Hey, you guys, welcome back to the 12-6 podcast. I am your host, Colin McHugh. Thanks again for all your feedback and reviews. I read all of them, and I try to make adjustments based on what you guys say.

Here's a recent review from one of our subscribers. I was worried this would be a very self-serious

and heavy baseball talk podcast. Thankfully, though, it's a healthy mix of the business aspect

and clubhouse culture surrounding a major league player and teammates, plus baseball topics of the day from a

player's perspective. It's a really enjoyable podcast and one that I highly recommend to anyone having

withdrawal symptoms from the long offseason. Well, guys, the offseason is over. We're here in

West Palm Beach for spring training, and today's conversation is hopefully my first of many

down here. Our guest today is ESPN, baseball sports writer, and New's conversation is hopefully my first of many down here.

Our guest today is ESPN baseball sports writer and New York Times best-selling author, Jeff Passon. He wrote a book called The Arm, which I read two years ago and cannot highly recommend

enough for anyone who is a baseball fan. He's also been on the front lines of free agent

discussions this offseason and recently

broke the news of Mena Machado's deal with San Diego. We talk about the state of the game today,

our super awkward first meeting, and Jeff's deepest, darkest secret. If you like the podcast,

be sure to subscribe so that you're always up to date when new episodes go live.

So without further ado, I hope you enjoyed today's conversation with Jeff Passon.

Jeff, thanks for being on the podcast, man. I appreciate you coming here. You're the first

writer I've had on here. So, congratulations. Congratulations to you for slumming. Like,

you've had all-stars, you've had potential Hall of Famers, you had the pitching ninja,

and now me? Yeah, but you're a Syracuse grad and that means that you automatically come

with this built in, this like baked in credential for sports writing. And I don't know, I don't know

what it is about Syracuse, but every great writer, reporter, sports center anchor, you all

went to Syracuse, right? Pretty much. How does that happen? What is it in the water up there?

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