside information or a scoop or something Whereas like I don't give I don't care about that. Like I I care about the entertainment value

[01:20:20] I care about the stuff that we can share

[01:20:22] Versus like the stuff that like you don't want me to they're cheering for you too. Like seeing you do that, I can't even imagine a world where one, the Mariners win the World Series, let alone get to one, but two, where

[01:21:41] like players were like, hey, you two guys, like you want to come up on the floats, I didn't play, I don't deserve this, but it sure as hell felt like it, you know, like, like there, there's signs for players, but there were signs best-case scenario, I'll probably be 40, you know, like I'm not gonna be 40 years old buddy buddy with the number three hitter who's probably gonna be 26, you know

[01:24:21] Like it's just not gonna happen that way

[01:24:24] Like maybe I'll have like some sort of cool relationship with them anyone wants to hang out like meet me by Gate D and I did that for those two seasons and then by 2019 after they had won the World Series I didn't have to tweet it out anymore people would just know to go to Gate D after the games and there would just be like hundreds of people there waiting like I years with the baseball is dead podcast and the name redacted Podcast and you used the term earlier I think it was last year that this was a very rewarding experience for you now that you're two year almost two years out of Leaving Barstool would use a different word

[01:27:00] Is there a different way you describe how life has been in the last two years where you've really kind of branched out on your own?

[01:28:05] status from 15 years ago popped up and it was like, it was like 2009 when, when MLB network first launched and I was like, you know, just gushing about MLB

[01:28:09] network, MLB network's the best thing that ever happened in my life.

[01:28:11] And I sent her that screenshot and then I sent her a picture because I had just

[01:28:16] gotten my first check in the mail from MLB network, like it was a check and I

[01:28:20] had MLB network right on the check.

[01:28:22] And I was like, bam, like it took me 15 years, but like I here, here's a check will cherish forever and I miss those people there. But I think when you have people that want to see you fail and the number one chirp that they throw at you is that you're a product of the system and you are nothing without them, of course it's going to feel good to prove those people wrong. It has nothing to do with motivation for leaving.

[01:29:45] That wasn't part of it. wherever it goes. Because you don't want to feel insecure, right? Like you don't want to feel like, do they only like me because I work at Barstool? That thought creeps into your mind with some of the player relationships. Like do these players only talk to me because I'm at Barstool and they like Barstool? Or do they talk to me because they like me and they trust me?

[01:31:00] So that was like another big thing too.

[01:31:01] And all the same relationships kept on chugging along

[01:31:06] and no one cared that I left Like on social media behind the scenes stuff make the players more marketable Make them more accessible to fans so that we can it's one thing to like a player because he's got a baseball It's another thing to be personally invested, which is why I think it's been so cool about my job I've gotten to know all these players personally and that gives me even more reason to root for them

[01:32:22] I

[01:32:23] Don't not everyone has that benefit of want to know the stuff that no one knows about Aaron judge like he doesn't do a lot of media appearances He doesn't talk a lot in long-form settings So like get into his psyche and like let me know what's in there like ask those questions

[01:33:43] That's what I care about as a baseball fan

[01:34:42] that is played in the summertime.

[01:34:43] People are doing shit.

[01:34:44] They're outside.

[01:34:49] Like if I'm a, if I'm a fan of a team and I can't even watch my own team because of a blackout or I can't like, like log into the MLB.com app or whatever and

[01:34:54] watch my own team or like I'm a displaced fan, it's like, you know, it's,

[01:34:59] it's garbage, they got to do something about that.

[01:35:03] The last one I've got for you.

[01:35:05] I want to do a little bit of a is a good time. I love it. Jared, this has been awesome. Thanks so much for sitting and taking some time to talk with us. We've enjoyed it a ton. We've wanted to talk to you for a while and certainly we hope we have the chance to do it again soon. I'm definitely down. Whenever you guys want it, let's figure it out.

[01:36:24] Well, that was a unreal conversation with Jared Karabas. That's better. H-E-L-P dot com slash Marine Layer Pod. Clicking that link helps support this podcast, but also gets you 10% off your first month of BetterHelp so you can connect to the therapist and see if it helps you. So if you're struggling, consider online therapy with BetterHelp. Click the link in the description or visit betterhelp.com slash Marine Layer Pod. You know, I had my expectations very high for this interview because Jared is a pros

[01:37:44] pro. him talk about his story into your point, TJ. Yeah, like, like I know you and I have loved all the player access. We've been so fortunate enough to get thus far and all the short form content we've done through our player interviews. Like, if you guys have enjoyed any of that stuff that we've done, thank Jared Karabas for that. Because if it was not for him and the way baseball media is now being more and more

[01:39:01] accepted, yeah, there's no way in the world that people like us ever would have had the

[01:39:05] chance to do that.