Ken Rosenthal on Braves vs Media, Postseason Schedule, Dodgers & Ohtani

[Music] so take it easy on Ken okay let's bring him in you tell them it's noton F senior Insider Ken Ros he looks pretty fresh to me AJ he looks like he's about to he's over rested though he's over sideline report he's overed he might not be able to report Ken what's up um where do we start let let's start with the media side of things because there's been a lot of conversation and we need to get someone like you to comment on what you think is appropriate for how you report on what you hear and also just how the clubhouse situation actually works because it's not talked about very frequently no it's not and that's what I really want to talk about because I think Stephanie covered the actual reason why we're in there at least the legal reason it's in the collective bargaining agreement the players and the owners agree to it we have a specified time that we're in there it is not a sacred sanctuary during that time it is Media availability the players have a 100 places they can hide and they generally do hide in them so that aspect of this whole ridiculous controversy and that's what I called it on Twitter last night it's what I'm calling it again a ridiculous controversy Jake Mintz did what most reporters would have done reported what was said in front of him that's actually our job to report in that setting it is a public setting now the real thing I wanted to get to was why were in there at all because I see blowback from fans once in a while questioning why you in there bothering the players there's a reason and it has to do with the fans that were in there we are getting information we are asking questions we are gaining insight into what happened in the game or even before a game and talking about maybe last night's game or something else that is communicated to the fans and actually I've always believed that the clubhouse situation the a lot of time that we get each day and it's been reduced over the years believe me but the a lot of time we get each day is a time for learning I learn every time I walk into a clubhouse something new it might be kind of Germaine it might be not that big a deal or it might be something pretty revealing and the best thing about the access and this is from the players perspective and I'm interested to hear AJ and Eric on this as well it's a checks and balances system so if I'm on the beat and this happened all the time when I was on the beat many years ago but if I'm on the beat and I write something critic of a player guess what I'm in there the next day showing my face and that player has access to me just as I have access to him and invariably if there's an issue it gets hashed out and it gives you as a reporter something of a a balance as I said it kind of restrains you at times because you know you got to go in there the next day I think it leads to Greater fairness now in Great Britain and this is one country I don't know every country's media standards but in Great Britain there's no Clubhouse access or anything like that for Premier League matches or soccer matches it just doesn't exist it doesn't work the same way and what do the writers do sit up in the Press Box and write whatever the heck they want without any knowledge of what's going on so when people say what are you doing in the clubhouse well we're trying to figure out and we're trying to ask questions about things that might be pertinent to readers and viewers and fans and that is the reason we're in there and again it serves players too believe me it does Ken as someone that used to want to beat you up all the time thank you for showing your face no that was my biggest thing as a player I was taught at a young age say something after a game good or bad if they're there and they want to because at least if you say something you can write you can help them write a narrative that you can control a little bit and I agree the biggest problem I had is a player was when I was in Chicago we had J marotti right and Aussie got in trouble for calling him names well J marotti would we used to call them like sniper shots he'd take all these shots at guys but never show his face in the clubhouse if you if me being being doing what we do and you doing what you do if I'm there the next day and a player has a problem with something I said we can talk about it I'll be there if I if I doing a playoff series and I said something bad and next day guess what I'll be there again you we could talk about it right and that's the biggest thing for me as a former player just show your face and we'll talk about now listen was there a reporter or two I yelled at probably shouldn't have absolutely but at the time you're frustrated you see him and you're like look at this son of a that wrote this you know probably not the appropriate way to do it but it always got hashed out because they were there the ones you have the problems with are the ones that aren't there so you have to appreciate it and you have to understand that look you guys have a job to do I have a job to do as a player I'm not always going to be good and the reporter's job is to show that but as long as I'm there and I'm available at least I get to tell my side of it and also AJ one thing I would point out as well is that this is one big ecosystem right we write players are in the media players get paid because they're prominent because the sport is popular which has to do with the media it all kind of goes hand in hand now that doesn't mean it's perfect and it doesn't mean that those of us in the media are perfect and at times May step out of bounds for one reason or another and people might wonder well as a national reporter you aren't always available to people which is true I can't be in every Clubhouse every day but in this day in age people generally know where to find you and it's not a big deal if someone has a beef they can find me and I can see them the next time I'm around that particular team but I can't emphasize this enough it kind of works to everyone's benefit and what Orlando RSA did the other night was not that big a deal he didn't slur anybody he kind of talked a little trash I was surprised that he was surprised that the Braves were surprised that somebody with microphones everywhere might have picked up on this I just thought was kind of weak on their part to react the way that they did do you think you were talking about the reduced amount of time that you're in there it's slowly getting less and less and less I know Co it was like they were trying to like get nobody back in after Co after the locker rooms opened up I don't think that's a good idea but talking to Tim Brown the writer of my book he said back when he first started they would shag BP writers would shag BP during during you know different laws in the season so do you feel like that like short amount of time has made a strain has made it a strained relationship because you don't have that opportunity to really confront everybody and you can just avoid people and not do anything about it well I never shagged BP so I can't speak to that necessarily nobody would have wanted me shagging BP couldn't see over the grass whatever AJ it was a lot different back then Eric there were many fewer reporters back then and there was no social media it it was a different world entirely when I first started I worked for an evening newspaper which these things don't even exist anymore and I would occasionally ride on the team plane going home and sit away from the players but I could do that and no one had a problem with it the newspaper would pay my way it was all taken care of but that would never happen today so the reduced amount of time that's kind of a reflection of the world we live in you do have to control it a little bit there are so many more reporters and people in the clubhouse then in past years my biggest beef often is not with the reduced time because it is what it is but with a circumstance where you might walk into a clubhouse during the availability which is generally maybe an hour 45 minutes whatever whatever it is 45 minutes to an hour and there's nobody around they're in their places where they are having a sanctuary and if they're not going to be available then you really can't get them except maybe coming off the field for BP so that's something else entirely I don't know that the average fan cares or needs to hear about it but the access is what it is I wish it was greater when I first started I would walk into the clubhouse 2:00 2:30 in the afternoon walk into the manager's office it was just a much different set of circumstances Ken how many times and again I just explained this when we had Stephanie on that with Fox we get like 15 minutes it's just us basically right before play in only in the playoffs so it's just we get 15 minutes in the clubhouse now during the regular season it's like a 45 30 to 45 minute window where the General Media is just in there and they're just kind of hanging around you know watching seeing whatever okay players w to hear waiting waiting to talk to players what we're doing that's what we're exactly yeah exactly but but what I'm saying is players know this okay as a player you know that media is there from 3:30 to 415 okay players Dodge it like you said should they make it and I know this is going to be almost impossible but make it a five minute everybody has to be in there for five minutes just to answer one question right because how many times I've done it and I know you do it when when we're there doing National games I there's times where I'm looking for somebody to ask him a specific question and I have to go hunt him down on BP and it feels it's so awkward even as a former player for me will be like oh where's where's Alex bregman and you know like not that bregman's bregman's awesome bregman talked to us all the time right but you know what I'm just using him because he popped in my head like oh where's oh he's in the training room oh I need to ask him a question the media and the pr guy says well he's he might not be available then you're like oh all right well then I got to trudge outside try to find him during BP interrupt his batting practice right again bregman's great so I don't want people to think this about Alex just the first name popped in my head but should there be like a five minute window where you're available everyone has to be in their locker for five minutes every day because the people that say oh I'm not comfortable doing this maybe they get more comfortable and then plus you don't have to hunt guys down I don't know maybe just something to think about going forward yeah I don't know how that would be resolved the union would have to be on board with that and they generally defer to players understandably on issues like this if you said five minutes for each guy that's fine as long as it's not the same five minutes for everybody right then it would be a problem because if I want to talk to multiple guys can't do it so I don't know if there needs to be a solution here or a change even I'm good with where we are I wish more players were at their lockers that's fine whatever they're not they're not but at the same time I just want people out there to understand why we're in there that's the objective I had coming on today we're not in there because we like hanging around the player players because we want to bother the players we're there to do a job and it's a job that serves the audience ultimately in many ways it serves the players too because you give insight into who they are I'll give you an example actually just from this season so I'm interviewing Spencer Strider before a fox game the day before a fox game you don't interview a pitcher on the day he pitches and he's telling me about a start his previous start in Pittsburgh and how he kind of lost focus and from that conversation which was very interesting grew an entire article a lengthy article I did later on Strider and how he's conquered the mental side of it or tried to conquer it he's work in progress like all of us are and that is just one example and I will repeat it when I go into a clubhouse when I just Mill around talking to players even just catching up on family whatever it might be I am almost always learning something and I'm not just speaking for myself this is true for every person who walks in there man female whatever so that's why we're in there we're in there to Enlighten ourselves to so we can Enlighten the audience it's pretty darn simple okay so um you guys good Kats AJ because I do yeah okay I think that was important um just making sure no that was great I think before you know obviously well I want to change the subject but but and then AJ go no I I think because you said are we good because no I think it's important for people outside because as former players and Ken and Scott you get it you nobody really understands what the media time is right and how it works people just think that the reporters are like in there hanging out having dinner with us right more we talk about the more we talk about it the more it becomes like oh I understand and also it becomes more of a like okay the break listen the RCA thing was the team was excited they just won a huge game and he was just like yeah right happen hey yeah and now go Scott well and also I I commented on this plenty so I I think you know we're utilizing Ken's time accurately here the one thing I I will say is yes playing to what you guys both just said this is not a fan club where it's like oh we won the fan club experience and we get to hang out with the players I will say even last year I'm in a clubhouse during one of the celebrations player comes up to me who I've known for years and I'm not going to say his name and says um next round if we win you got to I what it was something alcohol related like you got to have a drink or whatever in the clubhouse and I was like okay cuz he was drunk too I'm sure I mean he's drinking right like I'm assuming but I'm just like okay sure whatever like and then my producer was like are you really GNA do that I was like no I'm not doing that like are you are you kidding me I'm not having a drink at the clubhouse I was like obviously I just said like okay sure like let him go I wouldn't do that ridiculous K had a drink once with me had a drink once with me Ken why don't you tell the story AJ what you did go ahead go ahead I just I dumped like I don't know a couple bottles of champagne on his head so some of it trickled down in his mouth cuz he was sitting there he was all dry he was all in his boat Tile high and mighty and I'm like oh you ain't getting out of here without getting wet Scott here's the deal though I couldn't escape because I was hooked up to wires and I was just like in this Pacific area so I was a Sitting Duck and of course AJ took full advantage of the experience and that's fair game I will say there's your there's your Difference Maker I've been destroyed quite a few times I've probably been in for maybe 20 of those in my career and at least half the time it ends up where players are just coming up to you and what what are you supposed to do stop it stop it like that that you can't do anything about and also you got to just live but there's a for me there was a difference between that and like telling the player like yeah cheers like this is not my celebration I'm in here for a job I'm doing interviews so yes I can have fun with it be like you're interviewing them as some someone's dumping stuff on you you can't control that but there still the point is we're in there for a job we're doing interviews you're collecting info if you're a writer right like this these are Professionals in there so you know it's rare right Ken I mean sure there's maybe been situations but it's rare that someone's in the clubhouse where you're like they're being so unprofessional you know it's just like in the in the Press Box people are not in the Press Box the press the media watching the game going let's go I've seen it but it is very much frowned upon and and that's not what most people are doing and that's that's not the etiquette that's extremely rare when that happens extremely exactly okay so now I would like to get to there's a couple other things first off before we get away from the nlds itself AJ is very very strong on The Layover the long rest whatever you want to call it being a complete nothing Burger he experienced it himself and thinks it's absolute BS you on Fair territory at least spoke about the playoff format so what do you think about the layover and the way the playoff format Works my only thing was it's just a small complaint I keep bringing up I'm like I wanted to see Friday baseball I'm like you want to give like a little more of an edge have a team if they win a game three after travel and also I just think that the sport missed out on not having Friday games because that's a time for them to strike but what do you think now seeing how all this played out and which teams have made it through I still believe it's too small a sample really to pass judgment and when I wrote about this almost right away after the playoffs started because I sensed it would become an issue I mentioned that it was a small sample but I also mentioned the possibility that some teams would be affected by the layoff and all of these different things that come into play I'm not willing to adjust yet the only thing I want to do is Reed after the Wild Card round I think it's ridiculous that that doesn't happen I know they don't want the number one seed playing a division winner but if the division winner doesn't have as good a record as the wild card team it should happen that way where the number one seed does play the division winner receded that's to me obvious the layoff I don't think we can dismiss it as nothing but at the same time is it the reason the Orioles lost no it's not the reason the Orioles lost is it the reason the Dodgers lost no I can cite reasons for each one of these teams and the Braves being another on why they lost that really are not layoff related that said there's a situation that occurs each time with this where teams are off the byy teams for longer than they are off at any point during the regular season now they tried to compensate during the downtime by having simulated games some in front of fans it worked maybe to some extent maybe it didn't so going forward I'm not sure what the answer is but no one in baseball likes to hear excuses and Spencer Strider had some great comments last night just about hey we're responsible for our performance that's the way it is layoff no no no no no now but over time I would like to see how this plays out now the Astros obviously are an exception and they have seemingly figured this out two years in a row now they were the number one seed last year went all the way through won the World Series number one seed this year not much problem in the division series they did really well against the twins so it's not every team and I think in each particular case that we're talking about the Braves the Orioles the Dodgers you can site specific things that happened to those teams that made it a situation where the timing for them wasn't as good as it might have been for the Phillies for example the Phillies seem to have a way of getting hot at this time of year and they're doing it again well for me first I didn't think my question was going to go first it is okay so I heard from a birdie that you get a uh bus ride in your next round is this a true story or a false story not confirmed no way there's no way you need multiple sources there need K doesn't report without multiple sources Ken is Ken is not taking a bus but with with or without this K hang on one sec hang now you see Eric hold on it's fighting words already we were asked members of our crew because it's a situation where Houston is playing a team from Dallas Fort Worth three and a half hour bus ride if we would like to take a bus I raise my hand I would like take a bus I think it would be a good thing to do keep us off a flight for one time that would be great so I don't even know why this is an issue except I know that AJ is stoking this fire he is he is no because you're gonna Charter your own plane because bus is way beneath Mr Ken rosenal see now this is said I voled for the K yeah you you know what you volunteered for you're like I volunteer to pay for the plane that's what I'm volunteering for poor Kats actually I know where you're going I think I know where you're going with this I my entire career people will announce me as 11-year big leager but I want to be announced as a 13-year minor Leaguer okay because some of the most fun I had in the big leagues and the minor leagues is bus rides so of your crew who's going to get on the mic to call people out on the three and a half hour bus ride from Houston to Arlington well why would people need to be called out because that's what you do on bus trips well also I see I'll give context too so doesn't know he only takes private planes he doesn't get it no no no no I'm saying show context so probably what maybe about you know and we've had over 200 player guest appearances on this show I would say at least like 20 times Katz has had a player on where he's been been like give us more on this team who's talking on the bus rides who's grabbing the mic that's a big thing especially for rookies right who's on the mic so of everybody that travels in that fox crew and we're not including including AJ because he's not on the Cs who's grabbing the mic and and what CS being like a wise ass or or just as funny yeah like just you give you give a funny like you call different people out you give you call you call well you can't call Ken because he's not a rookie but you call Ken you call you call Joe Davis up to the front of the bus and he's like hey Rook I know you only got three years on the beat here but uh really like how you're I'll give you an Hest answer because I'm not necessarily experienced in this regard because as AJ has said I fly private all the time usually just me alone that's how we do it but I would imagine if we do take this bus and apparently it is in the works that there might be some of that but I don't know for a fact I really don't know I haven't even given any consideration I will say this I will say this Eric I didn't cover the minor leagues but I was in the minor leagues okay I was in a smaller town to start my career and those memories are indel indelible there's memories I have and will never lose and that camaraderie you have at that level whether it's the minor leagues in sports writing or the minor leagues in baseball or anything else it's Unique and I always feel grateful for that time because it makes me appreciate the private planes I take today facts facts hold on hold on wait wait now okay now here's the real question is David and Jeter and another guy going to take the bus oh I don't know we were just asked as far as I know AJ we were just asked the game crew um John Joe myself The Producers the directors I don't know if those guys are because I was gonna say if the pregame crew you could get you could get Bia who is like the pregame producer to have like David on the mic and he see David being on the mic for sure yeah right this is the good stuff though by the way I I I kid you not many Fox exec like love this show so they're like guys we made it we're talking Fox X grabbing the mic on on the bus Scott just to prove that I won't be flying private from Dallas to Houston I will take a photograph of myself on the bus we will have it on the show and we will throw it in AJ's face yes no I will have people take a picture of you like this in the bus and your boow ti that could happen too I can see that definitely happening I could be I could be hired I could be hired just as the mic guy for your three and a half hour bus ride I will call some dudes out it would be super super easy hey welcome to the front of the bus here yeah we got whq coming straight out of Baltimore thanks Ken for joining do your feet do your feet hit the floor as you're sitting on these seats hey that's a fair question let's face it I'm not saying that's not a fair question my feet have to extend and sometimes they don't extend fully Katz dominated this for a long time so KRA you should think about that people can hire you for that all right let me let me get back on the rails for one more SEC here because there's one more topic I wanted to hit before Ken jumps um you wrote an article about the Dodgers and show hey Otani boom H we are so in sic uh Jeremy behind the scenes Dodgers need to sign Otani and do more to change the narrative okay so take us through what you wrote and what you think's going to go down now coming up the next few months because I can tell you this we have Dodger fans that watch this show religiously that have been asking us to do more Otani content in coverage even before they're play off series started because I feel like they weren't confident in their team and this is the biggest free agent process maybe in MLB history definitely in la since the Dodgers and their fans I think are in their mind such Front Runners that I think it's going to be Devastation if they don't get him all right here's the Genesis of the article so I have a friend I'm not going to name him this person who is a Dodger fan I wouldn't say an intense Dodger fan but he made a point to me the other day that really stuck with me and he said why should I be paying attention to the regular season anymore it's the same every year we dominate the regular season we falter in the playoffs and I love the team but this is just getting old and I thought about it and I was wondering to myself okay how many Dodger fans probably feel this way and how do you address that the Dodgers are an entertainment business like any baseball team and I don't know that they would run the same team back but I don't believe they can can run anything close to the same team back they have to keep their fans engaged they have to change this narrative and really what they have to do is win the World Series so this talk all stops of course sh Otani Works in every way for those different points I just discussed he gives the team as I wrote Sizzle as well as stake he is a great player granted he cannot pitch next year and they need pitching we know that they can go sign pitchers too and beyond that he gives the franch a new entertainment perspective he's a marketing Bonanza in himself so for all those reasons it just makes more sense to me now maybe there's even more urgency for them to sign him now because I don't want to say they're stale I I do not want to diminish anything that they've accomplished it's amazing what they've done all these 100 win Seasons all these playoff runs people do not give enough respect to the accomplishment of winning a regular season that is really what teams are built to do the postseason we know there's Randomness there's luck it's just a different set of circumstances so I don't want to be disrespectful to the Dodgers in any way and I don't believe I was in what I wrote but I do think they need a little bit of a jolt here Otani would be a jolt in every way and in a positive sense as well this is probably the first time that I've disagreed with you I think they could use that money to go and get two pitchers I'm not saying it's the best pitchers they clearly did not have enough starting pitching I know everyone's going to say well they didn't score any runs either blah blah blah they were piecing together their starting pitching throughout the entire year and Otani does not touch that even one iota he may never pitch again Eric I don't disagree with you one bit and what I wrote was they've got to sign pitchers too Snell's out there Andrew fredman was the president of baseball operations in Tampa Bay when they drafted Snell and NOA it's not a great thick class of free agent starting pitchers but there are pitchers there you sign them as well as Otani remember they didn't do a heck of a lot last off season they didn't do all that much at the deadline either though Eduardo Rodriguez kind of left them in a Lurch so they should be financially capable of doing pretty much anything they want so we're not in disagreement they definitely need pitching that's their number one priority starting pitching because they cannot simply rely on all of these young guys to mature sure at once but Otani gives them quite a bit as well and I don't know that I would say he might never pitch again though certainly there's a nonzero chance of that Tommy John surgery has ADV Advanced over the years the internal brace procedure has helped things along I don't know that it's going to be a situation where we don't see him pitch again now we cannot count on it the same way that's fair but you're getting him as a hitter granted a hitter that's going to replace JD Martinez who did a great job for them for 2024 and then maybe you're getting them getting him for much more Beyond hitting in 25 and going forward Blake Snell seems like the perfect guy for the Dodgers he would be one I would agree I know no think about it the do I mean he's a listen he's a great pitcher but he's five and dive and we all know the Dodgers don't like their pitchers to go any F farther than like five I mean their pitchers pitched under five innings in three games or starters under five I mean think about AJ that was under performance okay but okay but still I'll say this and I don't know how much you got to listen to wayo and I talk on our our our series but the team that has the best starting pitching in most series almost every series wins and I I I'll I'll I'll go down saying that you have to have starting pitching look at the series we did Verlander uh framber wasn't good but Pablo was they won that game game three right it was it was like okay who has the better starting Javier was great game three or Katy was great game four against the twins there starters went longer pitched better they won the series it just you just have to find the starting pitching in order to give you enough Innings to save some of your Bullpen and I think that has been that has been the Dodgers Miss though Bobby Miller next year Ryan pepio next year Gavin Stone all these pitchers that they have emiten some of them are going to to progress better than others some of them will be Keepers some probably will not be but they have a good foundation they need to build on that foundation and I'll add one thing AJ to what you said about the team with the best starting pitching this might seem obvious but the team that hits more homers they win postseason series too and you can look at almost every circumstance every example and it will show that will play that out and also teams that stri out and striking out is a big thing too if you don't strike out you also usually win the Diamond Backs everyone perceives them including myself as this Jack Rabbit Team all they do is run around cause chaos that's their motto right they had a ton of home runs in that Series against the Dodgers that's why they won the series yeah which is not what you saw from them in the regular season and even Mike Hazen brought it up multiple times like they're hot right now their dudes are their dudes are feeling it and they're hitting more homers like on a per app basis in the playoffs so and and just just to clarify so we need home runs we need starting pitching defense be good at sounds like a winning formula to me yes yes all right lastly because we're gonna Ken we're going to show this after you're off um as our last segment um we do that's what he said with some comments from players and kind of run it right so um we're gonna show castanos he was dropping some f bombs on on MLB um Channel but also uh there was like a little back and forth with fans on social media and you do this all the time I think I referred to this at the top of the interview it felt like a million years ago already but U Matt Wier did the post game and he brought up a statement and casanis is like what's your question because that's a thing and I've I've gone through like media training sessions at MLB where they've talked about that they're like don't do that and also though I just think it's important and you can help me with this to provide context of how Nick Castellanos is he can be a little bit of like a ball buster and almost sometimes treat things like WWE which again fun good for the game I like it so I don't know if those two knew each other so maybe it created an awkward moment but um in my mind my opin opinion was ask a question they're coming especially in that moment they're coming off the field there's a lot going on and two e even if you do mess up and just make a random statement then just have fun with it and be like oh true well how did that go you know something like that well all right a couple things here first of all Nick is different than most players there's no question about that and I've had interviews with Nick where I have asked questions and I've gotten similar answers so he's capable of doing anything and I never know when I interviewed him what I'm going to get which is kind of good actually keep you honest but yes I do believe you should ask a question now a lot of times fans will say well that's a stupid question the question to me is irrelevant the answer is what matters and if the stupid question gets a good answer it's a win in my view because what we're trying to do is serve the audience and get the players talking and that's the goal here and I know it looked kind of uncomfortable last night for Matt who I don't know at all but at the same time when I interview Nick sometimes that happens it doesn't really matter if you know him or you don't know him it's just he has a different outlook on things and it's refreshing it would be boring if all players were the same but with Nick I always feel like I have to be on my toes yeah I love that I'm I'm with you and his teammates will say the same thing even when they're around him they're like oh we'll get different versions of Nick and I like it so um same thing I'm just trying to also say with all this like good clean fun like all of this that's gone on with with what players are saying like nothing's been like personal attacks this is good for our let's have fun with it and what's really jarring when you're doing that kind of interview with Nick and he comes back with maybe a one word or one sentence or two sentence answer you better be ready with the next question or statement or whatever the case might be because the interview goes on and it's just different with him that's all that's all yeah way I could put it he's like I did my job what do you got for me what's next like you do yours so uh Ken good stuff um enjoy the bus trip I'm sure we'll uh look forward to the pictures and uh and we'll talk to you next week all right guys I'll be having caviar Lobster fet Monon on the bus I'll send you pictures AJ we're good you mean on your you mean on your private jet get it right Ken both whatever sure exactly that's what they call a bus these days thank you Ken see you guys see [Music] you [Music]