Ken Rosenthal’s Inside Scoop: Jordan Walker breakout, Dodgers dev machine, Yankees rotation update

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Let's hit the inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal. Ken, we are going to start with the Saint Louis Cardinals from your notes column in The Athletic Right now, will hit on both Jordan Walker and jj Weatherhold. I would like to start with the league leader in home runs. Your thoughts on Jordan Walker finally coming through at the age of twenty three.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: At the age of twenty three, he's still twenty three. It's kind of one of the points here. He obviously underwent some mechanical changes that started actually last year. You can't do it really during the season, but they kept working with him, working with him, and he kept working at it, and it's kind of difficult to explain. But his batpath has improved. Obviously, He's no longer hitting the ball as often on the ground, and he's turning his incredible bat speed and incredible exit velocities into home runs. Now, the question everyone is going to have, including myself, is Ken at last, I don't know if he's going to finish with one hundred homers this season, but it certainly seems like he has found not just the right BACKPAF and the right mechanics but also the right mentality. And what I mean by that is what he said. He said, Listen, I'm going into the batters box and turning off my brain, all the mechanical work, all the stuff I'm doing to make sure the swing is in a good spot that is happening before the game. Once I get in the box, then I let my athleticism take over. I turn my brain off and go. If he gets to stay in that along with the mechanics, we might have something really special here.

00:01:40
Speaker 3: Kin.

00:01:40
Speaker 4: Another guy on the Cardinals is JJ Weatherhold. I picked him to win Rookie of the Year in the Nationalleague just because I thought he would get enough at bats, enough.

00:01:46
Speaker 3: Exposure in Saint Louis to do that.

00:01:49
Speaker 4: How special of a player is JJ weatherall going to be along with Jordan Walker?

00:01:53
Speaker 3: And then have they had extension talks?

00:01:55
Speaker 4: Because does it put more pressure on a team when you see someone like Connor griff get that extension before he well, sorry, not before after he made his big league debut.

00:02:07
Speaker 2: Well, Aja, First of all, I want to pass along this note from all of oriole fans across America. They are so grateful to you for all you've done for their franchise. Now.

00:02:17
Speaker 4: As for since I picked the uniforms, I'm just saying three to no, not that it's a coincidence, right, hugs Pete and.

00:02:23
Speaker 2: Pete and hugged Pete. Thank goodness, you hugged Pete. Now, weather Holt is a guy that has had extension discussions with the Cardinals. As I reported, they have not progressed. And listen, these talks take place between players and teams all the time. Not all of them result in deals, and it gets to a point where if you can't find the sweet spot for the player in the club, then they just kind of let it go and maybe resume these talks at another time. As for the player himself, he's a really interesting guy to me because he was undrafted out of high school, nobody took him, goes to West Virginia on a scholarship and becomes the player he is today. This amazing knack for going to the opposite field and just a solid, steady, overall mature kid in every sense of the world. That was what I kind of gleaned. Talking to Bran Brown, the hitting coach for the Cardinals, he said his personality, his maturity reminds me of Will Smith's Ryan Stanek, a reliever for the Cardinals, said the same that this kid is just beyond his years in that sense. He acts like he belongs and not in a bad way, in a good way. So he obviously has talent. He was the number seven pick overall out of West Virginia in twenty twenty four, and he should be along with Walker. They're the same age part of the next Cardinals renaissance, whenever that might occur.

00:03:48
Speaker 5: Had the Cardinals not been in this rebuild. Whatever the vernacular they're using is do both of these players get this opportunity this year with Jordan Walker hitting two two hundred and then two fifteen and back to back years j J. Weatherholt, there was some questions maybe he'd be up next year, but they both get the opportunity if they're not in this reboot and they're in the middle of you know, Moe's run of whatever it was, nineteen straight playoff appearances.

00:04:18
Speaker 2: Eric It's kind of a hypothetical that we'll never know the answer to, but they're not in that kind of middle ground anymore, and that was a very healthy thing for their organization. Winheim Bloom took over as President Baseball operations for John mozelok. He made it clear by his actions and by his words that they are going to transition, and frankly, that transition, whatever you want to call it, as you said, rebuilding, rebooting, whatever it was overdue. Cardinals fans would have been happy. I believe most Cardinals fans if this had happened maybe a year or two ago, if they kind of accelerated this. They didn't, and maybe he tried to compete last year when they really weren't in position too okay, But now they've started the process and there are a lot of things to like here. They need more pitching, obviously, and well, they have some good things.

00:05:10
Speaker 3: Going on there.

00:05:11
Speaker 2: That probably is the one area where they need to grow. But if you look at Weatherholt Walker now along with Mason Wynn, Nolan Gorman's playing better, they have some pieces. Alec Burson is a piece, so they're not necessarily that far away in a division that is pretty forgiving for the most part, the Anel Central. I don't know that it's going to happen this year, even next year, but they are at least on the right track and in a way that their fans can now embrace and say, okay, we get it. We know what the team is doing. We can understand and withstand the losses that are going to come because there is a path forward.

00:05:54
Speaker 3: All right.

00:05:54
Speaker 5: Well, a team that clearly has a path forward as the Dodgers. And I want to ask you about James tim Tis, the third, who is yet another player. I think he was traded twice last year and then brought into the Dodgers' organization. Now he is eight homers in the bushes after like a two for twenty slump or something like that.

00:06:13
Speaker 3: Do they have room for him in the big leagues?

00:06:16
Speaker 5: But also, is this just another case of showing how the Dodgers don't just dip into free agency and spend money in that area of building a roster.

00:06:27
Speaker 2: That is the misunderstood part of what they do. And I'll get to that in a second. You ask me if they have room for him right now? Obviously not. Piez is going crazy, Tucker of course is playing well. They're fine in the outfield, Tao's having a resurgent year. But what the Dodgers have right now is a really interesting situation. They have not just TIBs as an outfield prospect. They've got a number of others, including a couple who are ahead of Tibbs at least in the prospect rankings that you'll see publicly. I don't know how they make room for them. Ultimately, Tucker is on a relatively short term deal. Of course, Teoscar Hernandez is not going to be there forever whatever. That is something they'll deal with at some point. What is underrated about what they do and what fans who get obsessed with the money sometimes overlook, is that they operate at an extremely high level in every aspect of what they do, player development, draft, all this and in the case of Tibbs, here's a guy who was traded from San Francisco to Boston in the Ralphaield Devers deal. That was understandable. Boston wanted some young talent in return for taking on Jordan Hicks's salary, etc. And then the deal with the deadline was also understandable in a sense. For the Red Sox, they wanted Dustin May to help them with the Pennant push. It just didn't work out for them and they end up giving up a guy who, yes, has had a pretty good start to his season at Triple A. So I don't know where the future is for James Tibbs the third. But the Dodgers do this and if you remember two, the Michael Bush trade. Now Michael Bush has become a really good player for the Cubs, but in that trade, the Dodgers acquired a pitcher that they like, a young pitcher, and Zeer Hope, who is one of those outfield prospects. This is what they do. They churn it, and they churn it in a healthy way and keep replenishing their talent in addition to everything else that they're doing in a financial sense spending money.

00:08:27
Speaker 4: By the way, I wasn't going to talk about this because Tims went to Florida State, so we all know how I feel about Florida State, so I.

00:08:33
Speaker 3: Wasn't going to bring it up.

00:08:34
Speaker 4: But I do want you to understand it's not like this guy didn't have any talent. He was the thirteenth overall pick in the country, no question, a couple of years ago.

00:08:42
Speaker 3: So it's not like they found this guy off the side of the street.

00:08:44
Speaker 4: I mean, he was pretty good and he had three solid years at Florida State.

00:08:49
Speaker 2: But they maximized Dustin May and this is the thing that they understand and all teams understand this. At the deadline, it's a seller's market and you can get teams to over pay, which it appears the Red Sox did in this case. They also traded another outfield prospect in this deal that the Dodgers like along with Tibbs. So no, you're absolutely right. AJ Tibbs was not exactly an unknown in the industry, but the Dodgers had the wherewithal with May. And you can say, well, that's because they spent on all these other pictures. Fine, but it still made a good trade here it appears, and that's to their credit.

00:09:26
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00:10:27
Speaker 3: How about the Diamondbacks?

00:10:28
Speaker 5: How are they making it work? Your headline was they're making it work with I think Kutel Marte, hang on, I'm not even gonna ka tell Martehral Perdomo, Alec Thomas and Nolan Ernado all having an OPS under six hundred, the guys that you would think at least two of those four should be the main stays in that lineup right.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: And obviously last night was not a good example of them making it work. It showed their bullpen flaws in the extreme sense when they blew that seven to one lead to the Orioles. But it has been impressed to see what they've done with those guys struggling, and not just that without so many key players. Lord Escuriel Junior, of course, is expected to come back at some point in the near future, and then Corbyn Burns and Justin Martinez and Puck they should be back at some point as well, so that those guys are later down the line, second half perhaps, but this is a team that has a lot of talent, and once they get Marte and Perdomo going along with Carol, who has been pretty hot, they're an interesting club. I've always felt they're an interesting club. They haven't put it together yet, and their bullpend is a problem right now. It would be improved if Martinez and Puck come back from their respective elbow surgeries and can contribute. We don't know, along with Burns how any of these guys will be, but they've also gotten contributions from some lesser players on the roster, Vargas, Don Castillo, and this guy who came up, Jose Fernandez, who was not considered a top prospect. He's playing first. He's a natural shortstop, but they needed him at first because Pavin Smith was hurt. He's had a couple of really big games for them. So it's a testament to their organization that they've been able to do this and withstand these injuries, and at least at this point, tread Water.

00:12:15
Speaker 1: Ken, I want to move to the Yankees and what you wrote about Will Warren and make sure that he is not the forgotten man, although mixed into your answer, I'm wondering if there's a chance he could be the forgotten man once others return. Right he's in a battle for a rotation spot. Right now, it's fine, but Cole and Rodin come back, and if there aren't injuries, they are going to have a logjam soon.

00:12:38
Speaker 2: They are. And the note I had about Will Warren was just about how he's moved to the third base side of the rubber. It's improved his stuff, the stuff, the sharpness of his pitches, all of that. He wasn't great last night either, But at the same time, he is, like Schlitler, a homegrown guy for the Yankees. Lewis Hill is not homegrown. They got him early in his career in a trade. But the Yankees, another team that spends a ton of money. If they could develop two home grown starters that are impressive in what they can do, that would be a feather in their cap right now, You're right, Scott. Once Rodin comes back, he'll be first, and then Cole. They theoretically could have some decisions to make. You're assuming no other injuries, of course, and we all know how that goes. But yeah, Will Warren ultimately could be fighting for a spot. But he's a guy the Yankees are still really high on, and if he becomes a quality major league starter, that's something that will serve them well for years to come.

00:13:38
Speaker 4: Ken you mentioned homegrown pitchers. Noah Schultz is making his major league debut for the White Sox. This kid is from Chicago. He's been hyped up for multiple years now. And then obviously Sam Antonacci also has been rumored to come up with the trade for Lenin, so so I would assume he's coming with him. I don't know that for a fact, but I'm guessing what can the White Sox fans expect from Noah Schultz because I've said he needs to throw more strikes. If you look at his career numbers until this year, it's been a lot of walks. People are comparing him to Randy Johnson because he's like six foot nine, ten to eleven. However you measure him, there's a million different measurements. Right, What do White Sox fans expect to see from these two guys tonight?

00:14:15
Speaker 2: Chris Sale is another comparison that people have made, right, another tall, left handed pitcher. I'm not sure what to expect the guy making his major league debut, but you're right, Aja, he has been hyped like none other. Well, I wouldn't say that the other players have been hyped, but he's been hyped in a big way. And he is a guy, like you said, has had some control issues in the minor leagues. But it's an exciting night for the White Sox for sure. They've shown some good things this year and we'll see how it all plays out. They need pitching, we know that, and if Schultz can find his footing with this promotion, that would be a good step forward for them as they look to the future and try to do some things to become more competitive in their division. There in my opinion, the age, I'm anxiously in your opinion, they're better than they were, but they still have a ways to go.

00:15:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they can't be much worse than they were a couple years ago.

00:15:10
Speaker 4: When they lost one hundred and twenty games, one hundred and twenty one games, whatever it was. So they can't be much. Yes, they're trending up right, but for me, they need Teal back. He losing him in the WBC to Hamm He has been a big deal. Kiro hasn't hit being the everyday guy. We all know Reeese maguire. He is what he is. He's a backup guy. But they need Teal. He brings a different thing to this team, whether it's energy, catching, hitting, whatever you want to call it. And then the other thing is they need to find some pitching. Okay, listen. I love Sean Burke, I love Davis Martin. Davis Martin's been really good this year. They can't you know, they're trying to make Grant Taylor a starter like in the middle of the years as an opener. The thing to me is at some point you got to spend money, and you usually have to spend money on the pitching side. I feel like a lot of times it's easier to develop hitters than it is pitchers. And if you look at all the teams that have won over the years, they've gone out and gotten that big name pitcher.

00:15:59
Speaker 3: You know, you have to spend a lot of money to get them.

00:16:01
Speaker 4: Go all the way back to the Cubs, right, John Lackey, John Lester, Right, then you go to the Astros they got Verlander, and then you go to the Red Sox they made the trade for sale and got him in Vivaldi and they did all these things right, So the list goes on and on. At some point you have to go out and make that move for an impact pitcher, to not only show the other guys how to do it, but to be an impact guy.

00:16:21
Speaker 2: No question. AJ They're not there yet. Obviously, they did sign Fetti in the offseason. They did sign Sir Anthony de Mingez. These are complimentary pieces at best, their veteran presence and they help you, but they're not what you're talking about. But when the Cubs, for instance, signed Lester and Lackey, they were close. They were on the verge of becoming the team that ultimately won the twenty sixteen World Series.

00:16:47
Speaker 3: I believe those.

00:16:48
Speaker 2: Guys signed after the twenty fourteen season in that range, so they were in a far more advanced position than the White Sox are now. But in time that will be the test as it often is for these teams. Okay, but the Pirates, for example, you got a little closer, you were on the verge, you had Conor Griffin coming, You spent the little money, not incredible amounts of money, but you improved your team. Ryan O'Hearn good player for them, Brandon Laut great player for them. Both those guys so far. So once the White Sox get to that point, then the question is, Okay, how do you fortify and enhance what you have? And that will be a question under this ownership whether they are willing to make the necessary investments. At times. Jerry Reinsdorf has been willing to do that over the years. You can cite any number of examples, but that will be the next time it becomes a relevant question when this team is close to being competitive.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Ken, let's finish with a super chat from a super fan, one of our favorites, ref showing us a little bit of love and simply asking about the Mets and how early panic mode can hit. And his question revolves specifically around Carlos Mendoza. He's like, is Mendy's job on the line, And I know some Mets fans are already throwing that out there now, but I'll try and kind of elongate the answer to over the course of the season if things don't go the Mets way, since they already gutted a lot of the coaching staff from last year, but ken they also gut it a lot of the roster.

00:18:19
Speaker 3: So is this.

00:18:20
Speaker 1: Really something that Mendy should be blamed for the first two weeks of the season.

00:18:25
Speaker 2: I can't imagine he would be. Now. Is his job on the line if they do not perform at a high level later in the season, even in May, if they're sputtering. Could it be on the line? Sure it could be. But let's look at the big picture here, and it's important, really important to look at it in this way. Number One, as you mentioned, they brought in a ton of new coaches. Number two, they brought in a number of new players, roster turnover like you rarely see for a team of in that kind of payroll range. You don't see that much turnover. And on top of that, they've lost one Soda. They haven't had him for eight games, They've averaged three runs per game without him, and they are just not in as strong a place offensively when Soto is on the injured list. So it is early. It's way early. The season is barely one tenth complete. You have to let this team breathe. And in particular, I've been saying this for a while now, when you bring in this much new coaches, players, it might take time for your team to kind of find its identity to gel and I know you can't measure that in all the metrics we use, but there is an unfamiliarity there with the players amongst themselves. There is unfamiliarity with the coaches. And I know there was spring training. It's not the same. So it's going to take time. And then you have Boba, Schett and Polanco and Luis Robert Junior who's had a good start. But these guys are joining new teams, in Bishet's case, on a big money deal. Often guys do not immediately take off when they've signed those kinds of deals. So when you put all of this together, Scott, it's really difficult to blame the manager for what's going on. To blame in for Francisco to endure brain cramping once every three or four games. It seems if by the end of May they're not showing something. The question becomes more relevant. I'm not sure it will be fair even then to fire Mendoza, but you have to let this breathe, and you have to let this team come together, and you got to get Sodo back before we can really start evaluating the manager.

00:20:33
Speaker 1: Not fun to be going through pain when you're in LA and then you're gonna head over to take on the Cubs. You know, you don't get your dose of medicine against a team like I don't know, the Rockies or something.

00:20:43
Speaker 3: Ken, thank you, appreciate you. Talk to you later in the week.

00:20:46
Speaker 2: Thanks guys.

00:20:47
Speaker 1: That's Ken Rosenthal at t Senior Insider post a Fair Territory Cash the next episode on Thursday. If we didn't get to your question, that's the spot for Grill and Ken go rip through a number of those questions.

00:21:00
Speaker 3: Thursday Live