Good interview with Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen on 97.5 the Fanatic this morning.

Priority number one is rehab from the ACL tear that ended his 2019 season. With the extra time off, McCutchen says that he feels 100% health wise:

“I was able to focus on small things and take my time with it, so that was a big plus for me, to get the work in, put the work in and really think the rehab process through. I feel really good now and I’m ready to go.”

One benefit, perhaps, from the postponement of the 2020 season.

McCutchen also talked about the labor negotiations between MLB and the players union, and this was an interesting quote about the state of the game and fans who found themselves feeling disconnected and disenfranchised during the public debate:

“I want to apologize on that end, because that’s not something that needs to be in the middle of this game. The game is such a beautiful game, and we understand that every five years there’s a collective bargaining agreement, just like any sport that’s out there. But when all of these things became public, when things went from health, to games played, to money, all of these things started to happen and come out and it just put the game in a very bad state. I just first and foremost want to apologize, but I also realize that our negotiation is a part and process, and something that we do. It’s not always pretty, but it’s something that we have to do. I mean I have a negotiation with my two-year-old toddler son on how many pieces of candy he’s going to get. The kid is two years old. He went to the bathroom the other day and I said ‘kid good job, here’s a gummy worm,’ and he said ‘I want three gummy worms.’

Negotiations happen, and that’s a part of it. It’s life, and I hate that it became so public. It was definitely tough, but I’m happy that we’re in a place now where we have a schedule and we’ll be playing.”

McCutchen went on to say that he feels like playing less games will result in the feeling of those games mattering more.

“There’s more pitching changes, more things that happen inning-by-inning and pitch-by-pitch. That’s something that’s gonna happen moreso over 60 games. It’s gonna be different in a way where there’s gonna be pitching changes, guys (coming) in and out of games, pinch runners, more of that, more chess moves in the game. I think it’ll be different in that way and a whole lot of ways, too, just going over the safety and healthy protocols.”

Let’s play ball.

Here’s another link to the full podcast.