Dodger Talk (7-31-23)

Off-day Dodger Talk with David Vassegh talking trade deadline.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to a very special off dayDodger Talk Trade deadline edition. As we
are less than twenty four hours awayfrom the trade deadline tomorrow afternoon, we
are taking your phone calls at eightsixty six nine, eight seven two five
seventy with you until eight o'clock.We have a great show for you coming

(00:20):
up in fifteen minutes. You'll hearfrom Lance Lynn, who makes his Dodger
debut tomorrow, and also with someof the pieces the Dodgers have brought in
teen chemistry has been a topic ofconversation Jason Hayward. We caught up with
him on this homestand you'll hear whathe told us regarding that and incorporating new

(00:42):
players into what is a very closeknit group. Plus, at the bottom
of the hour, I have invitedthree of the Dodger Beat writers in studio,
so we'll have I don't want tocall it a round table because that
sounds like old man radio, butwe'll check in with one Ribio from Dodgers
dot com, Rowing Kabner from FoxSports dot Com, and also the La

(01:06):
Times magazine. Jack Harris will joinus as well. Maybe he could read
us on box scores while he's instudio. Huh, how would you like
that? Eight six six nine eightseven two five seventy is the phone number.
We'll get their thoughts on whether ornot the Dodgers are going to pull
off another trade for his starting pitcher. Here is the latest. Yes,

(01:27):
the Dodgers and Astros are in conversationsfor Justin Verlander. It's no secret that
Dodgers had interest in Verlander this pastwinter to a certain point. The Dodgers
did not want to go as faras the Mets did to basically guarantee him
three years because if he pitches onehundred and forty innings next year, his

(01:51):
twenty twenty five vesting option kicks in. So I don't believe that's changed for
the Dodgers. And it would haveto be a similar situation to what the
Rangers and Mets worked out, wherethe Mets basically are paying Max Scherzer to
pitch for the Texas Rangers. That'sprobably what it would have to come down

(02:12):
to for Justin Verlander to come tothe Dodgers. And obviously he has a
lot of saying it as well.He has a no trade clause and he
was entertaining the offers to sign withthe Dodgers. So I would imagine being
a Hollywood husband that Justin Verlander isthat he would certainly entertain the idea of

(02:35):
pitching in Hollywood for the Dodgers.Another possibility for the Dodgers, and I
should go back to the Justin Verlandertopic. From what I was told today,
there is not a lot of sentimentaround baseball that the Dodgers are going
all in for Justin Verlander. Theywould take him at their price, and

(02:58):
one executive told me to day thathe feels like the Dodgers are twenty five
percent in and maybe trying to driveup the market for other teams. I
know the Giants today traded for formerDodger Aj Pollock, but there's been some
rumblings that Farhan xiety and the Giantscould be laying in the weeds on this
one. For Justin Verlander. Theyneed some help in their starting rotation.

(03:22):
Their rotation has pitched a fewest inningsin baseball this year, so that could
be a possibility as well. Acouple of other pictures that are more realistic
as far as what is fact andwhat is fiction. Jack Flaherty from Harvard
Westlake still has not been moved bythe Saint Louis Cardinals. He has not

(03:45):
had a great year. He's beenup and down, he's been a ratic.
I feel those are the right waysto describe him. So in some
ways he is another project. TheDodgers got lance Lynn, who I don't
know if they view him as aproject. Like lance Lynn, feels like
he's been moved to a way bettersituation and with that will pitch much better

(04:08):
here in LA than he did inChicago. Another real possibility, and this
would be a big splash, theDodgers acquiring all star right hander from the
Pittsburgh Pirates, Mitch Keller. There'sbeen quite a bit of buzz in the
last twenty four hours as far asthe information I've gathered that the Dodgers and

(04:29):
Pirates are still in conversations for theall star right hander Mitch Keller. And
I'm not sure if this is publicinformation or not, but I was told
today by somebody in Pittsburgh that thePirates Lowbald an extension to Mitch Keller and
he turned it down. So thePirates are basically saying, Okay, he's

(04:50):
not going to take the Ozzie Albie'sand Ronaldo Cunia Junior discount to stay with
us, and now they're looking tomove them. That's what's happening when it
comes to Mitch Keller. Now,the Pirates don't have to move him right
now. In fact, they don'thave to move him for probably another year.
But you can get the most valuefor Mitch Keller right now, and

(05:14):
the Dodgers have serious interest in tryingto make that happen. Now, you
have to understand what the Dodgers wouldbe giving up for a Justin Verlander and
a Jake Flaherty compared to trying toacquire an all star right hander like Mitch
Keller, who has so much upsideand is under team control for two more
years. It would cost quite abit more in prospect capital. One offensive

(05:39):
player that I know would love tobe a Dodger is former Red former Padre,
former Tampa Bay Ray Tommy fam Iknow for a fact he's thrown.
He's told three different Dodgers in uniformthat he would love to play for the
Dodgers. Whether or not that happensstill remains to be seen. But the

(06:00):
injury to J. D. Martinezis concerning, more concerning than I'm sure
the Dodgers or their PR department wouldlead on. He's got a groin issue
that he's been dealing with since theend of the last road trip. He
couldn't even come out of the dugoutyesterday to take an at bat. So
certainly there is some, as DaveRoberts would say, some smoke around j

(06:24):
D. Martinez and his groin.And I guess that's a new baseball terminology
to let you know that abracadabra,there's an injury there. But yeah,
there's something going on with JD.Martinez and his groin. And I know
when he came back from the lastroad trip, he quoted Johnny Drama from
Honorage that he had to come tothe valley in the summer, which I

(06:45):
was offended by Number one and numbertwo. He went to the valley because
he had to to try to getsome treatment on that adductor groin area which
gave him problems yesterday. One otherpitching piece to all this is my Lorenzen.
Mike Lorenzen's had a great year.He made the All Star team for
the Tigers this year, and therewas some buzz around the winter meetings this

(07:09):
past offseason that it came down toNoah Syndergard and Mike Lorenzen, and the
Dodgers chose thor as they said inIndiana Jones and the last crusade you chose
unwisely. Eight six six nine eightseven two five seventy is the phone number.
Some other trades today in Major LeagueBaseball. The Cubs did not sell

(07:32):
off Cody Bellinger. They are keepingCody Bellinger, and from what I understand,
he has told his former Dodger teammateshe loves it in Chicago and would
love to sign an extension to stayin Wrigleyville. So today the Cubs added
a former Cubby Bear, Jeremyr Candelario. I want to say John Candelaria.

(07:55):
He was a left handed reliever backin the day. The Diamondbacks added former
Sat closer Paul Sewald, and theygave up two prospects and Nolan Eronado's cousin
Josh Roja. So Eronado not beingtraded, but his primo is going to
Seattle. The Brewers traded for theMetsmart Canna and Stevie Cohen love spending money

(08:18):
so much he will pay for playersto play for other teams. You gotta
love that from Steve Cohen, justspreading the wealth around to all a Major
League baseball In some ways, he'spaying double for revenue sharing. Right,
he's got the highest payroll in baseball, he's paying revenue sharing on that end.
And now he's revenue sharing by justpaying for players to play for other

(08:41):
teams. You gotta love Uncle Stevie. What a humanitarian out there. Also,
the Tampa Bay Rays acquire starting pitcherAaron Savale from the Cleveland Guardians for
a top first base prospect and KyleMenzardo. So that's what's happening happened around
major League baseball today. We'll takeyour phone calls. We have two lines

(09:03):
open. Who would you like tosee out of those three starting pitchers?
Justin Verlander, the Hollywood picture,the Hollywood husband, Mitch Keller from the
Pittsburgh Pirates, or Harvard Westlake's ownJack Flaherty. Let's start out in my
neck of the woods, Mark andWoodland Hills. You're on Dodger Talk,
Hi, Mark, Oh, letme put Mark on hold here. I

(09:28):
gotta switch things over from my Dodgersdays since we're on the Kila SA side
officially. Here, let's get tothat in just a moment, Why don't
we take a time out. Whenwe come back, we do have two
lines open. We'll start taking yourphone calls. We'll hear from Lance Lynn
and Jason Hayward. Plus at thebottom of the hour, we'll check in

(09:48):
with some of the writers that followthe Dodgers on an everyday basis, get
their thoughts as we get closer tothe trade deadline. Tomorrow afternoon at three
o'clock, the Dodgers already have acquiredfour players, Lancelin, Mariachi, Joe
Kelly, Ahmed Rosario and another fanfavorite in Kika Hernandez. What is next

(10:09):
we all want to know, andyou'll find out between now and eight o'clock
right here on five seventy LA Sportsfive seventy LA Sports. The Dodgers will
close out this nine game homestand againstthe lowly Oakland Athletics, who are on
pace to lose one hundred and seventeengames this season. Usually when a team

(10:33):
is getting close to clinch a division, you hear about this magic number.
Obviously, over the course of thelast eleven years, you've heard me talk
about that in terms of the Dodgersclinching the NL West well. In the
Oakland A's terms, it's the tragicnumber. The tragic number for the Oakland
A's to be officially eliminated this seasonis twenty six. That's right, twenty

(10:58):
six more games ins and losses betweenthe first place team and the Oakland Athletics.
Their tragic number is at twenty six. Poo who eight six six and
eight seven two five seventy is thephone number. Lance Lynn will make his
Dodger debut tomorrow against those Oakland Athletics. A soft landing is a good way

(11:20):
to put this. As far aslance Lynn making his first Dodgers start,
he's given up the most home runsin the American League, the most hits
in the American League. So thiswill be a good It's like a simulated
game when you play the Oakland A'sin front of forty five thousand at Dodgers
Stadium. So this will be agreat little ease into his Dodger career.

(11:43):
And here's what lance Lynn said whenhe found out that he was traded to
the Dodgers from the White Sox.H you know, he's exciting, you
know, obviously Joe and I goway back, and then you know he
was coming with me and you know, as you know, he drove me
in today, so I had alittle last cordon, So it was good.
What's it like to be back inthe Pennant race after you know,
obviously being in a situation that wasa little tougher. Yeah, Like I

(12:05):
said when I left Chicago, youknow, unfortunately we didn't play the way
that you know, we wanted to. But to have a chance to you
know, kind of savage the seasonpersonally coming here and see what I can
do, see if I can helpthis team, you know, as much
as possible. That's the plan.They have a reputation for helping Pictures maybe
take their reach their potential more thanother clubs. Do you have they talked

(12:26):
to you about anything? Not yet, I just got here today, so
you know, if it was justkind of fame names of faces. Right
now, we go throw a bullpenand I think we got a chance to
talk after that. So right now, I'm just trying to get ready for
when my start's going to be.And I've had some ups and downs this
year for sure. You know whenyou look at you know, r A
and wins and losses. The worstI've ever had in my career. And

(12:48):
then you look at strikeouts for nineand stuff like that, they're the best
I've ever had. So, likeI said, it's been a weird year.
But hopefully we can, you know, make sure that the r A
and wins, you know, takecare of themselves, and we keep the
other things going in a positive direction, and you know, maybe a change
the scenery will help. That you'vecompeted against Kushoff for the majority of your
career. What's it like to belockermates now? You know, it's exciting,

(13:11):
you know, obviously, you knowhe's one of the greatest to play
all times, so to be alocker maybe a teammate, especially with him,
Lukey Freddy and all the guys inhere, So it's exciting. Like
you said, played against a lotof these guys for a long time,
so we've had a lot of battlesin the playoffs, so you know,
it's exciting to be on their side. Lancelin, we'll make his Dodger debut

(13:31):
tomorrow night at Dodgers Stadium, soI feel like he's going to surprise some
people. He's a guy that stillhas some giddy up on his fastball,
knows how to pitch, is agamer, and you know, don't let
his size fool you. He'll beable to not only eat innings, but
be able to get through a seasonand compete this year. Eight six six

(13:54):
nine eight seven two five seventy isthe phone number, by the way,
he's wearing, Cody Bellinger, numberthirty five. Let's go out to Woodland
Hills. Mark. You're on DodgerTalk. Hi, Mark, Hey David,
thanks for taking my call. Ican't believe you can get this far
talking about Verlander without mentioning it.He was on the two thousand seventeen Asterix.

(14:16):
Yeah, well he showed up inAugust, Mark, So you know
it's hard for a guy that showsup in August to try to stop the
team from cheating the way they were, and he was a pitcher on top
of it. I'm not good enough. He certainly didn't come out and say
it was a bad thing and theyshould take that pennant down. No,
you're right, he didn't. ButI'm not gonna put it on Justin Verlander's

(14:37):
shoulders that he should have stopped thewhole thing. I don't think he could
have stopped it. But once it'sout, those guys all cheated the game.
I mean we we all we allplayed in the streets dreaming to be
there. Okay. So, sobasically you're saying, if the Dodgers trade
for Justin Verlander, you think DodgersStadium will not be happy about that.

(15:00):
I was there last week when weboot Springer. I was I got extra,
but he was a hitter. That'sa different story. Now you're talking
apples and oranges. Springer, Correa, Altuve, Bregman. Those guys were
the nucleus of the trash can banging. Justin Verlander was a picture that showed
up at the end of August.He was on their side. He wore

(15:24):
their colors, Dave, It's thatsimple. He didn't. All they have
to do is renounce and vacate thetitle. Okay, Mark, So if
you come to a Dodger game andJustin Verlander, let's say Justin Verlander does
become a Dodger, are you sayingthat you are going to boo Justin Verlander?
Absolutely you are, and you're gonnatry to get your section to boo

(15:45):
Justin Verlander. See, I neverthought that was in the equation. I
there's certain places you can't go,and the Dodgers Andrew Friedman has got some
algorithm for character. You notice we'vewe've not really good on the character to
the guys he's brought in. Thisguy doesn't match, all right, Mark,
thank you for the phone call.I did not believe that's the way

(16:07):
Dodger fans felt. Eight six sixnine eight seven two five seventy is the
phone number. Hey, I guessthat's another dynamic that Andrew Freeman has to
consider. Will Justin Verlander be acceptedby the guys in that clubhouse that we're
part of? The twenty seventeen Dodgerssay, like I said, I don't
hold Verlander responsible for it. Ifeel like he went as far as you

(16:32):
know, or as far farther thanmost guys on that team did. And
he was not a guy that wason that team from day one in spring
training. He shows up in lateAugust after being traded in the non waiver
or the waiver trade deadline. Soyou know, I don't put that at

(16:52):
the feet of him. I don'thold him responsible, but hey, I'm
not. I'm not the masses outthere. I feel like Correa, Altuve,
Springer, Bregman, those guys arein a different bucket. Evan Gaddis,
who was very flipping about it asrecently as three months ago on Twitter.
Those guys, for me are ina different category than Justin Verlander.

(17:18):
Let's go out to loyal caller,loyal Dodger Van Lewis. All right,
Lewis, do you agree with Markand Woodland Hills that Justin Verlander shouldn't be
a Dodger because of what took placein twenty seventeen. Actually, it has
nothing to do with that, Icould. I think it's minimal. I
don't think Verlander will be a Dodgerbecause of all of this stuff with the

(17:42):
Mets and Cohen, the disaster thathas happened to them, Steve Cohen wanting
to be the Dodgers eventually. Butthat's not the Lewis. We always go
through this. Let me just Iasked you a direct question. Please give
me a direct answer, and wouldyou not boo Justin Verlander at Dodgers Stadium?

(18:03):
Lewis? No, No, Iwould have no problem with him.
Okay, thank you, thank youfor answering that. Yeah. Yeah,
but I but I will say this, I think and actually, if you
read the reading the reports today,Verlander says he wants to go back to
Houston. It's just not there's toomuch weird stuff going on with him,

(18:26):
and I just don't think it endshe ends up coming through the Dodgers.
I wouldn't disagree with that. Iwould say that if he had his choice
between the Dodgers and Astros, itcertainly would be Houston. He pitched there
for a while, won a WorldSeries Championship twice in Houston. So obviously
I'm not in Justin Verlander's head,but I would imagine that would be his

(18:48):
preference. And like I said,I don't need to read other news reports.
I have my own information from peopleI trust, and they said the
Dodgers are interested, but at acertain price, and they're not gonna go
above and beyond to acquire Justin Verlander. Eight six six none eight seven two
five seventy is the phone number.Let's go out to San Bernardino. Ryan,

(19:11):
You're on Dodger Talk. Hi Ryan, Cool? What are you doing?
Ryan? Cleaning out your car?A groceries? Great? Yeah,
well you call the radio show.Are we in the Are we getting in
the way of you bringing in thegroceries? Ryan? I guess we were.

(19:32):
Hey. I appreciate that. Ibring the groceries in myself. When
when I don't go to the grocerystore and those groceries come in the garage,
I jump off the couch right away. I want to build some credit.
So I appreciate Ryan getting those groceries. But hey, when you call
a big time show like this fromseven to eight pm, put those groceries

(19:52):
down. Let's go out to Whittier. Tony, you're on Dodger Talk.
How you doing, Tony? What'sup baby? I'm doing about yourself.
Hey, Tony, you bring inthe groceries, don't you. But you
don't call a radio show at thesame time. I would imagine, No,
we come prepare when we're talking toyou, I'll focus on the question
and the show, and that's it. Hey, that's right. You gotta
self coach yourself. Just like pictureson the mound. They gotta be their

(20:15):
best pitching coaches. You gotta beyour best caller coach. Exactly. Hey,
do you have a question. Firstof all, if vernonder kam,
I don't have an issue with it. I mean, it is what it
is, the passes the past.But do you think Cartya would be included
in that trade? No, Idon't believe so. I don't believe so.

(20:37):
I would believe the Dodgers would holdon to him for maybe, I
don't want to say a bigger trade, but a trade for maybe a controllable
piece I could see, even thoughthe Pirates have a very un catcher.
I believe his name is Ben Davisout there in Pittsburgh. I would hold
on to him for a trade fora guy like Mitch Keller. And by

(21:00):
the way, the jury is stillout on whether or not Davis is a
catcher. So you know, no, I would not, but it's interesting
here. It's yeah, Hey,I'm glad you're on my side. I
never thought about Dodger fans holding twentyseventeen against Verlander if he was traded here.
But he was part of that team, no doubt about it. All

(21:22):
right, thank you for the phonecall. Appreciate it. Let's go out
to North Hollywood, Steve. You'reon Dodger Talk with David vasse Hi.
Steve. Hey, how's it doing, Dave. It's going great, great
off day. Went to the beachtoday. Did some grounding, as they
liked to say in Major League Baseball, said Christian Yellowish ground last year where
his feet where he's taking long walksaround Miller Park and look at him this

(21:45):
year comeback Player of the Year withCody So yeah, great off day.
Yeah he was, he was.He was a bylow for I think for
a lot of teams it didn't reallyI mean, maybe they wouldn't even get
letter do of him. But hey, you know, I wanted to make
a couple of comments here. Ifeel like, after watching this team play
that this group of guys, asmuch as any group of guys in the

(22:07):
last dozen years, really deserves reinforcements. I mean real reinforcements to make a
run at a World Series because guyslike Freddy and Mookie are not getting any
younger and Kurshase. But I don'tbelieve we're going to see it, because
I believe we would have already seenbigger moves. And I think it's because

(22:30):
of the luxury tax threshold. Ireally believe they are not going to they
want to get under and I don'twant to know what you think. My
understanding, Steve. At the beginningof the year, they were over the
first threshold. And what I wastold is some of the public websites out
there that show us the payrolls arenot as accurate as we all would like

(22:52):
to believe they are, so they'realready over the first luxury tax threshold.
All right, well, I guessI'll have to make a trade in which
stated salary. Maybe that's months here. There's one guy, that's Chris Taylor.
If you're talking about exchanging salaries ortrading a player where you acquire a

(23:14):
controllable picture like Mitch Keller to getit, to get that off the books,
it would be Chris Taylor. He'smaking fifteen million dollars this year and
for the next two years each.Let's go out to George or excuse me,
John and Saint George. Utah.Hi, John, thanks for listening
to us on the iHeartRadio app yep, Hey man, how you doing.

(23:37):
How's Utah? Oh it's awesome.It's really hot though it's hot out here
too. All right, real quickwith my question is you were talking right
now about Chris Taylor with exchange forthe younger guy from Pittsburgh. That's my
biggest concern. And we go afterRolander and the money that we're going to

(23:57):
pick up for his contract following here, is this going to be way too
much? We're actually for us togo out there in Otani afterwards. I
know I shouldn't be thinking about nothing. We'll get in the way of that,
John, Nothing will get in theway of that. But I will
say this, with the Angels beingas aggressive as they have been, buyers
rather than sellers trying to impress Otani. Do they have an agreement with Otani

(24:22):
or some sort of understanding now thathe is going to stay. They don't
have anything official, but you wouldhave to imagine they're doing this to try
to convince Otani to stay. Andwe know how routine oriented Otani is.
All we hear about is how muchhe loves living where he lives and eating,

(24:45):
breathing, sleeping baseball, and hewants to win. And it looks
like Artie Moreno is trying to showhim, Hey, we want to win
as well. So you know,the Otani Sweepstakes may not be as excited
hiding this offseason as we thought itwould be, considering now the Angels are
trying to win. Eight six sixnine, eight seven two five seventy is

(25:07):
the phone number. Let's go outto Oxnard. John, You're on Dodger
Talk. Hi, John, Hi, how you doing listen. I love
your program. I love you.I listened to you every day. Now
here's my take on the pitching.Number One, he wants all this money,
Verlander, he's getting up there inage. I think we have enough

(25:29):
of that. Number two, theguy from Pittsburgh's young. He's very good.
And that's a team you can build. That's a guy that you can
build the rotation around Clarity. He'sin it out, up and down.
So my vote would be Keller.I agree with you, John. Thank
you for the phone call and thanksfor listening. Let's go out to Venice.

(25:52):
Will you're on Dodger Talk. Ilove We're getting phone calls from all
over southern California and some Utah.Will. How you doing? Yeah,
yeah, if I'm good, I'mgood. Hey, I'm a long time
listener, first time caller. Well, thank you to do and oh yeah
for sure for sure listen real quickin defense of Justin Verlander to the people

(26:17):
saying we're gonna bull him a seat. If he could trains to the Dodgers,
then jo just go out and po. So also, weren't they on
a team that you know that theybeat us and even the medicic got you
know, suspended. From what Iunderstand was something similar to what the Astros
did. Anyways, you know that'smy take. My tickets, Like Justin
Berland would be cool to see himhere paired up with hersham, you know,

(26:40):
like two legends. I mean,he's a big game picture. You
know, he's a big game picture. And look if I you know,
if I felt like he was abig part of the Astros sign stealing,
I would be very honest with you. Will. Yes, he could have
done something to stop it, Iguess hype of ethically speaking, but he

(27:00):
got there at the end of August. You have to understand the dynamics of
a baseball clubhouse. A picture ofall people is not going to stand up
in the middle of a clubhouse thatfor a team that he just got to
and say, hold on, guys, you are cheating. Stop it right
now. You've got to stop it. That's not his place. That's just

(27:21):
not what's going to happen. So, you know, you can say a
lot of other things about Justin Vernelanderthat you may not like, but that
one, I feel like is alittle unfair. Eight six six n eight
seven two five seventy is the phonenumber the trade deadline in Major League Baseball
is tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock.By that time, all the Dodger players

(27:42):
will be in the clubhouse, sowe'll see who arrives and who doesn't,
who's packing up their locker if theyare packing up their locker. But certainly
the Dodgers are still in the mixfor three or four starting pitchers and who
else. Maybe a relief picture aswell, the bolster, the high leverage
part of their bullpen. And withall these new pieces coming into play in

(28:06):
the middle of the year. Wehave heard so much about the great Dodger
chemistry. These guys go out todinner together, they really enjoy playing for
each other. And I asked oneof their leaders, Jason Hayward, about
that and how fragile that is whenyou bring in some new players. I
have been so impressed by the culturein this clubhouse and just how close you

(28:27):
guys are. The Dodgers now arestarting to add pieces, subtract some pieces
to make traits. How fragile iswhat you guys have when you start to
drop in these guys in the middleof the year. I think anytime the
business plays out and anything, it'sit's tough, especially when you talk about
a clubhouse, you talk about sport, A team like this one, to

(28:49):
your point from spring training, we'vebeen jailing and molding this and we all
love what it's become. But Ithink what helps a group like this one
is as we have that good,good group like mix of veterans where we've
all kind of seen this. We'vewe've seen auditions made, we've seen subtractions
made, but I think we allmuch rather being able to add you know

(29:14):
at this point, to you toyour team when when you're trying to win,
we understand that that means subtraction aswell. But you rather that than
to be one of the teams ofshipping people out to go help let someone
else win and and not be theclub that you're trying to add on to
to give your ball club a betteradvantage. So, oh, hats off
to the front office thinking highly enoughof us to know to add on and

(29:37):
and we'll see what happens here,Jason. Is that a real tangible thing
when the front office believes in agroup and they start adding to it to
try to help you be even better. Does that kind of validate and reinforce
what you guys do every day downhere. It definitely does. You know,
you can say whatever you want.The cliche is about you know it's
it's not our job, which isnot you know, our job as players

(29:59):
just to do what we can,control what we can in the clubhouse,
focus on us, and that's ridinghighs hand loads. You know, you
don't get too high, don't gettoo low, be as even as you
can. I think that's you know, experience that we all have to you
know, again with the veteranship thatwe have on this club. But add
to reflection leadership. You know,when your front office can say one thing,
but when they show you they wantto make some moves and solidify some

(30:21):
spaces and add death like to meetthings like that. Mentally, it takes
some pressure off, you know.It's it's always fun to go be in
pressure on the field like we wantto we want to have that, we
want to compete. But off thefield, when you know your front office
things, hey, let's add toa group that has done some special things
at this point, and you know, let's maybe give a bullpen u breather.
Maybe let's give some position players alittle bit more rest or someone else

(30:45):
who can who can fill a roleand you know, not put so much
strength on a spot. I thinkthat is a nice thing to have going
into a playoff run. All right, there's one of the big time leaders
in that Dodger club house, JasonHayward. And you can hear the full
conversation with Jason Hayward on the iHeartRadioapp. Eight six six nine eight seven

(31:07):
two five seventy is the phone number. We'll keep taking your phone calls.
But up next, we have threeDodger beat writers in studio want Ribio from
Dodgers dot com, Jack Harris fromThe La Times, and Rowing Kabner from
Fox Sports dot Com. We'll gettheir thoughts on what the Dodgers may do,
what they've done already, and theirchances to win another n L West

(31:30):
and make a deep run in October. So we got a lot to get
to between now and eight o'clock onthis very special edition of Dodger Talk Trade
Deadline Edition. On m five,seventy LA Sports Monday, we were at
Clayton Kershaw's ping pong for purpose.Kershaw spoke to us for ninety seconds that
day. So far, I feellike this show is going a lot better

(31:52):
We're with you until eight o'clock tonighthere on AM five seventy LA Sports.
You heard from Lancelin, you heardfrom Jason Heyward. We will try to
get to the rest of your phonecalls. And wow, justin Verland are
a very polarizing figure that I wasn'texpecting tonight as far as his connection to
the twenty seventeen cheaters, the HoustonAstros. But right now we're joined by

(32:15):
three of the Dodgers beat writers thatare there every day with me at Dodgers
Stadium. We have one Turribio fromDodgers dot Com, Jack Harris from LA
Times, and Rowin Kavner from FoxSports dot Com. Guys, thanks a
lot for coming in studio. Appreciateit. Yeah for sure, Thanks for
having it. You bet, Yeah, no problem. We got one mic

(32:35):
here. So that's how we're makingthis work, all right. One,
since you've been getting the pulse ofthis team, what do you feel as
far as the Dodgers' biggest need betweennow and three o'clock tomorrow. Yeah,
I mean they definitely need to addpitching. I think there's there's definitely no
secret there and starting pitching. Imean, we saw what they did in
July six eighteen eer a the worstin them months since they came to Los

(33:00):
Angeles. That's not with the standardthat's been raised here. They've kind of
built this that good plus of regularseason success. I'm pitching a defense.
So if they need if they wantto make a run in October or even
win the division, I mean theDiamondbacks, the Giants, and don't sleep
on the Padres. I know that. You know, they're kind of the
disappointment this year, but they're onlyeight back and they have all the tatan

(33:21):
in the world. So if theywant to win the division and make a
deep run in October, they're gonnaneed some starting pitching for sure. Why
is Jack Harris laughing at you?Calling the Padres a buyer and trying to
make a run here. I don'tknow, Jack, why are you laughing?
You were laughing. It's it's theScan Diego Padres. It's the same
last year. They had one reallygood week last October. I'll give him

(33:42):
that. But like we've been sayingfor three years now, like, oh,
the Padres are going to be coming, and they're still whatever they are
eight back right now? What ifthey take three out of four from the
Dodgers. That would be good andthey can, like, the Dodgers are
not going to have their best pitchinglined up for that series. And I
think it'll be a really important kindof post deadline test for the Dodgers,
just to kind of see where they'reat, to try to give themselves some

(34:02):
breathing room against what should be thesecond best team in the division this year,
and yeah, a team that ifit all clicks, they could make
a run. But yeah, Ithink that series is gonna be really interesting.
It's just kind of see where theDodgers are at. I've been saying
Clayton Kershaw is gonna pitch in thatseries. Am I wrong? I mean
it seems like at this point,Yeah, it'll be doing his SIM game
on Thursday. So the game,Yeah, I mean, you know,

(34:23):
this is like the fourth time withthis Kershaw injury that oh it's only gonna
be a couple of weeks at first, and then it was going to be
right after the All Star break,and then it was going to be early
August, and now he needs asecond SIM game. So keeps getting pushed
back moving goalposts, so you don'tbelieve he's starting in one of the four
games in San Diego. I meanif doing the math, like maybe on

(34:44):
Monday, but again, like alot would have to go right for that
to happen. It seems pretty unlikely. Jeez, Jack Way to burst my
bubble on a Thursday night, handthe mic to my guy, Rowan Kavner
from foxsports dot com. Fox sportsdot com also employees Justin Verlander's brother,
Ben, So is Ben Verlander givingyou any inside information on his Hollywood brother?

(35:06):
I probably should tap into that,you know. I think that that
maybe maybe that's the mistake on thatyou need to text him right now.
That'd be the best source, Ithink, right exactly? Do you feel
like Justin Verlander's a fit for theDodgers? People are calling the show tonight
upset that Justin Verlander is even beingdiscussed. Yeah, I mean, look,
I think there's still gonna be vitriolfrom twenty seventeen, whether or not

(35:28):
you know a guy was there allyear or not. I'm sure you're gonna
hear from that now. If Verlandergoes out there and throw seven shutout innings
the first three starts, I thinkpeople would start to forget that a little
bit. But you know, we'resix years removed right now, and you
still hear it when guys who aren'tastros anymore are back on the at Dodger
Stadium. You see George Springer comeback, He's gonna get booed. You

(35:50):
see guys who are hitters on thatteam who are going to get booed.
Maybe pitchers get it a little biteasier, but it might take a little
time. If he pitches the waythat the Dodgers would need him too,
if they're going to trade for him, though, I mean, I think
people would probably come around. Rowan, you were around in twenty seventeen,
do you believe that it's five yearstoo late to acquire Justin Verlander? Because

(36:12):
the Dodgers had some interest, butin that year they did not want to
go as far as the Astros didin August. Well, would certainly be
better then, but the options arejust so slim at this point that I
think you need to you do youneed to upgrade the rotation. It's just
not like anything we've seen in anyof these recent playoff runs, and in
this string of excellence that the Dodgerspitching staff has had so far, they

(36:34):
need probably another ace. I don'tknow who you can feel really confident right
now that you can rely on asyour guy. Well, that's a great
question right now, and I'll askall three of you this saying. We'll
start with Jan Tribio from Dodgers dotCom. If you had a must win
game for the Dodgers tomorrow, whowould you choose to pitch that game?
Yeah? Well, if everyone's healthy, would definitely cleaning Kershaw. If he

(36:59):
was out for a reason, he'snot in the equation then, But knowing
what you know about his injury tothe left shoulder and all that, who
would you have start? Would itbe Lynn? Would it be Michael Grove?
Would it be Clayton Kershaw? Wouldit be Bobby Miller? Would it
be Julio Rius. I think that'sthe biggest question for this team right now.
Yeah, and I think that's thebiggest problem. So if they get

(37:21):
into a three game set, youknow, say they don't they don't win
the division, and they go intoone of those three game series, you
know, you might have Kershaw forgame one, and then it's a lot
of unknowns. You know, asgood as Julio Rius has been in the
past, he hasn't been that guythis year. Tony Gonslin. Uh.
You know, last year the numberswere really good, but I don't think
anybody ever saw that type of seasonout of him. And I think we're
starting to see a little bit moreof the Tony gonsen in this season.

(37:45):
So you know, after after ClaytonKershaw, it's just kind of he's just
throw darts on there and hope someone of them kind of sticks. So
I think that's the biggest problem withthe Dodgers right now. It's you know,
they have a lot of quality guys, they just don't have a lot
of guys that you can trust ina playoff game. And you know,
this team is built depending on whathappens in the playoffs. I mean,
they can win all the regular seasongames. I mean we saw it last

(38:06):
year. They won all the regularseason games in the world last year,
and then they lost after four gamesin October and the season was a disappointment.
It was a failure. So Ithink it's just they need to add
someone that they can go into theplayoffs. Whether it's Justin Veryland or Mitch
Keller, but they need to getone of those guys for sure. Jack
Harris, you're texting somebody's there atrade that we need to report right now.
Just a quick look at Twitter.That's okay, okay, well Jack,

(38:29):
all right, who would you haveto start a big game if it
was tomorrow for the Dodgers? Whocould you trust? Is Clayton Kershaw healthy
tomorrow? Yeah, he's healthy enoughto throw a sim game apparently. I
mean, I think I in aperfect world where they're staffs at right now,
you probably want Clayton Kershaw Game onebeing your Game one starter. Just
seeing the way that Julirius has pitchedthis year, how up and down he's

(38:51):
been, how uncharacteristic it's been,seeing the regression that Tony Gonslin is made
of the current and by the way, having Clayton Kershaw start Game one is
not something we've seen the last twoyears, not this team, and it's
not something that they, you know, had been planning for either. I
don't think at any point the lastthree or four years they said, you
know what, and in October twentytwenty three, we still want Clayton Kershaw

(39:12):
being our best pitcher. But they'vemissed on some other guys. You have
the Trevor Bauer situation. That's happened, you've had injury. You're not allowed
to break his name up on DodgerTalk. Sorry, I didn't forgot about
the house rules here, but it'sit's indicative of kind of how the pitching
staff has come together and why therotation right now is such a big need
for this team, because even allthese years later, Clayton Kershaw is still

(39:32):
the most reliable guy in their pitchingstaff this year, which, yeah,
given the durability questions he has giventhe shoulder injury that's popped up in the
mysterious nature around it and their lackof insight or kind of transparency with it,
I'd be worried about counting on ClaytonKershaw's my number one option the rest
of the year, which is whyyou probably should get a Justin Verland or
a Roder Rodriguez or trying to makea run at Mitch Keller. You're trying

(39:54):
to push EDWARDO. Rodriguez down ourthroat. That's not going to happen.
I don't see it. Why doyou believe what sources have told you and
why the Dodgers would be interested inEduardo Rodriguez? I mean of the outside
of Justin Verlander the rest of thepictures. He's having the best season of
the rest of that group of theguys that could be moved tomorrow, just

(40:14):
on a surface level number basis,and he's he's not free agent anytime soon.
No, probably think yeah, AndI think that's the part of trying
to get him that where he getscomplicated is, you know, he could
opt into his deal and have threeyears and forty nine million left. But
if he doesn't, he's effectively arental picture, which we've seen the Dodgers,
you know, not go and getalong by you in and out.

(40:35):
If Eduardo Rodriguez is on the Dodgersafter three o'clock tomorrow, Yeah, alright,
deal, I think obviously animal stylefry. Sure, yeah, I'll
pick one up for you. I'llpick up one for you and lance Lynn
all right, all right, itsounds good. What about Joe Kelly,
I thought he Joe Kelly loves ittoo. I'll get it one for him
too. Yeah, alright. RowanKabner loves in and out as well.
Maybe I'll get him some in andout as well. All right, are

(40:58):
you under the same concepts? Thisis all of us that Clayton Kershaw would
be your Game one starter if thepostseason started, or how about the final
day of the regular season rowing inSan Francisco. Whoever wins that wins the
division, whoever loses host a wildcardseries, Who's starting that final game of
the regular season. I think theanswer is still Kershaw isn't. And I

(41:21):
know it's boring. May maybe thisis bad radio that we all just no.
I want to know why, Whywouldn't it be everybody's hero Julio Areas.
I think I think people thought itwould be, and I think people
were ready for it to be.And obviously it was a contract year and
a season that I think people expectedhim to kind of step up and be
the guy. And he's had momentsof it. But if you just haven't

(41:42):
seen it consistently yet, and whenKershaw has been on the field, you
have seen it consistently more so thanyou have anybody else right now. So
I just don't really know how anyonecan always anyone else can be the answer
right now? Could Julio have thatkind of run in the second half and
then you feel confident, you know, the second half is halfway, Oh,
we're getting We're getting to that pointand so I just don't know how
you can really pick anyone else atthis point. I do want to say

(42:05):
something, as you're like a callerright now, whenever somebody says, I
want to say one more thing,I'm doing my groceries and you can.
Uh. We talked about a lotof these teams that are selling at the
deadline, Detroit, Saint Louis,Chicago, the White Sox. All of
these teams have a better starters RAthan the Dodgers. Right, it's not
a good situation. They need helpmore so than a guy that you're just

(42:29):
betting on as a reclamation project,because that doesn't always work. All right,
Juan to Ribio, you've mentioned thisa few times. We all know
that the Dodgers staff RA is thetenth highest in baseball. Their starters RA
was six eighteen in the month ofJuly. We just haven't seen this before,
literally in Los Angeles Dodger baseball history. Why has it gone so sideways?

(42:53):
I feel like they have the talent, but is it something deeper that
we all don't realize? No,I mean I think, I mean there
are some injuries, right like DustinMay, I mean he kind of saw
what he what he did in thefirst month and change of the regular season,
and he was he's gonna be abig part of this of this team,
So that injury kind of hurt ofthem a little bit. And you

(43:14):
never saw this coming from Julio.I mean, we kind of saw what
he did the last two years,so that played a role in it as
well. But regardless of that,now they just need help, like that's
just a reality. All right.Before I let you guys go here,
Mike drop time. As we're gettingcloser to the top of the hour trade
deadline tomorrow at three o'clock Pacific time, each one of you tell me the

(43:36):
one pitcher the Dodgers will get nextby three o'clock tomorrow, your best guest,
who do they have in a Dodgeruniform? If anybody at three o'clock
tomorrow, Justin Verlander or nobody?All right, what do you got one?
I'll go I'll go out. I'llfind a limb here. I'll say,
minch color. Oh I love thatpick. Let's do that. What
do you got rowing? I willalso say Justin Briliander, Okay, did

(43:59):
benj text you that I've been reallyquiet over here? But no, I
don't have any inside source. Ijust I think if it's anybody, that
would be the most likely. Doyou guys believe that if it's not a
starting pitcher, it's nobody, ordo you believe they get a reliever?
I saw a Railey name from theMets, Brooks Railey or something like that.
I'm not sure what his name is, a lefty from the Mets.

(44:21):
Do you believe it's starter or nobodyat this point? I mean maybe a
low cost kind of depth reliever.But I think Joe Kelly filled a pretty
big need there in their eyes.Yeah, I think it's either a starter
or they're just gonna stand pat.I will keep an eye on Tommy fam
Oo guy fam. So he's toldDodger players he wants to be here.
Yeah, no's he'll be a greataddition, especially if JD has to go

(44:45):
on the I, which seems tobe expected. Has Tommy fam told you
he wants to be a Dodger?Yeah, that's just said Tommy and I
stay in constant indication. It's alwaysgreat to have a former raised beat writer
here starter at bust rowing. Iwouldn't you said Justin for Lander? I
did save her? Okay, thatwould be my most likely guests. I
wouldn't be shocked if they found anothermaybe bull ten piece, but if I

(45:07):
had to guess one pitch, itwould be him, all right. Thank
you guys, Jack Harris, wantt Ribio and Rowing Kavner. Jack's with
the La Times. You can readhim there. Don't expect the box score
the final score, but you couldread his great articles and features. Want
Ribio Dodgers dot com and Rowing Kavnerfrom Fox sports dot Com. Thanks to

(45:27):
everybody that called in tonight. Thanksto Ronnie Fossio in our studios for all
your help. Ronnie appreciate it.In case you missed any of the show,
you can find it on the iHeartRadioopp Tomorrow night, the Dodgers will
open up a three game series againstthe Oakland A's Lance Lynn makes his Dodger
debut Morongo Casino. Dodgers on Deckbegins at six o'clock with Tim Kate's first

(45:50):
pitch with Rick Munday and Charlie Steineris at seven ten. Coming up next
Fox Sports Radio, Jason Smith.Have a great rest your night. See you