- 2 days ago
Kyle Tucker might not be living up to the $240M hype, but relax, it's only May. Plus, could the Dodgers be in on Taril Skubal and other trade deadline rumors!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The good news about this Dodgers team, when an injury happens, it's next man up with this team.
00:04It always has been. It's been that way for the last couple of years. We've seen it with the
00:07pitching staff two years ago. That's why I always tamper down all the panic of every Dodger fan
00:13that's so worried about, well, this guy's not hitting, this guy's not pitching. Guys,
00:17knock it off. You're the Dodgers. 36 wins right now. Absolutely obliterating teams as we currently
00:24stand. I don't know. I am worried about Tucker still. I'm sorry. Why? Why worry? Why use the
00:32word worry? I'm interested. Well, it's the under the hood stats, which are underlying stats. I'm a
00:38nerd. I run two fantasy baseball leagues, so I'm a little bit of a nerd. I hear you. His barrel
00:43rate
00:43is a career low right now, at least not in his prime. His exit velocity, which is how hard the
00:49ball comes off your bat, is low. The place you should be most comfortable, which is home,
00:53Dodger Stadium. He's hitting under 200. It's his new home. That's the other thing.
00:58That's important distinction. It's a brand new home, and he's been bouncing around a little
01:02bit these last games. Now, keep in mind, he's playing in front of very, it's not like he's
01:06scared of the bright lights of LA. Oh, no, I'm not saying that. That's not the one I'm insinuating.
01:10It's just, it's still, I know it's the end of May, but it's still May. And frankly, the Dodgers
01:18didn't need Kyle Tucker. Yeah, that's the key part. How do we overpay for him?
01:23That part I can't answer for you. I don't know. You know why you overpay? Because you
01:29could. That's why you did it. That's the key part, Rod. As athletes, man, especially
01:35at this level, when you want to feel like your best performance is needed, otherwise
01:41you just kind of float a little. And it's not intentional, but there's just a recognition
01:47that I don't have to hit home runs for us to win. I can just kind of be here.
01:54Yeah, like watch what happens. Watch the Dodgers go to October, right? And watch Kyle Tucker
01:59have a terrible year. Just hit like 240 with, say, 17 home runs. It's not a Kyle Tucker
02:05year. Watch him carry this team in October. Just watch. I'll give you an example. We all
02:12agree that Roki Sasaki, to this point, now the last two starts have been very, very
02:15good. But to this point, Roki Sasaki, you can make the argument, it's been a little bit
02:19of a letdown as far as the money we paid him and his performance, especially if you compare
02:24it to the other Japanese stars that we've influxed into our organization. That guy had
02:29like a one ERA in October last year and saved like six games. Dodgers don't win the World
02:35Series if Roki Sasaki wasn't in the bullpen last year. Yeah. It's just hard for you to,
02:42when you're a new guy, especially coming into a championship level team, it's just kind of
02:47hard for you to figure out where you best fit, where you're most needed. What if he just
02:54needs to make amazing plays in the outfield and that's what he will do best for this team
02:59and not necessarily hit the ball as well as he's capable of hitting it? Or to Dex's point,
03:05like come October, his bat will be hotter than anybody's and it'll make up for the whole year
03:12of why people question why the Dodgers paid him that much money. Well, this is why. Because
03:16in the National League Championship Series, he caught fire and got them into the World Series
03:21again. Yeah. And the Dodgers have so many more options as well. Like he doesn't need to do it
03:27himself. Like, yeah, we're losing to Oscar Hernandez, but the names I just mentioned call
03:31Kim, they're phenomenal. Tibbs, the third, who's looking to come up very soon. He's going to be
03:36a monster for this team in certain spots. And also let's not mince words here. This is the Los
03:42Angeles Dodgers. The trade deadline is coming up and the Dodgers will be very involved in the trade
03:49deadline. Tarek Scooble is a sexy name that is already out there. Everybody and their cousin
03:55is going to want him. Now the Dodgers have the resources to get him and then also have the
04:01resources to lock him up after, after the fact. But here's the thing. When the Dodgers have those
04:06resources, the Padres find a way to get the resources, if nothing else, to just screw up the
04:12Dodgers a little bit in their trade deadline endeavors. The Cubs desperately need an arm too.
04:18So like there's, it's going to be an interesting couple of months with the Dodgers because
04:23everybody, it's all hands on deck throughout Major League Baseball. The Dodgers name is
04:28circled, highlighted, dotted. Everybody wants a piece of this team's ass as they should.
04:36Yeah, nobody, I mean, as a competitor, you're not just going to keep letting people win games
04:42every time they see you. And, and that's why I'm a fan of successful teams and organizations,
04:49regardless of, you know, you can try to simplify it and say, it's only about the money and where
04:55they're just, you know, buying or bringing in the best players and that's why they're winning.
05:00Okay. I mean, that doesn't guarantee that you're going to win just because you spend the most money
05:05in salaries. It doesn't. Um, but it forces everybody else to level up. Like you can't just
05:12sit back and watch the Dodgers win the next five world series titles. Absolutely. That that's
05:18ridiculous. And so it forces divisional opponents like the Padres to step their game up and figure
05:24out a way to compete, to win the division. Now, not five years from now. Absolutely. Forces other
05:30teams in the national league to step their game up and find a way to compete and beat
05:35this team. So they're not showing up every time and just wiping everybody out in the national
05:40league. Uh, and then even American league teams that won't see the Dodgers into the world series,
05:46but when you get there, you want to have a chance to beat them. So the Yankees and other AL
05:52league. Toronto Blue Jays are starting to play good baseball again. The, the, the white socks all
05:57of a sudden are battling it for their division because the AL central is really winnable. Like
06:03this is, we're in a really unique time in baseball when it comes as much as everyone just says, well,
06:08the Dodgers, it's all the Dodgers. We were still in a world of parody and major league baseball. And
06:13we have been, we've had dip with the exception of these last two years, we've had like a different
06:17world series winner, like every single year with the exception of, you know, the giants, when they
06:22went one, three or five world series outside of that, we just had a world series three years
06:27ago. It was the diamondbacks and Texas Rangers. Oh, and by the way, everyone in their cousin told
06:31me, Oh, this is the worst thing that's ever happened to baseball. So it seems like you guys
06:35don't like parody after all. They don't like what they don't like. Interesting. That's why the
06:42narrative thing again, like, you know, now it's the, it's the flopping narrative. It's the,
06:47the Dodgers narrative. It's the, this is the worst thing for, okay, well, why is this happening
06:52in football? It's, it's, there's always that debate and conversation around what people like
06:58and don't like. And, you know, as athletes, as you know, you have to try and turn off that
07:03noise so that you don't fall into, you know, fall prey to just trying to play or perform
07:09in a way that is blowing with the wind, the way everybody else's mind sometimes is blowing.
07:15Absolutely. And by the way, this Dodger team, particularly when I, the next man up, like it's
07:22an old phrase, you know, like, Oh, we have, they have a next man up mentality. They do though. Like
07:28this team particularly does because who won the world series last year? Yeah. The Dodgers had
07:34Otani and Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman who won the world series last year, Andy Pahez and,
07:41uh, and Miguel Rojas. Oh, and by the way, Miguel Rojas will be on the fan today. So you don't
07:49want
07:49to miss that. If you want to check out Miguel Rojas, he'll be on with DMACC and Ryder later today
07:53before the Dodger game. And definitely if you're into checking out anything Dodgers, you want to
07:57check out DMACC and Ryder because they've been doing some great pregame previews for Dodger games.
08:02So make sure you check them out. Our wonderful afternoon drive show.
08:06Ryder's off today. The Dodgers are. Dodgers are off today. Well, good.
08:11Cause I don't, I don't need Ryder taking days off. Can't have Ryder. No, no, we need Ryder
08:15here day in day out. Damn your rest. Those lazy ass Dodgers can take a day, but don't think for
08:21a
08:21second Ryder gets a day off. I've seen his contract. You haven't seen his contract? Oh, I read it
08:27twice. It's really good. It's got some interesting stuff in there. We don't have the same agent it
08:32appears. Oh, used to true. Actually true. Um, but yeah, this, this Dodger team, I, what can I say?
08:40I, I, I'm what I worry about with Dodger fans. And this is actually, listen, LA has a very,
08:48we've mentioned has a very interesting reputation to its fan bases, you know, because Los Angeles,
08:54yo, we're Hollywood. We don't actually care about our teams. We're bandwagon fans. I disagree with
09:01all of these things. I, I, I make the argument that listen, yeah, LA is a town where there is
09:06so
09:06much going on, but we also have 13 pro sports teams here and those fans of those sports teams
09:12love them. Like you wouldn't believe. Do we have our delusional aspects here in LA? Yes,
09:19but I wouldn't say it's any more delusional than fans in New York, Chicago, Miami, depending on
09:25whatever your fandom is. I just, I worry that Dodger fans are going to get too used to this dominance,
09:33the way the Yankee fans did, because there was a time when the Yankees didn't win a world
09:39series for 15 years and it came to the nineties and they won that first one where everyone was
09:44like, yeah, the Yankees, this is fun. Three years later, I hate the Yankees. Please go away forever.
09:54The Dodger fans. I'm worried we'll get too used to this dominance because this dominance is not a
10:02normal thing. What we're seeing from the Dodgers is not a normal thing. A chance to win a third
10:08world series in a row is just not a normal thing. It's only happened twice ever. And major league
10:14baseball has been around for 150 years. The, the dominance thing. Yeah. It's, it's, uh,
10:22you know, we, I think we used to appreciate it. It was almost like that was all we knew.
10:28I feel like we, like we appreciated obviously here in LA, we appreciated, you know, the dominance of
10:34the Lakers showtime era in the eighties. You know, we, we, we valued, you know, the, the,
10:40the dominance at the start of the decade in the two thousands with Lakers championship teams,
10:47even Yankees baseball, uh, in, in the early two thousands, new England Patriots football,
10:55early two thousands, Los Angeles Sparks basketball, early two thousands. Like we, we were accustomed to
11:02sports teams reaching the pinnacle and like holding the top for a few years. Like somebody had to knock
11:08them off of the pedestal at the top. And now it just seems very different. Like where we're not
11:15as comfortable watching people be successful for too long. It's weird. It's like, it's like,
11:20it's like that line from the dark night. It's like, yeah, you're always the hero until you live long
11:26enough to become the villain. Dodgers are well on their way on their villain journey. Yes, very much
11:31so. And, and that's part of the experience now it is. And I mean, you know, fans, people,
11:37people, spectators, you know, there, there's more choices, there's more competition for their
11:42attention span, their, their eyeballs, their dollars, their views. Uh, and so they don't
11:48want to see the same thing all the time. They want to see something different. They want to see,
11:52um, it, it truly be, uh, up for grabs and, you know, that's fair, but the Dodgers have been able
11:59to,
12:00uh, you know, work their way to the top the last couple of years. And there was a couple of
12:05other
12:05years they had the best team in baseball and could have won more titles to be honest. Uh, but,
12:10but hopefully as we move through, we get into August, September, October, they'll just,
12:15they'll be healthy enough to, to make another run at it at the highest level.
12:20Oh, well, let's go ahead and get over to the calls. That number eight, five, five, nine, seven
12:25LA fan. That is eight, five, five, nine, seven, five, two, three, two, six. Mitch and Callie talk
12:31to us. You're on with Derek and Decker. What's happening? How are you guys doing?
12:36Chilling. Good. Yeah. Oh, good. Good to hear. Um, I would love to see the Dodgers go for school,
12:42but not to be greedy, which it sounds like it, because he's young. Y'all get a little
12:47long in the tooth. Look at the class now. 46 career wins in 10 years. I know his first
12:53few years, he was, he was just, uh, not that many games, but it still doesn't average it too
12:58well to be a 30 million dollar guy. I think Sandy was now. He's been passed around and
13:03gets hurt. It was stopped with those two guys. So we do get these guys. It's not
13:08supposed to be greedy. We're willing to spend and it's for the youth. I like to see
13:12our young, highly touted minority guys getting into the big leagues, but I guess we can't
13:17keep them. Let them be with other teams. See Corey Seager, Cody, Bush, and we'll be
13:21speaking of Corey. I'd love to see him trade for Cody, put bets at second. And we're in
13:27like Flynn, I think I love it. I mean, anybody that can pick up a Tarek
13:33Scooble, as you just mentioned, would be phenomenal. He's going to be the hottest
13:37trade piece available. It honestly, probably years. This has got a two time Cy Young award
13:42winner. He doesn't even need to pay. He's out right now with an injury. He doesn't
13:45even need to pitch anytime soon. And he'll be, they'll throw everything humanly
13:49possible at him to get their hands on Tarek Scooble. Another name that I think a lot
13:53of people are kind of ignoring is, uh, out of Houston, uh, Jordan Alvarez. If Houston
13:59continues to kind of lay in the weeds, he might be a name that's thrown out there.
14:03And if that's, that's the case, that's a power bet that every team under the sun will
14:08try to get their hands on the Yankees, the Cubs, like they'll find a way to make
14:13him work. It's just, this is going to be a unique trade deadline. And the good news to
14:18Dodger fans is that the Dodgers are always involved in the trade deadline.
14:22That's, that is the good news. Is it greedy? No, I, I, Derek, this is a team
14:28that's willing to spend and other teams are willing to quote unquote spend, but
14:33we are in that world of, you know, hedge fund money, funny money, everything has
14:38to work out to make a lot of money for the organization more than when it seems
14:43that way. Well, spending, you know, sometimes equals competitiveness, right? Like
14:51that, that's what it really means. And part of it to me has to do with, you know, some
14:58of the generational players and talent that some of the organizations possess, uh, or
15:03have on their rosters. Like they have a responsibility to surround those guys and
15:09support them with the best available resources, teammates, coaches, training,
15:14everything that you possibly can. If you have Tarek Skubel, if you have Paul Skeens,
15:19if you have Shohei Otani, if you have the roster that the Dodgers have, you don't get
15:24to sit around and not try to surround these guys with you, the arguably the best
15:30manager in baseball. You don't get to not give him the best players at his
15:35disposal to be able to, you know, make decisions around who should start.
15:39Who's relieving? Who's in the outfield? What adjustments am I making? Like he
15:44should give the best players that he possibly can coach and manage. That's
15:48what it comes down to. And some organizations are willing to just go for
15:51that and some aren't, and that's okay. The Dodgers, they, they're willing to do
15:55it. Let them do it.
15:56And on the flip side, it's going to be great for the Detroit Tigers. Make no
15:59mistake. I'm looking right now, the first place team in the AL East is the
16:02Tampa Bay Rays. Five of those players, including their superstar, Junior
16:06Caminero right now should be playing in Anaheim right now. That's what happens
16:12when you don't trade a player that is heavily sought after like Shohei Otani
16:17was. The Angels will never recover from not trading Shohei Otani. Can't stress
16:22enough.
Comments