Latest / Foul Territory / Prospect busted for crazy fake death age fraud scheme + Jack Harris joins: Ohtani setback, LA bats OK?

Transcript

Prospect busted for crazy fake death age fraud scheme + Jack Harris joins: Ohtani setback, LA bats OK? · Foul Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: Good, bad, ugly. And this is mostly bad and ugly.
0:10
Speaker 1: It's awesome for young prospects internationally to get opportunities, but
0:14
Speaker 1: not at this cost. And it continues to be an
0:17
Speaker 1: international issue. So the latest story that broke, thanks to
0:21
Speaker 1: Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, MLB has suspended a prospect from
0:26
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic, David Severino de Maso. that was the
0:32
Speaker 1: name that was used for who was formerly known as
0:35
Speaker 1: Dory Severino Damaso. And here's the story. Bear with me here.
0:41
Speaker 1: This is a true story, not a movie. So they
0:44
Speaker 1: said that David was the younger brother of Dory and
0:47
Speaker 1: they filed a late birth registration. There is a death
0:55
Speaker 1: that was reported, right? And they filed the death certificate
0:59
Speaker 1: for Dory They said that he died when he was
1:02
Speaker 1: two years old from a respiratory illness. They made a
1:06
Speaker 1: little tombstone at a graveyard in a small town about
1:10
Speaker 1: 75 miles outside of the Dominican Republic. So they falsified
1:14
Speaker 1: the age, and this guy was playing under a different
1:17
Speaker 1: name as his brother against kids much younger than him.
1:22
Speaker 1: What does that do? That enables you to look really
1:25
Speaker 1: good in front of scouts, and the Guardians had a
1:27
Speaker 1: pre-deal with him that he was going to sign in 2029.
1:31
Speaker 1: For $ 2. 8 million. Instead, he got caught. He is actually
1:34
Speaker 1: eligible for the 2027 signing class based on how old
1:37
Speaker 1: he is. They move him up to the 2028 signing class.
1:40
Speaker 1: And also, he might not sign at all because he's
1:42
Speaker 1: not much of a prospect at his current age. This
1:46
Speaker 1: goes really, really far. He actually ended up getting his rights. Yes,
1:50
Speaker 1: you can do this. His rights sold to a different
1:52
Speaker 1: trainer for $ 20, 000. Now, that current trainer who has trained
1:55
Speaker 1: tons of major leaguers said he might go out of
1:57
Speaker 1: business because he was... Obviously fooled from the player being
2:04
Speaker 1: not the age that was reported. They did fake medical docs,
2:07
Speaker 1: fake death certificate, fake education documents, the whole deal, AJ.
2:11
Speaker 1: And I can go on and on and fill in more.
2:13
Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts here. But this has
2:15
Speaker 1: become so far out of control in spots like the
2:18
Speaker 1: Dominican Republic and Venezuela with fake age left and right,
2:23
Speaker 1: kids doing steroids because players agree to deals with teams
2:26
Speaker 1: as young as 10 years old. 10 years. They verbally agree, right?
2:32
Speaker 1: And then they can sign once they're age eligible at,
2:34
Speaker 1: I believe, 16 years old.
2:38
Speaker 2: Well, this isn't new. First of all, let's establish that.
2:41
Speaker 2: If you remember a few years back, I think it
2:43
Speaker 2: was 9-11, where they had to really focus on ages.
2:48
Speaker 2: And guys were getting two and three ages years older
2:51
Speaker 2: than what they were, and they were already in the
2:52
Speaker 2: big leagues. Also, Fausto Carmona, remember him? I mean, Roberto Hernandez, because... Remember,
2:59
Speaker 2: I think he used the– I'm not 100% sure, but
3:02
Speaker 2: I thought he used the fake death thing to change
3:06
Speaker 2: his age at some point. That's why he was Fausto
3:09
Speaker 2: Carmona and not Roberto Hernandez. So this isn't anything new.
3:13
Speaker 2: This guy just took everything and lumped it all into
3:15
Speaker 2: one big thing and said, ha, watch me go. You
3:18
Speaker 2: guys think you were doing something? Ha, watch me pile
3:21
Speaker 2: on and take this to a whole other level. And
3:23
Speaker 2: if you think this is the only guy who's done this, hmm.
3:27
Speaker 2: You're also a little bit off because I promise you
3:29
Speaker 2: this has probably happened before.
3:32
Speaker 3: And if you think the only person that should be
3:34
Speaker 3: in trouble in this case is the person who forged
3:38
Speaker 3: all these documents, you're also wrong. Let's say this would
3:43
Speaker 3: happen in small town Ohio somewhere. Do you think Major
3:47
Speaker 3: League Baseball would allow this small town Ohio to continue?
3:50
Speaker 3: There would be sanctions. There would be Major League Baseball sanctions.
3:54
Speaker 3: turns a blind eye to this because exactly what AJ said,
3:58
Speaker 3: this is happening more often than you would think. And
4:00
Speaker 3: the conditions that these players who not just sparingly populate
4:06
Speaker 3: major league baseball and make owners tons of money, they are,
4:09
Speaker 3: I'm not sure the current percentage of players born in
4:14
Speaker 3: the country of the Dominican Republic, but it is a,
4:19
Speaker 3: just a phenomenal amount of really good players that, that
4:24
Speaker 3: Major League Baseball has not taken over or has not
4:27
Speaker 3: helped try to curtail this.
4:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the guy who is currently training this more
4:36
Speaker 1: of a non-prospect at this point, John Pereira, said he
4:39
Speaker 1: didn't know about the scheme. He purchased his rights when
4:42
Speaker 1: he was age 11. Yes, you purchase rights, right? He
4:45
Speaker 1: bought him from another trainer. That alone feels even saying,
4:49
Speaker 1: but that's how it works for 20 grand. And he
4:53
Speaker 1: was actually skeptical. He was like, wait, so you filed
4:55
Speaker 1: your birth certificate late. That does happen. You had a
4:58
Speaker 1: brother who passed away. So what did this guy do?
5:01
Speaker 1: He actually went to the graveyard, found the tombstone. And
5:04
Speaker 1: then he said at that point he was convinced that
5:07
Speaker 1: it was fishy, but it was legit. And so then
5:09
Speaker 1: he purchased the rights to the player to train him.
5:13
Speaker 1: And so what they do is they buy that player.
5:15
Speaker 1: They fund that player's life. Right. And then they hope
5:18
Speaker 1: to cash out on the player once that player signs.
5:22
Speaker 1: So this kid was playing against 12, 13 year olds
5:26
Speaker 1: when he should have been playing against 16, 17 year olds.
5:28
Speaker 1: That's how you suddenly look. And you're like, Oh wow,
5:30
Speaker 1: this kid's got potential. Cause they basically look at the
5:33
Speaker 1: kids at the age. Exactly. There's a lot of that
5:36
Speaker 1: going on. And apparently there were scouts that were skeptical
5:41
Speaker 1: because I mean, there's scouts that are down there for
5:43
Speaker 1: decades and every once in a while player comes along
5:45
Speaker 1: and they're like, Hmm. And they've, it's also not the
5:48
Speaker 1: first player that they've seen who's, faked his age. And
5:51
Speaker 1: they're like, it's not just the way that you're playing.
5:53
Speaker 1: They said the face looks older. Like there's just certain tells.
5:57
Speaker 1: And eventually there was an investigation.
6:00
Speaker 2: He had a full beard. He had gray hair. Four kids.
6:03
Speaker 2: He drove himself.
6:07
Speaker 1: We joke, but like some of the stuff that I
6:08
Speaker 1: just had to read is gross. And then even this
6:10
Speaker 1: guy who is currently working with him, right. Saying that like,
6:14
Speaker 1: he's not sure if he's going to be able to
6:15
Speaker 1: keep his Academy open, but then I'm looking into this guy,
6:17
Speaker 1: John Pereira. This is not the guy who did all
6:19
Speaker 1: the fake documents and everything. This is the guy who's
6:21
Speaker 1: currently working with him as his trainer. He said that
6:24
Speaker 1: he's been in the business for about 30 years running
6:26
Speaker 1: an academy called Futuro Big Leaguers out of Santiago, Dominican Republic,
6:30
Speaker 1: trains 12 kids at a time. More than 70 players
6:32
Speaker 1: have signed with major league teams under his watch. He's
6:34
Speaker 1: made plenty of money and then he's going to go
6:36
Speaker 1: broke on one player being fake ID'd. Like just everything
6:42
Speaker 1: down there when these stories emerge is gross. There's some
6:45
Speaker 1: cases where everything's going the way it should. But the
6:48
Speaker 1: problem is, like you guys said, there is zero oversight.
6:51
Speaker 1: And at this point, it appears that the oversight's almost like, yeah, sure.
6:56
Speaker 1: Let's mess shit up because then it'll look bad and
6:58
Speaker 1: it'll help us in our case for bargaining. Meanwhile, there's
7:01
Speaker 1: literal children being fed steroids and then sold to other trainers.
7:06
Speaker 1: Come on. If we don't think that something's really, really
7:09
Speaker 1: fucked up at that point, like, what are we doing?
7:11
Speaker 1: Why aren't there more voices calling this out? Alden Gonzalez
7:14
Speaker 1: has been reporting on this stuff consistently for ESPN, but.
7:17
Speaker 1: There's not enough yelling and screaming in our sport for this.
7:21
Speaker 3: Because Major League Baseball owners don't want it to come
7:23
Speaker 3: out because then they would be the ones that would
7:26
Speaker 3: be partially at fault and they won't get what they want,
7:29
Speaker 3: which is the international drift. And the two stories kind
7:32
Speaker 3: of like intertwine. You talk about Danny Almonte, Francisco Pena,
7:38
Speaker 3: Tony Pena's son was on that team with Danny Almonte.
7:41
Speaker 3: That team had more than just Danny Almonte as illegal
7:44
Speaker 3: players and Francisco Pena, Didn't even live in New York.
7:48
Speaker 3: He lived in the Dominican Republic and came up for
7:52
Speaker 3: the Little League that year. There was so much already
7:55
Speaker 3: going on with just that team. Danny Amante was the
7:58
Speaker 3: one that took the fall for it.
7:59
Speaker 2: 14-year-old throwing against everyone else.
8:04
Speaker 1: I think there should be an international draft, but that
8:06
Speaker 1: doesn't preclude you from helping the cause right now, MLB. Hello?
8:10
Speaker 3: Hello?
8:10
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Speaker 1: off everything as a new VIP. Did you guys see
9:19
Speaker 1: that Tarek Skubal took the espresso machine that he brought
9:22
Speaker 1: in for the Tigers? And Skubal said jokingly, but I
9:26
Speaker 1: think seriously also that it was his wife. He wanted
9:29
Speaker 1: to leave it and get a new one. She wouldn't
9:30
Speaker 1: let me. My wife was like, that was too expensive
9:32
Speaker 1: to just run the charge back. Now I looked up,
9:34
Speaker 1: I mean, espresso machines, if you get like the soup
9:36
Speaker 1: souped up ones, It can be upwards of $ 60, 000. You
9:39
Speaker 1: can also get, I'm saying like for the huge industrial grade,
9:42
Speaker 1: fanciest cream of the crop out there. I have no
9:44
Speaker 1: idea how much this one was. There's ones that are,
9:47
Speaker 1: even if you're getting into the fancy range, a few grand,
9:49
Speaker 1: but I look like there's some really fancy ones you
9:51
Speaker 1: could put in a clubhouse. I have no idea if
9:53
Speaker 1: they listed the price.
9:53
Speaker 2: I mean, he's going to make $ 300 million. Like, he
9:58
Speaker 2: can leave the express machine. I'm sorry. He's making $ 32
10:01
Speaker 2: million this year. Yeah, but his team didn't want to
10:03
Speaker 2: pay him. Count it as a going away present. Thank
10:07
Speaker 2: you for all your service, Tigers. Thank you for helping
10:10
Speaker 2: me win all those games. Here's my going away.
10:12
Speaker 3: I don't know.
10:13
Speaker 2: This is kind of funny. It sounds so petty that
10:15
Speaker 2: we're talking about this, but it is kind of funny
10:17
Speaker 2: the fact that His wife was like, oh, no, Tarek,
10:20
Speaker 2: you're taking the espresso. How did that conversation go? Oh,
10:23
Speaker 2: by the way, I was traded. Wasn't he traded when
10:25
Speaker 2: they were on the road? Were they traded when he
10:26
Speaker 2: was on the road?
10:27
Speaker 1: I don't remember.
10:29
Speaker 2: The Dodgers were on the road. Yeah, but I just–
10:32
Speaker 2: can you imagine? Hey, he calls the clubhouse guy. He's like, hey, yeah,
10:37
Speaker 2: I need that espresso machine shipped to L.A. for me, please. Like, what, what?
10:40
Speaker 2: The clubhouse guy had to be like, what, what?
10:44
Speaker 1: So, AJ, you would leave it under any circumstance, even
10:46
Speaker 1: if you were kind of pissed that the team was
10:48
Speaker 1: lowballing you on an extension offer?
10:50
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I would have. Especially, yeah, I would have. Yeah.
10:55
Speaker 2: Because other people use it.
10:56
Speaker 4: Yeah.
10:56
Speaker 2: Sorry. Sorry, Tarek. I love you, but yeah. I want
11:01
Speaker 2: to hear Todd call it an expresso.
11:04
Speaker 1: Expresso. Well, those are way more expensive.
11:09
Speaker 2: All right.
11:13
Speaker 1: Jack Harris, Dodgers beat writer, California Post, joining us right
11:16
Speaker 1: now on FT. Jack, good to see you. Right to
11:18
Speaker 1: the headliner. Is Shohei Otani okay in general? Like, is
11:21
Speaker 1: he going to pitch the rest of the year? He's
11:23
Speaker 1: not even hitting in the past couple weeks like he
11:25
Speaker 1: usually does. Is he okay? Is he okay?
11:30
Speaker 4: For the most part, yes. At least when it comes
11:33
Speaker 4: to the hitting, you know, the Dodgers have been adamant
11:35
Speaker 4: that he at least has communicated to them that the
11:38
Speaker 4: knee injury, the bicep injury, is not impacting him at
11:41
Speaker 4: the plate, is not the reason he's been struggling offensively,
11:44
Speaker 4: but it is all kind of baking into how they're
11:47
Speaker 4: going to use him the rest of this season. You know,
11:49
Speaker 4: he was supposed to, it wasn't officially scheduled, but he
11:52
Speaker 4: was supposed to start on Sunday in Detroit. He threw
11:55
Speaker 4: a bullpen on Friday. He came out of that, still
11:58
Speaker 4: kind of telling the team, like, look, this doesn't feel 100%,
12:00
Speaker 4: the knee or the bicep. That's why they didn't have
12:04
Speaker 4: him start in that game. They're not going to have
12:06
Speaker 4: him start this week. They're going to get together these
12:09
Speaker 4: next couple of days and kind of figure out what
12:11
Speaker 4: they want to do with him moving forward. But it
12:13
Speaker 4: is in a, in a kind of tricky spot right now,
12:15
Speaker 4: because before, like had he started on Sunday, he would
12:18
Speaker 4: have had, you know, five outings to build back up
12:21
Speaker 4: to be like a full length starting option in the playoffs.
12:24
Speaker 4: You probably don't have that now. And it puts them
12:26
Speaker 4: in a spot where they're going to have to decide
12:29
Speaker 4: between the pros and cons of, Do we want to
12:31
Speaker 4: still try to build him up as a pitcher, have
12:33
Speaker 4: him available to at least throw a couple innings per
12:36
Speaker 4: series in the postseason? Or do we just want to
12:38
Speaker 4: shut it down now and have him focus on the hitting,
12:41
Speaker 4: which clearly could use some help because he has been
12:43
Speaker 4: struggling the last couple weeks. When he has struggled, the
12:46
Speaker 4: rest of the Dodgers offense has not been nearly as good.
12:49
Speaker 4: It's kind of been the age-old question with Otani, trying
12:52
Speaker 4: to balance both roles. But for a team that has
12:54
Speaker 4: a really good rotation and has been really struggling offensively
12:57
Speaker 4: for the last couple months, I think there are going
12:59
Speaker 4: to be some calculations they have to make over how
13:02
Speaker 4: hard do we want to push him as a pitcher
13:04
Speaker 4: and will that be worth potentially not getting the best
13:08
Speaker 4: version of him offensively that we can over the rest
13:11
Speaker 4: of the season and going into the playoffs.
13:14
Speaker 2: Jack, first of all, it was nice seeing you in
13:16
Speaker 2: Atlanta on Thursday. Thanks for being there for me. I
13:19
Speaker 2: appreciate the support.
13:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, I got to say I appreciated the intro to
13:25
Speaker 4: this of you guys actually talking about the espresso machine.
13:28
Speaker 4: Cause we were having, we were looking up the same
13:30
Speaker 4: things in the press box this week about how much
13:32
Speaker 4: do these things cost? Uh, should he have left it? But, uh, yeah,
13:36
Speaker 4: so that, that's, that's what I was doing, AJ, with, uh,
13:39
Speaker 4: all my time upstairs, uh, in Atlanta and then in Detroit.
13:41
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. I appreciate you saying hi. Not, you didn't,
13:45
Speaker 2: you didn't even say hi to me, which is heartbreaking
13:47
Speaker 2: for me, but it's fine. It's fine. We get over
13:49
Speaker 2: these things, Jack. Uh, So when we met with Dave
13:52
Speaker 2: Roberts on Thursday, he said Shohei was going to start
13:55
Speaker 2: on Sunday, throw one inning. Did it just come down
13:58
Speaker 2: to this bullpen that he threw on Friday? Was that
14:00
Speaker 2: the determining factor? Did they not have an idea that
14:03
Speaker 2: he was sore before this? Or did it have more
14:05
Speaker 2: to do with his hitting, like you said, where he
14:08
Speaker 2: hasn't been hitting really at all? So were they a
14:11
Speaker 2: little bit like, let's just not pitch him and try
14:14
Speaker 2: to get his back going?
14:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, Dave Roberts said that the change in the pitching
14:20
Speaker 4: plan happened just after the bullpen the other day. Now
14:22
Speaker 4: that was a surprise because Otani's thrown a couple of
14:24
Speaker 4: bullpen sessions since he started ramping up again in the
14:27
Speaker 4: last few weeks, he threw like a 30 pitch live
14:30
Speaker 4: batting practice two weekends ago now.
14:33
Speaker 1: And after all of those sessions.
14:35
Speaker 4: The Dodgers were encouraged and optimistic about where he was
14:39
Speaker 4: at health wise. That's part of why, you know, they
14:42
Speaker 4: were like, he was almost a little bit ahead of
14:44
Speaker 4: the schedule, you know, being lined up to pitch on Sunday.
14:47
Speaker 4: So for this whole situation to change as much as
14:50
Speaker 4: it did after one bullpen session, I think suggests that, okay,
14:54
Speaker 4: behind the scenes, you know, where he's at physically has
14:57
Speaker 4: probably been something they've been monitoring really closely, something that
15:01
Speaker 4: maybe they weren't as confident in as they were at
15:04
Speaker 4: least stating publicly as he was getting closer to this
15:07
Speaker 4: potential start on Sunday. But I think the hitting is
15:09
Speaker 4: a big part of this too, right? Otani continues to
15:13
Speaker 4: insist and the Dodgers continue to believe that, His pitching,
15:17
Speaker 4: just him ramping up, is not the thing that's hurting
15:19
Speaker 4: his offense, that his offensive struggles are because his approach
15:23
Speaker 4: has gotten a little bit off the last few weeks
15:25
Speaker 4: because he's gotten back to being too pull-happy. But the
15:28
Speaker 4: reality with somebody like Otani is every hour he spends
15:31
Speaker 4: the rest of the season playing catch in the outfield
15:34
Speaker 4: or going through a bullpen session or trying to ramp
15:36
Speaker 4: up as a pitcher or preparing for starts if he
15:39
Speaker 4: does get back on the mound for the team, that's
15:41
Speaker 4: time he's not going to be able to spend focusing
15:43
Speaker 4: on his hitting and getting his offense going. back to
15:45
Speaker 4: that elite caliber level of production that we've seen from
15:50
Speaker 4: him over the last couple years. And that clearly the
15:52
Speaker 4: Dodgers are going to need when you look at the
15:54
Speaker 4: rest of this lineup right now. So many other guys
15:56
Speaker 4: are struggling or just look off that for the Dodgers
16:00
Speaker 4: to be in the place where they're going to need
16:02
Speaker 4: to be offensively come October, they're going to need the
16:05
Speaker 4: best version of Otani as a hitter. And I think
16:06
Speaker 4: that's kind of when you start to add all these
16:09
Speaker 4: things up and now you get to a place where
16:12
Speaker 4: Even if he does come back pitching at this point,
16:14
Speaker 4: he's not going to be fully stretched out. I think
16:16
Speaker 4: the risk-reward calculus has changed a little bit. And the
16:19
Speaker 4: fact that he wasn't physically in a spot to be
16:22
Speaker 4: able to make that start on Sunday was just a
16:24
Speaker 4: reminder of, OK, if we're not going to be able
16:26
Speaker 4: to get him stretched out to be a true member
16:28
Speaker 4: of the rotation come the playoffs, is this going to
16:31
Speaker 4: be worth.
16:31
Speaker 1: Continuing to push?
16:32
Speaker 4: And that's what they're going to be working through these
16:34
Speaker 4: next couple of days as they decide what's next for him.
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17:33
Speaker 1: download the app, and then the code will automatically be
17:36
Speaker 1: added to your account so that you can use it later.
17:39
Speaker 2: Ah, great.
17:40
Speaker 3: We get a whole month of, will Shohei be their closer,
17:43
Speaker 3: and how that doesn't work, it does work, with the DH,
17:47
Speaker 3: him playing right, all that stuff. A whole month of that.
17:49
Speaker 3: I'm excited for it. There was so much made about
17:53
Speaker 3: Shohei's desire to win a Cy Young. He was pitching
17:57
Speaker 3: like it at the beginning of the year. Do you
17:59
Speaker 3: feel like, or do the Dodgers feel like maybe if
18:02
Speaker 3: he can't ramp it back up and his pitching really
18:05
Speaker 3: has taken a toll on his body, that maybe he
18:08
Speaker 3: pushed it too hard? And whose fault is that if
18:13
Speaker 3: it comes out that he did push a little too
18:15
Speaker 3: hard early?
18:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if it's that he pushed too hard.
18:19
Speaker 4: I think it's just a reflection of how difficult this
18:22
Speaker 4: role is, especially as he gets to play past the
18:26
Speaker 4: age 30 and to the later part of his career,
18:28
Speaker 4: like it is a taxing thing to try to be
18:31
Speaker 4: a full-time pitcher and full-time hitter, obviously. I think the
18:34
Speaker 4: way they've handled him this year, you know, it's like
18:37
Speaker 4: once he started dealing with things physically and once it
18:40
Speaker 4: was becoming clear that it was impacting his performance as
18:42
Speaker 4: a pitcher, remember like those last three or four starts
18:45
Speaker 4: he made back in June and July were not as
18:47
Speaker 4: good as his first 10 starts of the year had been.
18:50
Speaker 4: I think they tried to take a cautious approach from
18:53
Speaker 4: that point of, hey, let's just shut him down now.
18:55
Speaker 4: Let's give him time to try to let his body heal.
18:57
Speaker 4: And the hope is that by this point, he would
18:59
Speaker 4: be at a place where physically he would be able
19:02
Speaker 4: to take on both roles because that isn't happening. I
19:04
Speaker 4: think that's kind of what's raising these questions now of, okay,
19:07
Speaker 4: what do we want to do about this? How hard
19:09
Speaker 4: do we want to push? How valuable could a couple
19:11
Speaker 4: innings of Otani be in the playoffs, which, you know, again,
19:14
Speaker 4: like if he's right, he's still one of the best
19:16
Speaker 4: pitchers in the game and even getting him in, you know,
19:19
Speaker 4: an opener role or sure as a, maybe a potential
19:23
Speaker 4: closer if you need, and very specific situations in the playoffs.
19:27
Speaker 4: That is not worth nothing. But if you feel like
19:30
Speaker 4: it might cut into the offense a little bit, Dave
19:32
Speaker 4: Roberts said this himself, like if they feel like trying
19:35
Speaker 4: to push him as a pitcher is going to impact
19:37
Speaker 4: his offense in any way, I think Dave Roberts' phrase
19:40
Speaker 4: was like, it's not going to be worth the squeeze.
19:42
Speaker 4: And that's what they got to kind of decide right now,
19:44
Speaker 4: because this year has been a reminder that even for
19:47
Speaker 4: as good of a pitcher as he still is, trying
19:49
Speaker 4: to handle both roles for anybody, even him, is something
19:53
Speaker 4: that comes with tradeoffs and costs and a physical toll
19:57
Speaker 4: that can impact the most important thing that he gives
20:00
Speaker 4: the Dodgers, which is his bat at the top of
20:02
Speaker 4: the lineup.
20:04
Speaker 2: Jack, let's move on from Shohei. Let's talk about a
20:07
Speaker 2: real more important thing for Dodger fans right now. I
20:10
Speaker 2: know Shohei pitching is a big deal. Where's their hitting gone?
20:13
Speaker 2: Their hitting is Tao hit a homer yesterday for the
20:16
Speaker 2: first time in a long time. Mookie Betts is missing fastballs.
20:20
Speaker 2: Freddie is homer. Power is gone, right? I mean, Max
20:24
Speaker 2: Muncy by far has been their best offensive player consistently
20:27
Speaker 2: the entire year. What has happened to this Dodgers offense
20:30
Speaker 2: that was supposed to be just such a behemoth going
20:33
Speaker 2: into the year?
20:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it was an offensive for the first half
20:37
Speaker 4: of the year was pretty good. I think what you're
20:39
Speaker 4: seeing right now is probably a combination of a lot
20:41
Speaker 4: of factors. I think the easiest thing to point to
20:44
Speaker 4: is just the age component. They have the oldest lineup
20:47
Speaker 4: in baseball. They've obviously played a lot the last couple
20:50
Speaker 4: of years. So I think that kind of factors in
20:52
Speaker 4: a little bit of just guys not being as good
20:55
Speaker 4: as they used to be. I think in this stretch
20:57
Speaker 4: of the year, too, they just seem exhausted some days.
21:01
Speaker 4: And maybe some of that gets back to the age.
21:04
Speaker 4: I'm sure a lot of that gets back to just
21:06
Speaker 4: how all the highs and lows that they've been through
21:08
Speaker 4: the last couple seasons. I think the Braves series was
21:11
Speaker 4: a good example. The Dodgers have been preaching, OK, we
21:13
Speaker 4: need more urgency, more intensity, more focus. But at the
21:17
Speaker 4: end of the day, it's still August for a team
21:19
Speaker 4: that has its sights set on what they do in October.
21:22
Speaker 4: And I think in that Braves series, you saw a
21:24
Speaker 4: Braves team that went into that with more of an
21:28
Speaker 4: urgency level, more of a need to like, hey, they
21:30
Speaker 4: were going through their own struggles. We have to turn
21:32
Speaker 4: this around. So, you know, it's similar to what we
21:35
Speaker 4: saw from the Dodgers this time last year, where they
21:37
Speaker 4: get into these lulls, where guys' swings get a little
21:40
Speaker 4: bit off, where they're probably not all feeling 100% physically
21:42
Speaker 4: themselves at this point of the season. And they're prone
21:45
Speaker 4: to going through stretches like this, where a lot of
21:47
Speaker 4: the offense looks off. I would expect that as they
21:50
Speaker 4: get closer to the playoffs, you'll see some of that
21:52
Speaker 4: focus lock back in. You know, you'll see them do
21:55
Speaker 4: better of just cashing in scoring chances with guys on
21:58
Speaker 4: base when they have runners in scoring position. That's been
22:01
Speaker 4: a problem lately. But yeah, I mean, when you look at,
22:03
Speaker 4: I think especially like the lack of slug and power
22:07
Speaker 4: these last couple months, that's the thing that would concern
22:09
Speaker 4: you because that's what you're going to need in October
22:11
Speaker 4: to be successful. And for a lot of the guys
22:15
Speaker 4: in this lineup right now, getting to that place where
22:17
Speaker 4: they are those power threats that they used to be
22:20
Speaker 4: is just more difficult at the stage of all of
22:23
Speaker 4: their careers that they're at.
22:25
Speaker 3: Everybody in this lineup, you would say, oh, he'll definitely
22:27
Speaker 3: turn it around. And when they do turn it around,
22:30
Speaker 3: you'll be like, yep, perfect. We knew it was going
22:32
Speaker 3: to happen. Out of this bad stretch that the team's
22:35
Speaker 3: going through, who is the most concerning that it might
22:40
Speaker 3: be a little bit different for this person just based
22:42
Speaker 3: on what I've seen the entire season, not just August?
22:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, you look at somebody like
22:49
Speaker 4: Teoscar Hernandez is a good example of this. This is
22:51
Speaker 4: a guy that, you know, they have here because they
22:54
Speaker 4: trust him to deliver in big moments in the playoffs
22:58
Speaker 4: and trying to balance that trust with, you know, he
23:01
Speaker 4: has like a 600 OPS since he's come back from
23:03
Speaker 4: a hamstring strain a couple months ago. You know, that
23:07
Speaker 4: home run he hit yesterday was his first one in
23:08
Speaker 4: almost a month. His quality of at-bats hasn't been as good.
23:11
Speaker 4: You know, that's somebody that you would like to think
23:13
Speaker 4: when the games really start to matter, when you get
23:15
Speaker 4: to the playoffs, he's going to be there. He's going
23:17
Speaker 4: to be reliable. He's going to have a big moment
23:19
Speaker 4: and hit a big home run. But it's hard to
23:22
Speaker 4: kind of see that with the way he's played lately.
23:24
Speaker 4: I think Kyle Tucker's the other one. It's just the
23:27
Speaker 4: fact that we're at the end of August now, and
23:29
Speaker 4: he is probably looking as bad as he's looked all
23:33
Speaker 4: year over the last two or three weeks when you
23:35
Speaker 4: look at it in totality. Again, you would expect that
23:38
Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker at some point is going to look more
23:40
Speaker 4: like the guy the Dodgers signed to a $ 240 million contract,
23:43
Speaker 4: who was a four-time All-Star when he got here. But
23:46
Speaker 4: the sample size is big enough now to where you
23:48
Speaker 4: kind of have to wonder, okay, is he going to
23:50
Speaker 4: get back to that place, at least for this season?
23:52
Speaker 4: Is he going to be an impact kind of contributor
23:55
Speaker 4: in the way the Dodgers were hoping? You know, Freddie
23:57
Speaker 4: Freeman has continued to hit for a 300 average, but
24:01
Speaker 4: is the power going to return in the same kind
24:03
Speaker 4: of way, in a way that's been so valuable for
24:06
Speaker 4: them the past couple postseasons? Mookie Betts is in the
24:08
Speaker 4: same boat. I think they're kind of waiting to see
24:10
Speaker 4: how Will Smith looks as he comes off the aisle
24:12
Speaker 4: this week. So, yeah, when you look at this team,
24:14
Speaker 4: the track record of all these guys you want to
24:16
Speaker 4: believe in, But you're also at the point of the
24:18
Speaker 4: season now where enough of them have struggled for long
24:20
Speaker 4: enough that, you know, some of that faith is going
24:23
Speaker 4: to start to be tested, especially as they decide how
24:26
Speaker 4: long to ride with some of these guys that they
24:27
Speaker 4: need to make, you know, bigger changes in their lineup
24:30
Speaker 4: or in the lineup construction as they get closer to October. So,
24:34
Speaker 4: you know, again, they went through this last year. For
24:36
Speaker 4: the most part, guys were better once they got to
24:38
Speaker 4: the playoffs. But even then, they had to really rely
24:40
Speaker 4: on their pitching because the offense was still inconsistent during,
24:43
Speaker 4: you know, that run to the title last year. And
24:45
Speaker 4: I think you're probably going to see something similar where
24:47
Speaker 4: some guys get.
24:48
Speaker 3: A little bit better.
24:49
Speaker 4: But are all these guys or most of them going
24:51
Speaker 4: to get back to like what the back of their
24:52
Speaker 4: baseball card suggests they should? I think is a much
24:55
Speaker 4: bigger question.
24:57
Speaker 2: All right, Jack, you brought him up, Kyle Tucker. Did
25:00
Speaker 2: the Dodgers look at this and say it's a bad year?
25:03
Speaker 2: It was a bad signing. How do they look at this?
25:05
Speaker 2: Because he's not playing against lefties when he was always
25:08
Speaker 2: better against lefties, at least average wise for the for many,
25:12
Speaker 2: many years. His defense has taken a hit. How did
25:15
Speaker 2: the Dodgers look at this signing almost one year into it?
25:20
Speaker 4: I think the surprising part is that just the floor
25:24
Speaker 4: of his production has been as low as it is,
25:25
Speaker 4: and that's on both sides of the ball. I think
25:27
Speaker 4: the defensive part has kind of gotten overlooked this year,
25:30
Speaker 4: but that was something they really keyed in on when
25:32
Speaker 4: they signed him this offseason. When they were talking to
25:34
Speaker 4: him going through contract negotiations was, hey, we think that
25:37
Speaker 4: there's more in there for you defensively. There's things we
25:40
Speaker 4: want you to try to do to maybe make that
25:41
Speaker 4: part of your game more consistent defensively. And it just
25:43
Speaker 4: hasn't been much better. And depending on what metrics you
25:47
Speaker 4: look at, it's probably been worse in a lot of
25:48
Speaker 4: respects than it was even the last couple of years.
25:51
Speaker 4: As far as the offensive side is concerned, I just
25:53
Speaker 4: think that this entire year, it's almost a carryover from
25:56
Speaker 4: the second half of last year for him where he
25:59
Speaker 4: can't get his swing. He can't get back into those
26:04
Speaker 4: kind of consistent mechanics that made him such a dependable
26:07
Speaker 4: hitter for so much of his career to this point.
26:10
Speaker 1: And then you start to.
26:12
Speaker 4: Layer on You know, the pressure that's come with it,
26:14
Speaker 4: the fact that he is having such a bad year
26:17
Speaker 4: after signing this big contract, the fact that he's in
26:19
Speaker 4: a new environment where when you are struggling, you know,
26:21
Speaker 4: who can you turn to to kind of give you
26:23
Speaker 4: like that level of support.
26:25
Speaker 1: And belief that you need?
26:26
Speaker 4: They're still hopeful. I mean, Dave Roberts was even saying
26:29
Speaker 4: last week that he thinks mentally and emotionally Kyle Tucker
26:31
Speaker 4: has turned a corner. He thinks the quality of that
26:33
Speaker 4: bats have been a little bit better. But even there,
26:35
Speaker 4: that's an area where all season he's looked off with
26:38
Speaker 4: how aggressive he's been, how much he swung at first pitches.
26:42
Speaker 4: And that's why, like, when you look at him, you know,
26:45
Speaker 4: you're just kind of hoping, I think at this point,
26:46
Speaker 4: if you're the Dodgers, that he gets back to where
26:49
Speaker 4: he was for most of this year, which was not
26:51
Speaker 4: an all-star caliber player, but at least somebody who was
26:55
Speaker 4: contributing on a somewhat regular basis, who was still like
26:58
Speaker 4: a league average hitter. Because the last month, he's been
27:00
Speaker 4: even worse than that. And if that continues to be
27:02
Speaker 4: the case, then I think by the time you get
27:05
Speaker 4: to October, you got to kind of ask, like, is
27:06
Speaker 4: this going to be our everyday right fielder still? So
27:09
Speaker 4: they're going to give him time. the rest of this
27:11
Speaker 4: year to still try to figure out something, to still
27:14
Speaker 4: try to find something with his swing. And they're hoping
27:16
Speaker 4: that if he does, you know, you could see an
27:18
Speaker 4: uptick in performance happen pretty quickly and pretty drastically. But again,
27:22
Speaker 4: like it's five months into the season now where that
27:25
Speaker 4: hasn't happened. And the fact that it hasn't, I has
27:29
Speaker 4: obviously surprised a lot of people with the Dodgers, given
27:32
Speaker 4: what they thought they were getting when they signed it
27:34
Speaker 4: back in the winter.
27:35
Speaker 3: Talk about, Will Smith returning to this lineup. We're talking
27:39
Speaker 3: about the lineup. We're talking about what, you know, the
27:41
Speaker 3: pieces that they need. But besides what Hunter Fadush has done,
27:44
Speaker 3: and Dalton Rushing been out, like, they need Will Smith.
27:50
Speaker 3: This is a, you can't have a crater in the lineup.
27:53
Speaker 3: And Will Smith, if I'm not wrong, probably slots right
27:57
Speaker 3: into the fourth or fifth spot in the lineup, depending
27:59
Speaker 3: on who they're facing.
28:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and maybe even higher.
28:03
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back and is
28:05
Speaker 4: hitting in the two spot, which is an area where
28:07
Speaker 4: they've really struggled to find somebody to consistently produce for
28:10
Speaker 4: them this year. I think the thing you get out
28:12
Speaker 4: of Will Smith is kind of what the offense in
28:15
Speaker 4: general needs, which is just consistent, competitive at bat, somebody
28:19
Speaker 4: who in a key situation, you do trust to go
28:23
Speaker 4: up there and put together a tough battle and come
28:25
Speaker 4: up with a big hit. You know, the Dodgers talk
28:27
Speaker 4: so often when they look at like the last couple
28:29
Speaker 4: of years and winning those two world series of how
28:32
Speaker 4: they won a lot of the big moments, right? Like
28:34
Speaker 4: even if they didn't, they weren't doing great as an
28:38
Speaker 4: offense generally, or they weren't feeling great as a team generally,
28:40
Speaker 4: like in those key spots in October, they could always
28:44
Speaker 4: find somebody to make a big impact, a big contribution
28:48
Speaker 4: like Will Smith did hitting a home run and the
28:50
Speaker 4: 11th inning of game seven last year. So the more
28:53
Speaker 4: guys you have like that, especially somebody like Will Smith,
28:55
Speaker 4: who has a track record of being a pretty clutch hitter,
28:57
Speaker 4: of being a pretty important hitter in October for them. Again,
29:01
Speaker 4: it gets back to just kind of like raising the
29:03
Speaker 4: floor right now for this team, because with where their
29:05
Speaker 4: pitching is, with where their rotation is, they don't need
29:08
Speaker 4: to be a great offensive team when they get to
29:10
Speaker 4: the playoffs, but they need to be able to at
29:12
Speaker 4: least consistently manufacture runs, at least give themselves some level
29:17
Speaker 4: of breathing room on a And their hope is if
29:20
Speaker 4: he comes back and he's healthy and he can kind
29:22
Speaker 4: of rediscover his swing, he'll be able to help with that.
29:27
Speaker 2: Jack, focus is on the offense, obviously, with the Dodgers.
29:31
Speaker 2: But their pitching has been really good. They're starting pitching
29:33
Speaker 2: in particular. Now Glasnow's back. Snell's back. I mean, you
29:36
Speaker 2: go Yamamoto, Glasnow, Scooble, Snell. It's tougher for any other
29:41
Speaker 2: team to line up with four better than that, and
29:43
Speaker 2: they figure out the bullpen. But does this remind anyone
29:46
Speaker 2: around the Dodgers of last year? Because the offense wasn't
29:49
Speaker 2: exactly clicking last year. It didn't exactly click, honestly, in
29:53
Speaker 2: the postseason either. They just pitched really, really well. So
29:56
Speaker 2: is that the Dodgers path to a three-peat is pitch really,
30:00
Speaker 2: really well again, get some performances pitching-wise from someone like
30:04
Speaker 2: Yamamoto who does something miraculous and hope they can win
30:07
Speaker 2: it again?
30:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think their preference would be if
30:11
Speaker 4: the offense could be more consistent. But this does feel
30:14
Speaker 4: like last year, right, where for two months last year,
30:16
Speaker 4: they were one of the worst offenses in baseball. And
30:19
Speaker 4: they got a little bit better by the end of September.
30:21
Speaker 4: They were a little bit better in the playoffs. But again,
30:23
Speaker 4: they still really struggled. You think back to the middle
30:25
Speaker 4: part of that World Series, going to those last two
30:28
Speaker 4: games in Toronto, they were just not able to consistently
30:32
Speaker 4: manufacture offense when they needed to. I think this year
30:36
Speaker 4: is going to be similar. The offense is going to
30:38
Speaker 4: go through struggles in the playoffs, I would guess, barring
30:41
Speaker 4: a really drastic turnaround these next couple weeks. They're going
30:44
Speaker 4: to have to grind out low-scoring games. They're going to
30:47
Speaker 4: have to rely on their rotation. And they're going to
30:49
Speaker 4: have to hope that, you know, they're not going to
30:51
Speaker 4: ask a ton out of their bullpen. But whoever's pitching
30:53
Speaker 4: those late innings and trying to protect leads like those
30:56
Speaker 4: are going to be really important spots. So they showed
30:58
Speaker 4: they can win this way last year. I think on
31:00
Speaker 4: the flip side is like their pitching was almost perfect,
31:03
Speaker 4: especially their starting pitching was almost perfect. That entire playoff
31:07
Speaker 4: run that is it leaves a very thin margin for error.
31:11
Speaker 4: But this is the one team when you look at
31:14
Speaker 4: the construct of their rotation and the talent that they
31:16
Speaker 4: have on the mound, they can win that way. But
31:19
Speaker 4: it still gets back to at least, again, in those
31:21
Speaker 4: big moments, being able to just manufacture enough offensively to
31:24
Speaker 4: make sure that that level of pitching does matter.
31:30
Speaker 3: With Glass now throwing on normal rest or four days rest,
31:34
Speaker 3: he seemed like a workhorse in the Dodgers rotation-esque that's
31:39
Speaker 3: used to five, six days rest. Do you think that
31:42
Speaker 3: was the one player that the team should have said,
31:46
Speaker 3: you know what, we don't, we go away from this,
31:48
Speaker 3: but we're going to do it with Tyler Glass now.
31:49
Speaker 3: I know the team needed it because the bullpen was cashed,
31:52
Speaker 3: but a guy that's been on the IL for the
31:54
Speaker 3: majority of his Dodgers career, does it feel like they
31:57
Speaker 3: could have set him up for an injury failure in
31:59
Speaker 3: that case?
32:02
Speaker 4: It was surprising that in his second start back from
32:04
Speaker 4: the IL, he was going on four days, which I
32:06
Speaker 4: think is only like the third or fourth time all
32:09
Speaker 4: year a Dodgers pitcher has started on four days rest.
32:12
Speaker 4: and that specific circumstance, you know, he hadn't pitched, he
32:15
Speaker 4: didn't go as deep in his first one back. He
32:17
Speaker 4: was on a pitch count. They felt okay with where
32:19
Speaker 4: he was at physically. You know, they also, because they
32:21
Speaker 4: have so many starters right now and we're in a
32:23
Speaker 4: stretch with, with a couple off days, they didn't want
32:25
Speaker 4: to have other guys having six or seven day layoffs.
32:28
Speaker 4: So that's what factored into that decision. You know, Tyler
32:31
Speaker 4: Glass now talked about like, he, he felt good physically.
32:34
Speaker 4: He was almost kind of happy to be able to
32:36
Speaker 4: get right back on the mound, keep kind of getting
32:38
Speaker 4: that feel back with his throw and his mechanics after
32:41
Speaker 4: so much time off. So, I think in that spot
32:43
Speaker 4: it made enough sense and then obviously worked out really
32:46
Speaker 4: well with how well he pitched and how efficient he was. But, yeah,
32:49
Speaker 4: I mean, it's reflective of kind of the urgency they
32:53
Speaker 4: feel right now, especially on the pitching side, to have
32:56
Speaker 4: their best guys going as often as possible, knowing that
32:59
Speaker 4: they have to prevent runs at a really high level
33:02
Speaker 4: given with where the offense has been.
33:06
Speaker 2: Jack, before we let you go, you brought it up,
33:07
Speaker 2: so I want to know, do the Dodgers have an
33:09
Speaker 2: espresso machine in their clubhouse?
33:13
Speaker 4: I don't know the whereabouts of Tarek Skubal's specific espresso machine.
33:18
Speaker 4: They have lots of coffee options. You know, they did
33:20
Speaker 4: this big renovation to their home clubhouse a couple of
33:23
Speaker 4: years ago. So I think that they are well stocked
33:26
Speaker 4: on on the amenities that are at their players disposal.
33:30
Speaker 2: So does then Skubal have to bring it in? Does
33:33
Speaker 2: he bring the espresso machine into the clubhouse and say,
33:35
Speaker 2: I only drink this kind of espresso or is that
33:39
Speaker 2: at his house in L.A.? Because if it meant that
33:41
Speaker 2: much to him, or did he leave it in Detroit?
33:44
Speaker 2: You need to do a story on where the espresso
33:46
Speaker 2: machine is now.
33:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I was going to say, if I was
33:50
Speaker 4: a better reporter, I'd have these answers for you. But yes,
33:53
Speaker 4: the espresso machine part of this all was an interesting
33:57
Speaker 4: and unexpected kind of subplot that popped up during his
34:00
Speaker 4: return to Detroit this week.
34:03
Speaker 1: And you know what they're going to say from now
34:04
Speaker 1: on when the Tigers face the Dodgers, or really wherever
34:08
Speaker 1: Scooble ends up from here on out, right? It'll be
34:11
Speaker 1: the espresso bowl when Scooble takes on the Tigers. That'll
34:14
Speaker 1: be the battle. And whoever wins gets an espresso machine
34:17
Speaker 1: at the end of the season series. Jack, thanks for
34:19
Speaker 1: the time, man. Good catching up with you.
34:20
Speaker 3: All right.
34:21
Speaker 1: Thank you guys.