November 12, 2025 • 50 mins
We have an update in the legal battle between UCLA and the Rose Bowl. Bradley Beal will miss the remainder of the season for the Clippers with a hip fracture. Who should the Dodgers target in free agency if they pursue a top outfielder - Cody Bellinger or Kyle Tucker? The NBA all star format has changed (again) - but does it really matter?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Right here we go three hour show Fred Rugan, Rodney
Pete on a five seventy LA Sports Rodney. A ton
of stuff going on and off the top. I do
want to mention the Times is reporting an LA Superior
Court judge denied a request from the Rose Bowl and
the City of Pasadena seeking a temporary restraining order in
their attempt to keep UCLA football games at the Rose Bowl,
(00:24):
saying those entities had not demonstrated an emergency that would
necessitate such an action. But the judge did say that
the school should seek information regarding discussions with Sofi Stadium
and file emotion for a preliminary injunction. So there you go.
If the game is underway, it looks like one goes
(00:46):
to Sofi in Ucla.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
But this is very very early, oh is it? It is?
This is going to be It's going to be a
long fight. It just feels like the Rose Bowl is
not going to go away quietly into that night. Fread
they and you got to imagine that the Rose Bowl,
(01:14):
the upkeep everything that goes along with it and what
they've committed to UCLA and some of the renovations they
planned on getting that revenue through twenty forty three, which
is when the contract runs out. So to have UCLA
break that what fifteen twenty years almost before it matures,
(01:39):
it really cuts them. And so I don't see the
Rose Bowl just laying down on this, because if they're
thinking about the Rose Bowl is going to survive on
one game a year and a few soccer matches that
they can book there, that that is not happening. There's
too many other venues in California right here in LA
(02:01):
that would warrant some of these venues. Some of these
even concerts don't go there anymore. I mean it's very
few concerts. It used to be a like was it
a big star, big time performer would perform at the
Rose Bowl. They don't have to do that anymore. It's
so fi now it's so Fi. It's it's even BMO.
It's it's a lot of different venues. And if it's
(02:22):
smaller than that, they're going to they're going to the Crypt,
or they're going to into it, don't you know, the
Forum or the Forum. The Forum has been set up
for concerts, so if you're if you're a medium or
smaller sized concert, you go into the Forum. If you're
the bigger concert and you want the big stadium. People
are going to Sofi, you know. So it's Taylor Swift
(02:44):
and Beyonce. They're at Sofi now, not going to the
Rose Bowl.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What's said about this Rodney is that the Rose bowls majestic.
It is beautiful, It is an historic landmark. It is
truly a blessed and sacred ground. I mean, it's just gorgeous.
If you are out there at an event, and of
course the sun is not beating down on you at
one o'clock in the afternoon, but late afternoon into the evening.
(03:12):
What a gorgeous sight. And because of everything that has
happened in the area and with growth and development over
the years, suddenly you look at the Rose Bowl and
in some regards it's kind of an afterthought. Yeah, and
that's sad. I have to tell you. It is sad.
(03:33):
If the Rose Bowl has to fight to keep UCLA football,
that's sad. This once grand, immaculate facility that was constructed
in a way where there wasn't a bad seat in
the house, the granddaddy of all.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
On New Year's Day, the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
People from around the world knew the Rose Bowl and
the Rose Bowl because of just how things have played
out and how life has taken its path. Is now
fighting to hold on to eight UCLA football games. Look
at it like that. You pointed out the big stars
are going to play so far, Okay, and I guess
(04:20):
that makes sense. So in some regards, as beautiful as
it is, it's I think in some people's minds been
rendered obsolete and through no fault of its own. The
reality is things changed, people changed, There are new developments.
(04:42):
Look at what USC did at the Colisseum when USC
took over the Coliseum. I gotta be honest, and I'm
a big fan of stadiums overall. I love tradition, all
of that to be true. But but before UCLA took
that place over, I mean USC took it over, it
was a dump just being turned into one.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, it turned into one.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
It was awful, awful to a point where you thought,
who would even want to play in this place? I mean, yes,
it was the Colisseum that needed a lot of work
and renovation. That's what it was. It was the building,
but everything around it and inside of it was crumbling. Okay,
(05:24):
USC got in there, they said, we'll handle this, don't
you worry. We got a couple of bucks. We're gonna
we're gonna take care of this. Now look at it, now,
look at it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
It is. It is what they've done with the suites
and the club level and on the one side and
eliminated what twenty five thousand seats from that you know,
ninety five hundred thousand seat stadium and eliminated you know,
all those you know, those seats, those twenty five thousand
to create a very you know, exclusive but yet luxurious
(05:58):
suite levels and multiple suite levels and then club levels
that they have on the side. They did a fantastic
job of renovating that place because if you've come into
that one area, you're feeling like you're at almost a
brand new stadium. But yet they've kept the facade and
the mystique and all of the history of the coliseum
(06:19):
that you know, obviously us he's not going anywhere. And
again it's walking distance from campus, which makes it even
better for USC and for the fans and everybody involved.
But yeah, you look at the Rose Bowl, and even
with the game, the Rose Bowl itself, it used to
like you said, you said it granddaddy of them all,
(06:40):
you know, when it was the peck starting with the
PAC eight versus the Big ten, and the PAC ten
versus the Big ten, and now the PAC twelve versus
the Big ten. It was that was still the Bowl game.
Now because of the breakup and the playoffs is them
and all those things. You could get two teams that
(07:03):
don't even represent the Pack or the Big Ten playing
in a Rose Bowl game. That it used to matter.
It used to be what people look forward to. Now
you could have you know, Miami playing Texas Tech in
a Rose Bowl. And that's just when you talk about tradition,
(07:27):
which is that place that's kind of not what you
thought you thought of a Michigan, Ohio state, you know,
versus a USC, UCLA or Oregon or one of the
schools out here. And that's no longer the case. And
so that whole aura of the Rose Bowl and the
granddaddy of them all is kind of gone away a
(07:47):
little bit. Yeah, and the mystique of the Rose Bowl
in general. So it's round one. This really had come
down to money. I mean, that's the bottom line here.
If you see all I don't want to play games
with the Rose Bull is not going to play it's
games at the Rose Bull, you can just count on that.
And I got to force anybody to do that. So
one of two things will happen. So pay the fine,
(08:09):
pay the pay whatever the rent may be. And they
were moving anyway. Yeah, I think they if they're forced
to pay the rent. No, I think one of two
things is going to happen. I think the first thing is, Uh,
UCLA and the.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Rose Buwl will work out a number if possible. Rose
Bull be stingy, Rose Bull, try to hold them to everything.
Rose Bull attach a penalty to it. Rose Bowl will
try all that, and UCLA will say no. So that's
the first thing. No, We're not doing that, not gonna happen.
And then what they'll say is, Okay, let's try to
negotiate something here that makes sense for both of us,
(08:43):
because for U. C. L A, uh, they won out,
and for the Rose Bowl some money is better than
no money. So they try to come up with an answer.
Other part of it is this Rose Bull says, oh,
UCLA is really serious now, and uh they won out,
so let's sit down with them and renegotiate this thing.
Let's give a little more of the concessions, the parking,
(09:05):
all the things that they're not getting as much of
here that they would get it so far. So let's
just sit down and buy guns, be by guns, and
get this thing just whipped out, and then we're back
in business. Those are the two things that could happen,
because it's not going to continue the way it is.
It doesn't matter when you hit this point. UCLA is
not going to turn around and go are bad. You're
(09:26):
forcing us to stay. Okay, we'll stay. That will not happen.
So it's one of two things. Either they're gonna work
something out, Rose Bowl will get some money you claill go,
or Rose Bowl turn around and come back and say, yeah,
you're right, this deal is not right for you. We
got to help you out, we got to take care
of you. We'll cut you in on this. We'll give
(09:47):
you a little more of that, maybe it. We'll reduce
this a little bit and stay.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's that's how it will play out, one of those
two things. And apparently it's going to play out sooner
other than later, so there'll be a lot of conversations
going on. It just comes down to who's gonna flinch first.
Because if that's how these things always play out who's
gonna flinch first? Are they gonna push? Is you said
(10:17):
they gonna push and push and push and push the
Rose Bowl or are they gonna figure it out? I
mean that's what I think happens.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
What do you think? Yeah, I don't think you know,
at the end of the day, I don't know if
the Rose Bowl has the leverage that that you would
need to to really make it beneficial for them. I
mean they can they can fight and like you said,
try to get some squeeze some money out of UCLA.
But if you say Ala wants to go, they're gonna go.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
One other thing is we start so two things wanted
to get to right off the top. We're all gonna
talk Dodgers in this hour, but a couple of things developed.
Kevin sent Shamza has tweeted out Bradley Beal welcome to
the Clippers. He's got a fracture in his hip. He'll
undergo season ending surgery. That was a very quick, very
quick tenure with the Clippers. Bradley Beal talk about it,
(11:09):
and the guy's had injury problems in the past. We
know that, you know when Phoenix made the deal with Washington,
when they got Bradley Beal. I thought they are dead.
That is a terrible deal. They gave up a lot,
way too much. They got a guy that was hurt,
so it took him a while to come back, didn't
(11:31):
play a lot. Then when he played, he wasn't great
because he'd been hurt. So now he gets a fresh start,
he gets bought out. He comes here and he's hurt,
and he never was the guy that he was in
Washington once he left there, he just wasn't that guy anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Rodney.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Now the Clippers didn't break the bank to sign him.
That's good news. And you hope he's going to be
okay for him, and he will be, that's good news.
But on a team that has been decimated by injuries
from the opening tip this year, now they lose a
guy like that and regular Rodney, the guy they were
counting on.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it's it's a bad deal. And you said it, yeah,
you were very adamant about it when he went to
Phoenix and Phoenix gave up everything and said, when you
have big three, the big three, it doesn't quite work anymore,
right because you can't you can't pay anybody else, and
you can't have a supporting cast. If you have the
Big three and you're paying three guys everything, all of
(12:35):
a sudden, who's coming off the bench, who's your sixth man?
You know, who's four and five? And if you can't
provide that with quality players, then you're screwed because the
Big three can't get it done anymore. And then he
comes to the Clippers, you know, which I think they
hoped that he would go back to his Washington days
(12:58):
where he was filling up, giving you twenty eight to
thirty at night, and you know, one of those scores
is that is unstoppable. But is that with the exactly
what they needed? And now we look up and he's,
you know, out for the season. So Clippers, who have
been struggling this year continue to struggle on and off
(13:19):
the court. Now, see, here's the problem with the NBA
and you. Bradley Beal's a perfect example. Instead of building
teams for what you need, you go out and get
guys to play, and then you try to match guys
up around him. In other words, Bradley Beal's available. We're
a new owner here in Phoenix. This will be a
big splash. Let's go get him instead of Okay, if.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
We get him, what does that mean? What do we
do now? They don't do the what do we do now? Part? First?
They do it after they get the guy. Are you
telling me someone's available? Get them, get them? Just get him. Okay,
we got him. We gave up a lot, but we
got him, and here he is.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Now what.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Now what do we do?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Well?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, but we gave up a lot of guys and
he makes a lot of money, and you know, we
really can't surround him with the kind of support he
needs because he makes so much. But we got him. Okay,
now what.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
This is?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
What that is? What?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
You don't have enough guys to support them? That's your problem.
That was the problem with Lebron and ad God blessed both.
They made a lot of money. They earned it, they
deserve it. Okay, now what are we gonna do? Well,
we found Austin Reeves. Okay, he can play good. There's
another way I was thinking about. That was a lucky fine.
Yeah that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, nobody ever like were like jumping up and down
to go get Austin Reeves. Him coming out of college
he turned into and what is now a I think
a big time star in this league. But nobody knew
that coming out of college for him.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Exactly, you got to get lucky, right when you do that,
You've got to get lucky because you don't have enough
guys that Ruey Hotchimore. He can play. Is he a superstar? No?
But at times he's very very good. Okay, that's good.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
All right.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
We found him, we traded for him. We got him good,
and he fits everybody fits good. You have to be
really lucky.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
In the NBA, the mindset is go get that guy,
get the star, sign him. Kawhi, Leonard, Paul George, Clippers.
There it is per example, if they needed to do something.
Kawhi was a free agent, Kawhi said, I'll come and play,
but you don't have enough. You do not have enough.
Here's a list of guys. I want. Get me one
(15:41):
of these guys and I'll sign with you. What they
do traded everybody they could, and they got Paul George.
I would have done the same thing. Don't get me wrong.
That's two players.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Okay, he said, you had done it?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
M M.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Would you if they did that Kawhi and SGA together
versus Kawhi and Paul George together looking at it now
then or now now now? I mean Sga is not
the wasn't the player he is now obviously, But they
saw the potential in him, which is why okay, see
(16:18):
went and said demanded, okay, if we're going to make
this trade, we got to have him.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But wait a minute. Jerry West saw the potential in him.
Jerry West went and got him in the first round,
and nobody was talking about him, but Jerry West went
and got him.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Right right, So he saw it. And if you are
looking at the Clippers and you go, now, give me
Sga and and Kawhi Leonard together and you fit the
pieces around it. Because Sga at that point BT cheaper
than Paul George, which you could have surrounded Sga and
(16:56):
Kawhi Leonard with more talent around it. Do you lose
much if you If it's SDA and and Kawhi versus
Paul George and Kawhi, I think it's a better combination
SDA and Kawhi as opposed to Paul George and Kawhi.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
But here's the problem. You're right, but here's the problem.
Kawhi said, no, yeah, no, I want one of these guys.
Go get them so Oklahoma City said, well, we're more
than happy to oblige, and here's what we'd like in return.
So the Clippers made that move. What does it show you?
(17:30):
I would have done the same thing at that time.
I cannot I cannot blame Lawrence Frank nor Steve Baumer.
I would have done the exact same thing. But what
does that show you? That didn't work, not because they
didn't want it to work, but because they got hurt.
It didn't. For whatever reason, it didn't work. And there
you go. They didn't play. They didn't play together because
(17:52):
they bottom lined, right, But whatever the reason is, Rodney,
it didn't work. They got hurt. So it didn't work.
I would have done it. You would have done it.
Anybody would have done it. It didn't work. So in
the NBA, when the Phoenix Suns go out and get
Bradley Beal, now he got a Big three disaster, disaster,
(18:16):
Bale constantly hurt. By the way, all right, a little
better last year. Then he becomes he's bought out, he's available,
Clippers sign him. Lakers were looking at him. Don't forget
that Lakers were looking at him. But he signed with
the Clippers. And now he's hurt and now he's done. Yeah,
that's the issue with the NBA. It truly is the
(18:37):
definition of the name game. More so than any other sport.
It is the name game. The NBA is built on personalities.
So if a personality becomes availed, we gotta get that guy,
Zach Levine, Let's get him. We got to have him.
Everybody knows him. That's your problem with the end. Yeah,
(19:01):
and Bradley Beal's hurt again. I think we've covered the
major breaking topics today, which.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
If you're the he's a guy that can't get hurt
for you, much like Kawhi, you're not a team. You
can't go anywhere if Kawhi is not playing for you. Correct,
And Bradley Beal became one of those very important pieces
for them that if he's not healthy, you you go
(19:29):
from here to a lower echelon of a team because
they're in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, they're older, and that'll be fascinating when this is
all said and done this year. We'll wrap this up
in a second, but that'll be fascinating when it's all
done this year. You look at the Clipper roster and
you think, all right, they've got guys that can play.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
They do, but they're older. Did they get too old?
That's the question.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Did they You cannot argue with the talent, but did
they collectively get too old? Because if they collectively got
too old, then you have a major rebuild, because they're
all too old. If collectively they're too old, then you
have to rebuild the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
This is this is that we you you had a
person that said this too, and I had one growing
up as well. This is where the rubber meets the
road for the Clippers. This is this is the year
that they they got to figure out. Okay, we got
to go a complete overhaul because this, this whole situation
(20:41):
did not work the way we wanted it to. Why
a great player, But accessibility and being available is just
as important as talent, and if you're not available for
your team, it does a team very little good. Fred.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, if in fact, if in fact, this season is
a failure. Yeah, aside from the fact that by doing
what they did, they signaled to the league that they
are legit and people would want to play here. Aside
from that fact, the entire Kawhi Leonard experiment was a failure.
(21:23):
If this season goes south on them, he'll be a
year older. They'll have to start rebuilding. So the good
news is Kawhi signing with a Clippers signaled everybody in
the NBA we're a destination two. We're not a laughing stock.
You owe us a look if you're available, because we're
gonna take care of you. We have beautiful facilities, a
(21:45):
great owner, a commitment to winning. So if in fact
that happened, that's successful for the Clippers. It's a brand,
it's an image, it means something. But on the floor,
if this season really goes sideways, the whole thing was
a failure.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Think about that. The entire thing was a failure, except
people now acknowledge them and understand they're legit. Wow, what
a ride that would have been. And in the fact
this is a failure. Go back to Lobb City that group,
because that was exciting basketball and those guys could play.
(22:31):
But they imploded. They imploded. So that group was close
but imploded.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
They were very close right when break here there they
could have gone you know, deep and gotten there. But
it always was one little factor here and there with
Lob City when they had was it Chris Paul and
Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and that crew. They were
(23:01):
in the mix. Man, they were people I think year
in and year out for those three to five years
whatever it was, they picked the Clippers to go deep
in the playoffs, and for whatever reason, they ran into
a buzzsaw. Remember the rent. They ran into the Houston
buzz saw when Houston got hot at that one point
and they couldn't get past them, and then they couldn't
get past somebody else, and it was just it just
(23:24):
didn't work. And sometimes, like you said, you got to
be lucky, and they have been unlucky. And again here
we are with the Clippers being unlucky.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Dodger Finn, show my hands. Anybody want Cody Bellinger back,
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Make AM five seventy LA Sports a preset before you
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Speaker 2 (24:02):
Oh, we are coming back at you on a hump
day Wednesday. That's right, a Wednesday, Rodney Pete, fred Rogan
good stuff, Freddy good stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, we're off and running. It's been a busy day. Okay,
Dodger fans, here we go. Next up for the Dodgers
in winter meetings. Who knows what will happen there, Will
some free agents be signed, will they pull the trigger
on some deals. But we've been talking about what they're
gonna do in the outfield, and the sense was it's
Kyle Tucker. Now we said here and said, Kyle Tucker's
(24:39):
going to require a long deal for a lot of money.
The number we were hearing is four hundred million, and
let's call it eleven years, ten years right around that.
The Dodgers can't they should not do that. They can
do what ever they want. I mean, we all know
that they can spend any money they want, and I
wouldn't do that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It's too many years. It's just too many years.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So then this name resurfaces, and fans have been clamoring
for this, by the way, clamoring for this, and initially
you looked at it and thought, not really in the
Dodger radar, or they're on the radar, but that's a
long shot. Cody Bellinger. Cody Bellinger is thirty years old.
(25:18):
Here's a number. One hundred and eighty million, six years,
six years, one hundred and eighty million.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Thirty per is what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, you know, we'll drop in the bucket. We'll drop
in the bucket thirty per or let's say thirty a
little over thirty per for Kyle Tucker for more years,
Cody six years, he replaces Michael CONFORDO game over. He's
(25:53):
thirty years old. It's the end of the deal. He'll
be thirty six. At thirty six, he'll be a little
long in the tooth, because that's where the Dodgers are now.
A lot of guys moving into that that age range.
Doesn't mean they can't play, doesn't mean they won't play.
It doesn't mean they won't have a great year. But
low of averages tells you as you get older, things
diminish a bit. So if that's the case, and then
(26:17):
the other side of is this, Rodney, would you rather
just go with what you have? Would you rather just
kind of go with a tandem? How about? And we
talked about it yesterday. Ryan Ward, he's twenty seven years old.
He's a prospect. Brandon Gohmes himself said he's got nothing
left to prove. In triple lay. They kept him on
(26:38):
the forty man roster. Would he have a shot to
compete for an outfield spot. Would you rather go like
that and maybe have him and Alex call and not
go out and sign Cody or not Alex?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
What platoon?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah? I mean, would that be something you would look at?
Because I gotta tell you it's not my money, so
spend it however you want, not mine. Six years, one
hundred and eighty is a lot different than four hundred
million dollars. A lot different, a lot different. And what
(27:19):
how much difference are you getting production wise?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I don't know. I don't know. If Cody's numbers off
the top of my head, I'll look it up at
some point. But are you are you getting that much more?
Because we're talking what are we talking? We're talking one
hundred and eighty million, and we're talking two hundred and
so two hundred and twenty million dollars more production out
(27:43):
of Kyle Tucker than Cody Bellinger. YEP.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Cody, by the way, one hundred and fifty two games
last year, twenty nine home runs, two seventy two, batting average,
ninety eight RBI. Wow, I will say you get a
significant upgrade over ward you had last.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Year twenty nine home runs, basically one hundred RBIs out
of Cody, coming back to a familiar place who at
one time was a fan favorite here. I don't know,
but Kevin, when you look at those numbers, last year's
numbers for him, does that become his new norm?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Or was that a big year?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Probably a big year. Now if you go to his
last season.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Last year with the Cubs was pretty good, wasn't it. It
was good.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Yeah, it wasn't as good as this past season, but
still what eighteen home runs, seventy eight RBI two sixty six,
so the average not far off. The power numbers were
up a little bit, and the RBI he had twenty
more this season the last season.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, and he's hitting in CHICAGOSUS versus New York, which
is different when it comes to the wind and hitting
in Wrigley Field for leftenant hitters. Yeah, that's a that's
an interesting And here's the other thing you get with
Cody Bellinger. You get versatility. You get a guy that could,
(29:02):
you know, could play center field for you if you
need him to. He could actually play first base if
you needed him to. That's not a bad that's not
a bad idea. That's not a bad idea if you're
thinking about I mean, obviously that's where the focus is
(29:23):
is I'm bringing in an outfielder that's not that's not
a bad that's not a bad choice Ford bringing him back.
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
I'm just checking Kyle Tucker's numbers here. So last year
he had an off year. So you say that's an aberration, Mom,
It wasn't he.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Got hurt, but he was. He was blasting it his
first half of the season before he got hurt. Welln't
he was? He was off the charts, Yeah he was.
Uh he two sixty five.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Uh, he's still twenty five bases, He twenty two home runs,
and let's see runs better in seventy three. Okay, the
year before he's in Houston, right, and he only played
seventy eight games. So let's go to the year before that.
Houston played one hundred and fifty seven games. He had
(30:14):
two ninety seven, he had twenty nine home runs, and
he drove in one hundred and twelve runs. So career wise,
what's he hitting If we just look at his career
average and start with that career wise average, he's hitting
(30:34):
to seventy three to seventy three. And I don't know
what Cody's career average is, but if we start looking
at it like this is that ballpark, it probably is.
It probably is. Cody can run, right, we know that
he's fast. Yeah, Tucker can steal bases, but so can Cody. Okay,
(30:57):
well that's something to keep in mind. I mean, Tucker
stole thirty bases one year twenty five, one year twenty
five last year. I wonder if you look at it,
if their stats are kind of the same, yeah, long term,
and if their stature of the same, then why would
you spend more money on Kyle Tucker if their status
(31:19):
are the same or ballpark same?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
It's like you say, Rodney, how much more performance are
you gonna get for another.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Two hundred and twenty million? Yeah? How much more are
you going to get for that? And it doesn't look
like you're gonna get that much more production. And again,
the intangible is, and we all know how guys go
when they change clubs, but the intangible is, Cody has
(31:49):
been here before and liked by the fans, and a
return of Cody Bellinger I think would excite the Dodger
fans I really do to see him run out to
right field and him at the bat and the people.
You know, people have memories of guys that performed well
(32:11):
for the club, you know, and you know, obviously in
this last year he struggled and he got hurt a
little bit. But they remember the rookie year, the MVP year,
they remember the big home runs he hit. And I
think it would be a welcoming sight to see Cody
Bellinger come back and put on a Dodger uniform. So
(32:32):
what if the Dodgers say, you know, we'll do We'll
give you five years, let's go five, five, one fifty,
let's go five to one to fifty.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
And they come back. No, No, it's going to be
you know, six, six years. Do the Dodgers bend and
go six or do they hold firm at five. I'm
telling you my concern, and we're seeing it with Bryce
Harper when Dave Dombrowski, the general manager of the Philly said, up,
he's not really an elite player anymore, and all of
(33:03):
a sudden that led to a huge conversation where everything
was apparently resolved. But long term deals don't always work
well at the end. They just don't. Could six years
be too long for him? Or would you say, okay,
rather than wasting six years on you, we're gonna throw
Ryan Ward out there on right field. Let's see what
(33:24):
he's got to say, and we'll keep Alex's call, will platoon.
Another part of this is is Tommy Edmond had ankle surgery. Yeah, no,
he should be ready for spring training. But how effective
or will they want him to play the outfield at all?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
There's that, Yeah. The question is when do you go young? Right?
When do you start to rebuild this and start sprinkling
in the young players along the way. I think what's
gonna be beneficial for the Dodge is they do have
They do have Andy Pahez, who's a young player going
(34:05):
to be there for a minute. Yes, people you know,
will look at it a little. He struggled at the
plate in the World Series and in the playoffs, but
I think the one catch he made just redeemed himself
this back back on the Dodgers as their starting center fielder.
So that's that's not a question. Plus, he hit twenty
seven bombs last year for the for the team in
(34:26):
regular season. He's going to be there. But I just
go back, and I had a conversation with Magic Johnson
about this, is that when when you're in it and
your guys, your core group is in their prime, you
got to go for it now. You gotta win as
many as you can. You got to win as many
as you can right now, and don't worry or don't
(34:48):
rest on. We got to start rebuilding for the future.
You'll know when it's time to really start rebuilding. And
it may take you know when that time happens, it may,
you know, lost you a playoff berth for one or
two years, but for the Dodgers, it's not gonna be
that long. But you start sprinkling younger guys like Ward.
(35:10):
Ward could come up and platoon and play and get
some playing time, and he'll be a guy that ready
to step in, much like Kim, much like you know Kim.
They got him some experience, he'll be ready to step in.
But I think that right now, when you're on this
role and you've got old Taani and Bets and Freeman still,
I think Freddie still got another two to three years
(35:33):
left in his real good years. Will Smith is in
his prime, and the pitching staff is what it is.
You got to you gotta go for it right now.
You gotta go for it right now. And I don't
think now is the time to say this. Start inserting
some of the farm guys and rookies and and bring
(35:54):
him along. If you can get a guy that's hitting
you twenty nine home runs and driving in one hundred
runs and put h and right field, which is a
need that you actually have, go get him, bring back Cody.
That's my cheer.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
We'll talk more about the Dodgers at one o'clock, some
other needs and how they'll fill them. But when we
come back, well, they're going to fix the NBA All
Star Game. Here's a question. Is that thing fixable?
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Hello Rogan and Rodney listener, Did you know Am five
seventy LA Sports has a wide range of LA Sports podcasts,
shows like Petros in Money. We are streaming Matt Dodger
Talk with David Vasse, the Dodger Podcast of Record, Clipper
Talk with Adam Moss, follow us All, and many more.
Just go to AM five to seventy LA Sports on
(36:45):
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Well, yeah, let's go on a hump day. Today's afternoon
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(37:14):
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so Rodney uh NBA All Star Game. Yeah, and format,
we're gonna do it again again again, We're changing it
up again.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Well now it's on NBC.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Oh, so that makes a difference.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, appear it does well, it does from the perspective
of NBC was not going to carry that old garbage.
So they created a new format once again. So the problem,
here's a new format this go round three teams, eight
man rosters, USA versus the World. First three quarters of
the game will be played in round robin format, fourth
(38:19):
quarter featuring the two best teams after round robin action. Okay,
three teams? Wait, USA Europe or USA versus the World?
USA will feature USA versus the World. Three teams, eight
man three teams. So who has two teams? Well, maybe
(38:40):
the world will be I don't know, Asia and Europe
maybe or separated up or you know, different parts of Europe.
All right, maybe that, or maybe the United States will
be two teams. It's like guys that are from the
East and guys are from the West. I don't know,
however they're going to do it. Okay, three teams, here's
(39:02):
a problem. You can change the format a million times.
You can come up with all kinds of new, crazy ideas.
The game stinks, and there's no getting around it. By far,
it is the worst All Star game. And that's saying something.
If you watch the Hockey All Star Game now, the
USA versus the World, and Hockey's great. Now, this is
(39:28):
not going to be any better than what it's been,
and it's not going to be any better than what
it's been because the guys don't even.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Want to play.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
No, that's that's the true issue here. There's nothing in
it for him. Any argument can be made, well, don't
you have an obligation to the game? I mean, this
is the All Star weekend, but that's they feel like
a lot of guys feel that's their obligation to show up.
But it All Star weekend and most most players show
(39:55):
up and they take part in the festivities, the parties,
the events, spawn events. They'll show up and they'll be there.
It's just the beyond the court stuff, the game itself.
It just has become unwatchable. Fred And and the amount
of money that's thrown around, you can't money. And people say, well,
(40:17):
just just make it a bigger payday. What's a bigger
payday for a guy making forty million dollars a year? Right?
Speaker 2 (40:24):
You know? You know what is that? So he gets
five hundred grand if they win per player to to
risk the rest of the second half of the season,
or you know, to prepare for it and have to
go out for it, and I can't. I can't. I
got a chance to take three days off, four days off,
(40:44):
and it's kind of relaxed a little bit as opposed
to getting ready to play in this All Star game
for five hundred grand. No, that money's great. I remember
the Pro Bowl Pro Bowl, you know, you know, back
in the day, it was twenty grand to the winner
and fifteen grand to the loser. But that was when guys,
you know, average salaries were one hundred and fifty thousand,
(41:08):
you know, And so that twenty grand meant a lot.
And so fourth quarter rolled around, it guy started to
play a little bit because that extra five thousand dollars
meant a lot to a lot of guys. And so
but it's it's so extraordinary now with the amount of
money these guys are making that the incentive of money
(41:29):
does not play a part anymore. And I don't know,
I just don't know if it's fixable. Like you mentioned,
I don't know if it is fixable to the point
where it gets somewhat competitive. Because the season and for
a team number one a season for an individual from
(41:49):
his incentives and for him to make a MVP run
or make all MBA or all of those things, those
incentives are far greater than in All Star win and
to help his team get to the playoffs is far
more incentive than playing in an All Star game, So
why am I going to risk it doing that? And
(42:11):
so I don't know if there's anything that you can do.
And they tried several different things, even tried the charity
aspect of it, which you would thought that, Okay, this
is kind of cool. Now it goes to a cause,
which I thought was I thought it was actually pretty
cool the way they did it, and they did that
different format. I forget what it was. You know, you win,
(42:34):
I forget what it was, but it was an interesting
format that they had for that, and charities won the money.
I thought was very cool. But I just don't know
if now there's any way to make it competitive. Then
do we need to stop thinking about this is going
to be a competitive game and just just be done
(42:55):
with that part of it. Okay, stop thinking that this
can be a competitive situation. It's never gonna be competitive.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Okay, And if that's the case, then nobody's gonna watch
it anyway. Here's what they should do, but they can't.
They can't because they're locked in because of television. They
should have NBA All Star weekend parties, events, awards, whatever
they're gonna do, they should do it, and that would
(43:22):
be great, and you say, you know, people adheres to
their sponsor obligations and they show up and they meet
people and you know fans can see them all that stuff.
That's what they should do, but nobody wants to televise that.
Nobody's gonna say, yeah, you know what, in our rights deal,
we're gonna pay for the right to televise guys at parties.
(43:44):
That'll be great, you know, that'll be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Only so much red carpet. You can televise friends that
we write.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
We can't do three hours a night of it. We
can't for two days. It's not gonna happen. So the
problem is they have to do something because are obligated
with television, and if they don't do it, they don't
make the money. So that's why it's unfixable.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Why don't they stop doing it? You know, like traditional form,
let's take way outside the box instead of doing five
on five game of All Star and going up and
down the court and everybody getting out of the way
and having spectacular dunks and all that kind of stuff.
Started at a three on three or two on two
(44:26):
and do those two on two type of games as
opposed to a full game. So you got you know,
three on three format where you know either three guys
from the same team or three guys you pick three
different all stars and they're paired up against another three
or two on two and they're paired up against the
two on two and it's a it's like a golf
(44:49):
shootout kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Well, the concern with that is, I can still hurt
my knee.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Won't be competitive, right, that's the end of the day.
It's not going to be competitive because guys are not
going to really play hard.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
It's gonna look worse.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Now. I don't know if anything could look worse, quite frankly.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
But just think about this three on three playing like
they play five on five.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Right now, just like that quick quick series of games.
So it's a round robin, it's a little quick tournament.
Best the best, the eight, best to nine or whatever
it is. You get in and get out, and now
it's Steph Curry. It's Steph Curry, Lebron and Giannis versus
Wimby somebody and somebody. Let's go for it. Three on three,
(45:31):
best to nine, play eleven, play to eleven, boom go
make it quick quick games. So you have more of them.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Is anybody gonna watch that?
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Seriously? Just throw it out there, No.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Listen, it's a good idea, anything's a good idea compared
to what they do. But who's gonna watch that? Think?
I mean, it's it's obsolete, it's antiquated. It is the
NBA all start, So they.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Should eliminate because it's never going to go back to
the seventies and eighties where it was competitive, right, and
any sport. First of all, they got rid of the
Pro Bowl, right because that was just a joke before
they got rid of it, you know, the last ten
years when they had it became a joke and it
was too on. It was two hand touch basically, and
(46:29):
so they got rid of that and just made it
its skills competition turned into flag football. So I don't
think in any sport it's going to go back to
the way it is because the money is too great
and the prize at the end is too great to
jeopardize anything like that over an all star game. Yeah,
so what do you do? Just have a weekend of
parties and just call it a break. That's what you
(46:51):
should do.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
But then nobody will televise that, so that means NBC
would get money back whatever the portion of their deal
that contains NBA All Star Weekend. And I'll say this
about NBC Sports, they'll do a pretty good job of
telling stories and features.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
They're really good at that.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
They are the best at that telling stories and capturing
people's emotions through those stories. So they'll do that. Does
does Major League Baseball work? Yes, that's what I was
gonna say. It does.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
Still works, It still works, right, Yeah, why does it
work well?
Speaker 1 (47:33):
First look at it like this four years. It didn't.
It did long ago. Then it went through a period
of time where it was so bad. Remember the team
they tried to put it like this, whoever one got
home field advantage on.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
The home field advantage in the World Series.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
That was horrible, all right, So that's how desperate they
were to figure it out. But this is a different
generation of guys. Fox does a magnificent job, a great job.
People are might guys.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Home run derby. They do a great job with the
home run derby, which is great. The home run derby works. Yeah,
although I still think pitchers should hit in the home
run derby. I think it'd be better I do. I
think pitchers should hit in the home run Derby. Now
that would be fun. People would watch that. If pitcher
ever won a home run Derby, then it would be
(48:22):
the end of baseball.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Well, I'm saying if they were only pitchers, it'd be great.
Mix it up, change it up, do it differently, because
even the home run derbies, you sit there and watch
that is laborious. We went to the one at Dodgers Stadium.
It was like, get me knitting.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Me, need to assurten it because guys are getting exhausted
by round three and it's just terrible. But it's still
somewhat exciting. But the game itself is more exciting than
obviously football didn't have anymore. But it's more exciting football
and basketball.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Because of the way they do it, and because those
guys are available, because of the you got guys talking
back and forth to each other. They're all miked up.
You're inside the game. That's what makes it interesting. And
the guys have a good time doing it because they're
not running around crashing into each other like in the
(49:16):
NBA or the NFL. Yeah, that's what makes Major League
Baseball's all start to gain great. But the end, that's
what they're still competitive. You know the guy.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
It's still somewhat competitive you see with the uh with
the All Star game. But you're right, the miked up
thing is great. I saw something on Instagram. They had
Mickey Rojas. I don't think it was an All Star game,
but they haven't miked up, just like we're talking about.
And the ball was hit, he said, uh, excuse me,
the guy, I gotta go make a play real quick.
And he made the play and threw at the ball
(49:48):
to first place at first base in the middle of
the interview, which was and the and the announcers went crazy.
He started laughing and it was just like it was
the best thing ever because he made the play. And
then you know, you remember Kershaw was on Mike and
I forget who it was. It might have been Nester Cortez,
somebody else was on Mike. He was just he was
(50:09):
doing to play. He was doing the play by play
as he was pitching, which was fantastic. So yeah, baseball's
kind of got it right. I don't know what you
can do with basketball football.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
So we kicked around what the Dodgers should do with
their outfield situation. Now, let's step up take a snap
on what they should do with a bullpen.
Right here we go three hour show Fred Rugan, Rodney
Pete on a five seventy LA Sports Rodney. A ton
of stuff going on and off the top. I do
want to mention the Times is reporting an LA Superior
Court judge denied a request from the Rose Bowl and
the City of Pasadena seeking a temporary restraining order in
their attempt to keep UCLA football games at the Rose Bowl,
(00:24):
saying those entities had not demonstrated an emergency that would
necessitate such an action. But the judge did say that
the school should seek information regarding discussions with Sofi Stadium
and file emotion for a preliminary injunction. So there you go.
If the game is underway, it looks like one goes
(00:46):
to Sofi in Ucla.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
But this is very very early, oh is it? It is?
This is going to be It's going to be a
long fight. It just feels like the Rose Bowl is
not going to go away quietly into that night. Fread
they and you got to imagine that the Rose Bowl,
(01:14):
the upkeep everything that goes along with it and what
they've committed to UCLA and some of the renovations they
planned on getting that revenue through twenty forty three, which
is when the contract runs out. So to have UCLA
break that what fifteen twenty years almost before it matures,
(01:39):
it really cuts them. And so I don't see the
Rose Bowl just laying down on this, because if they're
thinking about the Rose Bowl is going to survive on
one game a year and a few soccer matches that
they can book there, that that is not happening. There's
too many other venues in California right here in LA
(02:01):
that would warrant some of these venues. Some of these
even concerts don't go there anymore. I mean it's very
few concerts. It used to be a like was it
a big star, big time performer would perform at the
Rose Bowl. They don't have to do that anymore. It's
so fi now it's so Fi. It's it's even BMO.
It's it's a lot of different venues. And if it's
(02:22):
smaller than that, they're going to they're going to the Crypt,
or they're going to into it, don't you know, the
Forum or the Forum. The Forum has been set up
for concerts, so if you're if you're a medium or
smaller sized concert, you go into the Forum. If you're
the bigger concert and you want the big stadium. People
are going to Sofi, you know. So it's Taylor Swift
(02:44):
and Beyonce. They're at Sofi now, not going to the
Rose Bowl.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What's said about this Rodney is that the Rose bowls majestic.
It is beautiful, It is an historic landmark. It is
truly a blessed and sacred ground. I mean, it's just gorgeous.
If you are out there at an event, and of
course the sun is not beating down on you at
one o'clock in the afternoon, but late afternoon into the evening.
(03:12):
What a gorgeous sight. And because of everything that has
happened in the area and with growth and development over
the years, suddenly you look at the Rose Bowl and
in some regards it's kind of an afterthought. Yeah, and
that's sad. I have to tell you. It is sad.
(03:33):
If the Rose Bowl has to fight to keep UCLA football,
that's sad. This once grand, immaculate facility that was constructed
in a way where there wasn't a bad seat in
the house, the granddaddy of all.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
On New Year's Day, the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
People from around the world knew the Rose Bowl and
the Rose Bowl because of just how things have played
out and how life has taken its path. Is now
fighting to hold on to eight UCLA football games. Look
at it like that. You pointed out the big stars
are going to play so far, Okay, and I guess
(04:20):
that makes sense. So in some regards, as beautiful as
it is, it's I think in some people's minds been
rendered obsolete and through no fault of its own. The
reality is things changed, people changed, There are new developments.
(04:42):
Look at what USC did at the Colisseum when USC
took over the Coliseum. I gotta be honest, and I'm
a big fan of stadiums overall. I love tradition, all
of that to be true. But but before UCLA took
that place over, I mean USC took it over, it
was a dump just being turned into one.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, it turned into one.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
It was awful, awful to a point where you thought,
who would even want to play in this place? I mean, yes,
it was the Colisseum that needed a lot of work
and renovation. That's what it was. It was the building,
but everything around it and inside of it was crumbling. Okay,
(05:24):
USC got in there, they said, we'll handle this, don't
you worry. We got a couple of bucks. We're gonna
we're gonna take care of this. Now look at it, now,
look at it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
It is. It is what they've done with the suites
and the club level and on the one side and
eliminated what twenty five thousand seats from that you know,
ninety five hundred thousand seat stadium and eliminated you know,
all those you know, those seats, those twenty five thousand
to create a very you know, exclusive but yet luxurious
(05:58):
suite levels and multiple suite levels and then club levels
that they have on the side. They did a fantastic
job of renovating that place because if you've come into
that one area, you're feeling like you're at almost a
brand new stadium. But yet they've kept the facade and
the mystique and all of the history of the coliseum
(06:19):
that you know, obviously us he's not going anywhere. And
again it's walking distance from campus, which makes it even
better for USC and for the fans and everybody involved.
But yeah, you look at the Rose Bowl, and even
with the game, the Rose Bowl itself, it used to
like you said, you said it granddaddy of them all,
(06:40):
you know, when it was the peck starting with the
PAC eight versus the Big ten, and the PAC ten
versus the Big ten, and now the PAC twelve versus
the Big ten. It was that was still the Bowl game.
Now because of the breakup and the playoffs is them
and all those things. You could get two teams that
(07:03):
don't even represent the Pack or the Big Ten playing
in a Rose Bowl game. That it used to matter.
It used to be what people look forward to. Now
you could have you know, Miami playing Texas Tech in
a Rose Bowl. And that's just when you talk about tradition,
(07:27):
which is that place that's kind of not what you
thought you thought of a Michigan, Ohio state, you know,
versus a USC, UCLA or Oregon or one of the
schools out here. And that's no longer the case. And
so that whole aura of the Rose Bowl and the
granddaddy of them all is kind of gone away a
(07:47):
little bit. Yeah, and the mystique of the Rose Bowl
in general. So it's round one. This really had come
down to money. I mean, that's the bottom line here.
If you see all I don't want to play games
with the Rose Bull is not going to play it's
games at the Rose Bull, you can just count on that.
And I got to force anybody to do that. So
one of two things will happen. So pay the fine,
(08:09):
pay the pay whatever the rent may be. And they
were moving anyway. Yeah, I think they if they're forced
to pay the rent. No, I think one of two
things is going to happen. I think the first thing is, Uh,
UCLA and the.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Rose Buwl will work out a number if possible. Rose
Bull be stingy, Rose Bull, try to hold them to everything.
Rose Bull attach a penalty to it. Rose Bowl will
try all that, and UCLA will say no. So that's
the first thing. No, We're not doing that, not gonna happen.
And then what they'll say is, Okay, let's try to
negotiate something here that makes sense for both of us,
(08:43):
because for U. C. L A, uh, they won out,
and for the Rose Bowl some money is better than
no money. So they try to come up with an answer.
Other part of it is this Rose Bull says, oh,
UCLA is really serious now, and uh they won out,
so let's sit down with them and renegotiate this thing.
Let's give a little more of the concessions, the parking,
(09:05):
all the things that they're not getting as much of
here that they would get it so far. So let's
just sit down and buy guns, be by guns, and
get this thing just whipped out, and then we're back
in business. Those are the two things that could happen,
because it's not going to continue the way it is.
It doesn't matter when you hit this point. UCLA is
not going to turn around and go are bad. You're
(09:26):
forcing us to stay. Okay, we'll stay. That will not happen.
So it's one of two things. Either they're gonna work
something out, Rose Bowl will get some money you claill go,
or Rose Bowl turn around and come back and say, yeah,
you're right, this deal is not right for you. We
got to help you out, we got to take care
of you. We'll cut you in on this. We'll give
(09:47):
you a little more of that, maybe it. We'll reduce
this a little bit and stay.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's that's how it will play out, one of those
two things. And apparently it's going to play out sooner
other than later, so there'll be a lot of conversations
going on. It just comes down to who's gonna flinch first.
Because if that's how these things always play out who's
gonna flinch first? Are they gonna push? Is you said
(10:17):
they gonna push and push and push and push the
Rose Bowl or are they gonna figure it out? I
mean that's what I think happens.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
What do you think? Yeah, I don't think you know,
at the end of the day, I don't know if
the Rose Bowl has the leverage that that you would
need to to really make it beneficial for them. I
mean they can they can fight and like you said,
try to get some squeeze some money out of UCLA.
But if you say Ala wants to go, they're gonna go.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
One other thing is we start so two things wanted
to get to right off the top. We're all gonna
talk Dodgers in this hour, but a couple of things developed.
Kevin sent Shamza has tweeted out Bradley Beal welcome to
the Clippers. He's got a fracture in his hip. He'll
undergo season ending surgery. That was a very quick, very
quick tenure with the Clippers. Bradley Beal talk about it,
(11:09):
and the guy's had injury problems in the past. We
know that, you know when Phoenix made the deal with Washington,
when they got Bradley Beal. I thought they are dead.
That is a terrible deal. They gave up a lot,
way too much. They got a guy that was hurt,
so it took him a while to come back, didn't
(11:31):
play a lot. Then when he played, he wasn't great
because he'd been hurt. So now he gets a fresh start,
he gets bought out. He comes here and he's hurt,
and he never was the guy that he was in
Washington once he left there, he just wasn't that guy anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Rodney.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Now the Clippers didn't break the bank to sign him.
That's good news. And you hope he's going to be
okay for him, and he will be, that's good news.
But on a team that has been decimated by injuries
from the opening tip this year, now they lose a
guy like that and regular Rodney, the guy they were
counting on.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it's it's a bad deal. And you said it, yeah,
you were very adamant about it when he went to
Phoenix and Phoenix gave up everything and said, when you
have big three, the big three, it doesn't quite work anymore,
right because you can't you can't pay anybody else, and
you can't have a supporting cast. If you have the
Big three and you're paying three guys everything, all of
(12:35):
a sudden, who's coming off the bench, who's your sixth man?
You know, who's four and five? And if you can't
provide that with quality players, then you're screwed because the
Big three can't get it done anymore. And then he
comes to the Clippers, you know, which I think they
hoped that he would go back to his Washington days
(12:58):
where he was filling up, giving you twenty eight to
thirty at night, and you know, one of those scores
is that is unstoppable. But is that with the exactly
what they needed? And now we look up and he's,
you know, out for the season. So Clippers, who have
been struggling this year continue to struggle on and off
(13:19):
the court. Now, see, here's the problem with the NBA
and you. Bradley Beal's a perfect example. Instead of building
teams for what you need, you go out and get
guys to play, and then you try to match guys
up around him. In other words, Bradley Beal's available. We're
a new owner here in Phoenix. This will be a
big splash. Let's go get him instead of Okay, if.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
We get him, what does that mean? What do we
do now? They don't do the what do we do now? Part? First?
They do it after they get the guy. Are you
telling me someone's available? Get them, get them? Just get him. Okay,
we got him. We gave up a lot, but we
got him, and here he is.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Now what.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Now what do we do?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Well?
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, but we gave up a lot of guys and
he makes a lot of money, and you know, we
really can't surround him with the kind of support he
needs because he makes so much. But we got him. Okay,
now what.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
This is?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
What that is? What?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
You don't have enough guys to support them? That's your problem.
That was the problem with Lebron and ad God blessed both.
They made a lot of money. They earned it, they
deserve it. Okay, now what are we gonna do? Well,
we found Austin Reeves. Okay, he can play good. There's
another way I was thinking about. That was a lucky fine.
Yeah that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, nobody ever like were like jumping up and down
to go get Austin Reeves. Him coming out of college
he turned into and what is now a I think
a big time star in this league. But nobody knew
that coming out of college for him.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Exactly, you got to get lucky, right when you do that,
You've got to get lucky because you don't have enough
guys that Ruey Hotchimore. He can play. Is he a superstar? No?
But at times he's very very good. Okay, that's good.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
All right.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
We found him, we traded for him. We got him good,
and he fits everybody fits good. You have to be
really lucky.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
In the NBA, the mindset is go get that guy,
get the star, sign him. Kawhi, Leonard, Paul George, Clippers.
There it is per example, if they needed to do something.
Kawhi was a free agent, Kawhi said, I'll come and play,
but you don't have enough. You do not have enough.
Here's a list of guys. I want. Get me one
(15:41):
of these guys and I'll sign with you. What they
do traded everybody they could, and they got Paul George.
I would have done the same thing. Don't get me wrong.
That's two players.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Okay, he said, you had done it?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
M M.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Would you if they did that Kawhi and SGA together
versus Kawhi and Paul George together looking at it now
then or now now now? I mean Sga is not
the wasn't the player he is now obviously, But they
saw the potential in him, which is why okay, see
(16:18):
went and said demanded, okay, if we're going to make
this trade, we got to have him.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But wait a minute. Jerry West saw the potential in him.
Jerry West went and got him in the first round,
and nobody was talking about him, but Jerry West went
and got him.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Right right, So he saw it. And if you are
looking at the Clippers and you go, now, give me
Sga and and Kawhi Leonard together and you fit the
pieces around it. Because Sga at that point BT cheaper
than Paul George, which you could have surrounded Sga and
(16:56):
Kawhi Leonard with more talent around it. Do you lose
much if you If it's SDA and and Kawhi versus
Paul George and Kawhi, I think it's a better combination
SDA and Kawhi as opposed to Paul George and Kawhi.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
But here's the problem. You're right, but here's the problem.
Kawhi said, no, yeah, no, I want one of these guys.
Go get them so Oklahoma City said, well, we're more
than happy to oblige, and here's what we'd like in return.
So the Clippers made that move. What does it show you?
(17:30):
I would have done the same thing at that time.
I cannot I cannot blame Lawrence Frank nor Steve Baumer.
I would have done the exact same thing. But what
does that show you? That didn't work, not because they
didn't want it to work, but because they got hurt.
It didn't. For whatever reason, it didn't work. And there
you go. They didn't play. They didn't play together because
(17:52):
they bottom lined, right, But whatever the reason is, Rodney,
it didn't work. They got hurt. So it didn't work.
I would have done it. You would have done it.
Anybody would have done it. It didn't work. So in
the NBA, when the Phoenix Suns go out and get
Bradley Beal, now he got a Big three disaster, disaster,
(18:16):
Bale constantly hurt. By the way, all right, a little
better last year. Then he becomes he's bought out, he's available,
Clippers sign him. Lakers were looking at him. Don't forget
that Lakers were looking at him. But he signed with
the Clippers. And now he's hurt and now he's done. Yeah,
that's the issue with the NBA. It truly is the
(18:37):
definition of the name game. More so than any other sport.
It is the name game. The NBA is built on personalities.
So if a personality becomes availed, we gotta get that guy,
Zach Levine, Let's get him. We got to have him.
Everybody knows him. That's your problem with the end. Yeah,
(19:01):
and Bradley Beal's hurt again. I think we've covered the
major breaking topics today, which.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
If you're the he's a guy that can't get hurt
for you, much like Kawhi, you're not a team. You
can't go anywhere if Kawhi is not playing for you. Correct,
And Bradley Beal became one of those very important pieces
for them that if he's not healthy, you you go
(19:29):
from here to a lower echelon of a team because
they're in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, they're older, and that'll be fascinating when this is
all said and done this year. We'll wrap this up
in a second, but that'll be fascinating when it's all
done this year. You look at the Clipper roster and
you think, all right, they've got guys that can play.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
They do, but they're older. Did they get too old?
That's the question.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Did they You cannot argue with the talent, but did
they collectively get too old? Because if they collectively got
too old, then you have a major rebuild, because they're
all too old. If collectively they're too old, then you
have to rebuild the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
This is this is that we you you had a
person that said this too, and I had one growing
up as well. This is where the rubber meets the
road for the Clippers. This is this is the year
that they they got to figure out. Okay, we got
to go a complete overhaul because this, this whole situation
(20:41):
did not work the way we wanted it to. Why
a great player, But accessibility and being available is just
as important as talent, and if you're not available for
your team, it does a team very little good. Fred.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, if in fact, if in fact, this season is
a failure. Yeah, aside from the fact that by doing
what they did, they signaled to the league that they
are legit and people would want to play here. Aside
from that fact, the entire Kawhi Leonard experiment was a failure.
(21:23):
If this season goes south on them, he'll be a
year older. They'll have to start rebuilding. So the good
news is Kawhi signing with a Clippers signaled everybody in
the NBA we're a destination two. We're not a laughing stock.
You owe us a look if you're available, because we're
gonna take care of you. We have beautiful facilities, a
(21:45):
great owner, a commitment to winning. So if in fact
that happened, that's successful for the Clippers. It's a brand,
it's an image, it means something. But on the floor,
if this season really goes sideways, the whole thing was
a failure.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Think about that. The entire thing was a failure, except
people now acknowledge them and understand they're legit. Wow, what
a ride that would have been. And in the fact
this is a failure. Go back to Lobb City that group,
because that was exciting basketball and those guys could play.
(22:31):
But they imploded. They imploded. So that group was close
but imploded.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
They were very close right when break here there they
could have gone you know, deep and gotten there. But
it always was one little factor here and there with
Lob City when they had was it Chris Paul and
Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and that crew. They were
(23:01):
in the mix. Man, they were people I think year
in and year out for those three to five years
whatever it was, they picked the Clippers to go deep
in the playoffs, and for whatever reason, they ran into
a buzzsaw. Remember the rent. They ran into the Houston
buzz saw when Houston got hot at that one point
and they couldn't get past them, and then they couldn't
get past somebody else, and it was just it just
(23:24):
didn't work. And sometimes, like you said, you got to
be lucky, and they have been unlucky. And again here
we are with the Clippers being unlucky.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Dodger Finn, show my hands. Anybody want Cody Bellinger back,
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Make AM five seventy LA Sports a preset before you
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Speaker 2 (24:02):
Oh, we are coming back at you on a hump
day Wednesday. That's right, a Wednesday, Rodney Pete, fred Rogan
good stuff, Freddy good stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, we're off and running. It's been a busy day. Okay,
Dodger fans, here we go. Next up for the Dodgers
in winter meetings. Who knows what will happen there, Will
some free agents be signed, will they pull the trigger
on some deals. But we've been talking about what they're
gonna do in the outfield, and the sense was it's
Kyle Tucker. Now we said here and said, Kyle Tucker's
(24:39):
going to require a long deal for a lot of money.
The number we were hearing is four hundred million, and
let's call it eleven years, ten years right around that.
The Dodgers can't they should not do that. They can
do what ever they want. I mean, we all know
that they can spend any money they want, and I
wouldn't do that.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
It's too many years. It's just too many years.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
So then this name resurfaces, and fans have been clamoring
for this, by the way, clamoring for this, and initially
you looked at it and thought, not really in the
Dodger radar, or they're on the radar, but that's a
long shot. Cody Bellinger. Cody Bellinger is thirty years old.
(25:18):
Here's a number. One hundred and eighty million, six years,
six years, one hundred and eighty million.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Thirty per is what we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, you know, we'll drop in the bucket. We'll drop
in the bucket thirty per or let's say thirty a
little over thirty per for Kyle Tucker for more years,
Cody six years, he replaces Michael CONFORDO game over. He's
(25:53):
thirty years old. It's the end of the deal. He'll
be thirty six. At thirty six, he'll be a little
long in the tooth, because that's where the Dodgers are now.
A lot of guys moving into that that age range.
Doesn't mean they can't play, doesn't mean they won't play.
It doesn't mean they won't have a great year. But
low of averages tells you as you get older, things
diminish a bit. So if that's the case, and then
(26:17):
the other side of is this, Rodney, would you rather
just go with what you have? Would you rather just
kind of go with a tandem? How about? And we
talked about it yesterday. Ryan Ward, he's twenty seven years old.
He's a prospect. Brandon Gohmes himself said he's got nothing
left to prove. In triple lay. They kept him on
(26:38):
the forty man roster. Would he have a shot to
compete for an outfield spot. Would you rather go like
that and maybe have him and Alex call and not
go out and sign Cody or not Alex?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
What platoon?
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah? I mean, would that be something you would look at?
Because I gotta tell you it's not my money, so
spend it however you want, not mine. Six years, one
hundred and eighty is a lot different than four hundred
million dollars. A lot different, a lot different. And what
(27:19):
how much difference are you getting production wise?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I don't know. I don't know. If Cody's numbers off
the top of my head, I'll look it up at
some point. But are you are you getting that much more?
Because we're talking what are we talking? We're talking one
hundred and eighty million, and we're talking two hundred and
so two hundred and twenty million dollars more production out
(27:43):
of Kyle Tucker than Cody Bellinger. YEP.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Cody, by the way, one hundred and fifty two games
last year, twenty nine home runs, two seventy two, batting average,
ninety eight RBI. Wow, I will say you get a
significant upgrade over ward you had last.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Year twenty nine home runs, basically one hundred RBIs out
of Cody, coming back to a familiar place who at
one time was a fan favorite here. I don't know,
but Kevin, when you look at those numbers, last year's
numbers for him, does that become his new norm?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Or was that a big year?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Probably a big year. Now if you go to his
last season.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Last year with the Cubs was pretty good, wasn't it. It
was good.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Yeah, it wasn't as good as this past season, but
still what eighteen home runs, seventy eight RBI two sixty six,
so the average not far off. The power numbers were
up a little bit, and the RBI he had twenty
more this season the last season.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, and he's hitting in CHICAGOSUS versus New York, which
is different when it comes to the wind and hitting
in Wrigley Field for leftenant hitters. Yeah, that's a that's
an interesting And here's the other thing you get with
Cody Bellinger. You get versatility. You get a guy that could,
(29:02):
you know, could play center field for you if you
need him to. He could actually play first base if
you needed him to. That's not a bad that's not
a bad idea. That's not a bad idea if you're
thinking about I mean, obviously that's where the focus is
(29:23):
is I'm bringing in an outfielder that's not that's not
a bad that's not a bad choice Ford bringing him back.
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
I'm just checking Kyle Tucker's numbers here. So last year
he had an off year. So you say that's an aberration, Mom,
It wasn't he.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Got hurt, but he was. He was blasting it his
first half of the season before he got hurt. Welln't
he was? He was off the charts, Yeah he was.
Uh he two sixty five.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Uh, he's still twenty five bases, He twenty two home runs,
and let's see runs better in seventy three. Okay, the
year before he's in Houston, right, and he only played
seventy eight games. So let's go to the year before that.
Houston played one hundred and fifty seven games. He had
(30:14):
two ninety seven, he had twenty nine home runs, and
he drove in one hundred and twelve runs. So career wise,
what's he hitting If we just look at his career
average and start with that career wise average, he's hitting
(30:34):
to seventy three to seventy three. And I don't know
what Cody's career average is, but if we start looking
at it like this is that ballpark, it probably is.
It probably is. Cody can run, right, we know that
he's fast. Yeah, Tucker can steal bases, but so can Cody. Okay,
(30:57):
well that's something to keep in mind. I mean, Tucker
stole thirty bases one year twenty five, one year twenty
five last year. I wonder if you look at it,
if their stats are kind of the same, yeah, long term,
and if their stature of the same, then why would
you spend more money on Kyle Tucker if their status
(31:19):
are the same or ballpark same?
Speaker 2 (31:21):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
It's like you say, Rodney, how much more performance are
you gonna get for another.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Two hundred and twenty million? Yeah? How much more are
you going to get for that? And it doesn't look
like you're gonna get that much more production. And again,
the intangible is, and we all know how guys go
when they change clubs, but the intangible is, Cody has
(31:49):
been here before and liked by the fans, and a
return of Cody Bellinger I think would excite the Dodger
fans I really do to see him run out to
right field and him at the bat and the people.
You know, people have memories of guys that performed well
(32:11):
for the club, you know, and you know, obviously in
this last year he struggled and he got hurt a
little bit. But they remember the rookie year, the MVP year,
they remember the big home runs he hit. And I
think it would be a welcoming sight to see Cody
Bellinger come back and put on a Dodger uniform. So
(32:32):
what if the Dodgers say, you know, we'll do We'll
give you five years, let's go five, five, one fifty,
let's go five to one to fifty.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
And they come back. No, No, it's going to be
you know, six, six years. Do the Dodgers bend and
go six or do they hold firm at five. I'm
telling you my concern, and we're seeing it with Bryce
Harper when Dave Dombrowski, the general manager of the Philly said, up,
he's not really an elite player anymore, and all of
(33:03):
a sudden that led to a huge conversation where everything
was apparently resolved. But long term deals don't always work
well at the end. They just don't. Could six years
be too long for him? Or would you say, okay,
rather than wasting six years on you, we're gonna throw
Ryan Ward out there on right field. Let's see what
(33:24):
he's got to say, and we'll keep Alex's call, will platoon.
Another part of this is is Tommy Edmond had ankle surgery. Yeah, no,
he should be ready for spring training. But how effective
or will they want him to play the outfield at all?
Speaker 2 (33:45):
There's that, Yeah. The question is when do you go young? Right?
When do you start to rebuild this and start sprinkling
in the young players along the way. I think what's
gonna be beneficial for the Dodge is they do have
They do have Andy Pahez, who's a young player going
(34:05):
to be there for a minute. Yes, people you know,
will look at it a little. He struggled at the
plate in the World Series and in the playoffs, but
I think the one catch he made just redeemed himself
this back back on the Dodgers as their starting center fielder.
So that's that's not a question. Plus, he hit twenty
seven bombs last year for the for the team in
(34:26):
regular season. He's going to be there. But I just
go back, and I had a conversation with Magic Johnson
about this, is that when when you're in it and
your guys, your core group is in their prime, you
got to go for it now. You gotta win as
many as you can. You got to win as many
as you can right now, and don't worry or don't
(34:48):
rest on. We got to start rebuilding for the future.
You'll know when it's time to really start rebuilding. And
it may take you know when that time happens, it may,
you know, lost you a playoff berth for one or
two years, but for the Dodgers, it's not gonna be
that long. But you start sprinkling younger guys like Ward.
(35:10):
Ward could come up and platoon and play and get
some playing time, and he'll be a guy that ready
to step in, much like Kim, much like you know Kim.
They got him some experience, he'll be ready to step in.
But I think that right now, when you're on this
role and you've got old Taani and Bets and Freeman still,
I think Freddie still got another two to three years
(35:33):
left in his real good years. Will Smith is in
his prime, and the pitching staff is what it is.
You got to you gotta go for it right now.
You gotta go for it right now. And I don't
think now is the time to say this. Start inserting
some of the farm guys and rookies and and bring
(35:54):
him along. If you can get a guy that's hitting
you twenty nine home runs and driving in one hundred
runs and put h and right field, which is a
need that you actually have, go get him, bring back Cody.
That's my cheer.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
We'll talk more about the Dodgers at one o'clock, some
other needs and how they'll fill them. But when we
come back, well, they're going to fix the NBA All
Star Game. Here's a question. Is that thing fixable?
Speaker 3 (36:25):
Hello Rogan and Rodney listener, Did you know Am five
seventy LA Sports has a wide range of LA Sports podcasts,
shows like Petros in Money. We are streaming Matt Dodger
Talk with David Vasse, the Dodger Podcast of Record, Clipper
Talk with Adam Moss, follow us All, and many more.
Just go to AM five to seventy LA Sports on
(36:45):
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Well, yeah, let's go on a hump day. Today's afternoon
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(37:14):
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so Rodney uh NBA All Star Game. Yeah, and format,
we're gonna do it again again again, We're changing it
up again.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
Well now it's on NBC.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Oh, so that makes a difference.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah, appear it does well, it does from the perspective
of NBC was not going to carry that old garbage.
So they created a new format once again. So the problem,
here's a new format this go round three teams, eight
man rosters, USA versus the World. First three quarters of
the game will be played in round robin format, fourth
(38:19):
quarter featuring the two best teams after round robin action. Okay,
three teams? Wait, USA Europe or USA versus the World?
USA will feature USA versus the World. Three teams, eight
man three teams. So who has two teams? Well, maybe
(38:40):
the world will be I don't know, Asia and Europe
maybe or separated up or you know, different parts of Europe.
All right, maybe that, or maybe the United States will
be two teams. It's like guys that are from the
East and guys are from the West. I don't know,
however they're going to do it. Okay, three teams, here's
(39:02):
a problem. You can change the format a million times.
You can come up with all kinds of new, crazy ideas.
The game stinks, and there's no getting around it. By far,
it is the worst All Star game. And that's saying something.
If you watch the Hockey All Star Game now, the
USA versus the World, and Hockey's great. Now, this is
(39:28):
not going to be any better than what it's been,
and it's not going to be any better than what
it's been because the guys don't even.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Want to play.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
No, that's that's the true issue here. There's nothing in
it for him. Any argument can be made, well, don't
you have an obligation to the game? I mean, this
is the All Star weekend, but that's they feel like
a lot of guys feel that's their obligation to show up.
But it All Star weekend and most most players show
(39:55):
up and they take part in the festivities, the parties,
the events, spawn events. They'll show up and they'll be there.
It's just the beyond the court stuff, the game itself.
It just has become unwatchable. Fred And and the amount
of money that's thrown around, you can't money. And people say, well,
(40:17):
just just make it a bigger payday. What's a bigger
payday for a guy making forty million dollars a year? Right?
Speaker 2 (40:24):
You know? You know what is that? So he gets
five hundred grand if they win per player to to
risk the rest of the second half of the season,
or you know, to prepare for it and have to
go out for it, and I can't. I can't. I
got a chance to take three days off, four days off,
(40:44):
and it's kind of relaxed a little bit as opposed
to getting ready to play in this All Star game
for five hundred grand. No, that money's great. I remember
the Pro Bowl Pro Bowl, you know, you know, back
in the day, it was twenty grand to the winner
and fifteen grand to the loser. But that was when guys,
you know, average salaries were one hundred and fifty thousand,
(41:08):
you know, And so that twenty grand meant a lot.
And so fourth quarter rolled around, it guy started to
play a little bit because that extra five thousand dollars
meant a lot to a lot of guys. And so
but it's it's so extraordinary now with the amount of
money these guys are making that the incentive of money
(41:29):
does not play a part anymore. And I don't know,
I just don't know if it's fixable. Like you mentioned,
I don't know if it is fixable to the point
where it gets somewhat competitive. Because the season and for
a team number one a season for an individual from
(41:49):
his incentives and for him to make a MVP run
or make all MBA or all of those things, those
incentives are far greater than in All Star win and
to help his team get to the playoffs is far
more incentive than playing in an All Star game, So
why am I going to risk it doing that? And
(42:11):
so I don't know if there's anything that you can do.
And they tried several different things, even tried the charity
aspect of it, which you would thought that, Okay, this
is kind of cool. Now it goes to a cause,
which I thought was I thought it was actually pretty
cool the way they did it, and they did that
different format. I forget what it was. You know, you win,
(42:34):
I forget what it was, but it was an interesting
format that they had for that, and charities won the money.
I thought was very cool. But I just don't know
if now there's any way to make it competitive. Then
do we need to stop thinking about this is going
to be a competitive game and just just be done
(42:55):
with that part of it. Okay, stop thinking that this
can be a competitive situation. It's never gonna be competitive.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Okay, And if that's the case, then nobody's gonna watch
it anyway. Here's what they should do, but they can't.
They can't because they're locked in because of television. They
should have NBA All Star weekend parties, events, awards, whatever
they're gonna do, they should do it, and that would
(43:22):
be great, and you say, you know, people adheres to
their sponsor obligations and they show up and they meet
people and you know fans can see them all that stuff.
That's what they should do, but nobody wants to televise that.
Nobody's gonna say, yeah, you know what, in our rights deal,
we're gonna pay for the right to televise guys at parties.
(43:44):
That'll be great, you know, that'll be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Only so much red carpet. You can televise friends that
we write.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
We can't do three hours a night of it. We
can't for two days. It's not gonna happen. So the
problem is they have to do something because are obligated
with television, and if they don't do it, they don't
make the money. So that's why it's unfixable.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Why don't they stop doing it? You know, like traditional form,
let's take way outside the box instead of doing five
on five game of All Star and going up and
down the court and everybody getting out of the way
and having spectacular dunks and all that kind of stuff.
Started at a three on three or two on two
(44:26):
and do those two on two type of games as
opposed to a full game. So you got you know,
three on three format where you know either three guys
from the same team or three guys you pick three
different all stars and they're paired up against another three
or two on two and they're paired up against the
two on two and it's a it's like a golf
(44:49):
shootout kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Well, the concern with that is, I can still hurt
my knee.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Won't be competitive, right, that's the end of the day.
It's not going to be competitive because guys are not
going to really play hard.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
It's gonna look worse.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Now. I don't know if anything could look worse, quite frankly.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
But just think about this three on three playing like
they play five on five.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Right now, just like that quick quick series of games.
So it's a round robin, it's a little quick tournament.
Best the best, the eight, best to nine or whatever
it is. You get in and get out, and now
it's Steph Curry. It's Steph Curry, Lebron and Giannis versus
Wimby somebody and somebody. Let's go for it. Three on three,
(45:31):
best to nine, play eleven, play to eleven, boom go
make it quick quick games. So you have more of them.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Is anybody gonna watch that?
Speaker 2 (45:47):
Seriously? Just throw it out there, No.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Listen, it's a good idea, anything's a good idea compared
to what they do. But who's gonna watch that? Think?
I mean, it's it's obsolete, it's antiquated. It is the
NBA all start, So they.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Should eliminate because it's never going to go back to
the seventies and eighties where it was competitive, right, and
any sport. First of all, they got rid of the
Pro Bowl, right because that was just a joke before
they got rid of it, you know, the last ten
years when they had it became a joke and it
was too on. It was two hand touch basically, and
(46:29):
so they got rid of that and just made it
its skills competition turned into flag football. So I don't
think in any sport it's going to go back to
the way it is because the money is too great
and the prize at the end is too great to
jeopardize anything like that over an all star game. Yeah,
so what do you do? Just have a weekend of
parties and just call it a break. That's what you
(46:51):
should do.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
But then nobody will televise that, so that means NBC
would get money back whatever the portion of their deal
that contains NBA All Star Weekend. And I'll say this
about NBC Sports, they'll do a pretty good job of
telling stories and features.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
They're really good at that.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
They are the best at that telling stories and capturing
people's emotions through those stories. So they'll do that. Does
does Major League Baseball work? Yes, that's what I was
gonna say. It does.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
Still works, It still works, right, Yeah, why does it
work well?
Speaker 1 (47:33):
First look at it like this four years. It didn't.
It did long ago. Then it went through a period
of time where it was so bad. Remember the team
they tried to put it like this, whoever one got
home field advantage on.
Speaker 2 (47:46):
The home field advantage in the World Series.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
That was horrible, all right, So that's how desperate they
were to figure it out. But this is a different
generation of guys. Fox does a magnificent job, a great job.
People are might guys.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
Home run derby. They do a great job with the
home run derby, which is great. The home run derby works. Yeah,
although I still think pitchers should hit in the home
run derby. I think it'd be better I do. I
think pitchers should hit in the home run Derby. Now
that would be fun. People would watch that. If pitcher
ever won a home run Derby, then it would be
(48:22):
the end of baseball.
Speaker 1 (48:24):
Well, I'm saying if they were only pitchers, it'd be great.
Mix it up, change it up, do it differently, because
even the home run derbies, you sit there and watch
that is laborious. We went to the one at Dodgers Stadium.
It was like, get me knitting.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Me, need to assurten it because guys are getting exhausted
by round three and it's just terrible. But it's still
somewhat exciting. But the game itself is more exciting than
obviously football didn't have anymore. But it's more exciting football
and basketball.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Because of the way they do it, and because those
guys are available, because of the you got guys talking
back and forth to each other. They're all miked up.
You're inside the game. That's what makes it interesting. And
the guys have a good time doing it because they're
not running around crashing into each other like in the
(49:16):
NBA or the NFL. Yeah, that's what makes Major League
Baseball's all start to gain great. But the end, that's
what they're still competitive. You know the guy.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
It's still somewhat competitive you see with the uh with
the All Star game. But you're right, the miked up
thing is great. I saw something on Instagram. They had
Mickey Rojas. I don't think it was an All Star game,
but they haven't miked up, just like we're talking about.
And the ball was hit, he said, uh, excuse me,
the guy, I gotta go make a play real quick.
And he made the play and threw at the ball
(49:48):
to first place at first base in the middle of
the interview, which was and the and the announcers went crazy.
He started laughing and it was just like it was
the best thing ever because he made the play. And
then you know, you remember Kershaw was on Mike and
I forget who it was. It might have been Nester Cortez,
somebody else was on Mike. He was just he was
(50:09):
doing to play. He was doing the play by play
as he was pitching, which was fantastic. So yeah, baseball's
kind of got it right. I don't know what you
can do with basketball football.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
So we kicked around what the Dodgers should do with
their outfield situation. Now, let's step up take a snap
on what they should do with a bullpen.
Roggin And Rodney News
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