Ken Rosenthal on Preller’s madness, SD-LAD + Merrifield joins FT to talk Blue Jays, Wheeler-less Phils

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Inside Scoop time with that FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal. Ken, good to see you, and I cracked open the notes column from the weekend covering the Dodgers and the Padres.

00:00:10
Speaker 2: I'll hand it.

00:00:11
Speaker 1: Over to you for your favorite note that you put in there, or something that people should definitely know, and then it will encourage them to read the rest in the Athletic.

00:00:19
Speaker 3: The column is basically a collection of notes mostly about the new players on each team. There's a little bit about Taioscar Hernandez and the Dodgers outfield situation, but it's mostly that the guys who are new players on both teams, and of course the Padres have a number of new players. My favorite note in there was the difference that Loriano and Ryan O'Hearn took, or the different approaches they took in deciding whether to travel with the Orioles before the deadline. Lorianno went to Chicago with the team. This was the day before the deadline. The night before deciding or thinking in his head, Hey, if I'm going to Chicago and I get traded to either coast, I'm good well, O'Hearn decided to stay back in Baltimore. Now he thought maybe I'm getting traded to Boston Milwaukee. He didn't think he would be traded to the West Coast, and of course what happens, they both end up with the Padres and Loriano. We talked about this on the broadcast Saturday, AJ and I. Loreano's comment to AJ Preller was, you're nuts for doing both guys, getting both guys, and I thought that was a pretty bold thing for someone to say after just getting traded over to a new team.

00:01:35
Speaker 4: Ken. We were both in San Diego this past weekend, like you said, and we got to talk to Preller. My takeaway from Preller is he just wants to win. He just wants to win. He and we talked you were there, We talked prospects, we talked pitching, we talked everything right, we talked foul territory, we talked Ken Rosenthal, we talked at all. To me, I like you more after talking to him the first time I've ever met him, and after he said what he said, Yeah, I want to win. I want to get this done. San Diego has never won. Prospects or prospects, I mean kind of all the stuff we've talked about. He's like, yeah, I can get twenty more prospects at the draft. I can get more guys. I mean, he just wants to win and he's a genius, and I don't know that that guy sleeps.

00:02:13
Speaker 3: Ever, well, that's a great point. We all wonder whether aj Preller sleeps. And to me, what he has done in recent years. Now you can look into the future and say some of those contracts are going to haunt them. That's probably true. But he has taken advantage of an industry that is pretty conservative, of rival general managers and heads of baseball operations who are reluctant to trade prospects, who operate in a cautious manner, and his operation or his way he goes about it is kind of the opposite of everybody else. Now, Dave Dombrowski's like that to some extent. Jerry Depoto, of course, there are others, but no one is as extreme as aj Preller, and he is taking advantage of everybody else's seemingly cautious approach and it served him well. This team is right now as good as it could be, I would think, granted you'd like to see them hit for more power. Maybe Tatis snaps out of it. He at the home run last night, ended the longest streak of his career without one. But top to bottom their depth, it's really good. And this is several years now, not just one or two, but several years where they've been good and competitive and a World Series contender. I remember at the start of this all when he started loading up again twenty twenty one, whenever it was I was thinking, it's going to be difficult for him to sustain this because he keeps trading away young players. And yet, as you said, Ajay, he has a way of replenishing his system, and that's because he's one of the best evaluators in the game. They continually come up with new players and this is a tribute, as he said to us, to their scouting and player development, the people working in those departments. So the formula works for them. Now, does it end up with them winning the World Series this year? I don't know, No one knows. There is a certain amount of luck involved. But has he put this team in the best possible position to win? Yes? And does he have that city in an electric kind of mindset with regard to the club. Just look at their attendance. They're going to go over three point four million this year. It's going to be another club.

00:04:24
Speaker 5: Record, all right, So maybe you already hit it by what you just said. But you talked about fair territory a lot about rivalries. The one thing you didn't talk about because you said, right now, the best rivalry currently is the Dodgers in Padres. So if everybody believes you, I'm not saying I do or I don't, which side doesn't matter more to because you've seen the Dodgers' side of it, you've seen the Padres side of it. Which side doesn't matter more to because if that's imbalanced, maybe that's not as much of a rivalry as people think. Because the Red Sox Yankees, their rivalry is heated on both sides.

00:05:03
Speaker 3: Well, a lot of Yankees and Red Sox fans took exception with me saying Padres Dodgers was better. That's part for the course, and listen, it's a great debate and maybe in the eyes of certain fans it's not a great debate. But regardless, I would say, right now, Eric, to answer your question, it matters more to the Padres. And even though they knocked out the Dodgers in twenty two, they have not won the World Series, and they still want to kind of knock off the Dodgers, slay the dragon, as I always say, and then go all the way and kind of prove themselves once and for all on equal footing. So, yes, the Dodgers of course want to beat the Padres and everyone else as well. But there is a hunter versus hunted kind of situation going on here, and the Padres are the hunter, and to me, it's kind of apparent in the way this whole thing has evolved this season.

00:05:59
Speaker 4: Hey, Ken, So the Dodgers were the other team playing in that game this weekend, the Dodgers and the Padres. And we talked to Dave Roberts a little bit about Tayo and right field. What's the long term thought on Tayo and right Muki at short? I know, you know, they killed that pretty quickly, and the Mookie is not going back to right field, but Conflorida and left you know, when Keith k comes back, Edmund comes back, Kim comes back. Once he comes back, they're gonna have a roster crunch. So what do they do with Taylor? Do they leave him in right field? Noboe gets better?

00:06:28
Speaker 3: Good question? First off, they should not move Mooki to right field in my opinion, And I'll tell you why. Mooki is playing right now. A brilliant shortstop really, if you watch him play, he is adapted or has adapted to that position as well as anyone possibly could. He is shown that he can play it and play it at a high level. So they are good with him in shortstop. Now, the outfield, the situation with Hernandez is this, If you play him and right, you're gonna have guys going first to third. If you play him in left, you're gonna have guy stretching singles into double. That's kind of lesser of two Evils type of thing. He was not a particularly good defender last season and left during the regular season, but in the postseason was much better. So I would expect that they're gonna keep him in right because he does prefer right. He believes he sees the ball better off the bat and right. And then figure out left and center. Between Edmund and Hernandez and Kim coming back, you can do a number of things there. Now, there is some school of thought where their best defensive outfield might be pies and right, Edmund and center. Tao in left. But I don't know that they see it that way. I don't know that they see it's that much of a difference Tao and right or left. But once these players come back, yes, it gives them a much stronger group of players to choose from in the outfield. And sure, Michael CONFORDO, because of all this, because of all these guys returning, his spot's going to be in jet. There's no doubt about that.

00:08:02
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00:08:10
Speaker 2: See what is in the pack.

00:08:12
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00:08:27
Speaker 2: See how we do.

00:08:29
Speaker 1: We have ourselves a really cool graphic and then a show Heo Tani fifty to fifty card from last year. What do you want to do? Should we sell it right back to them for sixteen or should we keep it?

00:08:44
Speaker 3: You should give it to me, I'll.

00:08:46
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00:08:53
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00:09:04
Speaker 5: These two teams are gonna, most likely if one of them is gonna face off with the Phillies in the playoffs. Right now, the Phillies are in a good position, but the Zach Wheeler loss. How much does that affect the Phillies' playoff chances of winning not making the playoffs, but of winning.

00:09:24
Speaker 3: Eric If we put odds on it and ask the question, are the Phillies chances of winning the World Series better with Zach Wheeler or without? Or what are those chances? There's no question higher with Wheeler. The question is ultimately now, can they win the World Series without Zach Wheeler? I believe they can. I believe they can because Christopher Sanchez and Rangers Suarez and Aaron Nola if he continues what he did in his last start, and Jesus Lozardo and even Taiwan Walker. It gives them a very good place to start in their rotation. It's not the same as it would be with Zach wheel No one would question that. But given that, and given that their bullpen is much improved with Duran and David Robertson, I still like them. And we talk about hunger and desire and all that stuff, the intangibles. They've got that too. Because they have not won a World Series with this group, and this group is getting older, real Mutto and Schwarber free agents. I expect they probably will resign both, but they know this is their time. It's not going to get any easier next year. So I would expect that the Phillies will make a strong push here. And do they have the starting pitching necessary Well, not the way they did with Wheeler, but yes, in my opinion, they.

00:10:41
Speaker 4: Still do ken a little off the radar here. I just want to ask you this. You're from Baltimore. The Basayo contract, what does that mean for Adli Rutchman? Does that mean he's necessarily gone? Because there's people saying, oh, this means they've given up on Rutchmand. So what does the Basayo contract mean for Adley Rutchman going forward?

00:10:59
Speaker 3: Well, first off of AJM not from Baltimore, but I worked there a long.

00:11:02
Speaker 4: Time alive Ken, that's what that's right.

00:11:08
Speaker 3: I don't believe that Rushman is in any trouble there or anything like that. And we do not know yet if Samuel Bisseio is a bona fide major league catcher. There's a lot of questions about his defense. And also, you cannot give up on Adlie Rushman, the former number one pick in the draft off an injury. Mort's season coming off a bad second half. I know it hasn't been good, and it's been curious to me that this has happened to him. This is a player, remember who the Orioles drafted one spot ahead of Bobby wit Junior, So he has that pedigree. He is someone that is very much respected in the game. But at some point, like any other player, you've got to perform. The real question might be if Rushman isn't the guy, and if Pisiah ultimately is a first baseman DH, then what do the Orioles do at catcher. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. I don't expect Adlie Rush to be anywhere else next season, and I do expect him ultimately to be a much better player than he's shown the last year and a half.

00:12:11
Speaker 4: Ken, before we let you go, how happy are you that you're not five foot seven tall? Right now?

00:12:17
Speaker 3: I'm never happy that I'm not five foot.

00:12:18
Speaker 4: Seven, Jazz, I think, Hey, I heard Jazz say, heard you say that the Yankees Red Sox wasn't the best rivalry, So then he decided to almost kill you here in the cameral. Don't say it wasn't close, because its fall is really close to your face. Now you weren't looking. You need to pay attention a little better. But look at that Look at that Ken.

00:12:40
Speaker 6: You don't even flinch, Aj.

00:12:43
Speaker 3: It was a few feet away, Honestly it was. And am I guilty or have I been guilty in the past of not having my eyes on the field. Yes, there have been times I took a broken finger at ten stitches one year because I was tweeting something. And just in the All Star Game, I'll reveal this, even though it's rather embarrassing. A foul ball came into the Dugout and Al the Gonzalez from ESPN was doing ESPN Radio and I was looking down and all of them goes, dude, that really almost hit you. And it was a pretty screaming line drive. So yeah, it gets icy down there. But with that particular one, I know what it looked like, and I know there are some stuff going on with social media, but it really wasn't that close and I did see it.

00:13:29
Speaker 1: Ken hypothetical scenario, would you take a baseball to the body, not the head, no head injuries, right below the body to break a big story that you were getting, like a big trade or something like that. Would you take the sacrifice of you know, a baseball to the arm, to the stomach, something like that, a spot that it's it's not gonna kill you, it's just gonna leave a significant bruise for a while.

00:13:53
Speaker 3: Scott, why would I need to do that? Like, under what scenario would take a baseball body?

00:13:59
Speaker 4: Resulted me Travis Kelcey and Taylor Swift getting engaged. You're breaking it and you take one to the chips.

00:14:07
Speaker 3: Oh, you're saying, I'm in the middle of a tweet.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're in the middle of a tweet and there's a pitch coming and you're like, hey, this just came in. This is the biggest trade or transaction of the year. I'm going to risk this pitch knowing that that pitch could smoke me, And well, I've actually get hurt as as I've.

00:14:26
Speaker 3: Done it when I had the broken finger. I think this was in twenty thirteen. It was the final broadcast of the season. It was the Reds and the Pirates and they were actually playing for seating in the wild Card and that play happened in like the fourth inning. I think I was tweeting Terry Collins got extended something like that with the Mets, and yeah, it hurt and there was a lot of blood and I finished the game. Age you should know that I finished the game. And then after the game, this is a great story. The Reds doctor goes home, the game is in Cincinnati. They take me to the Pilot training room to get stitched up. The Pirates doctor is stitching me up and it hurts. I mean, it's hurting pretty good. But Justin Morneau, Canadian former hockey player, maybe one of the toughest players in the game at the time, is sitting on the training table. Aj So I'm sitting there basically wanting to cry like a baby in scream, but I couldn't say a word.

00:15:23
Speaker 4: Well, it's good, thank god, thank god it But here's here's what I really want to know. Who did the ball almost hit? You didn't tell the whole story? Who did the ball almost hit? Okay, tell the whole story.

00:15:33
Speaker 3: I will tell the whole story. This is the jash chism player referring to. So the ball hit the screen over the camera. Well, and if it had not been a situation where there was a screen, that ball would have hit your Novak Djokovic. He's sitting right there. You can't really see him. He's sitting right there. It might have caught him in their face and we would have had a different US open. So Novak's the lucky one really because the screen was there.

00:15:59
Speaker 4: Again, but he's tall. Ken, That's why he's tall. He's tall.

00:16:02
Speaker 2: Wait, whoa you guys married the lead?

00:16:05
Speaker 4: Ken was supposed to tell that Ken married the lead?

00:16:07
Speaker 1: S That's that's real news. I haven't seen that. Is that known? Is that public knowledge?

00:16:13
Speaker 5: I don't know?

00:16:13
Speaker 4: Is now? Yeah? He said, if you watch the replay, you can see Jokovic sitting there.

00:16:19
Speaker 1: Right, But one day there there is a documentary how one little screen saved the US Open in twenty twenty five.

00:16:26
Speaker 2: I didn't know that part.

00:16:27
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a notable name, and it's it's not just a famous name, it's a name that's super relevant to what's going on right now in sports.

00:16:34
Speaker 4: Ken, think about this. If that ball hits Djokovic, then think about how many Yankee fans are mad at Jazz. They're not only mad about the bad throw, but then he ruined the US Open. So then there's worldwide fans mad at Jazz for that bad throw. So forget you. But like, if you do watch the replay, you can see Djokovic just sitting there and he kind of flinches. Meanwhile, Ken just it was like this screenager.

00:16:55
Speaker 1: That's what I wanted to ask because some people saw that Ken and they were like, it's Ken stone cold that he's just been down in the camera well so often that he just knows where the baseball's going and doesn't react.

00:17:05
Speaker 2: It was cool. It was worth a few minutes, and that's what.

00:17:08
Speaker 3: I told you. In that situation. It just wasn't that close. But as I said, again, making myself look bad there have been situations where, yeah, I've had my head down.

00:17:18
Speaker 4: It's not smart, Ken, Ken, what's the worst camera well in the league? Worst camera well in the league for you.

00:17:27
Speaker 3: Well, from a site perspective or just from getting into.

00:17:31
Speaker 4: It, just just the worst. Like there's if someone asked me what's the worst place to play? I have an answer, what's the worst place? What's the best place?

00:17:39
Speaker 3: The Mets and Padres City Field and Peco Park they are difficult camera wells actually to get into. There's not a door or anything. You got to kind of climb into them. So from that perspective those two. Now, there was a situation once at Fenway, since we're talking about this, where I was protected Scott. I was behind the cameraman right and there's a wall behind me in the camera well, and the ball off the wall and right there, and that was a mess. It was quite bloody. It turns out I didn't have a concussion, but and that was a case where I was paying attention, didn't have my head down, was looking up and thought I was covered and still wasn't. So, yes, it can get very dangerous down there.

00:18:24
Speaker 4: Ye, Ken trying to climb over the wall and his legs are stuck and he's like, somebody.

00:18:30
Speaker 6: Halt me. I can't get over the wall.

00:18:35
Speaker 2: I could sad he was waiting, he was waiting for it. I'm glad to.

00:18:41
Speaker 3: Comment there.

00:18:43
Speaker 2: Well, well you're off the hot seat.

00:18:45
Speaker 1: I felt it was worth a few minutes that that was a little st scene and I didn't know the Djokovic part, so U we sacrificed the good stuff and got into some time for Ken.

00:18:54
Speaker 4: Right now, this was good.

00:18:55
Speaker 1: This was good Ken, Thank you, and we're glad you're in one piece. And we're glad no Djokovic is in one piece.

00:19:01
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00:20:06
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00:20:16
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00:20:31
Speaker 6: You had to sign a forum last night if you wanted to.

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Speaker 4: Keep your chance playing in the usam anymore?

00:20:35
Speaker 6: Correct? Yeah? Everyone, everyone let out a sigh relief when they heard that.

00:20:39
Speaker 4: I was a kid of one who's like sixteen years old that won this year. He was real worried. Yeah, he was. He called me last night man signed that for him.

00:20:46
Speaker 6: I titled to say, hey, ball talk for a few minutes.

00:20:49
Speaker 1: First, So what do you think about the Blue Jays and your boy George Springer?

00:20:53
Speaker 2: Happened a year?

00:20:54
Speaker 6: Yeahs kill it. He's doing great.

00:20:56
Speaker 8: Uh, I mean, he's just he's I just, I guess so frustrated people when they talk about the age thing, like because everyone ages differently. Just because he had a tough year, right, you know, for him, a tough last two years doesn't mean that it's his age catching up.

00:21:10
Speaker 6: You know.

00:21:11
Speaker 8: The baseball so validole. There could be a number of things going on. He had had a bad elbow injury that was coming back from, which a lot of times puts you in bad habits with your swing, and when you're a good player like him, it just takes a minute to refine it once it clicks for you. I mean, he's going off. So he's playing great. Blue Jays are playing great. They're a fun team. The city's behind him, the country is behind him. It's right, it's rocking in the Rogers Center, and it's going to be exciting as the fall gets here.

00:21:38
Speaker 4: Can they do it?

00:21:40
Speaker 6: Can they do that?

00:21:41
Speaker 4: That's I think everyone looks at it and says, can the Are the blue Jays one for real? Because a lot of people don't know a lot about They don't flat and they know they bow a little bit, but they don't know about the rest of the guys. So can the Blue Jays go ninety two ninety three and win the whole thing?

00:21:56
Speaker 8: They definitely can they do? I mean, I really seriously did they Can? They just they're gonna need a couple guys in the bullpen. This stuff up they're starting pitching is phenomenal, maybe the best in the league now that they got Beaver back looking like benached Beaver and some guys in the bullpen, like like a Louis Arland. Hafey's kind of been He's had some really good stretches and then a couple of games that haven't haven't miss so good. And if he could just bottle those those good stretches and be a shutdown closer that he is a pair with the guy like Louis Arland and some guys that can come in and.

00:22:30
Speaker 6: Make you look silly. I think they really do have a chance, all.

00:22:33
Speaker 5: Right, you're just off the field. The rhetoric right now is any team right now that makes it to the playoffs can't win the World Series without hitting the dingers. But then when the team doesn't win the World Series because they're striking out so much and they're not hitting and they're only hitting dingers, then it's like, well they strike out too much. Do you believe in this game right now? Because neither me or AJ have played in the last five years? You can win the World Series without hitting dingers?

00:23:01
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean Kansas City did it in twenty fifteen. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't seem like forever ago though, you know, I forget that it's twenty twenty five.

00:23:09
Speaker 8: But you know, when someone someone doesn't win the World Series is because something didn't go as good as the other teams. They either didn't score enough runs, they didn't pitch as well, they didn't put as many balls in play. So anyone that doesn't win, obviously something didn't happen to keep them from winning. So you're always pulling fingers. You can always say things, but it's sports, you know, it's you gotta do. You gotta do everything right at the right time if you want to win a championship. And that's so different than any than basketball. All we didn't make enough threes, well, yeah, because other team made more. And it's just it's just part of it. And people just like to complain.

00:23:44
Speaker 4: And now that you're a media member, you'll get used to complaining because you have the double wam. You played baseball and your media members, so you've created complaining. Both of those are great jobs at complain. Yeah, I'm just gonna teach you some you don't score enough runs and the other team scores more, you lose, like every time, So just keep that in mind.

00:23:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, just keep that of mine. Yep, going forward.

00:24:01
Speaker 4: That if you don't score every runs, you usually don't.

00:24:03
Speaker 6: Win at least at least ninety games. Score enough.

00:24:06
Speaker 2: That's media one, O one.

00:24:08
Speaker 1: What about the Phillies, So you know, we just saw the loss of Zach Wheeler for the rest of the season, which is really tough with them. They have a great rotation anyway, but what do you think about their chances?

00:24:18
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean it's that that's just a that's a real punch in the gut just because as good as he's been, he's just the steady Eddie. Especially in the playoffs, you just know what you're gonna get when Wheeler goes out there, and it's he's he's the guy. And really, there's nobody if I'm if I got a playoff game I need to win, there's nobody I would rather have out there than Zach Wheeler.

00:24:39
Speaker 6: And so that's you know, that's that's that sucks.

00:24:42
Speaker 8: A guy like that goes down, and but they have the guys that that can that can step in and pick them up.

00:24:48
Speaker 6: Sanc she's having an incredible year.

00:24:50
Speaker 8: Uh Nola's bad getting healthy, and you know you got you got Ranger who's who's also been really studying the postseason. So you got guys that can that just need to step up and take over that role, and they have the guys that can do it. And then you got a banging offense and and now you got Duran coming in with the spy entrance, and so you don't want to get to the ninth when being down and all.

00:25:13
Speaker 4: Right, so Blue Jays Phillies World Series, who are you rooting for? That'd be electric, that would be like, that would be amazing. The Electric three right when they had the last one. Yeah, it was here a home run in that series. It worked out, it'd be good.

00:25:24
Speaker 6: I wouldn't I wouldn't have a rooting interest, but I'm such a liar. Well, Philly did boom me more than.

00:25:32
Speaker 8: But I mean, I still have friends that I talked to daily on both teams, and that would be the see and probably get ticke us for easily those games.

00:25:42
Speaker 6: So that's true. I would enjoy that.

00:25:45
Speaker 1: Did you see the motivating pre aim speech from Manfred a few weeks ago?

00:25:50
Speaker 8: I heard I was getting filled in a game. I was getting filled in a little bit last night about it, yekes. I really wish, I really wish I could have hung on another year and just just to be a part of that, just to have heard that.

00:26:01
Speaker 2: But historic.

00:26:02
Speaker 1: What do you think about the commissioner coming in for a conversation like that before a game during the season.

00:26:08
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, I know, I know Rob trying to trying to to mend the bridges of player relations and trying to get in better graces with some of the players. And I don't know if I mean a lot of especially an older team like Philly like so those guys are so routine oriented. I don't know if pregame is the best time to do it, but you know what else are you gonna be?

00:26:29
Speaker 6: Is everybody gonna be together? So I get it in that sense.

00:26:32
Speaker 1: Did he do though, or any years that you were playing, he would come pregame from one meeting yep?

00:26:37
Speaker 2: And how did it go?

00:26:38
Speaker 6: Uh? Not as bad as that?

00:26:43
Speaker 1: What was he was he saying, hey, I want to make the relationship better or was he getting into topics where guys were like, okay, this is you know, collective bargaining right before we're gonna play a game.

00:26:54
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean that that's how it started. Just you know, hey, guys, I'm here to you know, we gotta this. Last CBA didn't go well. I want it to be better. I want better relationship with the players, which I agree with it, you know, needs to be better. Sure, now I think they're closer to the CBA, so there might be more conversation of this is what we want and this is why we think it's important for our game, and this is what the ownership wants and so we're gonna this is what's gonna happen.

00:27:18
Speaker 6: And certain teams you can say that too.

00:27:21
Speaker 8: Philadelphia Phillies are not that team, and I think they made it known that we this is We're gonna stand by what we want and you're not gonna come in here and say anything different to us in our clubhouse, especially