Injuries and Hurdles: Can the Mets and Tigers overcome the loss of recent players | BACK TO THE BULLPEN

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It seems like players are dropping like flies from the New York Mets to the Boston Red

Sox as if they haven't taken enough hits already to the Detroit Tigers losing two key

players.

Let's talk about this and how teams survive the dog days.

That's right, we bring it back to the bullpen every day of the week Monday through Friday

at noon on the Lockdown MLB channel.

I am Brett Chancy, he is Mike Stanton, and we want to thank y'all for stopping by.

This is The Lockdown Podcast Network and the number one sports podcasting network on

the planet.

Also, we got about two decades between us on the mic.

Mike has about two decades.

In the majors, he's touched the mound and he's played all over.

Now, why do I say that?

Because when we talk about these things, he brings in an expert analysis that you won't

get anywhere except the backs of the bullpen.

Mike, we got some bad news to talk about, not necessarily bad news, but it's not good

news.

There's not much good news today, and it's been quite a week to tell you the truth.

I mean, we've talked about managers being fired only a month into the season, and we've

got a lot of players going down with injuries.

Some of them, they seem to be longer term injuries.

Some of them are not traumatic injuries, meaning just happened.

But the Tigers actually got hit pretty hard today.

Yeah, they did.

We call it a double doozy.

I mean, you might as well.

I mean, you get the news of like, you know, two players like, you know, Hobby Bias and

Casey Mice, you just don't like to hear it.

Now, you know, two of them, it's two different types of injuries, but Hobby Bias trying to beat

out a infield single, you know, you had Matt Olsen come off the base.

And so he tried to like stick his left foot in and the right foot buckled, and I watched

the replay.

And, you know, I always watch these replays, and I tell myself, I'm not going to watch

the slowmo, and I do.

And I'm like, oh, like, it's ugly.

It's ugly.

And this even AJ Hinch manager, the Detroit Tigers actually said that, yeah, this looks

scary.

He did.

He was able to get up and limp off the field.

So he was able to put a little bit of weight on it, but it still wasn't pretty.

Yeah, it was just a ground ball to shortstop.

And there was an air and throw from the shortstop, Matt Olsen tried to make the tag.

He tried to avoid the tag.

And his left foot hits the base.

It kind of slides over the top of the base.

And then he falls onto his right ankle, falling to his right, and he gets that right foot

kind of stuck underneath them.

Yeah.

It looked like, I mean, we've seen injuries like this in the past that, you know, just completely

destroys the ankle, but that I don't think that was the case.

He was carted off.

But that wasn't the only injury, Casey Mines, starting pitcher right here, starting pitcher

was was also came out with right growing tightness.

For throwing a couple of pitches in second inning, then he went and and fielded a dribbler

was able to make the play, but then that was it for him.

So they actually lose a starting pitcher and their center field.

Yes, hobby bias is not the shortstop.

He has actually gotten gotten the lion's share of the play in center field.

Have to wait and see how severe it is, not exactly sure for either player yet, but not

a great day for the Detroit Tigers in their fan base.

Yeah, and definitely Casey Mines, hobby bias, you know, the callups in this, Jason Jung,

Emmanuel DeJesus, will be guys that will come up, the thing with hobby bias is his defensive

versatility.

I mean, short stops in a field, second base, you know, he can cover those.

Now you got Matt, Matt, Matt Veerlein, you have Wensel Perez, who can platoon.

Kevin McGonagall is really your only true option in shortstop.

Um, and then, you know, your depth is then because Zach McKinstree is already on the

IL.

So hopefully it's a sprained ankle that isn't like a high ankle sprain, isn't a, I mean,

because there are different grades of these ankle sprains.

Sure.

Just need him to come back as soon as possible.

I mean, the Detroit Tigers find themselves currently in second place in the A.O. Central.

And while they haven't played their best ball, they're, they're not, you know, eight games

under 500 at this point there, I believe one game over 500.

And so, um, you, you need your guys to step up when someone goes down, it's next

man up.

Well, and you have to remember, they also still have Justin Verlander on the IL, you

know, trying to work his way back into pitching, you know, pitching in the big league.

So, you know, everyone, the reason you play 162 games is so everyone has to put up

with injuries.

No one can just get in a hot streak and, and, and win a division and make the playoffs,

at least not in April, you know, you do that in September.

You got a chance.

But, you know, some teams put up with more than others.

And, you know, the Detroit Tigers have plenty, the Mets have plenty also.

So it's just one of those situations that you all have to put up with that it's not

something you can get away with.

There's not really anyone to blame.

This was just hobby bias, trying to make a play, trying to, trying to get on base.

And he ends up getting an ankle, you know, an ankle injury.

You talked about high ankle sprain, you know, sprains can be even more severe than breaking

a bone.

You break a bone, the bone heals.

But when you have, you know, tendons and, and, you know, soft injury, you know, soft

tissue injuries, they can linger and they can take a long time.

Especially an ankle, just simply because it carries so much weight, you know, when you're

running and cutting and, and trying to make plays.

Exactly.

Now, Casey Myes, it actually says that he, he actually had a right of doctor strain.

Um, yeah, yeah, so, um, yeah, he was, he was, he was on the mound.

He's on the 15 day IL where hobby bias is on the 10 day IL, but an abductor strain and

being a pitcher, you've, you've seen this happen.

Yeah.

Um, I mean, something like this is going to have to heal itself, basically.

Well, you know, abductors, uh, obliques, they're all the same.

They're all the muscles that are in the ribcage and just below the ribcage.

Uh, and these are, these are issues that, you know, you can do anything, you know, you

can't do anything until it is completely healed because you use your core for everything.

You know, you can't run, I mean, heck, we've had, there's, there's been guys that have

bent over and tied their shoe and had core issues, you know, have core issues.

Um, you know, yeah, you, you know, you twist a little bit the wrong way and something

can bite you.

And so, yeah, these are, these are very can be very time consuming, um, injuries just

simply because you can't really do anything to stay in shape.

You have to wait until you're completely healed and then you move on and then you can

get back into baseball shape.

So, you know, it's almost like a two step process, whereas if you have something else like,

like hobbies, uh, hobby air bias, ankle, you know, he can still lift.

He can still do things upper body.

Uh, if, if he can stand up, he might even be able to take some ground balls.

He's just not going to be able to move on it.

But when you have an oblique or an intercostal or something like that, uh, man, those can,

they're just, uh, they're just brutal because you can't do anything until you're healed.

And you say intercostal, I want to say bless you.

No, I mean, seriously, yeah.

So it's just, it's just one of those things where, um, as a manager, AJ Hinch, you know,

he's dealt this before, um, the teams they do at this, you know, that's why you have the

roster, the size that you do.

Um, I, and I would say with the, with the amount of injuries, I don't know if they would

ever really expand the roster, because it seems like they keep reducing it.

But man, it always seems like you need more and more guys that are going to be fielded.

You know, you see, you see why you have to have a job.

You have to have so many players.

You have a minor league system.

It's not just to get them ready for the big league.

It's to support the big leagues that you do have an injury that you have.

Somebody can come up and you have somebody that can, uh, uh, that can, that can play.

And that can, you know, step in and hopefully produce at the big league level, uh, you

know, that's why, you know, it's a 26 man roster, but nobody plays with 26.

Somebody plays with 30, hey, nobody plays with 35, maybe even 40.

Sometimes you have to go even higher than that, just depending on what kind of luck you

have in the health department.

Yeah, that's right.

Now, and on the side of this, we're going to talk about the Red Sox, how they just, the

hits keep coming for them, um, just a, just a, a tough, a tough road to hoe for them.

I mean, they have one a few games, but we're going to talk about them, make them the

focus in our next segment.

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All right, and we are back.

Obviously back to the bullpen brought to you by the locked on network.

I'm Brett Chanty, he's Mike Stanton.

We've been doing this for three seasons now.

Mike, our third season on the mic.

And I would say we have a winning record.

Um, hey, we're still here.

If nothing else, we're still here.

If anybody's looking to hire someone for a manager salary, I'll come try to do the job.

Um, I don't know if Mike would go with me.

Mike would be like, Brett, don't do it.

Um, that's a hard job.

Hey, and you know, there's, it's, it's really unsung hero because if you do your job well

and your team wins, you know, the manager gets credit, but it's usually about the players.

But when things go wrong, whether you had anything to do with it or not,

a lot of times it falls on your shoulders.

And we saw that with the Red Sox just here recently with Alex Korra being fired and,

and five other coaches, by the way, not just Alex Korra.

This is really incredible that, you know, what 80% of the, the big league coaching staff

was actually, was actually let go.

Yeah, that's, that's crazy.

And um, we're going to, I'm going to ask you a question about some of those coaching

hires because you and I had a discussion before we started.

And I think it's, I think it's a, I don't know, it's, it's a little odd.

It seems like a weird trend.

And I was like, you're opinion on it, but right now it looks like Garakro Shay's being

placed on the I.L.

He left with shoulder, left shoulder inflammation.

Um, it's retroactive is, you know, you know, the concern fatigue has been building.

Um, there's no sudden injury like he didn't suddenly injure it or hurt it.

But, um, crochet admitted that fatigue got up to him, um, his shoulder strength

and never fully returned after spring, he missed the spring start.

And, you know, this can be a possible ripple effect.

So question, this isn't a panic move.

This is a precautionary move to make sure crochet is there, but towards the end of the season

or even midway through.

Yeah, the unfortunate thing for, for the Red Sox and the Red Sox fan base, uh, you know,

Red Sox nation is that crochet, you know, he has not thrown the ball very well.

This spring at all.

I mean, he's in six starts.

He's got a six 30 ERA.

Yeah.

You're talking about a guy that, you know, very well could have won the, uh, the American

way Saiyan last year.

I mean, this is a top of the rotation, uh, you know, borderline league ace type arm, uh,

and, you know, his last time out against the Orioles, he actually threw six, six

scoreless innings on just three hitch striking out seven.

So he threw the ball well, but this was, this seems like a nagging situation.

This isn't something, like you said, it's not traumatic.

It wasn't didn't happen on one pitch.

This is something that has been building.

And, you know, since you're still so early in the season, you'll want to try and get

in front of this and not this, not have this, you know, linger into the summer.

So, uh, it's going to take some time off for Red Sox fans.

Um, yeah, they've won a couple games.

They're still what I think seven games under 500, they're 12 and 19, I believe, um, you

know, they, they're, they're in turmoil, you know, you got to, you got to hold,

basically almost a whole new coaching staff that's having to learn on the fly,

not easy to do for veteran management, much less guys that have never been in the big

leagues. So, uh, there's a lot of things going on in New England.

And right now with crochet going on the IL, that's not a good situation.

You need your ace.

So one of the things you mentioned in the new coaching staff, Brian Bellow, um, the

young, um, pitcher for the Red Sox, who's very talented, um, not having a good

year. He was, he was being removed from the game, which what he thought was early.

Chad Tracy came out, who's the Intermanager and he just the whole time shook his head.

And there were a lot of people that picked up on this and they're like, you

can't show up your manager like that, especially when your ERA is as high as it is.

Yeah.

They're like, you know, in, in, and then you had this discussion, like, I understand

it's competitiveness, but is it, is that showing up your manager?

And look, I mean, I think everything is, we hyper focus on the details because

they're all in our face, you know, the second they happen, what do you think of

stuff like that? Is this just a young fiery guy who doesn't want to be removed?

Or I mean, well, I think there's frustration in how he is.

Pitch, there's frustration in, in being taken out of the game.

There's frustration with ever all the turmoil that's been going on in

Boston, frustration in the whole team, not playing well.

And, and, you know, a, a, a team favorite, a player favorite in Alex

Korra and his coaching staff, you know, being removed.

So I think it's a combination of all of it.

Now, is, is, is that the right thing to do?

Of course, it is not, I mean, there is a pecking order.

The field manager, Kelly is, is your immediate supervisor?

He is your boss.

And yeah, you shouldn't be doing that on the field.

But, you know, hey, sometimes emotions take over and, and bad things happen.

And, and, you know, things that you, you wish you could take back and those

are situations you can't.

But, you know, you just have to deal with the repercussions.

But I think it's just a microcosm of what's going on in this whole

organization.

I mean, there's just, there's just turmoil.

It seems like every time you turn your head, there's something new coming

up for the Red Sox.

Yeah, exactly.

And, you know, some of something coming up new and, and we were, we were

discussing the Detroit Tigers earlier.

I was, I was watching some highlights from the game.

And, um, uh, scooble, scooble was, was on the mound.

Um, you know, he went seven innings, had seven strikeouts.

He only give it two runs and five hits.

But there was one point in the game where he throws a pitch and he starts

immediately shaking his elbow like goodness, yeah.

And then waves to the catcher to come here.

And then as the catcher comes, he's like, okay, it's nothing.

And he's almost like holding his forearm.

And the first thing I thought was forearm tightness, right?

Um, you know, because I don't know what he's feeling, right?

Which seems to be the kiss of death and major league baseball.

Oh, yeah.

No, I was like, Oh crap.

So hopefully that's not a sign of things to come.

I just, I was like, this guy is in the throws of back to back.

Sai Young's, he's about to be a free agent.

That's one of the biggest deals.

I just hope, you know, that's when you see, when you see stuff like this,

you're just like, I hope this guy, nothing happens down the road because

he is set to have a really, really special off stage.

It just shows you how fragile the human body is, how fragile a major league

pitcher is.

And, you know, are they more fragile now than, you know, 10 years, 20 years,

30 years?

I mean, that's the, we can have that conversation.

But, you know, it just shows, you know, God did not create us to throw over

hand. And so, you know, you, you, you go, go and look at the best college

softball pitchers in the nation and look how many innings they pitch.

And how many strikeouts and how many pitches they throw and the reason they're

able to do that is because, you know, with the underhand, the underhand

delivery of a softball pitcher, it's more of a natural movement of the arm.

And throwing over hand is not that's why we break.

And, you know, when you're throwing at, you know, super high velocities all

the time, there's never a back off.

There's never, you know, there's never any finesse in the game in your style.

Things can happen.

So we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Yeah, he was able to stay in the game and finish his outing, you know,

that's, that's all fine and good.

We haven't heard anything.

But, you know, the Tigers lost two players and Bayez and Mies.

Last thing they need to do is, is lose the best pitcher in Major League

Baseball. Right.

Now, and that's something not what anybody wants to see.

But next, we're going to, we're going to talk about the Mets.

And I'm sure Mets, Fanger, like we'll dang it.

Why you can talk about my team?

I mean, it's, is it not bad enough?

Why don't you kick my back?

Your chin strap.

We're going to talk about the Mets.

That's right.

We'll talk about them next.

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Welcome back into back to the bullpen presented by the locked on network.

So we're going to talk met's METS met's met's met's and not in a good way.

You know, this is one of the teams that that Carlos Mendoza,

their manager has been on the hot seat.

They have not played well.

And they got some some more bad news when it comes to their rotation.

And that bad news is code Senga going on the 15 day I L with lumbar spine inflammation.

Can you explain that?

I am very intimately know about lower back issues.

I just went through something just a few months ago.

That's right.

For three weeks and I'm still still having issues and hey, guess what?

That's what happens when you're a professional athlete.

Sometimes things just, you know, wear out faster than they should have with with all the wear and tear you put on it.

And this isn't an issue.

This isn't an issue for Senga that has just popped up.

This is something that has been going on for a little while.

It has continued to get worse.

His last time out, he wasn't able to get through four innings.

His velocity has dropped.

And it's just one of those things that they need to take care of this now.

Now think about this, lumbar, you're talking about your lower lower part of your back.

Right.

Think about all the twisting, all the torque, all the all the all the strength that has to be in that part of your body to throw a baseball over and over and over again.

So you can understand why that's so important.

And it's unfortunate for the meds after all the issues they've had so far, they take another hit.

And this time it is in the rotation.

Yeah, definitely.

You know, just to mention, you looked pretty recovered when we went to BG as a good day.

So I'm just letting you know, whatever, whatever you've been doing is following your recovery plan nicely, sir.

Yeah, those first, well, the first probably two and a half, three months.

I didn't know if I was ever going to get back on my feet, but then, but I had the same thing.

What this is is he's not just having lower back soreness.

This is, this is nerve inflammation.

And that's what I had.

And, and, you know, it was just, I had a tough time just standing up, much less, you know, throwing a ball or, you know, even,

even just walking down the street.

I was on crutches for three weeks.

So this is a, this is a dangerous situation for pitchers, just because, you know, your spine, everything goes through your spine, all your nerves, you know, everything you feel in your legs.

And so, you know, you want to make sure these things are right.

So Senga is going to take some time off.

He's being shut down for seven to 10 days.

Like I said, he goes on the DL, on the I L, he did receive an epidural, which, you know,

that's to help reduce that nerve inflammation and that nerve irritation.

So, I can, I can simplify, I'm not empathize, I can sympathize with Cody Senga.

No, definitely.

I mean, you know, you just add him to a list, Francisco Lendor, Jorge Polanco, Juan Soto, Luis Robert Jr.

All dealing with things, the kind of the patchwork, you know, pitching stuff they have right now.

So, it's just, it's just tough because Mike, it, it seems like every single day, you know,

when I'm looking for articles, you know, or just think, you know, storylines things for us to talk about it.

It's like you want to talk about all the successes and the Miracames and all that stuff.

But these are the things, though, that make or break teams.

And, you know, I mean, you can have all the talent in the world.

But if everybody's on the IL, it doesn't matter what happens.

I mean, look, just, just take, take what's going on in Houston, for instance.

I mean, they've got one of the best offenses and they've got become one of the worst pitching saps on all the baseball.

But they also have three or their five starters out.

Their bullpen has been overexposed.

And, and so it's like you can't get out of your own way.

So, like, would the Astros be in first place and killing the West?

If they were injury free, I don't know, but I know they wouldn't be eight games under 500.

And, and, you know, injuries just complicate things.

Well, and the difference between the Astros and the Mets, I think the Mets probably had higher expectations.

Just because they were all playing in the big apple.

And, you know, they've even got, you know, Juan Soto is only a D.H. right now.

He's not playing in the field because of the issues that he's having.

You know, this isn't just a situation that they're losing a couple players.

You know, this is a, this is the whole roster.

I mean, and you're not losing just warm bodies.

I mean, you're talking about your, your leaders.

You're talking about the best pitchers on your staff.

These are the guys that they're having trouble with.

And, by the way, they haven't won very many games on top of that.

Right.

So, we started off this, this segment talking about how, you know, Carlos Mendoza is on the hot seat.

Well, this sure ain't cooling it off any.

No, and that's the thing is, is, you know, the more the deeper these things

hit the teams, the longer they're affected.

Yeah, the more people are going to start looking and people are going to start looking over their

shoulder. I want to, I want to get my closing thought on this.

I did think it was very cool of Rob Thompson to go to the media the day after and talk about

the respect he had for Dumbroski and the respect he had for people in the Philly's organization.

I thought that was, I thought that was a really cool nod for Thompson.

Yeah, so I actually know Rob Thompson.

I haven't, you know, visited with him lately.

But, you know, even back when I was in the Yankees organization,

Rob Thompson was in the organization.

I mean, that's where, that's where he, you know, he was the bench coach for Joe Gerardi.

When Joe Gerardi got, got, got let go and the reason he was a bench coach was the connection

that they had the friendship that they had developed.

Back when Gerardi was a player in the Yankees organization with Rob Thompson being a coach.

So the, the, the relationships that you develop when you played or in the past,

that's where a lot of the jobs come from.

And, you know, like I said, it's a, it's a very big business being baseball.

It's a very small fraternity though.

And that's, I, I would expect nothing else from Rob Thompson.

Even it, hey, listen, you, you have another very, very good manager to go with Alex Korra,

who just lost his job that is open, probably open to, to, you know, for another job.

So, you know, the last thing he would want to do is burn bridges.

But that's not who Rob Thompson is.

Anyways, you know, obviously guy is a stand-up guy.

He's gonna, he's gonna, you know, he's gonna take his medicine.

And, and if he wants to be a manager, he will be a manager again because he is good at it.

That's right.

And thank you all for tuning in to Back to the Bullpen.

This has been a great show.

I know it's been kind of a little bit of a damage report.

But, you know what, we want you to know where your team is.

And, you know, it's good to get the players perspective on these things.

But I don't think all hope is lost with these injuries.

These guys just need time to heal.

They need rest.

And hopefully, you know, some unsung heroes, some young guys step up

and take the reins because that's what baseball is about.

I think it's a, it's a great team sport and it's why we love it.

And so, we want to thank you all for hanging out with us.

Make sure that you, if you're on video, make sure that you watch the first 24-7 sports podcast

channel put on by Locton and for your second list.

And go check out Sully at Locton Moby.

Go check out Locton Astros.

And as I always say, play ball.

Nadios.