December 8, 2025 • 34 mins
Day 1 of the MLB Winter Meetings are here and Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas are breaking down all the latest news and rumors involving the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Are the Dodgers planning for a slower offseason (1:30)? The hosts dissect the words of Dave Roberts, Andrew Friedman, and Brandon Gomes. And what does Teoscar Hernandez's future look like in LA (7:35)? The Dodgers shared some insight into the situation.
Plus, World Series champion Alex Call joins to talk about his postseason run with LA (12:57), heading to Toronto down 3 games to 2 in the Fall Classic, what he's working on this offseason and more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's a tough one because there's so many special moments,
there's so many memories that are lifetime memories, you know.
But the first one that comes to my head is.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everybody, and welcome to a live edition on this Monday,
December eighth of Dodgers Territory. Alana Rizzo Clint to see
us a little bit later today because it is winter meetings.
We wanted to make sure that we were on top
of things, that things were current, things were updated. Thanks
for being here. You guys were happy to be back
on this Monday. Greatest five stars. Thanks for being here.
(00:41):
Like us, subscribe, still trying to get to fifteen thousand subs.
Would love to get there before Christmas, which is not
that far away.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So let's do it.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You can subscribe on YouTube anywhere that you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
We will be just to.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Just past thirteen.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I know, but can we do two?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Can we do two thousand more in a couple of weeks?
I don't know, but I think we can. I think
we can try. We can definitely try. And I implore
you guys to tell your friends, tell your peeps.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I'm psyched.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Alex call outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers will be
joining us momentarily. Again, one of the things Andrew Friedman
was emphasizing is the need to shore up the outfield.
We'll get into that momentarily. So Alex is going to
be here in just a few minutes. But it is
Winter Meetings time, Clint, let's get to it in the
big ticket, all.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Right, So what's going on so far?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And you know what, it's actually not a ton But Clint, honestly,
we knew this was kind of be the case, right,
like Dave Roberts addressing the media on day one saying, listen,
we don't need to be exceptionally active.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
What do you read from that?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean this is something I'm happy to know
that I've been kind of already putting this out there
for you know, the weeks since the Dodgers went and
won there back to back will World Series title.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
There maya look at that roster. It's a very good roster.
We'll eventually get to the point where I'm starting to
roll here.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
It's a very good roster. They don't need a lot
of work. This was something we you know, the more
you break it down, the more you look at what's
available and and you know some of the bigger names
like do the Dodgers really need a Cody Bellinger? Do
they really need a Kyle Tucker. No, they have a
lot of talent. We have talked about Alta. They need
some bouncebacks from guys like tai Oscar Hernandez unless it
gets traded.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
We'll talk about that a little in a little bit,
but they need to bounce back from him.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
They need a healthy season from somebody like Tommy Edmund.
They need a full and complete season and into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
For Andy paj has.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
Maybe more of an A season than a B season
for Freddy Freeman. But all those guys, they're all capable
of stepping up. The starting rotation is great. The bullpen
is going to be pretty good as long as some
of like the younger dudes and the guys coming back
from injury kind of work out. So yeah, there's not
a lot of heavy lifting. There's no real big splash
(03:02):
needed for this team.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Now.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Would it be fun to land Kyle Tucker, for sure.
I'm sure Dodgers fans would love to be winning the
off season and all the headlines again, but they don't
need to And that is what we have what I
have been preaching for the last month and change.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I don't know that it's the Kyle Tucker, but
I understand what you're saying. It's always fun to be like, oh, wow,
the Dodgers won the off season, right, the Dodgers won
Winter Meetings because they signed X player. But I don't
think we need that this year. And Andrew Friedman Clint
on the eve of Winter Meetings started starting, which was today,
but on Sunday, Andrew Friedman, president of Baseball Operations, was
(03:41):
saying listen. He kind of doubled down, saying, listen, we
don't need to do much. We're going to keep a
lower profile than the last two off seasons, saying there's
not as much heavy lifting required this winter, and there
really isn't. This is obviously from a Bill Plunkett friend
of the program. He does a great job covering the
Dodgers for the OC Register. I think we feel good
about the team, which is, by the way, the biggest
(04:03):
Andrew Friedman cliche. I think we feel really good about
the team we have as we sit here today. Abby,
I interjected the Abby, So it's not as much heavy
lifting required. That being said, we're going to stay open
minded opportunities that present themselves. That's saying a lot without
saying anything, and that basically means, like, we like our team, right,
And I truly believe that he believes that. I believe
(04:24):
that they like their team.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And what's not to like.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think you throw this team out there on opening
day and you're feeling pretty dang good about your chances. Again,
this is a team that's built for October, right, we
don't necessarily care about March twenty eighth to whatever it is,
September thirty, if you care about October. But he did say,
Clint that figuring out the outfield is a top priority.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
So what do you interpret that to mean?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
I interpret that to mean, and even that first quote
from Friedman there, I interpret that to mean that they
are definitely keeping their options open.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Whether they're is a.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Clear and obvious advantage to trading away Taioscar Hernandez or
moving him to left field, which is another one of
the things that Dave Roberts had said is on the table.
But actually I want to go back to that first quote.
You know, we're open minded to opportunities that present themselves.
Another vintage Andrew Friedman type of line. He did continue,
We're not going to force anything, and it could be
(05:23):
an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
For the guys that they have.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
You know, they're spending time kind of identifying the strength
that they have on the roster as it is and
trying to quote figure out the optimal configuration.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
For our position player groups.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
That also comes from Andrew Friedman via Bill Plunkett and
the Ortone County Register. Bill does a great job, of course,
as you all know, covering the Dodgers. But yeah, the outfield,
whether it is being figured out internally or through some
sort of move, you know, I don't think ta Oscar
Hernandez is going to be traded. They even continued on
(05:58):
with that idea as well, Brandon Gome saying, like you
never say never on these kind of things. It's not
something they anticipate. It would seem dumb if we're saying here,
Alana that figuring out the outfield is kind of like
the top priority. It would seem counterintuitive to trade away
and say Oscar Hernandez.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So well, you're also hoping, yeah, I get you, I
get you on that, but you're also hoping that Tao
has the bounce back year, right, and doesn't have the
twenty twenty five season necessarily has more of that twenty
twenty four season that left us all screaming from the
mountaintops that we better bring this dude back right because
he was so valuable. And again, like you, I don't
(06:40):
know what that necessarily looks like. I think the Dodgers
could use a bona fide center fielder. I don't know
who that is, but you definitely want to bounce back
season from Tao. You're expecting Andy Pajes, who I believe
is his birthday today, Happy birthday, Andy.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Pause.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
You're hoping that he continues to develop. Obviously, he made
tremendous improvements over the course of the year, but he's
gonna have to take it to the next level. And
then you figure out left field, right, whether that's an
Andy call or whether that's a Ryan Ward, or whether
that's like you move, you move, you know, you move
Tommy Edmund to I don't know, I don't know what
(07:17):
we're doing, but that's that's it.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Yeah, I think that's a big factor there. You mentioned
the Tommy Edmund factor. If if Edmund coming off of
this ankle surgery which he had, I think last week
two weeks ago. If he comes back and is healthy
enough to maybe slot in and be the center fielder.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And I think this was kind.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Of people saw the doc talk the davism of you know,
right now the tasker Hernandez is my starting right fielder
right now. It's more so that I think the question
to him was could he be moved to left field
rather than he be traded? And I think that might
have been part of the clip that I put in here. Yeah,
a move to left field could happen depending on how
(07:57):
things shake out. And I think, yeah, that is the
Tommy Edmunds sort of fat If he can figure out
how to be healthy and and hit consistently over the
core course of a season with a healthy ankle, he
could be the center fielder. You slide Andy pat Has
over to rit tay Oscar to left. There's also the
Ryan Ward factor, which I will bring up again.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Uh yeah, I want you and.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I get it.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I'm learning more about him thanks to you.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You're big on the You're big on the pipeline guys
and the farm guys, and I appreciate that because I'm
not as well versed. But I mean, this guy is
making a name for himself, right, So do I feel
super confident that Ryan Ward would be our starting left fielder.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Maybe not, But maybe I don't know enough about the dude.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I mean, this is the Los Angeles Daughters we're talking about, right,
So it's like we'll see. But I do I do
like the fact that, like we're nitpicking everything at this point.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, because we have that, we have the ability to do.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
My favorite part is and yes, there's like a Terrek
Scoogl rumor out there.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I don't really want to waste our time about that today.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
You know, let's get through the Winter Meetings. We'll be
back on live on Thursday. Katie Wu will be joining
us from the Winter meetings, and I'm sure we'll have
a little bit more of an idea of the reality
of the Tigers trading away their ace.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I know.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Ken was Ken Rosenthal, your co host on Fair Territory
every Thursday most Thursdays. As long as you're around, he
was advocating for the Tigers.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I was getting an award this week. Okay, That's why
I wasn't around.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
How dare you?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And by the way, we're flipping it to Friday this
week because of Kent because of Ken's schedule.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
So don't throw me under the bus, big guy.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You know what, I'm not gonna say anything. Alanta is perfect,
a Lota is wonderful.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
But the point I want to make before we get
to welcoming Alex call very much looking forward to that conversation.
But with Ryan Ward, yes, it is not an ideal
situation to have a rookie who has never even had
a cup of coffee as your everyday left field er.
I understand that, and that's where I do think they
eventually end up put me on the screen for now.
(10:01):
Eventually do end up landing us some sort of veteran.
Bob Nightingale had mentioned Harrison Baiter as somebody the Dodgers
are kind of kicking the tires on.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
They have been linked to him often.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
But with Ryan Ward, quickly I put the numbers up
for the third and final time every year.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Look at that.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
The Homers increase the runs batted in, they increase the strikeouts, decrease.
He is putting in the work. He's gotten better as
a defender in the outfield. One of the another one
of the things that that Andrew had said in his
conversation with Bill Plunkett was like, at some point, we
(10:36):
need to look to inject some youth, inject some of
the pipeline guys, the younger players into.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The our team. And I understand that. I mean that,
aren't we all getting older?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Aren't we all day to day as Vin used to say,
But like, yes, this team is aging, right, Like I
get it. Like if you look at your major stars,
I mean, Freddy, Mookie, you know we're they are, they're
getting older.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So I can understand the need to want to interject
some younger, younger talents in there.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
So we'll see, we'll see how it plays out. I
get it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
A ton more to come up on Dodgers Territory. We're
going to talk to Alex call here momentarily. But don't
forget guys, support the show. We appreciate it so much.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
The store is open and.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Holidays are right around the corner. I hope everybody had
a good Thanksgiving. We've talked to you since then. But Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah,
all the things they're coming up. We want you guys
to support our show, or I'm going to ask you
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Speaker 3 (11:46):
You can save.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You can get some really cool stuff. The stuff is legit,
like Clint just got a beanie, I got a hoodie.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It's good stuff. We appreciate that. All right, We're gonna
take a quick break. Always a privilege when we get
to have a Los Angeles Dodger on the show, and
that is Alex call today outfielder for your Los Angeles
Dodgers World Series winner and outfielder.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Thanks so much, Alex for being with us. We appreciate it.
We're going to take you back for a moment other
than winning the World Series.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
What was your favorite moment of being on this team
and being a Dodger?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Ah Man, thanks for having me, guys. That's a that's
a tough one because there's so many special moments. There's
so many memories that are lifetime memories, you know. But
the first one that comes to my head is is
Kershaw's last start of just being able to you know,
watch his career, be a fan, look up to him,
(12:42):
you know, as a as a Christian athlete as well,
and just be able to see the fans interact and
have like the emotion that they had, knowing it was
his last start. So just being able to be a
part of that and you know, give him a nice
hat tip for the last time in his career, that
was really special. And you know, seeing his press conference
(13:05):
and just how much he cares about the organization and
all of his teammates was a really cool moment.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Yeah, having that opportunity to spend the last couple of
months with you know, bona fide certified Hall of Famer,
that has to be pretty cool. Understanding that those boys,
obviously everybody there wants to win that ring, wants to
bring that trophy home for themselves, but very unselfishly, I
know how much those gentlemen wanted to bring that trophy
home for twenty two one last time. Yeah, World Series
(13:36):
Champion man pretty cool. Has that whole thing kind of
sunk in obviously? I know you've been part of the
group's bouncing around. You visited the Lakers, you visited the Kings.
Has that whole thing kind of sunk in for you?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I mean, it's just an amazing feeling. I still feel
like I'm on top of the world, just enjoying it all.
I mean, could be a once in a lifetime thing.
Hopefully we can do it again next year. But just
to go from Washington, traded over at the deadline and
all of a sudden, you know, world Series champion. You
got to take advantage of everything that they're thrown at
you and soak it all in, just be fully president
(14:11):
in the moment, and yeah, praise God. It's just been
an amazing run. It's been an amazing experience and couldn't
have asked to do with a better group of guys either.
They were really welcoming for me and just made me
feel part of the team and made it easy to
be myself and compete for it all.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You know, you bring up a good point. I want
to ask you about that. You said, you know it
might only be one time. There are guys that have
played many years in this great game of ouris Alex
that never get to touch a World Series trophy, They
never get to win it. So what was the vibe
like when you come over from Washington. Obviously this is
a veteran group of guys, been there, done that, But
what was the vibe like and how much of what
(14:54):
you just said, hey, don't take this for granted.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
How much of that was a message?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, honestly, the vibe was it was
a little bit, I wouldn't say, maybe just a little
bit nervousy because when I got there, we weren't playing
our best ball by any means. You know. The Tampa
Bay series was my first series, and I was like,
(15:20):
from afar, it's like, Oh, I know, the Dodgers, they're
gonna figure it out. They're gonna once everybody comes back healthy,
it's just gonna be a matter of time and they're
gonna start rolling. But when I got into the building,
it was like, yeah, we're kind of going through it
right now. And I think the confidence was always there
that we're gonna figure it out. You know, we've been here,
done that. But it definitely took a little bit of time.
(15:40):
And even the first month that I was there, we
were right about five hundred and so there was never
any panic though, because again, there's just so many great players.
There's so many good guys that the back of their
baseball card is so incredible that you just know it's
it's just a matter of time. And so it was
really fun to just kind of see them lock it in,
(16:05):
dial it up a notch if you will. And as
we get into the playoffs even it was just like, hey,
we expect to be here, we expect to move on,
we expect to keep going. And you know, then when
we got to the World Series, that was like, Okay,
now we're finally here where we expect to be and
then let's win it all. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
I love hearing that perspective from you, because that's something
particularly Alana and I trying to preach to fans all
throughout the season, people complaining about, you know, oh, they're
not out here winning one hundred and sixty two. You know,
you're gonna go through these these dry spells. You're gonna
go through points where people just plainly aren't hitting the
baseball or not throwing the baseball particularly well. But this
(16:44):
is a team where it doesn't really matter. But when's
sixty two, yeah it's important to some degree, but we're
gonna make it to the postseason. Chances are this club
is good enough to make it to the World Series.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
And you know, it is cool to understand.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Like you got that, like immediately, you get that you're
only there for a couple of months and you're able
to kind of see that that that mindset from this club,
they're going to turn it on when they need to.
That said, there are some weird points obviously. You guys,
you lose the final two games at home in.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
That World Series.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
There you're head into Toronto down three two three two.
What were the vibes kind of like on that flight
to Toronto? And how important was I'm gonna call it
that sniper that took down Dave Roberts race racing Hesseng Kim.
How important was that to kind of get the you know,
the juices going again, get everybody loose and ready to
win those final two in Toronto.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, I mean it was, it was. It was Obviously,
this is the highest stakes, this is the World Series,
and we are in a can't lose situation. But I
think how I was feeling how the guys are feeling.
It's like, look, if you told us at the beginning
of the year, we're gonna be two wins away from
a World Series, all we have to do is win
(17:57):
two games in a row, you know, and it's like, well,
I'd say up for that, you know, opportunity. I think
we can do that and that was that was it.
It's like, we don't have to do anything crazy. We
have to win two games in a row. You know,
that's all it is. And uh, you know, then we
get to Toronto and we have our practice and and
I just I don't even know where it came up
(18:17):
from or what happened, but I was like, what is
he doing? And then like he started running on the inside.
I'm like because at first I was like, Okay, this
is going to be a real race. He's like going
with a little bit of a head start, and all
of a sudden he gets on and down he goes.
It was just so funny.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
It was just what a he loving it right there
by the way.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It was just like there was nothing you could do
except hysterically laugh. And then he gets up that's right,
and he had like a hamstring like pull and that
was he wasn't faking that. That was completely legit because
he was like halfway through the race, he was like, oh,
like this is real, Like I got to beat Kim
right here, turn on and he probably hasn't hit that
gear for a while. Just oh, it was so funny,
(19:04):
and you know, it was it was just exactly what
we need. We weren't tight, We weren't we weren't, you know, nervous.
It was just like, hey, we got to go out there.
We got the best team. We're gonna go a play
ball and it'll all take care of itself.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yeah, the levity was perfect. It was perfect timing.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
You gotta love Doc's willingness to be that guy and
have some fun. I tell you what, Alex, you made
the most of your opportunities. Nobody gets to play as
much as they want in the postseason unless you're like
a sho Hey Otani or Freddie Freeman or whatever it is,
Clayton Kershaw whenever he wants and that type of stuff.
But four hits, three walks, fifteen plate appearances, a five
point thirty three on base percentage, I mean, you made
(19:42):
the most of every single opportunity. How much pride do
you take and just being able to post number one
and produce number two?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, well, thank you. It's certainly there's a lot of
pride that goes into it, just knowing that you have
to prepare and be ready to help this team. I
mean again, I came over this team and I'm like,
this is the best team. Ever on paper, like I unbelievable,
and the fact that they want me to just kind
of come in and be who I am and take
(20:14):
good at bats and all that stuff like it was
really validating for me, and so I took it and
I'm I have to just keep being who I am,
but I'm going all in and whatever that may be.
Whatever whenever Doc puts my name on the lineup card
or puts me in the game, it's my job to
be ready. It's my job to be focused, and it's
(20:35):
my job to help this team any way that I can.
It doesn't mean I'm always gonna come through, but I
know that every time I step in the box, every
time I'm on the field, I'm gonna be in the
best position to perform because of how I've prepared. And
so I think when you have that confidence and how
you've prepared and how you're ready, then it makes the
game easy to go out there and play and then
(20:57):
trust the process. And in the playoffs, it's a little
bit you know, the process sounds great, but you need results.
So when you get results, it's also, you know, very rewarding.
It takes a little bit of pressure off and you
can just kind of keep the momentum going. So yeah,
really was just excited for every opportunity I had and
(21:18):
put my full attention and focus into every pitch, just
like I always do. But to do it in the
in a setting where this is something you always dream about.
You want to play in the postseason, you want to
play with the highest stakes, and just getting a chance
to compete with the best in the world for a trophy,
it just really really special and you know, grateful to
(21:38):
have the chance to do it.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
You're kind of expanding on the whole idea of playing
time and role and all that kind of stuff. You know,
what would you say, even come from Washington, you weren't
necessarily playing every single day. I'm sure you took a
little bit more of a step back than you anticipated
in LA. But then you look at the other dudes
on the twenty six man roster, many thirteen, you know,
position players. You're like, that's a lot of All Star games,
(22:01):
that's a lot of talent over there. What was the
biggest challenge for you kind of getting you know, into
that mindset of just staying ready. We saw, you know,
Mickey Rose already talked about this offseason. He takes a
couple of weeks off, stays ready, stays in the moment,
and has arguably the two biggest games for this team
in Games six, six and seven for Plakes.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Now, I do the hand thing, But yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
What was that biggest challenge for you in kind of
not really necessarily playing as much as maybe you anticipated
or expected in coming over here regular season and into
the postseason.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, well, like you said, it was, I wasn't playing
every day with Washington, and I kind of knew what
my role was, and then you know, Doc kind of
laid out what the role was going to be as
we were moving forward, and I it just kind of
makes you makes you ready to do whatever. And you know,
(22:55):
kind of when your name's going to be called your name,
when your name's going to be penciled in, you kind
of get a feel for it either way. Yeah, obviously
you'd love to play every day, But again, like you said,
when you look it up and down the lineup, it's like, hey,
I'm cool, just you know, gelling in with these guys
whenever they need me. And obviously I continue to work,
continue to grind to the point where I would love
(23:18):
to be in that lineup. Card every single day. But
that's not up to me. All I can do is
control what I can control, take what they give me,
and then do the very best that I can and
then hope that I get more. I mean, when you
do well, usually you get a little bit more. So
if you perform, if you're ready, that you can only
control when they put you in. You can't control when
(23:39):
they put you in. You can be ready for when
they put you in, and then when you do, if
you're in a good spot, you're able to perform, hopefully
your name gets in there a little bit more. And
so that's kind of the mindset, the approach. You always
want more, but you're content with where you are because
you know, well, one, this is an amazing busting to
be playing this game in the first place, an amazing
busting to be on this best team ever and just
(24:03):
having fun every day, so you want to play, but
at the same time, you just understand that this is
a team. It takes every single person to be ready,
focused and willing to do their job and not and
just have a great attitude at all times. And that's
part about being a team. And so that was, you know,
team first mindset for me. Ready to be a contributor
whenever I need to be, but then always hoping to
(24:26):
perform and then get a little bit more on your plate.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That's all you can do, man, That's all you can
do is do the best that you can and hope
that it's rewarded and have a good attitude and a
good team mindset. Talk about a guy that did his
job and then some Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I don't know if
you heard of him, but my word.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
World Series MVP.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
This guy absolutely shoved, would have you know, taking the
ball at any time. And and it was so funny
when we saw the behind the scenes on backstage.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Dodgers a great crew there.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I'm sports in La going in and following you guys everywhere,
and everyone's like bowing down to Yama and all those things.
From a teammate perspective, Alex and just from a fan
of the game, what is your impression of what he did?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, I mean it was truly remarkable, spectacular, so so cool.
I mean it's just so cool to be a part
of that, to see it. I mean, you're just you're
so nervous in the dugout, like playing through situations in
your head. You know, I'm trying. I'm still available to
go in the game, so I'm trying to just execute
(25:30):
my role. But like you're watching the game go down
and Yoshinobu comes in to you know, clean things up,
and you're like, oh my gosh, like he pitched last night.
He just did all this stuff. And he comes out
there and he throws a ninety two mile hour splitter
like dot it and it's like he that looks the
exact same as it did last night, and uh, it's
(25:51):
just like, how is that possible? Like in today's game,
and you know, guys just don't do that. So and
then to go a few more innings and close it out,
and I mean, on top of his spectacular performances in
all the other series and in Game two, and man,
it was just so much fun to watch. And I
(26:12):
can I just have such an appreciation for what he
did for our team, being willing to go out there
and take the ball warming up in the eighteenth inning
of the eighteen inning game, willing to take the ball there.
You know, just a true professional, great teammate, competitor, and
you know, one of the best. So it was it
was just an all time postseason and all time performance
(26:35):
and everybody was blessed to be able to watch that.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Yeah, I mean, obviously you got to have some people
step up to win a World Series. My sweet word,
did Yoshi step up for this team and for the fans,
for everybody to go back to back for him and
get somebody like you a ring much deserved all that.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
You know, you talk about talk about role, we talk
about playing time, We talk about now trying to run
it back. What sort of things are you working on
to be ready for that twenty twenty six season.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Obviously we still.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Don't know quite what the roster looks like, but right
now you're penciled into that starting lineup.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
What are you working on? How you trying to get better?
Speaker 5 (27:14):
What sort of communication have you had with the club
about you know, what things are looking like heading towards
spring training.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just focused on being the best
that I can be. Whatever however they choose to use
me is up to them. But I'll be ready. I'll
be focused, and I'm working on just getting you know, bigger, faster, stronger,
continuing to have great discipline of the plate. Take my strengths,
keep them strengths. Look at my you know, areas where
(27:44):
I can improve, you know, for me, I think advantage
counts on the offensive side is something where I can
maybe be a little bit more aggressive. And I think
I was one of the best two strike hitters in
baseball last year. So keep that because that's the toughest thing.
But then a little bit more, you know, a little
bit more aggressive in those advantage counts, not you know,
(28:05):
staying within myself, but having a plan and an approach to,
you know, try to drive the ball a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I wanted to say happy sixth wedding anniversary to you,
Alex and your beautiful wife, Samantha. I'm a little concerned though,
that you're sitting in the car. Is there a reason
that you have to sit in the car? Is she
upset with you? Is it quiet in there because your
son is in the house. I mean, what are we
doing in the car?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Alex?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
That's exactly right. I was thinking, you know, where is
the best spot for me to have. You know, I
love my son, He loves me, He loves playing with Daddy.
As soon as Daddy comes in the door, it's time
for daddy to play. So Daddy's not quite in the
door yet, so time a little bit, and I figured
this would be the most peaceful area that I could
(28:53):
have an uninterrupted interview for at least a few minutes
before It's daddy duty.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
Well Daddy, Yeah, yeah, we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Happy anniversary, Alex and Sam.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Thanks you, guys, guys, we appreciate I'm gonna call him.
That's Daddy. Now make that the official nickname. Fans, It
is Daddy for twenty twenty six. There you might see
Daddy as your opening day leffiucky. Now it feels weird
saying it, but Alex, we very much appreciate the time.
That is a World Series Champion, Alex call. Best of
luck in from the rest of the off season, best
luck in spring training. Looking forward to catching you at
(29:29):
Camelback sometime in.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
All right, thank you guys, appreciate you having me time.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
All right, Alex, Merry Christmas. Thanks for the time.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Appreciate you guys, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
That is Alex call. World Series Champion, Alana, what do
you say? From here we get to last licks.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
All right, guys, I'm a little bummed about this one
because this is Lula Bean.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
We really thought we had.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
An adopter for her in North Dakota, and that adoptive
family was not able to fulfill their promise because their
senior dog ended up having a seizure today and they
didn't want to bring in any additional stress. We totally
get that their senior dog, their resident dog, Jack, is
the utmost priority right now. So Lula Bean needs an adopter.
(30:19):
She's a great dog, guys. She's a border Collie Shepherd mix.
She's about a year and a half, maybe two years old,
probably not even too She is a tripod. She had
a very bad broken back leg and after consulting a
couple of different vets, it best to ampute amputate the leg.
But I tell you what, she gets along just great.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
She's a great tripod. She's smart as a whip, good girl.
She needs an adopter. Please please please consider sharing Lula Bean.
She's being fostered in Crestline, California, but we need a
forever home for her. All right, So all Dodgers with
Clint Passias, I'm imagining you're talking more about winter meetings.
(31:02):
What's going on right after us tonight?
Speaker 3 (31:03):
What are you doing?
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Yeah, yeah, myself, Jeff Snyder. We're gonna be live as
soon as we are wrapped up here, pretty much. I
technically schedule it for six thirty five Pacific time, but yeah,
you know what. There we're gonna address a little bit
this Trek Schoople thing and how people are trying to
link him to the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
I don't know how Jeff feels about it.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
We'll have that conversation and more things about what right
now means coming out of Dave Roberts' mouth when it
comes to taoscar Hernandez as the everyday right fielder. So
guys tube in right after Elana and I wrap here
a Dodger's territory.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Yes, and Clinton. I will be back again live on Thursday.
Unless something magnanimous happens, will be live before then. But
a baseball thought for the road before we say goodbye.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
This was so much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We know that Freddie Freeman, of course, Dodgers first baseman, MVP,
all of the things, has Canadian roots. His mom is
from Canada. His mom who passed away from cancer, is
from Canada, so he has a lot of ties to Canada.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
And also, of course he is our.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Guy right the Toronto Blue Jays played the Los Angeles
Dodgers in the World Series. So Ryan Reynolds does something
every single year for sick kids, and Freddy Freeman is
a good sport and he wanted to do this commercial
for sick kids for the children's hospital there in Toronto,
and the kids just gave Freddy Freeman the business, just
(32:26):
gave him the business.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
He was such a good sport. The kids were great.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Go back to Sunshine and traffic, You hoser, you ruined everything.
And it's so awesome both Ryan Reynolds of course and
Freddy Freeman, the kiddos, sick kids there in Toronto. What
a great campaign, What a great opportunity they were taking
in fundraisers up to a million dollars.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
That was the amount that was going to be matched.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So good on Freddy Freeman, Good on Ryan Reynolds, good
on Toronto, good on the kiddos, good on all of it.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
What a fun thing.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Yeah, I love Freddie being able to kind of play
around with it.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Obviously he's not the funniest dude, but he's a funny
dude and having some fun with that is awesome. As
long as they are finding a way to raise for
charity and all that kind of stuff. Before we do
take off, snide Ogg is in the chat and he
says a disrespect for the with Clint Pacys part.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Listen, listen, you're still new here, my guy.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
But guys, we appreciate you hanging out with us here
on this kind of half live, half unlive.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Edition of Dodgers Territory. We are here.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
We waited up, but we appreciate Alex call taking some
time on his anniversary to hang.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Out with us. He was not in the doghouse. He
was trying to be.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Dead it is he was trying to do He was
trying to do us a solid and have a quiet interview.
All right, So make sure you guys tune into All
Dodgers with Clint Pasius.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
It's on now.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Don't forget to smash the subscribe button for us here
on Dodgers' Territory, trying.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
To get to fifteen thousand subs.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
We appreciate you, guys very much. Clinton I will be
back on Thursday, and don't forget to check out Dodgers'
Territory shop dot com for all your cool stuff. We
will see you then, guys, Thanks so much for
That's a tough one because there's so many special moments,
there's so many memories that are lifetime memories, you know.
But the first one that comes to my head is.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello everybody, and welcome to a live edition on this Monday,
December eighth of Dodgers Territory. Alana Rizzo Clint to see
us a little bit later today because it is winter meetings.
We wanted to make sure that we were on top
of things, that things were current, things were updated. Thanks
for being here. You guys were happy to be back
on this Monday. Greatest five stars. Thanks for being here.
(00:41):
Like us, subscribe, still trying to get to fifteen thousand subs.
Would love to get there before Christmas, which is not
that far away.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So let's do it.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
You can subscribe on YouTube anywhere that you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
We will be just to.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Just past thirteen.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I know, but can we do two?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Can we do two thousand more in a couple of weeks?
I don't know, but I think we can. I think
we can try. We can definitely try. And I implore
you guys to tell your friends, tell your peeps.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
I'm psyched.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Alex call outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers will be
joining us momentarily. Again, one of the things Andrew Friedman
was emphasizing is the need to shore up the outfield.
We'll get into that momentarily. So Alex is going to
be here in just a few minutes. But it is
Winter Meetings time, Clint, let's get to it in the
big ticket, all.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Right, So what's going on so far?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And you know what, it's actually not a ton But Clint, honestly,
we knew this was kind of be the case, right,
like Dave Roberts addressing the media on day one saying, listen,
we don't need to be exceptionally active.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
What do you read from that?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean this is something I'm happy to know
that I've been kind of already putting this out there
for you know, the weeks since the Dodgers went and
won there back to back will World Series title.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
There maya look at that roster. It's a very good roster.
We'll eventually get to the point where I'm starting to
roll here.
Speaker 5 (02:06):
It's a very good roster. They don't need a lot
of work. This was something we you know, the more
you break it down, the more you look at what's
available and and you know some of the bigger names
like do the Dodgers really need a Cody Bellinger? Do
they really need a Kyle Tucker. No, they have a
lot of talent. We have talked about Alta. They need
some bouncebacks from guys like tai Oscar Hernandez unless it
gets traded.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
We'll talk about that a little in a little bit,
but they need to bounce back from him.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
They need a healthy season from somebody like Tommy Edmund.
They need a full and complete season and into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
For Andy paj has.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
Maybe more of an A season than a B season
for Freddy Freeman. But all those guys, they're all capable
of stepping up. The starting rotation is great. The bullpen
is going to be pretty good as long as some
of like the younger dudes and the guys coming back
from injury kind of work out. So yeah, there's not
a lot of heavy lifting. There's no real big splash
(03:02):
needed for this team.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Now.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Would it be fun to land Kyle Tucker, for sure.
I'm sure Dodgers fans would love to be winning the
off season and all the headlines again, but they don't
need to And that is what we have what I
have been preaching for the last month and change.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I don't know that it's the Kyle Tucker, but
I understand what you're saying. It's always fun to be like, oh, wow,
the Dodgers won the off season, right, the Dodgers won
Winter Meetings because they signed X player. But I don't
think we need that this year. And Andrew Friedman Clint
on the eve of Winter Meetings started starting, which was today,
but on Sunday, Andrew Friedman, president of Baseball Operations, was
(03:41):
saying listen. He kind of doubled down, saying, listen, we
don't need to do much. We're going to keep a
lower profile than the last two off seasons, saying there's
not as much heavy lifting required this winter, and there
really isn't. This is obviously from a Bill Plunkett friend
of the program. He does a great job covering the
Dodgers for the OC Register. I think we feel good
about the team, which is, by the way, the biggest
(04:03):
Andrew Friedman cliche. I think we feel really good about
the team we have as we sit here today. Abby,
I interjected the Abby, So it's not as much heavy
lifting required. That being said, we're going to stay open
minded opportunities that present themselves. That's saying a lot without
saying anything, and that basically means, like, we like our team, right,
And I truly believe that he believes that. I believe
(04:24):
that they like their team.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And what's not to like.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I think you throw this team out there on opening
day and you're feeling pretty dang good about your chances. Again,
this is a team that's built for October, right, we
don't necessarily care about March twenty eighth to whatever it is,
September thirty, if you care about October. But he did say,
Clint that figuring out the outfield is a top priority.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
So what do you interpret that to mean?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
I interpret that to mean, and even that first quote
from Friedman there, I interpret that to mean that they
are definitely keeping their options open.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Whether they're is a.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Clear and obvious advantage to trading away Taioscar Hernandez or
moving him to left field, which is another one of
the things that Dave Roberts had said is on the table.
But actually I want to go back to that first quote.
You know, we're open minded to opportunities that present themselves.
Another vintage Andrew Friedman type of line. He did continue,
We're not going to force anything, and it could be
(05:23):
an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
For the guys that they have.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
You know, they're spending time kind of identifying the strength
that they have on the roster as it is and
trying to quote figure out the optimal configuration.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
For our position player groups.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
That also comes from Andrew Friedman via Bill Plunkett and
the Ortone County Register. Bill does a great job, of course,
as you all know, covering the Dodgers. But yeah, the outfield,
whether it is being figured out internally or through some
sort of move, you know, I don't think ta Oscar
Hernandez is going to be traded. They even continued on
(05:58):
with that idea as well, Brandon Gome saying, like you
never say never on these kind of things. It's not
something they anticipate. It would seem dumb if we're saying here,
Alana that figuring out the outfield is kind of like
the top priority. It would seem counterintuitive to trade away
and say Oscar Hernandez.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So well, you're also hoping, yeah, I get you, I
get you on that, but you're also hoping that Tao
has the bounce back year, right, and doesn't have the
twenty twenty five season necessarily has more of that twenty
twenty four season that left us all screaming from the
mountaintops that we better bring this dude back right because
he was so valuable. And again, like you, I don't
(06:40):
know what that necessarily looks like. I think the Dodgers
could use a bona fide center fielder. I don't know
who that is, but you definitely want to bounce back
season from Tao. You're expecting Andy Pajes, who I believe
is his birthday today, Happy birthday, Andy.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Pause.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
You're hoping that he continues to develop. Obviously, he made
tremendous improvements over the course of the year, but he's
gonna have to take it to the next level. And
then you figure out left field, right, whether that's an
Andy call or whether that's a Ryan Ward, or whether
that's like you move, you move, you know, you move
Tommy Edmund to I don't know, I don't know what
(07:17):
we're doing, but that's that's it.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Yeah, I think that's a big factor there. You mentioned
the Tommy Edmund factor. If if Edmund coming off of
this ankle surgery which he had, I think last week
two weeks ago. If he comes back and is healthy
enough to maybe slot in and be the center fielder.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
And I think this was kind.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Of people saw the doc talk the davism of you know,
right now the tasker Hernandez is my starting right fielder
right now. It's more so that I think the question
to him was could he be moved to left field
rather than he be traded? And I think that might
have been part of the clip that I put in here. Yeah,
a move to left field could happen depending on how
(07:57):
things shake out. And I think, yeah, that is the
Tommy Edmunds sort of fat If he can figure out
how to be healthy and and hit consistently over the
core course of a season with a healthy ankle, he
could be the center fielder. You slide Andy pat Has
over to rit tay Oscar to left. There's also the
Ryan Ward factor, which I will bring up again.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Uh yeah, I want you and.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I get it.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I'm learning more about him thanks to you.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You're big on the You're big on the pipeline guys
and the farm guys, and I appreciate that because I'm
not as well versed. But I mean, this guy is
making a name for himself, right, So do I feel
super confident that Ryan Ward would be our starting left fielder.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Maybe not, But maybe I don't know enough about the dude.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I mean, this is the Los Angeles Daughters we're talking about, right,
So it's like we'll see. But I do I do
like the fact that, like we're nitpicking everything at this point.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, because we have that, we have the ability to do.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
My favorite part is and yes, there's like a Terrek
Scoogl rumor out there.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I don't really want to waste our time about that today.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
You know, let's get through the Winter Meetings. We'll be
back on live on Thursday. Katie Wu will be joining
us from the Winter meetings, and I'm sure we'll have
a little bit more of an idea of the reality
of the Tigers trading away their ace.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I know.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Ken was Ken Rosenthal, your co host on Fair Territory
every Thursday most Thursdays. As long as you're around, he
was advocating for the Tigers.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I was getting an award this week. Okay, That's why
I wasn't around.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
How dare you?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And by the way, we're flipping it to Friday this
week because of Kent because of Ken's schedule.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
So don't throw me under the bus, big guy.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You know what, I'm not gonna say anything. Alanta is perfect,
a Lota is wonderful.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
But the point I want to make before we get
to welcoming Alex call very much looking forward to that conversation.
But with Ryan Ward, yes, it is not an ideal
situation to have a rookie who has never even had
a cup of coffee as your everyday left field er.
I understand that, and that's where I do think they
eventually end up put me on the screen for now.
(10:01):
Eventually do end up landing us some sort of veteran.
Bob Nightingale had mentioned Harrison Baiter as somebody the Dodgers
are kind of kicking the tires on.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
They have been linked to him often.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
But with Ryan Ward, quickly I put the numbers up
for the third and final time every year.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Look at that.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
The Homers increase the runs batted in, they increase the strikeouts, decrease.
He is putting in the work. He's gotten better as
a defender in the outfield. One of the another one
of the things that that Andrew had said in his
conversation with Bill Plunkett was like, at some point, we
(10:36):
need to look to inject some youth, inject some of
the pipeline guys, the younger players into.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
The our team. And I understand that. I mean that,
aren't we all getting older?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Aren't we all day to day as Vin used to say,
But like, yes, this team is aging, right, Like I
get it. Like if you look at your major stars,
I mean, Freddy, Mookie, you know we're they are, they're
getting older.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So I can understand the need to want to interject
some younger, younger talents in there.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
So we'll see, we'll see how it plays out. I
get it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
A ton more to come up on Dodgers Territory. We're
going to talk to Alex call here momentarily. But don't
forget guys, support the show. We appreciate it so much.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
The store is open and.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Holidays are right around the corner. I hope everybody had
a good Thanksgiving. We've talked to you since then. But Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah,
all the things they're coming up. We want you guys
to support our show, or I'm going to ask you
please support us. You can scan the QR code Dodgers
Territory shop dot com, slash promo, slash holiday and use
the code holiday at checkout to save.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
You can save.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You can get some really cool stuff. The stuff is legit,
like Clint just got a beanie, I got a hoodie.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It's good stuff. We appreciate that. All right, We're gonna
take a quick break. Always a privilege when we get
to have a Los Angeles Dodger on the show, and
that is Alex call today outfielder for your Los Angeles
Dodgers World Series winner and outfielder.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Thanks so much, Alex for being with us. We appreciate it.
We're going to take you back for a moment other
than winning the World Series.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
What was your favorite moment of being on this team
and being a Dodger?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Ah Man, thanks for having me, guys. That's a that's
a tough one because there's so many special moments. There's
so many memories that are lifetime memories, you know. But
the first one that comes to my head is is
Kershaw's last start of just being able to you know,
watch his career, be a fan, look up to him,
(12:42):
you know, as a as a Christian athlete as well,
and just be able to see the fans interact and
have like the emotion that they had, knowing it was
his last start. So just being able to be a
part of that and you know, give him a nice
hat tip for the last time in his career, that
was really special. And you know, seeing his press conference
(13:05):
and just how much he cares about the organization and
all of his teammates was a really cool moment.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Yeah, having that opportunity to spend the last couple of
months with you know, bona fide certified Hall of Famer,
that has to be pretty cool. Understanding that those boys,
obviously everybody there wants to win that ring, wants to
bring that trophy home for themselves, but very unselfishly, I
know how much those gentlemen wanted to bring that trophy
home for twenty two one last time. Yeah, World Series
(13:36):
Champion man pretty cool. Has that whole thing kind of
sunk in obviously? I know you've been part of the
group's bouncing around. You visited the Lakers, you visited the Kings.
Has that whole thing kind of sunk in for you?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I mean, it's just an amazing feeling. I still feel
like I'm on top of the world, just enjoying it all.
I mean, could be a once in a lifetime thing.
Hopefully we can do it again next year. But just
to go from Washington, traded over at the deadline and
all of a sudden, you know, world Series champion. You
got to take advantage of everything that they're thrown at
you and soak it all in, just be fully president
(14:11):
in the moment, and yeah, praise God. It's just been
an amazing run. It's been an amazing experience and couldn't
have asked to do with a better group of guys either.
They were really welcoming for me and just made me
feel part of the team and made it easy to
be myself and compete for it all.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
You know, you bring up a good point. I want
to ask you about that. You said, you know it
might only be one time. There are guys that have
played many years in this great game of ouris Alex
that never get to touch a World Series trophy, They
never get to win it. So what was the vibe
like when you come over from Washington. Obviously this is
a veteran group of guys, been there, done that, But
what was the vibe like and how much of what
(14:54):
you just said, hey, don't take this for granted.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
How much of that was a message?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, honestly, the vibe was it was
a little bit, I wouldn't say, maybe just a little
bit nervousy because when I got there, we weren't playing
our best ball by any means. You know. The Tampa
Bay series was my first series, and I was like,
(15:20):
from afar, it's like, Oh, I know, the Dodgers, they're
gonna figure it out. They're gonna once everybody comes back healthy,
it's just gonna be a matter of time and they're
gonna start rolling. But when I got into the building,
it was like, yeah, we're kind of going through it
right now. And I think the confidence was always there
that we're gonna figure it out. You know, we've been here,
done that. But it definitely took a little bit of time.
(15:40):
And even the first month that I was there, we
were right about five hundred and so there was never
any panic though, because again, there's just so many great players.
There's so many good guys that the back of their
baseball card is so incredible that you just know it's
it's just a matter of time. And so it was
really fun to just kind of see them lock it in,
(16:05):
dial it up a notch if you will. And as
we get into the playoffs even it was just like, hey,
we expect to be here, we expect to move on,
we expect to keep going. And you know, then when
we got to the World Series, that was like, Okay,
now we're finally here where we expect to be and
then let's win it all. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
I love hearing that perspective from you, because that's something
particularly Alana and I trying to preach to fans all
throughout the season, people complaining about, you know, oh, they're
not out here winning one hundred and sixty two. You know,
you're gonna go through these these dry spells. You're gonna
go through points where people just plainly aren't hitting the
baseball or not throwing the baseball particularly well. But this
(16:44):
is a team where it doesn't really matter. But when's
sixty two, yeah it's important to some degree, but we're
gonna make it to the postseason. Chances are this club
is good enough to make it to the World Series.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
And you know, it is cool to understand.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Like you got that, like immediately, you get that you're
only there for a couple of months and you're able
to kind of see that that that mindset from this club,
they're going to turn it on when they need to.
That said, there are some weird points obviously. You guys,
you lose the final two games at home in.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
That World Series.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
There you're head into Toronto down three two three two.
What were the vibes kind of like on that flight
to Toronto? And how important was I'm gonna call it
that sniper that took down Dave Roberts race racing Hesseng Kim.
How important was that to kind of get the you know,
the juices going again, get everybody loose and ready to
win those final two in Toronto.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah, I mean it was, it was. It was Obviously,
this is the highest stakes, this is the World Series,
and we are in a can't lose situation. But I
think how I was feeling how the guys are feeling.
It's like, look, if you told us at the beginning
of the year, we're gonna be two wins away from
a World Series, all we have to do is win
(17:57):
two games in a row, you know, and it's like, well,
I'd say up for that, you know, opportunity. I think
we can do that and that was that was it.
It's like, we don't have to do anything crazy. We
have to win two games in a row. You know,
that's all it is. And uh, you know, then we
get to Toronto and we have our practice and and
I just I don't even know where it came up
(18:17):
from or what happened, but I was like, what is
he doing? And then like he started running on the inside.
I'm like because at first I was like, Okay, this
is going to be a real race. He's like going
with a little bit of a head start, and all
of a sudden he gets on and down he goes.
It was just so funny.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
It was just what a he loving it right there
by the way.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It was just like there was nothing you could do
except hysterically laugh. And then he gets up that's right,
and he had like a hamstring like pull and that
was he wasn't faking that. That was completely legit because
he was like halfway through the race, he was like, oh,
like this is real, Like I got to beat Kim
right here, turn on and he probably hasn't hit that
gear for a while. Just oh, it was so funny,
(19:04):
and you know, it was it was just exactly what
we need. We weren't tight, We weren't we weren't, you know, nervous.
It was just like, hey, we got to go out there.
We got the best team. We're gonna go a play
ball and it'll all take care of itself.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yeah, the levity was perfect. It was perfect timing.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
You gotta love Doc's willingness to be that guy and
have some fun. I tell you what, Alex, you made
the most of your opportunities. Nobody gets to play as
much as they want in the postseason unless you're like
a sho Hey Otani or Freddie Freeman or whatever it is,
Clayton Kershaw whenever he wants and that type of stuff.
But four hits, three walks, fifteen plate appearances, a five
point thirty three on base percentage, I mean, you made
(19:42):
the most of every single opportunity. How much pride do
you take and just being able to post number one
and produce number two?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, well, thank you. It's certainly there's a lot of
pride that goes into it, just knowing that you have
to prepare and be ready to help this team. I
mean again, I came over this team and I'm like,
this is the best team. Ever on paper, like I unbelievable,
and the fact that they want me to just kind
of come in and be who I am and take
(20:14):
good at bats and all that stuff like it was
really validating for me, and so I took it and
I'm I have to just keep being who I am,
but I'm going all in and whatever that may be.
Whatever whenever Doc puts my name on the lineup card
or puts me in the game, it's my job to
be ready. It's my job to be focused, and it's
(20:35):
my job to help this team any way that I can.
It doesn't mean I'm always gonna come through, but I
know that every time I step in the box, every
time I'm on the field, I'm gonna be in the
best position to perform because of how I've prepared. And
so I think when you have that confidence and how
you've prepared and how you're ready, then it makes the
game easy to go out there and play and then
(20:57):
trust the process. And in the playoffs, it's a little
bit you know, the process sounds great, but you need results.
So when you get results, it's also, you know, very rewarding.
It takes a little bit of pressure off and you
can just kind of keep the momentum going. So yeah,
really was just excited for every opportunity I had and
(21:18):
put my full attention and focus into every pitch, just
like I always do. But to do it in the
in a setting where this is something you always dream about.
You want to play in the postseason, you want to
play with the highest stakes, and just getting a chance
to compete with the best in the world for a trophy,
it just really really special and you know, grateful to
(21:38):
have the chance to do it.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
You're kind of expanding on the whole idea of playing
time and role and all that kind of stuff. You know,
what would you say, even come from Washington, you weren't
necessarily playing every single day. I'm sure you took a
little bit more of a step back than you anticipated
in LA. But then you look at the other dudes
on the twenty six man roster, many thirteen, you know,
position players. You're like, that's a lot of All Star games,
(22:01):
that's a lot of talent over there. What was the
biggest challenge for you kind of getting you know, into
that mindset of just staying ready. We saw, you know,
Mickey Rose already talked about this offseason. He takes a
couple of weeks off, stays ready, stays in the moment,
and has arguably the two biggest games for this team
in Games six, six and seven for Plakes.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Now, I do the hand thing, But yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
What was that biggest challenge for you in kind of
not really necessarily playing as much as maybe you anticipated
or expected in coming over here regular season and into
the postseason.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, well, like you said, it was, I wasn't playing
every day with Washington, and I kind of knew what
my role was, and then you know, Doc kind of
laid out what the role was going to be as
we were moving forward, and I it just kind of
makes you makes you ready to do whatever. And you know,
(22:55):
kind of when your name's going to be called your name,
when your name's going to be penciled in, you kind
of get a feel for it either way. Yeah, obviously
you'd love to play every day, But again, like you said,
when you look it up and down the lineup, it's like, hey,
I'm cool, just you know, gelling in with these guys
whenever they need me. And obviously I continue to work,
continue to grind to the point where I would love
(23:18):
to be in that lineup. Card every single day. But
that's not up to me. All I can do is
control what I can control, take what they give me,
and then do the very best that I can and
then hope that I get more. I mean, when you
do well, usually you get a little bit more. So
if you perform, if you're ready, that you can only
control when they put you in. You can't control when
(23:39):
they put you in. You can be ready for when
they put you in, and then when you do, if
you're in a good spot, you're able to perform, hopefully
your name gets in there a little bit more. And
so that's kind of the mindset, the approach. You always
want more, but you're content with where you are because
you know, well, one, this is an amazing busting to
be playing this game in the first place, an amazing
busting to be on this best team ever and just
(24:03):
having fun every day, so you want to play, but
at the same time, you just understand that this is
a team. It takes every single person to be ready,
focused and willing to do their job and not and
just have a great attitude at all times. And that's
part about being a team. And so that was, you know,
team first mindset for me. Ready to be a contributor
whenever I need to be, but then always hoping to
(24:26):
perform and then get a little bit more on your plate.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That's all you can do, man, That's all you can
do is do the best that you can and hope
that it's rewarded and have a good attitude and a
good team mindset. Talk about a guy that did his
job and then some Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I don't know if
you heard of him, but my word.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
World Series MVP.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
This guy absolutely shoved, would have you know, taking the
ball at any time. And and it was so funny
when we saw the behind the scenes on backstage.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Dodgers a great crew there.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I'm sports in La going in and following you guys everywhere,
and everyone's like bowing down to Yama and all those things.
From a teammate perspective, Alex and just from a fan
of the game, what is your impression of what he did?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, I mean it was truly remarkable, spectacular, so so cool.
I mean it's just so cool to be a part
of that, to see it. I mean, you're just you're
so nervous in the dugout, like playing through situations in
your head. You know, I'm trying. I'm still available to
go in the game, so I'm trying to just execute
(25:30):
my role. But like you're watching the game go down
and Yoshinobu comes in to you know, clean things up,
and you're like, oh my gosh, like he pitched last night.
He just did all this stuff. And he comes out
there and he throws a ninety two mile hour splitter
like dot it and it's like he that looks the
exact same as it did last night, and uh, it's
(25:51):
just like, how is that possible? Like in today's game,
and you know, guys just don't do that. So and
then to go a few more innings and close it out,
and I mean, on top of his spectacular performances in
all the other series and in Game two, and man,
it was just so much fun to watch. And I
(26:12):
can I just have such an appreciation for what he
did for our team, being willing to go out there
and take the ball warming up in the eighteenth inning
of the eighteen inning game, willing to take the ball there.
You know, just a true professional, great teammate, competitor, and
you know, one of the best. So it was it
was just an all time postseason and all time performance
(26:35):
and everybody was blessed to be able to watch that.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Yeah, I mean, obviously you got to have some people
step up to win a World Series. My sweet word,
did Yoshi step up for this team and for the fans,
for everybody to go back to back for him and
get somebody like you a ring much deserved all that.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
You know, you talk about talk about role, we talk
about playing time, We talk about now trying to run
it back. What sort of things are you working on
to be ready for that twenty twenty six season.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Obviously we still.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Don't know quite what the roster looks like, but right
now you're penciled into that starting lineup.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
What are you working on? How you trying to get better?
Speaker 5 (27:14):
What sort of communication have you had with the club
about you know, what things are looking like heading towards
spring training.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just focused on being the best
that I can be. Whatever however they choose to use
me is up to them. But I'll be ready. I'll
be focused, and I'm working on just getting you know, bigger, faster, stronger,
continuing to have great discipline of the plate. Take my strengths,
keep them strengths. Look at my you know, areas where
(27:44):
I can improve, you know, for me, I think advantage
counts on the offensive side is something where I can
maybe be a little bit more aggressive. And I think
I was one of the best two strike hitters in
baseball last year. So keep that because that's the toughest thing.
But then a little bit more, you know, a little
bit more aggressive in those advantage counts, not you know,
(28:05):
staying within myself, but having a plan and an approach to,
you know, try to drive the ball a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
I wanted to say happy sixth wedding anniversary to you,
Alex and your beautiful wife, Samantha. I'm a little concerned though,
that you're sitting in the car. Is there a reason
that you have to sit in the car? Is she
upset with you? Is it quiet in there because your
son is in the house. I mean, what are we
doing in the car?
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Alex?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
That's exactly right. I was thinking, you know, where is
the best spot for me to have. You know, I
love my son, He loves me, He loves playing with Daddy.
As soon as Daddy comes in the door, it's time
for daddy to play. So Daddy's not quite in the
door yet, so time a little bit, and I figured
this would be the most peaceful area that I could
(28:53):
have an uninterrupted interview for at least a few minutes
before It's daddy duty.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
Well Daddy, Yeah, yeah, we appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Happy anniversary, Alex and Sam.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Thanks you, guys, guys, we appreciate I'm gonna call him.
That's Daddy. Now make that the official nickname. Fans, It
is Daddy for twenty twenty six. There you might see
Daddy as your opening day leffiucky. Now it feels weird
saying it, but Alex, we very much appreciate the time.
That is a World Series Champion, Alex call. Best of
luck in from the rest of the off season, best
luck in spring training. Looking forward to catching you at
(29:29):
Camelback sometime in.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
All right, thank you guys, appreciate you having me time.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
All right, Alex, Merry Christmas. Thanks for the time.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Appreciate you guys, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
That is Alex call. World Series Champion, Alana, what do
you say? From here we get to last licks.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
All right, guys, I'm a little bummed about this one
because this is Lula Bean.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
We really thought we had.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
An adopter for her in North Dakota, and that adoptive
family was not able to fulfill their promise because their
senior dog ended up having a seizure today and they
didn't want to bring in any additional stress. We totally
get that their senior dog, their resident dog, Jack, is
the utmost priority right now. So Lula Bean needs an adopter.
(30:19):
She's a great dog, guys. She's a border Collie Shepherd mix.
She's about a year and a half, maybe two years old,
probably not even too She is a tripod. She had
a very bad broken back leg and after consulting a
couple of different vets, it best to ampute amputate the leg.
But I tell you what, she gets along just great.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
She's a great tripod. She's smart as a whip, good girl.
She needs an adopter. Please please please consider sharing Lula Bean.
She's being fostered in Crestline, California, but we need a
forever home for her. All right, So all Dodgers with
Clint Passias, I'm imagining you're talking more about winter meetings.
(31:02):
What's going on right after us tonight?
Speaker 3 (31:03):
What are you doing?
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Yeah, yeah, myself, Jeff Snyder. We're gonna be live as
soon as we are wrapped up here, pretty much. I
technically schedule it for six thirty five Pacific time, but yeah,
you know what. There we're gonna address a little bit
this Trek Schoople thing and how people are trying to
link him to the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
I don't know how Jeff feels about it.
Speaker 5 (31:23):
We'll have that conversation and more things about what right
now means coming out of Dave Roberts' mouth when it
comes to taoscar Hernandez as the everyday right fielder. So
guys tube in right after Elana and I wrap here
a Dodger's territory.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Yes, and Clinton. I will be back again live on Thursday.
Unless something magnanimous happens, will be live before then. But
a baseball thought for the road before we say goodbye.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
This was so much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
We know that Freddie Freeman, of course, Dodgers first baseman, MVP,
all of the things, has Canadian roots. His mom is
from Canada. His mom who passed away from cancer, is
from Canada, so he has a lot of ties to Canada.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
And also, of course he is our.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Guy right the Toronto Blue Jays played the Los Angeles
Dodgers in the World Series. So Ryan Reynolds does something
every single year for sick kids, and Freddy Freeman is
a good sport and he wanted to do this commercial
for sick kids for the children's hospital there in Toronto,
and the kids just gave Freddy Freeman the business, just
(32:26):
gave him the business.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
He was such a good sport. The kids were great.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Go back to Sunshine and traffic, You hoser, you ruined everything.
And it's so awesome both Ryan Reynolds of course and
Freddy Freeman, the kiddos, sick kids there in Toronto. What
a great campaign, What a great opportunity they were taking
in fundraisers up to a million dollars.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
That was the amount that was going to be matched.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So good on Freddy Freeman, Good on Ryan Reynolds, good
on Toronto, good on the kiddos, good on all of it.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
What a fun thing.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Yeah, I love Freddie being able to kind of play
around with it.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Obviously he's not the funniest dude, but he's a funny
dude and having some fun with that is awesome. As
long as they are finding a way to raise for
charity and all that kind of stuff. Before we do
take off, snide Ogg is in the chat and he
says a disrespect for the with Clint Pacys part.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Listen, listen, you're still new here, my guy.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
But guys, we appreciate you hanging out with us here
on this kind of half live, half unlive.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
Edition of Dodgers Territory. We are here.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
We waited up, but we appreciate Alex call taking some
time on his anniversary to hang.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
Out with us. He was not in the doghouse. He
was trying to be.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Dead it is he was trying to do He was
trying to do us a solid and have a quiet interview.
All right, So make sure you guys tune into All
Dodgers with Clint Pasius.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
It's on now.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Don't forget to smash the subscribe button for us here
on Dodgers' Territory, trying.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
To get to fifteen thousand subs.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
We appreciate you, guys very much. Clinton I will be
back on Thursday, and don't forget to check out Dodgers'
Territory shop dot com for all your cool stuff. We
will see you then, guys, Thanks so much for
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