God, I'm swinging.
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This is a special off season edition of Dodger Talk.
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Taking you behind the scenes with Dodger insider David Basse living out their dream to be a part of the show called eight six six not eighty seven two five seven and follow the show wherever you get your podcasts. Now here's your host, David Basse.
Welcome to Dodger Talk. It is a special podcast edition of Dodger Talk. Because we haven't had a show on A five to seventy LA Sports the last few weeks because of a lot of Clipper basketball, UCLA basketball, Monday Thursday night football. So I decided it was so much going on this week and so many, so many great interviews and information that is still coming out on the hot stove, I had to go the iHeartRadio podcast route. And that is the luxury of being here at iHeartRadio,
the leading podcast distributor. We can do this Dodger talkstyle podcast edition. I can tell you this. The next time we will be on AM five seventy LA Sports will be on Saturday, February first, fan Fest at Dodger Stadium taking place. We will be live right here on AM five seventy LA Sports from eleven to three, So plan on that maybe twelve to three. Somewhere in that window, we are going to be live twelve to three. How about that. I am making that decision right now, twelve
to three, February first, at Dodgerfanfest. You can get more information at Dodgers dot com. You can see it on their social media pages. But you will be able to hear from all the players, from Mookie Beds to Freddie Freeman to Sneil Zilla to Teoscar Hernandez from FanFest, and you won't have to wait that long to hear from some of the principles from this week's press conferences. I want to say thank you, a special thank you to Petro some Money for playing my full conversation with Andrew
Friedman after the Suzaki press conference. We did not have a Dodger talk, but Petro some Money who they did something not a lot of afternoon drive talk show hosts would do. Any any talk show host would do, and that would be unselfish enough to play somebody else's interview, and I just want to say thank you to them for airing that Andrew Friedman interview, but you will hear
it again right here on this Dodger Talk podcast. Also, as we are recording this today, it is Thursday, and I just got back from the Tanner Scott press conference. So coming up in our next segment in about fifteen minutes, you will hear from Tanner Scott and Brandon Gomes. I had exclusive one on one interviews with them. Later in the show, you'll hear that conversation with Andrew Friedman, and also you'll hear from Roki Sazaki's agent, Joel Woolf, who
also represents, among others, Nolan Arenado. We'll get to that in just a moment. But I just don't believe the Dodgers are done. We are already hearing reports about Kirby Yates. It's not official yet because the Dodgers' forty manter roster is full as we record this on Thursday afternoons, So that's the reason why they haven't made it official. They have to find a corresponding roster move, and there's been reports the Dodgers are shopping high priced reliever Ryan Brasier.
There's other ways to open up forty man roster spot. They could possibly designate for assignment a guy like Hunter Fiducca, because there's always a third catcher that you can find, because there isn't any stud catcher at Oklahoma City this year. But I love Hunter Fiducca. But if you do need a forty man roster spot for Kirby Yates, that's a route to go if you're not able to make a trade. And what else are the Dodgers going to do?
Well?
They still got to bring back Keike Hernandez, and they still got to find a way to make some roster maneuvers to make that happen. And they also have to bring back in the fold future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. Now that's a formality. I've gotten phone calls from a couple of his former teammates asking me, are the Dodgers really going to sign Kershaw? They seem to have a lot of pitching, and I keep telling even these players, yes,
they are signing Clayton kersher job. But the facts are he had two surgeries on his left leg back in December. He cleaned up something in his left knee, and then we all know the biggest reason for him not pitching after coming back from shoulder surgery was his left foot. Now that's a weight bearing extremity. I would imagine that's a little bit tough for him to get over the hump as far as an injury goes. But I fully expect him to be back with the Dodgers this year.
I fully expect him to start the season on the injured list, So he's going to be on the sixty day IL, and once pitchers and catchers start reporting, you can start putting guys on the sixty day IL to open up forty man roster spots. And that's what's going to happen. Now. Remember last year, the Dodgers did not sign key Y Hernandez until well after Cactus League games had started. You know, with guys like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonzo still out there, I feel like the Dodgers
are pretty safe. The Dodgers won KEYK back. KEYK wants to be back here, so it's just a matter of them having honest conversations and the Dodgers finding a way to maneuver their roster. Now, I know a lot of you think the most obvious way to do that is by getting rid of Chris Taylor. Easier said than done. Chris Taylor is on the last year of that four year, sixty million dollar contract. He's owed about fourteen to fifteen
million dollars. He's coming off a down season, even though his second half was better than his first half last year. Not a lot of takers for Chris Taylor at that price tag, considering not many teams have even signed a major league player this offseason. And that's another point I wanted to make here because we haven't been on the air for the last couple of weeks. The Dodgers are the defending World's champions, and they're as aggressive as if
they haven't won the World Series in fifty years. There are teams out there that are complaining talking behind the Dodgers, back going anonymous rogue saying the Dodgers have are doing something unfair. It's not fair to the game, it's bad for the game. Really, Tanner Scott came to the Dodgers because they paid him. You're telling me other teams couldn't pay him or outbid the Dodgers if they really wanted him. Taoscar Hernandez was out there, Michael Confordo was out there.
These teams chose not to top the Dodgers offer. There are teams, literal teams, including the San Diego Padres, who have not signed a player this free agent offseason to a major league contract. Now. I know the Padres are going through some issues with their ownership after the great Peter Seidler passed away, but the fact remains they haven't signed a major league free agent. Have the Pittsburgh Pirates.
I mean, there are a lot of teams out there, and for as many teams that are over the luxury tax, there's even more teams that haven't spent at least one hundred and fifty million dollars on their payroll totally right now, there's teams out there that don't even have a total payroll of one hundred and fifty million dollars. So I don't want to hear the whining, the crying, the East Coast mad Dog saying this is bad for the game. If it's so bad for the game, outbid the Dodgers
pay these guys more. Trust me, they would sign with you, all things being equal. Yeah, they're probably choosing the Dodgers. But if you're giving Tanner Scott eighty or ninety million dollars, he's probably going to sign with you. Now, Kirby Yates, the Rangers really wanted him, and the Dodgers swoop them. So the Dodgers have signed two of the top three free agent relievers. That leaves Dodgers all time saves leader
Kenley Jansen out there, as well as Carlos Estevez. So the Dodgers have taken two of the three, two of the top four if you include Estevez. So that should bode well for their markets and shame on them if they don't get top dollar because other teams need relievers of that caliber. So I'm not feeling sorry for anybody. Now I mentioned Joel Wolf from Wasserman Agency. He represents not only Roki Sazaki, he not only represents Yoshi Yamamoto,
he also represents Tyler Glass. Now he also represents Keike Hernandez, and he also represents Nolan Aeronato. Now, I know I dismiss just talk about Nolan Aernado and the Dodgers, but at this point, I'm not sure if you caught this. I guess the Cardinals had their FanFest or rally of some sorts in Saint Louis this past weekend, and can you believe the Cardinals GM John moze Loock was on
the record as saying that it's priority number one. Quote, it's a top priority to trade Nolan Aernado before opening day. That is unheard of, especially in this day and age. Mozae Lock told reporters in Saint Louis, quote, I think a trade is still a flip of a coin, but I know it's a top priority for the organization and myself, so I'll be laser focused on it until it's not Unquote. You have a g basically saying Nolan Aernado, we don't
want you around. And I gotta tell you the feeling is probably mutual from Nolan Aernado's standpoint, after what I heard his agent say at the winter meetings. So there is a huge split in Saint Louis. There are bad feelings right now between Nolan Aeronado and the Saint Louis Cardinals. We are just two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting,
and the Cardinals have been very open publicly. Nolan Aernado's camp has been very open publicly that they don't want to stay together anymore, and Aeronado is owed seventy four ish million dollars over the course of the next three years. Here's the catch. The third and final year, he has only owed fifteen million dollars. Why haven't the Cardinals traded Nolan Aernado to anybody else? He's still there. As the days get closer to spring training, the leverage is less
for the Saint Louis Cardinals. Here's another part of the Nolan Aeronado equation. Not a lot of people realize this, or it's been underreported, but I've been told that the Rockies, as part of the trade to Saint Louis, pay ten million dollars of Nolan Aeronado's salary every year. Here's the catch. If the Cardinals trade Nolan Aeronado, the Rockies are off the hook of paying ten million dollars annually the remainder of these three years. So the Cardinals would have to
take on I would assume more money. And I would assume right now, since they haven't been able to trade Aeronado, that they have not been willing to take on more money than what other teams are asking whether it's the red Sox, the Dodger, any team that they're talking to to this point. I'm sure the Cardinals have. I've been very stubborn, but they better back off of that because the league is not viewing it the same way they are viewing it. And I'll tell you this from the
Nolan Aeronado side. I know people close to Nolan. They have told me this offseason he has taken a no day's off approach and he is determined to prove the Cardinals wrong and anybody else out there that thinks he's washed. All I'm saying is I have no inside information about the Dodgers even talking to the Cardinals back in December, I dismissed this completely, but he still hasn't been traded. I'm starting to change my tune a little bit, just
changing it. And I can't believe the Cardinals GM is on the record as saying top priority number one is to trade Nolan Aernado. I can't. I just that's unheard of. Can you imagine Andrew Friedman saying that about any of his players? Number one, the culture would not be that bad where it would come to that point, But number two, I would never never even imagine Andrew Frieman coming close to say what John Mozelok said about one of his players,
one of his superstar players. Incredible. Speaking of Andrew Friedman, we'll hear from him coming up later in the show. Had an exclusive one on one interview with him after the Sasaki press conference. But coming up next, you'll hear from the newest Dodger reliever, Tanner Scott right here on the exclusive Dodger Talk podcast week. Addition, we have no shows until February first. That's why I'm here with you podcast style on AM five seventy LA Sports and the
iHeartRadio app. Thanks for sticking with us on this Dodger Talk podcast exclusive right here on the iHeartRadio app. We do not have a show this week. We did not have a show last week, so I decided why not let's do this and keep you keep you updated on all the hot stove and share the conversations I've had with a lot of the newest Dodgers and with Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes. You'll hear from Andrew coming up in our next segment. But today was the Tanner Scott
introductory press conference, and he will wear number sixty six. Yeah, that's sixty six last worn by I think ya cel Puig. I mean, when I think sixty six and the Dodgers, that's who I think of, ya cel Puig. But I have a feeling Tanner Scott is going to make us
think of sixty six. With Tanner Scott closing out games, and with the Dodgers signing Tanner Scott to a four year, seventy two million dollar contract, it just makes me believe that Tanner Scott has bought all into the fact that he will not be the ninth inning closer twenty four
to seven. Yes, he's going to get a lot of operation tunities in the ninth inning, but there are very good chances you are going to see Tanner Scott in the eighth inning, in the seventh inning, facing the group of hitters the Dodgers feel are super dangerous and they need Tanner Scott to put out the fires. Also, I wonder if Sho Heo Tani sent Tanner Scott or Andrew Freeman to thank you, because if there is an Otani stopper, Tanner Scott would be that guy. Tanner Scott has shut
down show Hao Tani in their matchups. Ten played appearances, ten times they faced each other, and Otani is just one for nine. Tanner Scott has made Otani at bats very uncomfortable. And it is huge that the Dodgers signed Tanner Scott. But it's also even bigger in some ways if the Dodgers did face off against the Mets again in the postseason, that Otani would not have to see Tanner Scott late in the game. Here he is the newest Dodger reliever. He had that big shape to that
bald head. The beard was looking good. And here's our conversation with the newest Dodger reliever, Tanner Scott. All right, here we go. Three two man sixty six was a pretty popular number in LA. And you're gonna see it a lot when the Dodgers have a lead and they're trying to slam the door on opponents. That's because Tanner Scott, the most coveted reliever this free agent offseason, is wearing a Dodger uniform. Welcome to LA, and I know the Dodgers are really excited about that.
Thank you, thank you. I'm I'm glad to be here and it's gonna be a fun year.
What did it mean to you to hear Brandon Gome say that the Dodgers had tried a few different times to acquire you, but we're unsuccessful until now.
I mean, it's always a good feeling that a team wants you. And then obviously this offseason went how it went, And I mean, I'm really glad to be here.
Hey, I told you I wasn't just hyping you up. Back in the day when Kobe was playing, Ruben Patterson and other guys would be the self proclaimed Kobe stoppers. But it's well known in Major League Baseball that Tanner Scott was an Otani stopper. What does it make it? How do you feel here in that when people say the Dodgers wanted Tanner Scott because Otani was tired of facing you.
No, no, no, no, I was tired of facing him. I mean, he's a he's a very special player, and uh, I can't you can't say I'm a Tani stopper. I had to face him so much and he's he's got a hit off me. So I mean, I'm glad to be his teammate. So yeah, I don't have to I don't have to face the one two three punch. And I'm really I'm really happy about that.
What's it like to be on this side of things? The Dodgers, even though winning the World Series aggressive in signing you, Blake Snell, and Michael Confordo not to mention bringing back ta Oscar, extending Tommy Edmund, they just don't seem to ever stop.
Yeah, it's great. I mean they keep adding people and it's it's gonna be an exciting year and I'm ready for it.
What's it like to be part of this bullpen?
Right?
Because it's a team within a team.
Yeah, it's I always call it a small family inside of a larger family, Like you always have your closer siblings and then you have your family. So the Bullpen's definitely definitely its own like family inside of a big family. So I'm ready ready to be a part of it.
I was exchanging text with Evan Phillips, You're good buddy from Baltimore when the news came out that the Dodgers had officially signed you. How much did he play into just being a resource on how the Dodgers do things?
I think I think my wife reached out to his wife quite often just just to get a feel out how the family was and I mean everyone, you never hear anything bad about how they treat the players, the families, and I mean that's a huge, huge selling point. I mean, you always want your family to be safe and well taken care of, so you don't have to worry about anything and you only have to worry about inside those lines. So he definitely helped. He definitely helped comfort. They definitely
helped comfort my wife and in our our decision. And because i mean we were from Florida, so yeah, going from I call it one and into the world the other end, but yeah, it was it was awesome to have someone that we were in their wedding to help us talk about our decision. So it was cool.
He told me, you played this very close to the vest, very quiet. You didn't let him know anything that was going on. Was that true?
It was true. I did text him. I was like, wow, you guys signed you guys signed rookie and he goes Scott to the Dodger. I'm like, I'm like, Evan, Evan, I'm not telling you anything. My lips are sealed. And then obviously once the news came out, he was like, it's happening. So he's he's awesome.
Was the free agent process everything you thought it would be, because obviously a lot of teams wanted you.
Yeah, I mean I never knew what to expect in free agency, and I'm glad. I'm glad it went how it did.
Evan also told me you both named your son's BO. He spells it a different way than your BO. So did he steal the name? Or did Tanner Scott steal the name? Are you guys it's that close where every child you have from here on out will have the identical name but spelled differently.
No, No, we did not steal, steal, steal each other's name. It is they. They they they found, they found the liking the boat, and so did we. I mean they did. There's his e AU and ours is b O, and so ours is like my like a family name, So it was it was an easy decision for us.
He also told me, you're upset that he bailed on being your throwing partner this offseason.
Yeah, it made me probably maybe not talk to him about free agency process just because he left me and we were like ten minutes from each other, so now we're we're a couple of hours or flight away. So I hold a grudge against him in that way.
Tanner, awesome to have you here. It'll be great to see you when Evan Phillips had that brotherhood.
Definitely, we'll definitely be throwing partners. If if he says no, I'm forcing it, I'm forcing it. So yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Awesome. Thanks a lot for the time, congratulations, and look forward to seeing you at fan Fest a week from Saturday and also spring training. Hey, breaking news, fan Fest is February first.
Tanner did not know that until my wife told me yesterday. And I'm ready for it. I'm ready to meet everyone. I'm ready to meet everyone, and it's gonna be fun.
Just to make sure they introduce you last, right, you're the closer. You gotta close a baby.
Oh. I just I throw whenever the phone rings, I throw whenever the phone rings. I just want to win.
Speaking of that, before I let you go, how much was that a discussion between you and the Dodgers as far as groupings of hitters and not so much being the ninth inning guy.
I mean, I mean, right from the get go, I just told him I want to win. I mean, your whole goal in playing the sport is you want to win a World Series and whatever it takes, whatever it takes, awesome, think about it.
I like that you should get a tattoo, whatever it takes.
No, No, I think I'm done with tattoos. I think I'm done. I think I'm done.
Thanks a lot for the time, and look forward to talking to you during the year.
Thank you. It was great meeting you.
I didn't blow it, did I No, No, not at all, not at all. All right, first impressions me and everything. I lived another day with Tanner Scott, a very intimidating man, especially when he's on that mound. All right there he is Tanner Scott. And yes, him and Evan Phillips bff from their days in the Orioles organization. Evan was texting me the day that Tanner Scott signed with the Dodgers how excited he was. And I'm sure Tanner picked his brain over the years about the culture with the Dodgers.
You know, the free agency did not just sneak up on Tanner Scott, so I'm sure he was asking Evan what it was like being with the Dodgers when they were playing catch, and yes, it's playing catch, not having a catch So just think about the Dodger bullpen right now. Evan Phillips, Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda, Michael Kopek. Whether or not he's ready for Opening Day still remains
to be seen. Blake trinin. So they are loaded in this bullpen and Tanner Scott's going to be a huge part of it, and also Kirby Yates on the horizon as well. We'll wait until that's official. Speaking of the making, and the guy that was a big part and making the Tanner Scott deal happen for the Dodgers was Andrew Freeman and also his GM Brandon Gomes. We had a chance to catch up with Brandon after we spoke to
Tanner Scott. Hey, Brandon, you said during the press conference, you guys tried multiple times in the past to acquire Tanner Scott. How does it feel to finally land him and have him in your uniform.
Yeah, we're we're really excited, I think, you know, especially seeing it up closed last year towards the end, it's just it's an at bat for our guys that just is not not fun at all. And you know, his ability to take the ball and post and you know, do whatever the team needs was something that always stood out to us. So, you know, the stuff in the stats speak for itself, but the total package of the player we're really excited about.
You've read to find the culture of just being part of this bullpen not so much about inning roles or being the closer. It's more about groupings of him. There's how much of a discussion point was that to sign Tanner and how how much did you need to buy in from him to be able to make this happen.
Yeah, I mean it's simply we talked about and you know, he's done it over his career. He's done a little bit of everything, so you know, it really stood out that he wants to win. And our anticipation, you know, is that there's gonna be plenty of opportunities towards the back end, but ultimately it'll be out doc you know, doc uses our guys and what puts us in the best position to win, and Tanner's open to do whatever, but I'm sure there'll be plenty of save opportunities as well.
How many times did Andrew pull his hair out over the course of trying to land Szaki and yourself trying to, you know, close this deal with Tanner Scott.
Yeah, he's been really focused on trying to plug different holes of the of the team, and you know, I think he's in a better place. We're gonna start seeing out how the hair comes growing in once the off season's done.
I know how you guys play this, but do you feel like there's more opportunities to add veteran arms to the bullpen.
There's the potential for that, but we're really excited to have Tanner, you know, officially part of the organization today.
Obviously, Tanner and his body work speaks for itself. But how much of you guys going deeper than any other team last year and relying on your bullpen as much as you did. Was it a factor to bring in fresh arms, not just Tanner, but whoever else you may add. Was that a factor to the way you guys are constructing this bullpen?
No?
Not, It wasn't anything that was front of mine. I mean, I think a lot of it is about how do we continue to reinforce an already talented group, And as we've talked about a bunch like what can we do to not be going to market and looking to buy in July and just be as prepared with talent and depth as we possibly can be coming into the season. So you know, the obviously our bullpen took on a heavy workload in the postseason, but you know the additions are not solely because of that.
All right, Brandon, thanks a lot for your time. Hopefully things continue to work when you guys transplant your way to camel Back Ranch.
Thanks, Dave, appreciate it.
All right. There you go, Brandon Gomes, Dodgers GM, And certainly I made it known yesterday on the Petros M Money Show, Andrew Friedman sniffed out my third trip to Bosley. So there were some pawns and some hitting comments there as Friedman was lurking in the background as I was talking to Brandon Gomes. Once Andrew sniffed it out, and
he always seems to. There were certain there are certain guys on the Dodgers and around the Dodgers that always seem to sniff out any little thing that's going on with me. And Andrew sniffed it out, and I'm not ashamed. I am a I am a proud Bosly member and I'm going to look good this summer. So there you go Bosley, go see my friend doctor Deutsch. All right, we're gonna take our final time out on this Dodger Talk exclusive podcast. When we continue, you'll hear from Roki
Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolf and also Andrew Friedman. Thanks for sticking with us. We got that right around the corner. David Vasse with you on Dodger Talk on this iHeartRadio podcast exclusive. Since we don't have any shows the next week or so, and we haven't had any shows in the last week or so, I wanted to talk to you reconnect as we get closer to petures and catchers reporting to spring training. The Dodgers are going to hold
their annual FanFest at Dodgers Stadium. You can get tickets at Dodgers dot com and things are happening quickly here. After FanFest, the guys will be heading out to Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. The Dodgers' first spring training game is going to be on Thursday, February twentieth. You'll hear it right here on a five to seventy LA Sports. It's against the same team they will open the season against in Tokyo, Japan. The Chicago Cubs. So the Cubs
Dodgers start the Cactus League on February twentieth. That'll be at Camelback Ranch. And then the following day, on Friday, the twenty first of February, the Dodgers and Cubs will play at Sloan Park. So the Cactus League schedule will start on February twentieth, and the Dodgers and Cubs will face off to get the season started in Tokyo, Japan
on February or on March eighteenth and nineteenth. And it is going to be wild being there, with the team being there, with sho Hey Otani, Yamamoto, Roki Sazaki, but especially Otani. It is going to be like traveling with Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, or the Beatles as the kids used to say. It's going to be quite an experience and I'm looking forward to it. Speaking of Roki Sazai, this week, the Dodgers formally announced his signing, and there's been a lot of talk obviously that the
Dodgers had this in the bag. There was really no reason for teams to go through this process. But look, Joel Wolf, Roki Sazaki's agent, and Sazaki himself, who, as you heard at the press conference, is super respectful, is not going to waste eight teams time just to go through the motions. There was a real uncertainty from the Dodgers on whether or not having Otani and Yamamoto was going to work in their favor or not, and ultimately
he chose the Dodgers because of the obvious reasons. Number one, geography. Number one, they are the defending World Series champions and have been really good since twenty thirteen. Number Three, the fact is the Dodgers have a great reputation of developing pitchers. Yeah, break, but it's unfair just to put that on the Dodgers. The Dodgers are really good at game planning, maximizing picture strengths.
Mark Pryor, Connor McGinnis and the Dodgers sports science team has been excellent in that department, but specifically trying to help a player a pitcher game plan is the biggest thing I've heard from pitchers that have come through the Dodgers organization, and also helping them with different pitches and grips and things that can maximize already they're great arsenal. So those were the reasons why Sazaki I'm sure picked
the Dodgers. And here's his agent, Joel Wolfe after the press conference talking to myself and a few other reporters about the whole process for Roki Sazaki.
The Padres and Blue Jays made tremendous pitches, presentations. They left it on the field, and when they left Toronto, I felt like he could easily go to Toronto. When we left San Diego, I felt like he could easily choose San Diego. And when he came here, I really thought the entire process it was a coin flop. I had no idea what he was going to say when he ultimately said, okay, it's Dodgers.
Where did he fall on the spectrum. As far as driving this whole process with some of the clients you've had, you know in your experience, how.
Much I heard Roki drives the bus, Rokie directs traffic. He tells us all what to do, definitely, and I think you'll all learn that in the coming years.
Angel.
So there you have it, and Joel thought, I literally meant Roki driving from team to team.
No.
I heard Roki Sazaki was very much in control of this process, and I just wanted to get it on the record from his agent about how in control he was, And it just strikes me similar to a Lebron James or a Kobe Bryant, how they have these visions of their careers. And even Alex Rodriguez, I remember when he was coming out of high school. These guys have their visions of their career arc and they are going to
do everything possible to make it happen. And Roki Sazaki has visions of being the greatest pitcher in Major League Baseball during his time here in MLB, and a lot of other teams believe, including the Dodgers, that he has the potential to be a Cy Young Award winner two three times over during the course of his career. But make no mistake about it, this is a long term contract, a long term play by the Dodgers. It's not just
about twenty twenty five. So if you're expecting to see this pitch opening Day and go through all the season and throw two hundred innings, you're completely mistaken. He's probably only going to throw somewhere between one hundred and one hundred and thirty innings in my estimation, So it would be amazing to have Roki Sazaki and Yoshiyamamoto pitch those two games in Tokyo, Japan, and that very well might happen, but don't expect to see Roki Sazaki pitching on four
days rest and making thirty starts this year. He's twenty three years old. He didn't throw a lot last year. His fastball velocity was down, so he's an unfinished product, as Joel Wolf said, and the Dodgers are going to handle with care because he's twenty three years old and they're not going to just push him and redline him. They're going to treat him very carefully, and similar to Otani, they want these two guys ready for October, not ready
for April. And the man that makes all these moves, a man that obviously has built an amazing culture with the Dodgers, unprecedented sustained success since he has taken over. The one and only Andrew Freeman, who I believe is destined to be an executive in Cooperstown one day, enshrined in Cooperstown, one day, joined us moments after he introduced Roki Sazaki. Andrew Freeman a big day, a big smile. I know there's been a lot of sleepless nights for you. Can you exhale now? Yeah?
I mean there were definitely a lot of knights upulling our hair out and worried about, you know what kind of decision he was going to make, and we felt like we put our best foot forward. It was so many different departments and people contributing to ensure that. But obviously there are a lot of great teams out there. And until I actually got the text from Showhy that said we got him, who eat the agent to the punch? But until that moment, we weren't sure.
When you got that text, did you believe it? Was it similar to the feeling you had last year when you got the news that Otani had chosen the Dodgers as well.
Well, A knew show he wouldn't mess with me, just not his personality. I had to like clear my eyes and read it again because I didn't expect it to come from Show Hey. But when I saw it, kind of did a double take and then realized what he was saying, and just pure excitement. We had a bunch of guys around the office and everyone was just fired up.
We've heard so much about the courting process, about having the dinners about Otani and Yamamoto having a dinner with him. How much do you believe that comfort led to him choosing the Dodgers.
Yeah, I mean I think you know, obviously his prior relationship with Shohei and Yoshinobu definitely helps. They were able to talk to him through this and not an salesman type way, just be honest with their experiences and how they think it would help Roki, which I think was incredibly valuable. And then even beyond that, just the number of guys we had either in person or send in a video, and the video was guys saying how well we take care of players, take care of players families,
and help make guys better. And it was almost to a man, We didn't script it with anyone, and almost to a man, that's how.
All the videos came back.
So the reason we wanted to do that was for Rokie as he's making this decision and he's thinking, Okay, I like the Dodgers, I like what they're about. I think they can help make me better. But I wonder how it would be received in the clubhouse. I just don't know that we had the vast majority of our roster, either in person or on video, tell him how much they want him to be their teammate.
What's this about the home assignment? How accurate is that that he was asking the Dodgers and other teams how he can get better, how he could get his fastball better? And how comfortable were you sharing what your thoughts would be.
Yeah, there's a couple of things in that one. When we got the question from Joel Wolf. At first it was, oh my god, our meetings in four days. We have to scramble and you know, put this together. The second was I thought it was really smart. His velocity was down.
It was stuff that we had talked about, and for him to solicit opinions from other teams coming in a speaks to his curiosity and desire to be great, but also gives him real insight into how an organization works together, how they think through things, what kind of technology they have access to, which we feel like is in our sweet spot. So we were really excited about that opportunity.
And we're able to talk through from training room to weight room to mound, from our pitching coaches to our performance coaches to our training staff, how connected they are. The reports that are generated after a start, because the point was there were some changes in his delivery, and our point was about how we're on things like that, either end game or the next day after a start.
So we would never let something go that long without addressing it, and so we were able to speak to what we saw as the differences how we would proactively go about addressing it. And again, I think just the way everyone is so connected from our front office, performance science group down into our clubhouse and the way everyone works so well together really came through.
How do you manage a pitcher like him? He's so unique, twenty three years old, you got a full one sixty two season. We saw there's an adjustment period. How do you what vision do you have as far as the way you may deploy him?
Yeah, I mean for us, we need to be around him more to have a better feel for that. We don't have a great feel right now for how he recovers and what is routine is between starts. It'll probably be different here. He's still learning that, and so it's one of those things that we're gonna partner with him and we're gonna help him figure out what makes the
most sense. He's gonna have some great guys to look around the clubhouse and pick their brain on it as well, and we'll figure out that in between start routine, and then we're gonna let him go, and then we'll figure out as we get into the year how he's doing, how he's maintaining his stuff. But this guy is incredibly talented, but there's still real development left, and his desire is to be the first Japanese pitcher to win a Sai
Young Award. He definitely has that ability. And you know, between his ability, the curiosity, the work ethic, the determination, and our staff, we think there's a chance for really special things to happen.
How many man hours have you put in trying to scout him be prepared for this moment? Andrew, this was not a few weeks or a few months, This was a few years.
Yeah, I don't know how to answer that, but I know that Galen Carr it would have been cheaper had he just gotten an apartment in Japan. You know, he spent so much time over there just watching him and obviously we couldn't have contact, but I think he could feel our presence, he knew the teams that were there.
He knew that a vice.
President from the Dodgers I think was there, and it was a sign of respect, but also our strong desire to partner with him at some point and the potential
upside that comes with that. But there were a lot of people, you know who Rokie's been on the radar for years now, and then even just this process, just a number of people who stepped up and contributed, from Sue, Joe and Hunter helping us put together videos and anime, you know, to obviously our QA group and our performance science and our scouts and just the whole group, Tyrone
and Kristen in the kitchen to talk through that. Just every different department had their fingerprints on this to ensure that we were putting our best foot forward.
That doesn't sound like and Andrew Friedman that thought he had Roki Sazaki in the bag two years ago, three years ago.
Yeah, you can ask my cardiologists. We definitely did not. Yeah, I mean, there's gonna be noise. It's so ridiculous.
You know.
The funniest for me is people who said before the process started, oh, he's going to go to the Dodgers, and then he went to the Dodgers, and like.
See the fix is in.
It's like, no, the reason you thought he was going to come to the Dodgers were pretty compelling reasons, and he agreed and felt like we would be the best place to partner with our city, our fans, our ability to help make players better, friends, and familiar faces that he already knows. There are so many reasons that we felt like, and obviously we were biased that it made sense, but we weren't sure how it was going to land.
With a twenty three year old and having Yoshinobu and Shoh We're either going to be incredibly helpful or the exact opposite, and we weren't sure which one.
Andrew, you've been the most aggressive GM Baseball Operations department all off season along it feels like even though we're just a few weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting, it still feels like the wheels are turning and you still feel like you could make this roster just fit better. Yeah.
I mean we talk about this a lot. We can't find the off switch. We're always looking for opportunities to make this team better. Sometimes it doesn't line up and work out, sometimes it does, but it will never stop our effort and trying to figure out things that make sense for us to make us better.
You clean up really nice for these press conferences. Man. I wish I could have seen you two weeks ago see what Andrew Freeman's life was like.
First of all, there are some pretty heavy bags under my eyes. Second all, I gotta return this suit by six, so we gotta get going.
Thanks a lot, and congratulations to not only you, but your scuting department on the Pacific RIM because I know you give them a lot of credit. You don't do it all by yourself, So congratulations to the entire organization. Thank you.
And that's what's most special. It's just how many different people played a part in this. And I don't know, but I feel like if you take out any one of those pieces, it's like a Jenga or it just falls down. So for us to all be and together and do this together and get to this outcome is really special.
Well, I'm glad you got a full head of Harry. You didn't pull it all out. We'll see you in spring training.
Thanks Dave.
Appreciate Andrew Freeman for that exclusive one on one interview after the Rokie Sazaki press conference. It was a very joyful day at Dodger Stadium, a lot of man hours, not only Andrew but obviously his Pacific Rim scouting staff. Very happy for all of them, so congratulations, and obviously it just made a lot of sense for Rokie Sazaki to be in LA. That'll do it for us. On this exclusive podcast edition of Dodger Talk. We'll do this
again next Wednesday. How about that. I'll give you another Dodger Talk next week leading up to FanFest on February first. You can follow me on social media on x at the Real Underscore DV and on Instagram at officially Vassa. Thanks for joining us and spending time with us. Hope you're safe and we will talk to you next week. See us.
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