mlb players

Bogman and Welsh with some MLB player debates and listener voicemails.

Sarah Garver, the wife of Ranger's catcher Mitch Garver, is passionate about being a wife, mother, and veterinarian. In this episode, Sarah shares why she pursues her career in conjunction with Mitch being a professional baseball player and the benefits her work provides even though she does not technically "need to work."

Given the above, it makes sense why the Garver family phrase is "It's only temporary." Sarah gives a great perspective on why that is their phrase, what it means to them, and how that governs what their family is working towards. Sarah understands that good and bad circumstance are only temporary, and as she states, "you can get through harder times if you understand that it is only temporary."

Sarah's success story is that she has fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian and continued practicing, even after Mitch was traded, after experiencing several cross-country moves and balancing her more challenging job of being a mother. As a veterinarian, Sarah provides her family flexibility, purpose, and application of the knowledge and skillsets she has obtained over many years. Through it all, Sarah affirms that she is a better mother and spouse because of her work.

Sarah's simple yet profound advice to other baseball spouses going through similar circumstances - if you want to pursue a career, do it!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• (1:59) Garver Family Story
• (2:10) Beginnings of Mitch & Sarah's relationship in high school
• (3:32) Transition to college - while Mitch was trying to figure out where to play baseball, Sarah began pursuing the education for her career as a Vet.
• (4:12) Sarah discusses Mitch being drafted by the Twins in 2013 and her acceptance to grad school at Oregon State 1 week later.
• (6:40) Sarah and Mitch navigated being a team while having different goals.
• (7:48) Sarah discusses the implications of Mitch being a walk-on in college and ultimately signing after his senior year of college, which included a negative experience with an agent relationship.
• (9:29) How important good advice and representation are as families navigate professional baseball.
• (13:07) Sarah discusses how they navigated their marriage on limited time and money while Sarah was a grad student and Mitch was a minor league player.
• (16:09) How they believed it was important to spend the money to see each other - even when they necessarily did not have the money to do so.
• (16:33) Sarah explains how almost everything in this life is, to quote her, "Only Temporary."
• (18:50) Sarah talks about why she is a Veterinarian and the benefits being a Vet provides to their family
• (19:47) Being clear on what you accomplish matters - even while being the wife of a professional athlete.
• (24:07) Flexibility in her career allows her to continue serving animals, pursuing her passion, balancing work, and being a mother.
• (27:37) Sarah discusses the importance of her career and the positive impacts on her being a mother, being a spouse, and being part of the Garver family.
• (32:56) Sarah's advice to others contemplating pursuing a career - is “just do it and figure it out later.”

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

Jess Skubal has a unique perspective. She has a deep understanding of what it means to be married to a professional baseball player - her husband, Tarik Skubal, is a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. She is also familiar with the most significant financial mistakes athlete families make due to her professional background working as a tax CPA for Deloitte, one of the world's top 4 public accounting firms. Jess is passionate about making sure every dollar is maximized, and as we state in the conversation: Investments are a matter of opinion, and taxes are a matter of fact.

Jess gives great insight on both the "WHY" and the "WHAT" related to tax planning and the importance of being able to take advantage of every opportunity available to the athlete.

Jess defines "WHY" as "having more money to do what is important to you.”  Jess shares a personal story about how their own proactive tax planning led her and Tarik to fund their niece's college education.

Jess then also gives excellent advice on the "WHAT" by discussing three specific tax planning strategies that are available to the professional athlete and are unfortunately commonly missed:

• Opening an Individual 401(k) plan for the player's off the field income
• Recalculate your W2 received to ensure the player "pays where he plays."
• Executing a 'Back Door Roth IRA' strategy for the player and wife for $12,000 of tax-free investment growth annually.

To ensure you are taking advantage of every opportunity, Jess' simple yet profound advice to other baseball spouses going through similar circumstances - do not be afraid to ask questions of your advisor, and better yet, find an advisor who will answer and accept your questions.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• 2:51 - Jess shares the story of how she in Tarik met in High School in Kingman, AZ
• 4:00 - Jess discusses Tarik's journey to the big leagues - including not being highly sought after or recruited out of high school.
• 4:55 - Jess worked as an accounting clerk while they did long-distance dating in college.
• 6:29 - Jess chose accounting as a major because she saw an opportunity to help people who were important to her.
• 8:01 - Jess began her post-collegiate career as a CPA working for Deloitte, one of the Big 4 and most prestigious accounting firms in the world, while Tarik was a Top 100 prospect in the minor leagues.
• 9:49 - While at Deloitte, Jess worked on many clients, primarily as a tax preparer.
• 11:24 - Jess later in her career worked on closely held and family businesses, but as she quotes, her "pride and joy" client was the tax planning work she performed for a family office.
• 12:53 - While working for her family office client, the 'Patriarch' of the family passed away, which generated an almost $40m estate tax liability. The importance of the family's tax planning surfaced by saving "a generation's worth of wealth.”
• 15:00 - Josh and Jess expand on the importance of general estate planning and the importance of estate tax planning to the athlete.
• 16:31 - One of Jess' overarching beliefs is to "ask the question." Often, advisors are not asked appropriate questions by their clients, which causes critical tax planning strategies to be missed.
• 18:07 - Jess expands on the definition of tax preparation vs. tax planning.
• 18:56 - Proactive thinking and tax planning are how you arrive at the most advantageous tax outcomes.
• 19:35 - Tax planning should happen 365 days out of the year - not just when you file your return in April of the following year.
• 20:46 - Players have two streams of income: W2 income earned as an employee from the team and 1099 income earned from all trading cards and endorsement money. Those two different income streams have different tax planning strategies available to the player.
• 21:06 - Jess talks specifics on W2 vs. 1099 strategies, including the importance of estimated tax payments.
• 21:45 - Players can set up a separate retirement called an individual 401k, which, as Jess says, has a 'triple benefit' to the family if done appropriately.
• 23:11 - The individual 401k is different than the MLB Vanguard 401k - because of Tarik's the field income, Tarik and Jess were able to receive a tax deduction for the money that went into the account; the money in the account is invested for their retirement, and with the money saved on taxes, the Skubals were able to fund a 529 plan for their niece's college education.
• 24:18 - Jess expands on the purpose of money and why appropriate tax planning gets you to do 'more of what you want to do.’
• 25:50 - The W2s generated to players could potentially be wrong - which is not well known, even amongst baseball players. Real dollars in tax savings could be missed if the family's CPA does not recalculate the player's 'duty days' schedule.
• 30:46 - Josh and Jess discuss the importance of a Roth IRA and why all players and families should take advantage of this tax-free account.
• 32:40 - Jess discusses the importance of taking advantage of every little opportunity every year to maximize a family's wealth.
• 33:45: Jess's advice to other families - don't be afraid to ask your tax and financial advisors questions. If you do not ask, real dollars could be missed.

To get the best returns in Private Markets you need to have an advantage. Do you have more information or uncommon expertise about the company? Can you add value to the company to improve their chances of success? Do you have the time and team to evaluate 1000s or deals a year. 

The best firms keep winning for the same reason Alabama dominates College Football. The best talent, coaches & players,  want to go there. This success breeds more success. It is the same in venture capital.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• (0:28) News: Omicron and faster Fed tapering is causing volatility in the market. 
• (1:26) Inflation has moved from being transitory to more persistent according to the Federal Reserve. .   
• (2:56) MLB Players have been locked out by MLB Team Owners. Until an agreement is reached, the MLB 2022 season is in jeopardy.. 
• (3:03) Money has been pouring in to Private Investments amid strong performance. 
• (5:31) Private markets, unlike public markets, have information asymmetry which can cost novice investors a lot of money.
• (7:37) To get the best returns in Private Markets you need an advantage. You need to have better information or the ability to add value along with Capital. 
• (9:51) About 60% of venture capital companies go belly up. 
• (11:11) The winners keep winning when it comes to Venture Capital. 
• (11:30) The best venture capital firms are like the elite College Football Teams. The best talent wants to go there and they get the best deals. It’s a self reinforcing cycle. 
• (12:41) The best venture firms are seeing 1,000 pitches a year. They only pick a few. 
• (13:37) Expected returns in the future - resetting your expectations
• (15:29) Private markets are not the most tax efficient asset class
• (17:25) Invest in the best in the private markets or just take your money and go right back to the public 

Paying Off a Bet, MLB Free Agents, Blake Snell

Mass Exodus of Youth Sports from California to Other States, MLB Awards Season

We're discussing the return of MLB, the first place San Diego Padres, the Marlins and COVID-19, new MLB rules, the Fernando Tatis Jr. BMW commercial, 1st base coach of the San Francisco Giants - Alyssa Nakken, Joe Kelly, Darth Vader, and the 2015 Ultimate Disc Championship on FS2!

Jefé is joined by Cincinnati Reds Director Of Promotional Events & Player Relations  Corey Hawthorne talk Reds Opening Day. How things will be different from a promotional standpoint (3:00). player's opinions on playing without fans (9:45). The Reds fight racism (12:06). The MLB's bubble (15:45). The Reds's breakout starJesse Winker (24:23). Corey's best advice for those in sports management (25:52). The Jefé of the week (33:07). 

This one sounds better!  We fixed our audio issues, YAY!  On this episode we cover MLB opt-outs, Vegas odds, launch angle, Vlad Jr., Pac 12/Big 10 sports only playing conference games, and a Cheesy moment/Hoppy's story.

Bonus edition: sign stealing scandals in Major League Baseball - excerpt from the "Special Edition: MLB Only" podcast we ran on June 13, 2020

On this special MLB edition of Off the Cup with Hoppy and Hobbs, we discuss the 2020 draft, the upcoming season, and have a heated discussion on the sign stealing scandals involving the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros.  This is one podcast you won't want to miss.

Hoppy and Hobbs discuss the upcoming MLB season, youth sports opening up amid Covid-19, and billionaire athletes (CR7).

Also, as an added bonus, you get to hear fan favorite segments: "A Cheesy Moment", "Takin' it Off the Cup", and "5 in the Kitchen"