February 1, 2025 • 12 mins
Dave talks about the team's excitement for the 2025 season, being an ambassador for the Dodgers, and his time with the Palisades baseball team.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And there's my guy, a man that every Dodger fan appreciates.
Now it's never too late to appreciate him, and he
is now greeting Ted News.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Go.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah, there he is Dave Roberts, two time World Series champion,
greeting his newest reliever. Dave Roberts has wanted Tanner Scott
since December, and you got your Christmas gift in January.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I think I've wanted Tanner for like four or five years,
but I couldn't say it publicly, but we.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Finally got our man. And this is a great turnout.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
There's a lot of energy and obviously with the renovation
we got going on here at Dodger Stadium, so we're
kind of making it work. But I just ran into
Evan Phillips and Tayl Gonsolin show. Hey was on the stage,
So this is just exciting. And I'm a week out
from heading to Camelback, so it's already upon us.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Dave Roberts has been a great ambassador for the Dodgers
during his tenure as manager, but this offseason, Dave seems
to be a worldwide ambassadorship by you can you take
us through your off season because you really have been
the face of this franchise after winning the World Series,
and rightfully so.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You know what I think, Dave, thanks for saying that.
And I think the first thing that comes to mind
is Tommy Lasorda. I don't think there was a bigger
advocate for the game of baseball and the Los Angeles
Dodgers and Tommy Lasorta, and with how we're playing, with
what we've done being so global, it was something for
(01:31):
me just to really try to make Los Angeles the
epicenter of the world in sports, and obviously shohes a
big part of that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Winning certainly does that. And I took a trip to Japan.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You know we're gonna obviously go back, and just talking
about the Dodgers, talking about baseball, it's really exciting to
be a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
When you always talk about gratitude, do you feel like
there's that gratitude from your players and from the city
after just the ride you gave everybody last year?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
There is?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
And the great thing about our players is certainly the
city of Los Angeles has gone through some hard time,
some tragedy recently, and to see our guys step up
in the community. I always talk Dave and you know this,
and baseball is bigger than us. It's got to be
bigger than you. It's about the Dodgers, it's about the city,
(02:25):
it's baseball in general. And it's a responsibility and not
just it's not responsibility to go out there and show
up and pitch every fifth day or take it back.
It's responsibility to do more. And so our guys have
stepped up and with that, they are ready for twenty
twenty five spring training. I've seen so many guys. They're excited,
(02:45):
they look good physically, they're excited to go back to
back and we know we've got to target on our
backs and we're going to be ready to kind of,
you know, take hold and own it and repeat us champs.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
A couple of things of what you just said right there,
Let's just start about the responsibility to the city, the community.
You not only lead in the dugout, but you lead
in that way. And I saw something this week of
you being a leader in that respect where you met
with the Pacific Palisades High School baseball team. You met
with those kids and it wasn't a quit meet. You
(03:21):
actually took the time to listen to them and hear
their story. What was that like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
It was certainly like I told those kids, I said,
I'm going to get more out of this than you
guys are getting out of this interaction, and obviously acknowledging
what they're going through, what their families are going through.
Half of that group of young men lost their homes
and they're displaced and trying to do school online and
commuting to Cheviat Hills Park for baseball. And they open
(03:49):
up in a week, and I just basically commended them
on their desire to keep going, certainly playing baseball. They
were out there, joyful, laughing. It was a little bit
of a diversion, a respite from real life. But I
told them, Dave that they have a chance to individually,
(04:10):
collectively write their own story, and not only the city
of Los Angeles, but our country has eyes on them. Thoughts,
prayers are going out to them their families and as
they embark on a baseball season, you know baseball, I mean,
I said, guys, there might be an opportunity. This might
be a movie. Yeah, you know, and their relationships right
(04:33):
now with what they've gone through. These kids day have
gone through COVID, they've gone through this and for young
kids in a short time in their lives, that's a
lot to take on. And so again I was just
giving them a lot of encouragement and praise and a
little shout out certainly to Palisay's high school charter school
baseball program.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, Dave Roberts has his finger on the heartbeat of
this city. He not only has managed here for the
last nine years, he's not only won two World Series championship,
but he played and he understands what it means to
wear the uniform. And when you talk about guys being
ready already, I'm sure that's got to be a relief
as a manager of not doubting how hungry those group
(05:12):
of guys are.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Absolutely, because I remember when I first started playing, guys
used spring training to get into shape, and you remember
those days. But this year we're only going to be
in Arizona Camelback Ranch for four weeks and so then
we're going to make our journey to Tokyo. So it
is two weeks less than we're used to, so guys
have to be prepared. There's Tyler Glasnow, hey, there he is.
(05:35):
He looks he looks fantastic. So guys are ready to go.
So certainly starting pitchers, it's a quicker ramp up, so
they got to be, you know, throwing their sides and
being ready to go, and hitters have got to be
ready to go. So across the board training staff, Brandon McDaniel,
who's performance coach and he's going to take on a
(05:55):
different role this year for US, has kind of had
a thumb on the guys and they've done a great job.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
When you look at the roster, I mean, obviously you
have a lot of guys that were with you last
year to win the World Series Championship. How important is
it to bring in new guys, new blood that haven't
been able to Like that.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Guy there he is, Oh my god, Yeah, he's my guy.
Come on to your guy, DV.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
He's your guy. Now.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I thought it was that he wanted to be He
wanted to be with you. That's what it was.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Austin Barnes is jealous already, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
No. But the thing is, though, is that you made
a great point, though, Dave, is that keeping the culture
the talent in place right is crucial. And then when
you kind of shake it up a little bit, you
shake it up with guys that are talented, but also
guys that are hungry. And so when you're talking about
Tanner Scott, you're talking about Blake Snell, Michael Confordo, different
(06:56):
guys like that, Kirby as we added, that are proven studs,
but the one thing that they're missing from their trophy
case is a World Series championship. So bringing these guys
in to continue to add that urgency and Tasker Hernandez
was a guy last year for us, and so guys
like that that continued to be additive to the culture
(07:18):
and raise the level of talent.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
That's exactly what we've done this winter.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Oh Tani's second year with the Dodgers, after what we saw,
it felt like him and Taoscar just wouldn't let anybody
believe you were going to lose, even in that first round.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's exactly right, Dave, because and obviously how dare I
forget show?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But the thing is, though, is that we won in
twenty there's a lot of guys that, you know, justin Turner,
different guys that we've had that you know, I wish
could have been with us, and Cory Seger that could
have been with us for this parade in twenty twenty four.
But guys like show Hey and Tao really led the
charge this year because they wanted what MOOKI had, what
(07:55):
Freddie had, you know, different guys with Austin Barnes as
you mentioned had So that was a great infusion and
we did the same thing this year.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Have you had a chance to go back and watch
any of the games from the postseason, whether it was
the NLDS or the World Series? You know, I've gone
back to watch a few of them recently, and I
don't know, Dave, You've had a lot of great moments
as a manager, but I felt like Game five, in
the eighth inning, after Judge doubled Jash Chisholm walks, you
(08:22):
go out to the mound and you feel a heartbeat
of Blake trining to me, that was one of the
greatest moments you've had as a manager.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I think.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So, you know, going back a little bit, Dave, you
know when Bruce dar pitched that game and I just
felt he wasn't as sharp as he has been. When
I made a decision to go to Blake right there,
I knew I was going to be in bed with
Blake essentially for the rest of the game or go
as long as he can go. And so that right there,
(08:53):
the guy fought back, and I felt I owed it
to them to be all in and managed the bullpen
and as in essentially a winner go home game, even
though it was Game five, and I thought our guys
earned that opportunity. And so as you mentioned that point
with Blake, I just wanted to kind of call it
time out, to get get a twenty second time out,
(09:15):
slow things down a little bit, look him in the eye,
feel his heart, make sure, you know, see where he
was at. And he assured me that he felt good,
he had a lot more in the tank. And you know,
it proved to be the right decision, and you know,
this was this was one of the things that I'll
always remember and one of the great things about, you know,
being a manager. And that's a moment, Dave that that
(09:37):
might I too, will never forget it.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
You know, You've had great moments in the World Series, Dave,
going back to skill in that base and scoring you know,
two important runs for the Red Sox. I mean, when
you talk about Dave Roberts in the World Series, it
just seems like the slow heartbeat, whether it was as
a player or a manager. I mean it just it's invaluable.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It's invaluable, and I think that you know, one thing
I talk a lot about to our players is having
smart players. And when you have smart players, and I'm
not talking about scoring you know, on an act or
an SAT smart players, I mean by having feel understanding
the value of the little things about you know, rundowns
(10:22):
or throwing to the right base or you know, taking
a walk to potentially get the next hitter up. Understand
the value of each out the scoreboard, the long season,
what preparation means. And so when you have smart players
like that, when the moment gets there, it never gets
too big. And there was a moment last year where
(10:42):
I said to the guys in spring training that each
one of you guys has got to get to the
point where you want to be the guy with the
baseball in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the
bottom of the ninth inning, you got to want to
be the guy with the balls hit to you, or
you got to want to be the guy at bat.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
When the game's on the line.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Because I think that every player will say that they
want to be that guy. But I challenge each guy
that behind closed doors, when you look in the mirror,
you've got to find a way to really convince yourself
that you are that guy. And last year I felt
we had twenty six guys that really believed that they
were the right guy in any spot they were put in.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And he's the right guy to be the manager of
the Dodgers for as long as he wants, and I
have no doubt the Dodgers will make that happen. Dave,
thanks a lot for stopping by. You know, Mookie Betts
had a great podcast with you. You know, I can't
duplicate that I don't have that type of setup, but
this was really awesome to share you with the fans.
And I'm really happy for you that you know you
(11:42):
are getting your due and rightfully so as a world
champion manager and there I can't imagine anybody else driving
this ship.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, well, thank you, Dave.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And you know again, I just I love the city,
I love the Dodgers, I love my players, and twenty
twenty five is upon us now and let's go and
have another great year.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But thanks again, Dave. Love it.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
We'll see you in Arizona.
And there's my guy, a man that every Dodger fan appreciates.
Now it's never too late to appreciate him, and he
is now greeting Ted News.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Go.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah, there he is Dave Roberts, two time World Series champion,
greeting his newest reliever. Dave Roberts has wanted Tanner Scott
since December, and you got your Christmas gift in January.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I think I've wanted Tanner for like four or five years,
but I couldn't say it publicly, but we.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Finally got our man. And this is a great turnout.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
There's a lot of energy and obviously with the renovation
we got going on here at Dodger Stadium, so we're
kind of making it work. But I just ran into
Evan Phillips and Tayl Gonsolin show. Hey was on the stage,
So this is just exciting. And I'm a week out
from heading to Camelback, so it's already upon us.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Dave Roberts has been a great ambassador for the Dodgers
during his tenure as manager, but this offseason, Dave seems
to be a worldwide ambassadorship by you can you take
us through your off season because you really have been
the face of this franchise after winning the World Series,
and rightfully so.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
You know what I think, Dave, thanks for saying that.
And I think the first thing that comes to mind
is Tommy Lasorda. I don't think there was a bigger
advocate for the game of baseball and the Los Angeles
Dodgers and Tommy Lasorta, and with how we're playing, with
what we've done being so global, it was something for
(01:31):
me just to really try to make Los Angeles the
epicenter of the world in sports, and obviously shohes a
big part of that.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Winning certainly does that. And I took a trip to Japan.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You know we're gonna obviously go back, and just talking
about the Dodgers, talking about baseball, it's really exciting to
be a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
When you always talk about gratitude, do you feel like
there's that gratitude from your players and from the city
after just the ride you gave everybody last year?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
There is?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
And the great thing about our players is certainly the
city of Los Angeles has gone through some hard time,
some tragedy recently, and to see our guys step up
in the community. I always talk Dave and you know this,
and baseball is bigger than us. It's got to be
bigger than you. It's about the Dodgers, it's about the city,
(02:25):
it's baseball in general. And it's a responsibility and not
just it's not responsibility to go out there and show
up and pitch every fifth day or take it back.
It's responsibility to do more. And so our guys have
stepped up and with that, they are ready for twenty
twenty five spring training. I've seen so many guys. They're excited,
(02:45):
they look good physically, they're excited to go back to
back and we know we've got to target on our
backs and we're going to be ready to kind of,
you know, take hold and own it and repeat us champs.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
A couple of things of what you just said right there,
Let's just start about the responsibility to the city, the community.
You not only lead in the dugout, but you lead
in that way. And I saw something this week of
you being a leader in that respect where you met
with the Pacific Palisades High School baseball team. You met
with those kids and it wasn't a quit meet. You
(03:21):
actually took the time to listen to them and hear
their story. What was that like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
It was certainly like I told those kids, I said,
I'm going to get more out of this than you
guys are getting out of this interaction, and obviously acknowledging
what they're going through, what their families are going through.
Half of that group of young men lost their homes
and they're displaced and trying to do school online and
commuting to Cheviat Hills Park for baseball. And they open
(03:49):
up in a week, and I just basically commended them
on their desire to keep going, certainly playing baseball. They
were out there, joyful, laughing. It was a little bit
of a diversion, a respite from real life. But I
told them, Dave that they have a chance to individually,
(04:10):
collectively write their own story, and not only the city
of Los Angeles, but our country has eyes on them. Thoughts,
prayers are going out to them their families and as
they embark on a baseball season, you know baseball, I mean,
I said, guys, there might be an opportunity. This might
be a movie. Yeah, you know, and their relationships right
(04:33):
now with what they've gone through. These kids day have
gone through COVID, they've gone through this and for young
kids in a short time in their lives, that's a
lot to take on. And so again I was just
giving them a lot of encouragement and praise and a
little shout out certainly to Palisay's high school charter school
baseball program.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, Dave Roberts has his finger on the heartbeat of
this city. He not only has managed here for the
last nine years, he's not only won two World Series championship,
but he played and he understands what it means to
wear the uniform. And when you talk about guys being
ready already, I'm sure that's got to be a relief
as a manager of not doubting how hungry those group
(05:12):
of guys are.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Absolutely, because I remember when I first started playing, guys
used spring training to get into shape, and you remember
those days. But this year we're only going to be
in Arizona Camelback Ranch for four weeks and so then
we're going to make our journey to Tokyo. So it
is two weeks less than we're used to, so guys
have to be prepared. There's Tyler Glasnow, hey, there he is.
(05:35):
He looks he looks fantastic. So guys are ready to go.
So certainly starting pitchers, it's a quicker ramp up, so
they got to be, you know, throwing their sides and
being ready to go, and hitters have got to be
ready to go. So across the board training staff, Brandon McDaniel,
who's performance coach and he's going to take on a
(05:55):
different role this year for US, has kind of had
a thumb on the guys and they've done a great job.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
When you look at the roster, I mean, obviously you
have a lot of guys that were with you last
year to win the World Series Championship. How important is
it to bring in new guys, new blood that haven't
been able to Like that.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Guy there he is, Oh my god, Yeah, he's my guy.
Come on to your guy, DV.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
He's your guy. Now.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I thought it was that he wanted to be He
wanted to be with you. That's what it was.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Austin Barnes is jealous already, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
No. But the thing is, though, is that you made
a great point, though, Dave, is that keeping the culture
the talent in place right is crucial. And then when
you kind of shake it up a little bit, you
shake it up with guys that are talented, but also
guys that are hungry. And so when you're talking about
Tanner Scott, you're talking about Blake Snell, Michael Confordo, different
(06:56):
guys like that, Kirby as we added, that are proven studs,
but the one thing that they're missing from their trophy
case is a World Series championship. So bringing these guys
in to continue to add that urgency and Tasker Hernandez
was a guy last year for us, and so guys
like that that continued to be additive to the culture
(07:18):
and raise the level of talent.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
That's exactly what we've done this winter.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Oh Tani's second year with the Dodgers, after what we saw,
it felt like him and Taoscar just wouldn't let anybody
believe you were going to lose, even in that first round.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's exactly right, Dave, because and obviously how dare I
forget show?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
But the thing is, though, is that we won in
twenty there's a lot of guys that, you know, justin Turner,
different guys that we've had that you know, I wish
could have been with us, and Cory Seger that could
have been with us for this parade in twenty twenty four.
But guys like show Hey and Tao really led the
charge this year because they wanted what MOOKI had, what
(07:55):
Freddie had, you know, different guys with Austin Barnes as
you mentioned had So that was a great infusion and
we did the same thing this year.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Have you had a chance to go back and watch
any of the games from the postseason, whether it was
the NLDS or the World Series? You know, I've gone
back to watch a few of them recently, and I
don't know, Dave, You've had a lot of great moments
as a manager, but I felt like Game five, in
the eighth inning, after Judge doubled Jash Chisholm walks, you
(08:22):
go out to the mound and you feel a heartbeat
of Blake trining to me, that was one of the
greatest moments you've had as a manager.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I think.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
So, you know, going back a little bit, Dave, you
know when Bruce dar pitched that game and I just
felt he wasn't as sharp as he has been. When
I made a decision to go to Blake right there,
I knew I was going to be in bed with
Blake essentially for the rest of the game or go
as long as he can go. And so that right there,
(08:53):
the guy fought back, and I felt I owed it
to them to be all in and managed the bullpen
and as in essentially a winner go home game, even
though it was Game five, and I thought our guys
earned that opportunity. And so as you mentioned that point
with Blake, I just wanted to kind of call it
time out, to get get a twenty second time out,
(09:15):
slow things down a little bit, look him in the eye,
feel his heart, make sure, you know, see where he
was at. And he assured me that he felt good,
he had a lot more in the tank. And you know,
it proved to be the right decision, and you know,
this was this was one of the things that I'll
always remember and one of the great things about, you know,
being a manager. And that's a moment, Dave that that
(09:37):
might I too, will never forget it.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
You know, You've had great moments in the World Series, Dave,
going back to skill in that base and scoring you know,
two important runs for the Red Sox. I mean, when
you talk about Dave Roberts in the World Series, it
just seems like the slow heartbeat, whether it was as
a player or a manager. I mean it just it's invaluable.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It's invaluable, and I think that you know, one thing
I talk a lot about to our players is having
smart players. And when you have smart players, and I'm
not talking about scoring you know, on an act or
an SAT smart players, I mean by having feel understanding
the value of the little things about you know, rundowns
(10:22):
or throwing to the right base or you know, taking
a walk to potentially get the next hitter up. Understand
the value of each out the scoreboard, the long season,
what preparation means. And so when you have smart players
like that, when the moment gets there, it never gets
too big. And there was a moment last year where
(10:42):
I said to the guys in spring training that each
one of you guys has got to get to the
point where you want to be the guy with the
baseball in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the
bottom of the ninth inning, you got to want to
be the guy with the balls hit to you, or
you got to want to be the guy at bat.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
When the game's on the line.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Because I think that every player will say that they
want to be that guy. But I challenge each guy
that behind closed doors, when you look in the mirror,
you've got to find a way to really convince yourself
that you are that guy. And last year I felt
we had twenty six guys that really believed that they
were the right guy in any spot they were put in.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And he's the right guy to be the manager of
the Dodgers for as long as he wants, and I
have no doubt the Dodgers will make that happen. Dave,
thanks a lot for stopping by. You know, Mookie Betts
had a great podcast with you. You know, I can't
duplicate that I don't have that type of setup, but
this was really awesome to share you with the fans.
And I'm really happy for you that you know you
(11:42):
are getting your due and rightfully so as a world
champion manager and there I can't imagine anybody else driving
this ship.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, well, thank you, Dave.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And you know again, I just I love the city,
I love the Dodgers, I love my players, and twenty
twenty five is upon us now and let's go and
have another great year.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But thanks again, Dave. Love it.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
We'll see you in Arizona.
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