And there's my guy, a man that every Dodger fan appreciates. Now it's never too late to appreciate him, and he is now greeting Ted News.
Go.
Yeah, there he is Dave Roberts, two time World Series champion, greeting his newest reliever. Dave Roberts has wanted Tanner Scott since December, and you got your Christmas gift in January.
I think I've wanted Tanner for like four or five years, but I couldn't say it publicly, but we.
Finally got our man. And this is a great turnout.
There's a lot of energy and obviously with the renovation we got going on here at Dodger Stadium, so we're kind of making it work. But I just ran into Evan Phillips and Tayl Gonsolin show. Hey was on the stage, So this is just exciting. And I'm a week out from heading to Camelback, so it's already upon us.
Dave Roberts has been a great ambassador for the Dodgers during his tenure as manager, but this offseason, Dave seems to be a worldwide ambassadorship by you can you take us through your off season because you really have been the face of this franchise after winning the World Series, and rightfully so.
You know what I think, Dave, thanks for saying that. And I think the first thing that comes to mind is Tommy Lasorda. I don't think there was a bigger advocate for the game of baseball and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tommy Lasorta, and with how we're playing, with what we've done being so global, it was something for me just to really try to make Los Angeles the epicenter of the world in sports, and obviously shohes a big part of that.
Winning certainly does that. And I took a trip to Japan.
You know we're gonna obviously go back, and just talking about the Dodgers, talking about baseball, it's really exciting to be a Dodger.
When you always talk about gratitude, do you feel like there's that gratitude from your players and from the city after just the ride you gave everybody last year?
There is?
And the great thing about our players is certainly the city of Los Angeles has gone through some hard time, some tragedy recently, and to see our guys step up in the community. I always talk Dave and you know this, and baseball is bigger than us. It's got to be bigger than you. It's about the Dodgers, it's about the city, it's baseball in general. And it's a responsibility and not just it's not responsibility to go out there and show up and pitch every fifth day or take it back.
It's responsibility to do more. And so our guys have stepped up and with that, they are ready for twenty twenty five spring training. I've seen so many guys. They're excited, they look good physically, they're excited to go back to back and we know we've got to target on our backs and we're going to be ready to kind of, you know, take hold and own it and repeat us champs.
A couple of things of what you just said right there, Let's just start about the responsibility to the city, the community. You not only lead in the dugout, but you lead in that way. And I saw something this week of you being a leader in that respect where you met with the Pacific Palisades High School baseball team. You met with those kids and it wasn't a quit meet. You actually took the time to listen to them and hear their story. What was that like for you?
It was certainly like I told those kids, I said, I'm going to get more out of this than you guys are getting out of this interaction, and obviously acknowledging what they're going through, what their families are going through. Half of that group of young men lost their homes and they're displaced and trying to do school online and commuting to Cheviat Hills Park for baseball. And they open up in a week, and I just basically commended them
on their desire to keep going, certainly playing baseball. They were out there, joyful, laughing. It was a little bit of a diversion, a respite from real life. But I told them, Dave that they have a chance to individually, collectively write their own story, and not only the city of Los Angeles, but our country has eyes on them. Thoughts, prayers are going out to them their families and as they embark on a baseball season, you know baseball, I mean,
I said, guys, there might be an opportunity. This might be a movie. Yeah, you know, and their relationships right now with what they've gone through. These kids day have gone through COVID, they've gone through this and for young kids in a short time in their lives, that's a lot to take on. And so again I was just giving them a lot of encouragement and praise and a little shout out certainly to Palisay's high school charter school baseball program.
Yeah, Dave Roberts has his finger on the heartbeat of this city. He not only has managed here for the last nine years, he's not only won two World Series championship, but he played and he understands what it means to wear the uniform. And when you talk about guys being ready already, I'm sure that's got to be a relief as a manager of not doubting how hungry those group of guys are.
Yeah.
Absolutely, because I remember when I first started playing, guys used spring training to get into shape, and you remember those days. But this year we're only going to be in Arizona Camelback Ranch for four weeks and so then we're going to make our journey to Tokyo. So it is two weeks less than we're used to, so guys have to be prepared. There's Tyler Glasnow, hey, there he is. He looks he looks fantastic. So guys are ready to go.
So certainly starting pitchers, it's a quicker ramp up, so they got to be, you know, throwing their sides and being ready to go, and hitters have got to be ready to go. So across the board training staff, Brandon McDaniel, who's performance coach and he's going to take on a different role this year for US, has kind of had a thumb on the guys and they've done a great job.
When you look at the roster, I mean, obviously you have a lot of guys that were with you last year to win the World Series Championship. How important is it to bring in new guys, new blood that haven't been able to Like that.
Guy there he is, Oh my god, Yeah, he's my guy. Come on to your guy, DV.
He's your guy. Now.
I thought it was that he wanted to be He wanted to be with you. That's what it was.
Austin Barnes is jealous already, that's for sure.
No. But the thing is, though, is that you made a great point, though, Dave, is that keeping the culture the talent in place right is crucial. And then when you kind of shake it up a little bit, you shake it up with guys that are talented, but also guys that are hungry. And so when you're talking about Tanner Scott, you're talking about Blake Snell, Michael Confordo, different guys like that, Kirby as we added, that are proven studs, but the one thing that they're missing from their trophy
case is a World Series championship. So bringing these guys in to continue to add that urgency and Tasker Hernandez was a guy last year for us, and so guys like that that continued to be additive to the culture and raise the level of talent.
That's exactly what we've done this winter.
Oh Tani's second year with the Dodgers, after what we saw, it felt like him and Taoscar just wouldn't let anybody believe you were going to lose, even in that first round.
That's exactly right, Dave, because and obviously how dare I forget show?
Hey?
But the thing is, though, is that we won in twenty there's a lot of guys that, you know, justin Turner, different guys that we've had that you know, I wish could have been with us, and Cory Seger that could have been with us for this parade in twenty twenty four.
But guys like show Hey and Tao really led the charge this year because they wanted what MOOKI had, what Freddie had, you know, different guys with Austin Barnes as you mentioned had So that was a great infusion and we did the same thing this year.
Have you had a chance to go back and watch any of the games from the postseason, whether it was the NLDS or the World Series? You know, I've gone back to watch a few of them recently, and I don't know, Dave, You've had a lot of great moments as a manager, but I felt like Game five, in the eighth inning, after Judge doubled Jash Chisholm walks, you go out to the mound and you feel a heartbeat of Blake trining to me, that was one of the greatest moments you've had as a manager.
I think.
So, you know, going back a little bit, Dave, you know when Bruce dar pitched that game and I just felt he wasn't as sharp as he has been. When I made a decision to go to Blake right there, I knew I was going to be in bed with Blake essentially for the rest of the game or go
as long as he can go. And so that right there, the guy fought back, and I felt I owed it to them to be all in and managed the bullpen and as in essentially a winner go home game, even though it was Game five, and I thought our guys earned that opportunity. And so as you mentioned that point with Blake, I just wanted to kind of call it time out, to get get a twenty second time out, slow things down a little bit, look him in the eye, feel his heart, make sure, you know, see where he
was at. And he assured me that he felt good, he had a lot more in the tank. And you know, it proved to be the right decision, and you know, this was this was one of the things that I'll always remember and one of the great things about, you know, being a manager. And that's a moment, Dave that that might I too, will never forget it.
You know, You've had great moments in the World Series, Dave, going back to skill in that base and scoring you know, two important runs for the Red Sox. I mean, when you talk about Dave Roberts in the World Series, it just seems like the slow heartbeat, whether it was as a player or a manager. I mean it just it's invaluable.
It's invaluable, and I think that you know, one thing I talk a lot about to our players is having smart players. And when you have smart players, and I'm not talking about scoring you know, on an act or an SAT smart players, I mean by having feel understanding the value of the little things about you know, rundowns or throwing to the right base or you know, taking a walk to potentially get the next hitter up. Understand the value of each out the scoreboard, the long season,
what preparation means. And so when you have smart players like that, when the moment gets there, it never gets too big. And there was a moment last year where I said to the guys in spring training that each one of you guys has got to get to the point where you want to be the guy with the baseball in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth inning, you got to want to be the guy with the balls hit to you, or you got to want to be the guy at bat.
When the game's on the line.
Because I think that every player will say that they want to be that guy. But I challenge each guy that behind closed doors, when you look in the mirror, you've got to find a way to really convince yourself that you are that guy. And last year I felt we had twenty six guys that really believed that they were the right guy in any spot they were put in.
And he's the right guy to be the manager of the Dodgers for as long as he wants, and I have no doubt the Dodgers will make that happen. Dave, thanks a lot for stopping by. You know, Mookie Betts had a great podcast with you. You know, I can't duplicate that I don't have that type of setup, but this was really awesome to share you with the fans.
And I'm really happy for you that you know you are getting your due and rightfully so as a world champion manager and there I can't imagine anybody else driving this ship.
Yeah, well, thank you, Dave.
And you know again, I just I love the city, I love the Dodgers, I love my players, and twenty twenty five is upon us now and let's go and have another great year.
But thanks again, Dave. Love it.
We'll see you in Arizona.