00:00All right, I got to ask you, because this came up earlier today.
00:04It's been widely reported.
00:08Despite what Dave Roberts wants to say, apparently that bullpen session of Otani didn't go all that well last week.
00:17We thought that maybe this past weekend we would have seen him there after throwing the bullpen.
00:22Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager, comes out and tells everyone he's pitching before the end of the year.
00:28Everything is going to be fine.
00:29Well, in his last seven games, he's hitting $1.30.
00:33He's got no home runs, no RBIs.
00:36He struck out four times last night against the Cardinals.
00:39You can't tell me he's not hurt.
00:42He has been about as non-a-factor as the Dodgers have seen since they've had him.
00:49Forget about pitching.
00:51My question is, if this bicep's a problem, the knee is a problem, and something is clearly a problem here,
00:58are the Dodgers in trouble if Otani can't get it done here in the postseason?
01:04That's a good question.
01:05I don't know that I'm ready to panic on that yet, and I'll chalk it up at least to a
01:10slump over the last two or three weeks.
01:12As far as the pitching goes, I don't think Dave Roberts, right now, Joe, feels like he owes us anything.
01:17You know, he doesn't feel like he owes it to tell anybody anything, really, as far as what's going on.
01:22So I think he's, like, ducking and diving.
01:25I mean, why sell us that he's fine?
01:28Yeah, because there's no reason to say anything else.
01:30This is what teams do.
01:32This is what managers do.
01:33I mean, Aaron Boone's been doing this for years.
01:34You know, like, oh, he'll be back next week, and then he's out for six months.
01:37You know, so, you know, what teams do is they put on the best PR face for the player.
01:45Whenever a player is out, even if they're going to have Tommy John surgery, they'll say 12 to 14 months,
01:50but he could be back sooner.
01:51You know, they always paint the best picture possible.
01:54So that's what I'm saying is that Dave Roberts doesn't really owe it to us to tell us that, yeah,
01:58I'm going to say that there's a possibility of pitching, but in the back of my mind, I know there's
02:03not.
02:03And he's not going to give that to us.
02:04It's just the way that baseball works and the way sports works, too.
02:07So, look, I don't know as far as how serious the injury is and if it's affecting his hitting.
02:13Clearly, you're bringing up some very drastic numbers that would indicate that something is indeed going on with him here.
02:19But remember, he was able to pitch with Tommy John surgery.
02:23I'm sorry, to hit with Tommy John surgery and had no issue, too.
02:26So I just think the consensus on L.A. is they're really just not playing their best baseball in August
02:35and maybe even into September.
02:36And at some point, they're going to have to start playing better.
02:39And, Joe, it's impossible for you or I to know whether or not that's going to begin or when it's
02:45going to begin.
02:45But because it certainly has not.
02:47They had no business losing to the Cardinals the way that they did.
02:51Yeah, first time out, I think he has actually struck out four times in a game.
02:55He just doesn't look healthy enough.
02:58And I think they can win if he would be hitting, right?
03:04I don't think they need him as a pitcher in order to be able to win.
03:08But I'll be damned if I don't think they're in trouble if he's if he can't hit.
03:13I mean, a buck forty three over the last week and a half is not going to get it done
03:16in the postseason.
03:17I'm wondering if maybe even a little time off isn't something we might expect with the Dodgers.
03:23Right.
03:23I mean, where there's smoke, there's fire here.
03:27I just don't think the Dodgers are good enough to overcome.
03:30And no, Tani being 60 percent at the plate.
03:33Don't think that's something they can overcome.
03:35Their team is their team is still really good and maybe not to win the World Series.
03:41But if you if you told me, oh, Tani didn't play a game the rest of this season and postseason
03:46and told me that the Dodgers still got to the NLCS.
03:51I wouldn't be surprised at all.
03:52They're still really talented with that pitching.
