Speaker 1: Let's talk to Pitching Ninja Rob Freeman right now. Check
Speaker 1: out all his content Pitching Ninja everywhere, all the socials, YouTube,
Speaker 1: the whole deal.
Speaker 2: Rob.
Speaker 1: Great to catch up again. Man, Let's start with the
Speaker 1: mizz right because he's the cy young front runner I
Speaker 1: can't say the word in the National League. So gets
Speaker 1: the two hundred k's in a unique way. He's dealing fastballs,
Speaker 1: what was it twenty one in a row to start
Speaker 1: there against the Twins and then the one hundred plus pitches,
Speaker 1: So what else impresses you?
Speaker 2: I mean I was watching the game and going like,
Speaker 2: are we do we know what we're watching right now?
Speaker 2: Because for the first fifty five pitches yesterday he threw
Speaker 2: eighty five percent strike so we're not talking about a
Speaker 2: dude who sprays it around. I was like, what do
Speaker 2: you do? You got to either hope to survive until
Speaker 2: he leaves the game or hope he gets tired, which
Speaker 2: he kind of did later on in that start. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's kind of mind blowing. I don't think we should
Speaker 2: ever lose lose consciousness of what is going on, of
Speaker 2: what you're seeing.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 3: First of all, nice seeing you since I saw you
Speaker 3: in Philly didn't introduce me to your family.
Speaker 4: That's okay.
Speaker 5: I can't blame you. I introduced I wouldn't introduce myself
Speaker 5: to your family either. It's fine, nor well let that go, Rob,
Speaker 5: But my wife, how good? I mean, you know you said,
Speaker 5: we don't know what we're seeing. How special is what
Speaker 5: we're seeing from the miz I mean one hundred and
Speaker 5: two hundred and three hundred and four, right, and then
Speaker 5: when he needs to, he just goes slider and guys
Speaker 5: swing at it obviously like it's fifty miles an hour
Speaker 5: because they're geared up for one hundred and five. So
Speaker 5: where would you rate this on like the special scale?
Speaker 2: It is way up there. I was actually I've been
Speaker 2: trying to think of that. It's like the Peter Martinez
Speaker 2: years when you're talking about like a zero point seventy
Speaker 2: three whip and just destroying guys. It's kind of like that.
Speaker 2: And for me again, it's the command that's just amazing.
Speaker 2: It's like de Gram at his height of his at
Speaker 2: the height of his powers, but like SA's de Grom
Speaker 2: two point zero and he does everything so easy. We
Speaker 2: just need to like just appreciate this, get that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the numbers are the numbers are impressive strikeouts. But
Speaker 3: so you watch his start in LA, not just the
Speaker 3: one they just added, the one in LA where he's
Speaker 3: complaining about the mound. Is that just a glimpse into
Speaker 3: the fact that this guy's actually landing on a different
Speaker 3: I think you tweeted about it. He's landing at a
Speaker 3: different spot than everybody else. Like you talk about people
Speaker 3: in the game that are changing different things, is there
Speaker 3: other things that he's like just that much different, not
Speaker 3: just one hundred and five miles an hour.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's actually you know, his pregame obviously, the
Speaker 2: way he warms up is unique. It's a little schemes like,
Speaker 2: but his movement is so efficient at his height, so
Speaker 2: he's a combination of really long limbs but moves like
Speaker 2: a smaller guy and with that added strength. Again, to me,
Speaker 2: it's he just has put everything together. This is a
Speaker 2: dude who throws absolute flames at the height of his powers.
Speaker 2: You know, can he get better? He told me he's
Speaker 2: gonna try to hit one oh six. Let's see, is
Speaker 2: it worth it?
Speaker 4: Is it worth it?
Speaker 3: Because the name that you just brought up, de Grom,
Speaker 3: everyone would be like, no, rob somebody else, like somebody
Speaker 3: that made all their starts. So is one hundred and
Speaker 3: six is one hundred and three in the first inning?
Speaker 3: Is it worth it? Or are we going to have
Speaker 3: a short, short window to watch him throw?
Speaker 2: Excellent question. I mean if you look at somebody like,
Speaker 2: we all go back, how hard to Nolan Ryan throw?
Speaker 2: People say, whatever, he threw hard for a long time.
Speaker 2: There are guys who throw hard for a long time,
Speaker 2: but there are also guys who don't. And you know,
Speaker 2: to me chasing one oh six while you'd go down
Speaker 2: in history, is it worth it to risk injury? Probably not,
Speaker 2: But if you're a competitor, you want to be the
Speaker 2: best at whatever you do. The one thing I noticed though,
Speaker 2: I mean I had a stat today that I tweeted out.
Speaker 2: If you look at his his slugging against fast over
Speaker 2: one hundred versus fastballs under one hundred, it is huge different.
Speaker 2: I mean we're talking about like one seventy slug on
Speaker 2: fastballs over one hundred and five hundred slug on fastballs
Speaker 2: under one hundred. So his velo does matter. He does
Speaker 2: want to throw hard. But then again, is it party
Speaker 2: you mean you hit? Don't you get accustomed if you're
Speaker 2: seeing it all the time, and then a ninety nine
Speaker 2: looks slow, but a ninety nine could look really fast
Speaker 2: if you settle at a different level.
Speaker 3: You know what they're slugged against is when he doesn't
Speaker 3: make a start though, yeah, does exactly.
Speaker 2: I Yeah, totally agree, And he's he's the weapon. Like
Speaker 2: do you want you want him to pitch against the Dodgers?
Speaker 2: Don't you?
Speaker 4: You do?
Speaker 3: You want him to pitch against whoever you're facing, But
Speaker 3: you want him to pitch. You want him you want
Speaker 3: to go to the yard and know that every five
Speaker 3: days he's going to And Nolan Ryan. Everyone talks about
Speaker 3: Nolan Ryan. I just read Tim Brown's book on Nolan Ryan.
Speaker 3: I was I'm part way through your book on Unhittable,
Speaker 3: and it's it's almost a contradictory story the both of them.
Speaker 3: And the reality is the mi is ain't making any
Speaker 3: money in this game unless he does what pitches and
Speaker 3: so anyway, it wasn't even a question of a cop.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, And I totally agree with you, Like the
Speaker 2: biggest ability is actually showing up in it's pitchabillity being
Speaker 2: in the game, right, So there's a fine line, like
Speaker 2: they're doing a good job of maybe stretching him out
Speaker 2: between starts and making sure they're not putting too much
Speaker 2: on him. But you need him. He is your weapon,
Speaker 2: and do not do anything to jeopardize that.
Speaker 4: Agreed. I agreed, Rob, And it'd be nice with him
Speaker 4: if it was him in Schoogle. But we can't talk
Speaker 4: about that anymore because the burs tried. Okay, the Brewers tried,
Speaker 4: and we're not. We're not going to talk about that. Uh.
Speaker 5: Another guy that used to be this weapon, Paul Skeins.
Speaker 5: What's happened to Paul Skins? His Velo's down? Is the
Speaker 5: rest of his numbers or have gone way up? What's
Speaker 5: going on? What do you see with Paul Skeens? Because
Speaker 5: last year he was Jacob Mazerowski and now, oh does
Speaker 5: vie He's not dude.
Speaker 2: He's like the showcase of my book Unhittable too, because
Speaker 2: there's a bunch of things he's done that have been fantastic.
Speaker 2: He is like the one thing I've heard batten around like,
Speaker 2: people are going is he injured or is he saving
Speaker 2: himself for his contract year and just back it off saying,
Speaker 2: you know what, I just don't want to get hurt.
Speaker 2: I don't think either one of those are true. Based
Speaker 2: on his mechanics, it looks a little bit like he
Speaker 2: may be just in a slump. He may one of
Speaker 2: the things that you see, like his pregame workout when
Speaker 2: he's doing the water bags and all these these twists,
Speaker 2: is sometimes you overdo it, like things that worked at
Speaker 2: one point that helped correct things. Maybe you get stuck
Speaker 2: after a while and it doesn't go on forever. You
Speaker 2: don't get better forever at it. So it could be
Speaker 2: that his body isn't just synced up perfectly, and he
Speaker 2: could fix this in the off season, or it might
Speaker 2: snap together in a start. But his fastball is still
Speaker 2: playing really well. We're not talking about Kyle Hendrix here.
Speaker 2: We're talking about a guy who Garrett cole trek school
Speaker 2: ball level. Like he's still throwing hard.
Speaker 3: Is it one pitch though? I mean, he's still throwing hard.
Speaker 3: That's why I said the other day it's a mile
Speaker 3: and a half difference. It still should be effective, But
Speaker 3: isn't it his slider. Isn't the shape of his slider
Speaker 3: way way different right now?
Speaker 2: To me, it's more of the stuff that's going armside,
Speaker 2: like he is getting shelled on stuff going armside, so
Speaker 2: his splinker isn't dropping as much, his change up isn't
Speaker 2: moving quite the way he wants it. And if you're
Speaker 2: a hitter and you know that his sweeper is really
Speaker 2: hard to hit, his fastball is still playing as well
Speaker 2: as it's ever played. So I don't think he's a
Speaker 2: guy that necessarily needs to throw, you know, one hundred
Speaker 2: miles an hour to get hitters out. He's really good regardless,
Speaker 2: But hitters are just looking for stuff to go armside
Speaker 2: and saying, you know, I can deal with that because
Speaker 2: it's splinker's dropping less and his change up's moving less,
Speaker 2: so just look out there.
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Speaker 3: You talk about in your book about how the journey
Speaker 3: with your son trying to learn all this stuff and
Speaker 3: you just learned so many different things. Do you feel
Speaker 3: like a guy like schemes knee to look at the
Speaker 3: shape of his pitches and then try to sync it
Speaker 3: up where his mechanics are or does he need to
Speaker 3: first say okay, it's his mechanics and then the shape
Speaker 3: of his pitches will change.
Speaker 2: You know that's they're both connected. So to me, I
Speaker 2: would look at the shape of his pitches because he
Speaker 2: can continue to throw the same velo. I don't think
Speaker 2: his velo like if he's throwing ninety seven he's going
Speaker 2: to be okay, but the difference in velo between that
Speaker 2: and his off speed pitches has empressed a little bit,
Speaker 2: so you know that you're not you know, if the
Speaker 2: difference in your change up is now a mile and
Speaker 2: a half slower than it used to be, the gap
Speaker 2: is a little less, Hitters can sit on it a
Speaker 2: little bit better, it's moving a little less, so to me,
Speaker 2: it's pitch shape. And you know, he can tinker with
Speaker 2: all this stuff in the off season. I think there
Speaker 2: are probably simple mechanic things, mechanical things that can get
Speaker 2: him back where he was. But I'm you know, he
Speaker 2: is far from broken his expected stats, which you're not
Speaker 2: paid based on your expected stats, and your team doesn't
Speaker 2: win based on your expected stats. But you can see
Speaker 2: how his stuff is playing against real hitters, and his
Speaker 2: expected SATs are still pretty good.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, I was expected to hit a thousand, but I
Speaker 3: did exactly. I can take those and throw him out
Speaker 3: the window.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 5: Another guy that has incredible stuff that aj Hinch has
Speaker 5: talked about. I know last year when I did the
Speaker 5: Seattle Tiger Series was Melton. Okay, Melton stuff is ridiculously good.
Speaker 5: Troy Melton if you haven't seen this guy pitch.
Speaker 3: And last year they were like Hinch was saying, oh man,
Speaker 3: this guy's going to be a stud for us.
Speaker 5: He's kind of in a hybrid role. They started him
Speaker 5: and his stuff was ridiculous. Now he's kind of starting
Speaker 5: looks like to take that next step. How good can
Speaker 5: Troy Melton be for the Tigers?
Speaker 2: Thank you for bringing him up, because I think he
Speaker 2: is one of the most untalked about players in baseball.
Speaker 2: Tigers fans know him, but everybody should know Troy Melton.
Speaker 2: I mean, those stats speak for themselves. A one four
Speaker 2: six era, and I thought his change up is filthy.
Speaker 2: He's got a cutter Peter that I mean, Peter gets
Speaker 2: on you. So yeah, I love this dude. He's pitching
Speaker 2: beyond his years too.
Speaker 3: One of the things you mentioned, Ajsa, you can't talk
Speaker 3: about the Schoobol trade, but I will Scooble for It's
Speaker 3: less about schooball and more about what the Brewers may
Speaker 3: have had to have given up. Logan Henderson, do you
Speaker 3: feel like that would be fair if the Brewers had
Speaker 3: given him up based on what you've seen from Logan Henderson.
Speaker 2: Logan Henderson is really good. Like I get it. It
Speaker 2: all depends on how you value winning a World Series
Speaker 2: this year because obviously a Schooble miss combo, who's going
Speaker 2: to beat that? Like, that's an unbeatable combo. But for
Speaker 2: the future, I mean, I think Logan Henderson is a
Speaker 2: valuable piece for the next several years. And I mean again,
Speaker 2: another guy. Another guy's stats speak for themselves, and they
Speaker 2: do have a rotation that you know, even without Schooble.
Speaker 2: I don't want to go against them because their bullpen
Speaker 2: also shortens games.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, it does.
Speaker 3: Kept looking Anderson. That was their decision, Rob, So we
Speaker 3: all will see how it goes. We'll see how it goes.
Speaker 2: Dodgers School in Atlanta with Salamam, with Chrissale.
Speaker 3: Too many lefties, too many lefties, Rob, they needed, they
Speaker 3: needed Tyler Mollin.
Speaker 4: Okay, so they too many lefties. You can't have two
Speaker 4: lefties pitching in the same rotation. That's against the rules
Speaker 4: of baseball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, god forbid, especially when the Dodgers have a Toannie
Speaker 3: Freeman Muncy all those lefties in the lineup.
Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker, No, we don't want two lefties. We want righties.
Speaker 5: But anyways, well, let's get off, Scooble. I've taken enough
Speaker 5: abuse on Twitter.
Speaker 3: I'm feeling sorry for myself after all the abuse on
Speaker 3: Twitter saying the Brewers should have got them.
Speaker 4: Let's go to a couple of things to happen this. Yes,
Speaker 4: thank you, Thank you. Rob.
Speaker 5: Next time, just introduced with your wife. Maybe she'll give
Speaker 5: me up. Thanks Mssus Freedman, nice to meet you. But
Speaker 5: Sale and Zach Wheeler had some interesting things happened. Chris
Speaker 5: Sale obviously the ball hall and I've never seen this.
Speaker 5: Usually it's once you're declared, you stay and which I
Speaker 5: don't understand, and then we're going after you answer that question.
Speaker 5: I want to talk about Zach Wheeler because I have
Speaker 5: seen this before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the Sale thing. Love Chris Sale. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, technically sure, whatever you have, maybe you have
Speaker 2: to declear every hitter. I don't know that it's crystal clear,
Speaker 2: but if you do, He's never had to do it
Speaker 2: in his entire career, and I've never seen anybody do that.
Speaker 2: So this is an umpire who wanted to prove that
Speaker 2: he knew he knows the rules, and kind of he
Speaker 2: did that throughout the game. I thought, and yes, if
Speaker 2: you go fifty six and a fifty five, you're technically speeding.
Speaker 2: But if you get pulled over by a guy when
Speaker 2: you're going fifty six, I'm going like really, like really,
Speaker 2: And I love that he got ejected here because this
Speaker 2: is what you should do. Fire the team up, Chris Sale,
Speaker 2: he's awesome.
Speaker 4: Agreed, Agreed.
Speaker 3: Like I said, I once got ejected before a game started,
Speaker 3: so I know how it feels.
Speaker 4: I wasn't a starting pitcher though, so it was fine.
Speaker 4: It was fine. It wasn't a big of a deal.
Speaker 4: But I love Chrysale.
Speaker 5: I taught him, well, so if you got a day
Speaker 5: you're not starting, you want to get ejected, go for
Speaker 5: it and pay your five hundred dollars fine, thousand dollars, fine,
Speaker 5: and move on. But again the umpireson just said, hey,
Speaker 5: we screwed up. Let's put the guy back on third.
Speaker 5: There was a pitch throwing. It wasn't that ball hit.
Speaker 4: It was nothing exactly. It was not super super stupid.
Speaker 5: Now the Zach Wheeler thing, right, he's pitching off the rubber,
Speaker 5: is he?
Speaker 2: Though?
Speaker 4: But I did see Ted Lilly do this.
Speaker 5: Ted Lily used to go like six to eight inches
Speaker 5: in front of the rubber when he would go in
Speaker 5: the wine, if he'd go like this and then he'd
Speaker 5: move his back foot if it was like here, he
Speaker 5: would go this far forward and then throw the pitch.
Speaker 5: And we kept telling the umpires and they just never
Speaker 5: would do anything about it. We're like this dude literally
Speaker 5: jump takes it. When he goes over his head, he
Speaker 5: take moves his back foot. It moves like six to
Speaker 5: eight inches off the rubber. Now he's off it to
Speaker 5: a side. Okay, But I mean I was always told,
Speaker 5: as long as a piece of your cleat is touching
Speaker 5: the rubber, you're fine. I don't know ted Lily was
Speaker 5: a little different because he went forward.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2: I noticed this with Wheeler two. I think it's like,
Speaker 2: come on, how much it doesn't give my ton of advantage?
Speaker 2: Move over in inch that'll be okay. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: talked to Nolan Ryan about it. Nolan Ryan, you know
Speaker 2: dude who threw absolute flames on mounds that were little.
Speaker 4: Eh.
Speaker 2: He moved in front by like six inches. Umpires didn't check.
Speaker 2: So could you imagine like Nolan Ryan throwing heaters throw
Speaker 2: from six inches closer? Kind of not fair, But it's
Speaker 2: been going on for forever, like this is just baseball.
Speaker 2: Little things. You try to get an edge. Maybe they
Speaker 2: push him back a little bit.
Speaker 3: I played with a reliever that would come in and
Speaker 3: cover the rubber up with dirt so he could start closer.
Speaker 4: Anyway, he was a different cat.
Speaker 3: But Kevin Gosman is this was this one of the
Speaker 3: trades that you go when he goes this new team,
Speaker 3: I want to see how they handle it because of
Speaker 3: the trade, because he ended up throwing more splits than
Speaker 3: what did you say in the last six years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's the probably the change I would
Speaker 2: have made, too, Like his splitter is one of the
Speaker 2: wonders of baseball in the modern era, Like he is
Speaker 2: a it's filthy, So I would throw it more often too.
Speaker 2: You throw your best stuff more often, and.
Speaker 3: That's the only change that you make. Or do you
Speaker 3: feel like there's something else mechanically as far as like
Speaker 3: a lower slot where he's releasing that splitter from.
Speaker 2: It is really hard to make mechanical changes during the season.
Speaker 2: I hate that. I mean, it's the same thing I
Speaker 2: was worried, Like, I think schemes fix himself in the
Speaker 2: off season. I think you can play with things in
Speaker 2: the off season. I would just go based on pitch
Speaker 2: mix and just make changes that way and say, hey, dude,
Speaker 2: throw your best stuff more often and see what else
Speaker 2: snaps into place once you do that, versus making specific
Speaker 2: changes lower on your arm angle whatever. Gosman knows his
Speaker 2: splitter better than any pitcher knows any pitch, because that
Speaker 2: dude gave me a twenty minute dissertation on splitters and
Speaker 2: all the things he's tried, and it's on YouTube somewhere,
Speaker 2: but it's absolutely mind blowing. Nobody knows their pitch is
Speaker 2: better than Kevin Gosman.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, smart guy, really well spoken too. So he
Speaker 1: was acquired by the Cubs along with Clay Holmes. We
Speaker 1: haven't talked to you, of course since the trade deadline,
Speaker 1: and a ton of starting pitchers move that are going
Speaker 1: to make an impact down the stretch, and a lot
Speaker 1: of guys moved that can start playoff games.
Speaker 6: What did you like? Give me a name or two.
Speaker 1: Where you're like, I really love that acquisition for this team.
Speaker 2: You know, I know that people are going playing the
Speaker 2: Braves that didn't do it a lot, but I like
Speaker 2: the Tyler Maley ad because I think he's a really
Speaker 2: good pitcher and can give them, you know, value deep
Speaker 2: in their in their rotation without having to do much. Obviously,
Speaker 2: schoolbol jumps out to you. But like the Dodgers needed
Speaker 2: any more stuff? You know, those were really the two
Speaker 2: and the people that did the team that didn't decide
Speaker 2: to make moves I thought were interesting.
Speaker 6: Yep, no good call.
Speaker 1: What about one more padres with Mees and Robbie Ray?
Speaker 1: Do you think that'll work out?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean I I do like Casey Mies's stuff.
Speaker 2: I think he's going to keep getting better and better.
Speaker 2: I mean I remember him back in college. Even dude
Speaker 2: is a pitcher, knows his stuff, and I think that
Speaker 2: is a really good ad. And Robbie Ray's is a
Speaker 2: pro like he's going to give you innings.
Speaker 6: Yep.
Speaker 1: Well, Rob, good catching up and yes, a reminder of
Speaker 1: everyone to check out his book.
Speaker 6: Just look up at Ninja and you can give it
Speaker 6: a look. Rob. Great catching up, man, Thanks for the time.
Speaker 2: Great catching up. And I'll make sure my wife says
Speaker 2: hi next time, Aje. I will make sure I introduced her.
Speaker 5: Yeah, if she walked up to me and said hi randomly,
Speaker 5: that would be really awkward for you and for her,
Speaker 5: not for me, because I would make it totally not awkward.
Speaker 6: But missus Ninja exactly.
Speaker 4: Missus Ninja, I'd be like, whoa, Marc me.
Speaker 6: I like it? Hey, Rob, good stuff, man, thank you talk.
Speaker 2: So take care, guys.
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Speaker 1: any disease. Yes, right now, he covers the Dodgers for
Speaker 1: The Athletic. He's also part of a good Dodgers podcast
Speaker 1: to check out, and we'll let him talk about that
Speaker 1: coming up in a moment. Bobby, I'm great to have
Speaker 1: you on the show here. And what are you watching lately?
Speaker 1: A team that doesn't have it all, at least not
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 7: Huh, yeah, especially not offensively. They are not playing well
Speaker 7: and I think it starts with the offense. It's obviously
Speaker 7: a great rotation at this point. They're about to have
Speaker 7: two multi time style young winners in the middle of it.
Speaker 7: But it doesn't really matter that much if you can't
Speaker 7: score runs, and that's been kind of the case of late.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been ugly. Hey, can I want to go
Speaker 1: to Edwin Diaz first?
Speaker 6: Yeah? They do stink?
Speaker 1: Aj is Edwin Diez Okay, I mean he missed a
Speaker 1: good chunk of the year. Is he Okay, I saw
Speaker 1: the you know, some people pointing out the arm angle
Speaker 1: dropping significantly.
Speaker 6: What are they saying about him?
Speaker 7: They're saying that it's less to do the arm angle.
Speaker 7: The fastball velocity's been better since he's coming off the
Speaker 7: elbow surgery, but the slider's just not there, and it
Speaker 7: hasn't been there before the surgery hasn't been there since.
Speaker 7: And the blown Stacey's had have been because he gets
Speaker 7: to two strikes and he can't get guys to chase
Speaker 7: or swing and miss the slider. The walk off home
Speaker 7: run he gave up on Friday, he came on a
Speaker 7: hangar of a slider, like at the end of the day, Like,
Speaker 7: if he can't get the right shape or command on it,
Speaker 7: then it's hard to really make it effective. I don't
Speaker 7: think they are a concerned long term about it, but
Speaker 7: it's one of those things that they have to figure
Speaker 7: out now, just because you're at this point in the season.
Speaker 7: You have to know who you're to trust in October.
Speaker 7: They paid him to be their closer in October. But
Speaker 7: he's got pitchwell first, okay.
Speaker 4: Well, there's a couple of things.
Speaker 3: He only has ten innings, right, he didn't get to
Speaker 3: go to spring training because he got hurt, so they
Speaker 3: rushed him back.
Speaker 5: Clearly he wants to be there, so let's give him
Speaker 5: a little bit of time. We always say, oh, guys,
Speaker 5: rush back. They missed spring training, they missed this. We
Speaker 5: need to give him time. I mean, I'm sure he
Speaker 5: went on a rehab. It's not the same as being
Speaker 5: in a big league Game's not the same as a
Speaker 5: big league spring training. So let's give him a little
Speaker 5: bit of time. But he did get out of a
Speaker 5: run around third no outs the other day. It's not
Speaker 5: like I mean, he's incapable of doing some stuff. I mean,
Speaker 5: back to back triples against the Diamondbacks. If you didn't
Speaker 5: see Corby and Carroll running, he got a triple down
Speaker 5: the left field line.
Speaker 4: That might be the fastest I've ever seen a dude
Speaker 4: run around the bases.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, that Diamax team can really put a lot
Speaker 7: of pressure on you. But yes, I think ideally they
Speaker 7: want to just get him on a run, and he
Speaker 7: hasn't had that obviously. Like you mentioned, he kind of
Speaker 7: has stopped and start starts the year. Even now, like
Speaker 7: that was Friday night, was his first time having to
Speaker 7: hold a one run lead, he's only allowed. He's only
Speaker 7: had one scoreless outing since he's been back, so they
Speaker 7: want to give him some time to work through some stuff.
Speaker 7: It just comes at a time where obviously they're not
Speaker 7: playing well as a team, and to have him blow
Speaker 7: two straight saves when they're in the middle of this
Speaker 7: giant losing streak, it just didn't sit very well in
Speaker 7: terms of just like adding to the number of issues
Speaker 7: sort of compounding for this Dodgers team. I don't think
Speaker 7: there's a long term concern with him, but I do
Speaker 7: still think that they need to see him kind of
Speaker 7: go on this extended run these next two months.
Speaker 3: How important is that buy for the Dodgers. How important
Speaker 3: is the playoff by in the first round.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's incredibly big. I know, I've kind of said
Speaker 7: it ad nauseum this year. It's the oldest position of
Speaker 7: player group in the majors at that point, Like it's
Speaker 7: gonna matter to avoid those two extra games. Obviously they
Speaker 7: won the World Series last year having those two extra
Speaker 7: games against the Reds, but still you would rather have
Speaker 7: it than not. Understand, you could set up your pitching staff,
Speaker 7: not that there's a wrong way to set up your
Speaker 7: pitching staff if they're all healthy. But like that saves
Speaker 7: you from having to use Trek Skuble for an extra start,
Speaker 7: or Blake Snell or your snowbody got Moto for an
Speaker 7: extra start, and you can line up where you can
Speaker 7: have youa Moto on his optimal rest, where you can
Speaker 7: sort of set up when you want Shoeotani to pitch
Speaker 7: if he does pitch at all for you. So having
Speaker 7: that buy just gives you so much freedom to sort
Speaker 7: of optimize how you want to line things up for you.
Speaker 7: And also you just can feel safe knowing that you're
Speaker 7: in the NLDS. You don't have to fight for your
Speaker 7: life just to get there.
Speaker 3: The reason I asked that is because if Edwin Diaz
Speaker 3: continues in this direction, let's say till the end of August,
Speaker 3: so you know, a fourteen day type of period, do
Speaker 3: the Dodgers feel like Tanner Scott can be their closer
Speaker 3: that he stepped into kind of in that role in
Speaker 3: and out doing well. Do they feel like he could
Speaker 3: be the guy for them if Edwin can't step up
Speaker 3: and figure this out.
Speaker 7: I think they're gonna give him a shot, Like they
Speaker 7: paid him to be that guy last year, and obviously
Speaker 7: they won the World Series with Tanner Scott not throwing
Speaker 7: a pitch for them in October, partially because of injury,
Speaker 7: but like that's the guy that they trust. Also to
Speaker 7: remember that if they are full strength as a rotation
Speaker 7: in October, then all of a sudden you're looking at
Speaker 7: a bullpen that would have Justin Rabuski, he was an
Speaker 7: All Star starter this year, a Roki Sasaki who stepped
Speaker 7: into that closers rolling in a lot of ways for
Speaker 7: them last year in October. So those are two guys
Speaker 7: who all of a sudden become late ending options for you.
Speaker 7: But yeah, they have Tanner Scott, who they have a
Speaker 7: lot of trust in. Alex Vesia has been quietly one
Speaker 7: of the best relievers in baseball since twenty twenty one
Speaker 7: since he arrived in LA. They have other late enning options,
Speaker 7: but they did sign Edwin Diaz to be that guy.
Speaker 7: So they're gonna give him, i think, at least through
Speaker 7: the end of the regular season, just to get on
Speaker 7: a run to figure it out. Obviously, become October, then
Speaker 7: the decision has become a little bit harder if he
Speaker 7: hasn't thrown the ball better by.
Speaker 5: Then, fabe and you mentioned a little bit their age, right,
Speaker 5: is they're concerned this team got old quick? I mean
Speaker 5: their age is old, Okay, I mean they're depending on
Speaker 5: how you look, they're the third oldest or the oldest,
Speaker 5: depending on what cage you want to use.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: But Freddy's up there, obviously, Mookie's getting up there, some
Speaker 5: of these Kik's getting up there, Munths, he's getting there,
Speaker 5: all up there like for baseball ages, right, Kyle, even
Speaker 5: Kyle Tucker, you can throw him in there now for
Speaker 5: even though I don't think he's old, but people say, oh,
Speaker 5: he's round thirty. That's old for baseball.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: So they have a lot of guys that have been
Speaker 5: through some battles, they played a ton of games. They're
Speaker 5: having now a hard time catching up the fastballs. Is
Speaker 5: age just caught up this team real fast.
Speaker 7: I don't know if it's like a long term like
Speaker 7: they are going to be old in October, but definitely,
Speaker 7: I think you can feel some of the impact of
Speaker 7: how long their seasons have been in twenty four and
Speaker 7: twenty five right now. I think it's you saw this
Speaker 7: last year where in July they go through a seven
Speaker 7: game skit and they really aren't looking good. And yeah,
Speaker 7: funny how you mentioned Kyle Tucker maybe being one of
Speaker 7: the old guys. He was signed to be the young guy,
Speaker 7: like they to be the guy under thirty in this
Speaker 7: lineup along with Andy Pajis sort of helped the Dodgers
Speaker 7: through these summer months. Tucker has not been the guy
Speaker 7: that they expected him to be so far the season.
Speaker 7: He had a good road trip, so maybe he can
Speaker 7: finally sort of get some momentum going forward, but they
Speaker 7: haven't gotten the production that they've wanted out of Mookie Betts,
Speaker 7: out of Teoscar Hernandez, and out of Max Monzi this month.
Speaker 7: They obviously have been the most consistent hitter all season,
Speaker 7: but it's been a down month for him. So all
Speaker 7: those things combined, there just isn't the floor for this
Speaker 7: offense that you anticipated them having. Like, especially when you
Speaker 7: have as many stars as they do, you kind of
Speaker 7: are banking on okay, even if they're not hitting well.
Speaker 7: There's a baseline level of production if one of these
Speaker 7: two guys, or one or two of these guys can
Speaker 7: sort of help carry you for a while, And for
Speaker 7: a stretch that was Otani and Freddie Freeman both guys
Speaker 7: did not have a great weekend in Arizona, and I
Speaker 7: think you saw like they scored seven runs in three games,
Speaker 7: like they did not have a good offensive weekend. So
Speaker 7: they are looking yet they're not hitting the fastball well.
Speaker 7: Their OPS is below but I think seven hundred on
Speaker 7: that pitch since it started July. And they're seeing more
Speaker 7: fastballs than anything in baseball right now, and they aren't slugging,
Speaker 7: they aren't getting big hits with runs and scoring positions.
Speaker 7: They just aren't doing a lot of anything well offensively
Speaker 7: at the moment. I don't think it's a long term concern,
Speaker 7: but like you're seeing it every single night, how much
Speaker 7: of a strain it's putting on this pitching staff.
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Speaker 3: I know it's a team game, but let's narrow it
Speaker 3: down a little bit. All those struggles you just said,
Speaker 3: who is the most concerning about? Who are you most
Speaker 3: concerned about? Because if you consider in the playoffs, Andy
Speaker 3: Payes was a defensive replacement. If you're leaning on Andy
Speaker 3: Payes like it was a different look last year in
Speaker 3: October by what he did in that time, and he
Speaker 3: struggled since the first half. But who is the most
Speaker 3: concerning or the most important to get hot for this
Speaker 3: offense to be where they want to be?
Speaker 7: For the offense be consistently good. I'd say it's and
Speaker 7: I think it's been a season long thing. Like they've
Speaker 7: been really good, even without Kyle Tucker swinging the bat well,
Speaker 7: But like he this is the time where he kind
Speaker 7: of has to get going. You look at it where
Speaker 7: this has just not been the type of season where
Speaker 7: he's even really looked like the Kyle Tucker he was
Speaker 7: signed to be. Obviously he wasn't the contract figure gets
Speaker 7: thrown out. He was signed to that contract because it
Speaker 7: made sense for the Dodgers to have a short term window.
Speaker 7: They were willing to pay much higher AAV than maybe
Speaker 7: he's worth, just knowing that you can sort of lock
Speaker 7: him in for a short term deal while still not
Speaker 7: blocking any of your outfield prospects long term. He just
Speaker 7: hasn't been the kind of setting presence that they needed
Speaker 7: him to be. I could say Mookie Bets. Obviously the
Speaker 7: struggles were really concerning, and he has probably the lowest
Speaker 7: ops of any of these stars, but they also won
Speaker 7: a World Series. Mookie Bets not swinging the bat all
Speaker 7: that well, and I think defensively, as long as he's
Speaker 7: providing solid shortstop defense, it keeps the ops around like
Speaker 7: seven hundred. I think the Dodgers will live with that
Speaker 7: with Tucker, like he was signed to solve a lot
Speaker 7: of problems for them, and he hasn't done that. I
Speaker 7: I haven't seen even an extended stretch of two week
Speaker 7: stretch where he swung the bat pretty well. So I
Speaker 7: think they're still waiting for that, and if that comes
Speaker 7: in September October, a lot of the conversation about how
Speaker 7: bad he was maybe in his first season with the
Speaker 7: Dodgers kind of goes away, especially because he was signed
Speaker 7: to play in October, not necessarily to get them through
Speaker 7: the regular season.
Speaker 4: How much worry is there about Pies?
Speaker 5: This is the second year in a row now where
Speaker 5: he's had really good first halves and kind of the
Speaker 5: second half has been kind of a downhill slide.
Speaker 4: Is there concern about Andy Pyees?
Speaker 7: I don't think so. I think obviously had a good
Speaker 7: weekend where like he's hit the ball hard a couple
Speaker 7: of times, had the home run that was the go
Speaker 7: ahead home run on Friday. I think the approach that
Speaker 7: he has naturally is going to let itself to some
Speaker 7: peaks and valleys. I think they're hoping to kind of
Speaker 7: stave off the valleys being as deep as they've been
Speaker 7: this season. But he's always going to be a guy
Speaker 7: who when he's going right, it's because he's aggressive, and
Speaker 7: when he's not going right, it's because he's aggressive. Like
Speaker 7: this is just kind of who he is as a hitter,
Speaker 7: and some of the struggle with fastball, Like Pa is
Speaker 7: not a great fastball hitter either, So if the whole
Speaker 7: team's getting pounded with fastballs, it's not necessarily going to
Speaker 7: lend itself to Paz finding a lot of success. But
Speaker 7: I still think that the defense provides such a floor
Speaker 7: for them. As long as he can sort of do
Speaker 7: better than he did last October when it was I
Speaker 7: think four for fifty one in October. As long as
Speaker 7: he can provide a little bit more than that, I
Speaker 7: think they're fine in terms of having him there. And
Speaker 7: I think he settled into that second spot a little
Speaker 7: bit better than people would think, especially considering some of
Speaker 7: the other options that they've had at the spot. He
Speaker 7: at least has been somewhat of a more stating presence
Speaker 7: beyond and showing it atany in the order.
Speaker 3: Does it seem like the Dodgers believe Dalton Rushing will
Speaker 3: make it back this year or are they hopeful that
Speaker 3: when he starts throwing after his few weeks off, he'll
Speaker 3: be able to make it back.
Speaker 7: I don't think he's gonna catch this year. They haven't
Speaker 7: flat out said no, but like when we have Dave
Speaker 7: Roberts about it last week, like where the odds he
Speaker 7: does catch again this year and they say very unlikely.
Speaker 7: So they're gonna keep him around like as possibly as
Speaker 7: a hitter. And I think they that sort of speaks
Speaker 7: to the fact that they would like to have a
Speaker 7: left handed hitter on their bench co October. They're pretty
Speaker 7: much exclusively right handed at the moment. But I don't
Speaker 7: know is Dalton Rushing that left handed hitter. Do they
Speaker 7: give a shot to a guy like Alec Thomas, who
Speaker 7: was sort of acquired to be that Justin Dean type
Speaker 7: off the bench and has had a really nice season
Speaker 7: in TRIPAA offensively. I think they are looking for another
Speaker 7: left handed bat off their bench sort of balance some
Speaker 7: things out and allow you to maybe get some more
Speaker 7: days off for certain guys in the lineup who they
Speaker 7: kind of have to run out there every single day
Speaker 7: because they don't really have an alternative at the moment
Speaker 7: on their roster. So the roster's a little clunky right now.
Speaker 7: Adulton Rushing is the guy that they have felt really
Speaker 7: highly about what he's been able to do this season,
Speaker 7: his first full season the big leagues. It's unfortunate that
Speaker 7: the injury kind of happened just as he was really
Speaker 7: kind coming to his own on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 7: And maybe they do keep the bat around because he
Speaker 7: has that thump in there, and he's obviously a really
Speaker 7: good hitter and he's shown that this season. But I
Speaker 7: don't think if he does contribute to the Dodgers again
Speaker 7: the season, I don't think he'll be behind the plate.
Speaker 3: What about Schoobl's pitching a night for the Dodgers at home,
Speaker 3: making his home debut for the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: The what's the Dodgers philosophy?
Speaker 5: Because I'm always I'm always fascinated by this when they
Speaker 5: bring in a new pitcher like Trek Scooble, especially midyear,
Speaker 5: do they let him go out there and pitch the
Speaker 5: way that he's been pitching or do they does Mark
Speaker 5: Pryor and the pitching people jump right in and say, hey, Terrek,
Speaker 5: I know you've got back to back side Young's but
Speaker 5: we think you could be even better if you did
Speaker 5: X y Z.
Speaker 7: I think with established guys at school, it's a lot
Speaker 7: more of like the slow drip, like you let him
Speaker 7: sort of get comfortable, understand like, this is a guy
Speaker 7: who has dealt with a lot this year, like whether
Speaker 7: it be the arbitration case, the elbow surgery, the trade.
Speaker 7: Like he's been open about how emotional he was after
Speaker 7: that deal, understanding that that's the only other team he's
Speaker 7: ever known in Detroit. So I think it's a lot
Speaker 7: of letting him get comfortable, letting him figure some stuff out,
Speaker 7: understanding and having a lot of trust and faith and
Speaker 7: he knows what he's doing, and if they see something
Speaker 7: over time, they'll say something and slow drip some stuff
Speaker 7: in there. But it's been a lot of Hey, Terrek,
Speaker 7: like you you are the guy that you've kind of
Speaker 7: always been. Especially he still on the ball, probably will
Speaker 7: since coming off surgery. The ra is still under three.
Speaker 7: He looks like Trek's schooble. There's a lot of like
Speaker 7: letting him sort of get comfortable. There's gonna be some
Speaker 7: integration of how the Dodgers do things, but at the
Speaker 7: end of the day, like you acquired Trek's school because
Speaker 7: of what he's done, and like they're gonna let him
Speaker 7: keep doing that the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: I'll conclude with this just to make sure there's not
Speaker 1: too much negativity for the back to back champs. Do
Speaker 1: you think that there's some overreacting going on amongst whoever?
Speaker 1: It could even be the team, It could be the ORG,
Speaker 1: It definitely is fans during a stretch like this when
Speaker 1: they've gone through stretches like this pretty frequently. Or do
Speaker 1: you feel like this one's different? And the follow up
Speaker 1: is do you think there are any teams or what
Speaker 1: is the one team in your mind that really poses
Speaker 1: the biggest threat from a matchup perspective in your mind
Speaker 1: to actually slay the dragon in October?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I only there's like anything that's like pressing long
Speaker 7: term concern for them. So I think at the end
Speaker 7: of the day, like maybe there is some overreaction. I
Speaker 7: do think that these are possible warning signs if they
Speaker 7: don't get better. But I do think it's one of
Speaker 7: the things where there's a lot of trust and faith
Speaker 7: in a group that has won a lot of baseball
Speaker 7: games together and at the end of the day. They
Speaker 7: are going to come out of this eventually, and when
Speaker 7: they do, maybe this is a point where you're sort
Speaker 7: of looking back in October like, Okay, this is when
Speaker 7: they maybe figured some stuff out. So I don't think
Speaker 7: it's a long term concern. And in terms like guys,
Speaker 7: like teams you're kind of watching, like maybe it's recency
Speaker 7: biased having just watched them, but that Cubs team is
Speaker 7: really built well, that they don't really have a lot
Speaker 7: of holes. That middle up the middle defense changes so
Speaker 7: many games for them. I love to their deadlines. So
Speaker 7: if I had to pick a team that I'm kind
Speaker 7: of watching the rest of the way, it might be
Speaker 7: the Cubs.
Speaker 6: Okay, yeah, I like that one. I like that call out.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for the time at The Athletic for the
Speaker 1: articles and Dodgers Collective for the podcasts, right Jerry Harriston
Speaker 1: Junior on there, and Doug Dodger Doug right on.
Speaker 6: There too, Hug Can yes, yeah Can yeah. Nice?
Speaker 1: All right, Well, good catching up, Thank you for the time.
Speaker 1: Good to see you talk scene.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thanks for having me, guys,