Bruce Bochy On Re-Acquiring Robbie Grossman, Pitching Injuries, Doubleheaders | K&C Masterpiece

also brings us Texas Rangers manager Bruce bochi good afternoon sir good afternoon how we doing we're doing great and I I would love your feedback I know it just went down on the Robbie Gman trade and we heard that he's in route to Oakland with the hope that he can make it for this double header right right he's Landing as we speak right now so he will be here for the double header I don't have him starting right now he's coming in from Atlanta got up early uh just a little concern there with the travel and the you know five six hour flight uh getting off the plane and getting them heated up uh so he we'll use them off the bench hopefully in a big situation but it's good to have Robbie back U you know he's good teammate that uh I know the guys are ex excited to have back so for this double header we have him off the bench uh there are some legendary stories of guys getting traded and maybe not having their name stitched into their Jersey or having to wear somebody else's number you think we'll have Robbie's number prepared for today you know I didn't check with Brandon Boyd who our clubhouse manager but I'm sure he's he's on top of everything but uh yeah good question I'm sure he just uh you know went back to the archives and uh brought one back here awesome awesome I I I kind of curious like you're you're take on on Robbie how he fits in what he can do for you guys and what maybe y'all were missing that he that he will add to this club yeah well Robbie's here to help us against left-handed pitching as you know it's been a little bit of a struggle for us so with his uh success off of lefties uh you know that gives us a nice back kind of toward the heart of the order he's a good on base guy he can he can do some damage against lefties so that's where he'll see most of his playing time we have quite a few left-handed bats as you know so and you looking forward to helping have him help us really everywhere I mean play Outfield obviously uh you know if a guy needs a day off whatever then we have a really good veteran that uh is going to help us in different ways do you do you feel like this might affect uh what your approach is with Wyatt Langford whether he sticks around uh in the big league or goes back to the or down to the minors based on how Robbie does or does this trade affect that at all well I think it's something we'll see down here what we end up doing here why once we get him healthy we'll cross that road bridge when we get to it but um why it uh you know what needs my bats uh on the rehab and so we'll see where he's at but you don't know you know at that point but you know where he at uh as far as health of the ball Club where you may need help so he's going to be a big part of our team so I I can't answer right now when I know they aren't anywhere near as prevalent in today's game but obviously the double header was romanticized I loved it as a kid growing up how did you feel about the double header as a player and now as a manager I like him I I don't mind him at all I think you know that's you know for my younger days too as you just mentioned that's when my dad took me to the games at at RFK and Washington DC is when they had a double header you know we get to two for one and uh and so I grew up with it too and uh and then you know as I played in the minor leagues we would to have them and if we had a schedule double header that meant we get a day off somewhere so you know that that works you know you you take that and uh um but it's bit of a challenge I think with uh today's game because you know guys probably aren't stretched out as much uh you know as far as playing that that double header uh so it's it's a big adjustment now in the double header today we got a lefty righty uh but the second lineup will be quite a bit different but there are guys that are going to be playing too Nate L for examp example Marcus uhhe going DH the first one he'll catch a second one uh good chance Duran's playing both one in left field one at third base so anyway this you know this takes a little bit of scrambling make sure you don't overwork somebody here I I just want to make sure I understand on the uh the pitching front as well Jack lighter is up but is he up as the 27th man and he'll go back down immediately once the double headers over and it's actually Owen white that's going to be up to stay with the club for now yeah Jack will be the 27th man so that's that's what we're going to use him as he'll start the second game Owen will be here uh available for uh both games um as you know we we did use a pitching up pretty good last couple days and and so it's good to have Owen here he's really our only Lan guy I'm talking about three Innings or more uh Lads could give us a couple but uh uh you know with the you know tough work that Johnny Hernandez had yesterday that that kind of limit us a little bit he threw 42 pitches and twoth thirds of an inning and so we're hoping to get one inning out of him yesterday at two from him today so um it's you know we we're covered but uh you know I may have to give these guys a longer leash I I wanted to kind of go back to what Kevin was talking about with the double headers real quick because you mentioned that you you enjoyed that whenever you were a kid getting to to go experience that it is that kind of a juggling act with the double header trying to figure out how to get all those guys their time and also keep them fresh and all that did you did you start playing those games in your mind when you were a kid I'm I'm always kind of curious when you started playing manager games with yourself yeah I don't know if it started then but you know my earlier times as a manager when we had double headers yeah you you do spend some time on it especially on the pitching side but also on the position player side you last thing you want to do is break somebody down but you know what they used to do it a lot it was part of baseball it's just not that now and uh I do prefer the way we're doing it now instead of this double header thing where you're sitting around for four or five hours those are tough I mean guys get heated up play a game and sit around and have to get heated heat it up again that that's when I think you're more at risk so but we'll see how this first game goes you know I can't I kind of mapped it out a little bit for you but it's all about adjusting on the Fly and we'll see how the first one goes I was listening to you with Eric Nell yesterday on the pregame show and you said urania might he you were like about 60 pitches for him and then I looked up and I was like oh man he's at 74 already and that's kind of gone past what was it that you were seeing uh about him that you were just like n just keep the kid out there today yeah that's the great thing about being a manager you know you have the right to change your mind you know hey the second inning I mean that was that was a tough inning uh we we made him throw 40 pitches or whatever but uh he just got better as he went he was getting quick crds but more importantly was when he was coming off the mound he was looking at us kept going one more and then next thing we know and uh so this was uh credit to him how determined he was to find a way to give us five innings and find a way to get that win and uh well I mean he's a man I mean for for what he did he hadn't done that in a while 90 pitches uh you know kudos to him and I thought what was impressive is how he maintained his stuff and like I said probably got a little bit better the ball started sinking a little more he got a little better command and of course we uh really played really crit defense the last three innings his at work you guys have been getting some really topnotch starts and some really great looking stuff from your pitchers we had John Gray on the show yesterday he's been thriving Andrew Heeney as well I'm curious maybe for both of them maybe a little bit more for Heeney what have you seen from his stuff in these last two starts that maybe wasn't as apparent in the first month of the Season yeah I just like the pace he's had out there and I I think it just has improved as command he just pounding that Strike Zone with all his pitches uh but his stuff has G up too I mean he was pitching a 93 here so when he's got that little extra hop he is that much more difficult to hit so now he just gotten better it's it's not uncommon you know starting the season guys are still getting in the the mold of you know finding that Rhythm and that that good Pace that makes it work for him and so I think he's in a really good place now one of the things that John Gray told us yesterday that I thought was a really excellent answer is he's not as worried about his velocity I know it's down just a tick but he said I kind of stopped worrying about it and focused on movement on my pitches location do you feel like sometimes in a velocity world people get lost a little bit on the other parts of pitching no doubt no doubt and it it it's it kind of drives me not to be honest when pictures are they're looking up there and and they're maybe a mile or two miles an hour down below what they normally throw now what they do they try to add a little bit and when they triy to add a little bit uh they usually don't have the same command 94 works you don't have to have 95 96 yeah if you have that it's great but if not you pitch with what you have that day and uh and don't compound the problem by trying to add on and and so that's the biggest message we get you know try to get to these guys you know it's all about hitting your spots and so good for Johnny that he said that John Gray uh because that's the only way it's going to work if you get caught into it I'll give you a quick story uh Brad Penney I don't know if you remember Brad Penny yes yeah big you know he had a little bit of an ego with his velocity so he uh he was a 98 guy well he came in he's with the Dodgers so I told our radar you can't do it anymore because it's run by MLB but I told our radar guys to dropped the gun down about 90 91 when he threw he kept looking there and looking up there he kept trying to throw harder we laugh about it now he end up pitching for me but he still gets on me for doing that to him he said without question it it affected him in a big way he didn't know what was going on so but that gamesmanship is over we actually saw the flip side of that if you see I know our our co-host Mikey bassik is out there doing TV he said he did a tryy out for a team and he registered at 91 on the radar and then they said they wanted to sign him and he goes hey tell them not to sign me I don't actually throw the ball 91 miles an hour and so he was like that radar gun was too high yeah yeah yeah and you know to that point some maret's consistent I don't think uh uh Kansas City that one would bounce back and forth so I I don't don't know what what was going on there I mean one pitch was 97 next pitch was 91 so U not not quite sure uh what what was going on I uh I did notice yesterday Evan Evan Carter had the moment where he he lost the ball in the sky and then a few maybe an inning or two later he's wearing the glasses the sunglasses out there and in my mind Bo you had brought all the in outfielders together and you said I have managed in this Bay Area for quite some time guys you got to trust me put the sunglasses on was there a conversation and and and what is it like playing in Oakland you know what it was a beautiful day abs absolutely beautiful and you know it's a day game it's Sun I mean we played same training you sunglasses don't work on top of the hat and so will Venable he you know he handles the Outfield and told him hey that's it's just not acceptable when you know you got a bright time out there you don't have your glasses available to use and so anyway you know it's it's all a teaching moment when you have something like that happened this will be games six and seven against Oakland this year and honestly I mean I know they have a losing record but Oakland has been one of the surprise stories of the major league uh season thus far what have you seen from them that has made them perhaps more competitive than some folks anticipated this year yeah I I saw in spring training you know I know mark C well he played for me he was excited in the fact that he he knew that he would be better this year they do damage he they look to the slug and uh you know try to hit the ball out of the ballpark so offensively I think they're going to put up more runs and and their pitching is a lot better this year they one of the best bull pins uh in baseball to back in of you know they're two big boys there and uh but the starters do a good job the guy we in today I mean he know hit us what in to the sixth or seventh this year so he's tough and um but it's a it's a team that plays well and I think they've done a good job of Mak you know a lot of improvements to the club well hopefully it'll be a beautiful day out there today and let's play two well that's good yeah that works and uh play two hey we're off tomorrow so I told him you're off tomorrow you you can just go all out here I I I'll give them all the day off tomorrow awesome thank you very much boach we appreciate the time as always all right you got it guys we'll see you [Music]