We're joined right now by a man that I thoroughly respect and love his podcast
Baseball Tonight. As I take my dog for a walk, there is only
one podcast I listen to to get caught up on the rest of Major League
Baseball, and that's Buster Only's Baseball Tonight podcast and obviously staple for Sunday Night
Baseball, Wednesday Night Baseball, and obviously going to be a big part of
ESPN's coverage of the home run Derby. And Buster joins us, not from
Vermont, but from Hartford, Connecticut. How you doing, Buster, and
field of Vermont disrespect coming at some point, you have long you have long
made jokes at the expense of my home state, and I've always been shocked
by the level of your vitriol. But we'll move past that. Hey,
I promised you when I asked you to do this, I would not make
any jokes or cheap shots against the state of Vermont. Uh huh, go
ahead to take your shot, and then we'll move on to the baseball.
Well, it says a lot you were in Vermont and you decided to go
to Hartford, Connecticut. Oh I know that. Okay, we got that
out of the way. Buster when you look at the All Star teams and
who's in who's out, there's always some debate. But I was a little
surprised that Craig Kimberl and Kenley Jansen did not make the American League team,
but Clay Holmes made the team. And you do wonder when some of those
things come into, you know, come to pass. You do wonder about
the timing of when some of those discussions take place. Uh and and I
think that that may have had something to do with it. I think that
if you know, for example, that you know that that took place a
week later, two weeks later, thank Kenley would be in and Holmes would
be out, you know, because we've seen Holmes have struggled of late.
We know the Yankees are going to be looking for bullpen upgrades before the trade
deadline out. On the other hand, Kenley Jansen's making it really hard for
the Red Sox consider trading him because they're playing so well. He's an important
part of that. As I was driving from Vermont to hart for last night,
I was listening in that the Red Sox nearly blew an eleven to two
lead, and Alex score just made sure he had ken Lee Jansen warming up
in the bullpen with a score twelve to eight. Because ken Ley's mister reliable
buster. I know I'm a little biased because ken Lee spent the majority of
his career with the Dodgers all time saves leader, But are we taking for
granted one of the great careers of a closer because it feels like he's not
really mentioned among the best currently and his career is remarkable that it's still going
at this level. I think it reflects the conversation within the sport. A
lot of the new front offices basically don't really value closers, you know,
I think in the way that they might have thirty years ago, because they
feel like that, generally speaking, relievers are replaceable. We see it every
fall when you know relievers are cut free, non tendered, very few of
them actually paid a lot of money, you know. I think that,
you know, the days when you know guys like Roley Fingers Mariano Rivera are
considered to be the more dominant players in the sport, those are gone.
And I think ken Lee, you know, Craig Kimberler are two guys who
are feeling that disrespect. I just know from my time covering the Yankees,
and I covered some great teams. Now they had set up men like you
know, Jeff Nelson, who were telling me, yeah, I don't want
the closer job. You wouldn't know. And I know, no matter what
the numbers say, no matter what front offices say about anyone can be a
closer. That's not how the players feel. And I think that's how ken
Lee has distinguished himself in his career, doing this job better than just about
anybody in his time. Yeah, and I know talking to ken Lee a
lot, Buster the Hall of Fame is on his mind. Five hundred saves
is on his mind. And I'm not sure if he's going to get to
the Hall of Fame, but certainly he's making a case for it. Heck
yeah, I mean, if he gets five hundred saves, I don't know
how you don't put him in because at that point, if I if I
have the numbers correct, the only two guys in history with who would have
more saves than him would be Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. And so to
me, he would be an automatic in terms of getting of the Hall of
Fame. Buster only from ESPNS joining US on Dodger Talk Buster, let's turn
our attention to the Dodgers. I said this over the last forty games,
and some of the players have gotten upset with me that they are leaving Los
Angeles wanting for more. As good as they are, as big of a
lead as they have, they are leaving us wanting more. How do you
feel from your perspective? And it was interesting because during the winter time,
you know, the conversations, will they have the greatest lineup ever? Will
they you know, can anybody beat the Dodgers, you know, will they
approach one hundred and twenty wins? They're not close to being that team so
far. We look at the you know, potential if everyone is healthy,
if you you know, get Mookie back and he's okay with his hand the
rest of the year, and you know, Tani and Fred are in the
lineup, if guys rebound in that lineup, because the bottom half of the
order has really, you know, not performed generally, and if they get
their starting pitchers back healthy, then yeah, they could make a big den
in October. But to this point, we haven't seen, you know,
that dominant team that we all forecast during the winter time. It's not nearly
that. It has not demonstrated the kind of depth that we expected, and
that's why a lot of people are speculating they're looking for an everyday outfielder to
lengthen that lineup. Uh do you believe that's right at the top? One,
A, one B of them looking for a starting pitcher, you know.
And it's interesting because when you look at the Dodgers and the resources and
the players they have on their forty man roster, it's not easy to see
what should be a priority. I have not spoken with Andrew Freeman recently,
but just from talking with other teams, I think the Dodgers are a little
bit like the Atlanta Braves right now, where they want to get a little
bit closer to the deadline before they figure out exactly what the biggest priority is.
You know, if some of the guys in the bottom half of the
lineup begin to hit, then the concern about that is mitigated and maybe they
go in another direction. You know better than anybody, you know, the
Dodgers through the years tend to slow play their players with injuries, their starting
pitchers in particular, and you know, they might actually feel good about their
starting pitching down the stretch. Maybe you know this is just a case where
they're giving Tyler klass Now a chance to rest up and get ready for the
postseason, because we pretty much know the Dodgers are going to be in the
Dance in October, and they tend to focus on trying to get guys ready
for them. So I think we'll know more about what the priorities once we
get close to the deadline. Without a doubt, Buster, this was a
great coincidence, opportunity, whatever you want to call it, to say,
you know what, Tyler, you're gonna just miss one more start. We're
going to give you an extra period of time to cool down this back and
get you ready for the second half. But there is still a lot of
uncertainty surrounding the return of Yoshi Yamamoto, Walker, Bueller, and Kershaw is
determined to come back, but you know how how fickle those shoulder surgeries are.
There's no guarantees that he's going to be that guy. So I feel
like the talk about Garrett Crochet is legitimate, but also Buster, if the
Dodgers have an opportunity to trade for Nathan Valdi, it feels like that is
even more tempting than going after Crochet. Yeah, Nathan Evaldi would be perfect
for them. He also would be perfect for the Red Sox. And I
can tell you this. You know, a couple of weeks ago, when
there's you know, talk in the media the Rangers going to be sellers.
Chris Young, who's their general manager, the message going from him was,
we're going for it. We are not gonna sell. And maybe the mask
changes for them. But if you noticed so last week or so, they're
starting to play better. Their offense is better. They got guys coming back.
I would not count on that. We know Crochet is going to be
moved. The obvious question is, you know, how comfortable is the acquiring
team with the number of innings that he's thrown already? He had never gone
more than I think fifty four going into this year. He's gonna go well
past that. You worry that he's tired. I think one of the contenders,
maybe it's the Baltimore Oils, maybe it's the Red Sox, maybe it's
the Dodgers says, you know what, We're not gonna worry about the innings
so much. We're gonna bet on the talent because he is big and left
handed and physical, and you'd have him under control for another year, so
he to me would make sense. I would say this in a bidding situation.
The last couple of years, it feels like so often the Dodgers have
had advantages over other teams because of their farm system. If the Baltimore Orioles
ever got serious about acquiring a big you know, a big name picture is
available, they might have an advantage over all of the teams because their farm
system currently is so deep without a doubt buster. And that's the danger for
the Dodgers. If the Orioles want the same picture they do, they're the
one team that can trump them with prospects. Yeah, one hundred percent,
because they can and they have a wide range, you know. They It's
interesting, you know, when I was in Baltimore for Sunday Night Baseball recently,
I had someone there ask me, you know, have you seen anything
like this in terms of player development and the depth of the farm system,
Like, yeah, the Dodgers, you know, the Dodgers. The Dodgers
are very much like where the Oriols are now, where not only are they
you know, picking the right players, but they're doing a great job of
developing the players. Uh, and that's why the Orioles are in the situation
where it's possible if they get serious about bidding for an available starting p they,
you know, I think absolutely could have an advantage over the rest of
the industry. Buster only is our guest. As we are getting ready for
the second half of the Major League Baseball season, I feel like watching the
Dodgers and Phillies go at it in Philadelphia, They're going to do it again
at Dodgers Stadium in a couple of weeks. Buster, I'm not sure Andrew
Friedman looks at it this way, but certainly you would have to imagine when
the Dodgers see Nola Wheeler Christopher Sanchez, they've got to think that we've got
to find a way to match that in a playoff series. If we see
these guys. I thought when you started that sentence of what you're going to
say, was you know they could you first see a matchup in October,
not just in a couple of weeks, because I ain't on paper right now,
Phillies are the best team in baseball. They're the most complete team.
You know, so many of the other contenders we look at and we say,
well, you know, the Yankees have a major hole with their bullpen.
You know, the Braves clear league could use some outfield help. The
Phillies are the one team where I think they don't necessarily have this gaping hole.
They got an excellent rotation. You know, you ran through three names.
How about Ranger Suarez. It might start the game for the All Star
Game. They have an excellent bullpen, they have an experienced lineup. Those
guys are incredibly hungry after having a shocking exit from the playoffs last year.
I do think the Phillies are the standard. And if you're Andrew Freeman,
you know it's you're probably gleaning some information being able to watch them in person
leading up to the trade that long. It would be incredibly electric. Buster
Dodgers Phillies in the NLCS. That's what as a baseball fan, I'm hoping
for. Back to those those matchups in nineteen seventy seven, nineteen seventy eight.
Yeah, you know that sort of thing where I mean they would really
be two powerhouse teams going at it. Yeah, that would be special.
I feel like Matt Camp and Andre Ethier are still traumatized by Matt Stairs in
those eight nine nlcs's exactly, Thanks Buster for the time. Always great to
catch up with you and look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles Sunday night
baseball, Dodgers, Red Sox right out of the break. That sounds great,
David. I appreciate you asking