Latest / Foul Territory / Checkups on Dodgers & Mariners: Katie Woo talks Ohtani & Sasaki status + Brady Farkas on Raleigh’s slow start
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: It's called Refuse Lose Territory. I love the logo. Here
- 0:09Speaker 1: is Brady Farcus joining us right now, star of the
- 0:12Speaker 1: show and joining the FT Network. Brady, great to have
- 0:14Speaker 1: you on here. Congrats on joining the FT Network officially.
- 0:18Speaker 1: We've been asked for a while to get ourselves together
- 0:22Speaker 1: with the Mariners show, and this is the perfect marriage.
- 0:25Speaker 1: So how you doing and why don't you introduce yourself
- 0:28Speaker 1: to Ajan Kratz a little bit too on the backstory
- 0:30Speaker 1: of the show and what you've been talking about with
- 0:33Speaker 1: the Mariners.
- 0:34Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate you guys having me, appreciate you having
- 0:37Speaker 2: me on the network. I've been a big fan of
- 0:38Speaker 2: the network from afar. I'm honored to be a part
- 0:40Speaker 2: of it. I've been hosting to Refuse to Lose podcast
- 0:43Speaker 2: independently for the last two seasons now, and this was
- 0:46Speaker 2: the time to kind of take it to the next level.
- 0:48Speaker 2: And I know this network is going to help the
- 0:49Speaker 2: show get there. But look, I've been a diehard Mariners
- 0:52Speaker 2: fan my entire life. To Refuse to Lose Territory name
- 0:55Speaker 2: comes from the nineteen ninety five Mariners that I grew
- 0:58Speaker 2: up on that save baseball Seattle to Griffy Edgar A
- 1:02Speaker 2: rod Well Young a rod but bewn R Randy Johnson
- 1:06Speaker 2: led Mariners. So it's kind of honoring the history of
- 1:09Speaker 2: the organization with kind of what has been an exciting
- 1:12Speaker 2: last five year build for this team to get where
- 1:14Speaker 2: it's gotten to now. And though it's been a disappointing
- 1:16Speaker 2: start here through the first forty two games, at twenty
- 1:19Speaker 2: and twenty two, it is still a team with a
- 1:20Speaker 2: lot of potential and lofty goals and big expectations, and
- 1:23Speaker 2: it's a starving fan base that is well aware that
- 1:27Speaker 2: is the only fan base that has never even been
- 1:29Speaker 2: to a World Series. So there's a lot on the
- 1:31Speaker 2: line for the Mariners here in twenty twenty six, and
- 1:33Speaker 2: I'm excited to continue to chronicle the journey of this team,
- 1:36Speaker 2: how the fans feel about it, and mix it with
- 1:39Speaker 2: on site reporting as well as a expert guest analysis.
- 1:43Speaker 3: Hey, Brady, is there more pressure on the Mirrors because
- 1:47Speaker 3: the Seahawks won have won a couple times recently, Is
- 1:49Speaker 3: there more pressure on the Mirrors to finally get to
- 1:51Speaker 3: the World Series? Because you can where you're in your background,
- 1:55Speaker 3: although there's no fans, you can see the Seahawks Stadium,
- 1:58Speaker 3: So everyone that sits at home plate and see what
- 2:00Speaker 3: was it called quest field can see that from home play.
- 2:03Speaker 3: So is there more pressure now on the Mariners.
- 2:06Speaker 2: I think there's pressure on the Mariners every year aj
- 2:08Speaker 2: because they have been This is a tortured fan base
- 2:12Speaker 2: when it comes to baseball, right, never have been to
- 2:14Speaker 2: the World Series, a team that largely was irrelevant for
- 2:18Speaker 2: a twenty year period, and then when they weren't irrelevant,
- 2:21Speaker 2: it was always Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football. Right,
- 2:24Speaker 2: Lucy pulls the football away as Charlie thinks he's finally
- 2:27Speaker 2: gonna get a chance to kick it. So the Mariners
- 2:29Speaker 2: have been bad, or they've been close, but no Cigar.
- 2:33Speaker 2: So much the pressure exists now in the fact that
- 2:36Speaker 2: you have a core, you have a core that they've
- 2:38Speaker 2: built that is young veterans that are in their prime.
- 2:43Speaker 2: You know about the depending labor issues, and you wonder
- 2:46Speaker 2: if that's gonna impact kind of shrink the window even further.
- 2:49Speaker 2: They've been to the playoffs multiple times now in the
- 2:52Speaker 2: last five years. They got to Game seven of the
- 2:54Speaker 2: ALCS last year. So I think there's pressure on the
- 2:57Speaker 2: Mariners because of that. Solely, but I do think there's
- 3:00Speaker 2: pressure in market to kind of keep up with what
- 3:03Speaker 2: the Seahawks have done. Right, if you had asked me
- 3:05Speaker 2: last October who runs Seattle, I would have said it
- 3:09Speaker 2: was the Mariners. That the Mariners re energized the city
- 3:12Speaker 2: in a way that they hadn't had since two thousand
- 3:15Speaker 2: and one. But then the Seahawks come out and win
- 3:17Speaker 2: the Super Bowl three years later or three months later
- 3:19Speaker 2: and remind everybody that maybe, in fact, we run the
- 3:22Speaker 2: town and we've been the organization that is more successful.
- 3:26Speaker 2: So I hope that ownership in the front office takes
- 3:31Speaker 2: that pressure as a challenge. That's how you saw the
- 3:33Speaker 2: off season. Would they be kind of moved to do
- 3:36Speaker 2: things to get the organization over the hump. They didn't
- 3:39Speaker 2: do it in terms of financial spending, but they did
- 3:41Speaker 2: invest in the on field product, going out to get
- 3:44Speaker 2: Brendan Donovan and well it hasn't worked out the way
- 3:46Speaker 2: they wanted to. Yet they did spend on Rob Refsneider.
- 3:49Speaker 2: So I do think that the organization is aware of
- 3:52Speaker 2: the pressure in market and the pressure from the fan base.
- 3:54Speaker 2: And I think you're right. I think there is a
- 3:56Speaker 2: Seahawks element to that.
- 3:58Speaker 3: By the way, if you haven't seen one of these,
- 4:02Speaker 3: but this is the This is like the City Connect
- 4:05Speaker 3: helmet that they wore, the one we can beat the
- 4:08Speaker 3: ram two point conversion, that's right, so I am. And
- 4:12Speaker 3: by the way, twelve is one. It's pretty awesome. So
- 4:15Speaker 3: I'm secretly a Seahawks fan. I'm not allowed to tell
- 4:18Speaker 3: my kids that. Can they make fun of me, But
- 4:20Speaker 3: I am secretly a Seahawks fan. So I can't be
- 4:23Speaker 3: mad at the Seahawks for winning, but I wish the
- 4:25Speaker 3: Mariners at some point could get it done.
- 4:27Speaker 2: I was secretly at game one of the five World
- 4:30Speaker 2: Series that you played in because my my dad is
- 4:32Speaker 2: a diehard White Sox fan, so it is one of
- 4:35Speaker 2: my best baseball memories, certainly my best non Mariners memory.
- 4:38Speaker 2: But I was there in the ballpark when you guys
- 4:40Speaker 2: beat Houston. So you give me a secret Seahawks fan,
- 4:43Speaker 2: and I was secretly.
- 4:44Speaker 3: There also, you end the pope.
- 4:47Speaker 2: That's right, we were both there. I was in the
- 4:48Speaker 2: upper deck. You probably have better seats.
- 4:53Speaker 3: That's fair. But I mean, next, we have like thirty
- 4:55Speaker 3: shows on this network, so whatever show comes on whatever city,
- 4:59Speaker 3: that's what AJ's. Well, I'm secretly this team's fan, and
- 5:02Speaker 3: I'm secret I have lots of Seahawks I have lot
- 5:05Speaker 3: I mean lots of Seahawks stuff. Choose one. Just because
- 5:10Speaker 3: you get free gear from them doesn't mean that you're
- 5:13Speaker 3: a Seattle Seahawks fan. That's my kids. My kids kill
- 5:16Speaker 3: me about it all the time because I root for
- 5:18Speaker 3: the Bears openly, because I do like the Bears with
- 5:20Speaker 3: my kids. But my kids kill me because there was
- 5:22Speaker 3: a chance the Bears could have played the Seahawks in
- 5:24Speaker 3: the playoffs, and they were like, Dad, who are you
- 5:27Speaker 3: going to root for?
- 5:27Speaker 1: Who are you going to root for?
- 5:29Speaker 3: I don't I didn't have to answer the question. I said,
- 5:31Speaker 3: I haven't decided. I would have rooted for the Bears, obviously,
- 5:34Speaker 3: just because then I had to deal with my son.
- 5:36Speaker 3: If they had Bears make the Super Bowl, we go.
- 5:38Speaker 3: If they ever make the Super Bowl, which who knows.
- 5:40Speaker 3: They're like the Mariners in the World Series. They never
- 5:42Speaker 3: can make it, so I don't know. But once the
- 5:45Speaker 3: Bears lost, obviously, my allegiance went to the Seahawks.
- 5:48Speaker 1: It's nice to have two teams to root for, Brady,
- 5:50Speaker 1: It's good to have a backup.
- 5:51Speaker 2: Playing always good like the al and the NL team
- 5:56Speaker 2: people out. Although ag has got two NFC teams when
- 5:58Speaker 2: it comes to comes to that, so he's got to
- 6:00Speaker 2: look two good teams too. By the way, as we're
- 6:03Speaker 2: switching sports here, two good teams on upward trajectory. So
- 6:06Speaker 2: he's a good problem to have.
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- 7:10Speaker 3: Something that needs to be locked in is you're following
- 7:12Speaker 3: the Mariners. You mentioned all the moves that they made,
- 7:16Speaker 3: the massive you know, Rob Refsneider signing and the fact
- 7:19Speaker 3: that they traded for Brandon Donovan and they signed that
- 7:23Speaker 3: Josh Naylor back. Did they do enough to get past
- 7:28Speaker 3: where they were last year? In the postseason? Base on
- 7:31Speaker 3: the team they have now, not how they've done. I
- 7:33Speaker 3: think they're twenty and twenty two, second place behind the
- 7:36Speaker 3: AA seems seems not insurmountable. But did they do enough?
- 7:40Speaker 3: Is this team improved from last year barring injuries? We
- 7:44Speaker 3: have to always say that, but to be able to
- 7:47Speaker 3: push it forward knowing that cal Rally is not going
- 7:50Speaker 3: to hit sixty home runs because that's just a historic,
- 7:53Speaker 3: one once in a lifetime season.
- 7:56Speaker 2: I think they did enough to be a very good
- 7:58Speaker 2: team that could win the AL West, and therefore they
- 8:01Speaker 2: did enough to compete to go deep in the playoffs.
- 8:04Speaker 2: That said, I think that to your point, it was
- 8:09Speaker 2: never likely that cal Raley was gonna hit sixty home
- 8:11Speaker 2: runs again. Then you lose Auenio Suarez his home runs,
- 8:14Speaker 2: then you lose Joorge Polanco's home runs.
- 8:16Speaker 3: I mean, you're.
- 8:17Speaker 2: Talking about probably somewhere in the neighborhood of forty to
- 8:20Speaker 2: sixty home runs less right off the bat from a
- 8:23Speaker 2: year ago. And so I think this was a team
- 8:26Speaker 2: that last year became very power dependent, that lost a
- 8:29Speaker 2: lot of power in the offseason. And if you're going
- 8:31Speaker 2: to play that way, if you're going to change the
- 8:34Speaker 2: profile a bit, well, you're still gonna need cal Raley
- 8:37Speaker 2: and Julio Rodriguez to provide the power in addition to
- 8:39Speaker 2: a full season of Naylor. But you're also going to
- 8:42Speaker 2: need the Cole Youngs of the world to step up
- 8:44Speaker 2: like he has to his credit. But you needed Victor
- 8:47Speaker 2: Roblest to stay healthy and be productive. So far, he's
- 8:50Speaker 2: been injured for much of the season. That has been
- 8:53Speaker 2: a problem. You needed Luke Rayley to be consistent. He's
- 8:56Speaker 2: been powerful, but he hasn't been truly consistent, yet dom
- 8:59Speaker 2: can zone the same. So if you were going to
- 9:01Speaker 2: lose those home runs, you needed other guys to step
- 9:04Speaker 2: up and fill those voids, which to their credits, some
- 9:07Speaker 2: of them have, some of them have not, And you
- 9:09Speaker 2: needed a lot of the other things to go right
- 9:11Speaker 2: for you that went right a year ago. And so
- 9:14Speaker 2: far the Mariners have been more injured than they were
- 9:16Speaker 2: a year ago. That has been a problem, and there
- 9:19Speaker 2: has been obviously regression from cal Raley so far through
- 9:21Speaker 2: forty two games.
- 9:23Speaker 3: Who's the most underrated player on this team? Underappreciated in
- 9:26Speaker 3: the city of Seattle, not in not in the national
- 9:31Speaker 3: baseball scene because it's tougher West Coast teams to play
- 9:35Speaker 3: their games late. Everybody knows cal But who's the most
- 9:38Speaker 3: underappreciated in the city that you feel like, if they
- 9:42Speaker 3: have the season that they need to have, they need
- 9:45Speaker 3: to like take their play to the next level.
- 9:49Speaker 2: And I it's hard to call him underrated because he
- 9:52Speaker 2: was an All Star a year ago, but I think
- 9:53Speaker 2: Brendan orbrian Wu rather does not get still the proper
- 9:56Speaker 2: credit that he deserves. I think people look at him
- 9:59Speaker 2: national and say, you know, they don't necessarily think of
- 10:02Speaker 2: him as an ace. He did get knocked around two
- 10:04Speaker 2: starts in a row before rebounding the other day and
- 10:07Speaker 2: pitching excellently. But I mean, Brian wu if this team
- 10:10Speaker 2: is gonna be really really good, they're gonna need Brian
- 10:13Speaker 2: Wu again to be really really good. Logan Gilbert is
- 10:16Speaker 2: the longest ten yared homegrown member of the rotation, so
- 10:20Speaker 2: I think he has the clout that comes with that.
- 10:22Speaker 2: Luis Castillo has the bigger long term resume and the
- 10:26Speaker 2: bigger paycheck, so I think he has kind of a
- 10:29Speaker 2: clout that comes with that. And Brian wu I think,
- 10:31Speaker 2: continues to fly under the radar and it's amazing what
- 10:34Speaker 2: he's able to do, largely with you know, a fastball
- 10:38Speaker 2: and variations of his fastball. He's been fastball dominant for
- 10:41Speaker 2: his entire career. He started to implement some of the
- 10:44Speaker 2: off speed stuff more. But I think Brian wu Is
- 10:47Speaker 2: is really kind of the leader of this rotation right now,
- 10:50Speaker 2: at least from a performance standpoint. They're gonna need him
- 10:53Speaker 2: to continue to be the ace of their staff, even
- 10:55Speaker 2: if he doesn't get the ace recognition I think nationally
- 10:59Speaker 2: or even local, given Gilbert's reputation in history.
- 11:02Speaker 3: All right, Hojlio's twenty five years old. Does Julio win
- 11:06Speaker 3: an MVP in the next three years, because I think
- 11:08Speaker 3: in the last three years everybody said, well, this is
- 11:11Speaker 3: the year Julio has MVP type of stuff, MVP type
- 11:15Speaker 3: of numbers that he can put up. He had like
- 11:18Speaker 3: a seven something war last year, but he starts out slow.
- 11:23Speaker 3: Does he win the MVP in the next three years
- 11:27Speaker 3: and lead this team to the World Series.
- 11:31Speaker 2: I think he absolutely can and will win an MVP.
- 11:33Speaker 2: He's not to the best start of his career. I mean,
- 11:35Speaker 2: he's got the best WRC plus the best OPS that
- 11:40Speaker 2: he's had through May eleventh at any point of his career.
- 11:43Speaker 2: He is striking out less. He is hitting the ball
- 11:46Speaker 2: in the air more, which has been in an early
- 11:49Speaker 2: season problem for him, too many ground balls. So yes,
- 11:52Speaker 2: I think he can win the MVP. As far as
- 11:54Speaker 2: winning the World Series, I think that this year has
- 11:58Speaker 2: to be the year. I'm not saying they couldn't do
- 11:59Speaker 2: it subsequently, but when you look at the pitchers and
- 12:03Speaker 2: the aging that they're going to go through over the
- 12:05Speaker 2: next few years, you look at the contract issues that
- 12:08Speaker 2: they're going to go through in the next few years.
- 12:10Speaker 2: I mean, there's going to be a turnover on this staff,
- 12:12Speaker 2: and the staff they've built around the last several years
- 12:15Speaker 2: is not going to be there or is going to
- 12:18Speaker 2: age into a point where you are then concerned about
- 12:21Speaker 2: regression and injury. So I think there's a lot of
- 12:25Speaker 2: pressure on this year as a result of labor issues
- 12:27Speaker 2: and those impending contract issues. So are they going to
- 12:31Speaker 2: win it? I'm not going to be naive enough to
- 12:33Speaker 2: predict that they're going to win the World Series this
- 12:35Speaker 2: year from twenty to twenty two, but they are all
- 12:37Speaker 2: in on this year, and I think there's real pressure
- 12:39Speaker 2: to make this year the.
- 12:40Speaker 3: Year Brady got. We got two things I want to
- 12:47Speaker 3: hit on it, and it well. First one pains me
- 12:49Speaker 3: a lot. Cal Rawley, what is the O for thirty
- 12:52Speaker 3: six in May? Yes, which is unbelievable. And then Luis
- 12:56Speaker 3: Castillo La Piedro, the rock has been getting rocked. What's
- 13:00Speaker 3: tapping in with these two? And these guys are considered
- 13:02Speaker 3: like cornerstones and the Marriners.
- 13:04Speaker 2: I mean, I still think Cal is a cornerstone, and
- 13:07Speaker 2: I do think he's going to be okay. I don't
- 13:08Speaker 2: want to excuse make for him, but I think it's
- 13:11Speaker 2: pretty clear to see first ten games of the season
- 13:14Speaker 2: he hit one forty or something like that. I think
- 13:16Speaker 2: you can correlate that to the World Baseball Classic, right,
- 13:19Speaker 2: He's not. He's a creature of habit. He likes to
- 13:21Speaker 2: play every day. He hits from both sides of the plate.
- 13:24Speaker 2: He played four of seven games in the WBC. I
- 13:27Speaker 2: don't believe he took an that bat right handed in
- 13:29Speaker 2: the WBC, so certainly he started very slow. I think
- 13:34Speaker 2: as a result of that, as we saw several players around.
- 13:36Speaker 3: The league do.
- 13:38Speaker 2: Next twenty games, he hit two forty one with seven
- 13:40Speaker 2: home runs in thirteen RBIs So the good cal Raley
- 13:44Speaker 2: is in there, and the good cal Raley has been
- 13:46Speaker 2: there this season. Now you can factor in over his
- 13:49Speaker 2: last thirty six very clearly the right side discomfort that
- 13:53Speaker 2: kept him out of the lineup for three games and
- 13:55Speaker 2: then kind of relegated him to the DH spot for
- 13:57Speaker 2: another two. I think that played.
- 14:00Speaker 3: You know, played with.
- 14:00Speaker 2: His mechanics and his timing as well. His timing is off,
- 14:03Speaker 2: therefore his pitch recognition is off. He has swung at
- 14:07Speaker 2: far too many fastballs above the zone and far too
- 14:09Speaker 2: many changeups and breaking balls. Below the zone. He has
- 14:12Speaker 2: gotten himself out far too often. He's seemingly behind in
- 14:16Speaker 2: the count O two or one two every at bat.
- 14:19Speaker 2: I do think as he plays more and gets back
- 14:22Speaker 2: into that rhythm like he had in that twenty game
- 14:24Speaker 2: sample size that I reference, I do think that he
- 14:27Speaker 2: will be okay. Is he gonna hit two forty five
- 14:30Speaker 2: like he did a year ago. I don't know. Maybe
- 14:32Speaker 2: he'll hit two twenty four, But if he hits thirty
- 14:35Speaker 2: six home runs and brings in one hundred, this team
- 14:37Speaker 2: will be just fine with what he's given them. As
- 14:40Speaker 2: for Castillo, he is just he's giving up home runs
- 14:44Speaker 2: at an alarming rate. He's getting really hit hard the
- 14:48Speaker 2: second second time through the order. Specifically, Look, the fastball
- 14:52Speaker 2: has been good. It's not a velocity thing, right. This
- 14:54Speaker 2: is not just oh, he's getting older. He throws three
- 14:56Speaker 2: miles an hour less than he used to. The fastball
- 14:59Speaker 2: velocity he's been ninety six ninety seven, so the velocity
- 15:02Speaker 2: is still there. They're trying clearly to finagle his way
- 15:07Speaker 2: through outings. We've seen more right on right changeups. We've
- 15:10Speaker 2: seen more early count sliders, We've seen more fastballs at
- 15:13Speaker 2: the top of his own. They are trying as a
- 15:15Speaker 2: catching staff to get him through these outings, and so
- 15:18Speaker 2: far they just haven't found something consistent that works. I
- 15:23Speaker 2: look at Luis Castillo kind of like I look at
- 15:25Speaker 2: Walker Bueller, who the Mariners faced a couple of weeks
- 15:28Speaker 2: ago in San Diego, a guy who is a one
- 15:30Speaker 2: time ace who clearly has gone through some stuff and
- 15:33Speaker 2: is no longer the pitcher that he was. Walker Bueller
- 15:35Speaker 2: now has like eight pitches on his resume. I think
- 15:38Speaker 2: Luis Castillo needs to start tinkering with some things and
- 15:42Speaker 2: add more stuff to his arsenal because the fastball, change
- 15:47Speaker 2: up slider only that he has lived on and thrived
- 15:50Speaker 2: on it just doesn't seem to be enough anymore. And
- 15:53Speaker 2: the Mariners have taken this step now with Bryce Miller
- 15:55Speaker 2: coming back tomorrow, that they're going to go to the
- 15:57Speaker 2: six man rotation one time through then they're going to
- 16:00Speaker 2: go to a piggyback between Castillo and and Miller. There
- 16:04Speaker 2: are difficult conversations to be had at a few different
- 16:06Speaker 2: spots on this roster, and Luis Castillo is at the
- 16:09Speaker 2: center of one of them.
- 16:10Speaker 3: For sure.
- 16:11Speaker 1: Great analysis, and now we have a show to follow it.
- 16:15Speaker 1: I mean it's been there, but for our group that
- 16:18Speaker 1: doesn't know about it, they should refuse to lose territory. Brady,
- 16:22Speaker 1: great stuff. Man, really really enjoy listening to you anyway,
- 16:26Speaker 1: but now that you're part of the Ft family, tweeted
- 16:28Speaker 1: this even better. So congrats again and welcome dude. Great
- 16:33Speaker 1: to talk to you. We'll talk soon, okay.
- 16:35Speaker 2: Thank you very much, all of you appreciate you.
- 16:37Speaker 1: Thank you you too, Brady Farcas And there it is
- 16:40Speaker 1: first promo board, Refuse to Lose territory, part of the
- 16:43Speaker 1: FT network. There's a QR code on your screen. YouTube,
- 16:46Speaker 1: subscribe online, a little social media action there to follow
- 16:50Speaker 1: Brady and the podcasts, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get it,
- 16:55Speaker 1: go for it. If you're a Mariners fan, this is the.
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- 18:00Speaker 1: Hey, let's talk Rodgers. There's a lot of happenings. Katie
- 18:03Speaker 1: Wu is back. Yeah, she's back. There's too many things happening.
- 18:06Speaker 1: We had we had to hit the batphone, the blue
- 18:09Speaker 1: phone and talk to one of the stars of Dodgers Territory.
- 18:12Speaker 1: We'll see what kind of questions AJ has. But Katie,
- 18:14Speaker 1: it is always pleasure to catch up with you. And also,
- 18:16Speaker 1: Katie ripping up some really good articles in The Athletic
- 18:19Speaker 1: too for everyone to check out. I have to start here.
- 18:23Speaker 1: What's up with sho heo Tani? Katie? We haven't seen
- 18:26Speaker 1: this kind of bat production from him in years?
- 18:30Speaker 3: Is he fault?
- 18:31Speaker 1: Little? Yeah, Katie's fault? Is he showing that like St.
- 18:34Speaker 3: Louis like a good little bit human?
- 18:37Speaker 1: Right now?
- 18:38Speaker 3: She goes, are gonna have a can't hit?
- 18:41Speaker 5: Are we gonna have one of these shows? Aj? I'm
- 18:43Speaker 5: more than happy to bring it on.
- 18:45Speaker 3: Why am I getting yelled at because you're there?
- 18:50Speaker 1: Yeah? Exactly.
- 18:52Speaker 5: Let's talk about some show tony guys, because at this
- 18:54Speaker 5: point it is a problem, and I'm gonna sit here
- 18:57Speaker 5: in preface with no one is actually concerned about the
- 19:00Speaker 5: long term longevity and production of show Heotani, But right
- 19:03Speaker 5: now it has not been good. Dodgers overall not been good,
- 19:07Speaker 5: especially their offense that starts at the top with their
- 19:10Speaker 5: leadoff hitter going into play. Monday, the Dodgers kicked off
- 19:14Speaker 5: a four game set against the Giants at Dodger Stadium.
- 19:17Speaker 5: Here's Shootani's line over the last twenty five games. He's
- 19:20Speaker 5: hitting two twelve, three point thirty seven on base percentage,
- 19:22Speaker 5: a three eighteen slug just one homer, and that was
- 19:26Speaker 5: before he went over five with two punchouts against the Giants.
- 19:30Speaker 5: So yeah, it has not been good. And there's a
- 19:31Speaker 5: lot that goes into this with Otani, whether it's the
- 19:33Speaker 5: slump to start the season that's carried over. We know
- 19:36Speaker 5: he's balancing two way responsibilities for the first time since
- 19:39Speaker 5: signing that mega contract with the Dodgers. The Dodgers have
- 19:42Speaker 5: tried to work in some rest days for him, because
- 19:45Speaker 5: let's be honest, it is very taxing doing two way things.
- 19:48Speaker 5: But when you look at these numbers, this just is
- 19:50Speaker 5: not who Shoeotani is as a pitcher or as a hitter,
- 19:53Speaker 5: excuse me. And we kind of saw for yesterday he
- 19:56Speaker 5: came out. We know Otani doesn't really like to take
- 19:58Speaker 5: batting practice on the field, but he he did so
- 20:00Speaker 5: for the third time already this for the Dodgers, and
- 20:03Speaker 5: it didn't even look good then. So clearly this is
- 20:05Speaker 5: a guy who does not feel comfortable at the plate
- 20:08Speaker 5: right now. The numbers reflect that. We talked to manager
- 20:10Speaker 5: Dave Roberts after the game on Monday and he said,
- 20:13Speaker 5: to paraphrase, it just looks like Otani is trying to
- 20:17Speaker 5: swing out of it. Guys. Usually when players do that,
- 20:19Speaker 5: it sets them back. So Dodgers need him to produce.
- 20:23Speaker 5: But Otani, I think needs to take a step back
- 20:25Speaker 5: and try to find some sort of production that will
- 20:27Speaker 5: allow him to find better numbers at the top of
- 20:29Speaker 5: the order, because right now it's just not working.
- 20:32Speaker 3: We heard a little snippets from Dave Roberts, but you're
- 20:35Speaker 3: there daily is there? Did he expand on any of
- 20:39Speaker 3: the what he's talking about? Show hay the one day
- 20:41Speaker 3: he said, I just didn't like the body language, or
- 20:44Speaker 3: I didn't like the swings. They didn't look good. Has
- 20:47Speaker 3: he said like show Hayes saying his legs are tired
- 20:50Speaker 3: or it looks like his legs are tired. Is there
- 20:52Speaker 3: anything that gives you a idea of what Dave Roberts
- 20:57Speaker 3: is seeing.
- 20:58Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a good question, and Dave Roberts hasn't really
- 21:01Speaker 5: expanded on any fatigue. Otani, when we're able to talk
- 21:03Speaker 5: to him, also has said the same to me, it
- 21:06Speaker 5: just looks like a guy who is trying to swing
- 21:08Speaker 5: out of it. And in the beginning in April, although
- 21:10Speaker 5: the production wasn't really backed up from the slucking percentage standpoint,
- 21:13Speaker 5: he was reaching base, he was drawing a lot of walks,
- 21:16Speaker 5: He had some productive outs, So you can, when you're
- 21:18Speaker 5: a hitter, kind of take some silver lining in that.
- 21:20Speaker 5: But as Dave Roberts pointed out yesterday, Otani has stopped
- 21:23Speaker 5: doing that. He hasn't been walking the walk rates down.
- 21:25Speaker 5: He's pulling a lot of balls, weak ground balls to
- 21:28Speaker 5: the pull side. Just the quality of a bats are
- 21:31Speaker 5: indicative of someone who just does not feel right in
- 21:33Speaker 5: the box. And he's gonna have a day off from hitting,
- 21:36Speaker 5: either Wednesday or Thursday. Dave Roberts said, Otani will start
- 21:39Speaker 5: Wednesday against the Giants on the mound, but just try
- 21:42Speaker 5: to incorporate some rest days and really get Otani right,
- 21:45Speaker 5: because as we've seen throughout the Dodgers collectively one through nine,
- 21:48Speaker 5: that entire top of the order is really scuffling, and
- 21:51Speaker 5: that starts with him. The good news is for the
- 21:52Speaker 5: Dodgers is that it's not fatigue. It doesn't seem to
- 21:55Speaker 5: be fatigue at least, it's just more of a mechanics
- 21:57Speaker 5: not feeling right, probably an adjustment to going back to
- 22:00Speaker 5: two way duties. But it certainly doesn't make it any easier.
- 22:02Speaker 5: Otani is the catalyst at the top of this lineup.
- 22:05Speaker 5: They could really use him, especially with guys like Kyle
- 22:08Speaker 5: Tucker not really hitting in the way that they thought
- 22:10Speaker 5: Ferdy Freeman starting to come out of it a little bit.
- 22:12Speaker 5: They've been without Mookie Betts for a month. He just
- 22:14Speaker 5: now came back. That whole top of the order is
- 22:16Speaker 5: being paid hundreds of millions of dollars to produce, starting
- 22:19Speaker 5: with Otani, and that just has not been the case
- 22:21Speaker 5: over the last three weeks.
- 22:22Speaker 3: Offensively, thank god for Andy pae His and Dalton Rushing.
- 22:27Speaker 5: And Max Munsey, three guys carrying that to.
- 22:30Speaker 3: Get robbed kid rob the other day and then he
- 22:33Speaker 3: like was like, oh and the guy jumped.
- 22:34Speaker 1: Into the fence, Yeah, who is that in?
- 22:38Speaker 3: Eli White elimost lost his face.
- 22:44Speaker 1: That's true, you got a concussion, yeah, eleven Homers.
- 22:47Speaker 3: Though for Max, Max is doing it's them goggles got
- 22:51Speaker 3: him right from them rexpects he's got got him right. Katie, Uh,
- 22:55Speaker 3: what about another guy? I don't read your article, so
- 22:57Speaker 3: I don't know what you wrote, but you wrote I
- 22:59Speaker 3: did read one year article. We'll get into that later.
- 23:01Speaker 3: But Roki Sazaki, the Dodgers are focusing not on his
- 23:06Speaker 3: president but on his future. But the Dodgers are probably
- 23:09Speaker 3: the only team that could do this. What's going on
- 23:10Speaker 3: with Roki? He's looked better, right, he has looked a
- 23:13Speaker 3: little bit better.
- 23:16Speaker 5: Yes, thank you for humbling me aj I appreciate that.
- 23:18Speaker 5: It's one of your most consistent traits. If you've read
- 23:21Speaker 5: the article, though, you would know what the Dodgers are
- 23:24Speaker 5: looking at with Roki Sasaki in his long term development.
- 23:26Speaker 5: They've preached this patience every fan's favorite word, and continued
- 23:30Speaker 5: progress with Rochi and there has been no plan to
- 23:33Speaker 5: move him from the starting rotation, although over the last
- 23:36Speaker 5: three starts they have been incrementally better and we've been
- 23:38Speaker 5: starting to see tangible evidence of Roki trying to come
- 23:41Speaker 5: into form. So what exactly are the Dodgers looking for?
- 23:44Speaker 5: I talk to President at Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman about
- 23:47Speaker 5: the importance of making sure Roki is adjusting to the
- 23:50Speaker 5: quality and caliber of major league hitters. They don't believe
- 23:53Speaker 5: that he can learn anything about his arsenal and his
- 23:55Speaker 5: pitchmicks in triple A because, frankly put it, there's such
- 23:59Speaker 5: a wide gap talent from TRIPA to the majors. Now
- 24:01Speaker 5: that gap in talent is bigger than ever, and if
- 24:04Speaker 5: Roki Sasaki is going to figure out what it takes
- 24:06Speaker 5: to succeed at the big league level, he has to
- 24:08Speaker 5: figure out what works and what doesn't here in the majors,
- 24:11Speaker 5: even if it comes at the cost of maybe not
- 24:13Speaker 5: putting the best, most effective six starters in your rotation.
- 24:17Speaker 5: When Tyler glassnow comes back from the IL, Now, what
- 24:21Speaker 5: are the Dodgers looking at for Roki in terms of change, Well,
- 24:24Speaker 5: what made him so successful in Japan was the fastball
- 24:27Speaker 5: forkball combo. Now that fastball sat one hundred and that
- 24:30Speaker 5: forkball was it was not even close to the kind
- 24:34Speaker 5: of forurthball that we're seeing from him now. Those pitches
- 24:36Speaker 5: don't play as effectively in the majors, and to combat that,
- 24:40Speaker 5: there's a couple of things. Is the adjustment to the
- 24:42Speaker 5: major leagues. It also could be the adjustment to the ball.
- 24:44Speaker 5: The ball is smaller, easier to grip, easier, command, easier
- 24:47Speaker 5: to spot in Japan, which makes dotting the fastball and
- 24:50Speaker 5: the fourth ball much easier. In theory, Roki Sasaki has
- 24:53Speaker 5: not been able to show that both the fastball and
- 24:55Speaker 5: the forkball can play in the majors as they did
- 24:57Speaker 5: in Japan. That fastball is now sitting ninety seven, and
- 25:00Speaker 5: we know that he's had to incorporate two variations of
- 25:02Speaker 5: the forkball, the new one being more of a traditional splitter.
- 25:06Speaker 5: He's also added in a slider in an attempt to
- 25:09Speaker 5: kind of mix up his arsenal, because if he can't
- 25:11Speaker 5: use the fastball forkball speed combinations to keep opposing hitters off,
- 25:15Speaker 5: he needs to be able to kind of throw essentially
- 25:18Speaker 5: the kitchen sink at hitters and vary speeds that way,
- 25:20Speaker 5: So adding an arsenals aja. You both know this as
- 25:23Speaker 5: catchers like it's difficult to find out the best pitch
- 25:26Speaker 5: mix without a little bit of trial and error, and
- 25:28Speaker 5: as Roby continues to add pitches into his arsenal throughout
- 25:31Speaker 5: the early part of the season, figuring out when to
- 25:33Speaker 5: use them and where to use them to different hitters
- 25:35Speaker 5: is part of the learning process. So it's all a
- 25:38Speaker 5: matter to say that there are several factors going into
- 25:40Speaker 5: Susaki's development. The Dodgers are okay having him develop at
- 25:44Speaker 5: the major league level for now because they believe the
- 25:47Speaker 5: long term payoff is going to be worth the short
- 25:49Speaker 5: term struggle that we're seeing, although in fairness of Susaki,
- 25:52Speaker 5: it has been much better over his last three starts.
- 25:55Speaker 3: They also face the Giants who stink at hitting, So
- 25:58Speaker 3: there's that. But but that helps he's rehabbing against the giants.
- 26:03Speaker 3: I get that. But didn't we hear this story in
- 26:07Speaker 3: spring training? Hey, he's got to add that cutter slider thing.
- 26:10Speaker 3: Had they completely disbanded that, because now all of a sudden,
- 26:13Speaker 3: you know, he changed his fork ball which he was holding.
- 26:16Speaker 3: More like this to more of an orientation of a splitter,
- 26:21Speaker 3: is this, are they throwing stuff up against the wall
- 26:24Speaker 3: because they have the they have the ability to have
- 26:27Speaker 3: an extra picture. They have the ability to say, you
- 26:29Speaker 3: know what, we're gonna win a lot of games. And
- 26:32Speaker 3: you said that they don't want him to go to
- 26:35Speaker 3: Triple A to work things out. At some point, people
- 26:38Speaker 3: are going to be healthy at some point. He's clearly
- 26:41Speaker 3: the worst starter in their rotation. Is the move then
- 26:45Speaker 3: back to the bullpen where he had success in the postseason,
- 26:49Speaker 3: But he also kind of hamstrung them a little bit,
- 26:51Speaker 3: and they got they got. They got relieved by starting
- 26:55Speaker 3: pitchers who stepped in because he couldn't throw on back
- 26:58Speaker 3: to back nights like other relievers could.
- 27:01Speaker 5: It's not right now, and the reason for that is
- 27:03Speaker 5: because the injury ramp up. If you are all of
- 27:06Speaker 5: a sudden built out to start and you go back
- 27:08Speaker 5: to the bullpen, the injury risk it's exponentially higher if
- 27:11Speaker 5: they need him to bulk back up. Starting pitching is
- 27:13Speaker 5: the number one thing in demand for teams across the league.
- 27:17Speaker 5: It's why the Dodgers are one of the reasons why
- 27:19Speaker 5: the Dodgers are so good, because it seems like they
- 27:21Speaker 5: have an abundance of starting pitching in their minor league system.
- 27:24Speaker 5: You look at some guys like she and Justin Robleski
- 27:26Speaker 5: fighting for their spot on the rotation. Will they be
- 27:28Speaker 5: most teams number three starters if that but for Rokie. Again,
- 27:33Speaker 5: the Dodgers could change their mind when we get closer
- 27:35Speaker 5: to the postseason, because as we saw, you really only
- 27:37Speaker 5: need four starters tops in those postseasons, three in the
- 27:40Speaker 5: early rounds, and that's where Sasaki could really shine and
- 27:43Speaker 5: help them come September. But this is may guys, and
- 27:45Speaker 5: the Dodgers believe that this is the best course of
- 27:48Speaker 5: action again for the long term of Sasaki's career. Finding
- 27:53Speaker 5: and developing starting pitching continues to be one of the
- 27:55Speaker 5: hardest things you can do in the game. So the
- 27:57Speaker 5: Dodgers aren't simply going to punt on who they believe
- 28:00Speaker 5: could be a superstar on the rotation, even if Sasaki
- 28:02Speaker 5: isn't showing that right now. And it's a difficult thing
- 28:05Speaker 5: for fans specifically to understand because Dodgers fans have been
- 28:08Speaker 5: conditioned to expect a third straight World Series title. The
- 28:11Speaker 5: Los Angeles Dodgers are not a team that goes out
- 28:14Speaker 5: and says, hey, we're gonna maybe not put our best
- 28:16Speaker 5: starter on the mound tonight because we want to win
- 28:18Speaker 5: games in the future. That's not what the Dodgers do.
- 28:21Speaker 5: But it's a special case here because of who Susaki
- 28:24Speaker 5: could be in this high ceiling. I mean, he had
- 28:26Speaker 5: one of the highest pedigrees coming over from Japan, So
- 28:29Speaker 5: special case, special circumstances. I think what the Dodgers are
- 28:32Speaker 5: asking their fans to do is to it's difficult because
- 28:35Speaker 5: it goes against almost everything else that they have been
- 28:37Speaker 5: preaching for the last several years, but to give Sasaki
- 28:40Speaker 5: a little bit of patience because the last thing Andrew
- 28:42Speaker 5: Friedman wants is for this dynastic run to end, and
- 28:45Speaker 5: in order for large market teams to continue to find
- 28:48Speaker 5: success like the Dodgers have been, you have to be
- 28:50Speaker 5: able to supplement your core with your spending and going
- 28:53Speaker 5: out there and being able to build up and grow.
- 28:55Speaker 5: Sasaki as a starter is going to help them in
- 28:58Speaker 5: the long run. So again it comes down to sh
- 29:00Speaker 5: short term sacrifices. They're not going to send them to
- 29:02Speaker 5: the bullpen. They're not going to send him to Triple A.
- 29:04Speaker 5: They don't think that they can find anything there for
- 29:06Speaker 5: him to grow and develop on. Maybe come September, we're
- 29:09Speaker 5: talking about Sasaki as a reliever because that's where he's
- 29:11Speaker 5: best suited. But right now, the Dodgers are playing the
- 29:13Speaker 5: long game. We talk about load management that doesn't just
- 29:16Speaker 5: refer to injuries. They certainly are looking at the big
- 29:19Speaker 5: picture for Susaki, even if it makes the short term
- 29:21Speaker 5: understanding a little bit frustrating.
- 29:23Speaker 3: So Katie, who says the Dodgers are in a rebuild,
- 29:26Speaker 3: appreciate that. Katie, thank you for clarifying that that is.
- 29:30Speaker 3: That's a nice But the one conspiracy theory that gets
- 29:34Speaker 3: bantered about here in foul Territory is do you think
- 29:38Speaker 3: also some of the decision is, you know what, we
- 29:40Speaker 3: also want to make our organization look like an organization
- 29:43Speaker 3: that continues to develop or bring over the best Japanese talent.
- 29:50Speaker 3: Is there any whisperings of that in the clubhouse or
- 29:53Speaker 3: whisperings of that in the front office where it's like, Hey,
- 29:56Speaker 3: a Japanese star comes over. We want to make sure
- 29:59Speaker 3: we treat that the way that we want. Hey, everybody
- 30:03Speaker 3: else continue to come to the Dodgers' organization.
- 30:07Speaker 5: You know, I can understand that sentiment, I really can,
- 30:09Speaker 5: and I think there's maybe some some validity behind it.
- 30:12Speaker 5: But I think what's more, if we're going to go
- 30:14Speaker 5: into like the makeup of players, is the Dodgers have
- 30:17Speaker 5: worked really hard to earn the trust of Roki Sasaki,
- 30:21Speaker 5: and it's been a two way street. Last year he
- 30:23Speaker 5: came over and he spent most of twenty twenty five
- 30:26Speaker 5: on the injured list, and the Dodgers didn't really get
- 30:28Speaker 5: a chance to communicate with Roki, and we saw that.
- 30:31Speaker 5: It's not I wouldn't blame the organization. I wouldn't really
- 30:34Speaker 5: blame the player. It's just two sides coming over from
- 30:36Speaker 5: two completely different worlds. And trying to figure out the
- 30:39Speaker 5: communication tactic. They have worked extensively to get Roki to
- 30:42Speaker 5: trust them. It was Roki who approached pitching coach Mark
- 30:45Speaker 5: Pryor and said, I want to change my forkball grip
- 30:47Speaker 5: to a more traditional split a grip, and Mark Pryor said,
- 30:50Speaker 5: that's great, let's work on it together. If you send
- 30:53Speaker 5: a message to Roki and send him down to Triple A,
- 30:56Speaker 5: does that I'm not saying it does, I'm speculating, are
- 30:59Speaker 5: questioning he does that impact his trust in the organization.
- 31:02Speaker 5: To be clear, I believe the Dodgers when they say
- 31:05Speaker 5: that the best thing for Sasaki's development long term is
- 31:08Speaker 5: at the big league level. Everything they have said makes
- 31:10Speaker 5: sense from a logistics standspoint and the stats standpoint, But
- 31:13Speaker 5: there is also something to be said about the makeup
- 31:15Speaker 5: of a player. Can Sasaki handle a demotion? That's something
- 31:19Speaker 5: worth questioning because we all know how much effort it
- 31:22Speaker 5: took for the two sides to start talking and trusting
- 31:24Speaker 5: each other. Roki's in a much better place now. He's
- 31:27Speaker 5: worked hard to get there, so have the Dodgers. You
- 31:30Speaker 5: risk burning that relationship or taking a step back if
- 31:33Speaker 5: you demote him without without giving him every possible chance
- 31:36Speaker 5: to succeed at the major league level. And I think
- 31:38Speaker 5: that's part of the reason why the Dodgers are committed
- 31:40Speaker 5: to doing so.
- 31:42Speaker 3: They demoted him last year. He came back just fine. Katie,
- 31:44Speaker 3: just saying you're on the Cardinals beat. They demoted them
- 31:49Speaker 3: last year.
- 31:50Speaker 6: Is a.
- 31:51Speaker 3: He was hurt. He was he was hurt. He was hurt.
- 31:58Speaker 3: Hurt for snow. It just happens to just happens to.
- 32:04Speaker 3: By the way, that degree from where is that Southern
- 32:06Speaker 3: Rhode Island University? Is that a fake degree?
- 32:09Speaker 6: Over your shoulder, James, so kind of just kidding, Wow, kidding,
- 32:18Speaker 6: She wasn't kidding a male.
- 32:20Speaker 3: There's a mailing one.
- 32:21Speaker 1: Crock school is good.
- 32:23Speaker 3: Bigger than bigger thann AJ's college degree. You have the
- 32:28Speaker 3: same one.
- 32:30Speaker 5: We can fight. We gotta we got a game coming
- 32:32Speaker 5: up together. I think after my wonderful spotlight on you,
- 32:35Speaker 5: we're going to treat me this way on the show.
- 32:37Speaker 3: And that's what my next question was going to be about.
- 32:39Speaker 3: I don't even know Krowts read that article about Dalton
- 32:41Speaker 3: Rushing and how Katie had to call me and she goes,
- 32:44Speaker 3: she goes, does this this is one of the questions,
- 32:46Speaker 3: does this reputation of Dalton Rushing that you had your
- 32:49Speaker 3: whole career ever go away? And I go, well, I
- 32:50Speaker 3: haven't played in ten years, and you're still freaking calling
- 32:53Speaker 3: me Katie. So you answer the question for it ever
- 32:56Speaker 3: goes away? And your fault, Ka, it's your fault. It's
- 33:02Speaker 3: the writers. You guys write bad stuff about AJ. He
- 33:06Speaker 3: is a good person. There is nothing that he ever
- 33:10Speaker 3: did that made him be who he that you guys
- 33:13Speaker 3: wrote about him. Stop doing that. I've never said that.
- 33:17Speaker 3: I have never said that for the record, but I
- 33:19Speaker 3: was saying that. Never said that. But I will say this,
- 33:21Speaker 3: I didn't want to ask you about it. The teammates
- 33:24Speaker 3: in the article that he wrote, and if you guys
- 33:26Speaker 3: haven't seen, you wrote an article Aboutdlan Rushing about how
- 33:28Speaker 3: he's kind of getting this reputation of not being the
- 33:32Speaker 3: nicest guy, which some of us have had to live through.
- 33:34Speaker 3: And I understand it and I'm fine with it. But
- 33:37Speaker 3: his teammates really seem to have his back, and that
- 33:39Speaker 3: was a big thing in that article. I mean, heck,
- 33:41Speaker 3: you could ask Freddy Freddie dole me for two years,
- 33:43Speaker 3: so he already knows how to deal with this problem, right,
- 33:46Speaker 3: I mean Mooki. I played with Mooki for a while,
- 33:48Speaker 3: so he knows how to deal with this problem. But
- 33:50Speaker 3: they seem to really understand him and they've tried to
- 33:53Speaker 3: help him. Has he gotten any better? And since your
- 33:55Speaker 3: article came out, has your article changed his life?
- 33:57Speaker 5: Katie life champion journalists just really ahead of the industry
- 34:01Speaker 5: here at the Athletic No. I think it's a good point.
- 34:04Speaker 5: Let's talk a little bit about Dalton Rushing and the
- 34:06Speaker 5: perception of him in April. He was a little bit
- 34:08Speaker 5: of a viral moment all month long. But I think
- 34:12Speaker 5: one when you play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, fans
- 34:15Speaker 5: just are going to hate you. And it's hard to
- 34:17Speaker 5: find guys that are hateable on the Dodgers because you
- 34:20Speaker 5: have like Freddy Freeman, you have Otani, you have the Almamoto.
- 34:23Speaker 5: These are all guys that play the game well, they
- 34:25Speaker 5: play the game right and they're easy to root for,
- 34:27Speaker 5: but they play for the Dodgers. So twenty nine other
- 34:29Speaker 5: fan bases are like, why we want to hate someone?
- 34:33Speaker 5: Dalton Rushing is the type of player where if he's
- 34:34Speaker 5: on your team, you'll love him, and if he's not
- 34:36Speaker 5: on your team. You hate his guts, and we're seeing that,
- 34:39Speaker 5: especially over the last couple of months or the last
- 34:41Speaker 5: couple weeks, with some again viral moments that picked up.
- 34:44Speaker 5: Maybe they not most favorable things that he's ever said,
- 34:47Speaker 5: but what is important is how he's perceived in the clubhouse,
- 34:50Speaker 5: at least in Dodgerland. And I think the way that
- 34:52Speaker 5: Miguel Rolas and Freddy Freeman in that story described why
- 34:56Speaker 5: they like Dalton Rushing and why they want him to
- 34:58Speaker 5: succeed so much goes to show so the way Dalton
- 35:01Speaker 5: Rushing acts is only a problem if his own clubhouse
- 35:03Speaker 5: sees it that way, and they don't. They want to
- 35:06Speaker 5: make sure Dalton Rushing stays on the right path. I
- 35:08Speaker 5: think Freddy Freeman, I'll quote him, he used a perfect
- 35:10Speaker 5: analogy when he said it's like throwing up bumper lanes
- 35:12Speaker 5: in a bowling alley. They just want to keep Dalton
- 35:14Speaker 5: Rushing on track, but they don't want to take away
- 35:17Speaker 5: that competitive edge that makes him the type of player
- 35:20Speaker 5: that he is. Dalton Rushing at his core wants to win,
- 35:23Speaker 5: and he's done an incredible job of accepting for the
- 35:25Speaker 5: first time in his career that he's going to be
- 35:27Speaker 5: a backup catcher. He's not going to get every day
- 35:29Speaker 5: playing time, and he has to change his approach. Now
- 35:31Speaker 5: he comes to the field every day and how he prepares,
- 35:33Speaker 5: and he's done so, and his clubhouse has embraced him.
- 35:36Speaker 5: There's going to be learning moments along the way. But
- 35:38Speaker 5: you guys can attest to this. As long as your
- 35:40Speaker 5: clubhouse has your back and isn't tired of your antics,
- 35:43Speaker 5: you can act however you want. The Dodgers are committed
- 35:45Speaker 5: to making sure that Dalton Rushing can play authentically because
- 35:48Speaker 5: that's what makes him good, but also maybe tone down
- 35:51Speaker 5: the viral moments because they don't always paint him in
- 35:54Speaker 5: the best light. I certainly understand why fans from other
- 35:56Speaker 5: teams might not like him, but at the end of
- 35:58Speaker 5: the day, what matters is that he's liked in the
- 35:59Speaker 5: club house. They actually I think I saw a clip
- 36:02Speaker 5: on Twitter with showhy where they have a little handshake
- 36:05Speaker 5: and it looks like at the end show Io Tani
- 36:07Speaker 5: is like zipping his lips a little. I thought that
- 36:10Speaker 5: was hilarious. I'm alluding to what that means. Another thing
- 36:14Speaker 5: that I just goes to show about the clubhouses After
- 36:17Speaker 5: a series in Saint Louis, Dalton Rushing punched out to
- 36:19Speaker 5: end the game. He comes down the dugout and he
- 36:21Speaker 5: like kicks the air out of frustration, and the next
- 36:24Speaker 5: day the Dodgers launch a kicking celebration where Freddy Freeman said,
- 36:28Speaker 5: they're just simply kicking out the bad energy. But I
- 36:30Speaker 5: see a little bit more of a correlation there. So AJ,
- 36:33Speaker 5: you know this. If the clubhouse has your back, that's
- 36:35Speaker 5: what matters. And that seems to be the case for
- 36:36Speaker 5: Dalton Rushing.
- 36:37Speaker 3: Here true, great ad you wrote an article with AJ's help,
- 36:44Speaker 3: come on case.
- 36:45Speaker 5: Not only was AJ like his quote was so good,
- 36:49Speaker 5: it was our lead.
- 36:50Speaker 1: Oooh almost like he talks for a living.
- 36:54Speaker 3: It's almost like I know what I'm doing.
- 36:56Speaker 1: Yeah, Dalton Rushing, we're calling you in twenty thirty nine.
- 36:58Speaker 3: Kadie back to the original point. By the way you
- 37:00Speaker 3: leave Saint Louis, they're good, l a not so good.
- 37:04Speaker 3: Can we get back to that? Yeah? You might. You
- 37:08Speaker 3: know what, that used to be my nickname with the Giants.
- 37:10Speaker 3: That's when Mark Gardner came up. He called me that.
- 37:13Speaker 3: So it's not a bad thing.
- 37:15Speaker 5: No, I don't want to be the cooler. It's fine,
- 37:18Speaker 5: it's fine. Look, I love what the Cardinals are doing.
- 37:20Speaker 5: It's great to see those those young guys just kind
- 37:22Speaker 5: of click and have an opportunity to go out and
- 37:24Speaker 5: play their game. But if there's anyone that deserves to
- 37:27Speaker 5: want to write the Jordan Walker comeback story, it's me.
- 37:30Speaker 5: So it's kind of eating me alive. But I I
- 37:34Speaker 5: you guys know, I'm a Jordan Walker truther.
- 37:35Speaker 3: On the show I'll About You, Katie Cat's going to
- 37:41Speaker 3: write that story.
- 37:42Speaker 1: Yeah, well yes, Boden news on this now again, the
- 37:46Speaker 1: Athletic is like that too, all right. I'm being told
- 37:48Speaker 1: over way, over time. So Katie, you're the best.
- 37:50Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 37:50Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon and we'll see on Dodgers Territory.
- 37:53Speaker 5: See you, guys,