Speaker 1: And we continue on Fred Rogan, Rodney Pete at five
Speaker 1: to seventy LA Sports. Okay, Dylan sees and Dustin May
Speaker 1: tonight down in San Diego Dodgers and Padres. Go at it, Rodney,
Speaker 1: and let's get down to the gas lamp district. Maybe
Speaker 1: I think that's where he is because Jack Harris at
Speaker 1: the times usually drinks heavily before the games. So I'm sure,
Speaker 1: freddie Well, what what.
Speaker 2: Did I jump to an assumption there? Yeah, you jump
Speaker 2: to a real assumption. But let's let's find out.
Speaker 1: All right, let's bring on Jack, Jack, how are you.
Speaker 3: Not drinking yet? That would be nice, but probably outside
Speaker 3: the bounds of what's allowed for this job, I'm afraid.
Speaker 1: Okay, well you hey, you make your own rules. You know,
Speaker 1: you're you're really one of the best at what you do,
Speaker 1: so whatever you want to do works for us.
Speaker 3: Oh I appreciate that. Uh yeah, that set approval.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jack, legends get to do whatever they want. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: That's what Fred is really saying. You get to do
Speaker 2: whatever you want.
Speaker 3: In the NASA's place. Is that simple?
Speaker 2: Huh?
Speaker 1: Okay, Jack, here we go. Let's just start with the
Speaker 1: enormity of this series.
Speaker 3: Is it enormous, enormous might be big. I think the
Speaker 3: way I think you got to look at this whole
Speaker 3: ten game stretch they have coming this series against the Padres,
Speaker 3: and then they come home and have the Giants and
Speaker 3: the Padres on their next home stand. It really sets
Speaker 3: up to me what the rest of the season is
Speaker 3: going to look like. The Dodgers could play well over
Speaker 3: the next week and a half, open up some breathing room,
Speaker 3: give themselves a little more margin for error as they
Speaker 3: continue to work through their pitching injuries and kind of
Speaker 3: figure out what the second half of the season's going
Speaker 3: to look like, or if they played poorly, they're going
Speaker 3: to be in a hole. Now, it's not one that
Speaker 3: they can't recover from the division. It's not going to
Speaker 3: be decided in the next week and a half. But
Speaker 3: repeatedly this season there have been allusions to twenty twenty
Speaker 3: one when the Dodgers and the Giants were in that
Speaker 3: epic division battle, and how strenuous that was on the
Speaker 3: Dodgers that year by the time they got to October
Speaker 3: and got to the NLCS and when they lost to
Speaker 3: the Braves. The one key answer that people gave about
Speaker 3: why they failed there is that. You know, they just
Speaker 3: kind of ran out of gas. They were having to
Speaker 3: push so hard the entire second half of that season
Speaker 3: that by the middle part of October, you know, their
Speaker 3: pitching had been worn down, the lineup was worn down,
Speaker 3: And I think they're trying to avoid that same situation
Speaker 3: happening this year. So if you play well in the
Speaker 3: next week and a half, you come down here to
Speaker 3: San Diego and win this series. If you take care
Speaker 3: of business at home, you put yourself in a much
Speaker 3: better situation going into the second half of the year.
Speaker 3: But if you don't, they could be facing a deficit
Speaker 3: in the division. They could be in third place in
Speaker 3: the division if the next couple of weeks don't go well,
Speaker 3: and then suddenly you have a lot of ground to
Speaker 3: make up with a roster that still is pretty far
Speaker 3: from full strength and probably isn't going to get there
Speaker 3: for at least another month or two. So that's the
Speaker 3: stakes of this series, of this coming stretch of the schedule.
Speaker 3: They haven't played these teams yet in their division that
Speaker 3: are at the top of the division with them, and
Speaker 3: it's a chance to either try to open up some
Speaker 3: breathing room or put yourself in a hole that you're
Speaker 3: going to have to try to dig out of the
Speaker 3: rest of the year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jack, and you just you just mentioned that that
Speaker 2: you know, at this point in the season, does it
Speaker 2: really matter? Does it really matter at this point in
Speaker 2: the season. And the Padres, who's been a thorn in
Speaker 2: the Dodgers' side and kind of fought them along the way.
Speaker 2: We just had a question with callers about is this
Speaker 2: a rivalry with the Dodgers and the Padres. Do you
Speaker 2: think this is a rivalry?
Speaker 3: Oh, I think it's for sure a rivalry and probably
Speaker 3: one that you know, lacks the historical significance and weight
Speaker 3: of Dodgers giants. But if you look back over the
Speaker 3: last five years now, the Padres have been the team
Speaker 3: most consistently pushing the Dodgers in the division, making life
Speaker 3: tough on them both in the regular season and the playoffs.
Speaker 3: And in a world, you know, with the schedule now
Speaker 3: where you don't play as many games against these teams,
Speaker 3: the games you do play take on even more importance.
Speaker 3: You factor in, you know, all the stuff that happened
Speaker 3: during last year's inn LDS from you know, the game
Speaker 3: where people threw stuff on the field to Manny Machado
Speaker 3: throwing the ball at the Dodgers dugout, to just the
Speaker 3: really raw emotions that surrounded the Dodgers comeback. Then, to me,
Speaker 3: the Dodgers Padres rivalry, at least of this current group
Speaker 3: of players is almost more heated and more intense and
Speaker 3: has more backstory than the Dodgers and the Giants too
Speaker 3: right now, so it's definitely a rivalry. I think it's
Speaker 3: a really compelling matchup with this core of players on
Speaker 3: both teams who have now met in the playoffs three
Speaker 3: of the last five years, have knocked each other out
Speaker 3: of the playoffs and are going into what's going to
Speaker 3: be or what at least looks like another pretty compelling
Speaker 3: Division race this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jack, you mentioned how it took the wind out
Speaker 2: of the Dodgers sales when they had to battle the
Speaker 2: Giants all the way to the end and then they
Speaker 2: got to play the Braves and just ran out of gas.
Speaker 2: There's the flip side of that too. In the past
Speaker 2: two the Dodgers have run away with the Division, and
Speaker 2: people have said they went into October where they were
Speaker 2: rusty and hadn't played a meaningful game for a month
Speaker 2: month and a half and it hurt them as well.
Speaker 2: What is the formula and where is the fine line
Speaker 2: between being in a heated pennant race or division race
Speaker 2: or running away with it where you can rest your
Speaker 2: guys and don't play meaningful games until the playoffs start.
Speaker 3: You know, I think you look at last year as
Speaker 3: a good example. Last year was not an easy division
Speaker 3: race for the Dodgers. Pretty much up until the last
Speaker 3: weekend of the year, they had meaningful games to play.
Speaker 3: The key part there was they had a division lead
Speaker 3: that whole time. And even if it was only a
Speaker 3: couple of games. You know, when San Diego came into
Speaker 3: Dodgers Stadium for that that series at the end of
Speaker 3: the year, the one where Freddie Freeman rolled his ankle,
Speaker 3: the Dodgers had a little bit of margins for you know,
Speaker 3: there was that game that ended on the triple play,
Speaker 3: and then they came back and they won the next
Speaker 3: two games. They clinched the division. And that's because they
Speaker 3: had given themselves just enough breathing room early in the
Speaker 3: year that even though the Padres were the hottest team
Speaker 3: in baseball are in the second half, even though they
Speaker 3: could never really shake them up until that last week,
Speaker 3: they weren't in a play they were still in a
Speaker 3: place where, if you remember last year, there were still
Speaker 3: some games down the stretch they punted on or they
Speaker 3: were able to rest relievers, and they were able to
Speaker 3: do that because they knew they still had a little
Speaker 3: bit of margin for aer right and that you know,
Speaker 3: even if they lose a game to San Diego at home,
Speaker 3: they could still come back and win the division. So
Speaker 3: that's why, you know, the difference even of having a
Speaker 3: two or three game lead by the time you get
Speaker 3: into August and September can be a lot different than
Speaker 3: when you're down a couple games in the division and
Speaker 3: you really can't afford to punt on games if you
Speaker 3: want to try to win the division and get a
Speaker 3: buy and put yourself in the best position possible for
Speaker 3: the playoffs. And I think the other thing the Dodgers
Speaker 3: figured out last year was how to handle that bye week,
Speaker 3: you know, how to to keep the momentum of the
Speaker 3: regular season going, how to build some chemistry and camaraderie
Speaker 3: with the time off that they had. And I'd also
Speaker 3: point out, like you know, even having those three days
Speaker 3: at the end of last season, after they clinched the division,
Speaker 3: you know, was helpful for Freddi Freeman who didn't have
Speaker 3: to play in those games and even just got a
Speaker 3: small breeder going into the playoffs so that he could
Speaker 3: still be, you know, a productive and impactful member of
Speaker 3: the team. So it is a fine balance. I think
Speaker 3: where the Dodgers are at now, you know they're they're
Speaker 3: much more well equipped to handle. You know, if they
Speaker 3: have a week or two at the end of the
Speaker 3: season that isn't as meaningful, and they would still take
Speaker 3: that one hundred times out of one hundred, especially given
Speaker 3: the pitching injury concerns that they're going to have to
Speaker 3: manage during the second half of this year. So again
Speaker 3: going back to like the importance of these games coming
Speaker 3: up over the next couple of weeks. That's why this
Speaker 3: is so big, because it can make a world of
Speaker 3: difference even if you have a small lead in the
Speaker 3: division versus trying to make up ground in the second
Speaker 3: half of the year.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, talking about injuries, what about Tony Gonsolin. Where
Speaker 1: are we at with now?
Speaker 3: It's not a worst case scenario, as Dave Roberts said
Speaker 3: over the weekend, is the UCL is intact, but he
Speaker 3: gets thrown into this bucket of other pitchers where they
Speaker 3: got to give him some time off from throwing, see
Speaker 3: if the discomfort and his elbow dissipates, then try to
Speaker 3: ramp them up slowly where you're trying to balance this
Speaker 3: and knowing you need to get some pitchers back. Ver,
Speaker 3: it's also not rushing guys back where they could get
Speaker 3: hurt again, and it's the same thing they've been dealing
Speaker 3: with with Blake Snell and Tyler Glass now and Rookie Sasaki. Obviously,
Speaker 3: it leads them in a much tougher spot in the
Speaker 3: short term, starting with tomorrow and how they're going to handle,
Speaker 3: you know, the pitching plan for that game in a
Speaker 3: world where they don't have Tony Gonsolin. The thing that
Speaker 3: Dodgers have kept saying this year that's different than last
Speaker 3: year is that none of these guys have been knocked
Speaker 3: out for the year. Right The only guy they've lost
Speaker 3: permanently this season is Evan Phillips, and because of that,
Speaker 3: they still have confidence that in the long term, they're
Speaker 3: pitching staff is going to get healthy enough for them
Speaker 3: to be in a place where they're confident about their
Speaker 3: chances to go into October and compete for another World Series.
Speaker 3: But every time you have another situation like this, and
Speaker 3: the longer it takes guys to come back, it just
Speaker 3: creates more uncertainty about exactly what the pitching staff is
Speaker 3: going to look like. It creates uncertainty about how aggressive
Speaker 3: you have to be at the trade deadline, you know,
Speaker 3: to try to give yourself some insurance in case some
Speaker 3: of these guys don't come back as expected. So it's
Speaker 3: just another kind of piece of this unknowable puzzle that
Speaker 3: goes into trying to manage pitching injuries and build a
Speaker 3: healthy pitching staff, and one that especially in the short term,
Speaker 3: you know, just makes life that much tough around the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: Well, staying with pitching, how do you how do you
Speaker 2: handle Otani right, because obviously they've been very very conservative
Speaker 2: with him and all accounts that he probably could have
Speaker 2: started the season, but they're being extra extra careful with
Speaker 2: him when he does come back. How do the Dodgers
Speaker 2: are how what would you suggest they handle him? Because
Speaker 2: it could fall into not only out of necessity that
Speaker 2: they got to use him more than they expected, but
Speaker 2: do they because you don't want to lose his.
Speaker 3: Bat yeah, and that explains why they've managed him on
Speaker 3: the pitching side the way they have to this point,
Speaker 3: because they know that they can maybe live in a
Speaker 3: world where shohe Otani isn't an impact pitcher. They just
Speaker 3: won a World Series last year without him on the mound.
Speaker 3: Life's a lot tougher if you try to rush him
Speaker 3: back as a pitcher, and you raise the risk of
Speaker 3: him getting hurt doing that, and then you lose his
Speaker 3: bat for any for a long period of time. That's
Speaker 3: the one thing they really can't afford to have happened.
Speaker 3: So the way they've tried to plan this out is
Speaker 3: give him as much time as possible, very methodically built up.
Speaker 3: You know, he's going to do another live session this
Speaker 3: week in which I'm guessing you'll see his pitch counts
Speaker 3: kind of keep ticking up. It was around thirty last time,
Speaker 3: maybe gets two thirty or over it this week, and
Speaker 3: then try to give him enough time that when he
Speaker 3: does come back as a pitcher, you know, he has
Speaker 3: time to kind of figure out where he's at physically,
Speaker 3: who has who he is as a pitcher now coming
Speaker 3: off the second Tommy John. That's why you know, Dave
Speaker 3: Roberts has kept saying, we're expecting to get him back
Speaker 3: after the All Star break. If you get him back around,
Speaker 3: then you're probably looking at eight to ten ish starts
Speaker 3: over the rest of the season for him to try to,
Speaker 3: you know, figure out where he's at as a pitcher,
Speaker 3: and then at that point you can make a determination, Okay,
Speaker 3: where's the rest of the pitching staff, how badly do
Speaker 3: we need him as a pitcher? How has he performed,
Speaker 3: you know, coming off a second TJ, which is not
Speaker 3: something you can take for granted. I mean, we saw
Speaker 3: Walker viewer last year. He was great in October, but
Speaker 3: the whole regular season was a roller coaster for him
Speaker 3: trying to figure out where he was at coming off
Speaker 3: his own second Tommy John procedure. So I think to
Speaker 3: this point it's been a logical progression of trying to
Speaker 3: protect him, trying to make sure that he's still an
Speaker 3: impact piece of your lineup, while also you know, threading
Speaker 3: that needle to where he's going to have just enough
Speaker 3: time to figure out where he's at on the mound
Speaker 3: and how badly they're going to need him.
Speaker 1: Talking about injuries, if we reverse the roles, if the
Speaker 1: padres itself with a number of injuries the Dodgers had
Speaker 1: this year, Jack, would the Padres be as good as
Speaker 1: they are? Because I contend it's remarkable the Dodgers are
Speaker 1: where they're at given the number of injuries.
Speaker 3: No, probably not. I don't think there's there's really any
Speaker 3: other team in baseball that could have withstood, you know,
Speaker 3: losing basically four out of your five opening day pictures
Speaker 3: for the majority of the first two and a half
Speaker 3: months now and still be in the position the Dodgers are.
Speaker 3: That speaks to the depth they have. It speaks to
Speaker 3: the resources they put into this roster to try to
Speaker 3: work around when situations like this arise. And it's the
Speaker 3: reason why, you know, going into this week, even with
Speaker 3: all the problems they've had, they are still in first place.
Speaker 3: You know, a team like the Padres just doesn't have
Speaker 3: that much depth, and I think you've even seen them
Speaker 3: kind of tail off a little bit as injuries have
Speaker 3: started to catch up to you know, some guys in
Speaker 3: their lineup and their bullpen, and they haven't played as
Speaker 3: well as they did early in the season. The tricky
Speaker 3: part for the Dodgers is is that while that depth
Speaker 3: can help you get through the regular season. You need
Speaker 3: your star players, you need your best pitchers available by
Speaker 3: the time you get to the stretch run of the
Speaker 3: year in the playoffs. So that again goes back to
Speaker 3: why the team has been as cautious as they have
Speaker 3: been with some of their injured arms. They feel like
Speaker 3: in the short term, even if it doesn't look pretty
Speaker 3: on an everyday basis, and it really hasn't for the
Speaker 3: Dodgers going back to you know, like they're what four
Speaker 3: or five games above five hundred since that eight no
Speaker 3: start to the season. This is their weathering the storm
Speaker 3: phase of the year. They are equipped to be able
Speaker 3: to do it now, but at some point they are
Speaker 3: going to have to get healthy again, and it's about
Speaker 3: trying to figure out, you know, how can you get
Speaker 3: there while still preserving your best guys to be available
Speaker 3: for you know, when the games really start to matter.
Speaker 2: Hey, Jack, what do you say to Dodger fans who
Speaker 2: at the beginning of the season and when they made
Speaker 2: all these acquisitions in the offseason and they think that
Speaker 2: the Dodgers should be running away with it should be
Speaker 2: just like twelve games up on everybody else, and you
Speaker 2: look out there and they're playing the Padres, right, you
Speaker 2: know in the three game series. Now, Padres have talent
Speaker 2: up and down that lineup as well. You look at
Speaker 2: the Phillies. The Phillies have as much talent as anybody
Speaker 2: in baseball. The Mets are very talented, as we saw
Speaker 2: when they came to Dodgers State am very talented baseball team.
Speaker 2: It is not going to be easy for the Dodgers
Speaker 2: to run through the National League and get back to
Speaker 2: the World Series and win it. There are a number
Speaker 2: of teams out there, and I know the Dodgers have
Speaker 2: star power and they spend the most money and all
Speaker 2: those things, but baseball, and especially the National League is
Speaker 2: still very, very competitive, and I wouldn't be surprised whoever
Speaker 2: came out of the National League at this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the reason to me the Dodgers haven't
Speaker 3: been better goes back to just the fact that they've
Speaker 3: been playing shorthanded. They haven't had the p staff, either
Speaker 3: in the rotation or the bullpen that they were hoping
Speaker 3: to have for you know, or expecting to have coming
Speaker 3: into the year. I still do think it's full strength.
Speaker 3: The Dodgers are better than anybody in baseball. If you
Speaker 3: have the rotation you want, and you have your top
Speaker 3: believers available to go along with this lineup that, even
Speaker 3: though it's dealt with its own ups and downs, has
Speaker 3: still statistically been one of the best units in the
Speaker 3: sport this year. You know, the Dodgers still have when
Speaker 3: you look at their whole roster of probably the most
Speaker 3: talent in the game. The problem is that so many
Speaker 3: of those names right now have the eye out designation
Speaker 3: next to them. So again, the Dodgers, because of their depth,
Speaker 3: hand handled this kind of stuff better. But you know,
Speaker 3: especially in the National League, like you said, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of really talented teams, and if you don't get
Speaker 3: healthy completely, if you don't have the kind of makeup
Speaker 3: roster wise that you were anticipating having coming into the
Speaker 3: season after spending all the money they did both this
Speaker 3: winner and last winter, it's going to be difficult and
Speaker 3: there's going to be teams like we've already seen this year,
Speaker 3: the Dodgers have not really played all that impressively against
Speaker 3: fellow playoff contenders or fellow World Series contenders, and it's
Speaker 3: a reminder that, yes, while they can tread water to
Speaker 3: a certain extent in the regular season and still win
Speaker 3: enough games to be in first place in the NLS
Speaker 3: and be in an okay spot in the standings. They're
Speaker 3: going to need to have something close to the best
Speaker 3: version of themselves by the end of the season to
Speaker 3: make a legitimate run at repeating his World Series champions
Speaker 3: And it makes you know, this stretch right now important
Speaker 3: to just try to again avoid long losing streaks or
Speaker 3: really bad stretches of play for a prolonged period of time.
Speaker 3: But that's only one part of the puzzle, and the
Speaker 3: second part is going to be they are going to
Speaker 3: have to start playing higher level baseball more consistently as
Speaker 3: the season goes along and as they get healthier, because
Speaker 3: to this point, yeah, when you look at just the
Speaker 3: on the field product over these first couple months, they
Speaker 3: have not been the best team in baseball right now.
Speaker 3: They're not even you know, in a even though their
Speaker 3: first place in the NLS, there's two teams in the
Speaker 3: National League with better records than them, And it all
Speaker 3: speaks to how difficult it's going to be for them
Speaker 3: to try to repeat this year and the need again
Speaker 3: to try to get as healthy as possible by the
Speaker 3: end of the season, because that's what it's going to
Speaker 3: take most likely to go on another deep October run.
Speaker 1: All right, well, Jack, thanks so much. Do you hang
Speaker 1: out in the gas lamp down there.
Speaker 3: A little bit? There is a convention going on down
Speaker 3: here this week, though, where all the hotels were a
Speaker 3: thousand bucks or more. So I'm staying out of downtown
Speaker 3: this trip, so it might be a little bit quieter,
Speaker 3: but we'll see. There might still be some time for
Speaker 3: a postgame beer.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, let me ask you something. So when
Speaker 1: you travel and you know your life is difficult, people think, oh,
Speaker 1: you get to go to all the game. No, no,
Speaker 1: you're traveling all the time and you're in and out
Speaker 1: of airports. Are you telling me the Times would in
Speaker 1: spring for a thousand bucks for Jack Harris to beat downtown.
Speaker 3: We're trying to be strategic with our budget. Make sure
Speaker 3: that you know we're there in person no matter where
Speaker 3: we go. So, uh, it's it's all good. I get
Speaker 3: the I gotta drive this week, so I get the
Speaker 3: mile leadream person out of it.
Speaker 2: So that's all right.
Speaker 1: There you go, So it's a good it's a good week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's silver linings.
Speaker 2: That's it, all right.
Speaker 1: Well, Jack, thanks have fun down there.
Speaker 3: All right, appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: Our buddy Jack Harris from the Times. You know, there's
Speaker 1: a little something something to this tonight, Rodney. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2: Now. There's little edgings to it. That's what I love.
Speaker 2: There's some edgings to it that you know, they they
Speaker 2: don't they don't like us, We don't like them. And
Speaker 2: it's and it only works, you know, you cannot like somebody,
Speaker 2: but it only works when you're competitive, when both teams
Speaker 2: have a chance to win, and you can compete with
Speaker 2: me and it's gonna you know, it could come down
Speaker 2: to the last inning, or it could come down to
Speaker 2: the wire. But you can't talk, smack and and and
Speaker 2: do all the things that you do if you're not competitive.
Speaker 2: And the Padres know that they can beat the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: They don't feel they don't fear them, they don't feel
Speaker 2: in awe of them. They feel they can beat the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: They have not gotten over the hump to win a
Speaker 2: World Series lately, and they know they got to go
Speaker 2: through the Dodgers to do that. But it is a
Speaker 2: it is confidence on both sides, which you love.
Speaker 1: I think the people in San Diego hate the people
Speaker 1: in La more than the people in La hate the people.
Speaker 2: In San Diego. Yeah, I agree with Yeah, I agree
Speaker 2: with that. Yeah, there's a bigger chip on the San
Speaker 2: Diego folks. You know, us calling them little brother for
Speaker 2: years and them being you know, the doormat for years.
Speaker 2: And now they've got a pretty good team. They've got
Speaker 2: a chance to beat the Dodgers. So now they're feeling themselves.
Speaker 2: But yeah, absolutely, we didn't give them a second thought
Speaker 2: until probably the last few years.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean as a group of people, they're very nice.
Speaker 1: I have no problem. So I've known beef with the
Speaker 1: people of San Diego. I just don't know why they
Speaker 1: have this inferiority.
Speaker 2: They got beef with you, Freddy. They don't like.
Speaker 1: You, Well why don't they like? What did I do?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 2: I like you? Freddy? And San Diego. You know why
Speaker 2: they don't like Amy number one? You know why they
Speaker 2: don't like me? The Angels Spanos family, that's in the
Speaker 2: Spanos family.
Speaker 1: Well, they believe. They do believe this. For whatever reason,
Speaker 1: I was instrumental in the Chargers moving to Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: They do believe Yeah, oh yeah they do. And I
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with that. I have nothing to
Speaker 1: do with anything really, but they did believe that, Rodney,
Speaker 1: and I think that's that's why they were upset with me.
Speaker 5: Well, you also yelled when we were at Dodger Stadium
Speaker 5: years ago, across the field towards.
Speaker 6: The players, no hope. You have no hope. So there's
Speaker 6: that too.
Speaker 5: You're all making a lot of friends in the San
Speaker 5: Diego area for multiple reasons there.
Speaker 1: First, listen, that was a long time ago. I was
Speaker 1: just it's.
Speaker 2: Funny, remember that I did yell no hope, and you
Speaker 2: guys looked at me like, what the hell is wrong
Speaker 2: with you?
Speaker 6: And it wasn't even into the ether. You looked at
Speaker 6: the podrais and yelled it in their direction.
Speaker 2: You did as soon as they came out on the
Speaker 2: field and they would warm it up, like no hope.
Speaker 2: Was I right then at that point in time, Yes,
Speaker 2: you were right.
Speaker 1: I don't yell at anymore. But that was then, and
Speaker 1: this is now, and the fun begins tonight. Everybody's getting
Speaker 1: paid now, it's a new ball game. Everybody's getting paid.
Speaker 1: That's next.
Speaker 4: We've made it even easier to take LA sports with
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Speaker 2: Ah oh yeah, it's a Monday, Rodney p. Fred Rogan.
Speaker 2: I just want to give a shout to what you're
Speaker 2: hearing right now, sly Stone, sly and the family Stones,
Speaker 2: iconic musician, iconic producer, iconic sound you know, soundtrack of
Speaker 2: my of my growing up from the time I was
Speaker 2: eight to about seventeen was a lot of sly Stone.
Speaker 2: He passed away today and so we just give a
Speaker 2: shout out to him and his family and many thoughts
Speaker 2: and prayers with his family. But what an iconic legend
Speaker 2: sly Stone. Appreciate it. Ronnie right on, I didn't know that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I did not know that. I just found out. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: Slice done.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we do want to say something and we
Speaker 1: should have done at the top of the show. That's
Speaker 1: on us, Thanks very much to Sketchers. How about that
Speaker 1: turnout on Friday. Of course we weren't there, but our
Speaker 1: street team was there. We gave away ten pairs of
Speaker 1: Dodger tickets. The place was jam packed. They couldn't have
Speaker 1: been any nice to our folks. And we hope everybody
Speaker 1: that once just had the best time because it was
Speaker 1: quite the event. So thank you to Sketchers for being
Speaker 1: so kind, thank you to Sketchers for allowing us to
Speaker 1: send a street team down there. And I have a
Speaker 1: terrific afternoon, so we wanted to give them a shout
Speaker 1: out real quick. All right, So now we know and
Speaker 1: these are student athletes. Enough done, done, done done, not
Speaker 1: another word about it, not another word.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: Now the colleges are actually paying them to now they
Speaker 1: get paid the house versus NCAA case is settled. Schools
Speaker 1: can officially pay students directly from a full of twenty
Speaker 1: point five million dollars. Majority of that money will go
Speaker 1: to football and men's basketball and then it gets sprinkled
Speaker 1: throughout all the other programs. But that's it. And you
Speaker 1: can also have your NIL deal as well. So now
Speaker 1: it is official. Not only can you have nil, but
Speaker 1: the school is going to give you a salary. Can
Speaker 1: we end this student athlete stuff?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: Is that possible?
Speaker 2: Yes, you're an athlete who happens to get an education
Speaker 2: if you really want one, And that's a bigger issue.
Speaker 2: If you really want one, if you really want one.
Speaker 2: So can we do this now too? Can we stop? Well,
Speaker 2: these kids are going to have to go to class now,
Speaker 2: and you know if they miss class or we can't
Speaker 2: let them.
Speaker 1: Miss this test. Can we just stop that now too?
Speaker 2: The eligibility requirement is out the window, right, I mean seriously,
Speaker 2: I mean how do they enforce that going forward? When
Speaker 2: kids are getting paid now and you got to maintain
Speaker 2: a certain average or you got to go to a
Speaker 2: certain minute. I mean when does that come in effect?
Speaker 2: Does that they're gonna have to revamp that right whereas
Speaker 2: you know, you may not be able to participate the
Speaker 2: following year, but in that current year, how are they
Speaker 2: going to enforce the kids are going to class?
Speaker 1: Right, they can't. Oh, you're gonna suspend me. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna let me play. I make two million dollars a.
Speaker 2: Year for the school, right, and I make forty million
Speaker 2: on a Saturday for the school.
Speaker 1: Right, So I'm not playing, by the way, I get
Speaker 1: paid two million two playing and I make you twenty million, right,
Speaker 1: Or you're not gonna let me play. You're paying me,
Speaker 1: do you understand? You now pay me? And if you
Speaker 1: pay me oh I can't play. Oh, okay, okay, and
Speaker 1: then and then if you take your approach on.
Speaker 2: The road, I'm going down the road. And if you
Speaker 2: can't pay me.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. Oh you're gonna stop me now.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Doctor Cassano got mad at me because I called her
Speaker 1: an old hen in English class because she said I
Speaker 1: didn't turn in my report. What are you gonna do
Speaker 1: to me? Oh, hey, Rodney, you have one D and
Speaker 1: you know you'll be ineligible with that D. Okay, So
Speaker 1: I guess the three million dollars I just made part
Speaker 1: of it from you. You just wasted because I'm not
Speaker 1: giving it back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and yeah, you think that those player contracts are
Speaker 2: got clauses in them that you got to maintain a
Speaker 2: certain average or you got to maintain a certain green point. No,
Speaker 2: I'm making that three million dollars whether I show up
Speaker 2: to your class or not. And and what are you
Speaker 2: gonna do? Okay, So you're gonna cost not only you're
Speaker 2: not gonna cost me anything, because I'm gonna still get paid,
Speaker 2: but you're gonna cost a school probably or possibly fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars because we lose this game. We're not in
Speaker 2: the playoffs. We're not in the college playoffs, which is
Speaker 2: an extra one hundred million dollar revenue for the school.
Speaker 2: You really want to do that?
Speaker 1: You're really telling me that my grade is in the C.
Speaker 1: Is that what you're saying? I know it's just d
Speaker 1: but don't we both know what's to see? Well, sure, Rodney,
Speaker 1: we can do that, but here's what we need you
Speaker 1: to do. We need you to work a little harder,
Speaker 1: turn in some extra credit, take a few tests. Again,
Speaker 1: do you understand I have games to prepare for. I
Speaker 1: don't have time for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my test is on Saturday. That's the only real
Speaker 2: test I have riturday.
Speaker 1: Let's see if I show up and pass out.
Speaker 2: On Saturday Saturday afternoon, that's my real test. Don't tell
Speaker 2: me about a math test or English test.
Speaker 1: Right, I'll be prepared for the test that I need
Speaker 1: to be prepared for. So what are you gonna do
Speaker 1: to me? Now?
Speaker 2: You see?
Speaker 1: That's the insanity of all of this. Mm hmm, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm not saying where I heard it. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it's right. I'm not saying it's wrong. I
Speaker 1: heard Eric Musselman is gonna have like ten twelve million
Speaker 1: dollars this year to go out and spend on basketball
Speaker 1: players at USC, they're very serious about competing.
Speaker 2: They are very serious.
Speaker 1: And somebody said, let me, let me help you out
Speaker 1: here here, Now go get what you need. Eric Musselman
Speaker 1: goes out and brings somebody in here. You mean, this
Speaker 1: person has first period and was tardy like every day,
Speaker 1: So we're gonna have to sit them for a game
Speaker 1: to teach them. Really, I don't think that's going to
Speaker 1: be the case at all. So when you back to that, oh,
Speaker 1: the NC Double A is for student athletes. Enough enough,
Speaker 1: some of the players are making more than the people
Speaker 1: in the NC Double A.
Speaker 2: It's business.
Speaker 1: It's business now, it's all business.
Speaker 2: What happens to the nil? Now? Now that the schools
Speaker 2: and where do they get this twenty million dollars? Are
Speaker 2: they assuming that every school is going to have twenty
Speaker 2: million dollars in a pool to play pay their their athletes? Now?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And if you don't at the D one level, Yeah,
Speaker 1: And if you don't, you better explain why explain why.
Speaker 2: You didn't disperse twenty million dollars.
Speaker 1: Sure, it's sort of like, uh, you know, there's a
Speaker 1: minimum threshold you have to hit in the.
Speaker 2: NBA right right in the NFL nowadays.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Now, this is a cap on how much you
Speaker 5: can do. So they're not telling schools you have to
Speaker 5: spend this much. They are telling you this is as
Speaker 5: much as you can spend. Right now, that's what it
Speaker 5: is that you can spend you will spend. It's up
Speaker 5: to twenty and a half million dollars.
Speaker 2: So if the school is not as solvent as some
Speaker 2: of the other schools, they may only have fifteen million.
Speaker 6: To spend yep or five five may two men.
Speaker 2: So then where does the where does the collectives play in?
Speaker 2: You can still have the collectives give as much. I
Speaker 2: saw there was a six hundred dollars cap on collective now,
Speaker 2: so what's the deal? Un collective?
Speaker 5: The collectives are no longer in the business of actually
Speaker 5: giving money to the program. It comes directly from the program.
Speaker 5: What the collectives can do is act as a marketing
Speaker 5: arm for the schools to try to find nil deals
Speaker 5: for the athletes. But money is no longer coming directly
Speaker 5: from any nil or an athlete get.
Speaker 2: Can an athlete get money from the collective marketing deals
Speaker 2: and marketing deals outside of what they've negotiated with the
Speaker 2: school itself.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so the school can give I'll just say quarterback.
Speaker 5: Why if they want to give him four million dollars
Speaker 5: if a twenty and a half, now that quarterback and
Speaker 5: also go talk to the to the collective, and the
Speaker 5: collective says, all right, we got ford, we got this,
Speaker 5: we got that. We'll talk to them on your behalf
Speaker 5: and see if we can set up some sort of
Speaker 5: deal for your a broker, some sort of relationship between
Speaker 5: the two of you, and see if you can work
Speaker 5: something out.
Speaker 6: We'll work as a marketing.
Speaker 2: Arm force for a unlimited amount.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and above six hundred dollars, there's a committee that
Speaker 5: has the vet the amount that you're getting, whether or
Speaker 5: not it's actually a fair market value. There's a whole
Speaker 5: system that's put in place where nil is now being policed.
Speaker 5: Whereas before it was not right.
Speaker 2: It wasn't it was a town with I was sure.
Speaker 2: But so if it's above six hundred dollars, a committee
Speaker 2: goes in and goes, well, well, what the work that
Speaker 2: he's doing is not warring team? You paying him a
Speaker 2: million bucks? Yes, and they can they can shut it down. Yeah.
Speaker 5: So in booster giving the entire University of Utah football team,
Speaker 5: all of them giant trucks, just because they go to
Speaker 5: Utah in the name of nil can no longer happen.
Speaker 5: We have to prove you're like, all right, the marketing
Speaker 5: deal between you and this backup offensive lineman is as
Speaker 5: fruitful for you as it would be for you and
Speaker 5: that star defensive end.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So opposed to is.
Speaker 6: Just giving money to whom whoever joins a pro.
Speaker 2: Trying to rein it back into competitive balance again, because
Speaker 2: this is not gonna it's not gonna sit well with
Speaker 2: the you know Michigan, Ohio State's usc you know Florida
Speaker 2: teams like that, that's got a bunch of nil money, SMU,
Speaker 2: bunch of nil money. But they they've got to be
Speaker 2: regulated and how they disperse.
Speaker 1: That they're controlling the free market.
Speaker 2: You can't do that. Yeah, you can't do it.
Speaker 1: Uh, Okay. My n ideal with Rodney Pete it's a
Speaker 1: million dollars. And what does Rodney do for his million dollars? Well,
Speaker 1: he comes in and uh, you know, once a month
Speaker 1: greets people and they come in the store. That's worth
Speaker 1: a million dollars to me. So I'm giving Rodney a million. Now,
Speaker 1: I on an independent panel will determined Rodney, you're being overpaid. Really,
Speaker 1: I think it's worth a million dollars that I'm paying,
Speaker 1: but these people are telling me it's not.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I don't think that's gonna work,
Speaker 2: and it ain't gonna work. Right, how do you value
Speaker 2: you know? You may be you know, the quarterback at UCLA.
Speaker 2: I'll flip it, right. The quarterback at UCLA is a
Speaker 2: high priced, high profile hesman. Just won the Heisman Trophy
Speaker 2: the year before, right, and he's coming back for his
Speaker 2: junior year now, and you're telling me he can only
Speaker 2: get six hundred dollars. He can't sign autographs or be
Speaker 2: at a store for a million dollars that we're paying
Speaker 2: him when everybody's showing up to come see him. It
Speaker 2: doesn't work.
Speaker 5: So it says this this clearing house that was created
Speaker 5: because of this, uh, this settlement between House and the NCAA.
Speaker 5: Deals that are deemed to exceed fair market value will
Speaker 5: be sent to a neutral arbitrator for review or can
Speaker 5: be rejected by the athlete.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Here here's the thing that would be like the
Speaker 2: review sent to review to.
Speaker 6: An arbitrator yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So so iHeart, iHeart calls Kevin and says, Kevin, I
Speaker 1: think your job is worth a million dollars. We're going
Speaker 1: to pay a million dollars. And then they go to
Speaker 1: an independent arbitrator and they say, no, it's worth a
Speaker 1: hundred Really, that's how this is going to work. I
Speaker 1: think it's worth this, and I'm paying. Well, you're wrong.
Speaker 1: We will tell you what it's worth. But it's my money.
Speaker 1: I can do with it as I want.
Speaker 2: You care you can't, No, you can't.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: That's how we got to nil. That's how we got
Speaker 1: here in the first place. Right is so, no, how
Speaker 1: are you gonna do that? How are you going to regulate?
Speaker 1: And I name, image, likeness. You're telling me, mister independent arbitrator,
Speaker 1: that what my name, image and likeness is worth.
Speaker 2: That Susie Smith is worth the same as Juju Watkins.
Speaker 1: Is that what you're determining?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So when I do a national commercial, a national spot
Speaker 1: as a college player, and the company says, all right,
Speaker 1: you'll make three appearances, you'll do the spot. It's worth
Speaker 1: five hundred thousand dollars the independent arbitrators, or a million
Speaker 1: dollars the independent arbitrator goes, no, it's not. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: that's wrong. It's worth two hundred thousand. That's what you're
Speaker 1: gonna do.
Speaker 5: I don't know how they arrive at this by an
Speaker 5: example I'm using in my mind to try to at
Speaker 5: least somewhat.
Speaker 6: I don't know. I don't really know.
Speaker 5: I kind of agree with you guys if they're saying,
Speaker 5: I'm just using blanket insurance companies. All right, State Farms
Speaker 5: willing to pay Juju Watkins five million dollars. Okay, all right,
Speaker 5: let's check with all State and Geico and all these
Speaker 5: What are you guys? What would you guys be willing
Speaker 5: to do based on what you believe she can bring you?
Speaker 5: And they say, I think it's this. I think it's this,
Speaker 5: So all right, well stay farmed. You said you're willing
Speaker 5: to pay her five I got five other companies that
Speaker 5: said they're willing to pay her less than that, so
Speaker 5: therefore that's not fair market value. That Maybe that's how
Speaker 5: they're going to try to do that. I have no idea,
Speaker 5: but the spirit of why they're doing.
Speaker 2: This is trying to prevent the one say I would
Speaker 2: pay her nothing top dollar, right, and there would be
Speaker 2: one that's out pay her. I wouldn't pay her anything,
Speaker 2: but there is always going to be one. Did you
Speaker 2: are you kidding me? If there's anybody in there with
Speaker 2: the salt? Oh yeah, I pay a million dollars. The
Speaker 2: exposure we get by having her we pay. Can we
Speaker 2: pay her more? That's what some of them would say.
Speaker 1: Why if you're running a successful business, that's what you'll say, Yes, right,
Speaker 1: Lebron James. That would be like Lebron's in college and
Speaker 1: somebody says they're gonna be a million dollars to endorse something. No,
Speaker 1: right now, Lebron James signs an endorsement deal with somebody,
Speaker 1: but before they can go through, the dependent arbitrator must
Speaker 1: determine if that is fair market value. Fair market value
Speaker 1: is what the market pays you. That is fair market value.
Speaker 1: You always get what the market provides. So if somebody
Speaker 1: wants to pay you two times as much as somebody else,
Speaker 1: they must really want you and that's okay, Well they.
Speaker 5: Really want your part as part of it because they're
Speaker 5: trying to find a way to avoid pay for play.
Speaker 6: That's why they put this in to begin with.
Speaker 5: It may pay for play, yeah, but that's that's not
Speaker 5: what the spirit of NIL ever was supposed to be,
Speaker 5: and that's what it turned into.
Speaker 6: So that's what they're trying to police.
Speaker 5: Because Ohio State can pay afford to pay x player
Speaker 5: so much more money through this NIL, it makes it
Speaker 5: unfair for other schools to who can't compete with that
Speaker 5: regulate it too bad.
Speaker 2: That's life.
Speaker 1: It's awful, it's sad. I'm sorry. Nobody likes it, but
Speaker 1: that's life. That's just the way it works.
Speaker 5: Well as of right now, it's not under this current settlement.
Speaker 5: But the SaaS, I don't.
Speaker 2: See how they enforced that. I don't see how they
Speaker 2: enforced the sixteen dollars rule. They can't. Well are they
Speaker 2: gonna do it?
Speaker 1: What are you gonna get suspended again?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Okay, so right, And the schools are obligated to
Speaker 2: try to figure out how to spread this twenty million
Speaker 2: dollars around to different athletes.
Speaker 6: Which is all independent of that by the way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all independent. But they don't want to look
Speaker 2: like you know, they don't want to look like asses
Speaker 2: trying to say, oh, the football teams gets everything and
Speaker 2: nobody else gets anything, and all of a sudden, nobody
Speaker 2: wants to come in there for any other sports. So
Speaker 2: they got to spread it out. And then you're telling me, nil,
Speaker 2: the collective groups that have been in place for the
Speaker 2: last three years, four years can't supplement that for their
Speaker 2: quarterback or their linebacker, their safety or wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Come on, terrible, terrible, fred Let's go well, they'll get
Speaker 1: suit over this too. Whoever's making this rule of the
Speaker 1: NC double all, they'll get it again and they'll lose again.
Speaker 1: They just can't understand what this has become. It's pro sports.
Speaker 1: Pay the guys they can make whatever they can make,
Speaker 1: and stop with the student athletes stuff.
Speaker 4: Hello Rogan and Rodney listener, did you know AM five
Speaker 4: seventy LA Sports has a wide range of LA sports podcasts.
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Speaker 6: No you can't mean.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Rodney, Pete, Fred Rogan on a Monday. Come on,
Speaker 2: let's wind it down, Freddy, All right.
Speaker 1: So this this will be big the series down in
Speaker 1: San Diego, their first opportunity to say hello to each other.
Speaker 1: I know the place will be rocking down there. Those
Speaker 1: people will be completely out of their mind. And by
Speaker 1: the way, there is a lot of energy at Petco
Speaker 1: Park when something bigger is going on with the Padres play.
Speaker 1: So that is going to have I think tonight Rodney
Speaker 1: a world Series or at least playoff atmosphere.
Speaker 2: Absolutely it will. It will because they they hear everything
Speaker 2: that happens up here in La Dodgers. Everybody loves the Dodgers,
Speaker 2: all the money that the Dodgers spend, all the stars
Speaker 2: that are the Dodgers. They're like, you know, the hell
Speaker 2: with them. We need our respect, and they want to
Speaker 2: get their respect by beating the Dodgers. And you know,
Speaker 2: you can motivate yourself however you want to motivate yourself
Speaker 2: but they still got to play them. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a big deal. And I think we threw it
Speaker 2: out there before, is this bigger for the Padres or
Speaker 2: bigger for the Dodgers mission? And I was thinking that
Speaker 2: it's it's bigger, it's it's not that great for either team.
Speaker 2: But I think this one, now that I look at it,
Speaker 2: is bigger for the Padres than it is for the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you are in the position you're in, these
Speaker 1: are always bigger unless they will determine the outcome of
Speaker 1: a season for that team, the team that lost last year.
Speaker 1: So it'll be fun. Dylan Cees, Dustin May will have
Speaker 1: the game of the radio station, Ronnie, thank you, Kevin,
Speaker 1: terrific job, and Rodney will talk about Game one tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Let's do it.