All right, we continue on Fred Rogan, Rodney Pete on I SEV of the LA Sports. Later on this hour, Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times joins the show. He's always got something to say. We'll see if there are any any casualties when he's on today, because a lot of people take in coming when Dylan's on, so we'll find out if that works. Also, don't forget if you don't have the iHeartRadio app, what are you waiting for
Get the app? And if you have the app, you can stream the show wherever you go live and if you miss any part of the show, you can go on back and podcast it. So get the app and be with us twenty four hours a day. You can always keep us close to your heart. Just put the phone in your pocket, put your AirPod in, and we're going with you, because that's the kind of guys we are. As the Dodgers open preseason play tomorrow against the Cubs, you'll hear it right here in the radio station starting
at noon. The team is in place, our broadcasting team is in place as well, So be with us at noon tomorrow. Major League Baseball this spring training is going to try something and it's basically the computerized strike zone. So now they're going to bring it into spring training. But here's the way it's going to work. It's not going to call balls and strikes for every pitch they've been doing in the minors. What's going to happen is you can challenge a ball or a strike. You can
challenge that. Now, if you challenge that, they will go to the automated strike zone to make the determination. You have a total of two challenges. If you challenge and your challenge is upheld, you keep it. But if it's denied, if you missed, if you're goofed, you'll lose it and you only get two. So let's start with that. Rodney, what do you think of that? I kind of actually like the challenge aspect of it. That way it keeps
it keeps the umpires and involvement involves and strikes. It allows the catchers to still be involved in being a catcher because part of being a catcher is maneuvering behind the plate, framing pitches, catching pitches, location, all of those things.
So I think that is that is a good thing, and and that you you know, you only get a number of challenges. You know, you don't want to see, you know, teams that that that don't like a certain umpire or teams that are just trying to waste time out that they're challenging every single pitch. So there's got to be a limited number to that. So I don't
actually think I like the format. I think that eventually, if they utilize this, that the challenge will challenges will be a little bit more than two because there are gonna be some close calls and some close situations that guys challenge and all of a sudden they become you think it's a striking, it's a it's a barely a ball, and you lose that challenge and you can challenge anymore. So yeah, you have to be strategic, but I think
it gets more than two. But I do if we're going to use the system, I kind of like using it this way then every ball and strike being automated.
One thing too, that I'm not sure if people are aware of the umpire can basically choose not to go to the ABS system if they determine that there's influence on the batter, So basically the challenge only comes from the batter. They cannot get influenced from the dugout. They can't have the manager say oh, come on, and then the batter says, yeah, challenge it. It's strictly up to the batter, and if the umpire.
And momentarily right, it's right, immediately right, instantaneously.
Yes, they cannot have any influence from any other player. And if the umpire deems there's influence from another player, they can choose not to grant you a challenge.
Is that the same with the picture. Does the picture get the challenge? I don't think the hitter, I'm not entred.
I don't think so. I think it's just the hitter so wrong.
Pictures too, Pictures get to tap their hat or di something.
Yeah, you're right, it goes both ways, Ridney, You're right, it goes both ways. But you cannot have any influence from any other outside source other than the actual player themselves on the field.
All right. So if the pitch is in the dirt and the umpire calls it a strike and Dave Roberts or the Dodger bench goes, oh, you can't challenge that.
If the umpire teams that you influence the bat or into saying they want to challenge.
Yeah, okay, I gotta be He's got to be direct right away to the umpire. He got challenge that, right, And it's got to be almost simultaneous, is he because if he looks at the dugout and go, oh, challenge that, they don't know that. But if he deems that happened simultaneously, like everybody went up in arms about the pitch, including the hitter, then he can say you were you did it instantaneously. They just don't want him to pause, look at look at Dave Roberts and go okay, I want to challenge.
Correct. That's what they want to guard against.
I don't like that. I think if you're gonna chat look, obviously you don't have forty seconds to challenge it. But if you, if you aren't sure, or somebody goes hey, you should be able to challenge it. You should be able to challenge that. Or what did you say before, Rodney, when we talked about this like a month and a half ago, you just yell out, challenge, challenge somebody else, have challenge from somewhere, challenge right, if it's Dave Roberts,
it's challenge done. That's what I'm saying but in any event, because.
Because they want a kid been into player's hands, right, they want to make sure that there's because there's there's video, there's live feeds, there's all kinds of stuff that you may see. They don't want to they don't want that the influence if you're a hit up there, you know, if you feel if it's a ball or strike, then you're the one that's got to make that decision.
Now, it can hurt that challenge, right as as a player, their owners falls on your shoulders because if you say that you want to challenge it and it doesn't go when it's against you, you're affecting the team moving forward, right, So it's people don't just frivolously say challenge that, you
know what some guys might be apt to do. So it actually it adds a little bit of accountability on the players part, Like I can hurt the team if I try to have a challenge and I know them a heart of hearts, that's not a strike or it's not a ball or whatever.
Right, But ye, some guy may want to challenge when he's up, when he's up three and oh, three and oh on the college, it's a questionable strike and he challenge it's three and oh I'm gonna be three and one?
Why are you challenging? Right? But that's no one to four fisty walk. But here's the thing, you know what I mean? What if you blow out your challenges in the first two winnings, No way. So obviously you have to hold onto your challenge so it manners. So what are they telling them the dugout, no challenge before the seventh inning? They might if you can challenge your challenge,
That's how I look at it. I'm not saying you should have one hundred of them, but if somebody in the dugout, you know, see something, they should be able to yield challenge. And I like that system of just yelling it. Don't throw a red flag or anything, just yell challenge and that's it. You got to look at it. But then they're going to go to the automated strike zone to determine it. So the automated strike zone apparently will do a better job. And because of that, this
is going to happen. And this is the thing. And if you're a fan, you're not gonna like this very much because it's not made for TV. They're gonna get rid of, or at least they're thinking of getting rid of the k zone, which is the box that you see when it batter's up at the plate when you can make a determination. Well that pictures two feet outside he called a strike. Here's why they're going to get rid of it, because they're saying, the box isn't always right,
but the empire is. Think about that. The box isn't always right, but the umpire is. So when we switch to the automated strike zone, there can be no question about that. So we won't have that box anymore because major League Baseball is handling the strike zone, So that box will be gone and then it'll just be up to the umpire or the computer.
What do you think of that plan? Ride getting rid of it altogether, getting rid of the box. Yeah, I understand it, because it's not Major League Baseball system, right, it's the network system. So major League Baseball, I get it. They don't want to have conflicts with their own system. If they're going to implement this and their system is
contradicts what the networks have, then that's a problem. If we're going to use a system, it's going to be our system and that's what major League Baseball is saying.
I get it.
So that's what's gonna happen, and that okay with it. Because you're a big box guy. You like that box. You're a big box guy. You like it adds to the broadcast. Anything that adds to the broadcast is a good thing. More tools, more gadgets, more gimmicks. It's good the majority of time it's good. The only time it was bad is when, for whatever reason, the people that operated at that time Fox Sports West that became Ballys, that became Fan Duel. Anyway, it's the same production group.
They decided to be great to draw lines on the ice watching the puck passed around.
Oh the blue puck, that's right.
It wasn't even the blue puck, Kevin.
So that that's when Fox, I think Big Fox actually got the NHL package and they put that on nationally.
Yeah, later on the regional broadcast. What they did just think of a guy skating to the right and passing the puck. There'd be like a line on the ice following the puck, and then he'd passed it across and there'd be another line. It was the most confusing, awful idea. I don't know who had that idea, but it was terrible and they did it for like two games. And you know, whoever came up with the thoughts, see it works until everybody looked at it and said, that is
the worst thing we've ever seen. But what they did do is pay them money to make that happen. That was a bad idea. That was a terrible idea. But the box is a good idea. I mean, it lets you stay really invested in every pitch. If you're just watching at home, every pitch, you're invested because remember their TV shows, I understand their games, their TV shows all are you do you think this is this.
Information that we got coming out of here with with abs and all that is trying is a way to or Baseball to discredit that box that we've seen for a number of years. Now, say don't trust that box. What you've been seeing over the years. You know people like you that are proponents of that box, because we shouldn't know more than the than the people there. But yeah, that box is not always right, it's not always correct. So you know, the credibility of that box is just don't believe it.
What you've been seeing over the years is not really accurate. I think that's exactly what's happening. I think the empires have been complaining. I think I think the Empire's union is upset. They look bad. I mean they look bad. When the ball is a foot outside and the guy calls it a strike and it's clear that it's not even close to the box, they look bad. As a matter of fact, since the inception of the box, the umpires behind the plate have really been getting it bad
because we're judging your work. There is a report card, and if you're working the plate, you're getting a lot of grains, and they're not writing out a curve. You're getting a lot of grains. If you're working the bases, you might be tested twice. Okay, you got two shots to make an A. But behind the plate, when every pitch in theory counts, you have over one hundred chances to make an A. Well, nobody gets straight a's one
hundred times in a row all the time. So then it comes down to, Okay, if it's not an A, what is it? And then if the ball bounces, then they call it a strike. It's you know, it's outside the box. But maybe it was close to the bottom of the strike zone, and the guy calls it a strike. We can all see that you failed. That's an f and nobody wants f's. We want all a's. So I do think that they're taking that box away because I
think the umpires are complained about it. I think when they start and umpires have said it, and Rodney you said, some players have said it, that box isn't always accurate. Could we make the argument it's pretty damn close. Can we make that argument? Oh, if something that is so egregious that it's not even remotely near the box, it's still close enough we can still see it. And if the Empire misses the call, I think that really frustrates them and upsets them, and I think it makes their
job harder. It's like, why are you looking at me so closely? Why look at me? Yeah?
Do you think that they're judged on that box as opposed to, you know, major League Baseball looking at them objectively from another situation, as opposed to looking at it through that box. And we counted thirteen times that you called the wrong pitch. You called it a ball when it was a strike, and you called it a strike. When it was a ball thirteen times in the course of nine innings, you missed the call based on that box, or they got their own system it says based on abs, you only miss seven.
Here's what I think. Box opens up more questions. If there's no box, then everything they do is internal. Everything they do is which is what they want right in the league office, right. They don't want you sitting there going these guys are terrible. They don't want that. And by the way, they don't want to be terrible. And there's a good possibility that it's always been this way. I mean, when Angel Hernandez was missing pitches, go ahead, Rodney.
When Angel was missing pitches, and it happened quite often, Angel missing pitches, and he subsequently retired. But I would imagine that there are more people watching the box when Angel was behind the plate than ever was before, just because people were waiting to see how many pitches he was gonna miss. When Angel was missing pitches, and it was abundantly clearer was it the box or Angel?
It was Angel? The box dotted the exclamation point. I just think it's a great thing for the game. I think it's good for baseball. I think it keeps fans more engaged. But but if they went to the automated strike zone the whole time, I would have a problem with it the whole time, not the challenge the whole time.
Like you could challenge as many times as you want to, or just have the automatic strike zone call the strikes and balls. Just have the automatic strike umpire. There's no challenge or anything. It's just an automatic strikes. How would that work? They would get a click click click twice for a ball, click once for a strike. Somebody umpire's ear right?
You would you would probably want you're right, the umpire to call it, so they'd have a system. Yeah, but I wouldn't even have that. What I would do? Call it you ready, here's the pit Yeah, scoreboard strike, just like that. The scoreboard calls it right, the scoreboard strike, It's recorded. That's what I would do.
So would you have like the hometown announcer go even you know, a wild over opposing player striking out. You want like Todd lights to be like when a guy gets wrung up? Is that what you want? Over the speaker at Dodger Stadium Todd with his big booming voice, is that what you want?
Yeah? Yeah, is that what you want? Fred? To be honest, I wouldn't mind it.
I'm sure you would. I'll say that's all, that's exactly what Fred wants.
But the cares. But then for the Dodgers, strike out even, strike three.
Strike three, right three now.
Batting and Manny Machadle strikes out.
A seating money, don't you see that?
Living at the game, that would be I will say, Fred, I hate your ideas. Like ninety of the time, I'm actually liking this one. They think that'd be fun, It would be hilarious.
People would get so into it. They get so into it.
That's what we need, I mean, because it's really no different than at an NBA game.
If you know, Lebron makes it three, Lebron James.
And if Steph makes it three at Staples, it's just Jo Steph Curry.
I don't call Lebron bricked it.
That's true.
Yes, they don't say that the guy strikes out, that's a bad thing. Strike three. It has to be at here piece in the umpire's ear. There has to be something in that.
That's the original model. Rodney.
Yeah, it would be after word, automated, fully automated zone, the umpire will still be back there. If the umpire will get a buzz or something in their ear that would tell them whether it's a ball or strike, and they would call it to try to keep some level of normalcy for themselves and for all the players on the field.
All right, Yeah, can we shift to something real quick here, real quick? Sure? So? P K. Souban played in the National Hockey League and he's not an analyst for ESPN on their NHL coverage, and it was talking about the difference between the NHL All Star Game and the NBA All Star Game and the mindset. Listen to them.
Hockey's a different sport from the NBA. You can't compare the cultures because of the way the game is played. You can step on an NBA floor and go through the emotions. You can't do that in hockey. You can't like the culture of our sport. You have to play it with passion. You have to be willing to fight, you have to be willing to leave it on the ice.
That's what fans are investing in. So for us, when we charge fifteen hundred dollars for a ticket to come to Fortit, fans know what they're getting cal mccarr, the best defenseman in the world, wasn't in the lineup for this game. This was the most viewed game that we've had.
In years, and you see it. It's because it's.
Not just based on the skill and talent, it's based on the pride. I got a question for the NBA players, what the hell are you playing for? What are you playing for? It's not about the money. You make all the money. What you're injured. Well, there's a difference between being hurt and injured.
In hockey. We play hurt. That is the.
Culture of the sport. It's always been that way. You got to fight sometimes for your country. You got to compete. You got to go out there and leave it on the ice because those people are paying the price of admission, so fans know whether our stars are on the ice or not. They're getting their money's worth. The NBA has that issue that they got to work on. You got to create a better culture for your players.
It starts with the leaders. This issue.
There was no issue in Jordan was around, there was no issue in Kobe was around. There's no issue in Sydney Crosby's around. There's no issue in Wayne Gretzky was around, because those are true leaders. They lead by example, Sidney Crosby Hockey Canada, those players both Canada and US. It was the players that did that for the four nations.
That's not the league.
The league set it up, but the players went out there and decided and said.
You know what, boys, we're all in.
You gotta be on the court, you gotta be there, and when you're there, you gotta go all in. The fans got to feel that they're getting their money's worth, and right now there's a big difference between what the NHL's doing with those events and what the NBA is doing.
All right, Rodney, what are your thoughts?
I mean, I think there's something to definitely what he says, and I would agree to this point that you can't half ass hockey because hockey's a physical sport and if you half asked, you will get hurt. Same thing with football. You can't go out and foot ball and go halfway. If you're playing and you're in there and you're trying to dog it or you're going half, you're gonna get hurt. Somebody's gonna hit you and knock you out. So you don't you can't half asset when you go between your lines.
Basketball different story, because you don't have to necessarily play defense, you can kind of let up a little bit.
I don't know if he's.
Talking about the four Nations tournaments versus you know, regular season hockey games and regular season NBA games. If he's talking to four Nations versus what we saw from the NBA All Start, that's a different that's a different animal.
As I said before, you're playing for your country. It's more like Olympics, the hockey, the four nation hockey deal, then the All Star Game, playing you know, against your peers that you're not trying to get hurt and there's a buddy system going on if you're playing against If USA's playing against Spain and France and Serbia and a four Nations basketball tournament, trust me, they play a little bit harder than they played in the NBA All Star Game, if it was if it was set up that way
as the NBA Four Nations. Uh, they play a little bit harder. So that I disagree with and and but I also disagree with if if guys what we don't see in the NBA as guys playing every game, which is true but if you're going to a Golden State game and Steph Curry is playing, you're getting Steph Curry. Am I right or wrong? You're not getting half as Steph Curry. If he's on the court, you're getting Steph Curry.
So this is where I disagree.
If you go, if Lebron happens to play and not holding a cup of coffee like he did for you, Fred or glass of wine, come in with a Starbucks cuff. If he's actually on the court, he's playing, you're getting Lebron.
That's absolutely fair.
So in that point I disagree with him that they bring it every night because the one thing that the that the NBA players don't do is play hurt enough like hockey players and football players probably do, and they don't play every night that they're available.
They will sit.
So a fan coming to the arena thinking they're gonna see Kawhi Leonard or Lebron James go at it. They may not. But if they're on the court playing, they're gonna play. That's fair browin fans.
Your number three ranked women's basketball team returns to Pauli presented by Westcom this Thursday. They face number twenty five ranked Illinois for the annual Play for K game at six thirty. Visit UCLA Bruins dot com slash tickets for more information. All right, when't we come back? Dylan Hernandez of The Times will join us. He has been in spring training with the Dodgers. All right, Fred rug and Rodney Pete and five seventy LA Sports. Dodgers open spring
training tomorrow. The games at noon right here on the radio station against the Cubs. Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers, and a man who has been with the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch in Glendale is Dylan Hernandez of The Times, and he joins us now, and Dylan, thank you for jumping on.
Thank you for having me on.
I don't know why you have to start with these guys could win one hundred and twenty games. I don't know why you had to do that. Why That's what I said, Why did you have to start that, Dylan?
Because I looked at the team and I'm like, how are these guys gonna lose more than what would it be? Forty two games? You know, It's not just that they're like stacked in like one area. Right to me, what's kind of scary if I'm another team, is you know, because usually these attempts at putting together super teams. Sure, you might have a great lineup, you might have a great rotation, you know, but maybe you don't have a good bullpen or something.
You know.
The fact that they even put like one hundred million dollar into their bullpen on top of everything else that they've done, this is a team that's gonna have you know, you kind of talk about right even like especially back in the playoffs. Okay, if this isn't working, you know, sure they could lose. This team has a lot of avenues to victory.
You know.
And I just kind of think again, like you especially you know, the regular season just kind of being this war of attrition. The depth of Dodgers have, I think, especially in the regular season, is gonna be mad. It's gonna make them very very hard to be.
Yeah, I agree with that, Dylan, And I don't think it's out of the round for them to win one hundred and twenty games Fred Fred. Every time I bring that up, friends, I don't care what they win as long as they do it in the postseason. But they get very well easily and I'm with you on this just kind of fall into one hundred and twenty wins just because they are so good at every position, and as you mentioned, the depth that they have from the
pitching staff. There are no days off for hitters, and there are no non dall for pictures that face the Dodgers. They are as stacked a team as I've ever seen.
Yeah, I think so, you know, and I think right, I mean, and look at it, like kind of from the opposite perspective. If you're, you know, Dulston May right now, right, I mean, you're you're probably the number three starter on almost any other team right now. Uh, and he's basically gonna have to fight tooth and nail, you know, to hold off Tony Gonsolin, just to nail down that fifth spot. And that's at the start of the season, before Alatwani
comes back, before Kershaw comes back, you know. So, I think, you know, Dave Roberts yesterday kind of mentioned kind of acknowledged this reality that like, hey, like kind of from our end, you know, dividing up the playing time could be an issue, you know, right, And so look there there are potential kind of you know, the obstacles here, you know, the pametime thing being one of them. The fact that they're starting the season in Japan could be another.
The fact that you know they kind of have this like relatively short offseason because you know they play all the way to the end of the World Series. But that's said, you know, kind of from a talent stamp one you Rodney, this is this is a good a roster I think we've seen at least in modern baseball.
Yeah, okay, all the things you mentioned about concerns are not concerns to me at all. And I'll tell you why. They're simply too deep and too talented. My thing is this about the regular season. I don't care how many games you win. I honest to god, I don't get there, and let's see what happens. They're going to get there,
so let's see what happens. And in the past when they have won an enormous amount of regular season games, we saw what happen when you got to the playoffs this year or last year, it was tight, it was a fight in a game, the momentum to win. I don't want these guys to be cruising along and then they hit October. Dylan and then it just all goes to hell.
Oh yeah, that's terrible.
Before you answered that, Dylan, Before you answer that, Fred, how dare you say that? Fred?
Cruising along so you want them to kind of they're head by five runs into six. Okay, let's pull it back so we don't win too many No, no, we just we don't win. They gotta do that by default because they're so good, Fred, if they're not gonna be able to help winning so many games. Sorry, I'm just saying the focus should not be winning one hundred and twenty games. The focus should be being the best they.
Should It'll be winning though, it'll that's fine if I want them, but I'm saying that should not be the focus. Dylan. I asked you a question. You get to answer now.
Yeah. You know, well, what I found encouraging about this, right, look, and the one hundred and twenty thing was kind of based off something to go Rojas said, right. And you know, Rojas is what we consider like a good media guy, meaning that like he gives us the quote we want, right, and you know, Rojas knew what we were kind of looking for there, and he said, sure, one hundred twenty. Uh, and that's what kind of that column was based around.
But you know, you go around to the other parts of the clubhouse, you know, and I just kind of sense this very kind of business like approach that these guys have. You know, Mookie bets that he didn't care about the win total. Max months he said the same thing. And if you kind of watch the way these guys have worked, especially in the last few regular seasons, it's just right, there is no kind of up and down, right.
If anything, it's been so consistent to the point where, you know, kind of in the playoffs in the past, we've wanted them to kind of elevate their game a little bit. You know, we saw them do that this past October. So I don't think that's going to be
a problem, uh, you know. And again, like I just think that they're they have this very kind of workmanlike approach to things that that you see with great teams, right, I mean, when you're kind of in that clubhouse right now, it's very kind of I did think, you know, in the past, things that you know, we asked them kind of found its way of infiltrating the room, right and kind of maybe affecting the way people felt and the
way people thought. I don't really sense that anymore. You know, I really think that the culture has really kind of solidified, uh you know, and they're going to take every Wednesday, you know, and they're gonna play hard by way they did last year the year before that. And I think now you know where you know, frankly, you know, maybe it was that home run that Otani hit, you know, in that that first playoff game against San Diego last year.
All of a sudden, Now these guys found a way to kind of turn it on, and so I kind of don't think any of this stuff is going to be a problem really, you know. And I think again, you know, obviously, look they've just kind of won one World Series right in this thing here, But I really wouldn't be surprised if, you know, we're talking kind of about this three or four World series down down the road here, you know, and you know, look back at
this period. It's kind of started this kind of dynasty, because that's what this feels like when you're in that clubhouse. They're they're really I think these guys know who they are. They know who they are, what they are as a baseball team, and how they go about business and kind of all these expectations have been kind of you know, again, it's solidified over time. I mean, I think it makes it very easy even for like the young guys that
come in to kind of fill into that. So I really don't think, you know, whatever we talk about here, I don't think there's gonna be any kind of jinks any of that, because you know, I don't think they're even thinking about anything we're talking about at this point.
Yeah, I think you're right. I think they're so insulated.
They're insulated that they're not even gonna think about that, and they're gonna be so good. And you got to look up in early August and they're already gonna have one hundred wins and they're like, ooh, yeah, we're close. And I don't think that's going to put a pressure on them. And in the past, you know, they've had situations where they faulted out because Mookie and Freddy didn't hit in the playoffs and then they nobody else hit, or they ran out of pitching and lance Lynn had
the start of a playoff game. They're so depth, they have so much depth that they're not going to run into that. You know again this year. And and you know, but from my standpoint, Dylan and you mentioned Otani, if he's not pitching until May, they say, how much do they actually use him this year given what the what they did in the offseason in terms of bringing in so many arms.
Yeah, Like, my guess is that gonna keep them probably on a once a week schedule, you know. I mean, if they wanted to, look, they can have them pitch like once every ten days or something. Again, they have the depth to do that.
You know.
That said kind of knowing Otani and kind of what he's about, right, I mean, this is a guy that again doesn't want to take days off. My guess is going to be about once a week, you know, which is kind of more or less what he had with Anaheim, kind of like what he's used to at this point.
You know.
Sasaki and Yamamoto, there's those are two other guys that are kind of used to pitching, you know, once every six seven days based on the workload in Japan, you know. And I think that as long as those guys are just kind of ready to go in the postseason, they're
going to be fine, you know. And and kind of you know, with cop of the pitching problems in the past, you know, you minised and kind of land slim there, you know, and even like last year, if you kind of right, if we're gonna be honest going into the playoffs. I mean, frankly, I was very concerned about their pitching how it looked going into going into October, because you know, they didn't have kind of that like ace type guy, right and you know, now it's now now it's Otani now,
you know, and I think Yamamoto's I'm back looking. You know, he physically looks more solid. You kind of hear good reports about the way the ball's coming out of his hand. I think he's gonna make a big jump this year. You know, in Sasaki might be the most talented guy in the entire step. I mean, I think there's still questions, you know, how does the slider play? Can you get
away with two pitches? That type of stuff, But you know, I wouldn't be shocked if he has a great year also, but there are a lot of high octane arms now kind of at the start of this rotation, you know, and obviously with Glass now he's been an injury concern over time. But again with the number of pitchers that they have, maybe they can kind of space out his starts a little bit better to ensure that he gets
to October. And so you're also going to have not just the depth, but you're going to kind of have these kind of high end, high quality arms and not just one of them, right, They're gonna have multiple kind of high end quality arms there. And you know, again the regular seasons, I mean, at this point, I think one of those like right, you know, Oddsite had them like at one hundred percent to make the postseason. They haven't put a single game yet. I mean, that's how
stacked this team is, you know. And and I do think everything is going to be geared to October. I just think that as they're kind of going along and kind of taking care of business the way they usually do, you know, they're just going to pile up these wins and we might see one hundred and twenty and frankly, you know, if there's an injury here or there, they have enough high end talent elsewhere, you know, whatever department to kind of overcome that.
Hey, Jellen, what do you think of some of the owners suggesting they need a salary cab and that the Dodgers and the Mets are out of control.
That's so stupid, because here's here's the thing, right, I mean, the Sasaki things seemed to really kind of set off
a lot of teams. That happened because owners were cheap. Okay, like these other owners that are complaining right now, they did that to themselves, right, because they did not well, these teams did not want to pay you know, the Japanese teams kind of the market value for these players because you know, when Matsuzaka came over, when Darbish came over, these posting fees started to get up in the sixty seventy million range, and the owners got started getting worried, like,
oh no, you know, we're paid too much. Let's find a way to make this cheap. And so they came up with this ridiculous system that had Roki Sasaki, you know, a season professional with you know, who's really really good. He was qualified, you know, categorized with sixteen year old Dominican kids, right, and that's what allowed the Dodgers to
get him. I mean, without that rule, you know, if right, the Dodgers probably have to choose between Snell and Susaki, which one to go after well because of this system that was created because of these chiep owners. That's what made the Dodgers kind of richer in a way, you know. And also right, the whole salary camp thing, I mean, the players aren't going to agree to that, you know. I think maybe they'll find ways to kind of tighten things and the money differ rols, right, the NHL kind
of went through that at some point. I could see maybe something bad and the owners are going to kind of have to concede here. But you know, I think from the players standpoint to look, the players Union loves this obviously, right. They want teams to be spending, and the Dodgers and the Mets in a way are going to have the players on their side here. So I don't think this is going to go down that easily.
Yeah, I agree, speaking of something that hasn't happened easily. What's going on with Dave Robertson's that deal going to get done soon?
He would have to think it has to write, I mean just I mean, the track record is there now, and not only that, I think, you know, to me, what was really kind of eye opening and interesting was,
you know, Molkie Bets. Obviously he's got his podcast, and you know, after the last season, he had Dave Robertson and Mookie kind of talked about how, you know, at night when I guess Mookie's kind of a warrior, you know, how he would call Dave and kind of they will kind of talk through their things, right, I mean, I think they both, you know, that's there, talked about how they both felt they were under the gun.
Right.
Obviously, Dave was under the gun and mooki as well, because like you mentioned, you know, he hadn't hid in previous postseasons and I think pressure was kind of mounting. And so you know the fact that roberts has been able to kind of forge very real connections with kind of like Bets, with guys like Otani, with guys like Freeman, that's not easy, you know, and again those are you know, right.
You know, we talked about like last year even with you know, with Bets and kind of the move back to right field after you've been playing shortstop a bunch and how that turned into a non issue, right you know, And again you have to credit Bets for a lot of that, but the manager had something to do with that too.
You know.
And so I just think, if you're the Dodgers and you've invested all this money in the roster, you don't want something stupid to just kind of blow this whole thing up. Dave's obviously shown that he's got control of the situation, you know. And look, now, managers salaries are kind of getting up their right. Craig Council, I think, is the highest paid manager at about eight million a year. You know, Dave's probably making about half of that right now.
So this is a pretty significant rais. And this, you know, the Dodger ownership feel comfortable paying that much to a manager. I'm not so sure about that, but you know, maybe they kind of compromise, right, maybe you don't quite get to eight, but maybe the number of years are longer, you know, right, the contracts longer. I I just think it just makes too much sense for both, you know, Roberts to want to be here long term, and also
for the Dodgers to want Roberts to be here. It's hard for me to imagine that this won't get done.
Hey, yelling before we let you go. We know you're headed back for the for the Lakers. What do you think of Luca and Lebron. What do you really think of what came out yesterday about Luca that he liked the hookah and he was drinking too much and that's why they got rid of him.
Yeah, well it's gonna you know, I mean, if anybody. I mean, the one thing, if I'm the Lakers, what I would be kind of optimistic about is the fact that Luca has said right that Lebron was a guy he grew up idolizing. He's going to get to play with Lebron. He's going to get to see Lebron work every day, you know, and we've kind of gone right these kind of Team USA documentaries that we've seen that
have come up in recent years. You know, we saw the effect that Kobe Bryant had guys like Lebron and Durant and these guys, and you know, d Wade and those guys. So I don't think that that's going to be an issue just because you know, athletes tend to be competitive. Look, you get traded, you're gonna want to show up, right, You're gonna want to prove the team
that let you go wrong. So I think we're gonna have we have kind of a pissed off, determined Luca, and he's gonna have a perfect guy there in Lebron James,
you know. And I think it's just kind of a matter at this point of you know, them too, kind of finding kind of that boundary, the boundaries, right, I mean, they were obviously both used to being the guys, but like, once they kind of get along on the court, I think everything else is going to kind of fall into place, and then it's up to Kalinka, you know, in the
front office, to you know, get the pieces around them. Eventually. Uh, you know, this year might be a little bit tough, but you know, I think next year, uh, you know, we should fully expect him back into uh into being contenders again.
All Right, well, Dylan, we appreciate it. Safe, drive home, and we'll talk to you soon.
I was very positive today, Wasn't it too positive?
You know what, Dylan, don't open the door. Don't open the door, Delan, We'll walk right in. Let's just leave it like that. It was really fun.
Let's leave us there, Okay, thanks for having.
All right, Bruin fans. Men's basketball returns to Paula Pavilion presented by Westcom this Sunday to face Ohio State's men's basketball Next time game twelve forty five, they'll celebrate the life and legacy of Bill Walton. Visit UCLA Bruins dot com slash tickets for more information, and you can hear the game on our sister station, AM eleven fifty. We're back to wrap it up. I Don't forget. If you missed any of the program, podcast the show, get the
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It's right here on the radio station. We have everything every game. If it's on the network, if it's local on TV, if it's on cable on TV, we have it here for you, and it all begins tomorrow at noon. Rodney and I are on standby, so if the game ends early, we'll jump on and if not, we got another game on Friday. Okay, so we got two games in a row. That'll be fun. That'll be fun, Ronnie, great job today. I appreciate it. Kevin, terrific work and Rodney, see you tomorrow