Best of the Doug Gottlieb Show: 04/18/2018

Doug thinks all the reports out of New England regarding the Patriots is because Tom Brady wants to be loved. He gives praise to Cubs star Anthony Rizzo for finally speaking the truth about baseball. Angels skipper Mike Scioscia joins the show to talk about their hot start to the season with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug gott Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Boom Up America, Doug got Leave
Show Fox Sports Radio, coming to you from the sunny, beautiful,
glorous city of Los Angeles, California. I hope you're having
a great day. Man, do we have a good show

(00:22):
for you? The All Ball Podcast is up. It is hot.
Um a man coach Nick joins us. We repurposed that
Brett Brown interview that we brought you yesterday from his car,
which he was nicely signaling left uh in the turn lane.
Brett Brown, coach of the seventies sixers, and Evan Daniels,
who covers college hoops and recruiting for Fox Sports on

(00:44):
the All Ball Podcast live on terrestrial or satellite radio
your I Heart Radio app over the next three hours.
Just tune in and we got great great football, basketball,
and baseball. I think we're the only national show that
actually understands baseball exist. I got a great and interesting
baseball topic and admission of I guess guilt from a

(01:05):
star in baseball. Mike soci is gonna join us in
two hours and twenty minutes. Uh showtime was no time
last night? Is uh? As the crashing regression towards the
mean happened for Showhyo Tani at the Big A. We'll
get to the Angels Skipper. Remarkable start for the Hails.
That's in the now. Two hours and twenty minutes, but

(01:26):
we got hoops. Jared Dudley joins us in about fifteen minutes.
Baron Davis is gonna join us as well. I'll get
you ready for tonight's game, react to last night's games
as well, and then we got football for you. The
only guy, the only guy in the entire world to
coach case Keenum, Johnny Manziel, Davis Webb, Pat Mahomes, and

(01:48):
Baker Mayfield and oh yeah, by the way, he played
in the Nashville. Cliff Kingsbury, head coach of Texas. Texas
gonna join us in an hour and like, look, I
don't I don't pre interview guys, but in texting back
and forth, Cli, I'm like, look, you know you if
you want to talk about your spring game, cool. Everyone
wants to know about these quarterbacks and who knows them

(02:08):
better than you. He was the guy who I remember
I was interviewing him. He had just gotten the job
at Tech and he told me that. I said, what
do you think about Menzel? And he said, and on air,
He's like, look if he if he works hard, he
starts to work hard in the film room, he can
be a great player. And I was like, oh, it
starts to work hard, meaning he didn't work I just

(02:29):
planned this anyway, he's got the honesty bug. He'll join
us in one hour, head coach of the Red Raiders
of Texas Tech. So we look, we got a great
show for you today. Let's start with this. The tweet
came out. I don't know what. I don't even know
the time stamping on the tweet, but I was, I

(02:49):
was watched. I was on Twitter when I woke up
this morning and Adam Schefter tweet out something which just
struck me as odd. Adam Schefter has seven million followers,
seven million followers, so when he tweeted out, uh that

(03:12):
Tom Brady has still not committed to playing in the
two thousand eighteen season, you started to go, huh. Now,
remember he's working against a bunch of things. There's the
Tom versus time. Do I I think there was the
chance there's a chance that Tom should have would have

(03:35):
walked away had they won that last Super Bowl. Think
about if he doesn't get striped, sack fumbled and they're
down five, he leads them on a touchdown drive. He
went back to back Super bowls right like there is
no there is no but La went back to back
super bowls. Left the game. But he wasn't nearly at

(03:55):
his peak, um Bray. He has shown signs of weakness
even go to the I mean nook the comeback versus Atlanta.
I point this out. First three quarters that game, he
was not good. He was rather bad, actually rather bad.
But would he have walked with a none of them? Oh,

(04:19):
I amount to say none of them like when Payton
Manning walked away. He was terrible in the Super Bowl.
Um John Elway's first Super bowin actually at the lowest
quarterback rating in the history of the Super Bowl for
a quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Second Super Bowl,
he was a little bit better, but it was time.
Tom Brady is working against the thought of CT He's

(04:42):
working against his wife saying he had new barrious concussions
a year ago. She clearly wants him to quit, clearly
wants him to quit. He had this documentary which is
you only start to do that when you're thinking about
shutting it down. I don't trust words, I trust actions, right,
That's that's which one of the things you you learned,

(05:02):
not just words, I trust actions. And even though his
words said I want to play tell him forty five,
his actions were, Hey, I'm doing a documentary. I'm letting
people in. It's the first time ever. You only do
that when it's your swan song. Um. Now, Brady could
have told the Patriots this is good, this because potentially

(05:24):
it for me, and they probably wouldn't have traded Garoppolo.
But I read this and I think, look, Tom Brady
is coming back to play football. It's a drug. The
energy of leading fifty three men forty six on game
day into battle, being the guy in front of the stadium,
you just you can't replace it. Plus the bitterness of
having lost your last game is really really hard for

(05:45):
super hyper competitive guys to get over. But the thing
of him not fully committing to playing just yet. Um.
One source told ESPN my money would be on him
playing football for the foreseeable future. But what goes on
away from the football field, I don't know. I don't know.

(06:09):
Turns forty one in August, I believe he's going to
be there. Another person who knows Brady told ESPN. However,
that being said, we're dealing with the human being. Things
can change. I do believe he'll be playing. This is
what happened at the end of five This is what
happens at the end of a lot of guys. In

(06:29):
order to get there physically, you gotta get there mentally,
you gotta continue to put yourself in this. Alright, I'm
gonna get my ass kicked for for five five months
straight on a fully invest in it. It's a lot um.
I I think of football in many ways as I
think of of doing a radio show, I just do.

(06:52):
Having this conversation with my wife hour and a half ago,
she's asking about summer camping, what do we do with
this kid? Will we do with that kid? How much
everything's gonna cost by budget out, and like, look, I
have this kind of process of it's like a two
or three hour thing to which I'm piecing together what
I want to say, how I want to say it,
and as I as I told you before. Cindy Katz,

(07:14):
who books the show, and Ryan Music, who produces the show,
They've put together this all star line up, So I'm
processing what I want to talk about and then how
I want to interview, uh, these four guests that we
have today. The thing about radio, everyone likes to do
a radio show to pop out. Hey, I'll I'll sit
in with you for a day, and do you want
to do it two d five days a year. No, thanks,

(07:35):
that's a job. I don't want that. Everybody wants to
play quarterback for doing of Patriots. Do you want to
get up at six am every morning, get the facility
and watch tape over? How many different exotic blitzes can
you look at? How many times can you get to
bed on Saturday night thinking about all these different thoughts,

(07:56):
Motivating teammates, motivating yourself, making the play, being judged by
the world, your greatness based upon one throw, one catch,
one first down, one bad spot. It's a lot. It's
a job, a very well compensated job. But at some
point you're like, man, I've won a lot of championships,
I've made a lot of money, but I also think
that this would Stories like this don't get out there

(08:19):
unless Brady wants it out there. It this signifies to
me that Tom Brady is, in fact one of the
leaks in the Patriots stories about Tom Brady being unhappy
with the team. This to me, uh is some confirmation

(08:39):
bias that that Gisel does does does swing a heavy stick,
like she's like, look, we got more money and we
could ever spend. She makes, she makes more he does.
He makes a ton of money. They have kids, they
have championships, they have everything you could ever want, Like,
what more d you need? And I'm sure he's thinking,
I just want one more championship and she's like, yeah, yeah,

(09:04):
I don't know. So I I'm I'm pretty convinced he's
coming back. I'm also pretty convinced that just like anybody,
he likes to be recruited, He wants to be loved,
he wants to make amends, He wants to feel like
Belichick wants him back, that he wants Bill Belichick to
say I need you Tom. And I don't think this

(09:27):
would come out if if he was retiring, there wouldn't
be this. Well, he hasn't been committal about it, there
would be he's retiring. This is Brady saying yeah, I
don't know. And then look, it's probably a mistake to
come back when you think this is there's a if
you guys play pick up basketball, you can appreciate this.

(09:50):
And pick up basketball, there's always a handful of guys
who you get done playing. You know, hey, let's go
last game. You get done. Every he started, this guy
started unlacing their shoes, texting their girlfriends and their wives,
talking about their plans. Late in the day, and a
couple of guys still have some gas in the tank
and they go, hey, let's let's run one more, one

(10:12):
more game. Who's in one more? We got ten, we
need to run one more. And you're the tenth guy,
and you're like, yeah, you just hit the game winner,
or maybe you missed the game winner, doesn't matter. You're like,
I'm good, but you don't want to let the nine
other guys down. And it's one more game to twenty
one whatever, that's the game you usually get hurt into. Right,

(10:38):
So I'm fascinated by this. I think Brady is one
of the leakers, right. I think he's leaked some of
the stuff that he's unhappy. I think he wants to
be loved, he wants to be recruited, he wants Giselle
to bless him going back for another year. I don't
think It's that far fetched that he would have walked
away had they won a Super Bowl while should you

(11:00):
be doing a documentary? Remember they had to reshoot the
ending to it, like or they had. They had delayed
before they could release the ending. Why because they were
planning on winning a Super Bowl and that was going
to be the ending. I mean, that's the the ultimate. Uh,
you know, fade to black and now you're like, wait

(11:20):
a second, Now we gotta do another sequel. And Police
Academy was an unbelieable series. Once I got the Police
Academy seven, I don't know Steve Gutenberg still in it.
So Adam Schafter tweets out. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady still
not committed to playing in two thousand and eight, even
though people who know him believe he'll be coming back
for another season. And uh, the Patriots have expressed interest

(11:46):
in U c. L A quarterback Josh Rosen. Those two
first round draft picks sitting out there, the thought of
drafting a quarterback, the possibility of starting over. Man, this
is gonna be a great week to have, isn't it?
Draft his next Thursday? How how good is this lead up?

(12:08):
Do they do they trade up? Do they get Rosen.
If they get Rosen, does he retire? If they get Rosen?
Does he? Is it that uncomfortable thing that Farv had.
Remember Brady's dad once upon a time said, I don't
think he ends his career as a patriot. I don't
think he goes elsewhere. Still so much to to try

(12:31):
and figure out. By the way, here was Gizele on
the final episode of Tom Versus Time Take a listen.
This last two years have been very challenging for him
in many ways, and I think he just love it
so much. And I just want to go to work
and and have fun. Yeah, I just want to have fun.

(12:53):
I want to feel appreciated. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three
pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
I Heart Radio app. I like when guys are honest, right,
That's what we searched for. Um. Here's Anthony Rizzo of
the Chicago Cubs on Chicago radio station ESP one thousand.

(13:17):
I think it's too much baseball personally. Yes, guys are
gonna take paid cons mines. Are we playing this game
for the money or we love the game? I know
there's both. But I think in the long runs, it'll
make everything better, you know, start the season later in
the year, ending in October and not November. Like, all
this stuff sounds great. All this stuff sounds great. By

(13:40):
the way, do we know Anthony Rizzo not exactly off
to a strong start. Um, but Anthony Rizzo hitting, he's gay,
he's got the injury so um and look he's gone
through a lot emotionally. You know he's from originally from Arkland, Florida.

(14:00):
There's a lot going on there. Um. But let's just
get to the statement, like baseball should be shorter, should
have a shorter season. They used to play a hundred
fifty four even a hunter, like just the idea. I've
told that to my son. My my son loves baseball
and he played fall ball, he played springball, and he

(14:21):
was like, how many how many games are they playing baseball?
Or he I think he said like, hey, dad, he
had like three games in a week last week, and
he loves the games. And now once you get to
player pitch, uh, and they're they're pretty good now. Right,
So it's two hours, it's pretty exciting. And all three
games ended in walk offs, all three but remember for baseball,

(14:44):
like Frenny support, you get there about an hour early. Right,
you hit some, you field some, you get loose, you
throw some, you get right for your position. Then you
go play and you know there starts, there stops, there's
pitching changes, etcetera, etcetera. It's a long three hours long
for a little nine old And you do that three
days in weeks, sometimes four days in a week. It's like, man,

(15:05):
I I koind of need to break. And I was like,
you still love it? Yeah, I still love it, but
I kind of need to break. It was like, do
you know how many they play in the major leagues?
Like now, It's like a hundred and sixty two games.
It's like total in a year. That's a lot of
damn baseball. Who thought this was a good idea? Now
this is one of those things that you say. It's like, um,

(15:28):
like teachers. I remember growing up thinking, man, teacher with
a great gig, Right, you don't work for three months
of the summer is awesome? Awesome? You know you're you're
done at three o'clock. You're not really done at three o'clock.
You don't start at eight or eight thirty, Right, you
have to get there. You don't just like show up
like school bell rings and like you're just walking to

(15:50):
the door like no, no, no no, you're there. You got
lesson planned, you gotta have stuff graded, and you know,
teachers life kind of never ends. And oh yeah, by
the way, you don't get paid bubkis. And so if
I was just to sit here and go like, hey,
teachers are ridiculously underpaid and I'm ridiculously overpaid in in comparison,

(16:12):
you would nod your head. Is that going to change anything? No? No,
I mean, like, look, Anthony Rizzo can can sit there
and say we should play less games and we should
take less money. No one should be making thirty million
dollars to play baseball anyway, They just shouldn't. No one

(16:34):
should be making forty million dollars to play basketball. It
is should Like there's there's such incredible inequality in our
country in terms of what people make based upon what
their true value is. But it's it's once you let
that genie out of the bottle, once you opened Pandora's box.
Over the cliche you want to use is So I'm
not saying Anthony Rizzo is wrong, He's right, Like just

(16:56):
say it out loud, they play a hundred and sixty
two games, and then they play in the playoffs. They
start so early that an outdoor summer game has games
postponed because of snow, and then they end in November.
Baseball is a summer sport. Players don't want to take less,

(17:20):
owners don't want to make less, and TV companies generally,
all these, all these regional sports networks, the ones that
ESPN just bought from Fox, from so many of them,
they make a ton of money. They make a ton
of money, not because everybody watches baseball because of the
volume of games. It's a volume sport. Hundred six two nights.
That's a lot. And the crazy part about it is everybody.

(17:46):
It's not just the teams and the players and the
TV companies, all those restaurants around the ballparks, all those
people that work at those restaurants and work in the
ballparks and work in parking. Everything is dependent upon the
eighty one night, eighty one home nights. They have yes
rhyme music, so we all can agree Baseball probably basketball,

(18:11):
I know we don't pay much attention to it, but
hockey also has an eight two game regular season. Would
football also be a sport that would benefit from fewer games,
or they write about in that sweet spot where it's
just they think. I think they're in that sweet spot.
I really do. I think college football one of the
things that people everybody's like, well, it's so easy, man,

(18:33):
just have that everybody has a championship decide, you know,
eliminate the college, the the the Big ten, a Big
twelve championship game, you know, and then have eight conference
champions and then have like that sounds great, but the
winning team, the winning team, the two teams in the
finals will play sixteen games. There's too many games. Too

(18:54):
many games. The only thing that's missing in the NFL
is that second bye week. All you need to do
push back the Super Bowl, you know, one week, and
have too bye weeks in the season. I think if
you do that, I think they're in the sweet spot.
NBA just too many games. It's too long a season. Plus,
remember they've added games to the playoffs over you know,

(19:16):
a couple of years ago when they went to seven
games in every series, they've added more and more games.
Major League Baseball hunters six too, it's too many. Hockey
eight two too many, especially as many teams getting the playoffs. Now,
none of this is ever It's just like men teachers
should make six figures. Like that sounds great, but that

(19:38):
money is one got to come from somewhere, right, And
you know, look, once teachers get tenured, even if they stink,
it's hard to get hard to get the bad ones
out and promote the good ones. This is like the
conversation people have about socialism or communism. Right, Like you should,
in a perfect world be able to go about do

(20:00):
your job. Make you know, you don't have to worry
about money. Everything's taken care of. You. Just go and
do your job, and you live in a nice house,
and you have good health care and you have good schools.
Like that sounds great. The problem is that people want
to be rewarded for great achievements and they don't mind
if people fall by the wayside, were not working, If

(20:20):
we're not working hard, all of these things in a
bubble sound good, human nature ends up taking over and
ruining it. So Anthony Rizzle is not wrong. You're not wrong.
All these seasons could be shortened. But good luck in
telling anybody who's making money off of the additional inventory, hey,

(20:41):
we can't do that. You know you make too much money.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot Com and within the I Heart Radio app.
So let's bring in a voice of a guy who
played in the NFL was a great quarterback in college.
Head coach of Texas Tech, the Red Raiders have produced
a litany, a litany of talent quarterbacks. I mean, think

(21:03):
about this. From his time at Houston Case Keenan was
there for six years lighting up football. Uh, to his
time at A and M when he had Johnny Manzel,
to his time at Tech where um he didn't have
Mall I believe at the same time, but in succession
he had Davis Webb, Baker Mayfield and then Pat Mahomes
who knows quarterbacks better than the quarterback himself. Cliff Kingsbury,

(21:23):
Texas Tech head coach, joins us on the Doug Gottlieb Show. Um,
shouldn't you get a portion of all of their checks?
That's what needs to be arranged and all this stuff,
Cliff is I get Listen, you come to me, I'll
show you how to blake quarterback. But I need I
need just a percent or a half percent. Yeah, because
they don't fay us well enough as college coaches fair
enough that would listen at the time when you're just

(21:45):
coming up early on, I think you can make that
cloudy control position at one time that when when you
were at Houston, I like I remember when I remember
when case tours knee up. I remember the numbers, I
remember how long he played, and there was always this
well you know system, that system and he's small and

(22:08):
arm strength. Questions, Um, did you see what he's been
able to do this year as a distinct possibility? I did.
I thought he was phenomenal. Then I thought he should
have been a first round pick. Um. I think it's interesting.
Now you have a six ft Baker Mayfield, who I'm
very familiar with. It's a tremendous player, you know, being
talked about as a top five pick. And you had

(22:29):
case Keenum who was a tremendous player when he played
the U c l as, the Oaklahoma State, it's the
Texas texta bigger schools. He played his best games. He
you know, as a free agent, had one even opportunity
to sign with any teams. And you're talking about a kid,
you know, five or six years later, being a top
five picks. So it just shows how wild the draft

(22:49):
is and how many different opinions there are. But I
always thought Case had it in him. He persevered like
crazy to get where he's at and couldn't be half
for her, for him and the opportunities in right now.
I remember, and I don't know if you recall this interview. Um,
you had just gotten the job at Tech and you
and I were talking. I actually asked you a question
about Menzel and you said at the time, he said, hey,

(23:12):
look if he really locks in on the film room
and kind of digs into what it takes to be
an NFL quarterback, Um, he could, he could be something special.
That that's actually what you told me. And only now
a couple of years after the fall of Johnny Menzel
as he come out and said, like, look, I didn't
I didn't work hard, I didn't know what I was doing.
I didn't prep It wasn't until year two, and really

(23:34):
by year two it was it was it was too late.
How much of what ended up being his downfall did
did you see coming? I I knew he would have
to change dramatically, and I was hoping it would be
in a situation where he had a veteran guy that
could kind of show him the ropes and and wanted

(23:55):
to help him, and he would buy into what it
takes to be an elite and whole quarterback. Because the
skill level is there, it always has been. People will
say whatever they want to say, Oh he can't play it,
but he can. It's just he has literally never tried
up to this point. Um. So I kind of thought
if he didn't figure it out, that this could could

(24:16):
be a problem. Um, but it sounds like he, you know,
he's trying to get it figured out and take that
next step and come back and revive his career. And
I hope he can can make that happen. He said,
hey Cleveland, that they should have known. Did they call you? Yes? Yes, Um,
I them, I mean as honest as I needed the

(24:39):
V I guess. I mean you're not gonna say, yeah,
he doesn't work at it. I mean he doesn't try.
He just phenomenal football player and very athletic and get
away with a bunch of stuff. Um, you know. But
that that was it, and I think they had enough
understanding of that that he was going to have to
mature when it came to work ethic and studying and understanding,

(25:01):
um what it tastes to be a franchise guy. But he,
in my opinion, he was worth the risk because if
he did do that, the sky was a limit. And
unfortunately he didn't in his first few years and then
hopefully he you know now can can go down the
right path. Cliff Kingsbury, head coach Texas Tech, joining us
in the doug Otlip Show Fox Sports Radio. I think
many people remember you had an incredible career at Tech. Uh.

(25:22):
He won the Semi Ball Trophy. Um, um, you know
you're I think you're the like the in the National
Player AP Offensive Player of the Year in two thousand,
two thousand to um backup of a couple of teams.
You actually went to Candy. You went to Europe, I know,
and played for a year. You went to Canada for
a year. I think Johnny is now open to the
idea of candidate. What I said was like, look, it

(25:45):
sounds great that he's open the idea of Canada. But
there's a bunch of guys that go up there that
can actually spin it, that can sling it. How competitive
is it at the quarterback position to play in Canada.
It's really talented up there. Um, that's a position they
take a lot of pride in their development. The um
the guys that seem to lock in, you know, those
seven or eight spots stay there for a long time

(26:06):
because they're good players. And I understand that that style
of play. So it's not like you just roll out
there and take over. Um. I think it's a very
competitive league. I think you know, guys you're in and
you're out trying to make that transition to think and
it's just gonna be easy. But um, there's really really
good players up there. When you're talking about quarterbacks, Um,
is it? Can you do you think that? It's It's like,

(26:27):
is it a possible transition go up there for a year,
for two years and make it back in the NFL?
Or do you do you? Like? Look, I only saw
the spring tape. It wasn't great, but the surrounding town
wasn't great. It felt like high school footage right where
there's shot from like fuel field level. Like if he
calls you and he says, Cliff, what what what what
would you do? Like? Do you do you? What do

(26:48):
you advise him? I say, gowth there and play I
do think he's are tremendous town. I know he is.
I've been around these guys that are you know, top
five takes and Case and and Pad are both starting
um on the NFL, and and he's right there. He
has it. It's just proving the people he can he
can grind and work out of each and every day,
and so I think that's that's the path. He's still

(27:09):
very young. He could get back to the league, which
is when quarterbacks are hitting their prime, and so I
hope he continues to play and continues to um do
all the right things. Cliff Kings, very head coach Texas Tack,
joining us on the Doug Otlet Show. You have this
kind of unique all these incredible quarterbacks that are either
getting ready for the NFL playing in the NFL. Davis Webb,
we don't really, we don't. We don't. We haven't seen

(27:32):
in an NFL uniform. We saw him play some for you.
He obviously played very well after he left when you
when he got my homes, he saw the handwriting on
the wall and he went and he was he was
tremendous with cal Um. How do you how do you
compare and contrast a lot of people are wondering did
the Giants go out and draft a quarterback? And other
people within the Giants organization like, look, we got we
got Davis. He's got some talent. Um. How would you

(27:53):
describe Davis Webb to somebody who hasn't seen him play?
One of those Jim Rat type kids. His dad was
a high school football coach and a tremendous mind for
the game, the hardest worker I've I've probably ever been around,
Just consumed by it. Um nos of all inside now
at he's six five, two thirty pounds as I can,
and accurate quick release, I mean, everything you want. I

(28:15):
think people just want to see him play. And I
think the more he plays, the more snaps he gets,
the better he's gonna get. Um really didn't get a
ton of snaps in college because you know, Baker was
here as freshman year and then Patrick came along, so
he was kind of in and out of our lineup.
Played really well senior year at Cal, and I just
think the more he plays, the better he's gonna get
because the work ethic is there, the skill set is there,

(28:37):
and I'm excited to see what he can do. I
think Pat Shermer being there, who's a brilliant quarterback mind,
brilliant offensive mind's gonna do wonders for Davis, And I
do think his ability to to be a starter in
that league. All right, So help me out with the
Baker thing, because Baker walked on and then he beat
him out right, and then and then you and then
you start to lose, and then Davis came back. Did

(28:57):
did Davis get hurt? Like? How did the whole Baker
Davis thing work out? Yeah? Baker, Um, we named Baker
the starter, and he played well, he got hurt, so
Davis came in, Davis playing well, so we kind of
rode the hot hand. Then we went back to Baker
at the end um and we just really had a
miscommunication tire on my part more than anything, and Baker
decided to transfer, and so Davis became the starter. Then

(29:20):
Patrick came in and Davis got hurt and Patrick took over,
and and uh so we had some some music chairs
their quarterback with all really tremendous players that are all
gonna make a living play in the NFL. So I
was fortunate, uh to be around those guys. And it
was a fun run Okay, so help me out with Baker. Um.
I talked to NFL g M Cliff Kingsbury, joint Us
and dougallat show. I talked to NFL g M Friday

(29:41):
and he's like, look, I know people want him to
be Russell Wilson, but he's not. Um, he's got a
little a case to him. Um, he's got He's got
man'zelb doesn't have the off the field stuff that people
want man Zel be, but he's he's not. He's on
his athletically talented. The arm strength isn't quite what Russell's is.
How would you how would you characterize and when as

(30:03):
a quarterback you see the position so much differently than
the rest of us who just cover sports see it.
How would you kind of describe Baker as a guy
who walked into a walk on, became your starter, then
obviously left and set the world of fire with Oklahoma. Yeah.
I think he has a tremendous football mind. He picks
things up very very quickly. That that's what blew me
away at first. He got here late in the summer

(30:25):
and was able to pick up our offense at a
high enough level to become the starter. Um, you know
accurate passed or his teammates love him, has a real
chrisma about himself. Um So it'll be interesting to see
that that quarterback. As you know, that position is about
being in the right place at the right time, the
right fit, the right situation. But I will say this,
every he's been doubt at every level, and every time

(30:46):
he's wildly been wildly successful. Um So I'm excited to
see where he goes and what he'll be able to do.
There is, though, there is there's something about him though
that like you like him, but you can't like. I
don't know. He does feel like a I who wants
to fight every fight right, who wants to prove everybody wrong.
I mean, even even how it ended with you right
where it's like, hey dude, I gave you a chance

(31:07):
and then you said it miscommunication. You've you've always taken
the high road in it. Like how how does you've
been in the NFL? You know, there's there's as bigger egoes.
It might be a quarterback, there's just as big or
bigger egoes with coaches and with front office people and
with with owners especially. How does that how does that
act play? I think he's used it as a source
of motivation obviously, but at some point you got to

(31:29):
pick your battles and focus on what's important, and that's
uh being successful at that position and making sure that
there's harm in the locker room and guy's respect you,
and you know your your GM and your personnel people
are in line with you and like how you act
and how you carry yourself and your coaches as well.
So I think he'll figure that out. That's a grown
man's league and they don't play any of that stuff

(31:51):
to that extent. And Um, he's a sharp kid, and
I think he'll know what battles to to take up
up at that level. Cliff Kings very joinous. In the
Gotlip Show, I watched Pat Mahomes played for you and everyone.
You're blown away by the armed talent some of the athletes,
and there's a lot of stuff footwork wise you had
to kind of clean up and you get away with
in college. Uh, look can City trade away Alex Smith,

(32:15):
Who's had a career year because they believed that much
in Pat Mahomes. What's the ceiling for Pat? I think
it's through the roof. I just watching his progressions from
from when we got him in high school, which he
was in a great high school program and had great
high school coaching, but was really raw, was more of
a baseball player doing footballs and afterthought, and to get

(32:38):
here and and watch him from year one to year
three and then even watching him in that you know,
one game at the end of the year. His understanding
of protections and defenses, and his mechanics, his footwork, how
much he's tightened it up. I mean, his god given
ability is insane. And being in a situation with Andy Reid,
who's known for velving quarterbacks and a great offensive mind

(33:01):
with those weapons, I just think Candy is gonna have
a lot of fun over the next twelve years watching
that kid play, and he's just gonna get better and better. Okay,
so you coach all these guys. Is he is he
pronouncedly better than the others in terms of his talent?
You know, I think the armed talent. Yes, as far
as I mean, not many people can throw a ball

(33:21):
eighty five ninety yards of football. I mean it's just crazy.
And then but you can throw nine yards. That's that's
that's that feels that feels like I went fishing with
I went fishing and I caught a fish. It was
this big, and nobody can do that. He can throw that,
he can throw it eighty five yards. What's the furthest
you can throw a football? Not that far? But he uh,

(33:44):
I just think you know, he is able to make
these throws from in that In the NFL, it's a
small space that you've gotta be able to get stuff into.
Those big lines were being pushing your face, and he
can get the ball out with velocity and with accuracy
from the smallest space, from the different platforms, moth balance.
He's just able to do ridiculous things. And then you
you surround him with that great cast he's gonna have

(34:05):
with a great offensive mine and it's it's gonna be
a lot of fun, all right. The last thing I
want to get around to your team for a second.
Um you mentioned and you're you're right. I mean, like
the real thing in sports is it's not just about
how good you are. It's got it's like all kind
of gotta line up right, Like you gotta have a coach.
Everybody's gotta believe in you that you gotta get the
right offense, you gotta get protection, you gotta get my
guys make plays. Sometimes you gotta get a little help.

(34:25):
Sometimes you gotta sit while Like I've had people tell me, hey,
Josh Allen can make him be a star, but he's
got to sit the first year. Whereas Baker feels like
a guy that because of his football, like you, he's
got to play right away. But there are some things
to the type of system he needs to play in
order to be successful. What is that system and does
exist in the NFL. I think what I've seen and

(34:45):
what you're saying around the NFL is coaches really being
more about adapting to guy's strength at that position. You
get a young guy and he's got to play, well,
guess what, Let's give him something that he's comfortable at doing.
Otherwise we're just gonna lose if if we're trying to force,
you know, this square into a round hole by having
him do these big semi sep drops or these concepts

(35:08):
he's not used to. Well, let's give him stuff he's
comfortable with. Put him in shotgun, do pop passes, do
play action, do things that he's really good at, and
play to his strength. And so I definitely think he
can he can succeed. I think you've got to have
a coach, this woman to adapt to his skill set
and his strengths, which is how it is for any quarterback.
He's going to play at a young age and and
go from there. I heard you were you struggle with

(35:29):
your your spring game? You just you You're somebody who
you want everything to be perfect, and you you struggle
with your How do you how do you manage that?
Because now, like a spring game is one of those
things as fans we go we want to see something
that makes us salivate over it. But now we don't
see your team for like five or six, you know,
four or five months here. How do you handle that
that I want to perfect things but you don't have

(35:50):
another game the next week to fix things. Yeah, that's tough.
You think about it for a while. But um, as
an offensive guy, you know, spring game is tough because
you want to be vanilla. You're not game planning for anything,
and the defense has seen you for the previous fourteen
practices and so you are. It's really a struggle. So
you walk away always frustrated, and then you look at

(36:13):
and say, hey, as long as we did this, this,
and this, it's okay. Um, So I usually walk away
from the Springer game from an offensive perspective. Struggle. Um, frustrated,
but um it is what it is. The toughest party
you said, is not being want to get back out
there and have a game where you can correct what
you needed correct. All right, well, listen, enjoy Lubbock. We'll
talk soon. I really an unbelievable amount of insight on

(36:35):
so many guys that everyone wants to know and who
would know better than you. Thanks for joining us, man, Thanks,
I appreciate it. Maic. All right. Cliff Kingsbury, head coach
of the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, joining us on
the Doug Gottlib Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on

(36:56):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's
welcome in Social longtime manager for the Los Angeles Angels,
he joins us on the Doug Gottlip Show. Um, I was,
I know, weird couple of days right when you're in
Kansas City, terrible weather. He was supposed to pitch on
Sunday and then he doesn't pitch until Tuesday. And he
has he has that blister. Did you know of the

(37:16):
blister before he started last night? So, Uh, he had
had the blister, Doug a little bit towards the end
of spring training, he was working on his split finger.
It wasn't an issue. He says, it's a good sign
when he gets it. Didn't really affect him his first
two starts. He threw the ball very well, and Um
started off yesterday, warmed up well, got into the game
and it just kind of, uh, it kind of reappeared

(37:39):
a little bit. Um. So this is all the process
he's been through before. We're pretty confident that it's manageable
and we'll we'll go day by day and hopefully he's
on board for his next start. Okay, when you're sitting
there in the dugout in spring training, we're all watching
it and we're like, all right, maybe the kid doesn't
have it. What what were what were your when you

(38:00):
when you saw him? He struggled some pitching, he struggled
some hitting as well. What was your honest thoughts on
what what were your honest expectation now what we would
see from town to start the year. Well, first of all,
there's no doubt that Joe he had it and has it.
Um And we knew this when before we even had
a conversation with them in the winter. Um, this guy

(38:21):
is a special talent and um, you know, just watching
all the video and when he was pitching against some
of the top major league hitters who go over on
the Japan tour, um, he was. He was going through
them like uh, you know, warm knife through butter. It
was unbelievable how well his stuff played. His stuff is
really it's um. Uh you know, it's it's uh, it's

(38:42):
unique stuff and it's premium stuff, and so you know
it's in there now. In spring training, as he kind
of was getting acclimated, uh, he would show signs of
what we were looking for, but it wasn't there until
really a couple of times in his last couple of
workouts you started to say, Okay, this is where he's
putting pictures together, this is what he's working. Okay, I
can see that coming and uh and the first start

(39:04):
in Oakland it was there. So so he's ready for
the challenge. Last night was obviously one will turn the
page on. But you know, show hey is um his
talent is real? What what has he showed up hitting
What is he What has he changed? Obviously, I mean
there's a his hitting style we've seen at least once before, right,
but we've we never saw each of them with this

(39:26):
type of power. What has he changed from spring training
as he's kind of adjusted to major league pitching. Well,
I think he kind of has um has settled into um,
a mechanic that used in in Japan before. It's a
little bit less of a kick, but he's still is
loading and generating power. Uh, And I think that just

(39:47):
just to help give him a little a little better
marser on the timing aspect of it, he went to
this until I think he starts to learn pictures a
little bit more. And he's been hitting the ball very hard.
So we're you know, we're excited that, you know, when
he's in the bad Bouder's box all right, lost in
everyone's fascination with him, And of course watching trout is
something I paid attention to. When you got Anderson Simmons,

(40:10):
everybody said, hey, defensively up the middle, Angels got that thing,
the best defensive shortstop in baseball. But I can't hit right,
no power at all. And then last year tremendous seas
and be like, all right, maybe that's an outlier. And
he started out this year hitting Well, what have you
guys changed with Anderson Simmons. Well, you know, I think
Anderson is um is a hitter that started off in

(40:33):
Atlanta and showed that he's he's a guy that can
hit the ball out of the park. Um, he's not
trying to do that now, but he definitely had more
offense sent him, and he showed a couple of years
ago with us. He's sitting the ball harder, He's using
the whole field, which I think is important in the
type of hitter than Anderson is. And when he gets
a pitch, um, you know that he can drive. He's

(40:54):
he hits it hard and has a chance to hit
out of the park. So he's a much improved offensive
player since he much approved. I think he's settled and
he knows the league. He's comfortable. Uh, he's definitely, uh,
you know, better in the batter's box now that he
was a couple of years ago with us. My socially
joining us in the Doug Gotlip Show Angels. Even they
lost last night thirteen and four to start this season

(41:14):
and run differential special Um, a couple of things that
you guys are working through a six man rotation, Uh,
juggling all these kind of different moving parts. What's that
like for you? I don't believe there's ever been a
time in your long career as manager you've had the
six man rotation. You've had this this number of guys
you're trying to trying to work in. What are the
challenges to that depth of starting pitching? Well, the reality

(41:37):
is with with the off days we've had, we've actually
only been at five men for for most of the season.
We're a lot of six men coming up this weekend
a six man and then we've got some off days,
so we'll see when um, you know, we'll see how
we might adjust the roster. Uh, you know with those
off days and how things. You know, that affects some things.
But UM, I don't think it's been Uh, it's been

(42:00):
tough for us. I think the pictures understand if they
might be pitching someday on normal rest, uh, someday on
you know, they'll get that that sixth day. And right
now Altan has been throwing once a week, so, um,
we're working around some things and and Hopefully that will
settle link because it's important part of our club, all right.
He said, he's wont he wants to play more. He
obviously wants to hit more, and you have to balance it, right.

(42:22):
There has to be he has the schedule as a picture,
and then you're trying to work him in as a
hitter and as a d H. Plus you got you know, poolholes,
so you want a d H as well. Um, what's
your general sense of how much you can increase his
workload as a hitter as you get further into the season. Well,
right now, we're playing him as much as we possibly
can within reason. There's no doubt that at some point

(42:44):
he's got to take off that uh you know, that
batting helmet and put his baseball cap on and be
a picture. Uh you're throwing his bullpen getting ready for
his next start. Uh, you know, recovering after he pitches,
and then he put the batting helmet on and become
a hitter again. Uh. We're gonna balance it, um and
show he understands this. I think that, you know, when
he has asked the question, he said, like any player,

(43:05):
you want to play more, but he understands the situation.
Right now, and it knows that there has to be
a balance of what he can bring in the batter's
box and on the mount. You know, the baseball has
has obviously changed in the past couple of years to
where it's you know, strikeout, walk, home run. No better
embodiment that than your team. You lead the American League
in home runs twenty six so far on the year.

(43:26):
And this is off a night to which the other
team was hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Um
is you know? Look, I saw Bryce Harper hit a
broken bat one out of the park and like, is
this is this swing plane? Is this the fences being
moved in? Is this the ball? Like? So, how how
has this happened to where we took performance dancing drugs
out of the game and now of a sudden the

(43:47):
last couple of years the ball is just flying out
of the park. Well, I think there's been a combination
of things. I think that uh, you know, I don't
know if there's any ear in baseball where you've had, um,
you know, so much power and power swings in fused
into a game. Even guys that maybe, uh you know,
are on the verge of being not really being home
run hitters are experimenting with getting some extension and getting

(44:10):
volun the air and hitting the ball hard. UM. I
think that although a lot of organizations and there's there's
a train of thought where strikeouts just another out, we
don't believe in that. But some clubs are really forgo
to strike approach, to just try and hit the ball
hard all the time, and that will lead to more strikeouts.
But on the other side, uh, you know, we'll lead

(44:32):
to um, you know, higher x of velocity and possibly
you know, more slugging percentage in the form of home
runs or doubles or whatever. So I think there's a
lot of things going on in baseball. UM. I think
we're a team that has this potential. You know, this
is the first time we have had Justin Upton for
a whole year. We don't had Justin Upton for thirty
days last year. And putting a guy like that in

(44:52):
the middle of your order, it certainly makes it, uh
you know, makes it better for any hitter that's in
there to hit the ball. You know that uh In
Kinsler has got the potential home runs. You know, Zach
Co's Art hit UH twenty plus last year in Cincinnati,
Uh so, I think we do have power within our
our lineup. And right now the guys have been hot.
They're hitting the ball out of the park, and you know,

(45:14):
we hope it continues, you know. You know, look, you
started off the year against the Cleveland team, it's a
playoff caliber team. Right then then you sweep uh Texas,
you know, a usually a playoff caliber team. But I
kind of I kind of wonder if and it's not
just this homestand after the homestand you go to the champion,
you go to Houston, then back with the Yankees. This

(45:35):
feels like a really good litmus test early on to
see exactly where you guys are considering I think, and
I don't know what your expectations are, but you're exceeding
everybody else's expectations the next ten games or so. And
that is that a really good test for where the
Angels should expect to be once we get, you know,
to the end of summer. Well, you know, you know, Doug,
to be honest with you, every schedule, every game on

(45:57):
the schedule is a tough game, and you've got to
play well when you're playing in the major leagues to
win a ballgame. So I don't really look at who
we're playing or where we're playing, but how we're playing
the game. And I don't really see this as any
any test, because you know what's gonna happen here in April.
If we play really well in these ten days, it's
not gonna have any bearing on where you are at
the end of the year. There's too much baseball left.

(46:18):
So I think that in context of facing good teams, Um,
sure we're gonna face good teams, and you're gonna face
good bullpens, and you have to play at a certain
level to beat these guys, to get the game on
your terms and hold leads. But I don't think that, um,
it's necessarily the litmus test to see where we are
or how our team's gonna fair for the whole season.
This next week. UM, we know what the challenge in

(46:40):
front of us, we know what we have to do,
we know where we have to improve, and that's what
we're going to focus on to to get better through
the summer. And we feel we're a caliber, championship caliber
club and the only way to do that is to
go out there and play hard every day and and
get it done. Where is that Where is that and
where is that place of most improvement that's needed. So well,
I think that if you look at where our rotation

(47:01):
has been, our starting rotation, just in uh, these first
couple of weeks, it's been a little bit in a
state of flux. You know, andrewhen he was out for
a while and just came back. Nick Tropiano just came back. Uh.
You know, we lost J. C. Ramirez for the year.
You know, we're still waiting on match shoemaker to see
when he's going to pick up a ball, but hopefully
he'll pick it up and be able to come back.

(47:21):
So you know, we did get nicked up in the beginning.
We're trying to find that continuity on the pitching side
where you know, we're actually averaging less than five innings
to start for from our from our starters, and that's that,
you know, that's just not sustainable. Uh. And our bullpen,
although I think we're seeing some good things evolved. You know,
we're throwing We've thrown more innings than anybody in our

(47:42):
league out of the bullpen, so you know, we can't
sustain that. We need to get a little bit of
balance there. So I think that will improve during the season,
and I think we have a good lineup that matches up.
Our everyday lineup matches up against lefties and righties. And
on the offensive side, I think we're going to continue
to score runs. You done this for longer than anybody
consecutively in Major League Baseball. But I have to think

(48:04):
there's a there's a little different hitch in your guinea
up when you step on the field last night and
there's eight, you know, last time against Oakland seven. I
know some of it's Shohyotani and obviously some of it's Trout,
But but for people, for for people to recognize, at
least locally, what this team can be, that that's got

(48:24):
to make it different to go to the park every night. Well,
we've got great fan support here, um you know, for
years we've drawn over three million fans front of how
many street years. But I think that, you know, the
thing that gets us all excited is, you know, are
the players. We we have a deep team this year.
I think we're good in a lot of important areas
and that makes it fun to go out there and
know that, Um, it's not just what Mike Trout does

(48:46):
that's gonna you know, be the uh, you know, be
the final uh answer to how we play on a
given night. We've got a deep club and you know,
see what you're seeing, Albert POJOs swinging the bat better
than he has and probably four or five years. I mean,
he's really hit the ball heard. Uh. You know, all
these things are going to be important as we moved
through the season. So that's what we're excited about. And
if we can make the improvement of some of the

(49:08):
things I talked about already with our rotation and our bullpen,
we're we're definitely going to have an exciting summer. All Right,
you get Parcella and I had going against Stags. That
should be a good one at seven or seven at
the Big A. Uh. So, I can't tell you how
much I appreciate you joining us on a game day. Unfortunately,
show Hey, I wasn't able to stay in the game
last night, but we appreciate you spending some time with
this year on Fox Sports Radio. All right, Doug, thank you. Alright,

(49:30):
this is Mike Sosha, longest tenured manager in Major League Baseball,
and the Angels off to a red hot thirteen and
four start.