Ken Rosenthal on Twins, Arm Injuries, Justin Verlander, Astros, Mets, and Braves

I am surprised and I figured this out this morning figure it out I looked at the standings that the Mets had a better record than the Astros that was like whoa everybody and welcome to the inside scoop along with Ken Rosenthal our Insider of course I'm Alana Rizzo taking over for Scott Brun here with AJ pinski and Eric Kat so Ken I'm not starting this segment with the Dodgers because I'm a Dodger Homer although Eric Katz would like you to believe that you my friend wanted to start with the Dodgers pitching injury was Gavin Stone the latest to hit the Shelf actually I wanted to go a little bit broader than that Alana and kind of piggyback off the conversation AJ and Eric were just having in which they were saying accurately that youth baseball is part of the problem here with so many injuries however I hear this all the time from GMS and baseball Ops people in my view that explanation that thought is a bit of a copout and it's a bit of a cop out because it ignores what is going on at the big league level now what Eric and AJ were saying about guys wanting to compete and compete to the fullest even if it means getting hurt absolutely true will teams push guys trying to get maximum performance until they get hurt that is also true so in my view what needs to happen is what happened when the game was too boring and not enough action it had to be legislated and I don't know what the answers are in terms of legislating new rules to effectively Force pitchers not to to throw as hard but in my view that is the only solution and then things will trickle down to the Youth Level it doesn't start at the Youth Level it starts in the big leagues and everyone trying to emulate what is going on in the big leagues right now so while I appreciate what those guys are saying what they're saying is actually quite accurate in my view the solution is not to start at the Youth Level it's to start in the big leagues and then go down who who's tasked with coming up with this Major League Baseball because then they're going to be accused of tamping down players salaries because pitchers are like I can throw harder Major League Baseball doesn't want me to have more success no I don't see it that way at all Eric now Major League Baseball and the union would have to agree on rules obviously MLB has the ability to implement rules after a year's time the technical part of that we don't have to get into but my point and what Jason Stark and I wrote about earlier this year was bringing back starting pitcher and if you do that you're not taking away people's money no you're enhancing the value of that particular player again and instead of having a shuttle of pitchers going back and forth relievers up and down back and forth then you'd have starters reestablished more orderly bullpens and people would be making their money still I I understand that's a legitimate concern the financial part and obviously baseball always wants salaries lower but what they should want here is fewer pitchers getting hurt number one and the reestablishment of the starting pitcher as a really prominent part of this game and both of those things are not being addressed properly right now Ken this is AJ first time long time here on Fair territory with you and Alana Alana I'm happy that I finally got invited to join Fair territory thank you it's truly an honten mentioned you're just not often invited AJ you're often mention thank you well long time first time long twice yep Twice But Ken I just want to ask you about your game this weekend how was the white sock Red Sox game it was terrific but I wasn't there oh that's right because you're the dork of the week because you opted out of that game for a game that actually mattered did something I did something on our show Alana and I the show we hosted on Thursday that I don't know that I've ever heard you do which was take responsibility for my responsibility responsibility for my actions I fully knowledge that I bailed on you and actually I don't know that I mentioned this but you predicted I would bail on you and I said no no no AJ we're good and then of course I did bail on you so yeah I was dork of the week for that that's fair you know what Ken Ken is the only one that has his own Flex scheduling he just decides I get to pick this screw the NFL I'm gonna pick whatever game I want to do true true so Ken tell me about the not exactly true Ken tell me about the Royals and the twins what' you see on Saturday weekend great game I wish you could have been there doing uh analysis because it was really a fun game and we had some interesting things happen in the late inning and Bobby Wht got a big hit and the crowd was alive and wow it was some really good baseball actually not so good by one of your former teams the Twins were not good okay well tell me about it who they're both going to make the playoffs it looks like and the twins are leaking oil more than the Royals for sure but I mean tell me about the twins because they've been making errors they haven't been hitting the pitching has kind of gone South even like they're bringing in Durant at the end of the game he's giving up big hits so what's going on in Minnesota they're a bit of a mess honestly and one issue perhaps the main issue is the injuries that they have sustained kareah Royce Lewis Byron buckton have only been on the field together in 17 games that's astonishing those are their three best players they lost Joe Ryan as well the thing that they haven't done is supplement themselves when these things have happened now of course you cannot replace players like Kare and buckton they're just too good they're Superstars but they're down Kepler now and they're playing all these young kids and it's too much it's too much for a team in a pennant race to be doing and I mentioned this on my show today on Fair territory that the Royals went out and claimed Tommy fam and Robbie Grossman at that time the Twins were behind them in the standings they could have had those guys either one of them if they claimed them and they chose not to they were also rather inactive at the deadline for whatever reason this is is how they've operated and Roco baldelli it seems to me and he had a bit of a I don't want to say tantrum but he had a bit of an eruption yesterday after the game just talking to reporters he gave them a statement and was out because he is very frustrated right now very upset with his team to the point AJ I cannot remember seeing him like this this short fused I guess would be the right word to put it and it's a it speaks to their frustration right now it speaks to the teams kind of reeling situation and they're not in a great place frustration isn't normally associated with one event it's a building it's a culmination of what's been happening is there any voiced or mumbled under their breath frustration that there was no moves made you can say as much as you want about oh we love this team this is the team that we're going to win with is there any frustration with that and maybe that kind of added to Rocco's frustration I can't totally speak to that Eric because I haven't been around that team enough and that's something for a beat writer to answer they would know from the day-to-day Vibes I was around them basically two days here and they were in the middle of these games it was a big Series this was not a topic but generally speaking you guys know this you guys were players when a team does very little at the deadline after doing very little in the off season players generally get frustrated with that players generally feel hey we're busting our humps out there the front office should be doing the same and you've heard from time to time different heads of baseball operations say we need to honor the effort of our players by doing what we can to make the team better they've had some Financial questions around them because of their local television Revenue situation so of the Royals and the Royals have operated much differently than them over the past years so I don't know how much of that is playing into Roco Bal deli's particular frustration right now would not surprise me if it was Ken have you ever seen Roco do this because I've been around Rocco as a player played against him he was a coach for a long time then he's now he's obviously the manager and I've done a lot of twins games over the last few years I've never seen him get mad be frustrated everything is always sunshine and happiness and we're great and every player is just so happy I I me I get the frustration but I mean he's got to be on a different level for him to actually not only snap like listen on your players fine where but then to do it where one people can hear it and then to take it out on the reporters which he's never done this has to be a different level well I don't know that I would say was taking it out and the reporters my understanding was he just gave a statement and that was all he had to say that day that's not really an aggressive tone no no I'm not saying that sorry but no normally he'll talk your ear off right I mean you've been in his manager he'll talk your ear off and everything is sunshine and happiness and we're good and we're going to be great so for him just to go in there and give a statement and walk out that's more what I meant not that I'm saying like he's scream he didn't go Hal McCrae and throw the phone at Ken Rosenthal which would have been awesome Rocco if you would have done that cut his eye he would had to come in with a had a bow tie on his eye that would have been amazing to answer your question I'm with you and I have not ever seen Rocco going back to the days when he was a prospect act in any way negative frustrated whatever words you guys want to use ill-tempered he is an even killed individual and to hear some of the things that have gone on with them over the past week remember the Roy Royce Lewis situation there was some back and forth there it's just not like him for sure and it's a reflection obviously of where they are congestion from sinuses allergies or a cold can be all consuming that includes snoring for me but Scotty I found some relief from naaj nasal care you've got to try this nage makes breathing easy easier my nage unit is a GameChanger for clearing my congestion fast yeah Kats navage uses that smooth saline flow and nasal suction to clear those nasal passages it works for me Scotty I've noticed a huge difference since I started using nage I'm breathing better and the whole family is pumped that I've got the snoring under control we want to help you get relieve from your congestion too our listeners can order a convenient nage starter pack including a nose cleaner with batteries included and 30 original salt pods everything you need to get started plus get a cleaning kit as a free gift with your order but only going to our exclusive URL navage.com and using our promo code fou again to order your navage free cleaning kit and for a full product details go to na avv ae.com that's promo code fou at navage.com Ken we're going to go to Justin Verlander sure ballot first ballot Hall of Famer one discussion we've had on here a lot is does Joe asata go to Justin say sorry you're not in our playoff rotation if things don't change this month if things don't change this month absolutely and that's a conversation I would expect for Orlando would understand but I'm not giving up on this guy yet the Astros are not giving up on him yet he is who he is for a reason he has come out of things before now it's different he's 41 now and we all understand he's coming off an injury this was what his fourth start last night and he has talked about how he is in spring training mode last night as he called it the results were atrocious and we all knew that he felt his stuff was okay based on what I read this morning okay it's back to the drawing board as he has done so many times in the past he will look at video today try to figure out what was wrong if anything and then keep going now time is of the essence here we're running out of time and clearly when you have fber Valdez Hunter Brown and Kikuchi pitching as well as they have and arag Getti at times pitching well too then you have a situation where if Verlander does not improve sure they would have to make that decision I don't expect that he would bully his way or try to bully his way into the rotation he is pretty realistic in most situations and circumstances about where he is and I would expect him to be again the variable here is whether he can bounce back and again it's it's really difficult to bet against Justin Verlander at some point it will end we all know that but until it does I'll wait and see Ken sticking with the Astros for just a moment what surprises you more that the Mets have a better record than the Houston Astros do even with deg Grom and of course Max Sher or rehabbing or the fact that the you know the Astros were able to really get to where they are I mean both the Mets and the Astros were written off at some point this season by the so-called experts and the Astros probably win the division the Mets could very likely get in I am surprised that I figured this out this morning I didn't figure it out I looked at the standings that the Mets had a better record than the Astros that was like whoa and I know the Astros have had a great run will'll so of the Mets both since about miday roughly the Astros are not a surprise in the sense that we know who they are and they've done this before however at 12 and 24 I've mentioned this I wrote a column saying is this it because it sure looked like it was it at that point t Kyle Tucker I'm sorry was still healthy at that moment and they were not playing well at all 12 and 24 the Mets after trading sherzer and Verlander after having the off season that they did when they kind of just patch things together when shortterm on some starting pitching I don't know that I'm shocked that they're here but given the way they were in around miday I'm a little surprised they came out of it as well as they did and I mentioned this I believe on Fair territory today as well Joel Sherman New York Post wrote a really good column over the weekend detailing how David Sterns and Carlos Mendoza made some adjustments on the Fly and Sterns excelled at this in Milwaukee and they did it again a glacius coming into the equation mark Vientos coming up from Triple A some moves in the bullpen they have done a great job in coming out of it and getting to this point where they are right there now will they get there it remains to be seen it's basically four teams for three spots right now Padres Diamondbacks Braves and Mets they're all closely bunched together the Mets have three left against the Braves in Atlanta they also have seven left against the Phillies so it's not going to be easy for them but they have played extremely well and it's a credit to Mendoza it's a credit to Sterns and it's a credit to their players because it's a tough Place New York when things aren't going well we all know this and teams often can or will go south in those circumstances the Mets kind of stealed themselves and said we're going forward and that's what they've done okay that leads me perfectly to the last question we have for you today here on Fair territory will the Mets or Braves get the last wild card I'm gonna go with the Mets and it's interesting fangraphs has the Braves wow CLA fangraphs has the Braves with much higher playoff odds I think it's something like 75% and the Mets are at 50% which is weird because they have the same record and I went back and read this morning an article explaining their calculus and how they figure that out it comes down to schedule it comes down to the fact that those three games between the Mets and Atlanta are in Atlanta and it comes down to the Braves have better starting pitching okay I just love the Mets Vibe right now and I know that's a word that gets overused but it's meaningful at this time of year especially and the Braves they're fighting they're clawing they're doing everything they can and yes they do have the superior pitching top to bottom including the bullpen but I just feel like the Mets are going to get there now the real question to me is do either the Padre's or Diamondbacks fall back enough for both to get in and we'll see Senior Insider kenrose and th we always appreciate your Insight here on the inside scoop we'll see you next uh on Fair territory your show on Thursday unless you join these foul guys before then looking forward to talking wild what's the uh oh I just want to know one thing if AJ was satisfied with the answer I just gave because he claims that I never give answers I'm just very proud you actually answer normally you answer a question like that with well you know as a Hall of Fame voter I'm not allowed to answer those kind of question I I know I I I was my heart my heart skipped a beat we'll see you in Cleveland on Thursday right uh no I'm not gonna be there oh shocking shocking he's he's he's checking in on that scheduling again all right Ken Rosen All We Appreciate You Fair territory fa territory rather continues be sure to like And subscribe for more content we're back here every weekday all year long so do not miss an episode the videos are coming in all day here's another video you might enjoy baseball the way it should be covered [Music]