Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Vasse for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Dodger Talk. David Vass with you until
Speaker 2: eight o'clock tonight here on AM five to seventy LA Sports. Well,
Speaker 2: it's been a great spring training for the Dodgers, not
Speaker 2: only as the players get ready for the three peat,
Speaker 2: but also so many of the former Dodgers over the
Speaker 2: years have come back in uniform and out of uniform,
Speaker 2: whether it's Andre Ethier or Eric Carros or Chase Utley.
Speaker 2: It's been great to see those guys. But what's even
Speaker 2: more special is when you see guys that have been
Speaker 2: part of the twenty or twenty four World Series championship.
Speaker 2: And I ran into one of them last week, and
Speaker 2: that is one of the bullpen dogs from twenty twenty four,
Speaker 2: a two time World Series champion, but especially a Dodger
Speaker 2: champion in twenty twenty four, and that is Daniel Hudson. Hodey.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot for coming on. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Problem, David, You're too kind.
Speaker 2: Hey, I was driving around Arizona. I heard some sports
Speaker 2: talk show say that you're going to be there baseball correspondent.
Speaker 2: I said, Hey, I got to jump these guys. He's
Speaker 2: Dodger Talks own first. They got to come through Dodger
Speaker 2: Talk to get Daniel Hudson.
Speaker 1: Hey, there's plenty, plenty of hours in the day. You know,
Speaker 1: we can we can all have a little bit, you know.
Speaker 2: Okay, I got something for you. Since you're out there
Speaker 2: at camel Back Ranch, when you're around the guys and
Speaker 2: you see spring training starting again, you're a couple of
Speaker 2: years removed. Now does the itch, does the desire to
Speaker 2: uh want to come back and pitch start to take
Speaker 2: over you? Or are you feeling like pain is optional
Speaker 2: these days?
Speaker 1: You know, I was a little I was a little
Speaker 1: nervous my first spring training, not playing last year, how
Speaker 1: I was gonna feel. But once spring training came, I
Speaker 1: towards the end of my career, I came to loads
Speaker 1: spring training, so I was not missing that very much
Speaker 1: at all. Opening Day, I stayed busy, didn't really didn't
Speaker 1: try not to think about it too much. And then
Speaker 1: you know, I just got kind of got busy doing life.
Speaker 1: And you know, I definitely don't miss the grind of
Speaker 1: every day prepping for games, and you know, spring training obviously,
Speaker 1: I miss competing. I miss playing and I miss the guys,
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I'm really enjoying my time
Speaker 1: here at home with the family, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: been really good so far.
Speaker 2: I've told a few different players, and I'm a true
Speaker 2: believer in this. You had a lot of adversity in
Speaker 2: your fifteen year career and you continue to persevere and
Speaker 2: the game rewarded you. We always talk about Kershaw going
Speaker 2: out as a World Series champion, but how rewarding and
Speaker 2: gratifying was it for you to retire as a World
Speaker 2: Series champion, To go out the way you did a
Speaker 2: healthy season and you pitched sixty five games plus the
Speaker 2: postseason and you were such a big part of it.
Speaker 2: Does that make you feel more at peace than maybe
Speaker 2: other players that retire who don't get that opportunity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. I always had the idea, the thought, you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted to go out on my own terms always,
Speaker 1: you know, going what I going through, what I went
Speaker 1: through at the beginning of my career with a couple
Speaker 1: arm surgeries and not knowing how much longer I was
Speaker 1: gonna be able to play, and then turning that into
Speaker 1: sticking around ten plus years after that. You know, towards
Speaker 1: the end of my career, I really was like, I
Speaker 1: need to kind of find a runway here so I
Speaker 1: don't stick around too long. You know, I saw guys
Speaker 1: throughout my career, you know, whether it was monetarily motivated
Speaker 1: or you know, they just felt like they were good
Speaker 1: enough to keep going kind of stick around too long,
Speaker 1: or at least in my opinion, I thought they did,
Speaker 1: you know, And I never really wanted to go out
Speaker 1: like that. So to be able to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: latch on with the Dodgers there in twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: through twenty twenty four and get opportunity to do that, Obviously,
Speaker 1: my injuries in twenty two and twenty three didn't help,
Speaker 1: but I knew going into twenty four that if I
Speaker 1: got another chance to play that it was going to
Speaker 1: be my last year. And you know, like you said,
Speaker 1: to be able go out on top of like it's
Speaker 1: just a dream come true. And you know, I really
Speaker 1: got to fulfill my dream of going out of my
Speaker 1: own terms.
Speaker 2: You have a great perspective on what the Dodgers were
Speaker 2: and what they become because you were with them two
Speaker 2: separate times. You were with them in eighteen when they
Speaker 2: went to the World Series against the Red Sox and lost,
Speaker 2: and then you came back and you know, obviously in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two and ended it with the Championship in
Speaker 2: twenty four when Otani arrived. So can you describe to
Speaker 2: us where what the Dodgers were in twenty eighteen and
Speaker 2: how they become this juggernaut in the last two years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, well, I mean just going back even farther,
Speaker 1: going back to when you know, obviously the sale of
Speaker 1: the Dodgers in the early twenty tens. You know, this
Speaker 1: this kind of whole deal, this run for them started
Speaker 1: I think with like twenty thirteen or twenty fourteen. You know,
Speaker 1: they've always just kind of been a model of consistency
Speaker 1: since then. And you know, they've gotten the right people
Speaker 1: in the right places in the front office that are
Speaker 1: really aggressive and always want to win. They've got the
Speaker 1: right ownership in place to always be able to back
Speaker 1: it up with the checks, to be able to bring
Speaker 1: in the right people. And they always seem to get
Speaker 1: the right guys in the clubhouse to make it a
Speaker 1: good culture, and guys that want to come from other
Speaker 1: places and play for them. You know, Yes, they spend
Speaker 1: a lot more money than everybody else. That is also
Speaker 1: a big draw for players. But I think when you
Speaker 1: play against the Dodgers, or at least from my perspective,
Speaker 1: when I played against them at the beginning of my career,
Speaker 1: you know, it always seemed like a good, good culture,
Speaker 1: good clubhouse, and you know it's something that guys want
Speaker 1: to be a part of. So I think it starts
Speaker 1: and starts with that. And then, like you said in
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, going to back to back World
Speaker 1: Series losing both of them, I think really probably a
Speaker 1: little fire under a lot of people in that front
Speaker 1: office and the ownership, and they really wanted to kind
Speaker 1: of take a stranglehold and get past that little homp.
Speaker 1: And you know, they've won three World Series in the
Speaker 1: last five years, and I think that shows.
Speaker 2: Do you what do you make of I call it
Speaker 2: envy and jealousy of the rest of the league. What
Speaker 2: do you how do you you feel the way things
Speaker 2: have kind of turned the Dodgers into I guess in
Speaker 2: what everybody is calling the Evil Empire. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of uh talk that they're ruining baseball. Some people, like
Speaker 2: myself believe they're helping baseball. Where where do you think
Speaker 2: all this comes from.
Speaker 1: I think it's just, uh, you know, people throw around
Speaker 1: the term parody all the time. You know, growing up
Speaker 1: in the nineties and two thousands watching baseball, you know,
Speaker 1: everybody hated the Yankees. They spent more money than everybody else.
Speaker 1: They were the biggest brand in sports, you know, outside
Speaker 1: maybe the Cowboys. But you know, it's just I don't
Speaker 1: it's easy to hate the team that wins if you're
Speaker 1: not a team a fan of that team, And I
Speaker 1: think that's kind of what's going on in LA. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, they have bigger checkbooks and everybody else they
Speaker 1: can sign more players. But like I said, it starts
Speaker 1: with the culture and bring in the right guys. They
Speaker 1: always seem to bring in the right guys. They have
Speaker 1: smart people to you know, identify who they want to
Speaker 1: bring in every single off season. Yeah, everybody talks about
Speaker 1: the big names the show Haes, the Yamamoto's, Freddie Freeman,
Speaker 1: Mookie Betts, bringing all those guys in, but there's so
Speaker 1: much under the surface of you know, DFA guys that
Speaker 1: they claim and guys off the trash heap, so to speak,
Speaker 1: that they fix and they create this depth that really
Speaker 1: helps out for when guys like Blake Snell and Tyler
Speaker 1: Glass now go down last year, they have guys that
Speaker 1: can step in like m she Hen. Hopefully Gavin Stone
Speaker 1: will be one of those guys this year. It's just
Speaker 1: a very, very wealth of depths that they have underneath
Speaker 1: all those big name stars. And I think that's really
Speaker 1: a big envy for a lot of people, a lot
Speaker 1: of teams, a lot of fans, and with you, I
Speaker 1: think it's I think it's good for the game. I
Speaker 1: don't know what people would rather the Guggenheim Group do
Speaker 1: with all their billions of dollars in revenue. Would they
Speaker 1: rather than pocket it and not put it back onto
Speaker 1: the field. I just don't really, I don't really understand
Speaker 1: what they want them to do, just sit on their
Speaker 1: Twitter their thumbs with all their cash, like like, just
Speaker 1: let's let's spend the money that we made and keep winning.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why that's a bad thing.
Speaker 2: Doesn't this come down to show Hey Otani as well,
Speaker 2: wanting to win and deferring as much of his salary
Speaker 2: as he did so the Dodgers could bring in really
Speaker 2: good players to build around him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not so convinced that the Dodgers wouldn't have
Speaker 1: spent all the money they have anyways, even if show
Speaker 1: Hey didn't defer sixty eight million dollars a year. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, yes, for sure, and from what
Speaker 1: I've read and understood, there was a couple other teams
Speaker 1: that offered show Hey the exact same deal with deferred money.
Speaker 1: I think it was show Hay's idea that I heard anyways,
Speaker 1: that it was his idea to defer most of the
Speaker 1: money so that that they could sign more guys and
Speaker 1: not go spend six hundred million dollars on payroll, although
Speaker 1: they're getting close to that right now anyways. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think it just goes to show you that any
Speaker 1: team can can kind of do the exact same thing
Speaker 1: that they did, and some teams just chose not to
Speaker 1: and show Hey. Ultimately, I think I'm convinced that if
Speaker 1: there was a DH in the National League in twenty
Speaker 1: whenever he came over and played for the Angels, that
Speaker 1: he probably would have signed with the Dodgers then. So
Speaker 1: I think that once there was a DH in the
Speaker 1: National League that kind of sealed the deal that he
Speaker 1: was coming over.
Speaker 2: Daniel Hudson is our guest, one of the twenty four
Speaker 2: bullpen dogs that started the back to back championship as
Speaker 2: the Dodgers are looking for a three pete all right,
Speaker 2: since where he brought up Otani, was there a perception
Speaker 2: of him that you had and then was torn down
Speaker 2: or you got to know something more about him being
Speaker 2: teammates with him. Albeit in twenty four he was just
Speaker 2: a fifty to fifty hitter. But what was he like
Speaker 2: as a teammate to you? As a bullpen dog?
Speaker 1: He was awesome. You know. I didn't really get to
Speaker 1: know him too much. I was actually in spring training
Speaker 1: with the Angels in twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, before he
Speaker 1: was rehabbing his first Tommy John, so he wasn't around
Speaker 1: a whole lot. He stood in on some bullpens that
Speaker 1: I threw, talked to him a little bit. Just just
Speaker 1: a really really good guy, like I said, I don't
Speaker 1: think if he wasn't a good guy, regardless of how
Speaker 1: good of a ballplayer he was, I'm not sure that
Speaker 1: the Dodgers would have brought him in if he wasn't
Speaker 1: a good guy, like I said. They're just so you know,
Speaker 1: in tune with that clubhouse and what needs to be
Speaker 1: brought in. And you know, he's just a really, really
Speaker 1: fantastic teammate. I really enjoyed playing with him. Obviously, him
Speaker 1: being the best baseball player to ever play the game
Speaker 1: really helps out when he's on your side. It's literally,
Speaker 1: it's just a it was just a privilege to be
Speaker 1: able to to watch it from the bullpen gates every
Speaker 1: single night.
Speaker 2: Before I let you go, I'm not I know you're
Speaker 2: enjoying your three girls, your family. You got a chance
Speaker 2: to go back to your hometown in North Carolina this
Speaker 2: past year. But since you are in Arizona and so
Speaker 2: many players reside out there, and you always hear about,
Speaker 2: you know, hitters training there in Arizona, could you ever
Speaker 2: envision yourself being a guy that would would open the
Speaker 2: doors to what you have to offer, even as like
Speaker 2: a personal pitching coach or one of those guys that
Speaker 2: instead of a hitter going to see maybe they come
Speaker 2: to see Daniel Hudson for some pitching help.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, there's always an opportunity like that out here.
Speaker 1: Like you said, there's just really good place for guys
Speaker 1: to kind of settle down for the off season. There's
Speaker 1: really good weather obviously in the off season to be
Speaker 1: able to get outside and actually throw outside. I know
Speaker 1: a lot of teammates that are in the Midwest or
Speaker 1: the East Coast, you know, they have to do a
Speaker 1: lot of of throwing indoors. It's a really good spot
Speaker 1: to be able to get outside and really just kind
Speaker 1: of let it loose, and you know, there's always that
Speaker 1: kind of opportunity. The guys that I played with always
Speaker 1: know that my cell phone's always on if they need anything.
Speaker 1: I've always I've let all of them know that. You know,
Speaker 1: there's there's there are many different avenues that that just
Speaker 1: can go down right now, like I said, like you said,
Speaker 1: I'm enjoying my family time, but there's also you know,
Speaker 1: if somebody calls me and needs me for a certain thing,
Speaker 1: there's definitely things that I'd look into for sure.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. You have so much to offer, Daniel, and
Speaker 2: I know how much everybody that you played with really
Speaker 2: respected you and what you stood for and just the
Speaker 2: way that you prepared and fought through so many things.
Speaker 2: So I'm glad I got to see you out there.
Speaker 2: It was bad luck for you because uh, maybe maybe
Speaker 2: a Dodger talk will tap into you just as much
Speaker 2: as Burns and Gambo out there in Arizona.
Speaker 1: Anytime, David, my phone's always on, like I said, uh my.
Speaker 2: Guy, Daniel Hudson love it and uh I'll have the
Speaker 2: fingers over my lips. Up says we hang up. Thanks
Speaker 2: for the time, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: No crime, buddy, anytime.