November 12, 2024 • 27 mins
Richard takes stock of how the Dodgers' off-season is looking so far, a couple weeks after the team's World Series victory. We focus on one player the Dodgers might gain (the young Japanese flame-thrower, Roki Sasaki) and one they might retain (the wide-smiling, big-slugging 2024 Dodgers All Star, Teoscar Hernandez) through free agency this winter.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. Please visit our brand new Patreon at patreon dot
com slash Dodger Blue Dream and contribute. I funded the
production of the first season of this show entirely by myself,
more than fifty episodes. But to continue Dodger Blue Dream,
I need your help. I have a goal to make
it to fifty paid subscribers on Patreon by Thanksgiving Again.
(00:25):
That's Patreon dot com slash Dodger Blue Dream. Thank you
so much. Bitch time for Dodger base Every baseball season
ends in tragedy, every season, even the one where the
(00:49):
Dodgers win the World Series, because we know this group
of guys, our beloved boys in Blue, can't all stay together.
Free agency is a sad fact of every single off season,
and it will break your heart. The list of Dodger
players from the twenty twenty four World Series winning team
(01:11):
that are not under contract for twenty twenty five is
filled with favorites. There's Walker Buehler, but Tane, the right
handed stud who struggled his way back after his second
Tommy John surgery and became a key piece of our
deep postseason run and even dramatically appeared on the mound
(01:32):
for the bottom of the ninth inning in Game five
to log the final three outs of the season to
win the World Series. Next on the list of Dodger
free agents Jack Flaherty, the trade deadline pickup and Burbank
native who did so much to help the Dodgers get
to the postseason during the second half of the year
and who could forget Jack's Arawan smoothie twenty one dollars
(01:55):
of coconut collagen laced bliss. The next name on the
list is Enrique Kei k Hernandez, our own personal mister October.
Key K just changed his Instagram profile pick from a
headshot of him with a Dodgers cap on do one
with him wearing a cap with a question mark instead
(02:16):
of a logo. Then there is fan favorite Mariachi Joe Kelly,
the flamethrowing wild man, trash talker, Blake Trinan, our nastiest
and most dominant pitcher all the way through the World Series.
He's a free agent too. I'll give you two more names,
and they are Doozi's Clayton Kershaw, our beloved first ballot
(02:40):
Hall of Famer goat, and Tayo taoscar Hernandez, the wide,
smiling and big, slugging, clutch left fielder. None of these
guys has a contract for twenty twenty five to play
on the Dodgers, and we wish that we could keep
them all, but that is just not how it works.
(03:03):
Welcome to Dodger Blue Dream, a documentary about the baseball
season and off season, made as the season and off
season unfold. I'm Richard Parks the Third and I'm a
free agent too, and it ain't easy. Today's episode Hot
Stove for those of you who are totally new to
(03:30):
the idea of free agency and the off season. An
extremely brief primmer. Every major league team has a forty
man roster. This includes twenty six players on the active
roster the big league team, plus players in the minor
leagues or on the injured list. Of those twenty six,
there is a limit of thirteen who can be pitchers.
(03:52):
Shohei Otani can pitch any time, but he's counted as
a position player. In terms of finances, generally speaking, being
a big market team, money really isn't a constraint for
the Dodgers, and there are no salary caps in baseball.
There are various tax thresholds to help even the playing
field for smaller market teams. The Dodgers blue past all
(04:13):
four tax thresholds last year and ended up having one
of the highest payrolls in baseball. In terms of the players,
they tend to be motivated by the same things a
chance to compete for a championship and play on a
good team, but also making the most money over the
highest number of years. And there can be other factors too,
like a desire to work with a certain organization's coaching staff.
(04:35):
And the current players on a team can also have
influence on what moves are made, especially the more prominent players,
the superstars that a team has already entered into a
long term commitment with. And for sure, the market tends
to fluctuate from year to year depending on which players
are free agents, how many are available at any given position.
It is an art, not a science, which is why
(04:57):
we have the hot stove. According to MLB dot Com,
in the early days of baseball, hot stove season referred
to an actual baseball season hot stove leagues, in which
MLB players would stay in shape by playing baseball in
their hometowns while staying warm with actual hot stoves. The
(05:22):
term soon expanded to become a kind of predecessor to
the water cooler. On a cold day, fans would gather
around the hot stove to discuss their favorite team. End quote,
and so in contemporary parlance, the hot stove is a
euphemism for trade talk, speculation, chitchat. The fact is nobody
(05:45):
knows what's going to happen until it happens. But you know,
we are starved for baseball. So while you wait for
the socalgas guy to come over and turn your pilot
light back on, let's gather around the proverbial hot stove
and talk about what moves the Dodgers might be making.
It's not just about the players we might lose, it's
(06:07):
about the ones we might gain. While I could go
on and on about all of the aforementioned Dodgers free agents,
here at DBDHQ, we focus. We home in like a
picture with precision command. And speaking of pictures, one of
(06:31):
those will be the focus of the first part of
this episode. A young guy from Japan I dearly hope
that the Dodgers can land this offseason, by the name
of Roki Sasaki. And then after that we'll segue to
talk about a position player we've all become quite accustomed
(06:52):
to who I hope gets re signed and stays on
this team. His name is Tioscar Hernandez. Both of these
potentialities have ramifications for what else the team might do
this offseason and how the Dodgers twenty twenty five roster
will be constructed. So that's what's in today, but let
(07:12):
me write my way into it. Picture the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Welcome back time for front office insights and as promised,
Brandon Gomes are the Dodgers taking a little time with
us from the GM meetings in San Antonio this morning.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Brandon, thanks you for the time. The first major event
of the baseball off season, the General Managers Meeting.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Is our goal every single year is to win a championship.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And the message from Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes rang like
a bell. This here team is going to get better.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
The goal is now to go out and put together
another championship caliber team. So even having just won it,
that's our goal. No matter what happens each year, our
hope is to be there again next.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Year, and job one is shoring up the starting pitching.
In twenty twenty four, the Dodgers' rotation suffered a historic
amount of injuries. We can't be relying on the dogies
out in the bullpen to carry every fourth game like
they did this past October. It's possible that the Dodgers
(08:22):
could bring back both Walker Bueller and Jack Flaherty on
free agent contracts, and nothing's been ruled out, but the
Dodgers are also thinking wider than that. The starting pitching
market this offseason includes Snell, Zilla, Blake Snell, Max Freed,
an LA native and former Harvard Westlake High School teammate
(08:44):
of Jack Flaherty's, who was spotted by the paparazzi partying
with the Dodgers amid their post World Series win, Gallivanting,
and Corbin Burns. Obviously, we can never have enough pitching,
as we've learned, Go said, so pitching will be a priority.
The expected Dodgers' rotation for twenty twenty five is already
(09:08):
looking pretty good. Tyler Glass now, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Otani.
He's a pitcher, a great one. Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May
and probably returning sometime mid season next year. Clayton Kershaw,
though he has not been signed, has announced that he'll
be back hopefully that Clayton's a Dodger full life. But
(09:31):
the addition of one more top tier starter would provide
insurance and basically mean that the Dodgers would have the
best starting pitching rotation in baseball. And just a couple
of days ago, one more pitcher came on the market.
All the guys I talked to bet have played there
says he's actually better than Yamamoto. I think he's a
(09:52):
better pitcher than Yamamoto, especially if he flashes anything like
you flashed in the WBC in twenty twenty three. We've
been hearing about this kid for years. M one o two.
He hits triple digits on the gun with regularity, and
he hails from the land of the Rising Sun. His
(10:12):
name is Roki Sasaki. Japan is Roki Sasaki, and for
those that don't know too much about him, he's the
youngest pitcher to ever throw a perfect game in Japan
want to feel old. Sasaki was born after nine to
eleven in November of two thousand and one. But so
talented is this young, flame throwing right handed pitcher. He
(10:35):
has been christened with his own nickname, Rei Iwa No
Kaibutsu the Monster, and when he threw his perfect game
in April twenty twenty two, he also tied the NPB
record for strikeouts in a single game and set a
new record for consecutive strikeouts. He is very often compared
(10:55):
to his countryman shohe Otani. They're actually from the same area,
Ewade Prefecture.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
All across northern Japan. They felt it a violent magnitude
nine point zero earthquake on March eleventh, twenty eleven.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Roki Sasaki was in third grade during the twenty eleven
Great East Japan earthquake, which resulted in a tsunami that
swept away his childhood home, a defining tragedy in his
young life.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
As tsunami waves inundated their city, knocking buildings into rubble
and mixing into a kind of tsunami soup filled with vehicles,
building parts, and contents.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Roki's father and his grandparents died in the tsunamis, but he,
his two brothers, and his mother survived.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
More than twenty eight thousand people are confirmed bid or missing.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
The following year, the family moved, and the year after that,
young Roki started playing baseball. His fastball broke Otani's record
for velocity by a high school pitcher Shohey through ninety
nine in high school, Roki through one hundred and one
(12:18):
and so of course, in twenty nineteen, he was drafted
out of the first round and went pro twenty four
year old.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
He was the Yama model of the Orgs Buffalos in
twenty one year old Roki Sasaki of the Lotin Marines
are indisputably the two best pitchers in Japan right now.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
In four seasons in Nipon Professional Baseball, Sasaki has a
record of twenty nine and fifteen with a two point
one zero ERA. He was an All Star in twenty
twenty two and twenty twenty three, and his fastball keeps
getting faster. He tops out at one hundred and sixty
five kilometers per hour. That's between one hundred and two
(12:57):
and one hundred and three miles per hour dis ever
thrown by a Japanese player, tied with Shohei.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Stepan's Brokie Sasaki will be on full display today for
Team Japan.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
The twenty one year old will attempt to land Japan
a He's just twenty three years old, but he made
a big impression on me when I watched him pitch
during the World Baseball Classic in twenty twenty three. Miami
is a fastball at a fundred at one miles hour,
and he helped lead Team Japan to a championship that year,
along with his teammates Yama and Show Hey Hey. Stretch
(13:31):
him out, oh Tani strikes out trout and.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Japan squp on top of the baseball.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Or clips of the three Japanese pitchers paling around during
a bullpen session have been circulating online. Part of the
reason why, even though it was just announced that Roki
Sazaki would be coming to the US on Friday, there
is a lot of excitement in Dodgerland that he might
be coming to.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
LA But could you imagine him in a Dodger uniform?
I think a lot of fans already have imagined him
in a Dodger uniform suiting up next season.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Alongside shown and the Show Hey, similarities continue. Like Show Hey,
Sasaki has long expressed a desire to play in America,
and like Show Hey, he's so eager to come Stateside
that he's doing it at so young an age. The
regulations that are in place mean that he'll have to
sign a minor league deal, meaning he's basically leaving money
(14:27):
on the table because he just wants to come to
the States now and pitch, which means for the lucky
franchise that signs Sasaki, it's all upside, no risk, and
basically no investment in a top tier starter who's just
at the beginning of his career and the Dodgers are
the heavy favorite. Top executives like Andrew Friedman have been
(14:50):
visiting Sasaki in Japan with regularity. Friedman was there to
see him pitch as recently as October, and Japanese starters
pitch every sixth day as opposed to every fifth day
like in the US. And their speculation with Yamamoto and
shoh coming back to the rotation that if we bag Sasaki,
the Dodgers would employ a Japanese schedule. If Sasaki wants
(15:12):
to win, the Dodgers just won a title. There are
obvious possible endorsement tie ins with Shohei and Yama. It
all just kind of makes sense. Sasaki wears Shohi's number seventeen,
so he'd have to give that up. And am I
getting ahead of myself? You betcha? That's kind of what
(15:32):
the hot stove is all about I will do my
best to climb up from a minor league contract and
become the best player in the world, Sasaki said in
a statement translated by Yakiu Cosmopolitan. Regardless of what maybe
is being lost in translation, that's a bold message coming
(15:55):
from a twenty three year old from a deeply hierarchical
society who could be joining a Dodgers team that includes
Sho Hee Otani. Anyway, it's not a foregone conclusion that
Roki Sasaki will be joining the Dodgers, but keep in
mind if he does, it wouldn't have a significant impact
on the budget for player salaries, which leads directly into
(16:20):
our discussion of a player we hope to retain on
the team, a man who played a huge part in
the Dodgers' twenty twenty four story, without whom it's hard
to imagine how this team could have made it all
the way. I speak, of course, of taoscar Hernandez Tao.
(16:41):
Do I say thank you? When Tao took the mic
in front of fans and on TV following the Dodgers
World Series parade on November one, tears filled his eyes
and the stadium gave him an ovation. Love was in
(17:01):
the air. Put this game.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
I put this game to win, and the Dodgers gave
me the opportunity to come here so I can help
the ormanization, this city, this team, these people win a championship.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You that make this dream come through.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Thank you for making me a world champion.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Didn't Dodgers figure?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
How can you not love this guy?
Speaker 5 (17:42):
It wasn't hard to make decisions going to the Dodgers
because I've wanted to go to a team that can
compete and and be in the playoff. You know, hopefully
everything goes well and we can win. We can win
everything this year and and see what happened next year.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's hard to believe, but this was Tao's first season
with the Dodgers. He came to the team last offseason
when he was looking for a multi year deal, but
the market wasn't working out, so he ended up signing
a one year, twenty three point five million dollar deal
to play with the Dodgers for just one season. And
that might sound like a ton of money, because it is,
(18:19):
but it was just one year for a player at
thirty one years old who was just entering his peak
peak years, and it included eight point five million dollars
in deferred money, meaning he wouldn't get that portion of
his deal until later on, which meant that the Dodgers
had more cash to spend on other players. It's something
(18:41):
that helped the team, and Tao had one of the
best seasons of his career. In twenty twenty four. He
hit thirty three home runs, the most he's ever hit,
and not only was he in the All Star Game,
he won the home Run Derby, and he was a
clubhouse favorite, pling around with Shohy, tossing sunflowers, seeds on
whoever hit a home run, and that smile. He's such
(19:04):
a peaceful, joyous presence. And that's not all Tao. Like
he's clutch, Yes, he's clutch, Clutch. It seemed like every
time there was a big moment and Tao was at
the plate, he would come through. And this was true
not only during the regular season, but in the postseason. Two.
I saw him hit a Grand Slam home run against
(19:25):
the Padres in San Diego during the NLDS and when
the Yankees gave the Dodgers an opportunity in Game five
of the World Series by making some defensive errors with
Freddie Freeman. It was Tao who had the big hit
that capitalized on that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
The one two pitch to Taoscar Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yes in the air to left center field, Judge on
the run, dead script, that's head, that's end a score.
Frenny Freeman to the pint, and this game's got.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Turned up shut down.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
W wow, Wow, he's clutch, clutch, thanks, and the Dangers
down five nothing. Cole was pitching great. What did you
guys tell your sex?
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I mean, we just take advantage of every mistake that
they make and not any ah. We put some good
abbots together, we put the bulletplay.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
We literally would not have won the World Series without
the contributions of Taoscar Hernandez, on top of his thirty
three regular season dingers, ninety nine RBIs and eight forty
eight ops, and his clubhouse leadership, his relationship was Shohy,
his mentorship of younger players like Andy pahees.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Seriously, now that you've won one, what is going through
your mind?
Speaker 5 (20:43):
To a drink comes through obviously.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
But now that's all just a memory, and Tao's future
with this team is totally uncertain. Tao has been open
about his desire to stay on the Dodgers. He said
it in interviews throughout the regular season. I want to
stay here. That's up to them, et cetera, et cetera.
But this was always something Tao was doing in the media.
(21:09):
The Dodgers and Tao never discussed a contract extension during
the regular season, but the Dodgers have made an offer
at this point, a one year, twenty one point zero
five million dollar contract, known as a qualifying offer. A
qualifying offer is something that Major League teams can offer
free agents to stay with their organization for one more
(21:32):
year when they reach free agency, with a salary that
is determined by making an average of the one hundred
and twenty five highest paid players in MLB. If a
team gives a qualifying offer to a player who then
signs elsewhere, that team becomes eligible for a draft pick
compensation in the following year's draft. The qualifying offer system
(21:55):
has existed since twenty twelve to help protect teams from
using their best talent to bigger markets, and there is
no bigger market than Los Angeles. On top of that,
through twenty twenty three, only thirteen of the one hundred
and thirty one total players who received a qualifying offer
(22:16):
had ever accepted it. Twenty one point zero five million
dollars is a ton of money, but it would be
a pay cut for Tao after the best season of
his career on the biggest possible stage, when he helped
his team win the World Series. And we all know
that Tao is looking for a multi year deal, and
(22:38):
of course other teams are expressing their interest in our Tao.
It's basically a foregone conclusion that he'll turn down the
qualifying offer. But what are the chances that Tao stays
on this team. We've already gotten some clues early on
in the off season. During the annual General Manager meetings
(23:01):
in San Antonio, Texas last week, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes
told the media that in order to bolster offense, the
team should focus on outfield and Mooki Betts is expected
to return to the infield for twenty twenty five. And
you'll remember from our episode Mooki's Best but the project
(23:22):
of Muki's twenty twenty four season was moving from right
field to shortstop, and that he spent much of his
minor league career at second base. And you know that
after Mooki got hurt last season in June that he
returned to the team to play right field, and there
was no specificity about which position in the infield Mookie
(23:43):
would be taking in twenty twenty five, but in any case,
it opens up a hole in the outfield in right field,
which with left field, is a position that Teoscar Hernandez
played for US in twenty twenty four. The internal options
currently under contract for the Dodgers for all outfield positions,
(24:04):
according to the Athletic are Andy Pajes, who played one
hundred and sixteen games in twenty twenty four as a rookie,
James Outman, who was our opening day center fielder for
the past two seasons but who struggled throughout twenty twenty
four and spent most of the season in the minors.
And Dalton Rushing, a prospect who you might have heard
(24:25):
of as a catcher who finished off the twenty twenty
four season in the minor leagues playing left field. That's it.
I guess this assumes that Chris Taylor CT three and
Tommy Edmond wouldn't be starting every day in the outfield,
although they can play there, and the same logic I
believe extends to keik, although Kei k is also not
(24:46):
under contract, all the more reason to re sign Tao.
Then there's the possibility that the Dodgers sign Juan Soto,
the twenty six year old sensation who spent the twenty
twenty four season with the New York Yankees, and before
that was on the Padres, and before that was on
the Nationals. The kid who shuffles in the box, whose
(25:09):
position is right field, who's looking for a contract of
five hundred, six hundred or seven hundred million dollars. The
Dodgers have been said to be speaking to Sodo, but
the New York teams, both the Yankees and the Mets,
are rumored to be the heavy favorites for Soto's contract.
Sources have told reporters at The Athletic that four other
(25:32):
Major League teams have expressed quote some level of interest
and had conversations with Tao, whose price tag for a
multi year deal would be not insignificant, but nowhere near
what Wan Soto is looking for. We're looking at over
eight figures, were looking at that. He's going to get
a good deal.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I know his age story two, but if you look
at him, his body he plays like he's younger.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
That's real money, real money. Eight figures one two, the
Comma two, Commas whatever. All of these numbers are obscene.
Tao is not only a huge element of the heart
and soul of this team, his bat did so much
to bring home a world championship to Los Angeles in
(26:16):
twenty twenty four. Yeah, what can I do for you?
Rod You just tell me what can.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I do for you for you?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Show me the money, Jerry, show me the money. This
is kind of a weird time of year for baseball
when agents and owners step into the limelight for a
moment while the players nurse their postseason hangovers, rest up
poolside and cabo, or spend a precious few moments with
their children. But us baseball documentarians, well, we're huddled up
(26:44):
around the proverbial hot stove with our eyes on the prize.
We'll be sure to let you know what happens here
with Roki Sasaki and of course Tao. That's it for
this edition of Dodger Blue Dream. Thank you for listening.
(27:04):
Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced by me Richard Parks,
the Thid. This episode was story edited by Caitlin esh.
Original music in this episode by William Bryan Fritch, Jonathan Snipes,
the Blasting Company, and by Me. Special thanks to Elizabeth Parks,
Kibbie and Jordan Bass. You know, the Los Angeles Dodgers
(27:26):
have yet to not win a world series title during
the years that I've produced Dodger Blue Dream. Maybe it's
time we start talking about my contract. That's why we
set up a Patreon Patreon dot com slash Dodger Blue Dream.
My initial goal is fifty contributions and I need your help.
(27:47):
Thanks again for listening.
Hi. Please visit our brand new Patreon at patreon dot
com slash Dodger Blue Dream and contribute. I funded the
production of the first season of this show entirely by myself,
more than fifty episodes. But to continue Dodger Blue Dream,
I need your help. I have a goal to make
it to fifty paid subscribers on Patreon by Thanksgiving Again.
(00:25):
That's Patreon dot com slash Dodger Blue Dream. Thank you
so much. Bitch time for Dodger base Every baseball season
ends in tragedy, every season, even the one where the
(00:49):
Dodgers win the World Series, because we know this group
of guys, our beloved boys in Blue, can't all stay together.
Free agency is a sad fact of every single off season,
and it will break your heart. The list of Dodger
players from the twenty twenty four World Series winning team
(01:11):
that are not under contract for twenty twenty five is
filled with favorites. There's Walker Buehler, but Tane, the right
handed stud who struggled his way back after his second
Tommy John surgery and became a key piece of our
deep postseason run and even dramatically appeared on the mound
(01:32):
for the bottom of the ninth inning in Game five
to log the final three outs of the season to
win the World Series. Next on the list of Dodger
free agents Jack Flaherty, the trade deadline pickup and Burbank
native who did so much to help the Dodgers get
to the postseason during the second half of the year
and who could forget Jack's Arawan smoothie twenty one dollars
(01:55):
of coconut collagen laced bliss. The next name on the
list is Enrique Kei k Hernandez, our own personal mister October.
Key K just changed his Instagram profile pick from a
headshot of him with a Dodgers cap on do one
with him wearing a cap with a question mark instead
(02:16):
of a logo. Then there is fan favorite Mariachi Joe Kelly,
the flamethrowing wild man, trash talker, Blake Trinan, our nastiest
and most dominant pitcher all the way through the World Series.
He's a free agent too. I'll give you two more names,
and they are Doozi's Clayton Kershaw, our beloved first ballot
(02:40):
Hall of Famer goat, and Tayo taoscar Hernandez, the wide,
smiling and big, slugging, clutch left fielder. None of these
guys has a contract for twenty twenty five to play
on the Dodgers, and we wish that we could keep
them all, but that is just not how it works.
(03:03):
Welcome to Dodger Blue Dream, a documentary about the baseball
season and off season, made as the season and off
season unfold. I'm Richard Parks the Third and I'm a
free agent too, and it ain't easy. Today's episode Hot
Stove for those of you who are totally new to
(03:30):
the idea of free agency and the off season. An
extremely brief primmer. Every major league team has a forty
man roster. This includes twenty six players on the active
roster the big league team, plus players in the minor
leagues or on the injured list. Of those twenty six,
there is a limit of thirteen who can be pitchers.
(03:52):
Shohei Otani can pitch any time, but he's counted as
a position player. In terms of finances, generally speaking, being
a big market team, money really isn't a constraint for
the Dodgers, and there are no salary caps in baseball.
There are various tax thresholds to help even the playing
field for smaller market teams. The Dodgers blue past all
(04:13):
four tax thresholds last year and ended up having one
of the highest payrolls in baseball. In terms of the players,
they tend to be motivated by the same things a
chance to compete for a championship and play on a
good team, but also making the most money over the
highest number of years. And there can be other factors too,
like a desire to work with a certain organization's coaching staff.
(04:35):
And the current players on a team can also have
influence on what moves are made, especially the more prominent players,
the superstars that a team has already entered into a
long term commitment with. And for sure, the market tends
to fluctuate from year to year depending on which players
are free agents, how many are available at any given position.
It is an art, not a science, which is why
(04:57):
we have the hot stove. According to MLB dot Com,
in the early days of baseball, hot stove season referred
to an actual baseball season hot stove leagues, in which
MLB players would stay in shape by playing baseball in
their hometowns while staying warm with actual hot stoves. The
(05:22):
term soon expanded to become a kind of predecessor to
the water cooler. On a cold day, fans would gather
around the hot stove to discuss their favorite team. End quote,
and so in contemporary parlance, the hot stove is a
euphemism for trade talk, speculation, chitchat. The fact is nobody
(05:45):
knows what's going to happen until it happens. But you know,
we are starved for baseball. So while you wait for
the socalgas guy to come over and turn your pilot
light back on, let's gather around the proverbial hot stove
and talk about what moves the Dodgers might be making.
It's not just about the players we might lose, it's
(06:07):
about the ones we might gain. While I could go
on and on about all of the aforementioned Dodgers free agents,
here at DBDHQ, we focus. We home in like a
picture with precision command. And speaking of pictures, one of
(06:31):
those will be the focus of the first part of
this episode. A young guy from Japan I dearly hope
that the Dodgers can land this offseason, by the name
of Roki Sasaki. And then after that we'll segue to
talk about a position player we've all become quite accustomed
(06:52):
to who I hope gets re signed and stays on
this team. His name is Tioscar Hernandez. Both of these
potentialities have ramifications for what else the team might do
this offseason and how the Dodgers twenty twenty five roster
will be constructed. So that's what's in today, but let
(07:12):
me write my way into it. Picture the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Welcome back time for front office insights and as promised,
Brandon Gomes are the Dodgers taking a little time with
us from the GM meetings in San Antonio this morning.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Brandon, thanks you for the time. The first major event
of the baseball off season, the General Managers Meeting.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Is our goal every single year is to win a championship.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And the message from Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes rang like
a bell. This here team is going to get better.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
The goal is now to go out and put together
another championship caliber team. So even having just won it,
that's our goal. No matter what happens each year, our
hope is to be there again next.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Year, and job one is shoring up the starting pitching.
In twenty twenty four, the Dodgers' rotation suffered a historic
amount of injuries. We can't be relying on the dogies
out in the bullpen to carry every fourth game like
they did this past October. It's possible that the Dodgers
(08:22):
could bring back both Walker Bueller and Jack Flaherty on
free agent contracts, and nothing's been ruled out, but the
Dodgers are also thinking wider than that. The starting pitching
market this offseason includes Snell, Zilla, Blake Snell, Max Freed,
an LA native and former Harvard Westlake High School teammate
(08:44):
of Jack Flaherty's, who was spotted by the paparazzi partying
with the Dodgers amid their post World Series win, Gallivanting,
and Corbin Burns. Obviously, we can never have enough pitching,
as we've learned, Go said, so pitching will be a priority.
The expected Dodgers' rotation for twenty twenty five is already
(09:08):
looking pretty good. Tyler Glass now, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Otani.
He's a pitcher, a great one. Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May
and probably returning sometime mid season next year. Clayton Kershaw,
though he has not been signed, has announced that he'll
be back hopefully that Clayton's a Dodger full life. But
(09:31):
the addition of one more top tier starter would provide
insurance and basically mean that the Dodgers would have the
best starting pitching rotation in baseball. And just a couple
of days ago, one more pitcher came on the market.
All the guys I talked to bet have played there
says he's actually better than Yamamoto. I think he's a
(09:52):
better pitcher than Yamamoto, especially if he flashes anything like
you flashed in the WBC in twenty twenty three. We've
been hearing about this kid for years. M one o two.
He hits triple digits on the gun with regularity, and
he hails from the land of the Rising Sun. His
(10:12):
name is Roki Sasaki. Japan is Roki Sasaki, and for
those that don't know too much about him, he's the
youngest pitcher to ever throw a perfect game in Japan
want to feel old. Sasaki was born after nine to
eleven in November of two thousand and one. But so
talented is this young, flame throwing right handed pitcher. He
(10:35):
has been christened with his own nickname, Rei Iwa No
Kaibutsu the Monster, and when he threw his perfect game
in April twenty twenty two, he also tied the NPB
record for strikeouts in a single game and set a
new record for consecutive strikeouts. He is very often compared
(10:55):
to his countryman shohe Otani. They're actually from the same area,
Ewade Prefecture.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
All across northern Japan. They felt it a violent magnitude
nine point zero earthquake on March eleventh, twenty eleven.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Roki Sasaki was in third grade during the twenty eleven
Great East Japan earthquake, which resulted in a tsunami that
swept away his childhood home, a defining tragedy in his
young life.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
As tsunami waves inundated their city, knocking buildings into rubble
and mixing into a kind of tsunami soup filled with vehicles,
building parts, and contents.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Roki's father and his grandparents died in the tsunamis, but he,
his two brothers, and his mother survived.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
More than twenty eight thousand people are confirmed bid or missing.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
The following year, the family moved, and the year after that,
young Roki started playing baseball. His fastball broke Otani's record
for velocity by a high school pitcher Shohey through ninety
nine in high school, Roki through one hundred and one
(12:18):
and so of course, in twenty nineteen, he was drafted
out of the first round and went pro twenty four
year old.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
He was the Yama model of the Orgs Buffalos in
twenty one year old Roki Sasaki of the Lotin Marines
are indisputably the two best pitchers in Japan right now.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
In four seasons in Nipon Professional Baseball, Sasaki has a
record of twenty nine and fifteen with a two point
one zero ERA. He was an All Star in twenty
twenty two and twenty twenty three, and his fastball keeps
getting faster. He tops out at one hundred and sixty
five kilometers per hour. That's between one hundred and two
(12:57):
and one hundred and three miles per hour dis ever
thrown by a Japanese player, tied with Shohei.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Stepan's Brokie Sasaki will be on full display today for
Team Japan.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
The twenty one year old will attempt to land Japan
a He's just twenty three years old, but he made
a big impression on me when I watched him pitch
during the World Baseball Classic in twenty twenty three. Miami
is a fastball at a fundred at one miles hour,
and he helped lead Team Japan to a championship that year,
along with his teammates Yama and Show Hey Hey. Stretch
(13:31):
him out, oh Tani strikes out trout and.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Japan squp on top of the baseball.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Or clips of the three Japanese pitchers paling around during
a bullpen session have been circulating online. Part of the
reason why, even though it was just announced that Roki
Sazaki would be coming to the US on Friday, there
is a lot of excitement in Dodgerland that he might
be coming to.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
LA But could you imagine him in a Dodger uniform?
I think a lot of fans already have imagined him
in a Dodger uniform suiting up next season.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Alongside shown and the Show Hey, similarities continue. Like Show Hey,
Sasaki has long expressed a desire to play in America,
and like Show Hey, he's so eager to come Stateside
that he's doing it at so young an age. The
regulations that are in place mean that he'll have to
sign a minor league deal, meaning he's basically leaving money
(14:27):
on the table because he just wants to come to
the States now and pitch, which means for the lucky
franchise that signs Sasaki, it's all upside, no risk, and
basically no investment in a top tier starter who's just
at the beginning of his career and the Dodgers are
the heavy favorite. Top executives like Andrew Friedman have been
(14:50):
visiting Sasaki in Japan with regularity. Friedman was there to
see him pitch as recently as October, and Japanese starters
pitch every sixth day as opposed to every fifth day
like in the US. And their speculation with Yamamoto and
shoh coming back to the rotation that if we bag Sasaki,
the Dodgers would employ a Japanese schedule. If Sasaki wants
(15:12):
to win, the Dodgers just won a title. There are
obvious possible endorsement tie ins with Shohei and Yama. It
all just kind of makes sense. Sasaki wears Shohi's number seventeen,
so he'd have to give that up. And am I
getting ahead of myself? You betcha? That's kind of what
(15:32):
the hot stove is all about I will do my
best to climb up from a minor league contract and
become the best player in the world, Sasaki said in
a statement translated by Yakiu Cosmopolitan. Regardless of what maybe
is being lost in translation, that's a bold message coming
(15:55):
from a twenty three year old from a deeply hierarchical
society who could be joining a Dodgers team that includes
Sho Hee Otani. Anyway, it's not a foregone conclusion that
Roki Sasaki will be joining the Dodgers, but keep in
mind if he does, it wouldn't have a significant impact
on the budget for player salaries, which leads directly into
(16:20):
our discussion of a player we hope to retain on
the team, a man who played a huge part in
the Dodgers' twenty twenty four story, without whom it's hard
to imagine how this team could have made it all
the way. I speak, of course, of taoscar Hernandez Tao.
(16:41):
Do I say thank you? When Tao took the mic
in front of fans and on TV following the Dodgers
World Series parade on November one, tears filled his eyes
and the stadium gave him an ovation. Love was in
(17:01):
the air. Put this game.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
I put this game to win, and the Dodgers gave
me the opportunity to come here so I can help
the ormanization, this city, this team, these people win a championship.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You that make this dream come through.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Thank you for making me a world champion.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Didn't Dodgers figure?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
How can you not love this guy?
Speaker 5 (17:42):
It wasn't hard to make decisions going to the Dodgers
because I've wanted to go to a team that can
compete and and be in the playoff. You know, hopefully
everything goes well and we can win. We can win
everything this year and and see what happened next year.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It's hard to believe, but this was Tao's first season
with the Dodgers. He came to the team last offseason
when he was looking for a multi year deal, but
the market wasn't working out, so he ended up signing
a one year, twenty three point five million dollar deal
to play with the Dodgers for just one season. And
that might sound like a ton of money, because it is,
(18:19):
but it was just one year for a player at
thirty one years old who was just entering his peak
peak years, and it included eight point five million dollars
in deferred money, meaning he wouldn't get that portion of
his deal until later on, which meant that the Dodgers
had more cash to spend on other players. It's something
(18:41):
that helped the team, and Tao had one of the
best seasons of his career. In twenty twenty four. He
hit thirty three home runs, the most he's ever hit,
and not only was he in the All Star Game,
he won the home Run Derby, and he was a
clubhouse favorite, pling around with Shohy, tossing sunflowers, seeds on
whoever hit a home run, and that smile. He's such
(19:04):
a peaceful, joyous presence. And that's not all Tao. Like
he's clutch, Yes, he's clutch, Clutch. It seemed like every
time there was a big moment and Tao was at
the plate, he would come through. And this was true
not only during the regular season, but in the postseason. Two.
I saw him hit a Grand Slam home run against
(19:25):
the Padres in San Diego during the NLDS and when
the Yankees gave the Dodgers an opportunity in Game five
of the World Series by making some defensive errors with
Freddie Freeman. It was Tao who had the big hit
that capitalized on that opportunity.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
The one two pitch to Taoscar Hernandez.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yes in the air to left center field, Judge on
the run, dead script, that's head, that's end a score.
Frenny Freeman to the pint, and this game's got.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Turned up shut down.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
W wow, Wow, he's clutch, clutch, thanks, and the Dangers
down five nothing. Cole was pitching great. What did you
guys tell your sex?
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I mean, we just take advantage of every mistake that
they make and not any ah. We put some good
abbots together, we put the bulletplay.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
We literally would not have won the World Series without
the contributions of Taoscar Hernandez, on top of his thirty
three regular season dingers, ninety nine RBIs and eight forty
eight ops, and his clubhouse leadership, his relationship was Shohy,
his mentorship of younger players like Andy pahees.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Seriously, now that you've won one, what is going through
your mind?
Speaker 5 (20:43):
To a drink comes through obviously.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
But now that's all just a memory, and Tao's future
with this team is totally uncertain. Tao has been open
about his desire to stay on the Dodgers. He said
it in interviews throughout the regular season. I want to
stay here. That's up to them, et cetera, et cetera.
But this was always something Tao was doing in the media.
(21:09):
The Dodgers and Tao never discussed a contract extension during
the regular season, but the Dodgers have made an offer
at this point, a one year, twenty one point zero
five million dollar contract, known as a qualifying offer. A
qualifying offer is something that Major League teams can offer
free agents to stay with their organization for one more
(21:32):
year when they reach free agency, with a salary that
is determined by making an average of the one hundred
and twenty five highest paid players in MLB. If a
team gives a qualifying offer to a player who then
signs elsewhere, that team becomes eligible for a draft pick
compensation in the following year's draft. The qualifying offer system
(21:55):
has existed since twenty twelve to help protect teams from
using their best talent to bigger markets, and there is
no bigger market than Los Angeles. On top of that,
through twenty twenty three, only thirteen of the one hundred
and thirty one total players who received a qualifying offer
(22:16):
had ever accepted it. Twenty one point zero five million
dollars is a ton of money, but it would be
a pay cut for Tao after the best season of
his career on the biggest possible stage, when he helped
his team win the World Series. And we all know
that Tao is looking for a multi year deal, and
(22:38):
of course other teams are expressing their interest in our Tao.
It's basically a foregone conclusion that he'll turn down the
qualifying offer. But what are the chances that Tao stays
on this team. We've already gotten some clues early on
in the off season. During the annual General Manager meetings
(23:01):
in San Antonio, Texas last week, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes
told the media that in order to bolster offense, the
team should focus on outfield and Mooki Betts is expected
to return to the infield for twenty twenty five. And
you'll remember from our episode Mooki's Best but the project
(23:22):
of Muki's twenty twenty four season was moving from right
field to shortstop, and that he spent much of his
minor league career at second base. And you know that
after Mooki got hurt last season in June that he
returned to the team to play right field, and there
was no specificity about which position in the infield Mookie
(23:43):
would be taking in twenty twenty five, but in any case,
it opens up a hole in the outfield in right field,
which with left field, is a position that Teoscar Hernandez
played for US in twenty twenty four. The internal options
currently under contract for the Dodgers for all outfield positions,
(24:04):
according to the Athletic are Andy Pajes, who played one
hundred and sixteen games in twenty twenty four as a rookie,
James Outman, who was our opening day center fielder for
the past two seasons but who struggled throughout twenty twenty
four and spent most of the season in the minors.
And Dalton Rushing, a prospect who you might have heard
(24:25):
of as a catcher who finished off the twenty twenty
four season in the minor leagues playing left field. That's it.
I guess this assumes that Chris Taylor CT three and
Tommy Edmond wouldn't be starting every day in the outfield,
although they can play there, and the same logic I
believe extends to keik, although Kei k is also not
(24:46):
under contract, all the more reason to re sign Tao.
Then there's the possibility that the Dodgers sign Juan Soto,
the twenty six year old sensation who spent the twenty
twenty four season with the New York Yankees, and before
that was on the Padres, and before that was on
the Nationals. The kid who shuffles in the box, whose
(25:09):
position is right field, who's looking for a contract of
five hundred, six hundred or seven hundred million dollars. The
Dodgers have been said to be speaking to Sodo, but
the New York teams, both the Yankees and the Mets,
are rumored to be the heavy favorites for Soto's contract.
Sources have told reporters at The Athletic that four other
(25:32):
Major League teams have expressed quote some level of interest
and had conversations with Tao, whose price tag for a
multi year deal would be not insignificant, but nowhere near
what Wan Soto is looking for. We're looking at over
eight figures, were looking at that. He's going to get
a good deal.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I know his age story two, but if you look
at him, his body he plays like he's younger.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
That's real money, real money. Eight figures one two, the
Comma two, Commas whatever. All of these numbers are obscene.
Tao is not only a huge element of the heart
and soul of this team, his bat did so much
to bring home a world championship to Los Angeles in
(26:16):
twenty twenty four. Yeah, what can I do for you?
Rod You just tell me what can.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I do for you for you?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Show me the money, Jerry, show me the money. This
is kind of a weird time of year for baseball
when agents and owners step into the limelight for a
moment while the players nurse their postseason hangovers, rest up
poolside and cabo, or spend a precious few moments with
their children. But us baseball documentarians, well, we're huddled up
(26:44):
around the proverbial hot stove with our eyes on the prize.
We'll be sure to let you know what happens here
with Roki Sasaki and of course Tao. That's it for
this edition of Dodger Blue Dream. Thank you for listening.
(27:04):
Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced by me Richard Parks,
the Thid. This episode was story edited by Caitlin esh.
Original music in this episode by William Bryan Fritch, Jonathan Snipes,
the Blasting Company, and by Me. Special thanks to Elizabeth Parks,
Kibbie and Jordan Bass. You know, the Los Angeles Dodgers
(27:26):
have yet to not win a world series title during
the years that I've produced Dodger Blue Dream. Maybe it's
time we start talking about my contract. That's why we
set up a Patreon Patreon dot com slash Dodger Blue Dream.
My initial goal is fifty contributions and I need your help.
(27:47):
Thanks again for listening.
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