It is the J.R. Sport Re Show here with you coast to coast on the Infiniti Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN is the number. That's 888-710-4ISN. And we're looking to check in and see where Keith Law is.
Covers all things Major League Baseball from the Athletic. And it appears that we have found him and we got him.
So much going on from the trades to deals and there's a lot. Players returning. Here we have Keith Law, covers all things MLB for the Athletic. Keith, how are you? I'm good.
How are you? Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to come through and join us. I was shocked last night. I mean, I know we live in a new world financially, but seeing that Raphael Devers can get moved with his 10-year, $300-plus million-dollar contract, were you surprised that the Red Sox did this or that somebody acquired that contract?
I'm not surprised somebody acquired the contract because it's a great player. I was surprised that the Red Sox, who ostensibly are trying to contend this year, traded away one of their best players. Probably their best pure power threat. And got kind of a modest return. It's not a bad return.
But they treated it a bit more as a salary dump. It's pretty clear that the new regime didn't like the contract and they were willing to take less of a return. Just to get rid of the financial obligation. Except, you know, the Red Sox, they're one of the most profitable teams in baseball. They should not be pinching pennies to the extent that they seem to be lately.
So, and honestly, I had no idea this was even a possibility. Until it happened. I was at a Father's Day dinner. I got in the car and I saw texts, and I was like, the hell is going on here? And at first I thought it was a joke.
You're not the only one who are being joined by Keith Law from the Athletic.
So, what next for the Boston Red Sox? I mean, if you're a Red Sox fan, you got to be looking at this just going, oh my God, again, we lost Mookie. What are they doing? Yeah.
So I don't know what they're doing, right? I do not know what the plan is. I've not talked to anyone in the front office. I don't know Craig Breslow at all. This seems to be his direction, his philosophy.
You know, I can. Yes, based just on what we saw, this was about getting rid of a player they seem to think was a problem. I don't agree with that, and to move a large financial obligation. They could turn this around in a couple of ways. One is all this money they've cleared off the books for this year and the future.
They could try to lock up some of their best young players to long-term contracts, particularly Roman Anthony, the prospect they just called him, number one prospect in baseball, just called him up a week or so ago. The other thing is, It did get something in return. Kyle Harrison, left-handed starter, not a prospect anymore, but not established in the big leagues yet, still young. James Tibbs, who was the Giants' first round pick last year, last July. He's only been in Pro Ball for 11 months.
Red Sox could use them and some of the players already in their very strong farm system. And go get pitching. The one argument I can make for them doing this is: the Red Sox offense is going to be fine without debts. But they are having a real problem just with run prevention. And so go out and take these resources.
to go get some arms and show the fans that you are still trying to contend this year.
Well, Keith, when you think about the team that's receiving him, the Giants, obviously, he's going to add major pop to their lineup. They can barely get guys to hit it on out the park. What can we expect for from the Giants kind of fitting in that stacked NLS?
So I'm assuming he's just going to go in and be the DH, which is what he was doing for the Red Sox. They have Matt Chapman at third, which is really the only other position Devers has played significantly in his pro-career. People talk about him going to first base. He's never played it, not even in the minors.
So that's not happening, at least not now. What he brings is power, as you said, but also the ability to get on base. And the Giants. Actually, need both of those things. It's a below-average offense that they have the opposite problem, right?
They have a really good pitching staff, particularly with Robbie Ray coming back to looking like his old cy young self again. They needed guys on base and they needed power beyond Matt Chapman. Endeavors gives them both of those things. And it's, I do think there's something to be said for him, just being clear of any of the controversy. Just come in, BRDH, do the things you do.
Get on base, hit bombs, everyone will be happy.
Well, it certainly hopes.
So, we're being joined by Keith Law, MLB rider for the athletics. Speaking of the National League West, we do see that Shohei Otani is going to be returning on the mound tonight. Of course, they got to kind of. Put him on the shallow end before you can go out there and swim. When do you expect to see him potentially back to a full workload?
Are we talking a month here? Are they going to do this opener thing for a while? What are you thinking? I'd be surprised if he was making full starts before the very end of the year for two reasons. One is just this is his second elbow operation.
And so you've got to take it easy. We do have a lot of two-time Tommy John guys, but. The general consensus is you got to go a little more cautiously the second time back to avoid re-injuring the ligament or injuring the new ligament. But also, the problem they face is anytime Otani has to miss time, he has to go on the injured list because of. anything going on with his arm.
He loses bat.
So it is an argument, even though we all know he's a great pitcher. It is an argument to be ultra conservative with how you're using him on the mound to make sure you do not lose any of the impact he provides as a hitter. And so I'm glad he's doing the two-way thing again. He's just great for baseball. He's super fun to watch.
Absolutely. But if I'm in that Dodger's front office, I'm thinking, just please don't get hurt. What do we do to get you to pitch a little bit? Really, we want your 600 at bats every year.
Well, we know that the Dodgers certainly went for broken in acquiring talent. That's what they've done the past several years. And the depth of it has certainly worked out for them throughout some of these injuries. How does him being back in the lineup, at least slowly but surely creeping up, help them out when you think about some of the injuries they've dealt with?
Well, that's the the big problem they've had for all that they've spent. They've had a really hard time finding five. regularly healthy. Capable starters. Obi Yamamoto has really been a consistently above-average starter for them this year.
They've gotten decent work from Clayton Kershaw. He's also been, I think, a little bit lucky if you kind of dig under the hood and look at what his actual results are batter to batter. They've talked about moving Ben Kasparius, who's been a reliever for who got very, very good as a reliever.
Now they've got him, they're trying him in the rotation. He's got all kinds of issues. I'm not super optimistic about that either.
So I do think there is Otani's return. Does help them. Even if he's giving them, say, three innings a start, that's not nothing. I understand that's not what we typically think of from a starting pitcher. He's not your typical starting pitcher.
And if he can give them three innings, every five times through the rot uh sorry every five days through the rotation That is going to help. They can probably pair him up with a Casparius or a Landonak, one of these sort of long man types. To make them basically cobble together one starter out of two guys, still be able to get value out of Otani without over-taxing him as he's coming back from. from the Tommy John surgery. We'll see.
We expect the Dodgers, regardless, to just be hanging tough here at the end of the season.
Well, Keith, you talk about cobbling anything together. I feel like the body of Giancarlo Stanton, I don't know if it's popsicle sticks and duct tape, but he's going to be making his debut for the New York Yankees tonight. Is he someone that they can or should count on in any way or capacity for the rest of the season? I wouldn't. I wouldn't.
He's barely got no track record of staying healthy. And the reality is, they've gotten pretty good production actually from any place he could help them. I think the player, right? He's not replacing Aaron Judge, obviously. Trent Christian plays really good defense in center field and is actually having kind of a career year, so he's not going anywhere.
In left, they've got Jason Dominguez, who's their top prospect coming into the season, having a perfectly solid rookie year, and he needs the playing time. You don't want to move him to DH either.
So, maybe Stanton takes away some of the at-bats from Ben Rice, who had huge April for the team. He put on a lot of good weight this offseason, was hitting the ball harder. But pitchers are starting to adjust and you're starting to see his numbers come back to earth. Maybe he's the one who loses the playing time here. Also, DH's Dan, I don't want him running around the outfield.
That seems like a just generally a bad idea here.
So maybe Rice moves to the bench. Stan takes over as the primary DH. But I'm not expecting a whole lot. He just hasn't been healthy and effective at the same time very much over the last couple of years. And I anything they get from him is found money at this point.
Well, Keith Laws here with us covers all things baseball for the athletic. Keith, as we start to wrap things up, when you take a look at the leagues, it's crazy to think we're not even in July yet, and we have teams that have already played almost 60, 70 games. Are there teams that you think will go on a run? We always know teams go on runs. Is there a team that isn't at their best right now that we may blink and go, oh my God, they're really streaking right now?
I mean, if we're looking at teams that aren't currently in position to go to the playoffs, but say who I think are better than what they've shown so far this year. Mm-hmm. You know, I do think that Atlanta, despite some of the injuries they've had, so when they don't sell players off, they're definitely better. They're eight games under 500 right now. They are, I think, on paper, that's much better than a 500 team.
I would definitely look at them to do that. I think the Reds are kind of sleepers, and they play in a weaker division, too. I think there's some opportunity maybe to see them. Make a little run here. The other one I would say is Kansas City after what they did last year.
And they sort of stayed in, they went forward again this offseason. They continue to build the major league club as if they're contenders. They're hoping they'll get a spark from at least Jack Haglino has power. I don't know how much he'll hit, but he does have real power right now. I could see them picking it up a little bit and I could see them also saying we're On the outside, looking in, but let's go get someone at the trade deadline.
Because last year was just so good for them and for the fan base. I could see them saying, let's try to keep it going for a second year. And Keith, final question for you. We know the Dodgers, despite their injuries, are still sitting at the top of the NOS, overwhelmingly favorites, favorites with all the money that they spend. Are you still looking at them as the team to beat?
I know last year's World Series is in the rear view, but would you still favor them to go out there and do so? I mean, they are probably the best team in baseball on paper. And last year, the best team in baseball on paper actually won the World Series. That's not usually how it goes, though. We have so many teams in the playoffs right now, so much randomness that I always argue: I'll tell you who I think is the best team on paper, but I wouldn't put a lot of money on whoever that is.
To end up winning the World Series, you gotta be healthy when you get to October, and the Dodgers aren't, they're certainly not very healthy right now. And you gotta be lucky.
So, to me, it's just punch your ticket, get in. Hopefully, you have the healthiest pitching staff, especially. that you can possibly have when the playoffs start. You know, could the Cubs, the Tigers, The Mariners, just such a good pitching staff. The Mariners could get in and then just roll right through October if they have Gilbert and Kirby, especially healthy and ready to go when the postseason starts.
Well we'll see. We got a lot more baseball to go. We have yet to even hit the All-Star break here.
Well, Keith, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they can follow you and all of your work with the Athletic.
So, obviously, if you go to the athletic and just look for a search on my name, you'll see all my work there. I am most active on Blue Sky at this point. It's just keithlaw.bsky.social. I have an account on Twitter. I don't use it other than just to post links.
You can find me on all the threads and Instagram and all those other ridiculous places. But if you want to interact with me, find me on the athletic in the comments or come talk to me on Blue Sky. That is really where I spend most of my time online. Hey, Keith, uh great conversation. Thank you for the time.
We'll catch you on down the line, okay? My pleasure. And thank you so much. That Keith Law, you heard, of course, from the Athletic. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, coast to coast, on the Infinity Sports Network.
I need you to know this. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Stuck in a timeshare and won out. Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free Tomeshare exit information kit at wesleyfinancialgroup.org. Calm.
We're going to take a break. Speaking of all these trades, Dovers getting moved, Bang getting moved. There's an NBA player. He's supposed to be the biggest piece that we know is almost certainly going to be moved. It's Kevin Durant.
There's talk about where he wants to go, where he will not go. And I think there's even a team that doesn't want Kevin Durant. I'm going to fill you in on that on the other side of the break. And then it looks like Trey Hendrickson and the Cincinnati Bengal, it looks like they might be kissing. and making up.
We'll talk about that. We got a lot to do. But when we come back on the other side, I got you covered. But right now it's time for a news flag.
