Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal: AL Wild Card madness, Shohei Ohtani IL aftermath, Phillies expectations, Volpe’s future

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Ken Rosenthal: AL Wild Card madness, Shohei Ohtani IL aftermath, Phillies expectations, Volpe’s future · Foul Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Let's hit the inside scoop. Ken Rosenthal is here, our
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: FT senior insider. Ken, I want to start with Shohei Otani.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think we got to go back and forth
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: with you about this. And your colleague, Katie Wu, who
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: was on with us the other day and hosts Dodgers Territory,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: has been writing about this frequently. How to handle Otani
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: in his first full season as a two-way player with
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers. Obviously, it doesn't end up being that way,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: but it's difficult, the communication process with the best player
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: on the planet for this, right?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: It's often difficult with star players to get them to
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: tell the truth about how they're feeling. And not always
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: the case, but the Dodgers have been through this with Kershaw,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: with Freddie Freeman. They are great teammates, as is Shohei,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: but they're great teammates in part because they always want
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: to play when they're hurt.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: And Katie Wu wrote a very perceptive piece in The
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Athletic this morning, basically saying that nobody is blameless in
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: what happened here. Certainly not the team, which maybe could
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: have put him on the injured list earlier or even
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: taken more dramatic steps months ago to get him back
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: to a better physical place. Otani, because he pushed and
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: maybe did not communicate effectively how he was feeling, everyone
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: kind of was operating in uncharted territory because as you said, Scott,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: this is his first year pitching and hitting for the Dodgers.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: And at the same time, you look back on it
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: and you say, well, man, they waited way too long.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: And now we're looking at him coming back five days
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: left in the regular season. He's not going to be
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the same in the postseason. Dave Roberts has acknowledged that.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: So you learn from it and you learn from it
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: going forward and everybody will just try to do it
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: maybe a little bit differently next time.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: Is there a point where Shohei maybe doesn't bounce back
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: from this? A lot of the injured lists are precautionary
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: for the Dodgers and Blake Snell comes back Tyler Glass
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: now comes back and they take those times and they
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: do a great job is it a fear that possibly
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: now he's not going to pitch or from what we
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: know he's not going to pitch and his hitting it
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: might be tough do the Dodgers have a spot to
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: say maybe maybe his swing isn't ready or do they
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: go with it and maybe he's not effective in his
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: first series in the playoffs Eric.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: These are all good questions and Certainly the anticipation is
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: he's coming back. And the question is, at what level
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: is he coming back? And they seem to be conceding
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: that he's not going to be the Shohei Otani of
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: 50 homer, 1,000 OPS form necessarily. So once he comes back,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: then you've got the five games in the regular season,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: and maybe you get more of a rest. It looks
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: like they're going to get the number two seed and
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: the bye. That will give him more time to recover, but...
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: It is problematic because you don't know exactly what you're
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: going to get from him. I imagine it'll be pretty good.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: It's been pretty good most of the year until recently.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: But at the same time, he's got a number of
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: issues going on. The knee, the bicep, the bicep issue
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: that extends to the neck. You just don't know where
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: it's going to lead.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: Earlier in the year, AJ and I both had talked
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: about how pitching takes its major toll on any player.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: let alone a 32-year-old player who is pitching and hitting
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: at an elite level. Do you feel like the Dodgers
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: take that, allowed him to try to push for the
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: Cy Young, and now next year take this and say,
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: because it's the first time, like you said, with the
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: Dodgers of him doing both, and say, maybe we don't
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: push for awards. Maybe we push for you being the
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: best healthy player, or is that a kickback that Shohei
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: wants to push against?
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Well, the question here is how much control does Shohei
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: actually exert? And what I was told this week is
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: that whenever the Dodgers say, we need you to do this,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: even if it's a step back in some regard, but
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: it's for the team's benefit, he will say, yes, that's
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: not a problem. He's good that way. Where it is
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: lacking from what I was told is sometimes him communicating
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: just how he's feeling physically to the powers that be.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: And again, this is not uncommon. in star players. A
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: lot of guys are like this. So the whole question
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: of the Cy Young, it was clear, and Dave Roberts
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: admitted this as well, that Shohei did want to win
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: a Cy Young. It was one of the last frontiers
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: for him. Now, looking back, maybe they pushed too hard,
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: and maybe this was too much. He's not 25 anymore.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: That's probably a part of this too. So entering next year,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: it's going to be a really interesting year. question for
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers and for Otani just how they want to
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: approach the pitching aspect of it and I anticipate I
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: would expect that it's going to be a different approach
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: than it was this season.
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: We talked a little bit about Anthony Volpe uh about
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: what's going to consist of him as he moves forward
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: as Chisholm went down do you have any inkling or
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: or uh do you suspect that, you know, he's going
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: to be there for a long haul and make an
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: impact on the playoff? Do you see him, you know,
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: being like a utility guy or is this just when
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: jazz Chisholm is healthy enough to get back? You know,
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: we saw sample size again, how good he can be.
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying?
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Todd, it sort of depends on jazz and how he recovers.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: If jazz recovers well, then do you have a spot
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: for Volpe as a utility guy? I'm not sure they do.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: They didn't before when jazz was there. So yeah, The
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: good part of this story is that Anthony Volpe has
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: seemingly come out of it offensively. And it started in AAA.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: He was tearing it up down there. And of course,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: last night we saw what he did as well. That
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: was a bit of a Yankee Stadium homer, but it
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: was a homer nonetheless. And he had two other hits
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: as well. So what I loved about this was here's
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: a guy who has been kind of beaten down by
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: the game and beaten down by media and beaten down
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: by fans. And he didn't quit. He hung in there.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: He did his best to get back, even though he
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: felt there was no guarantee he was getting back. He
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: didn't even think he would get back. And here he
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: is showing that persistence, again, can really be incredibly meaningful
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: for a player. So I always love stories like this
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: when guys are down and they get back up. And
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: maybe Anthony Volpe in some fashion becomes the ultimate example
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: of that. It might not be this year, but Jazz
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: Chisholm is a potential free agent. Maybe Anthony Volpe is
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: their starting second baseman next year. You have a homegrown
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: infield or middle of the diamond, at least with Volpe
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: and with Lombard Jr.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: All right. A series starting tonight is the Braves versus
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: the Phillies. Essentially the two best teams in the National
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: League East, possibly top five, two best teams in the
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: National League or baseball. The Phillies have Shrunk that lead.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: In my opinion, I don't feel like they make it back.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: In your opinion, have the Phillies surpassed the Braves in
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: creating a team that could go farther in the playoffs,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: which are right around the corner? Because if you take
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: the team that started poorly and now compare them to
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: the Braves team now, have they shrunk that lead, which
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: is just not a real lead? It's just something in
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: our minds.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: I would say that the Phillies' entire outlook for the
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: rest of this season and in the playoffs depends on
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: their offense. Now, they've got bullpen questions as well, but
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: you can shrink your pitching staff in the postseason, use
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: starters and relief. I anticipate they'll do some of that.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: We all know their starters are really good. The question is,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: is that offense that surged in August and early September
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: and now is kind of fading again, Is that offense
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: going to be there or is it not? Matt Gelb
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: wrote about this in The Athletic today. What they were doing.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Is it sustainable? If it is, if they get back
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: to that, they may be a better team than the
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Braves because simply their starting pitching is better than the
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Braves is. Now, I will say this. The Braves starting
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: pitching beyond sale, it's been a question and an issue
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: all season long. But Tyler Molle has been a great
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: addition for them. He now looks like a legitimate number
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: two starter for the postseason. Grant Holmes has been good.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Martin Perez has been good. They can put it together.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: And if Robert Suarez comes back and is healthy and
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: can add to their bullpen, their bullpen is really good
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: as well. They too have had offensive issues at various
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: times this year. And right now, Olsen is struggling and
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: that's kind of dragging them down a little bit. But
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: I can't tell you and I can't predict and I
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: don't know which team is the better postseason team. They
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: both have the potential to do really big things. Whether
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: that happens or not remains to be seen.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: I try not to ask you for predictions. But one
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: thing that you do do is you break down where
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: they've been and what they're going to and then we
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: make our own decisions. So I appreciate that, Ken. The
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: one thing I need you to comment on, though, is
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: what Mark Feinson wrote about how the Braves possibly had
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: a trade for Jacob deGrom to fill in what you said,
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: that number two spot in the rotation for Spencer Strider,
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: who was the number one before Chris Sale had ever
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: gotten to Atlanta. Do you have anything more to add
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: about that? But also, does that show us where the
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: Braves were trying to be in this trade deadline?
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Well, it definitely shows us that. And I reported the
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: day of the deadline that he had rejected a trade
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: to Atlanta. Now, the Strider element, and I know Mark
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: reported this a couple of days ago, and others had
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: mentioned it before as well. I was told that was
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: not true. Now, sometimes in a situation like this, when
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: I'm told that, It's a matter of semantics, and maybe
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: it was discussed, but not simply as far along as
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: is being portrayed. Maybe it was discussed, and it was
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: far along, and I'm being told kind of a half-truth.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: I don't know, but we do know for sure. They
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: tried to get to Grom. He rejected it, and whether
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Strider was the guy going back, yes, that's been reported
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: a few times now, and though I didn't have it,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: I don't doubt that there was some truth to that.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: So it turns out, that DeGrom has had a less
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: consistent second half, though he was really good yesterday. And
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Tyler Molling has been tremendous for them. So sometimes these
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: things work out, even though you don't expect them to
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: work out in a certain fashion.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: Let's talk about Kurt Suzuki out in L.A., where. Obviously,
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: when he signs a one-year deal, it becomes his job's
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: in flux already. He's a lame duck immediately when he
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: signs the contract. Now the GM's changed, and now the
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: owner has changed. Can you kind of lead us to
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: the path that you wrote in your article about how
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: he possibly could be brought back for another season, which
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: we didn't think was possible when he put his pen
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: to paper?
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Yes, and I wrote this today with Sam Bloom, and...
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: It's an interesting situation. So a couple of things just
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: to give you the context. One, the expectation is that
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: the new ownership will not take control until early 2027. Now,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: it might happen sooner. And if it happens, say, in November, OK,
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: then the new ownership does what it wants. It makes
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: a decision on John Mazaloc. It makes a decision on
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Kurt Suzuki. It's kind of clean. But given that the
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: ownership is not expected to take full control until January
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: at the very earliest. And given that we have a
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: lockout beginning December 1st, there are decisions that are going
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: to have to be made by the controlling owner right now,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: who is Artie Moreno, who will remain a minority owner.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: And Suzuki's contract is up. Zalek's contract extends through the end.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Of the year.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: You got to figure out what you're doing. Maybe it's
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Stan Kroenke, the new owner, saying, you know what, let's
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: just stay status quo for now. until I get full
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: control and until I see these guys performing their jobs.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: And Mozelek has spoken highly in our story, spoke really
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: highly of Suzuki. So maybe that's how this ends. And
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: maybe Suzuki does get a reprieve of sorts simply because
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: of this transition taking place and all of the uncertainty
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: with the lockout and the ownership changing hands. It's hard
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: to know. And we just kind of were giving the
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: landscape of where this stands right now. But I would
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: expect that Moreno and Kroenke will be kind of working
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: hand in hand on this and will reach some sort
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: of decision together, even though Kroenke won't have full control
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: necessarily right away.
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: No doubt. No doubt. So I'm, I'm looking at the
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: standings here a little bit. I'm looking at the AL
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: wild card, considering Red Sox and Yankees pretty much set
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: lock to get in there. Do you, um, Give me
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: a team, I guess I'm going to ask you, that
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: you think is going to make a big jump here.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: I know I'm going to like the Orioles are three
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: games back. You got Toronto a game back. Is there
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: a team that you see taking it to the next
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: level and getting that third spot?
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: Running out of time, Todd. I still believe Cleveland is
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: going to seize the third spot. They've got it right now,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: and Toronto has these pitching issues. They really don't have
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: a fifth starter, and They're kind of in a funny
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: place that way. Their offense has been up and down
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: all year. They're right there. You can see in the standings.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: They are right there. But I just see Cleveland because
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: of Williams and Messick at the top of their rotation.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: And the offense being better with Joe Adele and Nathaniel Lowe.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: They're still really young. They're still not all that great either.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: But I wouldn't be surprised if they overtake the White Sox.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: They're only a game and a half behind right now.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: I just kind of like what they did at the deadline.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: I like the vibe of that team overall. Baltimore, no. Texas,
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: they're in Arizona this weekend. Big series for them. They
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: have not played well enough for anyone to think, wow,
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: they're going to go grab this. So I just sit
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: there and think Cleveland is the best of them. But
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: as Eric said, he doesn't ask me for predictions and
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: he doesn't ask me for predictions quite nicely because I'm
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: terrible at predictions. And things always seem to happen that
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: I don't anticipate. So it'll just be interesting to see
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: how these final three weeks play out.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: Here's something you don't anticipate because nobody sees it coming.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: If the White Sox young team gets tired and they
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: miss the playoffs because the Blue Jays take the third
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: spot and the Guardians win the division, would it be
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: considered a failure of a season for the White Sox team?
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: I would say no. Certainly it would be disappointing to
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: have it end this way after they've really led the
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: division for quite some time and had this tremendously inspiring season.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: But if you miss the playoffs, obviously you could say, well,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: we never expected to be here in the first place,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: which is the absolute truth. They did not expect it.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: And you can also say this is something to build on.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: We now tasted success. the bitterness of this disappointment, we
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: go forward and we go forward knowing what needs to
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: be done to get to the next step. All of
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: that will be true and fair points to make and
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: not simply rationalizations. But if that happens at the same time,
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: chances of getting in the playoffs or opportunities to get
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: in the playoffs are rare. You guys know this from playing.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: It's hard to do. And when that chance is there
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: and you miss, that stings.
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Division is one thing and they should get it, but
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: you're right. Like we're talking about, I just think I
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: try and look back at the beginning of the season, right?
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: If you told anybody in March, the White Sox made
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the playoffs one sentence, that's it. It doesn't matter how
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: they got there. Even if they blew a lead, whatever
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: White Sox made the playoffs. Yes or no. Do you
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: take that for anybody with expectations? They would say yes.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: Right? Yes.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: White Sox made the playoffs. That is an incredible turnaround
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: from what they've done the last few years. So Kent,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Good stuff. Good talking to you.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: Catch you soon.
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: Thanks guys.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: And of course you can hear Ken most Saturdays on
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Fox for whatever games they have this weekend, obviously is
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: NFL season getting fully locked and loaded. Then we focus
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: on baseball again with playoffs around the corner and the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Fox one app will have the national league side of
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the equation for division series CS. And then eventually they'll
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: have the world series exclusively on Fox and Fox one,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: get your three day free trial.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Started at fox1.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: Com.