January 21, 2025 • 33 mins
Mick Cronin was in rare form this weekend when he went off on a reporter who suggested that Big 10 teams who go from east to west have it just as tough as teams going west to east. We take a look at the abundance of riches the Dodgers have on their pitching staff and how the rotation may shake out in 2025.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we continue on Fred Rogan, Rodney Pete and seventy
LA Sports. That was nice of Eric to drop in,
wasn't it. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, you know, un little some some work on his
off day, came in the studio and did his thing
and jumped in and said hello. That's cool. All right.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So Friday, Spotlight twenty nine, Casino and Coachella, come on
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(00:37):
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(01:00):
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Speaker 2 (01:06):
There you go, why not come on down? Who doesn't
like the Goutella Valleys by light twenty nine? Get away
for a little bit. Come on downy, We're.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Gonna have a good time. I want to see you
down there.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So of course we know how UCLA and USC did
in Big ten football. Well, now let's talk about basketball.
And it's rough. There's an adjustment, and I understand that
the travel really does affect the kids, But how sorry
can you feel for them? And I get that, I mean, first,
(01:41):
they're paid, the second they're flying and they're playing basketball.
And if you use the well, my god, they're student
athletes Division one, big time schools. Yeah, maybe the kids
are in school, but they're not student athletes or athletes students. Nonetheless,
it is difficult. Rodney is someone who played and traveled
and flew.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know that that athletes students? What do you I
know you're saying that they're athletes first and all that
kind of stuff, but they are Are you saying but
but but are you saying that as to the point
where I mean they're recognized as athletes? Yes, But are
you saying that that they don't have to go to school? No?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
They do but it's very different than when you had
to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, I know I had to do I had to
show up for class. It was real, well not all
the time, but you had no no, I had to
show up. There wasn't There was definitely attendance, and there
was academic advisors and there was a whole department that
made sure you showed up. And then professors, there's a
spotlight on you. Now you got you got uh you
(02:51):
got special treatment because you traveled and you got to
make up tests and you got to do you know,
makeup stuff. But if you in the week like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
before you traveled and you had class, you had to
show up. The tenants was a factor. Well, I'm not
sure if it is or isn't anymore. I know this,
(03:13):
it's different now. I'm not even gonna lie. It is
definitely different now because because kids are leaving school early,
especially basketball players are in for one and done, so
you know, I don't I know they might sign up
for classes, but who knows how long they go to
those classes in order to be eligible. But I know football,
because you got to stay there three years. You have
to be eligible. You have to go to class.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
You have to show up, but in three years you
can go to three different schools.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Too. True, true, true? Right?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So anyway, there is travel involved, and as UCLA is
getting adjusted to the Big ten, our friend mc cronin,
who never pulls a punch and is just brutally honest,
was asked a question about travel for his team.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So much has been made about you guys going east.
You just came back from prolonged East coast trip. I'm wondering,
how have you seen anything from the teams that have
to come out here and stay out here? Is there
any kind of balance with that in terms of the
wear and tear and just what you've seen on them?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah? Is that a joke? Please tell me that's it?
Is it even comparable? Is central?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Have you ever looked at the NBA stats and with
the gamblers and all those people do on West versus East?
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Talk to Eric Musselman asking that question. Who coached in
the NBA? Good luck West? Going east? Okay, and ask
me UCLA's record east of the Mississippi in the last
twenty years, because when I got the job, I looked
it up for scheduling purposes. It's under five hundred Okay,
we have to go back four times, Paul Hall. The
(04:40):
Big Ten teams get to come to Los Angeles where
it's seventy degrees one time a year.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They don't even have to switch hotels. Weren't the same.
We're twelve miles apart. Are you kidding me? Please tell
me you're kidding me?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Do you?
Speaker 4 (04:54):
I mean, is this a plan?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Is this a planet question?
Speaker 5 (04:57):
I mean, you cannot be serious with that.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And meanwhile, we've we've seen the Eiffel Tower, or we've
seen the Statue of Liberty twice in the last three
weeks while we were landing.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
We also sold downtown. We also the Capital Capitol Building.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I mean, you're kidding he, I mean, you can't possibly
and we still got.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
To go back, and then we got to go back
for the Big Ten tournament.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
But you can I mean, you can't possibly be serious.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, they do it one time.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
You can't possibly just stop.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I'm going to eat me. You can't.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I mean, he's asked me to feel sorry because Iowa
had to come to l A for a few days.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Okay, well, have you ever see the Statue of Liberty?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Enough? Never? Never, I don't know we're talking about he's
talking about Statue of Liberty is great. Why not go
back every week? If you can love him, love love
ma Crony. He's brutally honest and and and that's what
we love about him. You know, I didn't like him
calling out his players, and I said, so, uh when
we played the clip last week and call on them
(06:00):
soft or whatever you call them, call them soft? Yeah,
called him soft, you know, publicly. I didn't like that
too much. But he's spot on with this because you
think about it. You know, there's teams come out for
the from the Big Ten. They come out, they play
us C, UCLA, especially in basketball, right, So they're they're
playing both of the schools here in LA with twelve
(06:22):
miles apart. So they're not changing hotels. They're coming out
to LA for three days, four days tops and staying
in the same hotel and playing both UCLA and UCLA
USC and A probably in a three day span, right,
play them on play you know, UCLA on Thursday and
SC on Saturday, or vice versa. That's one trip that
(06:43):
they got to make out here, and and and and
maybe two if they're playing Oregon in Washington, right, which
is probably they'll boke into one trip as well. They'll
play Oregon and then they fly up to Seattle and
play Washington and then they'll go back home, whereas the
west coast got to go back there to play Iowa
and Ohio State and Michigan State and Michigan and all
(07:06):
the Big ten schedules, all of those guys back there.
And I played on both coasts. I played in Philadelphia, Detroit,
both east coast cities, Philadelphia being the most east coast
and actually Washington being the most east coast, and I
played in Oakland. And I will tell you it is
(07:26):
far easier coming from east to west to play than
it is going from west to east, because you gain
hours when you come here, but you lose hours when
you go that way. And the jet lag is real
when you go back east as opposed to coming back
out west. It's so much easier going from east to
west than it is west to east.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I never actually realized that until I heard Mix say it,
and then he cited Eric Musselman. Then he said, if
you just look at stats, just look at stats, you
will see that it's more difficult to go to the east.
And Rodney, I never knew that, Oh, yeah, definitely. I
mean the time is a factor. We're talking three hour
(08:09):
time change going to the east, and you know, you're
a lot of times you're getting there when you're flying
that way, you're getting there late at night, or you're
getting there at night time and waking up and you're
waking up, say you're waking up for you got a
one o'clock game, you know, which means you got to
wake up probably at nine o'clock for your pregame meal
(08:34):
and then get on the bus at ten o'clock to
get to the arena at eleven to be ready for
the game.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Well, if you're doing that, that means you're up at
five thirty six o'clock West Coast time and your body clock,
which is probably earlier than you're normally getting up. So
it's a difference. Whereas you come from the East Coast
to the West coast, you're sleeping in basically, you know,
you're not getting you get up at ten o'clock. It's
you know, it's one o'clock in the afternoon on the
(09:02):
East Coast for your body clock, so you're well rested.
It's a whole different a whole different ball game, and
it's tougher. It is tough for I think for for
for basketball players, and it is for football players that
come in you know, after a week and you you know,
you're you come in early and you're overnight, whereas sometimes
it basketball, you got to spend a few days and
so your body still is trying to adjust over those
(09:25):
couple of days, whereas football, the shock of it is
just you know, you're in and out, so it's like
not as bad, but it's still it's still difficult.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Well, how many days do you think? And in football,
because I'll go in the day before. Yeah, you get
there the day before, and if you're going west to east,
that's not a lot of time to recover. I mean,
if you have a one o'clock kick in the eastern window,
it's ten am here.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Absolutely well you're not.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Used to playing at ten o'clock in the morning, which
is why a lot of teams leave on Friday when
when it's an East Coast game, like if the play
Philly like they did, they will leave on Friday, so
they have that full Friday, get their Friday night, say,
and then have a full Saturday to sleep in.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
To kind of get used to it a little bit.
And then have one day of sleeping and then when
they wake up on Sunday they kind of kind of
get ready for it. You know, a lot of times
these basketball they play back to back, you know, which
which makes it difficult difficult. So or they're there for
extended periods of time where their body clock is not
not on it, and they got to do it multiple times,
(10:34):
you know, and in a short period of time, so
it makes it more difficult. So if you're U. C. L. A.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Mccronin theoretically, if you play Thursday, you need to get
there Tuesday to get adjusted Wednesday to play Thursday. But
I don't think they do.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
They don't. They go to day before and probably end
up there the night before they have to play either
even early evening game or afternoon game. But yeah, they're
going the day before and then they play that game,
which they get probably exhausted and probably you know, if
they're playing, say they're playing Ohio State and Michigan Michigan State,
(11:15):
which is you know, kind of close to each other,
then they got to travel to Michigan on the day
off and then play the next day, play Michigan or
Michigan State. It's it's it's it's difficult going that way.
It's definitely difficult going that way. It's definitely a difference.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well, people said when they joined the Big Ten, yeah,
travel would be a concern, But I never heard anybody
say the travel would be a concern just because your
body clock. That I did not know. Oh, I just
start your traveling a lot.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
No. No, it's your body clock. When you're used to
getting up, when you're used to playing, when you're used
to having breakfast, when you're used to eating, all those
things change when you go to the East Coast. And
that's why a lot of teams try to go as
early as they possiblely get out there a couple of
days early so they can kind of get at least
a day used to it. And I don't think that's
the case when they especially college basketball, where they don't
(12:07):
have the luxury of doing that, because say they play
a game here at Polly on Tuesday, and then they
have a game against Ohio State or Penn State on
Thursday or on Friday, then they got one day to
get there and get acclimated to it to go play.
(12:30):
So it's definitely a strain on the body clock.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So do you want your owner to say we want
to win or do you want your owner to say
we want to break even? That's next Fred Rogan, Rodney
EP and five seventy LA Sports. In case you didn't hear,
the Dodgers did it again. This time they signed reliever
Kirby Yates. And what do we know about Kirby Yates?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
We had a one point one seven era like thirty
three saves out and signed Kirby Yates to add him
to Tanner Scott, to add him to the rest of
the bullpen. And you wonder are they done? Have they
done it all? Who knows? Because apparently they can do
whatever they want and they're doing it. And you look
at a guy like Yates with the record he's had
(13:16):
had some arm issues in the past but came back,
had a good year last year. If you look at
what they've done, this guy would be the closer on
a lot of teams. He might pitch the sixth inning here. Yeah,
So what you're doing is you're assembling so much talent
that no one feels the pressure.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Do you think, Fred, do you think? Let me ask
you this, because the Dodgers obviously look starting pitching wise,
they are loaded, And is there any I mean, look,
I know Sazaki is going to start minor league contract,
all that, right, and probably is there any doubt that
he's gonna be with the big league club as soon
(13:56):
as possible. Yeah, O das track a fast tracking right, Yeah, like,
oh yeah, he's got a sign a minor league contract.
You might, I don't want to hear it. I mean,
Kat throws one hundred and two. He's six ' four,
he's a phenom, got an incredible splitter that nobody hit.
He will be their opening day, He'll be on the roster.
(14:19):
So with the abundance of pitchers, do you think that
the Dodgers and what happened last year where they had
to rely on a few bullpen games in critical moments
throughout the season and especially in the playoffs where they
(14:40):
had to rely on it in a critical series against
the San Diego Padres and Ned Coletti was on earlier
talked about the game that they had a bullpen game
against Dylan Ceese, one of their best pitchers down there,
the Dodgers created a bullpen game and won that game
eight to nothing. That they looked at that and go, okay,
(15:01):
we're gonna get some great starting pitching, and we're gonna
have that, but our bullpen's got to be lights out too,
because if we have to go to some bullpen games,
we got the arms to be able to do that.
With Tanner, Scott Chriby, Yates. You know you mentioned trying
coming back and and Kopek closing, Evan Phillips coming back.
(15:22):
I mean, they've got an abundance of bullpen arms now
that if they need to go to a bullpen game
or do a bullpen game, they can handle it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I don't think the thing we found last year
is you can never have too much pitching. I mean,
just look at the rotation right now. And by the way, yeah,
but their rotation was spent.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Is remember people were saying, how do you not have
a starting pitcher for the game four of the NLDS
against the Padres. People were people were complaining, fire, Dave Roberts, fire,
Andrew Friedman. How did they not have a starting pitcher
with that game? How are they going with a bullpen
(16:03):
game in such a critical game? And it worked out, Yeah,
it worked out.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
But I'm saying, because you can never have enough starting pitching,
Let's look at the rotation right now and then who's
still around?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
All right?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
So, uh, if the season starts tomorrow and the Dodgers
used to make a big deal out of your opening
day starter, I don't think it matters anymore. Quite frankly,
not with this group.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Since Kershaw has kind of, you know, faded a little
bit and he's in the twilight of his career and
he doesn't need to be this opening day started. As
we found out last year, it doesn't mean as much anymore.
I think I think they're looking at it as this,
let's pin our rotation, how it's going to be, and
(16:55):
who whoever it's going to be, is whoever it's going
to be.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Right, It's just matchups. That's how they do it. It's
just matchups.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So so you couldn't, like years in years previous, it
was it was no brainer that Kershaw was gonna be
open to a starter. If he's healthy, he's gonna be
open to the day starter. Yeah, where do you see
it now? Where do you see it now? Is there
is there an opening day starter that you look up
on this roster going okay, yeah, that guy's gonna be
opening They start, Well, here's the thing glass now, Yamamoto.
(17:23):
Who do you think would be Blake Snell? Who do
you think that they would pick as the opening day starter?
Or is it the matchup of the team. I think
it's a matchup. I mean, look at it. So who's
gonna start opening day? Let's take you that out.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Well, last, let's just assume Glass now is healthy, he's
ready to go. Okay, Well, you can't go wrong with him,
can you No?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
All right?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
But Yamamoto is ready to go. Well, you can't go
wrong with him, can you?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
No? All right?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Snell's fine. Now, he kind of struggles in the first
part of the season, but then a second half he's
on fire. But let's just say we're beginning anew he's
healthy and ready to go. You can't go wrong with
an my man, No, okay, So there's four guys right there.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
He's not going to pitch at the beginning, but he will.
Otani he won't be the opening day starter, but he'll
be in there. They're gonna let him heal a little more.
And because they're letting him heal a little bit, stay
right there.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Stay right there. How do you think they use Otani
this year? With the abundance of pitchers that they've got
now that they've signed, how do you think they use Otani?
Given the fact that he had an historic season last
year fifty to fifty nobody'd ever done that didn't pitch
last year. The value of him is at the plate
or so on the mound, given what they've done in
(18:52):
the offseason. Do you think that the Dodgers are looking
to that going Otani's a bonus on the hill, but
we look at him or as more of an offensive
player than him on the mound. He could throw occasionally
for us, but we're not counting on him being a
part of a five man six man rotation, but we'll
(19:14):
throw him out there from time to time.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Well, remember it is a six man rotation this year. Yeah,
And I think they're just fine with him pitching once
a week, six man rotation. He'd go once a week,
Yamamoto would go once a week, Sazanki would go once
a week. Klass Now would go once a week, six
man rotation. And then you go, well, who else do
(19:37):
you have? Gonsolin? Is he gonna be okay? Dustin May?
Is he gonna be all right? Bobby Miller? Will he
find what he lost? Landon Knack he looked good and
then you throw Kersh onto the mix and Gavin Stone.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
But what I'm saying is, how do you think they
use Otani? I think he once in the middle of
that's part of that rotation mixed. Yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I think once he's ready to go, he's part of
the rotation. Now when they start him as a different question,
I mean, at what point in the season they let
him pitch, But he wants to pitch, so I think
once he's up.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
They want ready. Say he starts in June, late June,
early July pitching. Do you think they keep him like,
let's get him ready to go case, you know, as
we need him for the postseason because he can be
lights out too. Well, if they put him that long,
what did they say they don't want anybody to go
over one hundred.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And forty innings this year. Yeah, I think that's what
their plan is. So if that's the case, well, I
think they'll get him if he's ready before the end
of June he's pitching. I think he goes as soon
as he's ready whatever that means. Whenever they determine and
he goes in his normal spot. Yes, I think he
(20:54):
goes in the normal spot.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And if anybody goes down, they still got like you said,
they got dustin, May got and they got somebody to
step in to assume that six man rotation.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Well, right now, since Otani's not going to start pitching,
they're gonna need two of those guys. Theyre only have
four because Otani's not gonna start.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh, they got what they got glass now Yamamoto.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
They've got smell in Sazaki.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Now Sazaki.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Let's say he got four, so they're gonna need two more.
Is that Gonsolin? Is it may Is at Nack, is
it Miller?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Is it Kershaw?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Not? Not initially?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, because he's not gonna be able to go initially.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I don't think we'll see him to August. If we
see him, but look at it like that. Let's say
he's ready to go in August. And let's say he's
ready to go in August and his back is okay
and his velocity is good, that's a bonus.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
It's like a guy you on, Bobby Miller, Bobby Miller,
Are they gonna work him back in? Which I think
they should.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I think he's got tremendous upside and tremendous talent. He
fell off last year obviously, the off time, the hurt.
When he got hurt, he was not the same when
he came back. Walker Buhler founded Bobby Miller didn't necessarily
find it. But I think Bobby Miller is a talent
that they want to hold on to because I think
he is an exceptional talent with exceptional stuff and an
(22:27):
arm that entry kind of set him back last year.
I don't think they want to let him go. If
they can get him back in the mix, that'd be
great because yeah, so, I mean, they do have pitching.
And it's funny I read an article, well, you know,
do the Dodgers have enough pitching? They have more pitching
than anybody. Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
You know this team, you look at it on paper,
there's some weaknesses. What I don't know if they have
enough pitching. Let me ask you this, who's got more? Nobody?
You tell me anybody in baseball right now that has
ten guys that can start.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You think about it. They're bullpenning. I mean, Dustin May
is probably gonna be a bullpen guy, right right, I
mean he's gonna be a bullpen guy. We don't know
about you know, whether they're going to go back to
starting Gonslon or not. Maybe at the start of the
season he does, Bessie, we'll see if when he gets healthy.
(23:21):
But when he's healthy, he's a guy that they'll use.
They've got a plethora of pitching to utilize, whether it
be bullpen, whether it be starting games.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I guess the thing you can say is, yes, they
have a lot of pitchers to go to, but all
of them, or at least many of them, have had
injury history. So how reliable can you be, which is
why they went crazy on.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
That's the thing.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
So as much as you love glass Now Yamamoto, all
these guys have had arm issues.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
And it's usually been because they've not extended himself as
much as they did when they got here. Glass Now
pitched more innings than he ever pitched before with the Dodgers.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Had injury issues before that, too.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Said, injury issues before that. So let's limit that, you know.
Let's let's save Yamamoto and make him effective and not
overwork him. The young kid coming in, let's not overwork him.
Otani when he comes back, We're not going to overwork him.
Lake Snell is a workhorse, but we're not going to
overwork him either. And then you think about the bullpen.
(24:24):
Who can go to the bullpen? They got arms, Like
I said, Dustin May could be a bullpen guy. Then
what they just signed with Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates
still got Copex, still got trying, and Evan Phillips is
coming back at some pie and forget Bruce dar Graderol's
coming back and something.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, what happened to him? Yeah, what happened?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Anyway?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It's interesting people talking about the Dodgers, how upset they are.
You know, it's unfair. They spent all this money. We
talked about this earlier, and uh, here's the thing. Everybody
can spend money. The Dodger's just reinvesting off a lot
of it in the franchise and they've got more money
to start with than anybody else. But everybody can do that.
Everybody can reinvest apparently, except the owner of the Chicago Cubs,
(25:07):
Tom Ricketts. He was at something called Cubfest, I believe
that's what it was. He was talking to the fans
and they asked him about spending the kind of money
the Dodgers do, and he said, well, we can't do that. Look,
we're having a hard time breaking even. We just want
to break even. The owner of the Chicago Cubs basically
(25:29):
told his fans, look, I hear you. They spent a
lot of money. We can't do that because we had
a break even. How could the owner of a team
tell his fan base that.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It's it's it's crazy because we're in twenty twenty five
and you got to be well off enough to own
a team in any sport. And you know this as
well as I know, Fred. You know a lot of people,
a lot of wealthy people, a lot of people that
have multiple businesses. There are certain businesses and sports used
(26:06):
to be one of those where it was a lost
leader for a number of billionaires. It was a prestige thing,
like I'm okay losing money with this because it puts
me on the cover of Sports Illustrated, or it puts
me forefront. It gets me more more attention than my
tech division or my oil division or whatever. And if
(26:31):
you're going to own a sports team in twenty twenty five,
you got to be well off enough to be able
to spend money and make it a contender. And fans
nowadays are not going to put up with it anymore.
I mean, unless you are in Chicago, Boston, you know,
New York, LA, some of these markets that got the
(26:54):
loyal fan basis you better win, you better win, or
nobody's showing up.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I don't get it. I never have, but I've made
the point and people have argued with me. If your
owner is not investing in the product, if you're not
getting the result in the product you want, and the
result is you got to be competitive. You got to
try to somehow be in the conversation. If you're not
getting that, I wouldn't go to the games. I wouldn't
even give them my money. Watch it on TV. Yeah,
but it's an experience you're paying. You're paying for a
(27:24):
product that's awful.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Would you walk into Best Buy by a refrigerator and
it has no door, but they go, yeah, but look
at the inside. It looks great. Don't you want a refrigerator? Yeah,
but I want one with a door. Would you pay
for that? Why should you pay somebody who's giving you
a subpar product? Why would you do that? Because I'm
a fan. Well, if you pay for that, you're a fool.
(27:50):
I mean, if you're a fan watch on TV, don't
give them your money.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Fans Fred that that that got a chance to see
the Dodgers even only once during that run last year,
whether you went to the Padres series, you went to
the Mets series, or you went to the series with
the Yankees, if you got to go to Dodgers Stadium
one time of that, that was worth it to see
your team play in the playoffs. And even if you're
(28:15):
watching on TV, it was it was pretty cool. But
if you were in that stadium during a playoff run
where your team was in it to try to win
a World Series and you happen to be there in
the excitement, there's not a whole lot like it. There's
nothing like it as a fan. And that's what you
(28:35):
want your team to be a part of is so
I can have a chance to be in the arena
the stands when my team is making a run for
a world title.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Right, And if you have that team, yes, by all
means support that team because that's why you're in it.
You're in it to win it as a fan, so
if your team is going out of their way, you
need to support that one hundred percent. But if your
team's owner is saying, well, I don't know what you
want me to do. I gotta break even. Well, you
know a little more. We might win, no guarantee, but
(29:09):
we might not. We're just trying to break even here, buddy.
Why are you paying for that? Why watch on TV?
Why would you give them your money? If you have
a team that the owners are committed and you're in,
and even if it's a bad year and you don't
win it, but you know they're in by all means,
go and support that team. Every time you go to
(29:31):
Dodger Stadium or if you go to the Big A
and Anaheim, you're spending money that's going right to Mark
Walter and Guggenheim. When you go down to Orange County,
that money's going right to Ardi Moreno. Who would you
rather pay Mark Walter and Guggenheim? Who is giving you
a team that you could believe could win the World
Series every year? Doesn't happen that way, but certainly on
(29:54):
paper it does. It looks good. Would you rather pay
Arty Moreno or Mark Walter Back in the day, would
you rather pay Jerry Buss or Donald Sterling? Who do
you want to pay? Because that's what you're doing? Well,
If I'm gonna pay, I expect to get something in return.
(30:15):
I expect a good product. I expect a competitive team.
I expect a reason to invest my money here. If not, Again,
I'm not saying don't root for your team, just don't go.
Why would you pay somebody that's not taking care of you.
That makes no sense. You shouldn't do that. You should
never do that. Why would you pay for something subpar?
(30:39):
No one in their right mind would do that except
sports fans. So when the owner of the team says.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
But that's my team, and I'm gonna go support my team,
win loser, draw. I love my team, I love my cubbies.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I'm going that's why they show up. And then I
get it. You know what that's stinking thinking. When the
owner says I want to break even, he's telling you
what you think is important as not. That's what he's
telling you. Hey, I want you to win. You know,
cool your Jets, buddy, we're gonna break even here. Okay, Well,
(31:15):
you're not listening to me. You don't even give the
impression you're listening.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Telling you're telling Yeah, you're telling your fan base we
can't compete with the Mets. We can't compete with the Dodgers,
so don't expect us to be there, is what you're
saying to your fan base. He's like and again during
the regular season, but we're not gonna win anything. We're
not gonna win it. Come on, hang out, have a
(31:40):
good time during the summertime, you know, sunshining, come out
up to Wrigley Field. You know, spend time out there
in the in the in the outfield. It's a great
party scene. We'll play some baseball, we have some good times.
We'll win you know, every series. We'll win maybe one
or two games, but we're not gonna be there October.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
All right, Well, we're going to be back after this.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Oh yeah, come on Tuesday, Rodney p Fredrogan winding it down,
bring it Freddy. All right.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So here's the deal, Rodney. As we get out of here,
a reminder, come down and see us on Friday in Coachella.
It's about like twenty nine casino. Go to the website
AM five seventy la sports dot Com slash Promotions. AM
five seventy la sports dot Com slash Promotions. Get on
the guest list. Only good things will happen for you.
(32:44):
And we know these things. Get on the guest list,
come on down noon to three on Friday. And by
the way, if you don't make it on the guest list,
that's okay. You can come anyway. We're gonna feed you.
There'll be drinks. If you want to drink drink alcohol,
you have to pay for it. If not, we got
you covered. Christian Cooyer, Eric Dickerson will all be there.
(33:06):
We look forward to seeing you a good crowd. Last year,
last Fridays, we want to have you come down and
do it again, or last year, I should say, we
want to have you do it again this Friday. All right,
we'll see you on there. Ronnie, thank you, Kevin, great job. Rodney,
we'll talk to you tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Good sir,
And we continue on Fred Rogan, Rodney Pete and seventy
LA Sports. That was nice of Eric to drop in,
wasn't it. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, you know, un little some some work on his
off day, came in the studio and did his thing
and jumped in and said hello. That's cool. All right.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
So Friday, Spotlight twenty nine, Casino and Coachella, come on
out noon to three. Get there a little early because
we'll get there a little early as well. You will
have the opportunity to win boys in below opening wait tickets,
fifty five inch Westinghouse TV autograph, DD Jersey autographed Christian
Nacoyer Jersey, and more. What you need to do is
(00:37):
sign up at a five to seventy la sports dot
com slash Promotions to join the guest list. If you
don't sign up, you can still come. We're not gonna
hold that against you. But if you do sign up,
good things will happen for you. We have food, non
alcoholic beverages, they'll be included, and a full cash bar
will be available. So come down, you know, win a
(01:00):
couple of bucks, play a little blackjack, hit the bar.
I can't think of a better Friday for you.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
There you go, why not come on down? Who doesn't
like the Goutella Valleys by light twenty nine? Get away
for a little bit. Come on downy, We're.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Gonna have a good time. I want to see you
down there.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So of course we know how UCLA and USC did
in Big ten football. Well, now let's talk about basketball.
And it's rough. There's an adjustment, and I understand that
the travel really does affect the kids, But how sorry
can you feel for them? And I get that, I mean, first,
(01:41):
they're paid, the second they're flying and they're playing basketball.
And if you use the well, my god, they're student
athletes Division one, big time schools. Yeah, maybe the kids
are in school, but they're not student athletes or athletes students. Nonetheless,
it is difficult. Rodney is someone who played and traveled
and flew.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know that that athletes students? What do you I
know you're saying that they're athletes first and all that
kind of stuff, but they are Are you saying but
but but are you saying that as to the point
where I mean they're recognized as athletes? Yes, But are
you saying that that they don't have to go to school? No?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
They do but it's very different than when you had
to do it.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, I know I had to do I had to
show up for class. It was real, well not all
the time, but you had no no, I had to
show up. There wasn't There was definitely attendance, and there
was academic advisors and there was a whole department that
made sure you showed up. And then professors, there's a
spotlight on you. Now you got you got uh you
(02:51):
got special treatment because you traveled and you got to
make up tests and you got to do you know,
makeup stuff. But if you in the week like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
before you traveled and you had class, you had to
show up. The tenants was a factor. Well, I'm not
sure if it is or isn't anymore. I know this,
(03:13):
it's different now. I'm not even gonna lie. It is
definitely different now because because kids are leaving school early,
especially basketball players are in for one and done, so
you know, I don't I know they might sign up
for classes, but who knows how long they go to
those classes in order to be eligible. But I know football,
because you got to stay there three years. You have
to be eligible. You have to go to class.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
You have to show up, but in three years you
can go to three different schools.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Too. True, true, true? Right?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So anyway, there is travel involved, and as UCLA is
getting adjusted to the Big ten, our friend mc cronin,
who never pulls a punch and is just brutally honest,
was asked a question about travel for his team.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So much has been made about you guys going east.
You just came back from prolonged East coast trip. I'm wondering,
how have you seen anything from the teams that have
to come out here and stay out here? Is there
any kind of balance with that in terms of the
wear and tear and just what you've seen on them?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah? Is that a joke? Please tell me that's it?
Is it even comparable? Is central?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Have you ever looked at the NBA stats and with
the gamblers and all those people do on West versus East?
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Talk to Eric Musselman asking that question. Who coached in
the NBA? Good luck West? Going east? Okay, and ask
me UCLA's record east of the Mississippi in the last
twenty years, because when I got the job, I looked
it up for scheduling purposes. It's under five hundred Okay,
we have to go back four times, Paul Hall. The
(04:40):
Big Ten teams get to come to Los Angeles where
it's seventy degrees one time a year.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They don't even have to switch hotels. Weren't the same.
We're twelve miles apart. Are you kidding me? Please tell
me you're kidding me?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Do you?
Speaker 4 (04:54):
I mean, is this a plan?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Is this a planet question?
Speaker 5 (04:57):
I mean, you cannot be serious with that.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And meanwhile, we've we've seen the Eiffel Tower, or we've
seen the Statue of Liberty twice in the last three
weeks while we were landing.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
We also sold downtown. We also the Capital Capitol Building.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I mean, you're kidding he, I mean, you can't possibly
and we still got.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
To go back, and then we got to go back
for the Big Ten tournament.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
But you can I mean, you can't possibly be serious.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, they do it one time.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
You can't possibly just stop.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I'm going to eat me. You can't.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I mean, he's asked me to feel sorry because Iowa
had to come to l A for a few days.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Okay, well, have you ever see the Statue of Liberty?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Enough? Never? Never, I don't know we're talking about he's
talking about Statue of Liberty is great. Why not go
back every week? If you can love him, love love
ma Crony. He's brutally honest and and and that's what
we love about him. You know, I didn't like him
calling out his players, and I said, so, uh when
we played the clip last week and call on them
(06:00):
soft or whatever you call them, call them soft? Yeah,
called him soft, you know, publicly. I didn't like that
too much. But he's spot on with this because you
think about it. You know, there's teams come out for
the from the Big Ten. They come out, they play
us C, UCLA, especially in basketball, right, So they're they're
playing both of the schools here in LA with twelve
(06:22):
miles apart. So they're not changing hotels. They're coming out
to LA for three days, four days tops and staying
in the same hotel and playing both UCLA and UCLA
USC and A probably in a three day span, right,
play them on play you know, UCLA on Thursday and
SC on Saturday, or vice versa. That's one trip that
(06:43):
they got to make out here, and and and and
maybe two if they're playing Oregon in Washington, right, which
is probably they'll boke into one trip as well. They'll
play Oregon and then they fly up to Seattle and
play Washington and then they'll go back home, whereas the
west coast got to go back there to play Iowa
and Ohio State and Michigan State and Michigan and all
(07:06):
the Big ten schedules, all of those guys back there.
And I played on both coasts. I played in Philadelphia, Detroit,
both east coast cities, Philadelphia being the most east coast
and actually Washington being the most east coast, and I
played in Oakland. And I will tell you it is
(07:26):
far easier coming from east to west to play than
it is going from west to east, because you gain
hours when you come here, but you lose hours when
you go that way. And the jet lag is real
when you go back east as opposed to coming back
out west. It's so much easier going from east to
west than it is west to east.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I never actually realized that until I heard Mix say it,
and then he cited Eric Musselman. Then he said, if
you just look at stats, just look at stats, you
will see that it's more difficult to go to the east.
And Rodney, I never knew that, Oh, yeah, definitely. I
mean the time is a factor. We're talking three hour
(08:09):
time change going to the east, and you know, you're
a lot of times you're getting there when you're flying
that way, you're getting there late at night, or you're
getting there at night time and waking up and you're
waking up, say you're waking up for you got a
one o'clock game, you know, which means you got to
wake up probably at nine o'clock for your pregame meal
(08:34):
and then get on the bus at ten o'clock to
get to the arena at eleven to be ready for
the game.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Well, if you're doing that, that means you're up at
five thirty six o'clock West Coast time and your body clock,
which is probably earlier than you're normally getting up. So
it's a difference. Whereas you come from the East Coast
to the West coast, you're sleeping in basically, you know,
you're not getting you get up at ten o'clock. It's
you know, it's one o'clock in the afternoon on the
(09:02):
East Coast for your body clock, so you're well rested.
It's a whole different a whole different ball game, and
it's tougher. It is tough for I think for for
for basketball players, and it is for football players that
come in you know, after a week and you you know,
you're you come in early and you're overnight, whereas sometimes
it basketball, you got to spend a few days and
so your body still is trying to adjust over those
(09:25):
couple of days, whereas football, the shock of it is
just you know, you're in and out, so it's like
not as bad, but it's still it's still difficult.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Well, how many days do you think? And in football,
because I'll go in the day before. Yeah, you get
there the day before, and if you're going west to east,
that's not a lot of time to recover. I mean,
if you have a one o'clock kick in the eastern window,
it's ten am here.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Absolutely well you're not.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Used to playing at ten o'clock in the morning, which
is why a lot of teams leave on Friday when
when it's an East Coast game, like if the play
Philly like they did, they will leave on Friday, so
they have that full Friday, get their Friday night, say,
and then have a full Saturday to sleep in.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
To kind of get used to it a little bit.
And then have one day of sleeping and then when
they wake up on Sunday they kind of kind of
get ready for it. You know, a lot of times
these basketball they play back to back, you know, which
which makes it difficult difficult. So or they're there for
extended periods of time where their body clock is not
not on it, and they got to do it multiple times,
(10:34):
you know, and in a short period of time, so
it makes it more difficult. So if you're U. C. L. A.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Mccronin theoretically, if you play Thursday, you need to get
there Tuesday to get adjusted Wednesday to play Thursday. But
I don't think they do.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
They don't. They go to day before and probably end
up there the night before they have to play either
even early evening game or afternoon game. But yeah, they're
going the day before and then they play that game,
which they get probably exhausted and probably you know, if
they're playing, say they're playing Ohio State and Michigan Michigan State,
(11:15):
which is you know, kind of close to each other,
then they got to travel to Michigan on the day
off and then play the next day, play Michigan or
Michigan State. It's it's it's it's difficult going that way.
It's definitely difficult going that way. It's definitely a difference.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Well, people said when they joined the Big Ten, yeah,
travel would be a concern, But I never heard anybody
say the travel would be a concern just because your
body clock. That I did not know. Oh, I just
start your traveling a lot.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
No. No, it's your body clock. When you're used to
getting up, when you're used to playing, when you're used
to having breakfast, when you're used to eating, all those
things change when you go to the East Coast. And
that's why a lot of teams try to go as
early as they possiblely get out there a couple of
days early so they can kind of get at least
a day used to it. And I don't think that's
the case when they especially college basketball, where they don't
(12:07):
have the luxury of doing that, because say they play
a game here at Polly on Tuesday, and then they
have a game against Ohio State or Penn State on
Thursday or on Friday, then they got one day to
get there and get acclimated to it to go play.
(12:30):
So it's definitely a strain on the body clock.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So do you want your owner to say we want
to win or do you want your owner to say
we want to break even? That's next Fred Rogan, Rodney
EP and five seventy LA Sports. In case you didn't hear,
the Dodgers did it again. This time they signed reliever
Kirby Yates. And what do we know about Kirby Yates?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
We had a one point one seven era like thirty
three saves out and signed Kirby Yates to add him
to Tanner Scott, to add him to the rest of
the bullpen. And you wonder are they done? Have they
done it all? Who knows? Because apparently they can do
whatever they want and they're doing it. And you look
at a guy like Yates with the record he's had
(13:16):
had some arm issues in the past but came back,
had a good year last year. If you look at
what they've done, this guy would be the closer on
a lot of teams. He might pitch the sixth inning here. Yeah,
So what you're doing is you're assembling so much talent
that no one feels the pressure.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Do you think, Fred, do you think? Let me ask
you this, because the Dodgers obviously look starting pitching wise,
they are loaded, And is there any I mean, look,
I know Sazaki is going to start minor league contract,
all that, right, and probably is there any doubt that
he's gonna be with the big league club as soon
(13:56):
as possible. Yeah, O das track a fast tracking right, Yeah, like,
oh yeah, he's got a sign a minor league contract.
You might, I don't want to hear it. I mean,
Kat throws one hundred and two. He's six ' four,
he's a phenom, got an incredible splitter that nobody hit.
He will be their opening day, He'll be on the roster.
(14:19):
So with the abundance of pitchers, do you think that
the Dodgers and what happened last year where they had
to rely on a few bullpen games in critical moments
throughout the season and especially in the playoffs where they
(14:40):
had to rely on it in a critical series against
the San Diego Padres and Ned Coletti was on earlier
talked about the game that they had a bullpen game
against Dylan Ceese, one of their best pitchers down there,
the Dodgers created a bullpen game and won that game
eight to nothing. That they looked at that and go, okay,
(15:01):
we're gonna get some great starting pitching, and we're gonna
have that, but our bullpen's got to be lights out too,
because if we have to go to some bullpen games,
we got the arms to be able to do that.
With Tanner, Scott Chriby, Yates. You know you mentioned trying
coming back and and Kopek closing, Evan Phillips coming back.
(15:22):
I mean, they've got an abundance of bullpen arms now
that if they need to go to a bullpen game
or do a bullpen game, they can handle it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Well, I don't think the thing we found last year
is you can never have too much pitching. I mean,
just look at the rotation right now. And by the way, yeah,
but their rotation was spent.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Is remember people were saying, how do you not have
a starting pitcher for the game four of the NLDS
against the Padres. People were people were complaining, fire, Dave Roberts, fire,
Andrew Friedman. How did they not have a starting pitcher
with that game? How are they going with a bullpen
(16:03):
game in such a critical game? And it worked out, Yeah,
it worked out.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
But I'm saying, because you can never have enough starting pitching,
Let's look at the rotation right now and then who's
still around?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
All right?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
So, uh, if the season starts tomorrow and the Dodgers
used to make a big deal out of your opening
day starter, I don't think it matters anymore. Quite frankly,
not with this group.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Since Kershaw has kind of, you know, faded a little
bit and he's in the twilight of his career and
he doesn't need to be this opening day started. As
we found out last year, it doesn't mean as much anymore.
I think I think they're looking at it as this,
let's pin our rotation, how it's going to be, and
(16:55):
who whoever it's going to be, is whoever it's going
to be.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Right, It's just matchups. That's how they do it. It's
just matchups.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So so you couldn't, like years in years previous, it
was it was no brainer that Kershaw was gonna be
open to a starter. If he's healthy, he's gonna be
open to the day starter. Yeah, where do you see
it now? Where do you see it now? Is there
is there an opening day starter that you look up
on this roster going okay, yeah, that guy's gonna be
opening They start, Well, here's the thing glass now, Yamamoto.
(17:23):
Who do you think would be Blake Snell? Who do
you think that they would pick as the opening day starter?
Or is it the matchup of the team. I think
it's a matchup. I mean, look at it. So who's
gonna start opening day? Let's take you that out.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Well, last, let's just assume Glass now is healthy, he's
ready to go. Okay, Well, you can't go wrong with him,
can you No?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
All right?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
But Yamamoto is ready to go. Well, you can't go
wrong with him, can you?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
No? All right?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Snell's fine. Now, he kind of struggles in the first
part of the season, but then a second half he's
on fire. But let's just say we're beginning anew he's
healthy and ready to go. You can't go wrong with
an my man, No, okay, So there's four guys right there.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Now.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
He's not going to pitch at the beginning, but he will.
Otani he won't be the opening day starter, but he'll
be in there. They're gonna let him heal a little more.
And because they're letting him heal a little bit, stay
right there.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Stay right there. How do you think they use Otani
this year? With the abundance of pitchers that they've got
now that they've signed, how do you think they use Otani?
Given the fact that he had an historic season last
year fifty to fifty nobody'd ever done that didn't pitch
last year. The value of him is at the plate
or so on the mound, given what they've done in
(18:52):
the offseason. Do you think that the Dodgers are looking
to that going Otani's a bonus on the hill, but
we look at him or as more of an offensive
player than him on the mound. He could throw occasionally
for us, but we're not counting on him being a
part of a five man six man rotation, but we'll
(19:14):
throw him out there from time to time.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Well, remember it is a six man rotation this year. Yeah,
And I think they're just fine with him pitching once
a week, six man rotation. He'd go once a week,
Yamamoto would go once a week, Sazanki would go once
a week. Klass Now would go once a week, six
man rotation. And then you go, well, who else do
(19:37):
you have? Gonsolin? Is he gonna be okay? Dustin May?
Is he gonna be all right? Bobby Miller? Will he
find what he lost? Landon Knack he looked good and
then you throw Kersh onto the mix and Gavin Stone.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
But what I'm saying is, how do you think they
use Otani? I think he once in the middle of
that's part of that rotation mixed. Yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I think once he's ready to go, he's part of
the rotation. Now when they start him as a different question,
I mean, at what point in the season they let
him pitch, But he wants to pitch, so I think
once he's up.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
They want ready. Say he starts in June, late June,
early July pitching. Do you think they keep him like,
let's get him ready to go case, you know, as
we need him for the postseason because he can be
lights out too. Well, if they put him that long,
what did they say they don't want anybody to go
over one hundred.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
And forty innings this year. Yeah, I think that's what
their plan is. So if that's the case, well, I
think they'll get him if he's ready before the end
of June he's pitching. I think he goes as soon
as he's ready whatever that means. Whenever they determine and
he goes in his normal spot. Yes, I think he
(20:54):
goes in the normal spot.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And if anybody goes down, they still got like you said,
they got dustin, May got and they got somebody to
step in to assume that six man rotation.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Well, right now, since Otani's not going to start pitching,
they're gonna need two of those guys. Theyre only have
four because Otani's not gonna start.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oh, they got what they got glass now Yamamoto.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
They've got smell in Sazaki.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Now Sazaki.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Let's say he got four, so they're gonna need two more.
Is that Gonsolin? Is it may Is at Nack, is
it Miller?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Is it Kershaw?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Not? Not initially?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, because he's not gonna be able to go initially.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I don't think we'll see him to August. If we
see him, but look at it like that. Let's say
he's ready to go in August. And let's say he's
ready to go in August and his back is okay
and his velocity is good, that's a bonus.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
It's like a guy you on, Bobby Miller, Bobby Miller,
Are they gonna work him back in? Which I think
they should.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I think he's got tremendous upside and tremendous talent. He
fell off last year obviously, the off time, the hurt.
When he got hurt, he was not the same when
he came back. Walker Buhler founded Bobby Miller didn't necessarily
find it. But I think Bobby Miller is a talent
that they want to hold on to because I think
he is an exceptional talent with exceptional stuff and an
(22:27):
arm that entry kind of set him back last year.
I don't think they want to let him go. If
they can get him back in the mix, that'd be
great because yeah, so, I mean, they do have pitching.
And it's funny I read an article, well, you know,
do the Dodgers have enough pitching? They have more pitching
than anybody. Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
You know this team, you look at it on paper,
there's some weaknesses. What I don't know if they have
enough pitching. Let me ask you this, who's got more? Nobody?
You tell me anybody in baseball right now that has
ten guys that can start.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You think about it. They're bullpenning. I mean, Dustin May
is probably gonna be a bullpen guy, right right, I
mean he's gonna be a bullpen guy. We don't know
about you know, whether they're going to go back to
starting Gonslon or not. Maybe at the start of the
season he does, Bessie, we'll see if when he gets healthy.
(23:21):
But when he's healthy, he's a guy that they'll use.
They've got a plethora of pitching to utilize, whether it
be bullpen, whether it be starting games.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I guess the thing you can say is, yes, they
have a lot of pitchers to go to, but all
of them, or at least many of them, have had
injury history. So how reliable can you be, which is
why they went crazy on.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
That's the thing.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
So as much as you love glass Now Yamamoto, all
these guys have had arm issues.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
And it's usually been because they've not extended himself as
much as they did when they got here. Glass Now
pitched more innings than he ever pitched before with the Dodgers.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
Had injury issues before that, too.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Said, injury issues before that. So let's limit that, you know.
Let's let's save Yamamoto and make him effective and not
overwork him. The young kid coming in, let's not overwork him.
Otani when he comes back, We're not going to overwork him.
Lake Snell is a workhorse, but we're not going to
overwork him either. And then you think about the bullpen.
(24:24):
Who can go to the bullpen? They got arms, Like
I said, Dustin May could be a bullpen guy. Then
what they just signed with Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates
still got Copex, still got trying, and Evan Phillips is
coming back at some pie and forget Bruce dar Graderol's
coming back and something.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, what happened to him? Yeah, what happened?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Anyway?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
It's interesting people talking about the Dodgers, how upset they are.
You know, it's unfair. They spent all this money. We
talked about this earlier, and uh, here's the thing. Everybody
can spend money. The Dodger's just reinvesting off a lot
of it in the franchise and they've got more money
to start with than anybody else. But everybody can do that.
Everybody can reinvest apparently, except the owner of the Chicago Cubs,
(25:07):
Tom Ricketts. He was at something called Cubfest, I believe
that's what it was. He was talking to the fans
and they asked him about spending the kind of money
the Dodgers do, and he said, well, we can't do that. Look,
we're having a hard time breaking even. We just want
to break even. The owner of the Chicago Cubs basically
(25:29):
told his fans, look, I hear you. They spent a
lot of money. We can't do that because we had
a break even. How could the owner of a team
tell his fan base that.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It's it's it's crazy because we're in twenty twenty five
and you got to be well off enough to own
a team in any sport. And you know this as
well as I know, Fred. You know a lot of people,
a lot of wealthy people, a lot of people that
have multiple businesses. There are certain businesses and sports used
(26:06):
to be one of those where it was a lost
leader for a number of billionaires. It was a prestige thing,
like I'm okay losing money with this because it puts
me on the cover of Sports Illustrated, or it puts
me forefront. It gets me more more attention than my
tech division or my oil division or whatever. And if
(26:31):
you're going to own a sports team in twenty twenty five,
you got to be well off enough to be able
to spend money and make it a contender. And fans
nowadays are not going to put up with it anymore.
I mean, unless you are in Chicago, Boston, you know,
New York, LA, some of these markets that got the
(26:54):
loyal fan basis you better win, you better win, or
nobody's showing up.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I don't get it. I never have, but I've made
the point and people have argued with me. If your
owner is not investing in the product, if you're not
getting the result in the product you want, and the
result is you got to be competitive. You got to
try to somehow be in the conversation. If you're not
getting that, I wouldn't go to the games. I wouldn't
even give them my money. Watch it on TV. Yeah,
but it's an experience you're paying. You're paying for a
(27:24):
product that's awful.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Would you walk into Best Buy by a refrigerator and
it has no door, but they go, yeah, but look
at the inside. It looks great. Don't you want a refrigerator? Yeah,
but I want one with a door. Would you pay
for that? Why should you pay somebody who's giving you
a subpar product? Why would you do that? Because I'm
a fan. Well, if you pay for that, you're a fool.
(27:50):
I mean, if you're a fan watch on TV, don't
give them your money.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Fans Fred that that that got a chance to see
the Dodgers even only once during that run last year,
whether you went to the Padres series, you went to
the Mets series, or you went to the series with
the Yankees, if you got to go to Dodgers Stadium
one time of that, that was worth it to see
your team play in the playoffs. And even if you're
(28:15):
watching on TV, it was it was pretty cool. But
if you were in that stadium during a playoff run
where your team was in it to try to win
a World Series and you happen to be there in
the excitement, there's not a whole lot like it. There's
nothing like it as a fan. And that's what you
(28:35):
want your team to be a part of is so
I can have a chance to be in the arena
the stands when my team is making a run for
a world title.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Right, And if you have that team, yes, by all
means support that team because that's why you're in it.
You're in it to win it as a fan, so
if your team is going out of their way, you
need to support that one hundred percent. But if your
team's owner is saying, well, I don't know what you
want me to do. I gotta break even. Well, you
know a little more. We might win, no guarantee, but
(29:09):
we might not. We're just trying to break even here, buddy.
Why are you paying for that? Why watch on TV?
Why would you give them your money? If you have
a team that the owners are committed and you're in,
and even if it's a bad year and you don't
win it, but you know they're in by all means,
go and support that team. Every time you go to
(29:31):
Dodger Stadium or if you go to the Big A
and Anaheim, you're spending money that's going right to Mark
Walter and Guggenheim. When you go down to Orange County,
that money's going right to Ardi Moreno. Who would you
rather pay Mark Walter and Guggenheim? Who is giving you
a team that you could believe could win the World
Series every year? Doesn't happen that way, but certainly on
(29:54):
paper it does. It looks good. Would you rather pay
Arty Moreno or Mark Walter Back in the day, would
you rather pay Jerry Buss or Donald Sterling? Who do
you want to pay? Because that's what you're doing? Well,
If I'm gonna pay, I expect to get something in return.
(30:15):
I expect a good product. I expect a competitive team.
I expect a reason to invest my money here. If not, Again,
I'm not saying don't root for your team, just don't go.
Why would you pay somebody that's not taking care of you.
That makes no sense. You shouldn't do that. You should
never do that. Why would you pay for something subpar?
(30:39):
No one in their right mind would do that except
sports fans. So when the owner of the team says.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
But that's my team, and I'm gonna go support my team,
win loser, draw. I love my team, I love my cubbies.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I'm going that's why they show up. And then I
get it. You know what that's stinking thinking. When the
owner says I want to break even, he's telling you
what you think is important as not. That's what he's
telling you. Hey, I want you to win. You know,
cool your Jets, buddy, we're gonna break even here. Okay, Well,
(31:15):
you're not listening to me. You don't even give the
impression you're listening.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Telling you're telling Yeah, you're telling your fan base we
can't compete with the Mets. We can't compete with the Dodgers,
so don't expect us to be there, is what you're
saying to your fan base. He's like and again during
the regular season, but we're not gonna win anything. We're
not gonna win it. Come on, hang out, have a
(31:40):
good time during the summertime, you know, sunshining, come out
up to Wrigley Field. You know, spend time out there
in the in the in the outfield. It's a great
party scene. We'll play some baseball, we have some good times.
We'll win you know, every series. We'll win maybe one
or two games, but we're not gonna be there October.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
All right, Well, we're going to be back after this.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Oh yeah, come on Tuesday, Rodney p Fredrogan winding it down,
bring it Freddy. All right.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So here's the deal, Rodney. As we get out of here,
a reminder, come down and see us on Friday in Coachella.
It's about like twenty nine casino. Go to the website
AM five seventy la sports dot Com slash Promotions. AM
five seventy la sports dot Com slash Promotions. Get on
the guest list. Only good things will happen for you.
(32:44):
And we know these things. Get on the guest list,
come on down noon to three on Friday. And by
the way, if you don't make it on the guest list,
that's okay. You can come anyway. We're gonna feed you.
There'll be drinks. If you want to drink drink alcohol,
you have to pay for it. If not, we got
you covered. Christian Cooyer, Eric Dickerson will all be there.
(33:06):
We look forward to seeing you a good crowd. Last year,
last Fridays, we want to have you come down and
do it again, or last year, I should say, we
want to have you do it again this Friday. All right,
we'll see you on there. Ronnie, thank you, Kevin, great job. Rodney,
we'll talk to you tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Good sir,
Roggin And Rodney News
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