OverDrive - Dempster on the Devers' deal to the Giants, the lead up to the trade and Ohtani back on the mound

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

Host of Off The Mound and MLB Network Analyst Ryan Dempster joined OverDrive to discuss the blockbuster deal of Rafael Devers to the Giants, the ripple effects towards the deal, how it become a positive for both sides, Shohei Ohtani returning to the mound and the skill of the Dodgers' pitching and more.

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girl canadian boy the host of off the mountain marquee sports analyst back on overdrive ryan dampster a durian under a great area we're doing well uh... so you're a red sox alumni and your well aware of their history what do you make of this Raphael Devers trade last night? Yeah, a little shocking, you know, but also not blown away by it, just the fact that there's clearly some disconnects and discord

between him and the front office and he goes get involved and do anything for the team and all those kind of things start to take place. So yeah, not completely caught off guard Good to the Giants, you know, they needed a left-handed bat. They needed some production Have one guy on their team with over 40 RBI's And that's the veteran former florist so they needed that bat in the middle of Atlanta Ryan is there any chance that just the Red Sox saw something and they said, we've got to try to piss this

guy off and it'll just help ease the separation and move along? Like, is there any chance somebody with a great baseball mindset, I just don't like this, his attitude, whatever, and we've got to find a way to piss him off to get him out? Well, no, because, you know, I think it's one of those things where, you know, it started all the way back to signing Alex Bregman, which, by the way, like, because I think it's one of those things where it started all the way back to signing Alex Bregman, which by the way, people are like, well, they should have called Rafi Devers. Yeah, well, that would have started pissing them off.

But I think that was one of those things where kind of understanding a little bit of what went on there, that happened all very fast. When you're making those deals quick like that, you know, Alex had big offers from, I believe the tigers or some other teams involved in it's like, okay, we got to do this right now. You don't have time necessarily to shop with everybody's feelings. Your feelings should be fine. We already did the $300 million. You should have your feelings are fine. Um, and,

and then there was the not playing in period, you get a DHM, we need a first baseman. And there was just a lot of things that started to happen where it started to become a distraction, I think, you know, and the needles get in the way and money gets in the way. We feel like we're entitled more because we get a huge contract and that, that means I have a say in things when ultimately the number one goal is to, to win.

And maybe they felt like they could make some moves that helped them both from a pitching standpoint. I know Kyle Harrison, you know, last year was the number one pitching prospect for the Giants. And then you also get, you know, a huge first base prospect for them from them as well. A guy out of Florida State who hit bombs. So there's a lot of factors and also too that made that you was made by I'm blue not Craig Breslow so, you know, that's one of those ones where you know Breslow doesn't have that necessary attachment to Baffy words like I got a man miss and then he made comments and so it just had a trickle-down effect and I

Really feel like this is one of those moves that might end up being good good for both Good for the Giants getting the bat that they want, Raffy get their fresh start and for the Red Sox they got a bunch of pitching and a couple prospects. Away we go. Yeah and I mean you know the history there with Betts and Babe Ruth I mean that's people spiraling out of control because they've won five in a row they just swept the Yankees they're above 500 they're in the wild card chase, and they traded their best bat. But to your point,

now the pressure starts, I guess, in Boston. And I'm curious what you think the clubhouse reaction would be like. If you're on that team and you consider how well they're playing right now, and again, you're reasonably in the playoff hunt, it's the American League, 85 wins, probably gets you a wild card spot what are you thinking in that clubhouse when you hear that Devers has been dealt?

players don't win you championships you know teams do so you know I you know you can you can say you can say look at the Red Sox when they won in 0-4 they had Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz and all that stuff. What'd they do? They traded Nomar Garcia-Para. Then they got Orlando Cabrera. And it ended up being one of the best moves that they had.

And it worked better for their clubhouse, it worked better for their team. Sometimes we get so caught up in that. And also too, really self-evaluating. Did we just have a good five days? Couple days ago, they were four days below 500 and talking about selling everybody off.

So, but that's when you're playing a big market, that's the ebbs and flows of that. And especially in vaccination, they, you know, a month ago were saying, trade them, you won't play other positions, we should trade them. And then now it's like, well, how can we trade them? That's just like, that's what you deal with when you're playing in that kind of market but like I said you

know I maybe they really see something in both him and Jordan Hicks that they can help both of those guys Harrison and him get to a place where they're effective in their pitching staff and it also adds to depth and maybe they feel like they can either A, win without Raffy or B, they never felt like they had, you know, self evaluating your team is a very hard thing to do and sometimes what we see on the standings we're like, you know, that might have been a good week, like we're still a ways away and how do we stockpile and they got four prospects but it is amazing they're prospects, right? Well not, you know, Vicks is a guy who's not, but the other guys are all prospects. And we never know if they're going to pan out or not.

I mean, deals made in the past, Mookie Betts, they traded him away and none of those guys were anything of impact for them. They did the same thing when they traded Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez to the dot. None of them paned out. It's just sometimes prospects don't pan out. So we'll see how it all shapes up. With Ryan Dempster, so for the first time since 2023, Shohei Otani hits the mound tonight. This is so great for the sport.

I know there's some nerves out there, like he's already blown his arm out twice. What happens if he blows it out a third time? You know, these are all reasonable questions and debates about what could happen in the future But in terms of being in the moment, how big is this for Otani the Dodgers baseball that he's pitching again tonight? Yeah, and God they're good at being secretive, aren't they? Yeah, they're like they have all these good players But they're also like run their you know system like James bondage Like they just don't know what's going to happen. Like we'd heard not until after the All-Star break and now we're starting tonight.

So it's great. It's great for the game and you hope he stays healthy and that's the number one thing. And the risk for the Dodgers is if he doesn't stay healthy is not that he won't be able to pitch for you. I think that is obviously a luxury they want, but if it be hurts his arm, now does he become a less effective hitter? And, you know, cause you're talking about one of the top three hitters in all of baseball. So this is, you know, a big moment for them,

but they also need it. Look at their rotation, eight guys on the IL right now, they've used 14 different starting pitchers already this year. They just found out they're probably not gonna have Sasaki for the rest of the year. You cross your fingers, you get class now back. And there's a lot of questions, Blake Snell and all these things. So they also have the luxury of playing the longer.

They are running the Kentucky Derby and don't need a sprint out of the gate. They can, they can both a little bit because they have that kind of depth. So, but ultimately the show Hayo Tani doing both things is what this game is all about. Seeing something special, a unique player like that to be able to go out there and start. We'll see just tonight. Is it one inning, two innings? Probably just going to be an inning. And that would be my guess.

I saw a great take by the guys from John Boyd. They're like, if he's just going to throw one inning, let's just bunt three times and not let him run his pinch count up. Have him sacrifice the first inning for not letting Shohei run his pinch count up. Have him sacrifice the first inning for not letting Shelby get his pinch count up. But no, it's really awesome that he's going to make his way back and I'm looking forward to watching it. Yeah, and it does open up an interesting question about where it goes the rest of this season. Like you mentioned, they're going to ease him into this.

Like do you picture by September, October this guy, like, it's green light, special, and probably six-man rotation, but when he's out there, it's like, dude, you can hit 100 pitches. Like, go ahead. Like, if you're in a playoff game, you just unleash this guy, or do you not think that's a reality anymore, or at least this season when it comes to Otani on the mound? I think this season would be really hard to get to, but this is a guy that is guy that is you know different in this game so I don't doubt it for a second I think you know I think there's always gonna be a little governor on him for now I truly

have a philosophy for what it's worth is a guy who both started and closed that I would argue that closing is way less stressful on your own and Shohei Otani is a guy that you could have DH and then have them convert to the pitcher you know position later in the game and he could warm up inside in the tunnel. That's what they do in Japan anyways. The bullpens sometimes are in the other side the clubhouse and it's you can manage that a lot more you can keep the innings down and those strengths that are close for three years. My arm never hurt not one time in three years. So, um,

but as a starting pitcher, you throw a hundred pitches in a game. I didn't, I love to take batting practice. I wasn't a hitter like him, but I loved it and I didn't want to hit the day after a lot of times because you're stiff, you're sore, you're not just your elbow, but you're, you know, your back, but your back. It's a lot to throw over a hundred pitches in this game. So yeah, who knows what their ideas are, and I don't think they're gonna tell anybody

because we just found out yesterday that he's switching today. They're really good at keeping secrets and it wouldn't shock me to see them use them in a relief role where you can do that. I mean, heck, you could probably put him in center fielder, he'd be the best center fielder yet yet page truly unicorn in the sport somebody that

nobody are like in play nobody generation of people this is something special and we'll see how it all played out big-time can't wait for tony back in the mountain i uh... always great catching up with you ryan appreciate doing this yeah i think i do that there is r Dempster this summer it's not just a festival

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