Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Jordan Walker breakout, Dodgers dev machine, Yankees rotation update

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Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Jordan Walker breakout, Dodgers dev machine, Yankees rotation update · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: Let's hit the inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal. Ken,
0:07
Speaker 1: we are going to start with the Saint Louis Cardinals
0:11
Speaker 1: from your notes column in The Athletic Right now, will
0:14
Speaker 1: hit on both Jordan Walker and jj Weatherhold. I would
0:17
Speaker 1: like to start with the league leader in home runs.
0:20
Speaker 1: Your thoughts on Jordan Walker finally coming through at the
0:24
Speaker 1: age of twenty three.
0:27
Speaker 2: At the age of twenty three, he's still twenty three.
0:29
Speaker 2: It's kind of one of the points here. He obviously
0:32
Speaker 2: underwent some mechanical changes that started actually last year. You
0:36
Speaker 2: can't do it really during the season, but they kept
0:38
Speaker 2: working with him, working with him, and he kept working
0:41
Speaker 2: at it, and it's kind of difficult to explain. But
0:44
Speaker 2: his batpath has improved. Obviously, He's no longer hitting the
0:48
Speaker 2: ball as often on the ground, and he's turning his
0:51
Speaker 2: incredible bat speed and incredible exit velocities into home runs. Now,
0:55
Speaker 2: the question everyone is going to have, including myself, is
0:58
Speaker 2: Ken at last, I don't know if he's going to
1:00
Speaker 2: finish with one hundred homers this season, but it certainly
1:04
Speaker 2: seems like he has found not just the right BACKPAF
1:08
Speaker 2: and the right mechanics but also the right mentality. And
1:12
Speaker 2: what I mean by that is what he said. He said, Listen,
1:16
Speaker 2: I'm going into the batters box and turning off my brain,
1:20
Speaker 2: all the mechanical work, all the stuff I'm doing to
1:23
Speaker 2: make sure the swing is in a good spot that
1:26
Speaker 2: is happening before the game. Once I get in the box,
1:29
Speaker 2: then I let my athleticism take over. I turn my
1:31
Speaker 2: brain off and go. If he gets to stay in
1:34
Speaker 2: that along with the mechanics, we might have something really
1:38
Speaker 2: special here.
1:40
Speaker 3: Kin.
1:40
Speaker 4: Another guy on the Cardinals is JJ Weatherhold. I picked
1:43
Speaker 4: him to win Rookie of the Year in the Nationalleague
1:44
Speaker 4: just because I thought he would get enough at bats, enough.
1:46
Speaker 3: Exposure in Saint Louis to do that.
1:49
Speaker 4: How special of a player is JJ weatherall going to
1:51
Speaker 4: be along with Jordan Walker?
1:53
Speaker 3: And then have they had extension talks?
1:55
Speaker 4: Because does it put more pressure on a team when
1:58
Speaker 4: you see someone like Connor griff get that extension before
2:01
Speaker 4: he well, sorry, not before after he made his big
2:05
Speaker 4: league debut.
2:07
Speaker 2: Well, Aja, First of all, I want to pass along
2:10
Speaker 2: this note from all of oriole fans across America. They
2:13
Speaker 2: are so grateful to you for all you've done for
2:15
Speaker 2: their franchise. Now.
2:17
Speaker 4: As for since I picked the uniforms, I'm just saying
2:20
Speaker 4: three to no, not that it's a coincidence, right, hugs
2:22
Speaker 4: Pete and.
2:23
Speaker 2: Pete and hugged Pete. Thank goodness, you hugged Pete. Now,
2:26
Speaker 2: weather Holt is a guy that has had extension discussions
2:31
Speaker 2: with the Cardinals. As I reported, they have not progressed.
2:33
Speaker 2: And listen, these talks take place between players and teams
2:36
Speaker 2: all the time. Not all of them result in deals,
2:39
Speaker 2: and it gets to a point where if you can't
2:43
Speaker 2: find the sweet spot for the player in the club,
2:46
Speaker 2: then they just kind of let it go and maybe
2:48
Speaker 2: resume these talks at another time. As for the player himself,
2:52
Speaker 2: he's a really interesting guy to me because he was
2:55
Speaker 2: undrafted out of high school, nobody took him, goes to
2:58
Speaker 2: West Virginia on a scholarship and becomes the player he
3:01
Speaker 2: is today. This amazing knack for going to the opposite
3:04
Speaker 2: field and just a solid, steady, overall mature kid in
3:10
Speaker 2: every sense of the world. That was what I kind
3:13
Speaker 2: of gleaned. Talking to Bran Brown, the hitting coach for
3:17
Speaker 2: the Cardinals, he said his personality, his maturity reminds me
3:21
Speaker 2: of Will Smith's Ryan Stanek, a reliever for the Cardinals,
3:24
Speaker 2: said the same that this kid is just beyond his
3:27
Speaker 2: years in that sense. He acts like he belongs and
3:31
Speaker 2: not in a bad way, in a good way. So
3:34
Speaker 2: he obviously has talent. He was the number seven pick
3:36
Speaker 2: overall out of West Virginia in twenty twenty four, and
3:40
Speaker 2: he should be along with Walker. They're the same age
3:44
Speaker 2: part of the next Cardinals renaissance, whenever that might occur.
3:48
Speaker 5: Had the Cardinals not been in this rebuild. Whatever the
3:52
Speaker 5: vernacular they're using is do both of these players get
3:56
Speaker 5: this opportunity this year with Jordan Walker hitting two two
4:00
Speaker 5: hundred and then two fifteen and back to back years
4:03
Speaker 5: j J. Weatherholt, there was some questions maybe he'd be
4:06
Speaker 5: up next year, but they both get the opportunity if
4:08
Speaker 5: they're not in this reboot and they're in the middle
4:10
Speaker 5: of you know, Moe's run of whatever it was, nineteen
4:14
Speaker 5: straight playoff appearances.
4:18
Speaker 2: Eric It's kind of a hypothetical that we'll never know
4:21
Speaker 2: the answer to, but they're not in that kind of
4:24
Speaker 2: middle ground anymore, and that was a very healthy thing
4:27
Speaker 2: for their organization. Winheim Bloom took over as President Baseball
4:31
Speaker 2: operations for John mozelok. He made it clear by his
4:35
Speaker 2: actions and by his words that they are going to transition,
4:39
Speaker 2: and frankly, that transition, whatever you want to call it,
4:43
Speaker 2: as you said, rebuilding, rebooting, whatever it was overdue. Cardinals
4:47
Speaker 2: fans would have been happy. I believe most Cardinals fans
4:52
Speaker 2: if this had happened maybe a year or two ago,
4:54
Speaker 2: if they kind of accelerated this. They didn't, and maybe
4:58
Speaker 2: he tried to compete last year when they really weren't
5:00
Speaker 2: in position too okay, But now they've started the process
5:04
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of things to like here.
5:06
Speaker 2: They need more pitching, obviously, and well, they have some
5:10
Speaker 2: good things.
5:10
Speaker 3: Going on there.
5:11
Speaker 2: That probably is the one area where they need to grow.
5:14
Speaker 2: But if you look at Weatherholt Walker now along with
5:18
Speaker 2: Mason Wynn, Nolan Gorman's playing better, they have some pieces.
5:22
Speaker 2: Alec Burson is a piece, so they're not necessarily that
5:27
Speaker 2: far away in a division that is pretty forgiving for
5:31
Speaker 2: the most part, the Anel Central. I don't know that
5:33
Speaker 2: it's going to happen this year, even next year, but
5:36
Speaker 2: they are at least on the right track and in
5:39
Speaker 2: a way that their fans can now embrace and say, okay,
5:43
Speaker 2: we get it. We know what the team is doing.
5:45
Speaker 2: We can understand and withstand the losses that are going
5:50
Speaker 2: to come because there is a path forward.
5:54
Speaker 3: All right.
5:54
Speaker 5: Well, a team that clearly has a path forward as
5:56
Speaker 5: the Dodgers. And I want to ask you about James
5:59
Speaker 5: tim Tis, the third, who is yet another player. I
6:03
Speaker 5: think he was traded twice last year and then brought
6:06
Speaker 5: into the Dodgers' organization. Now he is eight homers in
6:09
Speaker 5: the bushes after like a two for twenty slump or
6:12
Speaker 5: something like that.
6:13
Speaker 3: Do they have room for him in the big leagues?
6:16
Speaker 5: But also, is this just another case of showing how
6:19
Speaker 5: the Dodgers don't just dip into free agency and spend
6:23
Speaker 5: money in that area of building a roster.
6:27
Speaker 2: That is the misunderstood part of what they do. And
6:31
Speaker 2: I'll get to that in a second. You ask me
6:32
Speaker 2: if they have room for him right now? Obviously not.
6:34
Speaker 2: Piez is going crazy, Tucker of course is playing well.
6:38
Speaker 2: They're fine in the outfield, Tao's having a resurgent year.
6:42
Speaker 2: But what the Dodgers have right now is a really
6:45
Speaker 2: interesting situation. They have not just TIBs as an outfield prospect.
6:49
Speaker 2: They've got a number of others, including a couple who
6:51
Speaker 2: are ahead of Tibbs at least in the prospect rankings
6:54
Speaker 2: that you'll see publicly. I don't know how they make
6:56
Speaker 2: room for them. Ultimately, Tucker is on a relatively short
6:59
Speaker 2: term deal. Of course, Teoscar Hernandez is not going to
7:02
Speaker 2: be there forever whatever. That is something they'll deal with
7:06
Speaker 2: at some point. What is underrated about what they do
7:09
Speaker 2: and what fans who get obsessed with the money sometimes overlook,
7:14
Speaker 2: is that they operate at an extremely high level in
7:18
Speaker 2: every aspect of what they do, player development, draft, all
7:24
Speaker 2: this and in the case of Tibbs, here's a guy
7:27
Speaker 2: who was traded from San Francisco to Boston in the
7:29
Speaker 2: Ralphaield Devers deal. That was understandable. Boston wanted some young
7:33
Speaker 2: talent in return for taking on Jordan Hicks's salary, etc.
7:38
Speaker 2: And then the deal with the deadline was also understandable
7:41
Speaker 2: in a sense. For the Red Sox, they wanted Dustin
7:43
Speaker 2: May to help them with the Pennant push. It just
7:46
Speaker 2: didn't work out for them and they end up giving
7:48
Speaker 2: up a guy who, yes, has had a pretty good
7:51
Speaker 2: start to his season at Triple A. So I don't
7:53
Speaker 2: know where the future is for James Tibbs the third.
7:56
Speaker 2: But the Dodgers do this and if you remember two,
8:00
Speaker 2: the Michael Bush trade. Now Michael Bush has become a
8:03
Speaker 2: really good player for the Cubs, but in that trade,
8:07
Speaker 2: the Dodgers acquired a pitcher that they like, a young pitcher,
8:10
Speaker 2: and Zeer Hope, who is one of those outfield prospects.
8:13
Speaker 2: This is what they do. They churn it, and they
8:16
Speaker 2: churn it in a healthy way and keep replenishing their
8:19
Speaker 2: talent in addition to everything else that they're doing in
8:23
Speaker 2: a financial sense spending money.
8:27
Speaker 4: By the way, I wasn't going to talk about this
8:29
Speaker 4: because Tims went to Florida State, so we all know
8:32
Speaker 4: how I feel about Florida State, so I.
8:33
Speaker 3: Wasn't going to bring it up.
8:34
Speaker 4: But I do want you to understand it's not like
8:36
Speaker 4: this guy didn't have any talent. He was the thirteenth
8:39
Speaker 4: overall pick in the country, no question, a couple of
8:41
Speaker 4: years ago.
8:42
Speaker 3: So it's not like they found this guy off the
8:43
Speaker 3: side of the street.
8:44
Speaker 4: I mean, he was pretty good and he had three
8:46
Speaker 4: solid years at Florida State.
8:49
Speaker 2: But they maximized Dustin May and this is the thing
8:52
Speaker 2: that they understand and all teams understand this. At the deadline,
8:56
Speaker 2: it's a seller's market and you can get teams to
9:00
Speaker 2: over pay, which it appears the Red Sox did in
9:03
Speaker 2: this case. They also traded another outfield prospect in this
9:06
Speaker 2: deal that the Dodgers like along with Tibbs. So no,
9:09
Speaker 2: you're absolutely right. AJ Tibbs was not exactly an unknown
9:12
Speaker 2: in the industry, but the Dodgers had the wherewithal with May.
9:15
Speaker 2: And you can say, well, that's because they spent on
9:17
Speaker 2: all these other pictures. Fine, but it still made a
9:20
Speaker 2: good trade here it appears, and that's to their credit.
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10:27
Speaker 3: How about the Diamondbacks?
10:28
Speaker 5: How are they making it work? Your headline was they're
10:30
Speaker 5: making it work with I think Kutel Marte, hang on,
10:34
Speaker 5: I'm not even gonna ka tell Martehral Perdomo, Alec Thomas
10:38
Speaker 5: and Nolan Ernado all having an OPS under six hundred,
10:42
Speaker 5: the guys that you would think at least two of
10:44
Speaker 5: those four should be the main stays in that lineup right.
10:49
Speaker 2: And obviously last night was not a good example of
10:51
Speaker 2: them making it work. It showed their bullpen flaws in
10:55
Speaker 2: the extreme sense when they blew that seven to one
10:57
Speaker 2: lead to the Orioles. But it has been impressed to
11:00
Speaker 2: see what they've done with those guys struggling, and not
11:03
Speaker 2: just that without so many key players. Lord Escuriel Junior,
11:07
Speaker 2: of course, is expected to come back at some point
11:09
Speaker 2: in the near future, and then Corbyn Burns and Justin
11:13
Speaker 2: Martinez and Puck they should be back at some point
11:17
Speaker 2: as well, so that those guys are later down the line,
11:21
Speaker 2: second half perhaps, but this is a team that has
11:23
Speaker 2: a lot of talent, and once they get Marte and
11:27
Speaker 2: Perdomo going along with Carol, who has been pretty hot,
11:31
Speaker 2: they're an interesting club. I've always felt they're an interesting club.
11:34
Speaker 2: They haven't put it together yet, and their bullpend is
11:36
Speaker 2: a problem right now. It would be improved if Martinez
11:40
Speaker 2: and Puck come back from their respective elbow surgeries and
11:43
Speaker 2: can contribute. We don't know, along with Burns how any
11:46
Speaker 2: of these guys will be, but they've also gotten contributions
11:50
Speaker 2: from some lesser players on the roster, Vargas, Don Castillo,
11:55
Speaker 2: and this guy who came up, Jose Fernandez, who was
11:57
Speaker 2: not considered a top prospect. He's playing first. He's a
12:00
Speaker 2: natural shortstop, but they needed him at first because Pavin
12:03
Speaker 2: Smith was hurt. He's had a couple of really big
12:05
Speaker 2: games for them. So it's a testament to their organization
12:09
Speaker 2: that they've been able to do this and withstand these injuries,
12:11
Speaker 2: and at least at this point, tread Water.
12:15
Speaker 1: Ken, I want to move to the Yankees and what
12:17
Speaker 1: you wrote about Will Warren and make sure that he
12:20
Speaker 1: is not the forgotten man, although mixed into your answer,
12:23
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if there's a chance he could be the
12:26
Speaker 1: forgotten man once others return. Right he's in a battle
12:29
Speaker 1: for a rotation spot. Right now, it's fine, but Cole
12:33
Speaker 1: and Rodin come back, and if there aren't injuries, they
12:35
Speaker 1: are going to have a logjam soon.
12:38
Speaker 2: They are. And the note I had about Will Warren
12:41
Speaker 2: was just about how he's moved to the third base
12:43
Speaker 2: side of the rubber. It's improved his stuff, the stuff,
12:46
Speaker 2: the sharpness of his pitches, all of that. He wasn't
12:48
Speaker 2: great last night either, But at the same time, he is,
12:53
Speaker 2: like Schlitler, a homegrown guy for the Yankees. Lewis Hill
12:57
Speaker 2: is not homegrown. They got him early in his career
12:59
Speaker 2: in a trade. But the Yankees, another team that spends
13:03
Speaker 2: a ton of money. If they could develop two home
13:05
Speaker 2: grown starters that are impressive in what they can do,
13:09
Speaker 2: that would be a feather in their cap right now,
13:12
Speaker 2: You're right, Scott. Once Rodin comes back, he'll be first,
13:16
Speaker 2: and then Cole. They theoretically could have some decisions to make.
13:19
Speaker 2: You're assuming no other injuries, of course, and we all
13:22
Speaker 2: know how that goes. But yeah, Will Warren ultimately could
13:26
Speaker 2: be fighting for a spot. But he's a guy the
13:28
Speaker 2: Yankees are still really high on, and if he becomes
13:32
Speaker 2: a quality major league starter, that's something that will serve
13:35
Speaker 2: them well for years to come.
13:38
Speaker 4: Ken you mentioned homegrown pitchers. Noah Schultz is making his
13:42
Speaker 4: major league debut for the White Sox. This kid is
13:44
Speaker 4: from Chicago. He's been hyped up for multiple years now.
13:48
Speaker 4: And then obviously Sam Antonacci also has been rumored to
13:51
Speaker 4: come up with the trade for Lenin, so so I
13:53
Speaker 4: would assume he's coming with him. I don't know that
13:55
Speaker 4: for a fact, but I'm guessing what can the White
13:57
Speaker 4: Sox fans expect from Noah Schultz because I've said he
14:00
Speaker 4: needs to throw more strikes. If you look at his
14:02
Speaker 4: career numbers until this year, it's been a lot of walks.
14:04
Speaker 4: People are comparing him to Randy Johnson because he's like
14:06
Speaker 4: six foot nine, ten to eleven. However you measure him,
14:09
Speaker 4: there's a million different measurements. Right, What do White Sox
14:11
Speaker 4: fans expect to see from these two guys tonight?
14:15
Speaker 2: Chris Sale is another comparison that people have made, right,
14:18
Speaker 2: another tall, left handed pitcher. I'm not sure what to
14:21
Speaker 2: expect the guy making his major league debut, but you're right, Aja,
14:24
Speaker 2: he has been hyped like none other. Well, I wouldn't
14:27
Speaker 2: say that the other players have been hyped, but he's
14:29
Speaker 2: been hyped in a big way. And he is a guy,
14:32
Speaker 2: like you said, has had some control issues in the
14:34
Speaker 2: minor leagues. But it's an exciting night for the White
14:38
Speaker 2: Sox for sure. They've shown some good things this year
14:41
Speaker 2: and we'll see how it all plays out. They need pitching,
14:44
Speaker 2: we know that, and if Schultz can find his footing
14:49
Speaker 2: with this promotion, that would be a good step forward
14:52
Speaker 2: for them as they look to the future and try
14:55
Speaker 2: to do some things to become more competitive in their division.
14:59
Speaker 2: There in my opinion, the age, I'm anxiously in your opinion,
15:03
Speaker 2: they're better than they were, but they still have a
15:06
Speaker 2: ways to go.
15:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they can't be much worse than they
15:09
Speaker 3: were a couple years ago.
15:10
Speaker 4: When they lost one hundred and twenty games, one hundred
15:12
Speaker 4: and twenty one games, whatever it was. So they can't
15:14
Speaker 4: be much. Yes, they're trending up right, but for me,
15:17
Speaker 4: they need Teal back. He losing him in the WBC
15:20
Speaker 4: to Hamm He has been a big deal. Kiro hasn't
15:22
Speaker 4: hit being the everyday guy. We all know Reeese maguire.
15:25
Speaker 4: He is what he is. He's a backup guy. But
15:27
Speaker 4: they need Teal. He brings a different thing to this team,
15:29
Speaker 4: whether it's energy, catching, hitting, whatever you want to call it.
15:32
Speaker 4: And then the other thing is they need to find
15:34
Speaker 4: some pitching. Okay, listen. I love Sean Burke, I love
15:37
Speaker 4: Davis Martin. Davis Martin's been really good this year. They
15:40
Speaker 4: can't you know, they're trying to make Grant Taylor a
15:42
Speaker 4: starter like in the middle of the years as an opener.
15:45
Speaker 4: The thing to me is at some point you got
15:47
Speaker 4: to spend money, and you usually have to spend money
15:49
Speaker 4: on the pitching side. I feel like a lot of
15:50
Speaker 4: times it's easier to develop hitters than it is pitchers.
15:53
Speaker 4: And if you look at all the teams that have
15:55
Speaker 4: won over the years, they've gone out and gotten that
15:57
Speaker 4: big name pitcher.
15:59
Speaker 3: You know, you have to spend a lot of money
16:00
Speaker 3: to get them.
16:01
Speaker 4: Go all the way back to the Cubs, right, John Lackey,
16:04
Speaker 4: John Lester, Right, then you go to the Astros they
16:06
Speaker 4: got Verlander, and then you go to the Red Sox
16:08
Speaker 4: they made the trade for sale and got him in
16:10
Speaker 4: Vivaldi and they did all these things right, So the
16:12
Speaker 4: list goes on and on. At some point you have
16:14
Speaker 4: to go out and make that move for an impact pitcher,
16:16
Speaker 4: to not only show the other guys how to do it,
16:18
Speaker 4: but to be an impact guy.
16:21
Speaker 2: No question. AJ They're not there yet. Obviously, they did
16:24
Speaker 2: sign Fetti in the offseason. They did sign Sir Anthony
16:26
Speaker 2: de Mingez. These are complimentary pieces at best, their veteran
16:30
Speaker 2: presence and they help you, but they're not what you're
16:34
Speaker 2: talking about. But when the Cubs, for instance, signed Lester
16:40
Speaker 2: and Lackey, they were close. They were on the verge
16:44
Speaker 2: of becoming the team that ultimately won the twenty sixteen
16:47
Speaker 2: World Series.
16:47
Speaker 3: I believe those.
16:48
Speaker 2: Guys signed after the twenty fourteen season in that range,
16:52
Speaker 2: so they were in a far more advanced position than
16:55
Speaker 2: the White Sox are now. But in time that will
16:59
Speaker 2: be the test as it often is for these teams. Okay,
17:03
Speaker 2: but the Pirates, for example, you got a little closer,
17:05
Speaker 2: you were on the verge, you had Conor Griffin coming,
17:07
Speaker 2: You spent the little money, not incredible amounts of money,
17:10
Speaker 2: but you improved your team. Ryan O'Hearn good player for them,
17:14
Speaker 2: Brandon Laut great player for them. Both those guys so far.
17:17
Speaker 2: So once the White Sox get to that point, then
17:21
Speaker 2: the question is, Okay, how do you fortify and enhance
17:26
Speaker 2: what you have? And that will be a question under
17:29
Speaker 2: this ownership whether they are willing to make the necessary investments.
17:33
Speaker 2: At times. Jerry Reinsdorf has been willing to do that
17:37
Speaker 2: over the years. You can cite any number of examples,
17:39
Speaker 2: but that will be the next time it becomes a
17:42
Speaker 2: relevant question when this team is close to being competitive.
17:47
Speaker 1: Ken, let's finish with a super chat from a super fan,
17:50
Speaker 1: one of our favorites, ref showing us a little bit
17:53
Speaker 1: of love and simply asking about the Mets and how
17:56
Speaker 1: early panic mode can hit. And his question revolves specifically
18:00
Speaker 1: around Carlos Mendoza. He's like, is Mendy's job on the line,
18:04
Speaker 1: And I know some Mets fans are already throwing that
18:07
Speaker 1: out there now, but I'll try and kind of elongate
18:10
Speaker 1: the answer to over the course of the season if
18:12
Speaker 1: things don't go the Mets way, since they already gutted
18:15
Speaker 1: a lot of the coaching staff from last year, but
18:17
Speaker 1: ken they also gut it a lot of the roster.
18:19
Speaker 3: So is this.
18:20
Speaker 1: Really something that Mendy should be blamed for the first
18:23
Speaker 1: two weeks of the season.
18:25
Speaker 2: I can't imagine he would be. Now. Is his job
18:28
Speaker 2: on the line if they do not perform at a
18:32
Speaker 2: high level later in the season, even in May, if
18:35
Speaker 2: they're sputtering. Could it be on the line? Sure it
18:37
Speaker 2: could be. But let's look at the big picture here,
18:39
Speaker 2: and it's important, really important to look at it in
18:42
Speaker 2: this way. Number One, as you mentioned, they brought in
18:45
Speaker 2: a ton of new coaches. Number two, they brought in
18:48
Speaker 2: a number of new players, roster turnover like you rarely
18:52
Speaker 2: see for a team of in that kind of payroll range.
18:57
Speaker 2: You don't see that much turnover. And on top of that,
19:00
Speaker 2: they've lost one Soda. They haven't had him for eight games,
19:03
Speaker 2: They've averaged three runs per game without him, and they
19:06
Speaker 2: are just not in as strong a place offensively when
19:10
Speaker 2: Soto is on the injured list. So it is early.
19:14
Speaker 2: It's way early. The season is barely one tenth complete.
19:18
Speaker 2: You have to let this team breathe. And in particular,
19:21
Speaker 2: I've been saying this for a while now, when you
19:25
Speaker 2: bring in this much new coaches, players, it might take
19:30
Speaker 2: time for your team to kind of find its identity
19:33
Speaker 2: to gel and I know you can't measure that in
19:35
Speaker 2: all the metrics we use, but there is an unfamiliarity
19:39
Speaker 2: there with the players amongst themselves. There is unfamiliarity with
19:42
Speaker 2: the coaches. And I know there was spring training. It's
19:45
Speaker 2: not the same. So it's going to take time. And
19:48
Speaker 2: then you have Boba, Schett and Polanco and Luis Robert
19:52
Speaker 2: Junior who's had a good start. But these guys are
19:55
Speaker 2: joining new teams, in Bishet's case, on a big money deal.
19:58
Speaker 2: Often guys do not immediately take off when they've signed
20:02
Speaker 2: those kinds of deals. So when you put all of
20:05
Speaker 2: this together, Scott, it's really difficult to blame the manager
20:09
Speaker 2: for what's going on. To blame in for Francisco to
20:12
Speaker 2: endure brain cramping once every three or four games. It
20:14
Speaker 2: seems if by the end of May they're not showing something.
20:19
Speaker 2: The question becomes more relevant. I'm not sure it will
20:21
Speaker 2: be fair even then to fire Mendoza, but you have
20:25
Speaker 2: to let this breathe, and you have to let this
20:27
Speaker 2: team come together, and you got to get Sodo back
20:29
Speaker 2: before we can really start evaluating the manager.
20:33
Speaker 1: Not fun to be going through pain when you're in
20:35
Speaker 1: LA and then you're gonna head over to take on
20:37
Speaker 1: the Cubs. You know, you don't get your dose of
20:39
Speaker 1: medicine against a team like I don't know, the Rockies
20:42
Speaker 1: or something.
20:43
Speaker 3: Ken, thank you, appreciate you. Talk to you later in
20:45
Speaker 3: the week.
20:46
Speaker 2: Thanks guys.
20:47
Speaker 1: That's Ken Rosenthal at t Senior Insider post a Fair
20:51
Speaker 1: Territory Cash the next episode on Thursday. If we didn't
20:54
Speaker 1: get to your question, that's the spot for Grill and
20:56
Speaker 1: Ken go rip through a number of those questions.
21:00
Speaker 3: Thursday Live