Speaker 1: And we continue on Fred Rogan Rodney Pete on five
Speaker 1: to seventy LA Sports. Dodgers opened a four game series
Speaker 1: with the Diamondbacks tonight. That's a big series because when
Speaker 1: you're dealing with the NL West, you are dealing with
Speaker 1: the best division in baseball, the best teams in baseball.
Speaker 1: And although it is the regular season, and I've mentioned
Speaker 1: this many times, every one of these games counts too.
Speaker 1: You win, they lose. So these have a little extra
Speaker 1: oomph against the Diamondbacks. So if you want to talk
Speaker 1: about what happened over the weekend, and why would you,
Speaker 1: that was pretty bad. That was just bad. The Angels,
Speaker 1: one of the worst hitting teams in baseball, look like
Speaker 1: the greatest hitting team in history. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if it's something about LA that they,
Speaker 2: you know, get up for, and I'm sure it is
Speaker 2: and all of the talk and disrespect, but they they
Speaker 2: put on a show at the plate over the weekend,
Speaker 2: and they were like, who who the hell are these guys?
Speaker 2: Who are these guys? Because they look like a team,
Speaker 2: I mean, not just that one or two guys, not
Speaker 2: just Ward, And it was it was up and down
Speaker 2: that lineup that were I mean tattoo in the ball, Fred,
Speaker 2: and it was like they knew what was coming is
Speaker 2: how well they hit the ball over the weekend.
Speaker 1: And doctor pitching uh did a very good job of
Speaker 1: contributing to that. For her, to be completely honest, Tony
Speaker 1: Gotslin had the the nail issue. Yeah, and then it
Speaker 1: started to bleed. What did you say earlier, Rodney? He
Speaker 1: looked like, what, I forget what I wanted to. I
Speaker 1: forget what I said. But yeah, yeah, I mean flo fancy, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was, it was, yeah, it was. It was bad.
Speaker 2: You know at that moment when you saw that, that's
Speaker 2: when you got to say, Okay, come on out, come
Speaker 2: on out here, come on out here. And what do
Speaker 2: you do though? If you're if you're the ump or
Speaker 2: you're you know, are you? I mean, that's not a
Speaker 2: foreign substance because it's coming from your body.
Speaker 1: But if.
Speaker 2: If blood can add actually enhance something, that might be
Speaker 2: something that you know, maybe pitchers start to do, Fred.
Speaker 1: Pull little uh pull little get a little pinprick before
Speaker 1: they go out the pitch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, blood help the spin rate, yes, exactly, Hey, White,
Speaker 2: the hell not? People tried other things, remember, Gaylord Perry vasiline,
Speaker 2: you had a dan sandpaper in his hat. He had
Speaker 2: had the file, the nail file, yes, yeah, the nail file,
Speaker 2: ye file.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. It was crazy lengths.
Speaker 2: But I don't know, you know, I think they should
Speaker 2: have Yeah, they should have pulled him because I think
Speaker 2: it was more of a mental thing after that, once
Speaker 2: he kind of got it addressed and there was that
Speaker 2: big meeting on the mound and the blood's all over
Speaker 2: his pants and now you're thinking about it every pitch
Speaker 2: is this going to affect my slider? Is this gonna
Speaker 2: affect my splitter? And his mind was not there after that.
Speaker 2: It really wasn't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he had been good. He had been good up
Speaker 1: until that start. Right, well, then he's bleeding. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: it's also like, who do you go to?
Speaker 3: The bullpen is so messed up, like, and the starters
Speaker 3: have not been going deep, so you've had to dip
Speaker 3: into the bullpen. You had to do it Friday night,
Speaker 3: a Saturday night. Like basically, if Tony Goslin, as long
Speaker 3: as his arm was attached to his shoulder, he was
Speaker 3: going stay out there as long as you can.
Speaker 2: Short of bringing in Mickey Rowe. Yeah, he was going
Speaker 2: to go as long as he can't. But did you
Speaker 2: see the shot they had the long conversation Dave Roberts
Speaker 2: did with Landing Neck and I don't know what the
Speaker 2: conversation was, but uh and Landax going tonight.
Speaker 3: Right, well, his discussion was and he said it after
Speaker 3: the game running. It was like, if you know, if
Speaker 3: they just determined that he couldn't go, Tony Gonslin couldn't
Speaker 3: keep going, they were gonna use NAC yesterday and figure
Speaker 3: out today today that was gonna be the plan that
Speaker 3: they thought that.
Speaker 1: Would to continue.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's how that's how decimated this pitching staff is
Speaker 2: that you gotta you gotta resort to try to call
Speaker 2: in your your Monday your Monday night starter to go
Speaker 2: finish the game on Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1: And I remember before the season started, we were sitting
Speaker 1: here laughing, my god, they've got ten starting pitchers. How's
Speaker 1: everybody many find a start? They got too many pictures,
Speaker 1: you have too many riches. They don't even have enough
Speaker 1: now and they literally had ten. No, because of the injuries,
Speaker 1: they don't have enough.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing, you know, it's the it's year two
Speaker 2: right when I say I wouldn't say year two, but
Speaker 2: it's you know, last year they dealt with this in
Speaker 2: a dramatic fashion. Every team goes through injury, so you
Speaker 2: know you can't avoid that. But last year actually more
Speaker 2: than that, because the year before that they ran out
Speaker 2: of pictures too, because we talked about having to bring
Speaker 2: in Lance Land as your as one of your aces.
Speaker 2: You know, he had to bring he had to start
Speaker 2: a playoff game against Arizona and got he got lanced.
Speaker 2: And so for the last few years they've been dealing
Speaker 2: with this. Is it a point where you kind of
Speaker 2: go back in and investigate what are we doing as
Speaker 2: an organization as a team in terms of pictures and injuries,
Speaker 2: or is it something that you write off is going
Speaker 2: this is just inevitable with pictures nowadays, and it's not
Speaker 2: something that's unique to the Dodgers that we're doing.
Speaker 1: Uh, it is to a degree unique to the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: To a degree, it is part of baseball now. I
Speaker 1: play fantasy baseball and you look at the available pitchers,
Speaker 1: m h. And you can see all these guys. You're going,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick him up right now. Oh, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: IL sixty day list, IL thirty days. Everybody's hurt everybody's
Speaker 1: hurt soap. It is a part of baseball, but the
Speaker 1: Dodgers had more of it in the past. Now, to
Speaker 1: be fair, this year, Blake Snell wasn't here. Last year,
Speaker 1: Tyler Glasnell was, but he came with arm injuries. Let's
Speaker 1: go out to the stadium and bring on David Basset,
Speaker 1: who joins us. Dave, Good afternoon.
Speaker 4: Hey guys, the Diamondbacks are out here taking early batting practice.
Speaker 4: The Dodgers and Diamondbacks soaking up for the second time
Speaker 4: in a week.
Speaker 1: They had.
Speaker 4: Dodgers ended their last road trips splitting four games at
Speaker 4: Chase Fields, so this should be a very entertaining and
Speaker 4: competitive series.
Speaker 1: Hey, Dave, can you share with us from what you've
Speaker 1: been able to hear, what the conversation was like with
Speaker 1: Chris Taylor. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think Andrew Freeman had a hard time just being
Speaker 4: able to, you know, share with Chris Taylor what the
Speaker 4: reality was, and I think at that point you just
Speaker 4: got to be really honest. I'm not privy to exactly
Speaker 4: what the transcription was of the dialogue, but it happened
Speaker 4: after Saturday night's game, where they brought Chris Taylor in
Speaker 4: and informed them that you know, this was the direction
Speaker 4: they were going to go in. And obviously Chris Taylor
Speaker 4: believes he was going to get a job somewhere or
Speaker 4: they would have, you know, maybe worked out something where
Speaker 4: he went on the IL instead of being released. But
Speaker 4: Chris Taylor wants to play, and he wasn't playing a
Speaker 4: lot with the Dodgers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a tough thing, right, Dave.
Speaker 2: He's been here for such a long time, had so
Speaker 2: many big moments for this team and this team's success.
Speaker 2: He and Austin Barnes at the uh you know, and
Speaker 2: and and within five days of each other. It was
Speaker 2: kind of a tough thing to take for for Dodger fans.
Speaker 2: But how how was it in the in the clubhouse
Speaker 2: with guys, because those both those guys are such likable
Speaker 2: guys and really been really good teammates, but they also
Speaker 2: understand it's a business.
Speaker 1: How did they all react to it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it was business as usual, honestly, Rodney. Yesterday,
Speaker 4: maybe it was because it was a day game and
Speaker 4: there's not really a lot of time to really take
Speaker 4: it all in. But you know, Chris Taylor was the
Speaker 4: last guy on the team the last two years, so
Speaker 4: you know, I think everybody understood what was what was
Speaker 4: happening here. The Dodgers weren't playing him. Hey Sun Kim
Speaker 4: exploded onto the scene and has made a real impact,
Speaker 4: has brought a lot of energy and can do things
Speaker 4: that the Dodgers were asking Chris Taylor to do in
Speaker 4: a more amplified way. So I think everybody understood there
Speaker 4: was going to be a crossroads here when Tommy Edmund
Speaker 4: and Taoscar Hernandez came back. The Austin Barnes situation took
Speaker 4: a lot of people by surprise more than the Chris
Speaker 4: Taylor situation.
Speaker 1: Dave Clayton Kershaw struggled on Saturday, what do you see?
Speaker 1: What do you think happens from here? Is that going
Speaker 1: to be the way it is? Or was that just
Speaker 1: a rough outing?
Speaker 4: Well, the first inning was rough. He threw thirty eight
Speaker 4: pitches in that first inning. So after that he settled
Speaker 4: down and had a little better command. But after the
Speaker 4: game he said that was the biggest issue that he
Speaker 4: didn't have the command, and it's understandable after missing over
Speaker 4: a year before he pitched in a major league game,
Speaker 4: But that thirty eight pitch first inning prevented him from
Speaker 4: getting into the fifth inning. And that's not only a
Speaker 4: Saturday night problem, but it's been a problem here for
Speaker 4: the first part of the season because the Dodger bullpen
Speaker 4: reached the two hundred inning mark as far as innings
Speaker 4: pitched yesterday after Gonsolin also only went four innings. So
Speaker 4: that's a big issue for the Dodgers. And we'll see,
Speaker 4: we'll see how it goes tonight, whether or not they
Speaker 4: use an opener for Landon Nak or if they just
Speaker 4: start him. They're going to have to use a minimal
Speaker 4: amount of relievers as much as possible, especially with Caribbeate's
Speaker 4: now going on the injured list.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is.
Speaker 2: Absolutely crazy a day because they they went out in
Speaker 2: the offseason and tried to insulate themselves from from having
Speaker 2: this this this issue, and you know, going through what
Speaker 2: they did last year and the bullpen was phenomenal, but
Speaker 2: they knew it was not gonna it's something that you
Speaker 2: could really sustain, so they made moves to do that.
Speaker 2: But now here we are and it's it's worse than
Speaker 2: it was, you know last year. How are they handling
Speaker 2: it and approaching it going forward? And can you tell
Speaker 2: us when we can get some of the guys back,
Speaker 2: like you know Snell and some of the other guys
Speaker 2: that that may be coming out of the bulk as well.
Speaker 1: What are they coming back?
Speaker 4: All right, let's just start with the bullpen itself. Going
Speaker 4: back to what you just said, Rodney, people thought that
Speaker 4: Tanner Scott was a luxury and Kirby Yates was a luxury.
Speaker 4: They weren't a luxury. They were a necessity. And I
Speaker 4: think everybody has a really short memory that the Dodger bullpen.
Speaker 4: Key relievers like alex Vesia Blake, Trina Brusdar graderoal Evan
Speaker 4: Phillips were pushed to their limits and pitched earlier and
Speaker 4: longer last season than any other key relievers in baseball,
Speaker 4: and the Dodgers relied heavily on those guys to win
Speaker 4: the World Series. And then compound that with the fact
Speaker 4: that they reported to spring training earlier than any other team.
Speaker 4: They had the shortest off season of probably any World
Speaker 4: Championship team in the history of the game, considering that
Speaker 4: they had to report right around the Super Bowl time
Speaker 4: because of the Tokyo Series. So it shouldn't come as
Speaker 4: a surprise, and it didn't come as a surprise to
Speaker 4: Andrew Friedman to try to bring in some reinforcements, bring
Speaker 4: in some fresh arms. But Kirby Yates is thirty eight
Speaker 4: years old. He's not a guy that's going to throw
Speaker 4: seventy eighty innings. Sixty innings was his career high, and
Speaker 4: it was last year and many years ago with the Padres.
Speaker 4: So that's the reality of what's going on right now.
Speaker 4: And I know Andrew didn't want to have to be
Speaker 4: put into a position to go out and have to
Speaker 4: trade for more pitching at the deadline, but the reality
Speaker 4: is he's probably he's going to have to go out
Speaker 4: and trade for some relievers between now and the trade deadline.
Speaker 4: And the guy that's closest to returning and you hope
Speaker 4: when he comes back there's no return to the il,
Speaker 4: and that's Michael Kopek, who also was pitching through a
Speaker 4: lot of pain during the postseason last year. Jill hasn't
Speaker 4: thrown a major league pitch this year. He's on a
Speaker 4: rehab assignment. So that's the reality of the situation.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, Dave, we know you gotta run. Thank
Speaker 1: you for coming on, really appreciate it.
Speaker 4: We'll talk soon, okay, guys, Thanks, all right, there goes.
Speaker 1: David vassaying out at the stadium. Okay, well there's the
Speaker 1: reality of the situation. That's not a great reality either.
Speaker 2: No jolly like you said, which a lot of people,
Speaker 2: including me felt like Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates were Wow,
Speaker 2: they snuck those guys in, They got those guys, and
Speaker 2: now they're overstocked. It's a luxury to have those guys
Speaker 2: because they've they've been phenomenal in years past, and now
Speaker 2: the Dodgers got them. So wow, the Dodgers are stock pilot,
Speaker 2: when in essence they said those guys were necessities.
Speaker 1: Those guys were.
Speaker 2: There was somebody that they targeted and they got to
Speaker 2: They felt like they had to go out and get
Speaker 2: not as a luxury, but as necessity and key figures
Speaker 2: in the in the course of this season. So man,
Speaker 2: it's it's going to be an interesting next two months.
Speaker 2: To say the least.
Speaker 1: We're we're still anticipating Dodger GM Brandon Gomes joining the show.
Speaker 1: If you can get it right, wouldn't you want to
Speaker 1: get it right? Here your choices, get it right, get
Speaker 1: it wrong? Who would pick? I want it wrong? That's next?
Speaker 1: Come on, we keep it moving. It's moving fast on
Speaker 1: a Monday.
Speaker 2: Wow Flying by Rodney Pete Fred Rogan got a good stuff, Fred,
Speaker 2: Are you deep down really be honest with me? Are
Speaker 2: you Are you concerned at any point it's May nineteenth.
Speaker 2: Are you concerned at all with the Dodgers right now?
Speaker 1: Uh? No, I'm not concerned. Really into your bones, into
Speaker 1: your heart, you're not concerned at all, But this tea, No,
Speaker 1: I'm really not because I know everything's gonna shake out, Okay,
Speaker 1: I know the pictures will all come back. I know
Speaker 1: everybody's going to hit, So I'm not concerned. I'm just
Speaker 1: more I just don't want to see him look bad
Speaker 1: against the Angels. I mean, if you're gonna get beat,
Speaker 1: I just don't want to see you look bad against teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there are so many guys hurt. I mean, what
Speaker 1: do you expect. And again, we've seen this movie, we
Speaker 1: lived at last year. All you have to do is
Speaker 1: be ready when you need to be ready, and you
Speaker 1: got some time for that. I just don't want to
Speaker 1: see him look bad. They're gonna get beat, They're not
Speaker 1: gonna win one hundred and twenty games. Whatever people were
Speaker 1: saying at the beginning of the year that insanity just
Speaker 1: don't look bad, that's all. But I'm not worried. You worried.
Speaker 1: So they can lose. They can lose, and and you
Speaker 1: you're not saying that they lose fifty games or anything
Speaker 1: like that, but they can lose and you'll still be
Speaker 1: okay with it even the way they're losing. No, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not worried at this point. But the question though, is.
Speaker 2: Once you know, everybody says, okay, once we get these
Speaker 2: guys back, it's all be good. All once we get
Speaker 2: smelled and once we you know, once we get glass
Speaker 2: Now back, it'll be it'll be good. Once the copek
Speaker 2: comes back and trying and comes back, will be all good. Okay,
Speaker 2: those guys come back, but they've been injured. There's no
Speaker 2: guarantee that they stay healthy throughout the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: On paper, it feels good that you know that these
Speaker 2: guys are coming back, but they still got to come back,
Speaker 2: and they still got to perform, and they still got
Speaker 2: to get their their arms and legs and body and
Speaker 2: mind and all those things in shape to be effective,
Speaker 2: you know, because it doesn't just happen on paper. You
Speaker 2: gotta come back and be effective. And so it's gonna
Speaker 2: take a moment. And I know everybody's believing once these
Speaker 2: guys come back, we're all good. But this it it
Speaker 2: may take one or two or three or four games
Speaker 2: for them to kind of get their feet back under them.
Speaker 2: You know, Like everybody who's like expecting, I don't know
Speaker 2: what they were expecting from Kershall. I think they were expecting, like,
Speaker 2: you know, two twenty twelve, fifteen Kershaw. It's Kershall Day.
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be lights out. You know, he's gonna
Speaker 2: only give up two hits and if he gives up
Speaker 2: a run, maybe he does, but nothing more than that.
Speaker 2: But it's a different it's a different time, different element,
Speaker 2: different animal right now. And it's gonna take curseh two
Speaker 2: three games to gotta get hisself back into pitching at
Speaker 2: Dodger Stadium and on Major League mount.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll see, we'll see if that's the case. Speaking
Speaker 1: of curse uh so uh. The automated strike zone, folks,
Speaker 1: is coming. We kind of touched on this earlier, and
Speaker 1: it's only a question of when. Now, it's just a
Speaker 1: question of when. And of course Baseball has to sign off,
Speaker 1: the players Union has to sign off. I don't know
Speaker 1: if the umpires have to get involved in this. A
Speaker 1: lot of people have to sign off on going to
Speaker 1: the automated strike zone. The concern, again is the human element,
Speaker 1: and we don't want to remove the human element. Well,
Speaker 1: the automated strike zone is going to get it right.
Speaker 1: It's going to get it right. They're going to have it.
Speaker 1: When they use it, it's going to be right. And
Speaker 1: when they get to that point and they're moving in
Speaker 1: that direction, why wouldn't you use it. Well, we don't
Speaker 1: want to remove the human element. We've removed the human
Speaker 1: element from life. It's called AI. You can communicate with AI.
Speaker 1: You ask Ai a question, it thinks it knows you
Speaker 1: when answers. AI is not human. So why in baseball
Speaker 1: must we keep it? Well, we don't want to mess
Speaker 1: with that. Oh no, but society is doing it like this.
Speaker 1: Well we don't believe in that. Well you should. You
Speaker 1: should believe in it. It's pretty simple. It's staring you
Speaker 1: right in the face. If the human element is what
Speaker 1: you're concerned about, the human beings play, let the computer
Speaker 1: call balls and strikes because it's a really tough job.
Speaker 1: And honestly, and you go well, you're all over the umpires. No,
Speaker 1: but the truth is some guys are better than others.
Speaker 2: Tell what about the people, what about the people that say,
Speaker 2: you know, you just said it, human beings play? Why
Speaker 2: don't you let human beings officiate. If you gotta let
Speaker 2: human beings play, then let the human beings officiate. Otherwise,
Speaker 2: this is go to the video game and put an
Speaker 2: avatar of Jason Tatum and let him and you play
Speaker 2: it through your video game, or you get the algorithm
Speaker 2: that just says Jason Tatum would do this in this situation.
Speaker 1: So this is how it's going to go.
Speaker 2: And we're gonna put somebody on him that can guard him,
Speaker 2: and if it comes with a double team, and we're
Speaker 2: going to do all this and just plug it all
Speaker 2: in and just let him play.
Speaker 1: Okay, that was not a really good analogy. So that
Speaker 1: was good, you know, like, no, I didn't know. I
Speaker 1: can't do that. I'm sorry. I mean, look, I'll bite
Speaker 1: on a lot of them. Don't get me wrong. I'm
Speaker 1: sitting here and yeah that makes sense. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: The bottom line is this, if you have the chance
Speaker 1: to get it right, you should get it right. You
Speaker 1: should in anything. If you can, you should. You shouldn't
Speaker 1: roll the dice and go, well, maybe we'll miss a few. No,
Speaker 1: if you can do it properly, you can get it right.
Speaker 1: You should get it right understood. It changes a bit
Speaker 1: of the dynamic of the game. And honestly, pictures will
Speaker 1: hate it. If anybody's gonna hate it, pictures will hate it.
Speaker 1: Hitters will love it because hitters will now know exactly
Speaker 1: the area where that ball is gonna be. M hm.
Speaker 1: There won't be any question. It's not like, hey man,
Speaker 1: the umpire squeezing me, or he's giving me the corner.
Speaker 1: Nobody's given you anything. This is where it goes. It
Speaker 1: has to be in there, or it's not a strike.
Speaker 1: So if you're a hitter, you're standar. They're going, okay, well,
Speaker 1: I know one thing. He's probably not gonna throw a
Speaker 1: lot on the corners, or if he is, they're always
Speaker 1: going to be right on the corner because the automated
Speaker 1: strike zone, the computer will figure that out.
Speaker 2: So is it an advantage going forward in these first
Speaker 2: If they implement it in the first two years of
Speaker 2: its implementation, the advantage is going to be to.
Speaker 1: The hitter or the picture. The hitter in my mind, yeah, one.
Speaker 2: Because now you played baseball black and I know that
Speaker 2: he's not going to get that outside pitch and that
Speaker 2: umpire is not going to be able to call something wide,
Speaker 2: and I got a good feel for my strike zone.
Speaker 2: They're not gonna get anything by me, or he's not
Speaker 2: gonna get anything by me because yumper is.
Speaker 1: Taken out of the equation.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you're right, it's gonna it's gonna be an advantage hitter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you play.
Speaker 2: That's what they want, right, That's what baseball wants. So
Speaker 2: why the hesitation from baseball?
Speaker 1: Well, because we have to get it approved with the
Speaker 1: players and then these people have to consider it and
Speaker 1: the and and they have to make sure it's right.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's the other thing, the big that's the
Speaker 3: big thing, Fredd is like they have to get the
Speaker 3: kinks works out. Everybody's strike zone is different, so whoever
Speaker 3: comes up to the plate, the computer has to adjust
Speaker 3: itself and that takes time and all sorts of different things.
Speaker 3: I think that's, more than anything else, is the bigger issue.
Speaker 3: You can't have the same strike zone for jose Al
Speaker 3: Twov that you do for Cody Bellinger.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, yeah, how do they work that out? Well,
Speaker 2: I don't know, is it is it a you know,
Speaker 2: I'm sure they have measurements and all that thing for
Speaker 2: every player on every single team. So they plug them in.
Speaker 2: This is the strike zone for this guy and that guy,
Speaker 2: and they plug it in and here it is. Because
Speaker 2: you're right, Jose al tuove is different than Aaron Judge. Right,
Speaker 2: so you can't call the same strike as low to
Speaker 2: al two V as you do for Aaron Judge. So
Speaker 2: there's a lot of there's a lot of you know,
Speaker 2: obviously technical parts that you got to get in, you know,
Speaker 2: get into place. But that's not hard because we're twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five and it's already here. So that's that seems
Speaker 2: like it would be an easy thing to do. Maybe
Speaker 2: they wear under their jerseys. Oh they got sensors. They
Speaker 2: got sensors.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hoose al Tuovay already knows that drill buzzers, whoa, whoa,
Speaker 1: who inspired there it is, he knows how to do that.
Speaker 1: Uh No, Maybe they do have sensors on their shirts.
Speaker 1: They go up there and that's what it is. Simple
Speaker 1: could be yeah, yeah, oh it could be. It does
Speaker 1: seem look it looks no.
Speaker 2: Look if we if we got you know, driverless cars
Speaker 2: out there that can sense anything happening and surroundings and
Speaker 2: some car coming close to you or you traveling too
Speaker 2: fast and the car can slow down or carking speed up,
Speaker 2: or it recognizes, you know, a motorcycle coming beside you
Speaker 2: and so it kind of you know, makes.
Speaker 1: Way for that. Then this would be easy peasy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that would not surprise me at all to see go
Speaker 1: to it sooner rather than later. And then people should
Speaker 1: understand that it's a good thing because once it happens,
Speaker 1: it happens. Yeah, that's it. It's done. They're not gonna
Speaker 1: go backwards. Once it happens, it happens. And I know
Speaker 1: there's an adjustment period because there always is, but long
Speaker 1: term it will be a good thing. And moreover, I
Speaker 1: believe it will actually happen. Okay, we are back with
Speaker 1: a final segment here. Yeah, yeah, oh.
Speaker 2: Yes, come on down to home stretch they come, Rodney Pete,
Speaker 2: fred Rogan, Yeah, Freddie.
Speaker 1: We were just talking about the strike zone earlier and
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 2: Was so against it two years ago, three years ago
Speaker 2: when it was first introduced, and you talked about it
Speaker 2: and you liked it, which is weird because you used
Speaker 2: to be an umpire and from a former umpire standpoint,
Speaker 2: you would think that you would be in a fraternity
Speaker 2: with your guys and not want it. But do you
Speaker 2: think most umpires would welcome this or are they standing
Speaker 2: in opposition of this possibility happening?
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting if you watch umpires today compared
Speaker 1: to when the challenge system first started. I think initially
Speaker 1: when the challenge system started, umpires looked at it like
Speaker 1: they were being questioned and they were being overruled. Now,
Speaker 1: if there is a challenge of any kind, you just
Speaker 1: see the empire go okay, yeah, I got it. I
Speaker 1: think they become accustomed to it. But now let's bring
Speaker 1: on the general manager of the Dodgers, Brandon Gomes. Brandon,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming.
Speaker 5: On, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Guys. Hey, let's start with this. Two difficult conversations last
Speaker 1: week to guys that had been around. What I'd really
Speaker 1: like to know. What are those conversations like, I know
Speaker 1: you can't sit here and tell us exactly what was set,
Speaker 1: but do people get emotional? Do they become upset? What
Speaker 1: are those conversations like?
Speaker 5: Yeah, those are always really challenging. Two great players, great
Speaker 5: people that have been here for a long time. So
Speaker 5: you know, I think with those guys, it's being honest
Speaker 5: and straightforward and also you know, having empathy for the situation.
Speaker 5: And you know, they both handled the conversations like pros
Speaker 5: on the other end, as we expected, and you know,
Speaker 5: nothing but respect and admiration for both of those guys
Speaker 5: and wish them nothing but the best moving forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's still tough, right Brandon.
Speaker 2: I mean, you still got to deal with these guys
Speaker 2: that have been around and been at big moments for
Speaker 2: or for this team for a number of years, and
Speaker 2: and and both of them were very.
Speaker 1: Well liked by the fan base. So it's it's it's
Speaker 1: got to be it's got to be tough. How much?
Speaker 1: How much is it?
Speaker 2: And I said this earlier, Brennan, that I think you
Speaker 2: guys do as good a job as any team that
Speaker 2: I know of in any sport of being open and
Speaker 2: communicating with your players, uh and staff. You know, I've
Speaker 2: I've heard Andrew talk a lot about you know, we
Speaker 2: wanted to give a certain player an opportunity to go
Speaker 2: test the market, and and not every not every not
Speaker 2: every organization does that. They kind of keep that under
Speaker 2: the best and they don't really be open with the
Speaker 2: player like that.
Speaker 1: But you guys have.
Speaker 2: Do you was or these conversations had as a possibility
Speaker 2: to Chris and Austin or was it just as a
Speaker 2: time arose that you had to make the decision that
Speaker 2: you pulled the trigger.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think there is a lot of conversations that
Speaker 5: went into this, and you know, we're incredibly mindful of
Speaker 5: opportunities here and elsewhere, and especially for these two guys
Speaker 5: who have been such a huge part of our success
Speaker 5: over the years, trying to you know, handle it the
Speaker 5: right way, and however, you know, we're never going to
Speaker 5: nail those one hundred percent of the way, but that
Speaker 5: was the goal with this, to make sure that we
Speaker 5: did this with as much you know, thought and class
Speaker 5: and you know, mindfulness of the situation as we possibly could.
Speaker 5: So as you alluded to, look, these are these are
Speaker 5: hard conversations and they never feel good to be, you know,
Speaker 5: to be the ones delivering the news. And these guys
Speaker 5: have worked incredibly hard over the course of their careers
Speaker 5: and given it all for the team, so obviously challenging
Speaker 5: conversations are are tough along the way, but you know,
Speaker 5: I think they'll you know, they'll be better moving forward,
Speaker 5: and I'm glad we handle it the way we did.
Speaker 1: Brandon. One thing about the Dodgers. You have obviously committed
Speaker 1: to building a winning team every year, and you've told
Speaker 1: the fans that by the investment the organization has made.
Speaker 1: But if you want to build for sustained success, you
Speaker 1: then have to start integrating younger players. So I think
Speaker 1: this is kind of unique that you have a team
Speaker 1: that can win the World Series, yet you also have
Speaker 1: the ability to bring up younger players that can be
Speaker 1: your future. Do you find this a unique situation?
Speaker 5: We were very fortunate to have, you know, the support
Speaker 5: of ownership, and yeah, I mean the goal is to
Speaker 5: win this year, but also to make sure that we're
Speaker 5: doing everything we can to put ourselves in position to
Speaker 5: continue the success. So we we've had the opportunity over
Speaker 5: the years and this year too, when we get a
Speaker 5: chance to get some younger guys in here to play
Speaker 5: a little bit, and sometimes that comes via injury, first
Speaker 5: veteran guys or you know, opportunities present themselves in different ways.
Speaker 5: It's always helpful from our standpoint. To get an understanding
Speaker 5: of how guys perform up here, and you know that
Speaker 5: isn't always linear. Guys don't always just come in and
Speaker 5: start hitting or performing on the pitching side, but getting
Speaker 5: them a taste of what it is. If they perform
Speaker 5: right away, great, If not, that's okay, then we have
Speaker 5: an opportunity to send them back down and have a
Speaker 5: cuitter understanding of Hey, these are things that you can
Speaker 5: go work done while in Triple A. So I think
Speaker 5: it's a nice balance, and you know, our player development
Speaker 5: does an amazing job. And the challenge here is that
Speaker 5: there's a pretty still a pretty big gap from Triple
Speaker 5: A to the big leagues. So as good as our
Speaker 5: group is, it's hard to you know, put it in
Speaker 5: the end zone. We can get to the five to
Speaker 5: ten yard line and we try to get as close
Speaker 5: as we can of teaching these guys in the minor leagues.
Speaker 5: But this is just a you know, one more step
Speaker 5: to truly understand what they need to do in order
Speaker 5: to hit the ground running once they get to the
Speaker 5: big league. So these opportunities are good for us and
Speaker 5: for the players.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, absolutely, And one of the things that.
Speaker 2: I think separates the Dodgers from everyone else is that
Speaker 2: you guys do look ahead. You do you know, try
Speaker 2: to have that crystal ball and foresee the future. And
Speaker 2: you understand that, Yes, last year, you guys won the
Speaker 2: World Series, but you did it in a unique way
Speaker 2: where you know, the bullpen was asked to do a
Speaker 2: lot more than most bullpens around Major League Baseball, and
Speaker 2: you went out and you addressed that in the offseason
Speaker 2: and brought in a number of arms to help you
Speaker 2: out with this. And yet here we are May nineteen.
Speaker 2: There's serious, serious, serious injuries to the pitching staff. And
Speaker 2: what can you tell us about some of the guys
Speaker 2: that that may be coming off the aisle and and
Speaker 2: getting back sooner rather than later, and and some of
Speaker 2: the status of not only just the starters like like
Speaker 2: Snell and Glass now, but some of the some of
Speaker 2: the relievers like you know, Trynan and Kopek and some
Speaker 2: of the other guys that you're gonna need down the stretch.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm going back to the first point of obviously
Speaker 5: having won last year and doing it in a not
Speaker 5: so traditional way. I think it speaks to the many
Speaker 5: different ways that you can, you know, construct the team
Speaker 5: and go out and win a championship. And our goal
Speaker 5: this offseason was to you know, do it a little
Speaker 5: more straightforward with you know, a bunch of starters that
Speaker 5: went deep and you know complimentary, have a strong bullpen,
Speaker 5: kind of put it all together. So uh that that,
Speaker 5: you know, hopefully that is the goal as we roll
Speaker 5: into September October and down the stretch of a bunch
Speaker 5: of really talented guys that are coming back and healthy
Speaker 5: as far as guys on the men you know smelling
Speaker 5: Glass are both throwing now, so we'll kind of progress
Speaker 5: them through their programs. Both feeling good, which is great,
Speaker 5: trying is throwing currently and feeling good. Rokie is you know,
Speaker 5: kind of just in in a shoulder strengthening phase right now,
Speaker 5: but overall we feel feel good with where he's at,
Speaker 5: and once he gets thrown here in the near future,
Speaker 5: copack out on rehab assignment, which is great, Evan, you know,
Speaker 5: going to take a few more days here and kind
Speaker 5: of assess what we're at before he starts any kind
Speaker 5: of throwing program. So they have a number of guys
Speaker 5: there and then obviously Kirby just going down with the
Speaker 5: with the hand strength. You know, we'll see where he's
Speaker 5: at in the coming days. We should be able to
Speaker 5: keep his arm going, which is a good thing, which
Speaker 5: always helps in you know, getting them back out on
Speaker 5: the mound sooner, being able to keep the arm going. So,
Speaker 5: you know, there's a lot of guys on there. It's
Speaker 5: part of why you build depth in the off season,
Speaker 5: and we're certainly testing those limits right now. But it's
Speaker 5: not fortunately, Unfortunately, I guess it is not a unique
Speaker 5: place for us doc in the in the pitching guys
Speaker 5: do an amazing job of being able to navigate uh
Speaker 5: these these times and still get out there and you know,
Speaker 5: put up wins when we can, and you know, it'll
Speaker 5: be a point where our offense may have to pick
Speaker 5: us up a little bit more, and then at some
Speaker 5: point in the future, uh, the pitchers will return the
Speaker 5: favor to our h to our offense.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to tell you you didn't sound like
Speaker 1: the general manager of the Dodgers. You sounded like a
Speaker 1: guy coordinating a mass unit. Wow, you just listed all
Speaker 1: those guys. It's like you have a medical chart in
Speaker 1: front of you.
Speaker 5: The good thing is all those guys are super talented,
Speaker 5: So we'll be patient.
Speaker 1: All right, Brandon thanks for jumping on. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 5: You got it, guys, Thank you again.
Speaker 1: Okay, there we goes. General manager of the Dodgers, Brandon
Speaker 1: Gomes got it. When you just sit there and listen
Speaker 1: to it, well, you know, he's this, This guy's that,
Speaker 1: he's over here, he'll be back. It sounds like he's
Speaker 1: running an er.
Speaker 4: What.
Speaker 2: It also sounds like it's like, you know, for Dodger fans,
Speaker 2: if you're you know that are listening, it's like, we
Speaker 2: got it under control. It's gonna be everything's gonna be okay.
Speaker 2: And it feels that way. I know that it doesn't
Speaker 2: seem that that way right now with all the injuries,
Speaker 2: but the way they navigated, the way he talked about
Speaker 2: this is our plan and this is how we're gonna
Speaker 2: go forward.
Speaker 1: He was very calming.
Speaker 2: It's like the bedside manner that you need if you're
Speaker 2: a Dodger, if you're a Dodger fan, and it's stressed
Speaker 2: out right now.
Speaker 1: All right. Thanks to Brandon for coming on the show.
Speaker 1: We also thank David Vasse for coming on today. Ronnie,
Speaker 1: great job, terrific way to start the week. Kevin forlorn
Speaker 1: Angel fan, thank you for your hard work, Nottney, we
Speaker 1: get them tomorrow, yes, sir,