Scott Miller | MLB Insider

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You'll be glad you did. We welcome Scott Miller, who is a contributor for the New York Times Sports Department, also Sirius XM MLB Network Radio, longtime insider and analyst, and frequent guest here on After Hours, joining us from San Diego. My goodness. Let's start with the Mets, shall we? What is your reaction to what they've just done with two starting pitchers, a couple other key pieces, after setting a record for a season's worth of payroll in 2023?

It's the old cliche, but you cannot buy... It takes more than money to win a world series, right? I mean, the Mets won 101 games last year. They had basically the same team coming back. I thought one of the key free agent signings last year, everybody talks about Justin Verlander adding him to Max Scherzer, but you know, there was a time you think back to last winter, center fielder and leadoff man Brandon Nemo was a free agent, and there was a time when people wonder whether he'd be back, and when they signed him, I thought, you know, they really need him.

He's key. Then they had Verlander, and then it all just blows up this year. I mean, you're right, the balk tonight, the losing closer Edwin Diaz in the World Baseball Classic. I mean, the season started... Things started going south on the Mets even before the season started.

They obviously have to do something. I know if you're a Mets fan, you're probably angry and frustrated and questioning, but I don't see any other option. I mean, Atlanta is light years better than them. So are the Dodgers.

I think they did fairly well. Obviously, they're paying a lot of Verlander and Scherzer salary. They essentially bought, went out and bought themselves some prospects. So, you know, now it'll be important that they hit on those prospects in the next year or two.

I will confess, I laughed out loud when I saw that Justin Verlander is going back to the Houston Astros. Why didn't they just sign him in the first place if this is what they wanted? Yeah. I mean, it's crazy.

Yeah. Had they done that, they would have kept their number one prospect, the outfielder that they said to the Colts. They'd still have him in their farm system.

Baseball works in crazy ways and credit the Astros for whether it's admitting a mistake by not resigning Verlander or whether it's simply going out and getting the best starting pitcher on the market, whatever it is. I mean, he's going to help. Obviously, he's key in postseason. He knows his way around.

He doesn't shrink from the moment. And once he came back, he had to so start this year. He was on the injured list for the first few weeks of the season, but he's pitched pretty well since then.

And he's going to be a big help. And, you know, also by the way, fitting on a couple parts that, you know, the Mets lose on a balk tonight and Houston, Framber Valdez, the no-hitter in Houston, you know, so what a day there to get Verlander and then get a no-hitter in the night. As you mentioned, Framber Valdez with the third no-hitter of the season in the majors, and yes, the irony as they return Justin Verlander to a World Series team, even as they continue to try to track down the Rangers who pick up Max Scherzer. So which team right now do you think is better equipped to make a championship run, Scott? You know, it's looked all season like Texas, but, you know, boy, they've hit a rough spot the last three weeks.

And I'd say Houston right now for a couple reasons, Amy. One, you know, the acquisition of Verlander, you know, him and Framber Valdez, Christian Javier, they just continue to pitch and pitch and pitch in Houston. And they've got great pitching, and that's what wins, and that's why I go there. Now, second reason is I like Texas picking up Scherzer, and I think Jordan Montgomery, the lefty they acquired from St. Louis, is going to be an underrated acquisition. I think he's really going to help them, but I think what's going to hurt Texas down the stretch is that the injury to catcher Jonah Heim a week ago when he hurt his left wrist against Houston, and he's out for two or three weeks. He was the starting catcher in the All-Star Game. He's having a career year offensively, defensively.

He's really good in all areas. That left wrist, I don't like the sound of it. I was with Houston, I mean with Texas, over the weekend, and I know doctors have told the Heim basically lay low for two or three weeks, and then you can play basically to tolerance of pain. It's a tenon in that left wrist, and if he can play this year, he'll get through the year, and then he's going to have to have surgery on the wrist. And playing with a bad wrist is not, I mean, that's asking almost the impossible in baseball. I mean, you need your wrist to hit. Catchers have to have their wrists. So he's going to have to have surgery this winter, and if not, if he tries to come back in three weeks and the pain is such that he can't play, then he'll have surgery during the season. So I know they went out and got a lot of catches today from Pittsburgh.

Texas did, who, you know, solid defense, cannot hit a lick. They're going to miss Jonah Heim, and that's why I say Houston over Texas. We're excited to spend a few minutes with Scott Miller, who joins us in the wake of baseball's trade deadline from San Diego. He contributes to the New York Times and also Sirius XM MLB Network Radio.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Just staying in the AL West for a second, what do you take away from what the Angels did and did not do at the trade deadline, Scott? Yeah, I like that they're trying, that they were in buy mode, and they finally, after years, they finally at this time of year have a chance. I mean, they've still got to win some games and they've got a road to climb, a hill to climb to get to the playoffs, but, you know, they're on the periphery, both the wildcard race and I don't know that they're going to catch Houston, but, you know, stranger things have happened and, you know, going out and getting, you know, Lucas Gelido to pitch, I think, is good. You know, getting Grichuk from the outfielder from Colorado. I mean, they made a series of moves and I like it. I thought two weeks ago, everybody's talking about it, they're going to trade Otani.

I never thought they would. They've been talking forever since Otani's been here about having a chance to win with him and they finally do have that chance and I know he's going to be a free agent this winter, but I'll tell you what, they are going to try to re-sign him. I don't know that I don't know that they're going to be able to, but they're going to try and if they can't win this year, suddenly they have a better chance to re-sign Otani than people would have thought and if they don't end up in the playoffs this year and he leaves to go elsewhere, I think with a player of that caliber, you've got to give it a shot to keep him. I don't know what they would have been able to get back in prospects.

It's your question, how do you value Otani? I mean, the pitcher he is, the hitter he is, there's no way they were going to get an equitable package back in prospects, not for a two-month rattle, so you might as well keep him and you'll get a draft pick for him if you lose him. And the other end of it is, if you have a player like that, the best player baseball in history, they've got corporate sponsorship deals, they've got every game televised in Japan. I mean, there's some side money they make off of him that people don't talk about it.

Beyond that, just the Angels brand, you know, throughout Japan and throughout the United States. If you trade a guy like that and you can't keep him, you might as well just close the franchise. That sounds very fatalistic. Let's hope they don't close the franchise, though they do need to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2014 because it's been far too long. Mike Trout, that whole time we haven't seen him in the postseason. All right, shifting to the NL West, I know you're in San Diego. This has got to be one of the more, we'll call it depressing, surprises of the 23 season. What in the world is preventing the Padres from being a contender?

Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, they've got like the third or fourth best run differential of them nationally, and yet they're not even 500. They've had the worst batting average with runners in scoring position all season in the majors. They have not hit in the clutch. Last night, they won tonight, but last night, Monday night, the series opener in Colorado, they lost in the 10th inning.

That was kind of a microcosm of the season, top of 10. They loaded the bases with nobody out, and they couldn't get around. And then they lost in the bottom of the 10th, which sent them to 0-10 in extra inning games this year.

They 0-10. They haven't won a game in extra innings, and they're not hitting with runners in the clutch. They're really squandering a really talented team and good pitch.

Stranger things happen. They're within the periphery of the wildcard race. They can, you know, they reel off a good run. They need about a three-week stretch where they get really hot, and they can get themselves back in this thing. But the other stat that's crazy about the Padres is they've not won more than three games in a row all season. I mean, they just cannot get momentum going.

That's pretty crazy considering what they put out there and the way that they were. It was kind of a go-big-or-go-home type of mentality with the Padres. And we talked, you and I talked, going back to the offseason, Scott, and the Dodgers were one of the teams that really didn't do a whole lot. They lose Trey Turner, and then they have their entire starting rotations been injured at one point or another. How were they staying on top of that division?

Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you what. It speaks, it's a huge testament to that organization. The talent below the surface of the major leagues down in the minor leagues, you know, they've brought guys up like Emmet Sheehan that have contributed to the rotation in a disappointing season for Julio Urias and an injury-filled season. Clayton Kershaw back on the injured list and Dustin May blown out and Walker Buehler not pitching because of the Tommy Jones surgery. You know, guys like Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan that they've called up and minor league young players like James Altman on the outfield. It's a testament to the depth of the franchise, I think, and also can we please finally credit Dave Roberts? All we ever hear is criticism of that guy, especially in October, you know, when they don't, you know, they won the World Series in the pandemic shortened 2020 season, but otherwise they get bounced in the playoffs. Everybody goes on and on about Dave Roberts made this mistake with a relief pitcher and that mistake with a relief pitcher. Dave Roberts is pretty darn good and that's a reason as well that the Dodgers right now are doing what they're doing. Scott Miller joins us from Southern California.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. The Cincinnati Reds are this really cool mix of young talent. They kind of remind me of what the Cleveland Guardians did a year ago and right now the Reds are on top of the NL Central. What stands out about the way that they have navigated this season to date? Yeah, I mean those young kids you mentioned, I mean Abbott, the starting pitcher, Elie De La Cruz is so fun to watch, you know, Matt McLean. They've made some good trades. They've got some young talent that's real. I love that a week ago they extended manager David Bell's contract for three more years.

He deserves it. I mean he's I mean he's vanished through some really difficult times and here the Reds are looking like they've come out through the tunnel and you know the lights ahead. It's great to see. They're a fun team. All that young talent I mentioned, combination. They pitch well and that young talent, I mean they've got guys that can hit home runs. They're well rounded. They run the bases well.

You know, they go first or third. They're smart on the bases. They hit for average.

They hit for power. They do a lot of things well and that's a testament, as I say, not only to the young talent that they have, but also to David Bell and his staff and the entire Cincinnati organization. You talked about the Atlanta Braves earlier, Scott. They have had the best record in major league baseball going back now even before the trade deadline. That crazy, was it a June surge that just blew away the rest of the division?

Who is, at least at this point, the top contender or contenders against Atlanta? Yeah, I mean I think the Dodgers right now, I mean you know we thought the Mets weren't going to be there. No, thought the Phillies maybe could get there. If so, they're going to have to you know improve quite a bit here in the last two months.

It's almost like Atlanta and everybody else in the National League. Like I say, the Dodgers I think are probably the next best team. They need to get some healthy pitching by season's end and Kershaw is supposed to be back here soon. Walker Bueller, after Tommy John surgery early last year, there's a chance he could come back and help a little bit late September.

He won't be stretched out of me. I don't think we should expect like starting pitcher Ace Walker Bueller that goes seven innings a game, but you know even if it's a couple innings out of the bullpen, if they can get to that point, I mean that could be a wild card for the Dodgers. So it's Atlanta and everybody else and the Dodgers I think have an outside chance to maybe derail them. I think that's the best chance right now of anybody to take down Atlanta. You think about that race, the Orioles, the Rays, how this season has shaped out between the two of them now.

What are a couple factors or maybe a couple players you think could tip the scales in this race one way or another? Well I think Baltimore's just done such a wonderful job after years of tanking and it's nice to see good things happen for the baseball fans in that city. Jack Flaherty, interesting trade today acquiring him from St. Louis.

He's a guy about three or four years ago when he was in his early 20s I thought he's going to win a Cy Young award, he's this good and he's never quite lived up to the billing. He's had a bunch of nagging injuries and just has not been able to show any consistency and I think maybe the trade to Baltimore in a big time winning atmosphere hopefully is going to help him and help Baltimore. I think if they're going to win and go to where they hope to go, I think Flaherty's going to have to be a key.

Certainly they've got between Gunnar Henderson and Adlai Rutchman especially. That franchise changed about a year ago when they called Adlai Rutchman up from the minor leagues and you can't say that about many young players just stepping into the major league pool for the first time that they can have that big of an impact where they can change a franchise but Rutchman is one of the very very few who can and did do that and it'll be interesting to see if the battery when Flaherty pitches with Rutchman catching, if Rutchman's presence can kind of help boost Flaherty. So I think that's part of it and then Tampa Bay has had some injuries to their rotation but what worries me about them and they have not been as good the last few weeks like they were the first few months. I think there's some signs of potential fraying in the bullpen. The one thing with Tampa Bay, they lean heavily on their bullpen because they don't want the starters to go third time through the order and sometimes they'll play around with an opener and things like that and when I looked a couple days ago, Tampa Bay, I think bullpen usage, their workload innings pitched, I think they were fourth in the majors I want to say or third so in other words they're toward the top of the list and their bullpen has gotten a lot of innings so far this year and they're going to have to figure out a way to make sure that bullpen is healthy and rested because the way it's going right now there's a danger. I'm not saying it's going to happen but there's a danger that when they're playing key games in September and then theoretically in the playoffs in October, danger that their bullpen could be gassed by the time they get there.

Right, good point. Before I let you go, Scott, you used the word tanking about the Orioles the last few years and that brings you back to kind of where we started which was the Mets trading off big pieces but Max Scherzer makes waves with some comments about what he heard from the Mets on his way out of town which is that according to Max, the Mets are planning to use 2024 as a rebuilding year. We're not even done with 23 yet and he says they want to use 24 as kind of a year that's a throwaway where they can see what they've got and all these prospects. Is this something that Major League Baseball will look into or no? I don't think they will. I'd like them to.

A couple things. I think I saw those Max Scherzer comments and there is a difference between kind of being realistic and resetting your team and tanking. I mean I wouldn't say and again this is if the translation for Max Scherzer is correct the translation his view of what the front office is doing I mean if they're looking to be competitive year after next and use next year's kind of transition year that I mean tanking is when you strip it down to the studs like Houston did back around 2010 and basically feel a minor league team.

Houston lost 100 plus games for three or four years in a row. Baltimore did that recently so I mean that is that's what baseball I think needs to figure out a way to avoid. You shouldn't be putting a minor league team on the field in any city. The Cubs did it for a little bit because they were building towards the 2016. That's damaging to the competitive integrity of the game which which cuts right to the heart of the game.

If you don't have the integrity then it's that you have got big problems. You know if the Mets I don't think they're going to do that. I don't think you can do that in New York. I don't think New York a New York team would be allowed by its fans to go that route and you just strip down to where you're going to lose 100 games for three or four years while you try to just collect as many young prospects as you can. You know so baseball needs to yes look into that and figure out a way to discourage it. Where the Mets are concerned it's hard to say. I mean Scherzer and Verlander are older pitchers and they weren't going to be around forever anyways. When they saw Verlander a year ago they're basically all in on this year and they put all their money all their chips on the table in the middle of the table for this year and it didn't work and so they've got to do something and you know it makes some sense that they try to get you know buy that's why they paid so much money down on the Verlander and Scherzer contracts with Texas and Houston. Basically the more money they pay that the better prospect they get so basically buying better prospects and it makes some sense to try to get it some younger prospects and reset in the you know before you go full charge forward again. I don't think with Steve Cohen's money we have to worry about the Mets cutting too deeply. They're not going to be one of the lowest payrolls in the game.

That would be drastic to be sure. All right you can find Scott on Twitter at Scott Miller BBL contributing to the New York Times also Sirius XM MLB network radio analyst with great insight a post trade deadline from San Diego. Scott it's always a privilege to have you on the show thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Let's enjoy our conversations Amy thank you take care we'll talk soon.