00:00Zach Eflin goes two innings yesterday, giving up no runs on one hit,
00:05striking out three, walking one.
00:07He says that he feels that he can go one every fifth day right now, Jeremy.
00:13And he looked good.
00:15You love to hear that.
00:16The one thing I'd say, too, is, you know,
00:19when you come back from something like this,
00:20that second start is usually, remember we talked about long layoffs with injuries?
00:24He looked good yesterday, all things considered.
00:27And if Zach Eflin is healthy, I think he is an above-average pitcher.
00:32Throw him in the average market if you want.
00:34That's fine.
00:35But it gives you another starter there that you can rely on.
00:37So they have the decision to make who's going to be their five,
00:40or are we going to a six-man rotation?
00:41Because you don't even need five, really, in the month of April for most of it
00:45because you have a lot of off days.
00:46No, you don't.
00:47I mean, you know, it stretched out a little bit, especially early on.
00:51But, man, I would love to see that rotation so good that we have problems of,
00:59well, who's going to be out of the rotation?
01:01That's a good thing.
01:01Yeah.
01:02But they have six now, right?
01:03Yeah.
01:04Well, and you're not even – they have six legitimate guys,
01:07and then you have your Cade Poviches and some other guys,
01:09if you had to look that right.
01:11They have six.
01:13Well, look, if you had to go to Cade Povich for a period of time,
01:16I don't think it's the end of the world, you know,
01:18but, again, that would mean two guys are hurt.
01:20But, again, this is a good problem to have, as we said.
01:23It's not the end of the world, but if the earth was flat,
01:26you'd be right there at the end.
01:27I think there's something there.
01:28I mean, he's got some good K upside.
01:30It's about his control and eliminating the walks and the nibbling,
01:34stop getting in hitter's counts.
01:37And then I think –
01:38I don't know if he can.
01:39Well, maybe not, but we'll find out.
01:41Maybe not here.
01:42Yeah.
01:45I just – I like the kids, but, you know.
01:49I like Slim Shady.
01:50With the way that things have gone in spring training
01:54and just seeing – I don't know if you watch, like,
01:56Judge hitting the home run, the interactions with all the players.
01:59It is kind of weird seeing, you know, Gunner and Judge high five,
02:02but I think we all can overlook that.
02:04No, I can't unsee it.
02:06Yeah.
02:06I can't unsee it.
02:07But they had – I don't know if people saw this, too.
02:09At the WBC, they have the Dodgers strength and conditioning guy,
02:12and he was firing everyone up.
02:13And when he got to Gunner,
02:14I thought Gunner was going to try to slap his damn hand off, man.
02:17He was fired up.
02:18So I think this is going to be a lot of fun to watch.
02:21And, oh, by the way, like, while you're watching this,
02:23to me, this is more real than the spring training stuff.
02:26The rules still apply.
02:27Don't get hurt.
02:28But I think, you know,
02:29these are guys that are absolutely trying out there.
02:32Not saying the guys in spring training aren't trying,
02:35but you don't know if they're working on a fastball the entire time.
02:38You don't know what's –
02:39But they will in WBC.
02:41Yes.
02:41I played three sports.
02:42You know the one sport I didn't want to get pumped up in?
02:45Baseball.
02:45Really?
02:46No, man.
02:47I'm pumped.
02:48Give me my bat.
02:49You get in the batter's box.
02:51No, I don't want to be pumped.
02:52Don't talk to me.
02:53I didn't want anybody to talk to me.
02:56I didn't want some Rob Long in the clubhouse talking to me before I pitch.
03:01Did you –
03:02That doesn't even sound like Rob didn't want people to talk to him?
03:05When did this happen to you?
03:07This is a new Rob Long that I've never seen.
03:12I've seen somebody call and talk to Rob or whatever,
03:16and they're just like –
03:19Stop calling me, man.
03:20Why are you calling me?
03:22I've even seen Rob pick up the phone during the show.
03:25I'm doing a radio show.
03:27You should know.
03:31I mean, it's funny because it's true.
03:34That's how it goes, man.
03:36But, yeah.
03:37I mean, this is –
03:38Rob's over here.
03:39He's like, man, yeah.
03:40First off, you start talking about the concert.
03:41You're like, yeah, too many people.
03:43And he's like, I don't want to be fired up at baseball.
03:45I don't want anybody to talk to me.
03:46And it is funny that you do the exact opposite with Kramer.
03:50So, Kramer, are you starting?
03:52Yeah, I'm starting.
03:53Come on.
03:54You seen the show last night?
03:55I'm starting.
03:56Do you have –
03:57But not for two hours.
03:58You see the show last night?
03:59Do you have somebody on the team that's like what you're talking about,
04:01like doesn't want to be bothered?
04:03Is it a starting pitcher on the day of the start?
04:04Or is it a guy that maybe just like, hey, I'm locked in.
04:07I don't need anything.
04:08Well, back in the day with the Orioles, that was everybody.
04:14Everybody.
04:15And I'm talking like prior to Adam Jones.
04:18That team was –
04:19Oh, my gosh.
04:20They were a bunch of POSs.
04:22And you know it.
04:23You know it.
04:23They were.
04:26Then the Adam Jones era.
04:28Adam would talk to you.
04:30Nick Markakis wasn't standoffish.
04:33He had social anxiety.
04:34Yes.
04:35But he was a good guy.
04:36Great guy.
04:37But again, like that was –
04:38There are a lot of guys that have that.
04:39Chris Davis would talk to you.
04:41If you got it in the right mood, Manny would talk to you.
04:44Scope would talk to you.
04:46This team, I have a hard time finding a person that won't.
04:53That's why I told you a couple of years ago, Jack Flaherty will not play here again.
05:00He will not play here again.
05:02Did you see somebody from Baltimore tweeted at him?
05:04And he goes, man, I don't know why those people hate me so much.
05:07He – I'll have to go find the tweet.
05:09Maybe it was fake.
05:10No.
05:10I'll have to go find the tweet.
05:11But he was saying – he was chirping about – I don't know if it was about the Dodgers spending
05:15money or something.
05:16And then he brought up something and a fan came at him that was clearly from Baltimore.
05:20And he's like, I don't know why those people hate me so much.
05:22And you were good.
05:24We thought you were going to be helpful.
05:26And you weren't.
05:27Let's go to Ellicott City and get Kevin.
05:29What's up, Kevin?
05:30What's going on, Rob and Jeremy?
05:32Good morning.
05:32Good morning to you, sir.
05:35Great conversation, man.
05:36So, I feel like we're due for a better season healthy-wise with pitching, man.
05:42I really hope that we can get these guys to stay healthy because, you know, we're building a good team.
05:47In your guys' opinion, I mean, what do we do if some of these pitching doesn't work out?
05:52Like, what do we do with that?
05:53Do we just take it overhead or what?
05:56I think we don't go to the playoffs.
05:58Well, I think you have to – this is where you may not have the chance to ride it out
06:04and figure out.
06:05It's like, okay.
06:06I mean, with six starters, if one of them is faltering, you know what to do.
06:09You put the other one in and the other one's out.
06:11But you have the capital.
06:12If you look at the farm system, they did the right thing last year.
06:15If you get to the trade deadline and you're like, yeah, man, we need another front-line starting pitcher, they're
06:20going to go get one.
06:21And, Kevin, that's when you get thinking about this, Kevin.
06:23That's why there was no knee-jerk reaction in getting rid of guys now.
06:26Yeah.
06:27Because now is not the right time.
06:28You want to hold on to them until you need to get rid of them.
06:33There was no real need to get rid of them right now.
06:36If Kobe Mayo is playing in the minor leagues in Rakin, that's a good problem.
06:41If Heston Kerstad is playing in the minor leagues in Rakin, that's a good problem.
06:47Because those are controllable, tradable pieces.
06:50So if that pitching doesn't work out,
06:53they're going to be deficient in something.
06:54You know that.
06:55Every team is down the street.
06:57No team in baseball gets to the trade deadline and say, nah, we're good.
07:03And I'm not saying everybody makes a trade, Jeremy,
07:06but every team, I don't care, you're the Dodgers,
07:09you're looking to bolster something.
07:11You're looking to fortify something.
07:13Yeah.
07:13So the Orioles can keep some of them pieces if they can.
07:16So at the trade deadline, they can say, you know what, we can make a move now.
07:19We can make a move.
07:20Yeah, and again, like, people talked about the whole GM under fire type thing,
07:25or if you want to point at Elias,
07:27and they didn't like what's happened in the past trade deadlines.
07:30But honestly, if you looked at it, some of them have actually been,
07:32I mean, last year's the one caveat where they knew they were out of it,
07:35so they did the right thing, even though a lot of people didn't like it.
07:38And then you'll see the fruits of that labor once down the line,
07:40whether they take some of those guys and turn it into a player right now,
07:43or those guys get here at the major league level.
07:45That's good.
07:45All right.
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