On this week’s edition of Inside the (Rob) Parker, Rob discusses the wild Paul Skenes trade rumors that seem to be percolating on social media and the Detroit Tigers impressive start to the season. We've also got appearances by former MLB pitcher LaTroy Hawkins and Kansas City star Royals beat reporter Jaylon T. Thompson. Plus, analytics guru Anthony Masterson stops by, we replay Rob's latest appearance on MLB Network, and we close the pod with the latest edition of The Parker Pushback.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the berkshears to the sound from wherever you live
in MLB America. This is inside the Parker. You give
us twenty two minutes and we'll give you the scoop
on major League Baseball. Now here's Baseball Hall of Fame
voter number fifty seven, Rob Parker.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Come on, I've been covering Major League baseball for almost
forty years now, in New York, in Cincinnati, in Detroit,
in LA.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I love this game. Let's go. Welcome into the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm your host Rob Parker, and what a show we
have for you today. Former major league reliever LaTroy Hawkins,
he joins us. We'll talk about those red hot Minnesota Twins.
Also Jalen Thompson, he covers the Kansas City Royals for
the Kansas City Star.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
We'll also have a Parker pushback that and much more.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Let's go better up.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
To lead off.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's getting rocked and keep him on. Rob's hot take.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
On the three biggest stories in Major League Baseball. Number one,
can we pump the brakes?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
In fact, let's take the breaks out of the car.
This notion that the Pirates should trade Paul Skiings, their age,
their number one picture, their foundation to their franchise. Because
the team is having a bad year. They're not going
to make the playoffs. They're awful. They've already fired their manager.
(01:35):
But this whole notion of getting rid of Paul Skins
is ridiculous, ludicrous. You build around a guy like that,
you have to keep him in the fold, no matter
what kind of hole you could get to overhaul the team.
You got to build around him. You cannot nt give
(01:56):
up Paul Skins. Pirate fans would if they did that,
and they just decided to go get some other team's
prospects and other stuff because they're not ready to win.
That's how you win. When you have a guy like that,
you put him at the top of your rotation. You're
normally not gonna have more than four or five game
(02:17):
losing streaks because he gives you a chance to win.
We know that they've scuffled and had trouble scoring. They
got to boast of the team.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
They got to spend some money and add some other
pieces to make the team.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Better around Paul Schemes. Trading him, no way, no how.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Number two, The Detroit Tigers not only lead the AL Central,
they are the best team in the American League thirty
three and seventeen fifty games into the season.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
You know how good it is.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
It's the best fifty games stretched by the Tigers since
two thousand and six.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You remember, this team was left for dead summer, came on.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Strong at the end of the season, made the playoffs,
made some noise in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
It was an incredible run.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And they've picked up right where they left off school well,
of course, is at the top of your rotation. They
brought back Blackjack Flaherty to the rotation. They're getting timely hitting.
The Tigers, you know, are in a very competitive division
and they're leading it. Twins are good, oils are good.
You know, Cleveland's good. I mean, it's incredible where they are.
(03:32):
But it always starts with pitching to me, and they
got two studs at the top and other guys.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Miz has come along as well for the Tigers. So
they're off to a great start and looks like they'll
be in the mix.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
That Central is gonna be tough.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But it's hard to look at the Tigers and think
they're going anywhere after getting off to such a great start.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
We're almost a third of the season away and they're right.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
High number three.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
All right, your players that have passion care want to win.
But Walker Bueller the other night and the start against
the Mets, he got tossed out after three innings for
going ballistic on a misscall by an umpire.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I mean, that just can't happen.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
First of all, it was on like a stealing play,
so the catcher had to jump up and get the ball. Yes,
the replay showed it was in the box. It should
have been called a strike. But with a lot of
that going on, the umpire can be blocked and you
can get your point across without getting tossed.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
That's not what you want.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
You don't want your starting pitcher to get tossed that
early in the game over a striking ball call.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It can't be that big.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It wasn't the bottom of the ninth and the bases
loaded in two hours and it cost you the game
at that point. No pitch is that big that early
in the game. That's where guys are just going over
the top. Walker Bueller, I just maybe he didn't want
to pitch that night.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That made no sense that earlier in the game to
get that worked up over a call on a play
where someone was stealing in the and the catcher had
to jump up and block the umpire.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Really, here comes the big interview. Listen and learn. It's
so good.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Now let's welcome into the podcast one of my favorite people,
LaTroy Hawkins, who of course pitched twenty one major league seasons,
appeared in one thousand I'm Gonna get it right forty
two games better, which is incredible. Played for a number
of teams, but it was the Minnesota Twins that was
really his team because you played for a lot of teams.
(05:43):
But Latroit, welcome to the podcast. My man, how are you.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm doing good, Rob, Always a pleasure to join you
on your podcast anytime. You know my number. We just
got to make sure we get the times right.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
No, that's right, we will make sure we do that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Well, let's talk about the Twins with just you know,
open up a big series against the Kansas City Royals
in Minneapolis this weekend. But they have been on fire.
They won thirteen in a row, fourteen out of sixteen.
What is going right?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
What turn to switch on? And why are they so good?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
You know what's going right? I always talk about the
ingredients to win a ball game, and the first three
and a half four weeks of the season, they would
have one ingredient. They have a good pitching, they wouldn't
catch the ball, no timely hitting, and when they had
good hitting, timely hitting, pitching wasn't right. So it's just
those three components never matched up. And they started to
(06:39):
match up towards the end of the end of April,
and that's when they went on their extended winning streak.
They got time to hitting. They were the top three
in the league and you know, hitting with runners in
scoring position with two outs, which is a huge stat
for a team. Their starting pitching has been fantastic and
great pitching is contained and the bullpens been very good.
(07:01):
So they've had and they caught the ball. I did
my broadcast, I did six games on the air in April,
and everything I talked about they did not do. And
I just finished a seven game stint and everything we
talked about pitching, catching the ball, and timely hitting, they
were doing it all man.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I have been enjoying Byron Buxton and the start of
the season for him, and we know his bugger Bull
has been injuries. Him and Carreer then wind up colliding.
And now I know they're both heard and on the IL,
but can you just talk about Buston and what he
was doing, and hopefully he'll just pick up why he
left off.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
When he gets back off the IL.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Yeah, like you said, unfortunately, it was one of those
baseball plays. And it's the main thing about Buckson. He's
never got hurt away from the field. He's always always
been hustle plays or getting hit in the head by
baseball thrown from a pitcher. But it was just one
of those plays where it was a high sun. Buckson
was going hard after it, Career was going hard at it,
(08:00):
and it was a high. I mean, they neither one
of them thought they could see. They couldn't see the ball.
And once Korea heard that, bucks is how I got it.
He tried to veer off. He went. He went to
his right and Buckson went to his right once he called,
and they collide, two strong safeties running into each other.
They both were put on the IL concussion protocol. But
(08:21):
they're both back to doing baseball activities, which is a
good thing. But it was great to see bucksing out
there every day. He played a lot in spring training,
more than more than he's ever had. But also say
this about Buckson, It's the first offseason alone time he
hadn't had to recover from a surgery. So he came
into spring training healthy and he stayed healthy, you know,
(08:41):
minus the concussion protocol that he's in right now.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Our guess is LaTroy Hawkins, of course, twenty one year
major league pitcher, belief pitcher, tenth most games in the
history of Major League Baseball one forty two, which is
an incredible number when you think about it. Let me
ask you about another guy who is when he's healthy.
Another Royce lewis their third basement. He is dynamic. I
(09:09):
mean I love to watch him play, but he's been
injured a lot in his career.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
He's been back and he came right back and he's raking.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Yeah, he started off slow, I mean he went he
took a little over, but you know, just getting back
to facing major league pitching. I mean, you can go
all the rehab assignments you want and it's still not
majorly pitching. But when I was doing the broadcast in Baltimore,
he has started to get his timing back, and you know,
when he's not going well, he's hitting a lot of
(09:38):
ground balls because he's not in his legs. But towards
the end of the week, he started hitting some line
drives and then you know what comes out of the
line drives. He was able to hit a home run
and in one of those games on the Game All Sunday,
he was robbed of a home run in Milwaukee by
their young fantastic centerfielder and Centurio.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, he's royce Lewis when he is healthy. He's a
big part of that Twins offense, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Young kid.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
How about Roger Clemens, kid, Cody Clemens, tell me about him.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
He's doing well for the Twins.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Yeah, we picked him up. I think he was put
on waivers by Philly and he's come over and he's
one of those young men that he's a he's a
Twins type of player. He plays multiple positions. Last week
in Baltimore, I keep going because all the games that
I called in the first three and as he had
played second base, first base, right field, and was back
(10:38):
at second base because of the injuries. And that's the
same game at Buckston and career colliding. So he's he's definitely,
he can definitely play defense. He's comfortable all over the
diamond and he's even swinging the bat pretty good. I
mean he's hit. He had two home runs while I
was with with him, had about four or five hits,
and not just regularly, like really clutch hits. And we
(10:59):
talk about runers in scoring position with with two outs,
he comes up and get a big hit, whether there's
a single or hitting a three round bomb. But he's
played well and so far it's been a really good
pick up for us.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
And and Cody, give me another player who's playing well
for the Twins that maybe people you know.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Christian Vasquez. We brought him over a couple of years
ago because of his you know, his ability, his his
bat and his ability to catch. And uh, it's been
a struggle with him from the from the from the
batting part. And he started to turn the corner last
week while we were in Baltimore. And that's good to
(11:38):
see because he came over with a reputation of being
able to swing the bat and he hadn't got there
yet up until last week with us. But he had
a couple of really big hits on the road trip,
hitting the ball hard, using the whole field. And we
like to say they ran a pickoff play in in
a game a week and a half ago and at
third base that ended up winning the game for us,
(12:00):
and Rocca will like to say that was probably a
turning point in his season. I think his his defense
kind of sparked his offense. And it's good to see
because now he's swinging the batwell and Ryan zepfers our
other catchers swinging to batwell and definitely at a position,
and we hadn't got much production early in the season
(12:20):
at all.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
From last thing, Al Central.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Tigers are balling, I mean the ball in the American League.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
They are balling big time.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I think they were the first team to thirty This
is the record coming into Thursday, thirty three and seventeen,
best record for the Tigers to throw fifty games since
two thousand and six.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
But the Central has a lot of good teams.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
The Twins are good, Cleveland's there, Kansas City, Well, let's
go down.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
To the wire. What do you think, Troy, I.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Think it is going to go down to the wire.
A lot of parody in the league, in that Central Division,
it's usually one of the weaker divisions, That's what people
like to say. But I think They're showing that that
division is going to be wrecking with and it's gonna
be a dogfight. It is really gonna be a dogfighting.
You have to get Detroit a lot of credit. Twins
(13:11):
played very well. They went twelve thirteen in a row.
They didn't gain much ground on the titles because guess what,
they wasn't paying attention to the Twins winning street. They
were having their own winning streat. They would continue to
win series, and Twins eight and two in their last
ten and they're seven and three, so the Twins probably
picked up one game over that spot. So they've done
a great job of, you know, stand focused h and
(13:35):
just minding their own business. They mind their own business
and playing for it. And they have a really good
young team, a lot of good young talent, and their
left hands starting to picture they aceh in schoogles. He's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
He is fantastic, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
He is Latroit Hawkins of course, former major league pitcher.
He does Twins broadcast as well, and just one of
my favorite.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
People in baseball. Thanks, buddy, I appreciate you.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
See you at the ballpark, Yes, sir, anytime, robmlbbro dot com.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Baby It's time for the pocket protector centrum. The analytic
numbers you need to know?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Well, maybe Anthony Masterson is his name.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
BS analytics is his game.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
What do you got for me, Anthony?
Speaker 6 (14:20):
I'm Memorial Day the first true benchmark of any Big
league season where contenders start to separate from pretenders. Now,
does success by the time the final week of May
hits really pourtend future success that season?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Now?
Speaker 6 (14:33):
I don't think the Rockies have much of a shot
to turn it around this year, but the numbers bear
out that it's pretty much anybody's game. In the Wildcard era,
teams leading their respective divisions on Memorial Day went on
to win their division that season about fifty three percent
of the time, so pretty much half and half. Last year, however,
five of the six teams in first on May's final
Monday ended up winning division titles, with the only exception
(14:55):
being the Astros furious run in the AL West after
their brutal twelve and twenty four start. However, it's been
three years since any National League team in first time
Memorial Day failed to win that division. That would be
the twenty twenty two Mets, who coughed up a ten
and a half game lead on the final day of
that season to the Braves. By the way, if you
were curious the player with the most career home runs
on Memorial Day itself, that would be the legendary Gil
(15:18):
Hodges with twelve, two more than Mickey Mantle and no surprise,
the most home run by Memorial Day in a single
season Barry Bonds, of course, in his record setting season
in two thousand and one, he had twenty six. Now,
if your team isn't on top yet, don't worry. There's
still four months of baseball to go.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
In case you missed Rob Parker on the MLBA Words,
here's his latest appearance on mlbina.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
All Right Show Downtime.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
Rob Parker's back, Rob, great to have you back on
the show.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Thank you so much always BK. Let's get at it.
We got a lot of good stuff.
Speaker 7 (15:52):
I know we got coming out, Like last week with
Pete Rose. I love talk to you about that.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Here we go.
Speaker 7 (15:56):
Your one so so prediction has taken another turn. Where
are you on ones occasional casual level of running?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I mean, if you're a Mets fan, you gotta be
a little disheartened by this.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
People go through slumps they struggle. We know that, BKA.
But when I was on this early on, and you
know this, you were some of my buddies I went
to high school with.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I went to Van Buren High School and I got
some of.
Speaker 8 (16:25):
The biggest Mets fan friends Ben Eddie stew They all
scoffed at meet and I say, no, like, this is
the history of the Mets with them signing.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Big time players.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I say, now, you got the left handed Jason bay
And on your team right now, and he does.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Not look like the player from the Yankees a year.
Speaker 7 (16:47):
Ago, And I said, you were crazy. And it turns
out he is off to a slow start. Although he's
got like a three seventy nine, three eighty on base,
he's not terrible. He's having deep at bats. But what
gets me Rob is high paid player in the history
of the game, highest paid player on his franchise, highest
paid player in his dugout. And I just don't get
the lack of running. I don't know how he's not
(17:09):
aware of that. He has to be somewhat aware of that.
Back to back nights. Also, he was supposed to be
miked up for ESPN. Then he said no. After that
game on Sunday. He also didn't talk to the media.
There's a lot of just squirrely things for a guy
who's wait a second, you're the face of baseball.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
You're the face of the.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Franchise one hundred percent. It should not be accepted. The
Mets have to really rain this in. He didn't do
that stuff last year. I'm really surprised. He has to
be able. He understood what was going on with going
back to the Bronx. You know what it means to baseball.
You saw the TV ratings the highest Sunday night baseball
(17:44):
game since twenty eighteen. I mean, that's a lot of
good stuff about baseball. And he's one of the faces
and he can't be this way. And I think if
I'm the Mets him not being enthusiastic and running out balls,
I just I would have to stop time out.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
We need to talk about this. Let's get past this.
This is a long marriage. This is not some day.
Speaker 7 (18:09):
Yeah, fifteen year year one of fifteen and we're like
this now, all right along those lines, Rafael Devers and
the Red Sox, where are you on that little dust up?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I'm with Rafael Devers and I'm going to tell you
why I get the responsibility play to help the team whatever.
I just don't think that they were honest from day one,
wouldn't they when they were going after Bregman, And I
think that there's something BK to the honesty factor where
they acted as if he wasn't going to play third base.
Bregman right, and then it was like, well, we still
(18:43):
got to talk. We haven't made a decison. They knew
when they signed him that they promised Bregman to play
third base.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Before you even do.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
It, you have to talk to Rafael Devers and Devors
have been a good player to them, very good sign
them to a big contract. You can't disrespect people and
just act like they should just accept anything. When he
was there first and he has been a big part
of the Red.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Sox, I think they owe that to him because you've
invested in the guy, you're in it together. I think
you're right, But also there's a different level of responsibility.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
What we were just saying, you're.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
The highest paid guy in the history of the franchise.
You get more than Big Poppy, you get more than
yazz ever Ted Williams. You're the highest big guy ever
wherever you maybe it's my upbringing, right. My dad's a
cop and queens you and I queen's me, right, so
I'm in Queens. I understand the check clears every two weeks.
(19:39):
You should go through a wall for that franchise. They're
paying you the top dollar on the club. Ultimately, even
if you don't like the way they did it, why
wouldn't you say, Hey, the check clears, I'm gonna play.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I get that, And that's fair, that really is. But
there's a degree of respect sometimes that really can bother
you and mess with you and say, well, what did
I do?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I understand you wanted to improve the team.
Speaker 7 (20:05):
He didn't feel well, and they probably should have told hey,
by the way, you're kind of the worst fielder in
baseball at your position, so we might have somebody who
replace you and move your.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Game, but let's have that conversation. But that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And then bring them in and say, even in spring training,
well we haven't made a decision yet.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yes you have, yeah, fair enough, all right.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
Dodgers still lead the NL West, got swept by the
Angels over the weekend. Will the Dodgers repeat as World
Series champs?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
No way, no how? And this I saw coming a law.
I told you this. First of all, it's hard to
repeat in baseball.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
The last team the Yankees twenty five years ago, the
last National League team the seventy five seventy six Reds,
and the Dodgers were lucky to win last year. Had
the Yankees won Game five, the Dodgers had no pitching
for Game six and seven.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
It's very possible.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
That's not that crazy, Okay, No, yeah, remember the Padres
had him for dead, right, but they did win. I look,
I'm kind of with you. I kind of liked your
take on this, but there there's there's so much there
still and now they're getting like those old veterans, and
Chris Taylor is very useful, right, Austin Barnes useful, But
now they're they're they're shipping them out and they're bringing
(21:18):
in fresh young guys. They're gonna be very good, Rob,
I hear you, but they're gonna be.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Very BK is this Too many things have to go right,
and too many people have to come back right.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And be like they were. And you're asking for a lot.
Speaker 7 (21:35):
And Freddie and are like, here, man, that's a lot
going for you.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
But I get that.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I see the lineup, I see show hey and all that,
but it still comes down the pitching. And they got
so many injuries and so many issues.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I'm just buying it.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Yeah, they're also you know, they're a traveling circus, like
Joe Madden said that first week that that first weekend,
like they're in Japan, they're they're they're the Beatles.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
There's something to you like that. But you're right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
They were supposed to be the Beatles, but now I
think they're Boy George and Culture Club right now.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
When Rob was a newspaper columnist, he lived by this motto,
if I'm writing, I'm ripping. Let's bring in a writer
or broadcaster, old or new.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Now let's welcome into the podcast Jalen Thompson.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
He covers the Kansas City Royals for the Kansas City Star.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Jalen Man, thanks for joining us here on the podcast.
How are you? I'm good.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Man doing great?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Let's get on and talk about these Kansas City Royals,
and let's start here coming into Friday's big series against
the Minnesota Twins. The Royals are twenty eight and twenty three,
got off to a slow start and then picked it
up and are playing much better. Are the Royals happy
where they are in a very competitive division so far?
Speaker 9 (22:57):
Yeah, I think they are happy where they are. I mean,
you know, from a fans perspective, they'll say it's a
mixed bag because the pitching is really good and the
offense is consistent. But I think when you look at
the totality of where the roads are so far, like
you said, they're five games over five hundred, they're right
in the race. They have a big divisional matchup with
(23:19):
the Twins this weekend. I mean, they are one of
the better teams in the American League, even for all
their flaws and their falls, and know every team has
falls and flaws and falls, and you know this early
in the season, you're right where you're going to be.
And so that's that's kind of mentality in the clubhops
right now.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Let's talk about Bobby Wood Jr.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Who is a star and we all know that, and
but last year, if there wasn't a guy named Aaron Judge,
he would be uh would have won the MVP with
the year he put up together. This year, I mean,
can he win an MVP? Is he in the race
with Aaron Judge? Aaron Judge batting almost four hundred and
almost leading the league in home runs and all the
(24:01):
other stuff. Bobby wol having a good year. Can he
win an MVP with Aaron Judge in a way?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
I think he can.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I really do.
Speaker 9 (24:10):
When you look at what Aaron Judges has done. I
mean he's putting up astronomical numbers, and you know, you
really can't compete with that. When you got someone that's
hitting over four hundred or around there, hitting almost fifteen
sixteen home runs right now, RBI's all everything, It's hard
to really do that. But baseball is sort of like
(24:32):
the old fable the tourist end the hair. You can
get out to a fast start, but you have to
run that race. And when you run that race at
the end you can get caught. You can win the
race outright. So it just depends on how the rest
of the season goes. We saw last year with Bobby
Wood Jr. And I believe July he went on a
hot streak where hit like six seven home runs, was
(24:55):
hitting the scorching the ball almost in five hundred during
that one week straight. So he can definitely do it.
But like I said, it's a long way to go
in this season. Anything can happen, but Aaron Judge is
off to a hot start for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Our guess is Jalen Thompson.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
He covers the Kansas City Royals for the Kansas City
Star Southador Perez finally got a home run to end
his home run drought. Just talk about that is what
was going on now.
Speaker 9 (25:24):
It meant a lot to the Royals and to inside
that clubhouse for Salve to hit the home run and
you know, kind of get back on track a little bit.
He's had a rough May, and you know, I spoke
to him yesterday and he said, I've been doing this
for fourteen years and he knows how to handle ups
and downs and university that comes. But the most key
(25:46):
thing that I thought really stood out was when he said,
I have to be the same guy every day. I
can't come in and be upset when I'm not hitting.
I have to keep the smile on my face. I
have to show these younger guys this is the way
to handle things. When you go through a season of
baseball where you're not always going to be your best.
You're gonna go through slumps, You're gonna go through adversity
(26:08):
and things that are gonna tie you down. So it's
about how you work through it, and that message resonates
throughout the entire clubhouse. Talked with so many guys yesterday
after the win and they were saying, yeah, when Salve
is going strong, it lists the entire dugout, the entire clubhouse,
the entire organization where they want to play this for Salvi.
(26:28):
That was the key last year. They wanted to play
for him and make the playoffs for Salvi because he
stuck around when the team won the World Series, then
went down to the bottom, wasn't as good as they.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Were and rebounded. So they want to do.
Speaker 9 (26:41):
This in part for themselves but also for their teammate
in Salvo Perez.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
How about the strength And when we talk about pitching
for the Royals, is it in the bullpen or in
the rotation?
Speaker 9 (26:52):
It's the starting rotation. This starting rotation might be one
of the best starting rotations in the major leagues this season.
I know the New York New York Mets are doing
in the National League, but I don't think there's a
rotation that's very than the roles in the American League.
They have five legit guys that are consistent and they
can get the job done. And what's crazy is right
(27:12):
now their top two Cole Reagan's and Staff Lugo are
on the injury list and they're still getting it done.
And it's not just Reagan's and Lugo is Michael waka
Chris Bubis, who I think should be an All Star
this year. He's really great. He's only given a one
run in his last four starts. You have Michael Origins
is a veteran season veteran, and then they have this
young guy, Noah Cameron that's gonna start on Friday, and
(27:35):
all he's done in his first two MLB starts so
far has given up one earned run in twelve and
two thirds innings and he took a no hitter in
both games deep midway through. So yeah, they have a
really nice pitching staff, a nice rotation, and I think
that's just the strength of this team. They want to
win and they know that to win, it's gonna be
(27:57):
their pitching staff that carries them because they're often a
streaky It's sometimes it's good they can score eight runs.
Sometimes they might struggle to score two runs. So that's
just where they win right now.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
All Right, last thing quickly.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
AL Central Tigers have the best record in the American League,
right off to a great start. Are they the team
to beat? Or is it the Twins or is it
the Royals?
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Like?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Who are the Tigers the team to beat?
Speaker 9 (28:29):
It certainly looks like it is right now. The Tigers
are off to a fast start. But you know, going
back to that tours in the here argument that I
said earlier, I think in the AL Central it's gonna
come down to who is the best in these interdivisional
matchups when they all play each other head the head
at thirteen times a year. Who's going to be the
(28:50):
best when you go up against all those all those teams.
Because last year you can beat up on the White
Socks and that helps bully your record. But the White
Socks are scrappy this year. They're not gonna be a
tough out like they were last easy outay they were
last year, so they're a little tougher. And then the
Tigers can pitch too, the Rods can pitch. I think
that when it's all said and done, you're gonna see
(29:12):
four AL Central teams in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I just really do.
Speaker 9 (29:15):
I think that's what it kind of looks like right now,
and I think that's what you're gonna see. I think
it's gonna be key though for the Royals. If they
want to win the AL Central, they have to hit
the baseball. If they don't hit the baseball, then they
won't be seeing at the Visional crown that they want
to have at the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
All Right, his name is Jalen Thompson, and most of
the stuff he said was right on the money. Four
teams from the AL Central in the playoffs, Jalen.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That ain't happening. I don't think so. Not four. Somebody's
not gonna make it. Somebody's not.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I'm just I would be stunning if a four out
of five teams make the playoffs from that division.
Speaker 9 (29:49):
It almost happened last year.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I know almost.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You just said the right word almost. I'm just saying
it's gonna be similar to that. Well, but I appreciate you,
my man, thank you for the knowledge.
Speaker 9 (29:59):
All right at the bare siding, this is BOLGI.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
It's the Parker pushback. Shut here.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Rob tackles the outlandish takes in Major League Baseball. Shut
up today, I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Pushing back on the Los Angeles Dodgers and the idea
of adding show hal Tani to the rotation.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I know, I can't even believe him saying it, But.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Now as it gets closer.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
The other day Wednesday Show, he started throwing sliders and
curveballs in the bullpen in preparation to gearing up to
getting back on the mound.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
And we know it.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
It's like a unicorn, a pitcher and a hitter and
all that. But now as I'm starting to look at
Show Hey and what this will take away from the
Dodgers offensively and him as an everyday player, because it's
going to take him out of the lineup.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
At least two days for him to be a pitcher.
And I understood it when.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
It first started, and the Dodgers won the World Series
last year without Old Tany on the mound.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
And now I'm.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Starting to think, does this really make sense? The guy
had fifty stolen bases, fifty home runs last year is unbelievable,
won the MVP. Are you really trying to take his
bat out of the lineup? Wanted one day at all?
Maybe two days? I mean two days?
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I am really torn now and I know that they're
not going to do it this year. They'll probably get
them ready and put them into the Dodgers have so
many pitching injuries. But as time goes on and seeing
how he hits this year being interrupted by pitching, I
think we need to think about it, and maybe he
(31:54):
winds up doing what Babe Ruth eventually did, which was
given up pitching.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Just hitting. I'm Rob Parker and that's my pushback.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
In the words of New York TV legend The Lady
Bill Jorgensen, thanking you for your time this time.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Until next time, Rob Parker out d can't Davin.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
This could be an inside the Parker See you next week,
same bat time from same batt station,
From the berkshears to the sound from wherever you live
in MLB America. This is inside the Parker. You give
us twenty two minutes and we'll give you the scoop
on major League Baseball. Now here's Baseball Hall of Fame
voter number fifty seven, Rob Parker.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Come on, I've been covering Major League baseball for almost
forty years now, in New York, in Cincinnati, in Detroit,
in LA.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I love this game. Let's go. Welcome into the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm your host Rob Parker, and what a show we
have for you today. Former major league reliever LaTroy Hawkins,
he joins us. We'll talk about those red hot Minnesota Twins.
Also Jalen Thompson, he covers the Kansas City Royals for
the Kansas City Star.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
We'll also have a Parker pushback that and much more.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Let's go better up.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
To lead off.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's getting rocked and keep him on. Rob's hot take.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
On the three biggest stories in Major League Baseball. Number one,
can we pump the brakes?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
In fact, let's take the breaks out of the car.
This notion that the Pirates should trade Paul Skiings, their age,
their number one picture, their foundation to their franchise. Because
the team is having a bad year. They're not going
to make the playoffs. They're awful. They've already fired their manager.
(01:35):
But this whole notion of getting rid of Paul Skins
is ridiculous, ludicrous. You build around a guy like that,
you have to keep him in the fold, no matter
what kind of hole you could get to overhaul the team.
You got to build around him. You cannot nt give
(01:56):
up Paul Skins. Pirate fans would if they did that,
and they just decided to go get some other team's
prospects and other stuff because they're not ready to win.
That's how you win. When you have a guy like that,
you put him at the top of your rotation. You're
normally not gonna have more than four or five game
(02:17):
losing streaks because he gives you a chance to win.
We know that they've scuffled and had trouble scoring. They
got to boast of the team.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
They got to spend some money and add some other
pieces to make the team.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Better around Paul Schemes. Trading him, no way, no how.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Number two, The Detroit Tigers not only lead the AL Central,
they are the best team in the American League thirty
three and seventeen fifty games into the season.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
You know how good it is.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
It's the best fifty games stretched by the Tigers since
two thousand and six.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You remember, this team was left for dead summer, came on.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Strong at the end of the season, made the playoffs,
made some noise in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
It was an incredible run.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And they've picked up right where they left off school well,
of course, is at the top of your rotation. They
brought back Blackjack Flaherty to the rotation. They're getting timely hitting.
The Tigers, you know, are in a very competitive division
and they're leading it. Twins are good, oils are good.
You know, Cleveland's good. I mean, it's incredible where they are.
(03:32):
But it always starts with pitching to me, and they
got two studs at the top and other guys.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Miz has come along as well for the Tigers. So
they're off to a great start and looks like they'll
be in the mix.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
That Central is gonna be tough.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But it's hard to look at the Tigers and think
they're going anywhere after getting off to such a great start.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
We're almost a third of the season away and they're right.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
High number three.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
All right, your players that have passion care want to win.
But Walker Bueller the other night and the start against
the Mets, he got tossed out after three innings for
going ballistic on a misscall by an umpire.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
I mean, that just can't happen.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
First of all, it was on like a stealing play,
so the catcher had to jump up and get the ball. Yes,
the replay showed it was in the box. It should
have been called a strike. But with a lot of
that going on, the umpire can be blocked and you
can get your point across without getting tossed.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
That's not what you want.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
You don't want your starting pitcher to get tossed that
early in the game over a striking ball call.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It can't be that big.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It wasn't the bottom of the ninth and the bases
loaded in two hours and it cost you the game
at that point. No pitch is that big that early
in the game. That's where guys are just going over
the top. Walker Bueller, I just maybe he didn't want
to pitch that night.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That made no sense that earlier in the game to
get that worked up over a call on a play
where someone was stealing in the and the catcher had
to jump up and block the umpire.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Really, here comes the big interview. Listen and learn. It's
so good.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Now let's welcome into the podcast one of my favorite people,
LaTroy Hawkins, who of course pitched twenty one major league seasons,
appeared in one thousand I'm Gonna get it right forty
two games better, which is incredible. Played for a number
of teams, but it was the Minnesota Twins that was
really his team because you played for a lot of teams.
(05:43):
But Latroit, welcome to the podcast. My man, how are you.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
I'm doing good, Rob, Always a pleasure to join you
on your podcast anytime. You know my number. We just
got to make sure we get the times right.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
No, that's right, we will make sure we do that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Well, let's talk about the Twins with just you know,
open up a big series against the Kansas City Royals
in Minneapolis this weekend. But they have been on fire.
They won thirteen in a row, fourteen out of sixteen.
What is going right?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
What turn to switch on? And why are they so good?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
You know what's going right? I always talk about the
ingredients to win a ball game, and the first three
and a half four weeks of the season, they would
have one ingredient. They have a good pitching, they wouldn't
catch the ball, no timely hitting, and when they had
good hitting, timely hitting, pitching wasn't right. So it's just
those three components never matched up. And they started to
(06:39):
match up towards the end of the end of April,
and that's when they went on their extended winning streak.
They got time to hitting. They were the top three
in the league and you know, hitting with runners in
scoring position with two outs, which is a huge stat
for a team. Their starting pitching has been fantastic and
great pitching is contained and the bullpens been very good.
(07:01):
So they've had and they caught the ball. I did
my broadcast, I did six games on the air in April,
and everything I talked about they did not do. And
I just finished a seven game stint and everything we
talked about pitching, catching the ball, and timely hitting, they
were doing it all man.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I have been enjoying Byron Buxton and the start of
the season for him, and we know his bugger Bull
has been injuries. Him and Carreer then wind up colliding.
And now I know they're both heard and on the IL,
but can you just talk about Buston and what he
was doing, and hopefully he'll just pick up why he
left off.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
When he gets back off the IL.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Yeah, like you said, unfortunately, it was one of those
baseball plays. And it's the main thing about Buckson. He's
never got hurt away from the field. He's always always
been hustle plays or getting hit in the head by
baseball thrown from a pitcher. But it was just one
of those plays where it was a high sun. Buckson
was going hard after it, Career was going hard at it,
(08:00):
and it was a high. I mean, they neither one
of them thought they could see. They couldn't see the ball.
And once Korea heard that, bucks is how I got it.
He tried to veer off. He went. He went to
his right and Buckson went to his right once he called,
and they collide, two strong safeties running into each other.
They both were put on the IL concussion protocol. But
(08:21):
they're both back to doing baseball activities, which is a
good thing. But it was great to see bucksing out
there every day. He played a lot in spring training,
more than more than he's ever had. But also say
this about Buckson, It's the first offseason alone time he
hadn't had to recover from a surgery. So he came
into spring training healthy and he stayed healthy, you know,
(08:41):
minus the concussion protocol that he's in right now.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Our guess is LaTroy Hawkins, of course, twenty one year
major league pitcher, belief pitcher, tenth most games in the
history of Major League Baseball one forty two, which is
an incredible number when you think about it. Let me
ask you about another guy who is when he's healthy.
Another Royce lewis their third basement. He is dynamic. I
(09:09):
mean I love to watch him play, but he's been
injured a lot in his career.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
He's been back and he came right back and he's raking.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Yeah, he started off slow, I mean he went he
took a little over, but you know, just getting back
to facing major league pitching. I mean, you can go
all the rehab assignments you want and it's still not
majorly pitching. But when I was doing the broadcast in Baltimore,
he has started to get his timing back, and you know,
when he's not going well, he's hitting a lot of
(09:38):
ground balls because he's not in his legs. But towards
the end of the week, he started hitting some line
drives and then you know what comes out of the
line drives. He was able to hit a home run
and in one of those games on the Game All Sunday,
he was robbed of a home run in Milwaukee by
their young fantastic centerfielder and Centurio.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, he's royce Lewis when he is healthy. He's a
big part of that Twins offense, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Young kid.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
How about Roger Clemens, kid, Cody Clemens, tell me about him.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
He's doing well for the Twins.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Yeah, we picked him up. I think he was put
on waivers by Philly and he's come over and he's
one of those young men that he's a he's a
Twins type of player. He plays multiple positions. Last week
in Baltimore, I keep going because all the games that
I called in the first three and as he had
played second base, first base, right field, and was back
(10:38):
at second base because of the injuries. And that's the
same game at Buckston and career colliding. So he's he's definitely,
he can definitely play defense. He's comfortable all over the
diamond and he's even swinging the bat pretty good. I
mean he's hit. He had two home runs while I
was with with him, had about four or five hits,
and not just regularly, like really clutch hits. And we
(10:59):
talk about runers in scoring position with with two outs,
he comes up and get a big hit, whether there's
a single or hitting a three round bomb. But he's
played well and so far it's been a really good
pick up for us.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
And and Cody, give me another player who's playing well
for the Twins that maybe people you know.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Christian Vasquez. We brought him over a couple of years
ago because of his you know, his ability, his his
bat and his ability to catch. And uh, it's been
a struggle with him from the from the from the
batting part. And he started to turn the corner last
week while we were in Baltimore. And that's good to
(11:38):
see because he came over with a reputation of being
able to swing the bat and he hadn't got there
yet up until last week with us. But he had
a couple of really big hits on the road trip,
hitting the ball hard, using the whole field. And we
like to say they ran a pickoff play in in
a game a week and a half ago and at
third base that ended up winning the game for us,
(12:00):
and Rocca will like to say that was probably a
turning point in his season. I think his his defense
kind of sparked his offense. And it's good to see
because now he's swinging the batwell and Ryan zepfers our
other catchers swinging to batwell and definitely at a position,
and we hadn't got much production early in the season
(12:20):
at all.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
From last thing, Al Central.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Tigers are balling, I mean the ball in the American League.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
They are balling big time.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I think they were the first team to thirty This
is the record coming into Thursday, thirty three and seventeen,
best record for the Tigers to throw fifty games since
two thousand and six.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
But the Central has a lot of good teams.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
The Twins are good, Cleveland's there, Kansas City, Well, let's
go down.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
To the wire. What do you think, Troy, I.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Think it is going to go down to the wire.
A lot of parody in the league, in that Central Division,
it's usually one of the weaker divisions, That's what people
like to say. But I think They're showing that that
division is going to be wrecking with and it's gonna
be a dogfight. It is really gonna be a dogfighting.
You have to get Detroit a lot of credit. Twins
(13:11):
played very well. They went twelve thirteen in a row.
They didn't gain much ground on the titles because guess what,
they wasn't paying attention to the Twins winning street. They
were having their own winning streat. They would continue to
win series, and Twins eight and two in their last
ten and they're seven and three, so the Twins probably
picked up one game over that spot. So they've done
a great job of, you know, stand focused h and
(13:35):
just minding their own business. They mind their own business
and playing for it. And they have a really good
young team, a lot of good young talent, and their
left hands starting to picture they aceh in schoogles. He's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
He is fantastic, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
He is Latroit Hawkins of course, former major league pitcher.
He does Twins broadcast as well, and just one of
my favorite.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
People in baseball. Thanks, buddy, I appreciate you.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
See you at the ballpark, Yes, sir, anytime, robmlbbro dot com.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Baby It's time for the pocket protector centrum. The analytic
numbers you need to know?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Well, maybe Anthony Masterson is his name.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
BS analytics is his game.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
What do you got for me, Anthony?
Speaker 6 (14:20):
I'm Memorial Day the first true benchmark of any Big
league season where contenders start to separate from pretenders. Now,
does success by the time the final week of May
hits really pourtend future success that season?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Now?
Speaker 6 (14:33):
I don't think the Rockies have much of a shot
to turn it around this year, but the numbers bear
out that it's pretty much anybody's game. In the Wildcard era,
teams leading their respective divisions on Memorial Day went on
to win their division that season about fifty three percent
of the time, so pretty much half and half. Last year, however,
five of the six teams in first on May's final
Monday ended up winning division titles, with the only exception
(14:55):
being the Astros furious run in the AL West after
their brutal twelve and twenty four start. However, it's been
three years since any National League team in first time
Memorial Day failed to win that division. That would be
the twenty twenty two Mets, who coughed up a ten
and a half game lead on the final day of
that season to the Braves. By the way, if you
were curious the player with the most career home runs
on Memorial Day itself, that would be the legendary Gil
(15:18):
Hodges with twelve, two more than Mickey Mantle and no surprise,
the most home run by Memorial Day in a single
season Barry Bonds, of course, in his record setting season
in two thousand and one, he had twenty six. Now,
if your team isn't on top yet, don't worry. There's
still four months of baseball to go.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
In case you missed Rob Parker on the MLBA Words,
here's his latest appearance on mlbina.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
All Right Show Downtime.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
Rob Parker's back, Rob, great to have you back on
the show.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Thank you so much always BK. Let's get at it.
We got a lot of good stuff.
Speaker 7 (15:52):
I know we got coming out, Like last week with
Pete Rose. I love talk to you about that.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Here we go.
Speaker 7 (15:56):
Your one so so prediction has taken another turn. Where
are you on ones occasional casual level of running?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I mean, if you're a Mets fan, you gotta be
a little disheartened by this.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
People go through slumps they struggle. We know that, BKA.
But when I was on this early on, and you
know this, you were some of my buddies I went
to high school with.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I went to Van Buren High School and I got
some of.
Speaker 8 (16:25):
The biggest Mets fan friends Ben Eddie stew They all
scoffed at meet and I say, no, like, this is
the history of the Mets with them signing.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Big time players.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I say, now, you got the left handed Jason bay
And on your team right now, and he does.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Not look like the player from the Yankees a year.
Speaker 7 (16:47):
Ago, And I said, you were crazy. And it turns
out he is off to a slow start. Although he's
got like a three seventy nine, three eighty on base,
he's not terrible. He's having deep at bats. But what
gets me Rob is high paid player in the history
of the game, highest paid player on his franchise, highest
paid player in his dugout. And I just don't get
the lack of running. I don't know how he's not
(17:09):
aware of that. He has to be somewhat aware of that.
Back to back nights. Also, he was supposed to be
miked up for ESPN. Then he said no. After that
game on Sunday. He also didn't talk to the media.
There's a lot of just squirrely things for a guy
who's wait a second, you're the face of baseball.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
You're the face of the.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Franchise one hundred percent. It should not be accepted. The
Mets have to really rain this in. He didn't do
that stuff last year. I'm really surprised. He has to
be able. He understood what was going on with going
back to the Bronx. You know what it means to baseball.
You saw the TV ratings the highest Sunday night baseball
(17:44):
game since twenty eighteen. I mean, that's a lot of
good stuff about baseball. And he's one of the faces
and he can't be this way. And I think if
I'm the Mets him not being enthusiastic and running out balls,
I just I would have to stop time out.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
We need to talk about this. Let's get past this.
This is a long marriage. This is not some day.
Speaker 7 (18:09):
Yeah, fifteen year year one of fifteen and we're like
this now, all right along those lines, Rafael Devers and
the Red Sox, where are you on that little dust up?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I'm with Rafael Devers and I'm going to tell you
why I get the responsibility play to help the team whatever.
I just don't think that they were honest from day one,
wouldn't they when they were going after Bregman, And I
think that there's something BK to the honesty factor where
they acted as if he wasn't going to play third base.
Bregman right, and then it was like, well, we still
(18:43):
got to talk. We haven't made a decison. They knew
when they signed him that they promised Bregman to play
third base.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Before you even do.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
It, you have to talk to Rafael Devers and Devors
have been a good player to them, very good sign
them to a big contract. You can't disrespect people and
just act like they should just accept anything. When he
was there first and he has been a big part
of the Red.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Sox, I think they owe that to him because you've
invested in the guy, you're in it together. I think
you're right, But also there's a different level of responsibility.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
What we were just saying, you're.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
The highest paid guy in the history of the franchise.
You get more than Big Poppy, you get more than
yazz ever Ted Williams. You're the highest big guy ever
wherever you maybe it's my upbringing, right. My dad's a
cop and queens you and I queen's me, right, so
I'm in Queens. I understand the check clears every two weeks.
(19:39):
You should go through a wall for that franchise. They're
paying you the top dollar on the club. Ultimately, even
if you don't like the way they did it, why
wouldn't you say, Hey, the check clears, I'm gonna play.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I get that, And that's fair, that really is. But
there's a degree of respect sometimes that really can bother
you and mess with you and say, well, what did
I do?
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I understand you wanted to improve the team.
Speaker 7 (20:05):
He didn't feel well, and they probably should have told hey,
by the way, you're kind of the worst fielder in
baseball at your position, so we might have somebody who
replace you and move your.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Game, but let's have that conversation. But that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And then bring them in and say, even in spring training,
well we haven't made a decision yet.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yes you have, yeah, fair enough, all right.
Speaker 7 (20:25):
Dodgers still lead the NL West, got swept by the
Angels over the weekend. Will the Dodgers repeat as World
Series champs?
Speaker 3 (20:32):
No way, no how? And this I saw coming a law.
I told you this. First of all, it's hard to
repeat in baseball.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
The last team the Yankees twenty five years ago, the
last National League team the seventy five seventy six Reds,
and the Dodgers were lucky to win last year. Had
the Yankees won Game five, the Dodgers had no pitching
for Game six and seven.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
It's very possible.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
That's not that crazy, Okay, No, yeah, remember the Padres
had him for dead, right, but they did win. I look,
I'm kind of with you. I kind of liked your
take on this, but there there's there's so much there
still and now they're getting like those old veterans, and
Chris Taylor is very useful, right, Austin Barnes useful, But
now they're they're they're shipping them out and they're bringing
(21:18):
in fresh young guys. They're gonna be very good, Rob,
I hear you, but they're gonna be.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Very BK is this Too many things have to go right,
and too many people have to come back right.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
And be like they were. And you're asking for a lot.
Speaker 7 (21:35):
And Freddie and are like, here, man, that's a lot
going for you.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
But I get that.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I see the lineup, I see show hey and all that,
but it still comes down the pitching. And they got
so many injuries and so many issues.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I'm just buying it.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Yeah, they're also you know, they're a traveling circus, like
Joe Madden said that first week that that first weekend,
like they're in Japan, they're they're they're the Beatles.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
There's something to you like that. But you're right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
They were supposed to be the Beatles, but now I
think they're Boy George and Culture Club right now.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
When Rob was a newspaper columnist, he lived by this motto,
if I'm writing, I'm ripping. Let's bring in a writer
or broadcaster, old or new.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Now let's welcome into the podcast Jalen Thompson.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
He covers the Kansas City Royals for the Kansas City Star.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Jalen Man, thanks for joining us here on the podcast.
How are you? I'm good.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
How are you guys doing?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Man doing great?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Let's get on and talk about these Kansas City Royals,
and let's start here coming into Friday's big series against
the Minnesota Twins. The Royals are twenty eight and twenty three,
got off to a slow start and then picked it
up and are playing much better. Are the Royals happy
where they are in a very competitive division so far?
Speaker 9 (22:57):
Yeah, I think they are happy where they are. I mean,
you know, from a fans perspective, they'll say it's a
mixed bag because the pitching is really good and the
offense is consistent. But I think when you look at
the totality of where the roads are so far, like
you said, they're five games over five hundred, they're right
in the race. They have a big divisional matchup with
(23:19):
the Twins this weekend. I mean, they are one of
the better teams in the American League, even for all
their flaws and their falls, and know every team has
falls and flaws and falls, and you know this early
in the season, you're right where you're going to be.
And so that's that's kind of mentality in the clubhops
right now.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Let's talk about Bobby Wood Jr.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Who is a star and we all know that, and
but last year, if there wasn't a guy named Aaron Judge,
he would be uh would have won the MVP with
the year he put up together. This year, I mean,
can he win an MVP? Is he in the race
with Aaron Judge? Aaron Judge batting almost four hundred and
almost leading the league in home runs and all the
(24:01):
other stuff. Bobby wol having a good year. Can he
win an MVP with Aaron Judge in a way?
Speaker 3 (24:08):
I think he can.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I really do.
Speaker 9 (24:10):
When you look at what Aaron Judges has done. I
mean he's putting up astronomical numbers, and you know, you
really can't compete with that. When you got someone that's
hitting over four hundred or around there, hitting almost fifteen
sixteen home runs right now, RBI's all everything, It's hard
to really do that. But baseball is sort of like
(24:32):
the old fable the tourist end the hair. You can
get out to a fast start, but you have to
run that race. And when you run that race at
the end you can get caught. You can win the
race outright. So it just depends on how the rest
of the season goes. We saw last year with Bobby
Wood Jr. And I believe July he went on a
hot streak where hit like six seven home runs, was
(24:55):
hitting the scorching the ball almost in five hundred during
that one week straight. So he can definitely do it.
But like I said, it's a long way to go
in this season. Anything can happen, but Aaron Judge is
off to a hot start for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Our guess is Jalen Thompson.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
He covers the Kansas City Royals for the Kansas City
Star Southador Perez finally got a home run to end
his home run drought. Just talk about that is what
was going on now.
Speaker 9 (25:24):
It meant a lot to the Royals and to inside
that clubhouse for Salve to hit the home run and
you know, kind of get back on track a little bit.
He's had a rough May, and you know, I spoke
to him yesterday and he said, I've been doing this
for fourteen years and he knows how to handle ups
and downs and university that comes. But the most key
(25:46):
thing that I thought really stood out was when he said,
I have to be the same guy every day. I
can't come in and be upset when I'm not hitting.
I have to keep the smile on my face. I
have to show these younger guys this is the way
to handle things. When you go through a season of
baseball where you're not always going to be your best.
You're gonna go through slumps, You're gonna go through adversity
(26:08):
and things that are gonna tie you down. So it's
about how you work through it, and that message resonates
throughout the entire clubhouse. Talked with so many guys yesterday
after the win and they were saying, yeah, when Salve
is going strong, it lists the entire dugout, the entire clubhouse,
the entire organization where they want to play this for Salvi.
(26:28):
That was the key last year. They wanted to play
for him and make the playoffs for Salvi because he
stuck around when the team won the World Series, then
went down to the bottom, wasn't as good as they.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Were and rebounded. So they want to do.
Speaker 9 (26:41):
This in part for themselves but also for their teammate
in Salvo Perez.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
How about the strength And when we talk about pitching
for the Royals, is it in the bullpen or in
the rotation?
Speaker 9 (26:52):
It's the starting rotation. This starting rotation might be one
of the best starting rotations in the major leagues this season.
I know the New York New York Mets are doing
in the National League, but I don't think there's a
rotation that's very than the roles in the American League.
They have five legit guys that are consistent and they
can get the job done. And what's crazy is right
(27:12):
now their top two Cole Reagan's and Staff Lugo are
on the injury list and they're still getting it done.
And it's not just Reagan's and Lugo is Michael waka
Chris Bubis, who I think should be an All Star
this year. He's really great. He's only given a one
run in his last four starts. You have Michael Origins
is a veteran season veteran, and then they have this
young guy, Noah Cameron that's gonna start on Friday, and
(27:35):
all he's done in his first two MLB starts so
far has given up one earned run in twelve and
two thirds innings and he took a no hitter in
both games deep midway through. So yeah, they have a
really nice pitching staff, a nice rotation, and I think
that's just the strength of this team. They want to
win and they know that to win, it's gonna be
(27:57):
their pitching staff that carries them because they're often a
streaky It's sometimes it's good they can score eight runs.
Sometimes they might struggle to score two runs. So that's
just where they win right now.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
All Right, last thing quickly.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
AL Central Tigers have the best record in the American League,
right off to a great start. Are they the team
to beat? Or is it the Twins or is it
the Royals?
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Like?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Who are the Tigers the team to beat?
Speaker 9 (28:29):
It certainly looks like it is right now. The Tigers
are off to a fast start. But you know, going
back to that tours in the here argument that I
said earlier, I think in the AL Central it's gonna
come down to who is the best in these interdivisional
matchups when they all play each other head the head
at thirteen times a year. Who's going to be the
(28:50):
best when you go up against all those all those teams.
Because last year you can beat up on the White
Socks and that helps bully your record. But the White
Socks are scrappy this year. They're not gonna be a
tough out like they were last easy outay they were
last year, so they're a little tougher. And then the
Tigers can pitch too, the Rods can pitch. I think
that when it's all said and done, you're gonna see
(29:12):
four AL Central teams in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I just really do.
Speaker 9 (29:15):
I think that's what it kind of looks like right now,
and I think that's what you're gonna see. I think
it's gonna be key though for the Royals. If they
want to win the AL Central, they have to hit
the baseball. If they don't hit the baseball, then they
won't be seeing at the Visional crown that they want
to have at the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
All Right, his name is Jalen Thompson, and most of
the stuff he said was right on the money. Four
teams from the AL Central in the playoffs, Jalen.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
That ain't happening. I don't think so. Not four. Somebody's
not gonna make it. Somebody's not.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I'm just I would be stunning if a four out
of five teams make the playoffs from that division.
Speaker 9 (29:49):
It almost happened last year.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I know almost.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You just said the right word almost. I'm just saying
it's gonna be similar to that. Well, but I appreciate you,
my man, thank you for the knowledge.
Speaker 9 (29:59):
All right at the bare siding, this is BOLGI.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
It's the Parker pushback. Shut here.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Rob tackles the outlandish takes in Major League Baseball. Shut
up today, I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Pushing back on the Los Angeles Dodgers and the idea
of adding show hal Tani to the rotation.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I know, I can't even believe him saying it, But.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Now as it gets closer.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
The other day Wednesday Show, he started throwing sliders and
curveballs in the bullpen in preparation to gearing up to
getting back on the mound.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
And we know it.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
It's like a unicorn, a pitcher and a hitter and
all that. But now as I'm starting to look at
Show Hey and what this will take away from the
Dodgers offensively and him as an everyday player, because it's
going to take him out of the lineup.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
At least two days for him to be a pitcher.
And I understood it when.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
It first started, and the Dodgers won the World Series
last year without Old Tany on the mound.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
And now I'm.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Starting to think, does this really make sense? The guy
had fifty stolen bases, fifty home runs last year is unbelievable,
won the MVP. Are you really trying to take his
bat out of the lineup? Wanted one day at all?
Maybe two days? I mean two days?
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I am really torn now and I know that they're
not going to do it this year. They'll probably get
them ready and put them into the Dodgers have so
many pitching injuries. But as time goes on and seeing
how he hits this year being interrupted by pitching, I
think we need to think about it, and maybe he
(31:54):
winds up doing what Babe Ruth eventually did, which was
given up pitching.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Just hitting. I'm Rob Parker and that's my pushback.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
In the words of New York TV legend The Lady
Bill Jorgensen, thanking you for your time this time.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Until next time, Rob Parker out d can't Davin.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
This could be an inside the Parker See you next week,
same bat time from same batt station,
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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