Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Vasse for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Dodger Talk David Vasse with you until
Speaker 1: eight o'clock tonight here on AM five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 1: And I'm here with a man that continues to keep
Speaker 1: my name alive on social media, a man that finds
Speaker 1: a way to keep my name alive when it comes
Speaker 1: to Champagne celebrations. Even Elizabeth Olsen has taken notes. That
Speaker 1: is the one and only Max Munsey who is back.
Speaker 1: Has signed back with the Dodgers to be part of
Speaker 1: the vass A Magic for two more years. Thanks a
Speaker 1: lot for joining us, Monsei, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I don't know what you just said, but sure we'll go.
Speaker 3: With that, Monsey.
Speaker 1: I offered to do at least five pushups to prove
Speaker 1: to you that your claim yesterday that went viral, I mean,
Speaker 1: got more attention than Miguel Rojas saying Blake Snail's the
Speaker 1: weakest guy on the team. I am here to prove
Speaker 1: it to you, Moncie, if you'd like.
Speaker 3: See.
Speaker 4: The thing is, we've done this challenge before and you
Speaker 4: falter after one and a half push ups, so I
Speaker 4: know where you stand on this.
Speaker 3: There were a lot more people watching.
Speaker 1: You dragged me into the weight room, and there were
Speaker 1: professional athletes demanding that I danced like a monkey in there,
Speaker 1: and I felt the pressure.
Speaker 3: I couldn't get all the way down.
Speaker 4: Exactly like I said, I've seen you do it before,
Speaker 4: so I know where you're standing.
Speaker 1: Is here's another thing. Even your wife mentioned this the
Speaker 1: other day. Yeah, do you think I need to do
Speaker 1: five push ups right now? Miguelas Lake Snail is out there,
Speaker 1: you can actually go against him.
Speaker 2: I think I'm putting my money on you.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm in better shape. I'm in better
Speaker 1: shape coming into camp than snail Zilla.
Speaker 2: That's a bold statement. I won't say anything about that.
Speaker 1: A lot of hot mics around here. I guess, Hey,
Speaker 1: nobody knows how to take a joke.
Speaker 2: That's a bold claim. That is a bold claim.
Speaker 1: David, Oh, Max, what's it like to be sitting next
Speaker 1: to a guy that you both had such big.
Speaker 3: Moments in the postseason.
Speaker 1: Miguel Rojas, obviously locker mats with you last year tied
Speaker 1: the game up your home run. How much more are
Speaker 1: we allowed to reflect on last year?
Speaker 4: You know, we can give it a couple more days.
Speaker 4: But now that we're getting going for this year, the
Speaker 4: focuses on this year. You know, today in our meeting,
Speaker 4: we had a nice video that showed kind of the
Speaker 4: highlights of last year and it's really cool to watch.
Speaker 2: It gives you chills.
Speaker 4: You know, just you kind of replay the whole year
Speaker 4: in your mind while it's going on, and you just
Speaker 4: you think back and go, man, that was a pretty
Speaker 4: special year. But now that we're here for this year,
Speaker 4: you kind of have to flush that. You can't be
Speaker 4: focused on last year if we focused on this year
Speaker 4: and once ahead of us and you know you've heard
Speaker 4: me say it a million times. Our focus is on
Speaker 4: each each and every day. How are we getting better
Speaker 4: for that day and how are we focusing on that day?
Speaker 4: And you know, me and Miggie, we've we've been here
Speaker 4: for a while and that's one of the things we
Speaker 4: try to harp on with the infielders is we got
Speaker 4: to get better every single day. What we're doing, How
Speaker 4: are we communicating, how are we feeling ground balls? How
Speaker 4: are we throwing? Are we doing all that with intent?
Speaker 4: Are we doing that with you know, the focus of
Speaker 4: getting better? And if we're not we got to call
Speaker 4: couple people out, you know, and sometimes that includes us.
Speaker 4: Sometimes we need to be called out. We've if we've
Speaker 4: had a bad day. You know, maybe you'll come up
Speaker 4: and be like, hey, what's going on. You know, it
Speaker 4: didn't look like you were focused out there, and you know,
Speaker 4: you just have honest conversations with each other, and that's
Speaker 4: you know, one of things is so special with this
Speaker 4: clubhouse is that everyone's open to I would necessarily call
Speaker 4: it criticism, but we'll just.
Speaker 2: Use that word to make it easy.
Speaker 4: You know, everyone's open to that and they don't take
Speaker 4: it the wrong way because they know it's coming from
Speaker 4: a place of love and that it's coming from a
Speaker 4: place that we want to be good and for everyone
Speaker 4: to be as good as possible, we have to hold
Speaker 4: each other accountable.
Speaker 1: With that being said, Dave Roberts mentioned to us that
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz, two of the newest guys
Speaker 1: in this clubhouse.
Speaker 3: Stood up and spoke what was the mood in the.
Speaker 1: Clubhouse when two new guys comes into a team that
Speaker 1: already has a lot of veterans that went back to
Speaker 1: back championships.
Speaker 4: You know, Dog likes to do that early in spring hit.
Speaker 4: You know, with the new guys, he likes to give
Speaker 4: him a chance to speak, and you know, it helps
Speaker 4: everyone in the clubhouse learn who they are. And you know,
Speaker 4: the message they sent was great. They came here to win,
Speaker 4: they want to win a ring, and you know, they
Speaker 4: heard of how great organization is, how great the players are,
Speaker 4: how great the clubhouse is. You know, how great the
Speaker 4: front office is in terms of how they treat the
Speaker 4: players and the families. And they both had very similar messages,
Speaker 4: and you know, it's exciting when you hear that.
Speaker 2: And for a lot of the guys that have, you know.
Speaker 4: Been here for several years, you don't forget, but it's
Speaker 4: always refreshing when you hear, you know, other players talk
Speaker 4: about what they see from from Afar about you know,
Speaker 4: just the first class organization that we are and that
Speaker 4: you know, it's special to be here, and.
Speaker 2: So it's just it's just refreshing to hear that.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you fall into that category as well. You signed
Speaker 1: it to year extension. You're going to be here for
Speaker 1: at least three more seasons, including this one. It seems
Speaker 1: like a lot's been made out of the numbers that
Speaker 1: you took. But how do you react to all the
Speaker 1: attention that you've gotten to re sign with the team
Speaker 1: for two more years.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: Where else would I would rather go?
Speaker 4: You know, this is the best organization in baseball, where
Speaker 4: the best team in baseball. Why would I want to
Speaker 4: go anywhere else? Because I'm greedy? No, that's not who
Speaker 4: I am. You know. I know we get we get
Speaker 4: paid a lot of money to play this game, and
Speaker 4: obviously that's comforting to know that we make a lot
Speaker 4: of money. But I never really got into this game
Speaker 4: for that reason. I got into because I love the game
Speaker 4: at baseball. I love to compete. I love to win,
Speaker 4: and there's no better opportunity to do that than here.
Speaker 4: And on top of that, this organization and the city
Speaker 4: really has become my family. And that was one of
Speaker 4: the key deciding factors for us was my family.
Speaker 2: You know, my kids were born in LA. They they
Speaker 2: love Lay, They love everything about it. They love the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: They you know, they know the all the landmarks driving
Speaker 4: to the stadium. They when we get to the stadium
Speaker 4: and they know exactly where they're going.
Speaker 2: They love it.
Speaker 4: Every time they see the color blue, they say that
Speaker 4: that's Dodger blue. And that's dadad Blue, and you know,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to rip that away from them because
Speaker 4: I'm greedy, and like I said, that's just not who
Speaker 4: I am. So for me, it was such an easy
Speaker 4: decision that, sure, maybe I'm leaving money on the table,
Speaker 4: there's no way of actually knowing that. There's no way
Speaker 4: of knowing what other organizations might offer you out there.
Speaker 4: But for me, it's it's more than enough money for
Speaker 4: me and my family, and you know they're set, and
Speaker 4: it's a chance to stay here and win every single year.
Speaker 2: Why would I want to go anywhere else?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you have that perspective, because when
Speaker 1: the Dodgers called, you didn't have a job at that
Speaker 1: point in time. So you've seen what it's like to
Speaker 1: be close to being out of the game to being
Speaker 1: at the pinnacle a three time World Series champion.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a little bit of loyalty there for me.
Speaker 4: You know, they took a chance on me when I
Speaker 4: was basically retired and I was pretty set on retiring,
Speaker 4: and they kind of, you know, pulled me out of
Speaker 4: the dumpster, and you know, they helped me relearn who
Speaker 4: I was and and become the player I am and
Speaker 4: for that, I'm always going to be grateful, and you know,
Speaker 4: because of that, I want to show a little bit
Speaker 4: of gratitude towards them and not you know, I'm not
Speaker 4: trying to burn any bridges there, and it's you know,
Speaker 4: it's just a it's just a respect between both of us,
Speaker 4: the front office and me, like we've we've had such
Speaker 4: a good relationship over the years and it's going to continue.
Speaker 4: And you know that that was also another factor in
Speaker 4: deciding that I want to stay here is I've made
Speaker 4: you know, I've been very open about how i want
Speaker 4: to end my career here, but just building the legacy
Speaker 4: that I have here when I'm done playing, you know,
Speaker 4: whatever I want to do, the Dodgers are going to
Speaker 4: let me do. And you know that's something that kind
Speaker 4: of meant a lot to me also to just know that,
Speaker 4: you know, if I want to work for the team,
Speaker 4: if I want to, you know, just have a little
Speaker 4: side role with the team, or if I want to
Speaker 4: be a coach, or if i want to you know,
Speaker 4: be in the phone office, They're going to give me
Speaker 4: an opportunity to do that because of the relationships that
Speaker 4: I've built here.
Speaker 2: And that's something that means everything to me next months.
Speaker 1: He's been a big part of the fabric with the
Speaker 1: Dodgers since he burst onto the scene in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: and has not rested on his laurels. Yourself and all
Speaker 1: the guys that were part of the team last year
Speaker 1: have come into camp ready to go day one. What
Speaker 1: did you do with your off season training to be
Speaker 1: able to be ready for this year and as you
Speaker 1: evolve as you get later in your career.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it just it was a big focus
Speaker 4: on health for me, you know, trying to just do
Speaker 4: everything I can to make sure I'm healthy this year.
Speaker 4: You know, I dove a lot into the issues that
Speaker 4: I had, and I feel like we figured a lot
Speaker 4: of them out. I've done some you know, pretty crazy stuff,
Speaker 4: but you know, I've coming to the camp in great shape.
Speaker 4: It's the lightest I've been since, you know, twenty eighteen. Really,
Speaker 4: I feel great. And you know that was part of
Speaker 4: the reason that you know, we had good, good discussions
Speaker 4: with the front office was you know, we both understand
Speaker 4: that if I want to be here, I have to
Speaker 4: be able to.
Speaker 2: Pay third base.
Speaker 4: And for me to be able to pay third base,
Speaker 4: I just have to be healthier, and so you know
Speaker 4: that was kind of the key deciding factor is just
Speaker 4: I want to be able to perform. I want to
Speaker 4: be able to be an All Star again. I want
Speaker 4: to help his team win a couple more World Series
Speaker 4: and that's just the end goal, all.
Speaker 3: Right, Muncie.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time, Glad I got off
Speaker 1: the hook of doing any push ups today. Maybe week
Speaker 1: two of spring training.
Speaker 3: I'll be ready.
Speaker 2: I know you're scared about it. Don't worry. I won't
Speaker 2: put you in front of the camera.
Speaker 4: I know you're scared about doing push ups, but yeah,
Speaker 4: for everyone out there, it's just all.
Speaker 2: Love between me and David. But I have to give
Speaker 2: I have to give a little call out every now
Speaker 2: and then, no doubt.
Speaker 3: You got to keep me humble. Thanks a lot for
Speaker 3: the time, of course,