Dodgers checkup w/Dylan Hernández: Tanner Scott woes, RP Kershaw

00:00:02
Speaker 1: They check out this tweek from Dylan Hernandez La Times Calmnist joining us in five seconds. Very simple, Tanner Scott does it again. A lack of words from just about anyone right now when we're talking about one of the biggest reliever signings money wise of the off season and Dylan joins us right now, Dylan, when you saw what happened, what were your thoughts? If we forced you to say more than one sentence, what were your thoughts?

00:00:33
Speaker 2: Just wow, you know, I mean, it's it's kind of Otani in reverse right where you know Tani kind of seems to amaze you and kind of take your breath away time and time again, and you're like, oh my god, he did it again. This is like almost that in reverse right where you're just kind of seeing like, you know, at some point he's got to get it right, you think, you know, and yeah, he just kind of did it again last night.

00:00:55
Speaker 3: Is this the biggest bust signing? I mean, is this twek all the signing a bust already even if they go out and win the World Series because he signed a three year deal and he was one of the guys that the Dodger fans are saying, oh man, we're never gonna blow a lead with this because we have Scott and Trying and Kirby Yates and Vessia and we have an unstoppable bullpen Copek and we're never gonna lose. And now all of a sudden he's blown what ten saves? And he's his record is god awful? Eleven? Any what's eleventh? Eleven and runs or something crazy?

00:01:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, it hasn't been good for sure, you know. And I think that, right, I mean, this is the type of contract really that the Dodgers have kind of avoided giving to relievers outside of Kenlly Jansen, right, who was kind of a special case. Right, this is we're talking you know, Johnson. We're talking about, you know, a guy that was kind of like on his way to the Hall of Fame all time, you know, career saves, leader for the franchise and really stabilized that bullpen. Yeah, this one can turn out to be pretty bad, right, I mean, I think that this isn't the type of contract that you kind of load.

00:01:53
Speaker 4: I think you got three more years after this.

00:01:57
Speaker 2: You know, and just I think, you know, I mean, if you kind of go back and look at it, I mean the irony is is this kind of Okanie's fault in that right? He faced Otani four times last year in the NLDS, so TONI couldn't hit the guy at all, and the Dodgers just said, you know, what the hell with it, Let's let's go get this guy, you know, partially to take him away from other teams. And the thing just kind of backfired spectacularly. I mean, if Atani gets like one hit off this guy in the postseason, I'm not sure they give him seventy two million dollars.

00:02:23
Speaker 5: Finally they can blame something that's not going well on Otani. Everything else is peaches for Otani, but on Tanner Scott. Is this a mishandling of Tanner Scott has the Dodgers montro that works for so many people besides keeping pitchers healthy. Ben Did they handle him incorrectly? I don't I don't watch enough games and didn't look up enough stats. Or is this all a Tanner Scott thing?

00:02:50
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:02:50
Speaker 2: I actually think that that it was. They did mishandle right in the sense that they didn't have like a real nine.

00:02:55
Speaker 4: Enning guy coming into this season. I mean, what may.

00:02:58
Speaker 2: Tanner Scott so good in the playoffs last ye he was like, okay, well Connie comes up, you bring in Tanner Scott left on left. Yeah, you do have to kind of get through Mooki after that, But then it's Freddie Freeman, right, And then he really did a great job, right. The Padres kind of deployed him very strategically, kind of throwing him against those lefties, you know, And I think at the beginning of the season, you get him kind of out of his comfort zone, he starts getting hit, and then things just kind of snowball, right.

00:03:22
Speaker 4: I mean, I think at this point you're just kind.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: Of watching kind of with the you know, uncharacteristic fear with which he's pitching right now. You know, it appears to be just as much of a mental problem now than anything. So yeah, I think this kind of goes back to the beginning and maybe, you know, again, the role that he had last year that earned him this deal, that's not the same role really that he was asked to perform this season.

00:03:47
Speaker 4: Dylan.

00:03:48
Speaker 3: First of all, what do they do right now? If it's a one roun lead the ninth They're not bringing in Tanner Scott and this is just a regular season. What if they get to the postseason, will he be on the roster? And would it be Kershaw closing game? Would it be I mean, I can't believe I'm about.

00:04:02
Speaker 5: To say this.

00:04:03
Speaker 3: Roki Sazaki in the bullpen and maybe close the games? I don't know what what do they do because this was supposed to be again a lockdown bullpen. And who closed a game in the Wildcard round Game one with a one run lead in the ninth.

00:04:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think these are all great questions. I don't think they know right now, you know, I mean, even coming into this week, I think it was very telling. You know, I asked Dave Roberts, you know, kind of over the last week of the season, you're only going to have so many, you know, high leverage innings.

00:04:34
Speaker 4: You know, do you do you use those innings to get guys like Canner Scott and Blake.

00:04:37
Speaker 2: Trining right, or do you use them more on kind of like experimental guys, right, like the Rokie Sasaki's, you know, maybe Will Klein who just got called back up and you know it looked okay in his first two appearances, And you know, Dave Roberts really didn't have an answer at that point, I don't. I think at this point they're just gonna Yeah, I don't know, you know, I mean, I think that's a really good question. I mean I I kind of personally like the Kershaw thing, just because we know at least he won't like shrink from the moment.

00:05:04
Speaker 4: You know.

00:05:04
Speaker 2: That said, if you kind of look at him this year, the one inning that's giving him trouble is actually the first inning right in this starts, So you know, coming in cold like that, is he going to be able to write? This is something he's never done before. You know, Sasaki has never you know, until last week that he pitched those two made those two relief appearances at Triple A, he had never pitched in relief in his life. So they're at a very very desperate state right now.

00:05:30
Speaker 4: I mean, I my.

00:05:31
Speaker 2: Feeling is that no option is a good one at this point. You know, they're probably you know, like, let's just theoretically, say they do get to the World Series somehow. You know, my guess is that you're going to have you know, guys like Otani Yamamoto not just starting games, but maybe even closing out a game a series or something. Because I just don't know, how they're going to fill up, you know, fill up these innings. You know, I know Alex Vesia has been like their most reliable guy. You know, if there's one guy you're going to kind of designate, it's like, this is our guy in the bullpen, it's Alex Vesia. Well, he had to pitch the eighth inning yesterday, he had to face Marte and Carrol. I mean, he that was kind of the meat of the lineup there, So you can't say him for the ninth in that situation.

00:06:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I don't. I don't know what they're gonna do.

00:06:11
Speaker 2: I mean, I think there's really not enough time to really kind of figure out what you got going on here. You know, they brought in Jack Dryer, who's looked pretty good kind of in low leverage situations. They pitched him in kind of a pressure situation last night. He gave up runs. You know, you know, Edgardo n Riquez certainly has like the you know, the the you know, I would say the presence of a future closer. He's pretty fastball dominant at this point, and he's again he's looked good in low leverage situations.

00:06:37
Speaker 4: Do you want to bring him this young kid in in the ninth I don't know, you.

00:06:41
Speaker 2: Know, And again I I I think you know, they're gonna need some luck, you know, to kind of figure this out on the fly, probably because they're gonna, you know, one of one or two of these experiments could go really really wrong.

00:06:53
Speaker 5: First of all, Dylan Yamamoto's not throwing on anything but six days rest. He ain't closing jack out. That guy hasn't seen him mound outside of his six days of rest that he gets. But secondly, why do we need to have this conversation? They have the best starting rotation. Will the Dodgers allow those guys to stay in the game. Unlike every other year that we've seen the Dodgers where it's like oh five and dive see you later, they is Dave Roberts going to completely flip the analytical switch and go glass now Yamamoto, Blake Snell show, Hey, you guys have been nails the last month. We're keeping you in for six, maybe even seven or eight innings.

00:07:35
Speaker 2: You don't think he has a choice, right And you know, one thing I've kind of been telling people is I think in a way Roberts might be kind of be getting set up almost for a grady little moment, right, I mean, if anything, you know, kind of the irony here is right up until this point, Roberts has been criticized a lot for pulling the starters too early. Obviously there's the input from the front office. I mean, he's not making these decisions on his own. But you know, kind of in this hypothetical situation, you know, let's be honest, right, Blake Snell is as good as he is in the playoffs, he's kind of like a five inning pitcher.

00:08:03
Speaker 4: Right.

00:08:04
Speaker 2: Let's hypothetically say you're in the sixth inning now, and your option is to right, continue to go with Blake Snell or bring in Edgardo Enriquez, who again is kind of a very you know, talented but you know, picture with like a fairly limited arsenal.

00:08:19
Speaker 4: At this point, My guess is that a lot of times.

00:08:21
Speaker 2: Now he's going to kind of lean on these starting pitchers to kind of get through that inning. And you know, I could see this, just the way the game has evolved in everything, that that could also kind of backfire. We don't see, guys, you know, I mean the game has changed for a reason, right, I Mean, you got all these guys coming out of the bullpen throwing a hundred. You know, you kind of change them up according to kind of the matchups. You know, guys obviously do better, you know, second time through the lineup, third time through the lineup.

00:08:48
Speaker 6: You know.

00:08:48
Speaker 2: And I do kind of wonder if Roberts is going to be in a position where he's gonna, you know, have to kind of bet on the starter just because of the lack of alternatives here.

00:08:57
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00:09:59
Speaker 3: Hell, how big of a deal is it that they're gonna have to play the wildcard round for the first time in a while here, They're gonna have to play those three extra games, whether it's against the Mets, the Reds and Diamondbacks, whoever. That sixth seed is. How important is that? Because that's just more innings on if show Hayes lined up to be the game one guy, it's warnings on show Head, warnings on Yama Mode, warnings on Snell, warnings on Glass. Now, right, they've always been able to kind of just skip to the next level. We'll just skip to the next round right fast forward through that you only have to worry about three series. Now they're gonna possibly have to worry about four series.

00:10:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I mean it's you know, we've right, I mean, it's baseball, three games series. Anything can happen, first of all, right, and and not only is the more innings for the starters, it's also more innings that the bullpen's gonna have to cover. I mean, every time you go to the bullpen, there's a chance that's something really really bad is gonna happen, you know, And I think too, what's gonna be kind of scary here for them is, you know, how do they line up a starting pitchers for that Wildcard series?

00:10:56
Speaker 4: You know, obviously there's one idea.

00:10:58
Speaker 2: That you go Snell Yama Moto and then you kind of save Otani for Game three, basically hoping that you don't have to use them at all in that wildcard round, you know, or that if you do, maybe you use them as a reliever to kind of close out Game two. But what if you lose those two games? I mean, you are you're going to really end your season with shohel Tani not pitching. Uh, that's a problem, right, I mean, you know we always kind of talk about you want to lose at least with your guys out there. So yeah, it also kind of adds this kind of layer of decision making, which you know, if anything right, I mean, we've I think there's been a lot of conversation how smart this front office is, and I think to some degree they've earned that reputation.

00:11:37
Speaker 4: But you know, they've also had a pension for overthinking at times.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: And this is the type of situation actually where I could see them thinking themselves out of starting Otani in one of those first two games and potentially even losing again with him not even having thrown a pitch in that series.

00:11:51
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:11:53
Speaker 6: Hey, I wanted to get a question.

00:11:54
Speaker 3: In Tony's got to start game one. He's been their best.

00:11:57
Speaker 6: Pitch, Yeah, and he's lined up for it.

00:12:02
Speaker 3: He's lined up for it. I mean, if it through six innings last night, he's lined up for it. Didn't it hasn't been affecting his offense as much as was in the past, right, he's I mean, if I'm them, I go otaniy Snell, Yamamoto, or some some form of those three, because they've been your three best.

00:12:18
Speaker 6: Look.

00:12:19
Speaker 2: I would go with hoany game one, just to just to be clear. But I think if you also kind of look ahead in the schedule, you pitch game one, you can pitch game two of the NLDS on five days rest, then you can pitch that whoever starts a game two can come back for game five on four days rest. Right, So if you look at their top three guys, Yamamoto, Otani, Snell, you know, of that group, now is the only guy that's pitched on four days rest, like even like in his career.

00:12:47
Speaker 4: I think you know so.

00:12:49
Speaker 2: I think because of that, I wouldn't be shocked if they went with Snell with game one just too again because they're kind of trying to roll this out for it.

00:12:56
Speaker 4: But again I agree with you. I think you got to throw your best guy first.

00:12:58
Speaker 3: You got to win to win that series to worry about the d and if you don't win the wild card.

00:13:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also, by the way, in the wildcard, I mean, people are freaking out about the bullpen.

00:13:09
Speaker 6: You got to get through the wildcard round.

00:13:11
Speaker 1: Like, you don't have to use any of the guys that people are complaining about, Tanner, Scott Kirbyates, et cetera.

00:13:17
Speaker 6: Right, Like you you could theoretically go who are our.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: Best pitchers Glass Now, Snell, Otani, maybe Kershaw, Emmitchian, Like you could just combine all those guys and have them pitch. We've seen it plenty of times before, right.

00:13:29
Speaker 3: I mean Kershaw, what they do with kershow is fascinating too. Whatever they figure out, whatever they decide to do with him bullpen, I know, but imagine him coming in and last game ever and he's closing out the World Series.

00:13:40
Speaker 6: Crazy, but it could happen, right, that would be awesome.

00:13:44
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: I mean, he was in the bullpen yesterday and I you know, from what Dave Roberts said afterwards, sounds like he's going to be in the bullpen again today.

00:13:51
Speaker 4: My guess is that they're going to give him a trial run out there.

00:13:54
Speaker 2: Uh you know, and again like given their options at least, you know, Roberts kind of went on, you know, postgame talking about how he thinks his relievers are pitching a freight, right, and I think kind of the one thing with Clayton Kershaw that you know, whatever the result, he does not pitch a frade. I mean even a couple of years ago when he had that start in the NLPs against the Dbacks, I mean, right, he knew he was going to have to have shoulder surgery. You know, at the end of that season. Kind of doesn't matter. He will go out there and at least he will attack, and I think you can, you know, if that doesn't work out, I think you can kind of live with it, right as opposed to, you know, kind of the performance that we saw from Tenner Scott last night, where you know, he hit a guy that walks a guy.

00:14:33
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I don't think people want to see that.

00:14:37
Speaker 5: Obviously, the fear is that the bullpen has to get a lot of innings for the Dodgers. But one one position and we didn't talk about is Will Smith. Will Smith missing significant time at the end of the season going into the playoffs. How big of a loss is this, because in my opinion right now, he is the best best hitting catcher in the National League.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely offensively, it takes away a lot, right, and I think you know the fact that you know, Max Munsey's mixed, missed a bunch of time, Taskar Hernandez has kind of been up and down right each one of those guys that you can stack, it really kind of lengthens the lineup and it kind of changes the feel even, right, I mean, I think obviously, you know, I think the opposing pitcher. No matter what, you're going to be kind of cautious there at the top of the lineup with Otani, Betts and Freeman. But you know, to me, what's made the Dodgers' offense as special as it is in recent years is the fact that after that, you know, you do have Will Smith, right, you do have Max Munsey, you do have you know, Taskar Hernandez. You know, you know with Tommy Edmonds in there, right, he's he's a tough at bat. And so yeah, no, I totally agree with you. And you know, Will Smith is one of those guys. I mean, we've seen it this year. You know, if the other guys aren't hitting, he's a guy that can win a game for you by himself with his bats. So yeah, that's gonna be that that is going to be kind of a big thing. And you know, again, it's one thing I think if the if you're right you're pitching, was all fine, and you were confident that you could, okay, hold the other team to okay, you know what, we're not going to give up any more than two three runs.

00:16:03
Speaker 4: You don't know that now, right, I mean.

00:16:04
Speaker 2: They might have to be in they're in this position now where they might have to outslug their opponents. And if that's the case, you know, obviously you take out, like you said, the best hitting catcher, you know, one of the best hitting catchers in baseball.

00:16:15
Speaker 4: Uh, that that's gonna kill you.

00:16:19
Speaker 1: Hey, Dylan, great insight. Thank you for joining us, and I guess we'll finish on a high note. Dodger fans won the World Series last year, and you're gonna make the play.

00:16:28
Speaker 3: They're gonna win the division again. They're up to and they have the tiebreak, so they're going to win the division. Yeah, they're gonna get home playoff games after that.

00:16:36
Speaker 1: We don't know, yeah, exactly, Dylan, Thank you

00:16:40
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me on