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Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.

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Speaker 2: We gonna join right now by a man that is

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Speaker 2: part of my favorite baseball show on MLB Network, that's

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Speaker 2: MLB Central with Robert Flores and Lauren Shahati. He is

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Speaker 2: the manager of Team USA, and I feel like being

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Speaker 2: a Jersey guy, he can relate to this with Kershaw

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Speaker 2: joining Team USA and the World Baseball Classic when the

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Speaker 2: call was made uptown and the big Man joined the band.

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Speaker 2: That's the one and only Mark de Rosa. Dro Thanks

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Speaker 2: a lot for coming on the show. Appreciate it.

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Speaker 3: First off, David, what an intro right there. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Second off, what a way to tie his career in

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Speaker 1: a bow, right one of the greatest to ever do it.

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Speaker 1: I remember when I was manager in twenty three, I

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Speaker 1: tried to get him to pitch for us, then it

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Speaker 1: didn't work out. I felt like I learned a lot

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Speaker 1: from that roster and and what this tournament needs to

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Speaker 1: get to the finish line. And when I was sitting

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Speaker 1: back and looking at it and putting this roster together,

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Speaker 1: I called him probably i'd say about three weeks ago,

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Speaker 1: and I think I caught him a little bit off guard.

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Speaker 1: When I called him and I kind of walked him

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Speaker 1: through why I thought it made sense and if he

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Speaker 1: would be willing to do it, because I didn't know

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Speaker 1: coming off the World Series if he just wanted to

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Speaker 1: end it like that. But I thought one opportunity to

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Speaker 1: get him in a USA jersey. It was sitting there

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Speaker 1: with Andy Pettitt and going through it. I'm like, Andy,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna call him and see where his head's at,

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Speaker 1: and and he was. He was down to give it

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Speaker 1: a try. He wanted to see if his arm still

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Speaker 1: felt good.

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Speaker 3: He wanted a.

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Speaker 1: Couple of days to go out and throw and see

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Speaker 1: what he felt like. And he said he would call

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Speaker 1: me back, and yeah, right around Christmas time. So it

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Speaker 1: was it was a perfect opportunity and a perfect present

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Speaker 1: for us to kind of to kind of make this work.

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Speaker 1: And listen, I know you've got a ton of questions,

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Speaker 1: but it works on so many levels. It gives him

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to put the jersey on. It gives the

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Speaker 1: likes of Scooble and Schemes and Logan Webb and Joe

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Speaker 1: Ryan and all the young pitchers on this staff a

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Speaker 1: chance to learn from him. And like I said, and

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Speaker 1: we can talk about it at length.

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Speaker 3: Why he makes sense for the roster.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting you already you know, shot down what

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Speaker 2: many people believed something that it was Kershaw that drove this,

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Speaker 2: that approached you, it was you that wanted to have

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Speaker 2: him on the team.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I'm he was. We walked down this

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Speaker 1: road in twenty three for a while to try and

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Speaker 1: get him cleared and get him on the mound for us,

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Speaker 1: and it just didn't make sense for you know, his

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Speaker 1: side and all the parties involved, and I was upset

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Speaker 1: because I wanted him to be a part of it

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Speaker 1: this time going through it. There's guard rails on how

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Speaker 1: many pitches guys can throw. There's guard rails with regards

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Speaker 1: to the starting pitchers that are on this roster being

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Speaker 1: built up to a certain because we don't want to

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Speaker 1: upset them getting ready for opening Day, and this certainly

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Speaker 1: kind of puts a different obstacle in place for them.

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Speaker 1: And I just remember in twenty three we ran into

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Speaker 1: a situation where both starters that went out to Mexico

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Speaker 1: Mexico didn't pitch well and we had to cover the

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Speaker 1: rest of that game with our basically our entire relief

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Speaker 1: corps and based on the parameters and guardrails in place

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Speaker 1: with the teams and trying to keep these guys healthy,

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Speaker 1: lance Lynn had to bow up in a bit way

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Speaker 1: for us and pitch his tailoff against Canada to kind

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Speaker 1: of give us a chance to reset the bullpen and

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Speaker 1: be able to follow all the guidelines that were given

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Speaker 1: to us by the parent clubs. We didn't want to

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Speaker 1: run into that same situation this time, so we will

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Speaker 1: have eight starters on the staff and Clayton will basically

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Speaker 1: be like an emergency longman for us in case one

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Speaker 1: of those situations arises, where he can go in reset

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Speaker 1: our bullpen, reset how we're going to do things, and

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Speaker 1: gives us kind of a safety net for not getting

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Speaker 1: caught with our pants down like we almost did last

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Speaker 1: time because of all the rules and regulations that are

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Speaker 1: surrounding the WBC.

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Speaker 3: Listen.

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Speaker 1: I don't expect him to go out and pitch the

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Speaker 1: championship game. I would love that, but I also understand

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Speaker 1: where he's at in his career, and you know where

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Speaker 1: he is at in his life. But I thought it

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Speaker 1: would be he'd be the perfect guy to kind of

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Speaker 1: fill that role for us and to be kind of

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Speaker 1: like a pseudo pitching coach with Andy Pettitt and also

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Speaker 1: get him on the bump in some spot places.

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Speaker 2: That's amazing. Team USA manager Mark de Rosa is joining us, obviously,

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Speaker 2: you see him during the season on MLB Central on

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Speaker 2: MLB Network and look Mark. I guess that kind of

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Speaker 2: just puts it all into context on how you plan

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Speaker 2: to use them your vision for him. But I've heard

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Speaker 2: from guys that come back from the World Baseball Classic

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Speaker 2: and being part of Team USA that it's kind of

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Speaker 2: a measuring stick for everybody and also an opportunity for

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Speaker 2: these guys to pick the brain of the best in

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Speaker 2: the game. How much is that playing into your vision

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Speaker 2: as well for guys like you mentioned Schooble and schemes

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Speaker 2: to pick the brain of Kershaw.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent.

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Speaker 1: Because when you're looking at a situation like this, there's

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Speaker 1: not too many current players that are going to be

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Speaker 1: willing to potentially not throw in a game or be

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Speaker 1: asked to only throw an inning or two innings. These

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Speaker 1: guys want to be ramped up to get ready for

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Speaker 1: the regular season. So when we really went through it,

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Speaker 1: it would be a big ask for a current player

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Speaker 1: to fill the spot that Clayton's filling, and when you

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Speaker 1: go through some of the name I just thought he

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Speaker 1: was the perfect guy. Like I want to be around him.

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Speaker 1: Our staff wants to be around them. I've gotten to

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Speaker 1: know him since twenty twenty three, kind of going down

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Speaker 1: the process the first time. He's he's a man's man,

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Speaker 1: and I knew schemes in Schooble, like I said, were

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Speaker 1: guys that wanted to learn from him. I remember the

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Speaker 1: first thing Paul Skeen said to me when he agreed

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Speaker 1: to be a part of this pitching staff. He goes,

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Speaker 1: I want you to surround me with the best. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to be teaching everybody what I do and

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Speaker 1: how I go after it. I want to learn. I

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Speaker 1: want to get better from this process while competing for

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Speaker 1: our country. So I was sitting there with Andy, like

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Speaker 1: I said, right around Christmas time, and I'm like, Andy,

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Speaker 1: if we're going to put a guy in this long

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Speaker 1: man spot and cover us because there was no one

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Speaker 1: in our bullpen last time that can go north of

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Speaker 1: thirty pitches right that the starters can only go sixty

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Speaker 1: five pitches in pool play, so it kind of limits

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Speaker 1: what you're capable of doing in an emergency situation. I said,

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Speaker 1: if we're going to fill this role, the perfect guy

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Speaker 1: to do it is Clayton, because we all want to

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Speaker 1: be around him, we all want to learn from him.

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Speaker 1: He will go down as one of the greatest to

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Speaker 1: ever do it. And I just thought, if he's willing,

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Speaker 1: that it would be the perfect addition to the team.

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Speaker 1: And when I called him, I didn't know what I.

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Speaker 3: Was going to get.

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Speaker 1: To be honest with you, Dave, I you know every

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Speaker 1: call that I've made, and you know you could write

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Speaker 1: a book about all the nose we've gotten, the reasons why, all.

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Speaker 3: The yes is.

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Speaker 1: It's some of my highlight of my life making these calls.

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Speaker 1: But when I called Clayton, I kind of said, hey, listen,

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Speaker 1: I have this idea where you make a ton of

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Speaker 1: sense for our roster. I'd like walk you through it

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Speaker 1: if you're interested. And he's like, give it to me,

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Speaker 1: And I kind of walked him through it and he's like, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm in I think I want to do it. Give

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Speaker 1: me forty eight hours to think about it. Let me

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Speaker 1: talk to my wife and see where she's at with it.

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Speaker 1: And then he called me back two days later. He

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Speaker 1: goes if you want to do it, I want. I

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Speaker 1: want to be a part of it. And I'm like,

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Speaker 1: let's go.

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Speaker 2: That's amazing. That's an electric phone call right there. One

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Speaker 2: other question for you. You know, Kershaw has referenced his

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Speaker 2: body in a self deprecating way the last few months

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Speaker 2: of the season as he's just trying to get this

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Speaker 2: carcass going. He's referenced his body as a carcass. Has

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Speaker 2: he started Does that mean he has now ramped up

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Speaker 2: his off season throwing. I've heard he's only playing catch

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Speaker 2: with Charlie. What have you heard as far as him

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Speaker 2: trying to get that carcass ready?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he scared Andy Pettit a little bit saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm just going to work out with my son and throw.

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Speaker 1: I think Andy was expecting him to get ready like

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Speaker 1: he's preparing for a season.

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Speaker 3: No.

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Speaker 1: I mean, listen, he knows what he needs to do

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Speaker 1: as long as his arm feels okay. We don't expect

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Speaker 1: him to light up the raid our gun by any stretch.

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Speaker 1: I think this is a perfect opportunity for us to

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Speaker 1: feel like we have an emergency kind of if it

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Speaker 1: hits the fan, we know we have Clayton there to

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Speaker 1: be able to kind of bail us and reset us,

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Speaker 1: And what an opportunity. I would love nothing more than

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Speaker 1: for everything to go kind of seamless according to plan,

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Speaker 1: and we're able to get him on the mat in like,

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Speaker 1: you know, a clinching situation and for the world to

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Speaker 1: see him out on the bump and pitch a you know,

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Speaker 1: a big inning for us to kind of celebrate, that

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Speaker 1: would be like perfect. But I think it's more this

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Speaker 1: is a situation he feels comfortable in. If an emergency,

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Speaker 1: we can put him in there for out however long,

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Speaker 1: the sixty five pitches or an inning or two innings,

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Speaker 1: whatever that may be. I just felt like he's the

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Speaker 1: perfect guy to serve as like kind of a de

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Speaker 1: facto captain with Aaron Judge and if if in an

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Speaker 1: emergency we need him, we could kind of kind of

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Speaker 1: reset everything with him.

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Speaker 2: Sounds perfect. I know everybody in LA is excited. I

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Speaker 2: know this has generated more buzz for the World Baseball Classics.

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Speaker 2: So great idea by the Team USA skipper Mark De Rosa,

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Speaker 2: and I have a vision for you when you first

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Speaker 2: appear on MLB Central Training, you should wear your Team

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Speaker 2: USA uniform, just full pants everything. Just hop on that

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Speaker 2: couch with Lauren and Roe, flow and let them know

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Speaker 2: who the skipper is.

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Speaker 3: Dave, the only thing thinking about is we have to win.

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Speaker 2: This, oh baby, through no doubt.

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Speaker 1: That's really bottom line. I know Dominican, I know Japan,

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Speaker 1: I know every other country is trying to get after this.

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Speaker 1: My juices are rolling. I know it's the seed I

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Speaker 1: sit in. I understand it from the parent club's perspective,

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Speaker 1: how they just want their guys back healthy from But

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Speaker 1: from where I'm sitting, man, this is the most important

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Speaker 1: thing I'm doing.

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Speaker 3: So let's go.

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Speaker 2: Let's go. You got a few good Dodgers, including the

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Speaker 2: most slutch hitter in baseball, and Will Smith as one

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Speaker 2: of your catchers. So it's gonna be awesome to watch

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Speaker 2: Team USA make their run to the gold medal and

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Speaker 2: the World Baseball Classic. Mark de Rosa, thank you so

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Speaker 2: much for coming on on a day that we had

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Speaker 2: exciting breaking news with Clayton Kershaw joining Team USA. Love you, Mark,

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 3: All Right, David, you're the man. I'll talk to you, buddy,