Dodgers Struggle Revealed: Key Players & Division Hopes

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00:00Let's bring in our guest, Jeff Spiegel, Dodger Blue, dodgerblue.com.

00:06Jeff, you heard that conversation.

00:09First of all, thanks for the time.

00:10Are we nuts even thinking about the division?

00:13I wish I could say you were, but I looking at the schedules, the Dodgers have a brutal

00:18next six weeks.

00:19They're still not healthy.

00:20And the Padres actually have a pretty, pretty easy run in over the last couple of months.

00:24So you know, a few days ago, I would have said, maybe you're crazy, but four and a half

00:29games is, uh, is a small number.

00:31See?

00:32See, Browner?

00:33This, this thing was like, what, like nine for like the whole season, nine, eight games

00:37all year.

00:38And now it's down to four and a half.

00:39And listen, to be totally honest with you, I don't think they're going to win the division,

00:44but I will say like, it is a possibility now.

00:47Whereas like you said, a month ago, I'm not saying it's a possibility, no chance.

00:51I say this is, this has been my take on it the entire time.

00:56Get within three games and then let's, let's, let's, let's sit down and have a conversation

01:00about it.

01:01Get within three games.

01:02Okay.

01:03Cause before you was nine.

01:04Oh, here is, yeah.

01:05Here's the schedule.

01:06The Padres, here's the next three series.

01:09How about that?

01:10The Padres versus the Rockies and at Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh kind of up and down, but they

01:14are 55 and 53 so far.

01:16So they're a good team.

01:18And then at Miami who just sold everybody.

01:20So that's a park again.

01:23And then Colorado, right?

01:27And the Dodgers versus the A's in Oakland, then Philly, then Pittsburgh at Milwaukee

01:33at St. Louis.

01:37And the Dodgers aren't getting healthy for another two, two, two and a half weeks.

01:40So that's where we start there.

01:41Can we start there?

01:42What is going on with the Dodgers?

01:44What's going on with Mookie Betts?

01:45What's going on with Freddie Freeman?

01:47What's going on with Max Muncy?

01:49What's going on with Yamamoto run through the list.

01:51Start wherever you want, man.

01:52Like what's going on over there.

01:54So Freddie, it's a big question mark.

01:57There's a major health issue with one of his kids.

01:59And so he's on the family list.

02:00I believe you can stay on that for seven days.

02:02He's in the midst of that.

02:03The Dodgers have basically said he can take as long as he needs.

02:06We're not even asking questions right now.

02:07So nobody really has info on Freddie Freeman.

02:09If he goes past the seven days, there's been speculation, like maybe they put them on the

02:13restricted list and there's all sorts of stuff.

02:15But Freeman's a wildcard in some senses, I would say he's probably the quickest back

02:19of all these guys, but it's just a total unknown.

02:22Mookie Betts starting to take some swings that we got a positive injury update on him

02:26yesterday.

02:27The other good news, probably doesn't need a rehab assignment.

02:29So he'll probably just do some simulated games and then be back.

02:32So I think Mookie Betts, you know, that Cardinals series, August 16th, maybe a couple of days

02:37before, feels like a landing spot.

02:39Tommy Edmond, the new guy they just acquired, he has to go back out on a rehab assignment.

02:45He's maybe the same time, two weeks.

02:47Max Muncy.

02:48Has that ever happened in baseball before, where they trade for a guy that hasn't played

02:51all season?

02:52Like that's wild.

02:53It's crazy.

02:54It's crazy.

02:55And I mean, you know, Dodger fans have been wounded before by by positive injury updates

02:59that turned out to be not positive.

03:01And so there's definitely some some fear, you know, whether you trust the front office

03:05to have done their due diligence on a guy like this.

03:08We talked to the Cardinals beat reporter, and she seemed to think that he's on track

03:12for the next week or two to be back.

03:15Yamamoto is throwing a bullpen today.

03:16So so that's a good step for him for a guy that, you know, most Dodger fans, I think

03:20were skeptical if we even see him again this year.

03:23And then and then Muncy, the oblique starting to take swings, you know, breakthrough, I

03:27think, was the language they used yesterday.

03:29So I mean, it's possible that by the time we get to mid late August, outside of Yamamoto,

03:34every guy we just mentioned is back.

03:36It's possible.

03:37I don't think any Dodger fan would say likely.

03:40But we're kind of like Browner in that sense.

03:41We try not to get our hopes up.

03:43You know, we just if you get your hopes up, then you just get hurt.

03:45Yeah.

03:46Yeah.

03:47I mean, I'm seeing what I'm seeing from it.

03:49I thought the first game that they had against the Padres, that's just a Padre victory.

03:54Guys, guys got guys got to the ball, got it over the fence in the ninth inning.

03:59That happens.

04:00It's a very long.

04:01It's one hundred and sixty two game season.

04:03You're going to have some of those.

04:04I don't care how good you are.

04:06Yeah.

04:07Yesterday is I think that is the more glaring one to me.

04:11That's the one where you got the three errors.

04:14You Clayton Kershaw looks ineffective and I'm being polite.

04:19And this is a leader.

04:20This is a this is a guy who people look to this to people galvanize behind.

04:24And so when he just even though it's a second start, he still doesn't seem to have the it

04:31that we expect to see from Clayton Kershaw.

04:33So where does this team go for that now galvanizing person?

04:38Because it appears to be he's at the end of his rope as far as the legacy, the career

04:42that he's had.

04:43Yeah.

04:44Who's the guy that now leads this team with is from a player perspective or are people

04:49listening to Dave Roberts?

04:50Dave, Dave, Dave's a controversial guy.

04:53We'll put it that way.

04:55I mean, he's interesting because he's he literally has the best winning percentage of any manager

05:00in Major League history.

05:01It's Dave Roberts.

05:02But they hate him.

05:03They hate him.

05:04They can't.

05:05A lot of people can't stand him because he gets blamed for everything.

05:07Like two nights ago is a perfect example.

05:09Blake trying to comes in, gives up two home runs in the ninth and they lose and everyone's

05:11mad at Dave Roberts.

05:13And I've been quick to criticize Dave Roberts at times if he makes a bad decision when it

05:17comes to going to the bullpen too early or too late or who he brings in or whatever.

05:21I like I'm up for criticizing managers.

05:24Me too.

05:25Like trying to gave up two home runs.

05:26Dave Roberts didn't give up two home runs.

05:28So, you know, that's kind of where I land.

05:30And look, the Dodgers bullpen is a whole nother story.

05:32But to the Kershaw question, I mean, Kershaw is our guy.

05:36He's my guy.

05:37He's he's the go for my life, by the way, as a Dodger.

05:41So seeing him struggle is like there's an emotional level.

05:44I've joked that watching Kershaw win the 2020 World Series was like the most impactful sports

05:49moment of my life because I just the struggles that he had gone through and obviously terrible

05:54postseason performances, him getting it like I won.

05:56I was happier for him than I was for like the Dodgers and Dodger fans.

05:59It was it was Kershaw that I cared about.

06:02So realistically, this year, there are lots of people skeptical of what you were going

06:05to get from Kershaw.

06:06So I will say I don't think people are, you know, apoplectic over what they saw because

06:11I think there's a large portion of the Dodger fan base that said major shoulder surgery,

06:15first major shoulder, first arm surgery of his career, by the way, tons of innings, velocity

06:20has been diminished.

06:21I just don't think there's a ton of people that were like banking World Series hopes

06:25on Clayton Kershaw being a part of the equation.

06:27So I do think there's some people that there's a there's an element of optimism that comes

06:31from just not feeling like he's the centerpiece.

06:34I think he's going to be built on offense.

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