Splash Considerations Ep. 11: Who You Callin' a Villain?

SAN FRANCISCO — With the Los Angeles Dodgers coming to Oracle Park for a three-game series against the Giants, MLB.com's Dodgers beat reporter Sonja Chen (@SonjaMChen) joins Justice to discuss Edwin Díaz's injury, how Kyle Tucker fits in the Dodgers' ecosphere, Dalton Rushing's unreal start and more.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Welcome to another episode of Splash Considerations. My name is Justice Delos Santos, San Francisco Giants B reporter for the Bay Area News Group, San Jose Mercury News, East Bay Times, whatever you want to call us, as long as you read, as long as you subscribe. And the Giants have returned from their three-city nine-game road trip. They went in form five, but as I mentioned in the last podcast episode with John Shea, this team's starting to find a little bit of its identity. Showed a little passion, a little fire, a little edge in Cincinnati. Eric Miller cussing out the entirety of the Reds team. JT Brubaker getting a little feisty with the home plate. Umpire and Spencer steel landing Roop saying a fastball slipped. The fastball didn't slip. We all know it didn't slip. He just couldn't say it. And then they go to DC, they take two of three, and you've got Tony Vitello shadow boxing with Drew Gilbert. He's getting pumped up after a big win. So this Giants team, you know, 20 or so games into the season, is finally showing some spunk, finally showing a little bit of fire, a little bit of desire. But against this next team, you're gonna need a little more than just emotion to beat him. Because this next team is, of course, the reigning back-to-back champions, the super villains of baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers. And hit her discuss this upcoming series with me. Someone who now lives in LA, but the heart's from the bay. Sonia Chen of MLB.com, Dodgers Beat Reporter for the website. Sonia, how are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Doing great, Justice. Always great to be back in the bay. This is my childhood bedroom right here.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

So I did ask you. I was like, wait, that doesn't look like a hotel background. That looks like a childhood bedroom.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yes, yes. It's always nice to have one night not in a hotel when you can on a trip. So, you know, it's not a long time, but I'll take whatever I can get.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Amen to that. Amen to that. And obviously, this is the first time that the Giants and the Dodgers have had an opportunity to play each other this year. I think last year we had to wait until like May or even June. Like it weirdly took a long time for these two teams to play each other, but they're getting this first series of the year against each other out of the way this weekend at Oracle Park. But before getting into that, Sonia, I do want to kind of peel back the curtain a little bit on your end because this is your second season covering the team. Obviously, the Dodgers won the damn thing last year. So I can only imagine, you know, it's one thing to be on a beat for your first year. It's another for that to be your first year on a beat. So I kind of wonder like, what was that first season like for you overall? And what is just this experience of being of kind of diving headfirst into this team, like right when they're in the midst of their dynasty? What has this all been like for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Well, I think probably the best way to sum it up is that so many people this year, you know, not the people on my beat, but people from other beats, um, their first time like seeing me in a while. A lot of them have been like, so is this like year three for you on the beat? Which no, it's not, but in some ways it does kind of feel like that. Definitely last year could have been multiple years for so many teams, you know. You start the season in one country, Japan. You spend most of it, obviously, in the United States, and then you end it in a third country, Canada. So, you know, that that kind of perspective for me, like I I looked back and it was just like, wow. And the thing about covering the Dodgers is there's just so much happening with this team every day. It feels like you're never really searching for what to write about. So when you have all that in your first year on a beat, it's like, I mean, is it a little overwhelming at times? Yes, but you just can't ask for much more. Um, it's incredible to see like everything I got to see last year. I I try to reflect on it every now and then, and it's it's amazing. And this year, you know, could see some more history if they could actually three-peat, which it's too early to say, in my opinion. But I don't know. We'll all be watching.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

I don't know if Giants fans want to hear that, but that is the truth of the matter. And as you mentioned, uh, this Dodgers team, you are very rarely searching for any news. And we obviously got some news today. We're recording on Monday afternoon, and you know, there's a lot of new faces, rather rather old faces with this team. There's a lot of familiar faces, but two of the newer ones are Edwin Diaz, Kyle Tucker. Uh, we will not be seeing Edwin Diaz during this series. Uh, we will not be seeing Edwin Diaz when the Giants go to LA next month. Uh Sonia, what's the latest on the three-time All-Star closer?

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, so I am obviously not in Colorado right now, but the Dodgers announced today that he is not only going on the injured list with loose bodies in his right elbow, but he's also having surgery to address that. And they're expecting him back in the second half. So, you know, I think that prognosis or prognosis and diagnosis are kind of more on the encouraging side, as long as that actually fixes the problem, which for him has been that his velocity has been down, you know, pretty concerning amount early in the season. Of course, we won't really know if this is the thing that addresses the issue until later in the year. But um, you know, I think having an answer is a good thing because up until this point, um, you know, the team said that he had been feeling something in his right knee, which was the one that he had surgically repaired three years ago after um injuring it in the WBC celebration. So we had heard that, but other than that, you know, the Dodgers were not saying that this was injury related at all. And that might have been more concerning than, you know, if there was something you could point to. So now there's some sort of cause with the elbow. In two to three months, we'll see. Like, is he getting back to the Edwin Diaz that we've seen in the past? So it's, you know, it's obviously a blow for the Dodgers to lose your closer, but for the Dodgers are probably one of the few teams that can kind of withstand something big like this. So we'll start to see the solution in the ninth inning, starting with this series in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yeah, I think it had been like because he pitched yesterday, yesterday being Sunday, and I think it had been nine days in between outings. And I even when I was looking at his game logs, like I just assumed he was injured because it had been so long, but you know, apparently he was dealing with whatever he was dealing with, and now as you mentioned, they kind of have uh some semblance of a solution. So you mentioned this is going to be their first series um as far as Edwin Diaz being on the injured list. What do you foresee going forward, kind of being the Dodgers' game plan in the ninth inning, and even you know how that kind of affects how they approach the eighth inning and even the seventh inning as well?

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, so I I think the way that I see it now is I'm sure that the messaging will mostly be that it's closer by committee, but I think that the closer will essentially be Tanner Scott when it makes sense, which is kind of what they were saying last year. There were very few times when they actually called Tanner Scott the closer, but he was, you know, in reality. And I think that's what's going to happen when with Diaz out this year. So I guess the the biggest issue there then is um Tanner Scott has looked a lot better this year. And I'm one of those people who really hates to like draw too many conclusions from a small sample size. And we're in April, so you know, I don't want to say that making however many like good outings in April means that he's going to have a good season. But you know, I'll just say he looks better. But I think a big part of that has been that he's been able to pitch in more kind of favorable lanes, have more like left-on-left matchups because Diaz has been anchoring that ninth inning. So now how you work backwards from there. Um, I think the problem then becomes whether like the Dodgers have a reliable right-on-right reliever. Because, you know, Diaz obviously in the ninth was kind of that and neutral enough where he can be the closer regardless of situation. But then there's some responsibility that falls on Blake Trinan, who had eight scoreless appearances before a bad one yesterday in Colorado. And um after Trinan, when you're looking at right-handers in the bullpen, a lot of them are very unproven. There's uh Will Klein, Edgardo Enriquez, Kyle Hurt, who's just recently back from Tommy John surgery. Um so this is, you know, it's both like an opportunity, but a problem. And it's probably going to come with some growing pains as the Dodgers figure out who that right-hander who's tough on right-handed hitters can be.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Didn't Blake Trenton also like just get hit in the head in batting practice like yesterday? Didn't he like catch astray?

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

I'm only laughing because I think he's okay. I think he's okay. That's why I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

That's why I'm kind of like, I don't want to blame yesterday's outing on that, like on unless he does. But but yes, I think on Saturday he got hit.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Not ideal, but uh he's a reliever. They're not expected. I mean, you kind of gotta keep your head on a swivel, like at least a little bit. I don't I don't know exactly how happened, but Blake trying to appears, at least of right now, uh, appears uh to be okay. Also, shout out real quick to Will Klein because the Pokemon Glove, like the how it has like the sleeve in it, uh that might be a game changer. I saw Jacob Mizarrowski have that as well. So shout out to Will Klein. There's also those like those fans in Toronto that were like throwing in Pokemon cards. So anytime like you find out, like a because you know, they're obviously human beings too, and anytime you can find out they're a fan of the stuff you were a fan of growing up, always a great feeling. Um, let's transition to someone, another new face who we actually will see this weekend at Oracle Park, and that is one, Kyle Tucker. Um, depending on your perspective, him joining the Dodgers might have been the story of the offseason, for better or for worse. There's obviously a lot of dialogue centered around that at for a four-year,$240 million contract, the highest AAV of anybody uh in the history of the game. For someone who, again, depending on how you evaluate and you value, might not be a top 20 player. I think at his best he can be, but you know, based off how the last couple years ago, yada, yada, yada. Anyway, it was kind of just another example. The Dodgers really just flexing their might, flexing their super villainy nature, if you want to call it that. And it was a bit of a slow start, but the last 15 games, 288 batting average, 843 OPS, three homers, almost as many walks as strikeouts. Sonia, what have your first impressions been of Kyle Tucker and how he kind of fits into this Dodgers ecosphere so far?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

You know, the thing about Kyle Tucker is I feel like you can almost forget he's there sometimes and put it. I know. It's like any other team makes a contract like that during the offseason. Like whoever signs that contract is going to be like the talk of spring training. This year, he was even there the whole time, unlike you know, some of the players who went to the WBC, and he still just kind of flew under the radar. And I think that's probably one of the best possible things for him in this situation, you know. Um, but he's you know, to me, he just feels like someone who kind of quietly goes about his work. He's not a super expressive guy. Um, even Dave Roberts has said as much. Like I think early in spring training, he's like, he's probably not gonna give you guys any good quotes. Just straight up. Yes, he didn't he said something like that. And you know what? And and this is not me criticizing Kyle. Yeah, that's kind of true.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

But we gotta call a spade a spade. Some guys just objectively speaking are can can talk a little more, a little be more a little expressive.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Yeah, yeah. So I don't know. He's um again, he flies under the radar. I feel like we haven't, you know, we definitely haven't seen him like do kind of what he's been like advertised to do as far as being like an impact bat, but I I don't know. I think you know, he's going to get there. And the thing is with this team, like even if he doesn't by some chance, they're going to be just fine. So it's again, it's like a weird place to be with someone who's getting paid like a star player and on many other teams would be like the biggest name associated with the team. But I think that him being able to fade into the background a little could actually be good for him.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

I think in as you mentioned, in for any other team in baseball, the guy making$60 million a year would probably be the guy that's making most of the headlines to start a season, especially in a position group. But he's kind of had his uh thunder taken from him a little bit from that perspective because there's another outfielder on this team that's been kind of quietly, even more quietly, maybe like kind of setting the world on fire, and that's Andy Paez. He uh is currently leading the majors with a 382 batting average. His OPS leads the National League, he leads the majors in RBIs, and uh you know it's he's coming off a breakout season last year, but you know, when the postseason rolled around, it was just objectively, it was not good. I think his OPS was 211. He was losing playing time down the stretch of the postseason run, but now he's you know, obviously he's not gonna sustain, probably not gonna sustain the numbers that he is, but he's providing offense at a premium position. It seems like he's taken even another step forward. Just what have you seen out of Andy Paches to begin this season? Someone that's already won NL Player of the Week.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Mm-hmm. Yeah, Andy Pajas, I mean, he really impressed me last year, to be honest, because just as you mentioned, as he ended the season on such a poor note, he also started the season really badly to the point where I think in the first like road trip of the year, there were like legitimate questions over whether he should be option to AAA. Um, but yeah, he um it's really hard to be like kind of a sleeper on a team like the Dodgers, where you know so much about just about every player on the team. Um, but yeah, Pajas is kind of that. He's under the radar, he's developed into a really good center fielder after for most of the time he was developing. Like the belief was that he would stick in a corner spot. And I think that you know his arm could really play up if he were in right field, but he's he's doing really well at center field. And right now, I think he's like undoubtedly the Dodgers' best option there. And this season at the plate, I think the most impressive thing has been just his plate discipline looks so much improved from last year. He's spoken about like spending hours hitting off the traject, like doing it daily in the offseason during spring training. Um, he said that he always faces Paul Skeens because of the movement that Skeens has. Yeah. So he he like focuses on Paul Skeens and whoever the the pitchers that he's facing on a given day might be, which I found really interesting. But I think you really have like seen that work pay off because he's in again, like a smaller sample size, he's kind of cut down on the swing and miss. Like he still does, he still does that because you're not going to get rid of it entirely. But just the swing decisions look so much more advanced than they were a year ago. And you know, you remind yourself too that he's still very young, like still 25 years old. So it's just very impressive to see the growth over the past year.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

There's another 25-year-old on this Dodgers roster that I want to talk about, someone that has also been putting up just even more unsustainable numbers. And that's one, Dalton Rushing. Now, Sonia, I don't know if you're privy to the catcher conversations that have been happening in the Bay Area, a lot of dialogue with Patrick Bailey and Daniel Susak. Uh, we are not gonna open up that can of worms here, although it's pretty much been already opened. Well, it's well been opened, uh, starting with kind of the last podcast. But uh Dalton Rushing has five homers in seven games. He is an OPS plus of 368. That is not going to sustain. Uh, he will probably come back down to earth at some point uh when I don't know. But how do the Dodgers kind of see you know their catching situation unfolding? Because Rushing was obviously a top draft pick, the top prospect, but you also have Will Smith behind the plate, who is one of the best offensive catchers in baseball. And, you know, there's a certain guy, uh, maybe we'll get to him a little later in the show that typically always will occupy the DH spot. So, how do the Dodgers kind of see this going forward, balancing playing time with someone that's a proven offensive force behind this backstop between some kind of over of a up-and-coming catcher behind the backstop?

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Well, first I'll start by telling you what Dalton said after um what ended up being pretty much a career game in Toronto, four hits, two home runs. He said, and he was joking, well, it's all downhill from here.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Self-awareness. We love it.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Yes, and you know, as it turns out, I I think he's still on the ascent. Like, as you said, these numbers would not appear to be sustainable over a full season. Probably not, but yeah, but the fact that he's even able to put them up in this small sample is very impressive. And we didn't see him do anything like that with kind of similar playing time last year. So that to me is like a big step forward for him. Now, the playing time, Will Smith is usually starting like two of three games in a series, and then uh Dalton Rushing is catching the other one. So Dalton plays about twice a week, and that's obviously a very difficult thing for any young player who's used to being an everyday player to adjust to. It's something that he really tried to embrace last year, but I think that he still kind of had had issues with not like not knowing when his time would be on a given night, and like being able to get in a rhythm with such limited opportunities to get his feet under him. So the way that he's like approached the role, I think he's really like really just embraced what it means to be a backup, even though he does not want that to be, you know, his outlook as a major leaguer in the future. And the mindset change has, I think, led to us seeing, you know, who he was supposed to be at the plate, um, you know, as a major leaguer. Um, because I remember like one of the things that was said about him when he was still in the minor leagues was like he's hit at every level, he's going to hit in the big leagues. And last year he didn't. Now we're seeing some good things happen for him.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Sonia, I think we're about 25, 30 minutes into this podcast. We have not mentioned Shoyo Tani yet. I wanted to see like how long we could get into this before like mentioning him. We obviously have to mention him at some point. Like, this is this is a Dodgers episode. I don't think you can have a discussion about the Dodgers without talking about this man at least once. And it's kind of like you shrug your shoulders, it's like, what else can you say about him? Like he's a 9-15 OPS, five homers. He's reached base in 51 consecutive games dating back to last year. Again, we're recording before they play tonight. So if you hear this and the streak is over, don't blame us. That's that's just when we were talking. Uh, on the mound, he's allowed one earned run over 18 innings. It's a.50 ERA. The stuff is as electric as ever. And I think the most interesting way to kind of tackle Otani, instead of just being like, oh yeah, like it's it's great. Like, we know he's great. But this is obviously his first time pitching full time since 2023. As far as the the beginning of a season to then end of a season, obviously he started pitching again last year. We saw him. The postseason. But what has been the Dodgers' kind of plan with him as far as getting him from the beginning of a season to the end of a season healthy? Because it's it's one thing for him to come into a middle of a season, pitch two innings here, three innings there, and then you get to the postseason, it's full go. It's another for him to you know appear to be making, you know, an honest attempt at a full season's workload on the mound.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I think the the main approach to it for the Dodgers has been like be pretty deliberate from the outset. Like have kind of a regimented plan in place. And it's actually very similar to what we saw with his return to pitching last year, where he was kind of just like a multi-inning opener at first. So he went one inning once, then one inning, then two innings, then two again, and so on until he was making full starts, and it took like two months about. So it's obviously not that from like workload, but just the way that they're um kind of mapping out his starts. Right now, he's been going once a week. They, I think, ideally want him to get like six or seven days of rest in between starts. And no matter how good he's looked, you know, that's not going to change how often he pitches right now. And that can be a really, you know, a difficult thing when so far he's given them three innings each start. Um, like you said, just the one-earned run. Like he has looked fantastic. So I'm I'm sure there's some voice at the back of their head that's like, you know, what if we did have him more on like a, you know, five days' rest schedule, something like that. But that is the the problem with Otani. Like he's so so talented at what he does on both sides, that having some restraint in how you use him, I think, is one of the important parts to having like a sustainable performance from him. So we're seeing, yeah, deliberate approach early. I'm sure for the next couple of months it'll be similar. And then once we get to the postseason, then maybe things change a little.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

I think it was his last start or maybe two starts ago that I think it was the one against the Mets where he was quote unquote only pitching. And I think that was because he got hit in his shoulder a couple days prior. Is that kind of gonna be a one-off, or is the plan for us to maybe see a little more of these again, quote unquote, uh-only pitching days?

SPEAKER_00 24:44

I think the idea is that for the most part, he'll be hitting and pitching on the same days. But you know, if there is something like last week when he was hit on it was his right shoulder by a pitch, so throwing shoulder, um, not that it affected him. You know, when when things like that happen, yeah, yeah. When things like that happen, I think they're going to be a little more like cautious. So I think, you know, if there's anything like that where he's a little a little bruised, there's some sort of ache and pain, but it's not going to affect him as a pitcher. I think they will consider, you know, sprinkling some of those days in where he's only pitching. Maybe Dalton Russian gets to DH.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Uh there you go.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

But it probably won't be often. Like there would be some sort of like circumstance warranting it.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Obviously, back in 2024, he is the first full-time DH to win. He goes 50-50. This year we haven't seen him steal the base yet. I don't know if he's even attempted one yet. And that does kind of make sense because you know, if we're talking about conserving the body, having to do a sprint even if it's just 90 feet, that's uh it's taxing on the body, especially when you got a slide. Has there been any discussion about him just eliminating that part of his game entirely because he has to pitch? Or do you think every once in a while, kind of more so what we saw with the Angels in 2022 and 2023, we'll see it, but it's just not going to be as frequent, uh, considering he also has to pitch?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

I would be surprised if it went away like altogether. You know, since he has the ability to do it, and I think Shohe Otani just loves doing things that you know people are not expecting from him. But definitely it will be pretty diminished. I think if you look back to last year, like to when he started really ramping up on the mound, I think once he started facing hitters at some point in May, like that was really when he stopped running as much. Um, wish I had the exact numbers in front of me, but I want to say like the vast majority of his stolen bases and attempts were like before that point in the season. So it's it's kind of like you know, when he was only a hitter, like he needed some other quote unquote only. He needed like some other outlet to, you know, be doing multiple things like at just a surprisingly good level. And now that he's back to pitching, and that's something that he has so much passion for, and that requires so much of his time, you know, to work on, like the running has kind of fallen by the wayside a bit, but it it probably won't disappear altogether.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

I know we're I don't want to say never, we're I'm just gonna say we're probably not gonna see, but I've always just kind of wondered like if we ever got like an Otani, like if he just said, I'm not pitching, throw me in right field or whatever, like whatever position you want to throw him in. I've always wondered like what that would look like because maybe there's an alternate path or alternate universe where he's like kind of just like a 300, 300, 400, 400 guy. But now we just have to settle for this timeline where he is, you know, just you know, the only guy doing the two-way thing. Sonia, the last question I want to hit you with before we get out of here, and I ask this to every beat reporter who comes on this show what is your biggest curiosity for the 2026 season? And you can interpret that question whichever way you would like, just the player, the theme, just the one element of this Dodgers team of which you are most curious.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

This almost feels like such an obvious answer, but I think like the most interesting player on the Dodgers right now is Roki Sasaki, and just how he develops this year, how long the Dodgers can keep him in the rotation. You know, these are things that I'm very curious to follow. And a lot of the time you you think that you know how a situation will play out, like you know, just thinking like kind of bigger picture last year when the Dodgers had a chance to go back to back and it hadn't been done in a quarter century. It's like, you know, I I could see them falling short of that. I could also very realistically see them doing it, and then they did. This year with Sasaki, it just feels like there are so many different possible outcomes, and I in many ways I just don't know where the situation is going. I think a lot of it relies on him and his relationship with the team. And then there's also just the physical, like, what is he capable of on the mound? Can he physically do what he was doing in NPB that made him so dominant there? And yeah, as the rotation gets healthier, like Blake Snell gets closer to coming back. I'm really curious to seeing how he looks over this next month or so and what you know will make sense to do with him as the season goes on.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

To kind of tie this back into the Edwin Diaz point, you mentioned that Blake Snell is going to be back in the mix as well. And this Dodgers team obviously does not lack for starting depth. Do you in could you see a situation where Roke is just back in the bullpen and kind of might be called upon to be in that leverage role, especially with Edwin Diaz out for the rest of the first half?

SPEAKER_00 30:29

You know, I think I would be surprised if Roke was pitching out of the bullpen in the first half. I think I think right now kind of the team's message to him is like, you know, we see you as a starter in the long term, and like we're going to you know, we're going to try to help you succeed in that. Like then he just needs to come through and perform. So I think that even if, you know, say Snell comes back, Roki Sasaki is not um, you know, the one of the five best starters in the current six-man rotation, like I think then there's a case to possibly send him down to triple A. But if it's like near the end of the season, whether Roki is in the major leagues in AAA, they're still looking for this, you know, right on right reliever, possibly aside from Diaz, or, you know, if there's any like further complication with Diaz, it's hard to tell, you know, five, six months in advance. Um, I would say there's a chance then, because it's a similar situation to last year. Like, hey, if you want to be part of this postseason run, like, you know, we're going to need you to to do this. And I could see that situation playing out.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

We will not see Roki Sasaki pitch during this upcoming series. For those of you who are curious, who's going for them? It's going to be Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Otani, and Tyler Glass now, three pretty good random pitches. So while we will not see Roki Sasaki on the mound, Sonia, I will see you in the press box tomorrow. I will probably have a Celsius or two in hand. Fabian's not making this road trip. He's big time on us. He we gotta settle for Katie Wu, who's from not even from the bay. She's from Vacaville. Wow, if she ever if she ever trips, I'll tell that to her face. Whenever she comes on this podcast, I'll tell it to her face. But anyway, Sonia, this was a lot of fun. Where can the folks find your work?

SPEAKER_00 32:35

Well, you can find me at Sonia M. Chen on um Twitter, aka X or Instagram also. And then I'm also uh my articles are at mlb.com slash dodgers. So you can find me there.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

You can find her there. Sonia, thanks for coming on.