Okay, one hour.
The sprint is on fred Rogan, Rodney Pete A five seventy LA Sports. We were off yesterday for Memorial Days, so why we are refreshed for our sixty minute presentation?
Rodney? How are you?
Oh, Freddy Retty, Reddy, Freddy, Freddy, I'm good. I had a great weekend. I had a great weekend. Did you have a great weekend? I did a whole lot of nothing, went to a couple of little barbecues and just hung out and like you said, batcat did all weekend, Freddy. And now ready for this sixty minute spread.
Okay, So while we were away, the Dodgers not so good against the Mets, really good yesterday against the Indians. The Guardians, I'm a Guardian, right right, Old habits die hard, I know I do the same thing, Old habits die hard. Against the Mets, they couldn't hit. Let's just be honest. They just didn't hit, and that came back to haunt. I'm Tony Gonsolin got tagged there pretty good. And against the Mets, Tanner Scott blow another save on Friday. Now,
let's be really honest about this. It's not like when they signed him. You didn't think, well, you've got the guy now. I mean, this is the guy who's gonna shut the door every time, and he hasn't quite Frankly, he hasn't looked really crisp Rodney.
So first, what do you think of what he's going through?
Yeah, I don't want to. You know, look, we're not making excuses. He's got a job to do, right, He's got to come in and shut it down, or at least stop all the bleeding and hold the lead, hold the line when he comes in the game, and he struggled to do that here lately. You know, the different guys go through different stretches during the course of the season. He obviously comes in in high leverage situation. So it's not easy mentally, but that's what they brought him in for,
that's what they're paying him for. He's got to get it going, no doubt. I mean, the Dodgers, as much as we'd love to see them, you know, win games by seven eight runs, it's not gonna happen. They're going to be in a lot of tight ball games one two run ball games. Uh, And he's got to be able to keep it there. And so he's got to
get better, but he is. He certainly has struggled. And and you know, I know, you know, Mark Pryor said that he's throwing way too many pitches right down the middle of the play for it, and that is something when you give that to big league hitters, that they are going to make you pay for it.
Yeah, well, it's pretty simple because that's exactly what Mark Pryor said. All right, we identified the problem. What is that he's just throwing the ball down the middle? All right, Well, to me, that's a pretty simple problem to identify. He's just throwing the ball down the middle. And even he will admit he's not getting the swing and missing once.
Here's the thing.
Of course, he has time to work it out, and he will work it out. But honestly, it's not what you expect from a guy to sign that kind of deal that comes in here as the top closer in baseball and he's throwing too many pitches down the middle of the play. They'll fix it. They'll fix it because they don't have the luxury of not fixing it. And he brought Vesiga in to relieve Tanner. Scott. That can't be the last guy that needs to pitch is Tanner Scott.
If he's in the game, nobody can come in after him. He's got to shut it down. So that is a tad bit concerning a tad bit, but I think they'll get that fixed. Oh, they didn't hit very well against the Mets. Tony gallanst allowed four runs in five innings Saturday, and Max Munsey wooted a ball that hurt him as well. But you put that behind you because it was off to Cleveland. You had Yamamoto on the hill last night that it was a whole new ball game.
Yes, the thing, I don't think he's been the rock for this team, Yamamoto, I can gets enough credit credit for doing what he's done, you know, coming in here last year with all that pressure on him, and then you know we saw him be deliver in the in the postseason last year, but even the year with all the injuries, with all the things going on, and he's done this the multiple times this year where the Dodgers need just they just need a good outing by their
starting pitcher, and he comes in and he gives it to him and he delivers. And this is the multiple times lately that they desperately need a guy to be dominant on the hill, and Yamamoto has done that time and time and again. So I'm giving him as props Fred because I think he definitely deserves it, more so than anybody right now with the injury factor to the
pitching staff. Well, and that's why they gave him that long term deal for all that money, because they knew that would be the guy that eventually would be their race. I don't think they believe it would happen this year, but it's certainly on the version happening given the injuries. So he pitched well, they hit the ball. Every year we have the same conversation. It's something I can't understand and perhaps you can shed some light on it. What is this feast or famine?
Offensively, it's either tear the cover off the ball or nothing. And we talk about it every single year. And you would think with a roster like the Dodgers have and a lineup like they have, that would be preventable. Somebody's always got to be on with that many guys that can play, But it's not the case. It's the same
thing famine in New York, feast yesterday in Cleveland, Rodney. Yeah, you know, it's hard to put your finger on it because when it happens to an entire team, you usually don't see that much.
You usually see it with individuals, like you know, a guy will get on a hot streak you know, hit you know, and have a weekend where he you know, hits, goes ten for fifteen one series and then comes back and goes one for twenty one three days later. So it usually happens. But when it happens to the entire team, especially with the lineup like the Dodgers have and all the firepower that the Dodgers have.
It really is unusual.
And you know, it can't continue all season long because that is that is not a good recipe for sustained success because in a series, especially in the postseason, you got to put together consistant multiple games where you're scoring runs and hitting the ball, but his feast of famine. You better have home field advantage if you don't, if you live like that for it, otherwise you're in real,
real trouble. But again, they're too talent. There's too many guys up and down that lineup for them to have multiple games like this.
Okay, justin Mago's tonight, look good in his last outing, had struggled during May prior to that, but look good in his last outing. So he'll get a crack at the Guardians tonight. It's an East Coast game or East time Zone game, and that means you will hear the game here at about three thirty. Okay, how about Chris Taylor found a job. Yes, he did, got himself a Johnsy did.
We're happy for Chris Taylor, you know, as we talked about it a lot last week about you know, what he meant to this team and how many years he was here. They delivered some big, gigantic moments for the Dodgers in their road to multiple playoff, first and World Series. It was just sad to see him, see him go out like that and see him leave, but it was really nice to see that he landed on his feet and he's not too.
Far away for it.
Yeah, he's gonna play three or four times a week with the Angels. When I heard he signed, I had to watch. I had to watch, and you know, good for him. He got what he wanted. He's certainly going to play more consistently than he would have with the Dodgers. But what a bizarre site.
Yeah, what a weird site that was to see him wearing an Angel uniform. Yeah, it didn't honestly, and good for him, Good for him. It didn't even look like he belonged there. But then again, does anybody want to be there?
Cheap shot?
Hey?
Hey, sorry hey, cheap shot Angels?
Angels are turning it around right talking about are you saying it looks odd because he's like, it is the Angels or that just seeing him in a different uniform because it was odd. I guess it was odd to see, you know, a guy like Justin Turner when he left and we had to see him basically him coming back
to town. But certainly would have been worse or different or weirder if he was playing for the Angels and we saw him, you know, so, I think it definitely to your point, I think it's something odd to see a Dodger go play for the Angels.
Yeah, it was just if he had played for anybody, it would have seemed strange to see that. It was weird and watching him again and good, he's got a job. But it's like, when I saw him.
What are you doing there? Yeah? Well, how are you doing there? And on top of it. It kind of looked like he was saying, what am I doing here? Yeah?
Why am I here? I mean, how did this happen? He didn't get Miguel Vargus. You know, that didn't happen to him.
Yeah, thank god, I means, and gay he's into the wilderness and think, oh my god, what happened to me? No, that didn't happen the Abyss, Fred Steer into the Abyss. Jesus Chicago White Sox. I mean, only the Rocky is probably worse than that team. But no, it's a it's a gig. And you know, he said it. It came out after he was he was released that you know, one of the things that he wanted to do was
to play. You know, and as you get to a certain part in your career and you still believe as a veteran, you still believe that you've got some gas in the tank and you can still play. And yes, you you fell into circumstances with the Dodgers where you were struggling to hit and struggling to find playing time, and you still believe that you can do it. So it's sometimes better to find a a new scenery and and hopefully that turned yourself around. But he's got what
he what he's you know, he's got the hardware. So he's got World Series appearances. He's got two World Series rings at this stage time. Now I want to go play. I want to play and see if I still got it, to see how many years left I can play, And I got to find out otherwise I can't keep going through the same situations with the Dodgers where I play every fifth day or you know, play in a in a late inning situation. I want to see if I
can play. And you got to hand it to him for stepping up like that, and for the Dodgers for saying, listen, all right, it didn't look good for you anyway. So we're gonna have to We're gonna let you go go do your thing.
We're rooting you.
Well, yeah, but when when you were when you were playing and uh, you know, you played for a number of teams, was there a point where you wanted to prove to yourself you could still do it when you weren't a starter. Did that matter? Oh yeah, it definitely mattered. It definitely mattered. I you know, I spent five years in Detroit and got out of Detroit got out of jail basically, and I went to Dallas as a backup. And you know, one of one of the reasons I
went to Dallas in the first place. First of all, you know, foy Iigman was not going anywhere. They just came back and winning back to back Super Bowls.
But there was an opportunity for me in Dallas to probably start three to four games because it's you know, especially at that time, when quarterbacks could get hit. There were gonna be periods of time during a sixteen game season that the quarterback was rarely going.
To play all sixteen games.
And so I knew I was going to get a chance to play, and then to go there and play with that offensive line and EMITTT Smith and Irvin and Alvin harp Brow, I say, I'm I'm gonna go down here and and look good and then I'll get another shot,
because that's what I wanted. And I could have stayed at Dallas and just been there as a backup for a number of years and rolled it out, but I wanted to go play, and and thank god, I was able to play in four games in Dallas and played well enough that Philadelphia decided they wanted to sign me as a free agent, and I went to Philadelphia and became a starter. So there was not a question in your mind because you mentioned with Chris Taylor he still
got to prove that he can do it. You believed you could do it, You knew you could do it, and then you went to Philadelphia. But as you continued through your journey, was there ever a point you thought you still had to prove it to yourself or did you just go to you you couldn't go anymore. Now, as I got I got into my what eleventh, twelfth year, I felt pretty good. I had started more more years
than I didn't. And you know, sometimes at the quarterback you go from backup to starter started to backup depends on the team and depends on the opportunity. But later on I when I went to Oakland and rejoined John Gruden, I it was my I think it was my eleventh year, and so I knew that, you know, the days of me getting another starting gig were probably behind me, unless it kind of fell into my lap or somebody got
hurt or something like that. And because it was in my you know, mid thirty, so it was it was going to be a stretch for me to do that, and so I went there knowing full well that was going to be a backup. And then Carolina called and wanted to sign me, and I initially went there as a backup, but I didn't go to Carolina to go try to prove anything because I felt that I had proven enough and played long enough that I didn't need to go there to prove anything to myself or anybody else.
It just so happened that Chris Winki was not ready to play and he was struggling, and they put me in there, and part of.
Me was like, hey, wait a minute.
I went there to just be a backup and then ride this thing out for the last two years of my career, and and now I got to play every week.
But it was exciting. It was fun because those used to start to flow again.
But I went there knowing that I was going to be the backup, and it was kind of a surprise that it ended up starting.
Let me ask you this, so, mid thirties, you're playing quarterback in the NFL. Did it hurt more when you got hit in your mid thirties than you did in your late twenties.
Uh?
One?
Hundred percent, but one thing it would happen. First of all, yes, it did it. You know your bones and you know the wear and tear on your body. After being in the league for ten years, it definitely you have those effects and you feel it. Definitely feel it more because certain things never really totally heal. You know, you you you've got that you know you feel like you got gravel in your knees or your that hip that has
been bothering you. All it takes is one little tidy hit and all of a sudden, there's that hip again, or those those ribs again, or there's my my ankle again. So it definitely hurt. But you're smarter when you get older. When you're young, you know, you think you're more invincible, so you take some unnecessary hits. The older you get, the quicker you figure out how to run out of bounds or how to slide, or how to get down
when you know the pocket is collapsing around you. When you're young, you know you're trying to fight for that extra yard, and that's when you take a lot of shots.
I remember getting my bell rung a.
Couple of times, thinking I can get the first down and didn't quite get there, but I paid the price. Whereas in my older years, I was like, it's okay to punt, Fred, it's okay to punt and play.
It's okay to punt and play defense.
You start making business decisions red at that point, it's okay.
So just punishment you took.
You changed your game, absolutely, absolutely, your mentality changes. And it's amazing how those things in a split second start entering your brain. It's like, go for running. When you're twenty five, go for it, go for it.
You got it.
And then when you're thirty five, it's like, hey boy, you better get out of bounds. That's that voice in your head. Get out of bound. Get down, get down, get down. No, no, your time is up. You gotta go down, get out of here. So yeah, it definitely had time clock changes. Do you remember a specific one. Oh yeah, I remember, speaking of Philadelphia. I am. We're in the playoffs and playing, actually playing Dallas, and it's in second quarter.
We're playing them.
It's tight, you know, we're they're up by three, but we're going in to try to take the lead or at least tie it up. And it was like a third down and I was a scramble to the right, and I had about six yards to make the first down and I was running. I could see it and feel it. I was like, Okay, I'm just going to
go for it. And I went for it right on the sideline and I hit by Darren who for Dallas, and we went helmet to helmet red and his helmet was harder than my helmet, and I I got up and damn near went to the wrong sideline.
Yeah it was.
I was out for the rest of the game after that. But that was an unnecessary hit that I didn't have to take because it was the second quarter and we were only down by three and we ended up kicking a field goal to tie it up. I believe, and and but yet I was done for the game because I tried to go for the first down and yeah, he he hit me pretty good, got the best of
me that day, but it just came full speed. Didn't really see him till it was too late, and helmet to helmet at those days was not being called as a penalty, and so he went right at it and boom.
I was.
I was seeing stars for the rest of the game.
Did you know immediately there was a problem. I didn't know because you think you can. You know, when you have those kind of hits and concussion, sometimes you you sometimes they you can shake them off, or it just takes a few minutes before you kind of get your bearings back. But when I got to the sideline, uh, and I wasn't completely out and I wasn't stumbling. I didn't stumble like like Tua did. But when I got to the sidelines after a couple of minutes, I just
I couldn't. I couldn't remember what happened in.
The first quarter, and then I had to really fight you know, what certain plays were and moments of the game, and you know, you know, they give you, you know, the coaches start testing you, and the trainers start testing you. Okay, what did we uh, what's the formation of this particular play and you have a hard time remembering that.
Yeah, I knew it was I knew it was time to go.
I couldn't. I couldn't function anymore at that point. And then you're doing your team of disservice because there's times where I did stay in the game and did try to fight it off for a series or two and say I'm going to get it back, I'll get my bearings back, and sometimes I did, and sometimes it just it just kept, you know, lingering on and eventually had to come out. But yeah, that time I just knew it was I was done. There was no way I could go back.
So you told them they didn't tell you?
Yeah, yeah, I told them. I said, listen, I can't And they knew. They knew, just you know, looking in my eyes. And then like I said, doing those those tests that they give you in terms of verbiage of you know what day of the week, and you know, what's this play and who you know, what does this receiver do on this particular route, just to try to be focused, and I couldn't answer the question.
So they knew. They knew as well.
It was it was a mutual thing at the same time that they knew I couldn't play, and I knew I couldn't play.
So then you just sit there and go damn. Yeah.
You sit there and you just you just try to figure you know at that time too, if you know, you sit there for a moment. But but if you start to feel good, and this has happened to me before, where you start to feel okay and you're like, okay, I can go play in the second half, or you know, I can go back in the game.
I just needed a you know, five to ten minutes to kind of get my my head right.
But my head never got right in that game, and so I could not even focus throughout the whole second half. And you start trying too hard to remember things and you can't do it, and you know, you just no way you can go back in the game. And then other times where I get hit it was out for a few series, and you go, okay, now I'm good, I'm good, I feel myself again, I'm good. But really, in essence, which is why you don't go back in today,
is that you're not good. Once your brain takes that kind of hit and that kind of trauma, you're really not good. Even though you may feel that way. All it takes is one more hit and it doesn't even have to be hard to that head, and it becomes much worse. If you had told them I'm good, would they put your back in the game?
Yep?
Even with the testing everything, if not well, if I could have somewhat, but in this way, if I could have fifty to fifty the test, I probab have went back in the game.
But I basically flunked that test.
So but if I would have got half of them right and and told them, look, I'm good, I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go, I would have went back in the game. They would have let me go back in the game. Yeah, think about that. Wow, yeah crazy. Now, So that's the way it was when you played back in the day. Exactly, it really was. They left it more up to the player than it was the training staff or anybody else or the doctors that are on the sidelines. Now they take it out. They even take
it out of the team stands. They're a specialist on the sideline that says concussion protocol. He can't go back in and they take your helmet away. You can't talk your way back into the game after you go out. And but back then, yeah, you know, just give me a series. I'll be all right again. I'll be good. I'm just gonna take some smelling salt and I'll be uh. I'll be good in about two series. And guys would
go back in the game. And sometimes, you know, quarterback is a tough one because you got to be so cognitive and you gotta think, and you got to you got to call plays, and you got to react. Whereas there's been other guys that played different positions, like on defense or even offensive linemen, that they've had it and still are having trouble. And then guys have had to tell him where to line up and do different things.
And they stayed in the game say oh, no, line up over here, line up, and and they would say block this guy, block that guy, and and guys would not come out of the game. And and you didn't find out until you're watching the film the next day. You look him and go, where the hell is Eric going? Where did he who was he blocking on this play? And then you find out, yeah, he got he had a concussion in the second quarter. Why didn't he tell anybody? Oh,
he didn't want to come out of the game. He trying to be a tough guy, and he's going the wrong way. You look up, it's just like Ugly on the film. He's going the wrong way, he's blocking the wrong guy. He's just lost out there. And the only explanation is, yeah, he didn't know where he was. That's how it was.
That's what he's gonna ask you. Did you know guys.
Did you play with guys that you realized had gone through that but wouldn't come out, so you observed what was going on and they were in the wrong place or went moved on the wrong count.
Oh yeah, No, there's there's a number of guys that A lot of times it's it's because the concussion is such a spectrum. Some of them are very severe and some of them are just mild and you just kind of I just got to shake it out or I'm seeing stars like they used to say. But then there's other times where I've I've kicked guys out of the huddle because they they couldn't focus, they were wandering around. A lot of times there's running backs when they take
a hit and they come back to the huddle. Sometimes they went they started off going to the wrong huddle, and then they come into your huddle and you look at them and you're like, especially if you see the hit that they took, you go check them right away and go okay, you all right, and you look them in the eye and then you can tell as a teammate, oh he not right, he's not right. Get him out of here, Get him out. But a lot of times
when of its offensive lineman. You don't always know those guys are crazy anyway, So you don't always know until it's too late and they played a series or two or rest of a half being you know, having a concussion, just kind of doing some things or messing up. But you don't really you don't really know it. But like I said, there's there's been times where I've kicked guys out at huddle because they've been just out of it, out of it and trying to stay in the game.
All right, So they're not really college college athletes, are they No, they're not student athletes. They're athletes students. Is that the same thing in high school? Now, let's talk about it. Fred Rogan Rodney Pete on a five to seventy LA Sports.
Oh, come on back, short one hour show for us today, Rodney Pete, Fred Rogan again, we hope you had a great Memorial weekend. Now it's time to go back to work. Come on, let's go, Freddy.
You know, Rodney, I was just thinking back to what we talked about at the top of the show. Real quick, Tanner Scott his struggles. Dave Roberts made an interesting point right now Evan Phillips has forearms discomfort like Trining forearm spring, Kirby Yates hamstring strain, Michael Klepek shoulder impingement.
They're all injured.
Colepec's in a minor league rehab program, Yates and Trinon are both beginning throwing programs. That's good, but Evan phillips absence is starting to become concerning. According to Dave Roberts, he's getting a little bit concerned but hoping for the best. That doesn't sound good.
Concerned about his return, Concerned about him ever even coming back anytime soon because they thought he was going to come back along with the other guys, but it's taken longer. And then you know a guy we haven't talked about for almost a year and a half, Fred is we star Gradiraul Right, who was a prominent player in terms of their bullpen just a couple of years ago, a year and a half ago, and yet we don't talk
about him at all and his return. But they have been I mean decimated, decimated and the fact that they are still where they are, I know, people don't want to hear it, and nobody cares because the Dodgy spends so much money, but for them to be where they are with the injuries to their picking staff, it is pretty remarkable. If you just take away the Dodgers out of it, and take away the names and the money out of it, it's pretty remarkable that they're still there.
It really is.
But this Evan Phillips thing now kind of rears its ugly head. That's going to be a problem. If Dave Roberts says he's getting concerned, that doesn't mean Evan Phillips is coming back next week. It really makes you think, is he coming back? And if he doesn't come back, what does that lead to? What could happen? Anytime you hear this kind of thing with a Dodger pitcher, what do you think? Yeah, that's exactly what you think. So you've got to wonder could that be down the road?
That is concerning? All Right, I want to talk about this athlete students, students athletes in college Division one, there are no more student athletes. They're athletes, students, they get paid, they go to the highest bidder.
They're pros. They're pros. That's what they are.
But nil also extends to high school sports as well. And now there's a concern about what NIL is going to do to high school sports in southern California. Eric Sotdenheimer wrote about it. There's a major concern. Now they'll just start paying the high school kids. Look, to be honest with you, it's not like in the past, guys that weren't living in a certain district somehow miraculously ended up in that district. I mean, I know something to happen.
Calabasas High School years ago. Mm hm, a guy bought a I shouldn't even say it, no Calabasas. And let's put it like this, there were guys there that weren't from there, but if the CIF checked, it looked like they were there.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know guys that are button you know, whole apartment complexes.
That's it.
Yeah, yeah, similar to what you're saying that that Wow, there's fifteen fifteen kids on the team living at that same complex.
Wow. There, it's all moved.
Huh, everybody moved to that same complex. Interesting, Wait a minute, let's who owns that Oh, that's who owns that complex. Yeah, it was that kind of thing. Yeah, that's how they got to ride it. Back in the day.
Yeah, but it's a new day now, and nil extends to high school kids. You can pay them.
Toll before you get you know, that extended to Little League Fred. That extended to Little League when I remember I was coaching my son in Little League at twelve years old. When you're you know that age where you can go to the college World Series. There are a number of district kids that would miraculously not be there when they were eleven, but at twelve, all of a sudden, there was an there was a whole new team that we would face, and like, woo, where did these kids
come from? And then we five to six kids that miraculously moved into the district that are playing that are now twelve, that weren't there the year before, and all because they wanted to figure out a way to boost that roster to go to the Little League World Series. Man, so it extended far beyond just a high school level. But now that the pain of it is just going to make it even worse, I believe. So if you have a school that can pay, you're getting a pretty good team.
Pretty simple. But here's what's.
Interesting, And I don't know if you have the answer to this, because my kids are out of high school.
Now, what's more important.
A kid goes to a school where it has an opportunity to play, grow and develop and maybe get a Division I scholarship.
There's that side of it.
Or is it more important that a kid goes to a school that pays him? What's more important at that time? If the objective is every day in my life, I want to make money. So if I'm seventeen, twenty seven, thirty seven, forty seven, I want.
To make money.
So it's seventeen, I'm going to get paid this to go to school.
Here.
Now, you can make the argument that's the last time anybody's ever going to pay you to play too, because you might not get to the Division one level. But what's more important at that time, Rodney? Getting paid and going.
To school.
Thirty miles from your house, are going to school closer still being good with a chance for a college opportunity.
Okay, But so so my question is why can't it Why can't it be both? Why can't you go get paid and still go to a good school and learn camaraderie and and and good you know, a good education at that school. Why can't it be both? I mean, because just because the school can pay you doesn't mean your quality of education or that the you know, teaching fundamentals is going to diminish. It could be both. Unfortunately some some schools can do it and some schools can't.
But I don't think it's either or like, you know, getting paid versus you know, a character building school.
No, you know, don't. Don't get me wrong.
Guys do chase the money, and there are schools that don't really care when it comes to their athletes about you know, the education piece of it. But there are schools that are educational schools and also pay.
So I mean, it can be both, it can be both.
I just think it's bad at that level to start teaching kids that I'm just going to chase the money.
With no consequences to it, you know, I'm just.
Gonna up and and and transfer and and then a school can poach their their best players as they're building, you know, kids from the time that their freshman sophomore, and then that kid shows signs at a sophomore that he's pretty good. Now here comes to big schools to go poach them, and all of a sudden, those kids that were trying to build to their senior year to be pretty good. All of a sudden got stripped to their four best players. You know that that just that
that really sucks. It's not really cool. I can remember, you know, and I know it's a long time ago, but in high school knowing that, man, when we're seniors, we're gonna be.
Pretty good, you know.
And and you grew together, and then you got to be seniors, and you were good because you played together all these years, and and you look forward to it now, you know, you don't know if those same guys that you play with as a freshman a sophomore are going to even be there when you're a senior.
You don't know if they'll be there as a sophomore. No, you don't.
He gets younger and younger. It's it is. It's a it's a real slippery slope. I don't know if you can fix it, though, What do you do? I know they open that gate.
Here. Here's the thing.
You're really good in middle school and you're really good in high school.
Let's say in middle.
School you were bigger than everybody. When you get to high school, you were still bigger than everybody.
So let's also.
Assume that for the sake of the conversation, you're bigger than everybody, but you're not going to grow much more.
But everybody else is going to grow.
So you go to high school and let's say by your junior year, you had a little nil money, so you think you're pretty cool. You're still good, by the way, but all of a sudden, guys are like, you're not that far ahead of them.
You still are.
You got a little nil money, so you're cool and you're an athlete. Now we go to your senior year and all of a sudden, you're not the biggest one anymore, and you're not the fastest one anymore. For the first time in your life, you're still going to get that nil money and think you're pretty cool. I'm wondering if at that age you understand if you're getting paid, that you're not going to get paid forever to do that.
You're not going to make that money because there's a chance you may not even get a deal in high school now because the other guys are as big and as fast. I wonder if you start paying kids in high school to play, if they come up or they're capable of understanding that's for right now, this second. But you have a long life ahead of you, so you better prepare to make a living and be employed doing
something because this may not last and probably won't. I wonder if you give kids money at that age to play, if it kind of messes with them. Yeah, but I would say, how does that change from the way it was before?
You know, you're adding money to it. But that was something that everybody preached forever was you're not necessarily going to go and get a college scholarship, or you're not necessarily going to go to the pros, so you better plan for something else. I mean that was always preached, you know, especially in college. You know, don't you know there's going to be one of one percent of you that will play professional sports, so the rest of you
better prepare for something else. Now that's the same speech, but kids are getting paid. I think it's harder to take that to heart than Rodney. If you're getting paid, you know, you might have prepared to prepare for something else because we don't know what will happen.
Okay, I get it. Now I'm getting paid. What do you mean I have to prepare for something else. I'm already getting paid. I think it makes that speech harder. Yeah, I agree, because it was hard. It was hard when you weren't.
Getting paid to tell someone, hey, you're not going to the NBA, or you're not going to the NFL, you're not going to be in Major League Baseball. You're not going to get drafted to go here. It was hard back then. And then yeah, on top of you know, somebody paying you in high school and then paying you in college, You're going to go, what do you mean this is just going to continue? What what do I gotta do something else for? Because I've been getting paid
for so many years right now. That's that's that's what I know. And so the reality check for kids, they're surrounded with my coaches, parents and people.
It's gonna be hard for the hard working. It's happened for a long time.
You know, I'm a prodigy at fifteen. I'm so much better than everybody else because they're payingy and.
Gonna make it all right.
Angel CITYFC hosts the Chicago Stars Saturday, June seventeenth at Bemo Stadium for Pride Night. All fans at attendant receive an Angel City Pride Man Dan Up. Get your tickets now at angelcity dot com and listen to all games on the iHeartRadio. I have the keyword angel CITYFC, Fred Rogan, Rodney Pete and five to seventy LA Sports.
Yes, get down on it, Rodney Pete, Fred Rogan, come on now, Freddie, wrap it up. Okay, So back at it in Cleveland today, Dustin May on the hill importantly is a good outing.
Had one last time out? Look good, look very good, actually all due respects, surprisingly good. Give him what had happened before that?
Uh?
So, I hope he's solid again today, Rodney. And that would indicate to me that whatever he was going through is done.
Yeah, you hope, so, YopE.
So I think it's it's he's had, uh you know, enough time back now. I think that he hopefully starts to hit his stride. And that's what you're hoping is that, you know, he's he's had enough outings thrown enough innings where he should start to feel pretty comfortable on the hill again. And and this is where you want him to start hitting his stride because they certainly certainly need him to. They need somebody other than Yamamoto to give
him a good lengthy starts. So hopefully he can have a good outing to there.
You think it's interesting that all of a sudden people are talking more and more about Otani always throwing the live hitters.
Well, I think everybody's been, you know, anticipating it.
Uh.
DoD just got to be very careful how they they handle this though, you know, because they don't want to fall under the pressure of because the injury situation to the pitching staff that they are using him and forced to use him more than they originally plan or more than they need to. He's got to be still, he's still got to be a luxury for them to use him and not to get overworked, because the last thing you want is him to suffer something with his arm and then you lose him as a bat as well.
That's the dangerous part about him pitching, especially this year where you know they're struggling with the pitching staff, so you know they're going to get a taste of him going, oh my god, we need to try him out there every fifth day.
We got we gotta keep this guy going. He's still he's dominant.
Imagine if he's dominant in his first outing or second outing, then then Dodge. It's like a tease because you can't use him. Is his bat right now? Even if he does come back, his bat is more valuable than him pitching. Him leading off games is more valuable than him pitching right now.
I agree, And that's why you can't get crazy here and start rushing things, get excited. Just you know, it's hard to be patient, but I just have a lot of patience. Dave Roberts has patience to a fault. He'd tell you that. So you don't want to rush it easy, settle in, take your time. You can't afford to get him hurt. And also, really, at this point, no matter how injured the pitching staff is, Yeah, another guy would help, but they're sticking it together, they're moving, they're okay.
So I'm saying, don't.
Rush something that doesn't need to be rushed. All right, Katie, thank you for filling in for Ranie today. Great job, which could have been longer.
Katie. We just love having on the show. Yes we do.
Kevin, thank you, and Rodney tomorrow we're on after the game, so we're on standby right now,