August 4, 2026 • 8 mins
DV catches up with Dave Roberts for the weekly manager's meeting. The Dodgers skipper shares his excitement for Tarik Skubal's first Dodger start. He also addresses the team's catching situation and gives the latest on Dalton Rushing's elbow injury.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
It's Schooble Day in Chicago. Trek Schouoble getting set to
make his Dodger debut, and we're in the manager's office
for the manager's meeting presented by Downy hun Day with
Dave Roberts. Dave, thanks a lot for the time, and
how excited are you for today?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I am.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I'm excited like all Dodger fans, and obviously coming off
losing four in a row, you know, to have a
guy like Terrek take the mound and be our stopper,
that's what we're looking for.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And you know, this is what I just learned is
this is his first.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Time pitching at Wrigley Field, So I think it's gonna
be something special for him, not only just to don
the Dodger uniform, but to also pitch on Wiggley Field.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So it's gonna be an exciting one.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
On Sunday Night Baseball, it was not a great game.
You had just removed Emma sheehan from the game, but
when you got back to the dugout, he was waiting
for you. What's been the interactions like so far with
Dave Roberts and Trek Scuoble.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, that was quite the juxtaposition. You know, you're giving
up Homers and you're not feeling good about the game,
but then you turn around then.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You see Trek Scooble. So that certainly put a.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Smile on my face, and you know, we were starting
to build slowly. I think that him getting into town
early to do his Day three lift, to meet the
guys in the dugout, spent a couple of days with them,
and then get on the player plane, I think was
great for his kind of assimilation with the guys, and
I think for me just little chats here there and
(01:29):
obviously gearing up for today, so you sort of leave
him alone. But he is a lot more talkative and
present than you know other starting pitchers. Not name Clayton Kershaw,
named Clayton Kershaw, but no, he's great, excited to be here.
But I think for me, he just wants to get
this first one out of the way.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it's funny. I just asked Max Munsey if Scooble
is Krushaw like on start day. He said he couldn't
be from the further of Kershaw.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, and that's The funny thing is that even Clayton
admitted that he like and you guys are gonna love him, Doc,
You're gonna love him. And he's more normal on his
start days than I was.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, I was worried to look at Kershaw on the eye.
So I've been traumatized. I don't look at anybody in
the eye on start day.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
No, I hear. You never know.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And these starters, it's it's once every five six days,
and so they get this adrenaline, this emotion, this focus
and get pretty irritable. And you know, Clayton was one
of those guys that I remember playing with Kevin Brown
when I played with the Dodge, and he was that
way where you just you know, you want to get
that kind of five foot radius and stand clear.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It's interesting how certain guys get ready for start days
that are really good pictures like Yamamoto, like a school
bl You've seen so many. Like you said, is there
at a certain point in time a switch that flips
before the game begins.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It does, But I think that some guys it starts,
you know, right when they get into the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know, at the ballpark.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's that intensity and some guys, it's a slower burn
as you lead up to the game. When they get
their stretch, they start playing catch. And I think the
thing is, though, is that it's just got to be
natural and organic, because what happens is that if you
try to manufacture that focus, that intensity too early, that
expends energy. And that's something that I have seen with
(03:21):
young pitchers that you've got to be who you are.
You can't have it too contrived. There's certainly got to
be a level of focus, but I think that you've
got to be mindful of expending too much energy.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Dave Roberts is our guest the Manager's Meeting, presented by
Downey Hyundai. All right, you got Trek Skouoble on the
mound and you got Ben Rhtvit catching. Ben Rurtvitt is back,
so is Hunter Fiducca. Where is the Dodgers catching situation
right now? Uh?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know, obviously with the news of a Dalton having
a slightly torn UCL, I think it is. So we're
going to keep the hitting going. You know, he's gonna
have a slow pro with a throwing don't know what
that looks like, you know, for the rest of the
season and throughout the postseason. Fortunately it happened the day
(04:09):
before the trade deadline, so you know, here we are
a day after we had two catchers on our roster,
and the day today we're looking at two new catchers.
And thankfully, you know, we had rt Vett last year
caught in some postseason games, we had Fidusha last year
in the years prior, so there's a lot of familiarity
(04:29):
and so we certainly raised the floor on the catching.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Why did everybody love Ben rurt Fitz so much?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I think rort Is is a good teammate, doesn't take
himself too seriously, and he's a servant, and I think
a catching a catcher has to be a servant. And
I really think that last year him being here really
helped Dalton's growth as a servant, and so I think
getting him back, he does a lot of things right.
He's in it with the catchers and I think the pitchers.
(04:58):
And that's why tonight I really kind of flipping a coin.
Fidusha roared vet. I went with the energy the servant,
wrote Vet today. But Fidusha's going to catch a lot
with this too.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Do you feel like until Will Smith or Dalton rushing returns.
It's going to be a shared situation, or do you
feel like there's one guy that you may lean on
more than another.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
It's going to be shared, but I think it'll probably
be three to five Fidusha over rared Vet, but it's again,
it's essentially shared.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Going back to Will Smith, I know we ask you
about this every week, but are you encouraged that you're
going to get him back?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Very much? So, don't know the timeline. He's more active,
he's swinging, he's throwing, he's lifting, moving around, so that's encouraging.
Just don't know the timeline, but I do think that
you know, the expectation to get him back we feel
really good about. But again the trade deadline covering our
(05:59):
downside getting two new catches is great. But you know,
once we get Will back, we're certainly going to be
a much better ball club.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Before we were back out of here. I know you had
mentioned that you found out right around game time on
Friday or Saturday that you guys acquired school it was Saturday.
What was your initial reaction? Did you feel like Andrew
would pull this off? What was Dave Roberts thinking going
into Friday and Saturday?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
You know so Friday, I had really no expectations. Obviously,
we were kicking at tires and as Andrew says, we're
on the backboard. And then Sunday when he told me
we got him, or it was Saturday when we got him,
I'm sorry. When we got him Saturday, I was really
taken aback because I didn't expect something like that to
go down two days before the deadline.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And so once you told.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Me we got him pending physicals, I was a little
shell shocked, and I didn't really know it was happening.
And even that night, my wife goes, Dave, you're not
even that happy. You don't see that happen, and I go,
I am, I just it hasn't hit me yet. But
then when I saw him the next day in the dugout,
it certainly hit me.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Before I let you go, everybody's talking about the Dodgers,
So what's your reaction to you guys being the topic
of conversations on national debate shows that usually focuses on
the NBA and NFL. I feel like this is a
great example of how the Dodgers have brought baseball to
the forefront of the conversations.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I think It's fantastic. And I think that you and
I have known each other for a long time. We
talk a lot about different things, and you know, for me,
I love the game at baseball, and so if people
are debating baseball, talking about baseball, talking about the Dodgers,
we all win. And so I'm excited about it and
the Dodgers, what we're doing, what we have done, what
(07:45):
we plan on doing. Obviously the superstar players that we have.
So keep talking ball.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Love it, Dave.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Can't wait for first pitch Trek Scouoble taking the Mount
tonight at Wrigley Field. Thanks as always for the time.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Thanks Dave, love it. Can't wait till next week.
And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
It's Schooble Day in Chicago. Trek Schouoble getting set to
make his Dodger debut, and we're in the manager's office
for the manager's meeting presented by Downy hun Day with
Dave Roberts. Dave, thanks a lot for the time, and
how excited are you for today?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I am.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I'm excited like all Dodger fans, and obviously coming off
losing four in a row, you know, to have a
guy like Terrek take the mound and be our stopper,
that's what we're looking for.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And you know, this is what I just learned is
this is his first.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Time pitching at Wrigley Field, So I think it's gonna
be something special for him, not only just to don
the Dodger uniform, but to also pitch on Wiggley Field.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So it's gonna be an exciting one.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
On Sunday Night Baseball, it was not a great game.
You had just removed Emma sheehan from the game, but
when you got back to the dugout, he was waiting
for you. What's been the interactions like so far with
Dave Roberts and Trek Scuoble.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah, that was quite the juxtaposition. You know, you're giving
up Homers and you're not feeling good about the game,
but then you turn around then.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You see Trek Scooble. So that certainly put a.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Smile on my face, and you know, we were starting
to build slowly. I think that him getting into town
early to do his Day three lift, to meet the
guys in the dugout, spent a couple of days with them,
and then get on the player plane, I think was
great for his kind of assimilation with the guys, and
I think for me just little chats here there and
(01:29):
obviously gearing up for today, so you sort of leave
him alone. But he is a lot more talkative and
present than you know other starting pitchers. Not name Clayton Kershaw,
named Clayton Kershaw, but no, he's great, excited to be here.
But I think for me, he just wants to get
this first one out of the way.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, it's funny. I just asked Max Munsey if Scooble
is Krushaw like on start day. He said he couldn't
be from the further of Kershaw.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, and that's The funny thing is that even Clayton
admitted that he like and you guys are gonna love him, Doc,
You're gonna love him. And he's more normal on his
start days than I was.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, I was worried to look at Kershaw on the eye.
So I've been traumatized. I don't look at anybody in
the eye on start day.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
No, I hear. You never know.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And these starters, it's it's once every five six days,
and so they get this adrenaline, this emotion, this focus
and get pretty irritable. And you know, Clayton was one
of those guys that I remember playing with Kevin Brown
when I played with the Dodge, and he was that
way where you just you know, you want to get
that kind of five foot radius and stand clear.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It's interesting how certain guys get ready for start days
that are really good pictures like Yamamoto, like a school
bl You've seen so many. Like you said, is there
at a certain point in time a switch that flips
before the game begins.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It does, But I think that some guys it starts,
you know, right when they get into the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know, at the ballpark.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It's that intensity and some guys, it's a slower burn
as you lead up to the game. When they get
their stretch, they start playing catch. And I think the
thing is, though, is that it's just got to be
natural and organic, because what happens is that if you
try to manufacture that focus, that intensity too early, that
expends energy. And that's something that I have seen with
(03:21):
young pitchers that you've got to be who you are.
You can't have it too contrived. There's certainly got to
be a level of focus, but I think that you've
got to be mindful of expending too much energy.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Dave Roberts is our guest the Manager's Meeting, presented by
Downey Hyundai. All right, you got Trek Skouoble on the
mound and you got Ben Rhtvit catching. Ben Rurtvitt is back,
so is Hunter Fiducca. Where is the Dodgers catching situation
right now? Uh?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You know, obviously with the news of a Dalton having
a slightly torn UCL, I think it is. So we're
going to keep the hitting going. You know, he's gonna
have a slow pro with a throwing don't know what
that looks like, you know, for the rest of the
season and throughout the postseason. Fortunately it happened the day
(04:09):
before the trade deadline, so you know, here we are
a day after we had two catchers on our roster,
and the day today we're looking at two new catchers.
And thankfully, you know, we had rt Vett last year
caught in some postseason games, we had Fidusha last year
in the years prior, so there's a lot of familiarity
(04:29):
and so we certainly raised the floor on the catching.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Why did everybody love Ben rurt Fitz so much?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
I think rort Is is a good teammate, doesn't take
himself too seriously, and he's a servant, and I think
a catching a catcher has to be a servant. And
I really think that last year him being here really
helped Dalton's growth as a servant, and so I think
getting him back, he does a lot of things right.
He's in it with the catchers and I think the pitchers.
(04:58):
And that's why tonight I really kind of flipping a coin.
Fidusha roared vet. I went with the energy the servant,
wrote Vet today. But Fidusha's going to catch a lot
with this too.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Do you feel like until Will Smith or Dalton rushing returns.
It's going to be a shared situation, or do you
feel like there's one guy that you may lean on
more than another.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
It's going to be shared, but I think it'll probably
be three to five Fidusha over rared Vet, but it's again,
it's essentially shared.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Going back to Will Smith, I know we ask you
about this every week, but are you encouraged that you're
going to get him back?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Very much? So, don't know the timeline. He's more active,
he's swinging, he's throwing, he's lifting, moving around, so that's encouraging.
Just don't know the timeline, but I do think that
you know, the expectation to get him back we feel
really good about. But again the trade deadline covering our
(05:59):
downside getting two new catches is great. But you know,
once we get Will back, we're certainly going to be
a much better ball club.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Before we were back out of here. I know you had
mentioned that you found out right around game time on
Friday or Saturday that you guys acquired school it was Saturday.
What was your initial reaction? Did you feel like Andrew
would pull this off? What was Dave Roberts thinking going
into Friday and Saturday?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
You know so Friday, I had really no expectations. Obviously,
we were kicking at tires and as Andrew says, we're
on the backboard. And then Sunday when he told me
we got him, or it was Saturday when we got him,
I'm sorry. When we got him Saturday, I was really
taken aback because I didn't expect something like that to
go down two days before the deadline.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And so once you told.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Me we got him pending physicals, I was a little
shell shocked, and I didn't really know it was happening.
And even that night, my wife goes, Dave, you're not
even that happy. You don't see that happen, and I go,
I am, I just it hasn't hit me yet. But
then when I saw him the next day in the dugout,
it certainly hit me.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
All right.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Before I let you go, everybody's talking about the Dodgers,
So what's your reaction to you guys being the topic
of conversations on national debate shows that usually focuses on
the NBA and NFL. I feel like this is a
great example of how the Dodgers have brought baseball to
the forefront of the conversations.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
I think It's fantastic. And I think that you and
I have known each other for a long time. We
talk a lot about different things, and you know, for me,
I love the game at baseball, and so if people
are debating baseball, talking about baseball, talking about the Dodgers,
we all win. And so I'm excited about it and
the Dodgers, what we're doing, what we have done, what
(07:45):
we plan on doing. Obviously the superstar players that we have.
So keep talking ball.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Love it, Dave.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Can't wait for first pitch Trek Scouoble taking the Mount
tonight at Wrigley Field. Thanks as always for the time.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Thanks Dave, love it. Can't wait till next week.
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