Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers kicking off a six game road trip, and
Speaker 1: we're joined right now by the manager. Our Managers meeting
Speaker 1: brought to you by Downy Hunday, and that's the one
Speaker 1: and only Dave Roberts.
Speaker 2: Dave, thanks again for the time. It's good being with you, Dave.
Speaker 2: We've got a family trip here. So we've got Pittsburgh,
Speaker 2: we've got Chicago, the South Side, the White Sox, so
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a good road trip. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. And yeah, we're playing good baseball.
Speaker 1: You are the guy that sets the tone for the
Speaker 1: family of the Dodgers, and you're gonna be really trying
Speaker 1: to focus on family and your job because you're flying
Speaker 1: back to be part of your daughter's graduation this weekend.
Speaker 2: I am, I am. So I've got three games here
Speaker 2: and then I'll get the first two in Chicago, and
Speaker 2: then I'll fly back to my daughter's graduation on Saturday night,
Speaker 2: which is on Sunday, and she's graduate waiting from Stanford.
Speaker 2: So I'm really proud. And it is weird though, because
Speaker 2: you never want to miss a game but I think
Speaker 2: that this is a good reason.
Speaker 1: Hey, the Rangers manager Skip Schumacher left the team for
Speaker 1: a day to be at his son's high school graduation.
Speaker 1: What's the balance for you, because obviously you have a
Speaker 1: lot of responsibility, but also your family comes first.
Speaker 2: You know. I think the one thing for me is
Speaker 2: that the world has evolved, and many can argue not
Speaker 2: in a good way, in some ways good, some ways bad.
Speaker 2: But I do think in a lot of ways from
Speaker 2: the workplace sense of things, it's more open to kind
Speaker 2: of people spending time with their families and knowing that
Speaker 2: those moments are important. They're fleeting and so you know,
Speaker 2: the job is going to get done with it without you,
Speaker 2: And so for me, I encourage my coaches to enjoy,
Speaker 2: you know, graduations, things like that. One of our coaches
Speaker 2: had to leave for a surgery for their daughter, and
Speaker 2: I certainly welcome that because there's nothing more important than family.
Speaker 2: And it also I think when you get to do
Speaker 2: moments with your family and other things that are really important,
Speaker 2: I think you do your job better and then you
Speaker 2: feel better about the people you work with.
Speaker 1: And for you've done this before with your son, Cole,
Speaker 1: I'm curious when you're at your daughter's graduation, will you
Speaker 1: be looking at your phone a lot? How are you
Speaker 1: able to be present in the moment?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. So I don't know what I
Speaker 2: did for Cole's graduation, but Emmy, it is going to
Speaker 2: be a day game, and I think they are going
Speaker 2: to overlap, so I think I might just try to
Speaker 2: put my phone down be completely present.
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts is our guest in Pittsburgh. The Dodgers will
Speaker 1: have shoey Otani on the mound again. He's coming off
Speaker 1: a really good start in Arizona, but obviously we started
Speaker 1: to see the blister that he'd been dealing with. Where's
Speaker 1: that at, David? Is there any concern?
Speaker 2: Possum? Our trainer does a good job with the blisters,
Speaker 2: and he's been with the Dodgers since I played for
Speaker 2: the Dodgers, and he is a clubhouse favorite, and he
Speaker 2: says that the blister is totally manageable, totally fine. Uh,
Speaker 2: you know, not a big deal at all. So I
Speaker 2: expect Showhy to be good on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: I have random thoughts and with the All Star Game
Speaker 1: and the voting going on right now, Showho Tani most
Speaker 1: certainly will be voted in and maybe the top vote getter.
Speaker 1: But since he is pitching again, I'm curious, with the
Speaker 1: game being in Philadelphia, Sanchez having such a great year,
Speaker 1: would you rule out completely Otani possibly being the starting
Speaker 1: pitcher for the National League Or since you're the guy
Speaker 1: and the Dodgers have greater aspirations, that's not something you
Speaker 1: would you would venture into.
Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, I don't know how. You know, obviously
Speaker 2: you're looking at Sanchez, You're looking at Miz, you're looking
Speaker 2: at Showey. Who's my guy. I don't know the schedule
Speaker 2: for all the guys, but obviously I think that I
Speaker 2: know show He's done it before. You know, Sanchez at home,
Speaker 2: I think matters. You know. So I haven't made that
Speaker 2: decision yet, but as we get closer, you know, things
Speaker 2: can change. But as we get closer, I'll put more
Speaker 2: thought into it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the fun side of baseball. And you have
Speaker 1: a few players that maybe aren't number one as far
Speaker 1: as the popularity contest. But how much do you believe
Speaker 1: that Max mounth Sy and Andy paj has have earned
Speaker 1: to start at their respective positions.
Speaker 2: I think they've both earned it, and still we have
Speaker 2: a lot of baseball left for the first half. But
Speaker 2: as we kind of get kick off the fan voting
Speaker 2: for the All Star Game, I really hope that, you know,
Speaker 2: Los Angeles Dodger fans and fans all over the country
Speaker 2: pitch in and support Max and Andy, specifically because Andy
Speaker 2: lost out last year. Max has been I think a
Speaker 2: few years since he's been an All Star, but they're
Speaker 2: both having tremendous seasons, and you know, we draw more
Speaker 2: than anyone. We have the best fan base than anyone,
Speaker 2: so hopefully that can be reflected in the voting for
Speaker 2: our guys.
Speaker 1: As far as the pitchers go, do you believe that
Speaker 1: it's out of the question or not out of the
Speaker 1: question that Justin Robleski could earn a spot?
Speaker 2: Well, I think that you' should certainly and will certainly
Speaker 2: be in the conversation. And I think Robo you can't
Speaker 2: argue the numbers and the performance, So if he continues
Speaker 2: to do what he's doing, I hope that he certainly
Speaker 2: gets some consideration.
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts is our guest before first pitch between the
Speaker 1: Dodgers and Pirates the Manager's Meeting, presented by Downy Hunday.
Speaker 1: All Right, Kyle Tucker. You've been asked a lot about him.
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting that Michael Conforto admitted last
Speaker 1: week that he was trying to keep up with the
Speaker 1: big boys on your team. That was a real candid answer.
Speaker 1: Do you feel in some ways that Tucker may have
Speaker 1: fallen into that same trap?
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know. I think that it's certainly
Speaker 2: it's a big room. There's a lot of star power
Speaker 2: in our room, and regardless of who you are, to
Speaker 2: come into this is certainly daunting, can be daunting. It's
Speaker 2: a very open, friendly clubhouse. But I certainly think as
Speaker 2: peers and you kind of try to play the comparison game,
Speaker 2: which is pretty tough. And yeah, Michael, I guess admitted
Speaker 2: that a couple of weeks ago, and we had a
Speaker 2: good heart to heart, you know, probably a little later
Speaker 2: than it should have been, but you know, I was
Speaker 2: always a big fan, and it wasn't for lack of
Speaker 2: trying and preparation and just sort of talk to him
Speaker 2: about getting back to himself and not comparing and trying
Speaker 2: to you know, you know, be the athlete and fight
Speaker 2: for everything you've got, because that's how we got to
Speaker 2: the big leagues and I think it resonated with him,
Speaker 2: and you know, we didn't get to kind of see
Speaker 2: the fruits of that in the postseason, but he is
Speaker 2: obviously having a great year this year, and I do
Speaker 2: think that, you know, Kyle might be in that similar boat.
Speaker 2: I haven't had that conversation with him yet, but I'm
Speaker 2: still trying to learn him. And as a manager, you
Speaker 2: don't want to push too much too soon and sort
Speaker 2: of push players away. But I'm gaining more information every
Speaker 2: day with Kyle. But I will say the last couple
Speaker 2: of games he's been better. We gave him a day
Speaker 2: off in that Philly series. I think that was a
Speaker 2: better fit. And then so we'll get two out of three.
Speaker 2: He had two out of the three days off with
Speaker 2: the off day to come in come in fresh with
Speaker 2: this series. So we'll see. But I'm keeping a watchful
Speaker 2: eye on him.
Speaker 1: Dave, you don't get enough credit for having to be
Speaker 1: a counselor and understand every player is different. How big
Speaker 1: of the job is that, especially with some of the
Speaker 1: bigger names that you have in your clubhouse.
Speaker 2: I would say it's it's the biggest part of the job.
Speaker 2: If you have a pie chart, I would say that
Speaker 2: the kind of the mental counseling, mentoring side of the
Speaker 2: job is I would say probably you know, thirty five
Speaker 2: forty percent. And I think that the end game, which
Speaker 2: gets a lot of the scrutiny and the criticism, is
Speaker 2: probably you know, thirty percent. So there's a lot of different,
Speaker 2: you know, slices to the pie of my job, but
Speaker 2: I will say that it's the biggest part, and it's
Speaker 2: the most satisfying part, you know, of my job.
Speaker 1: A lot of people would, you know, guess that because
Speaker 1: you have so many accomplished players, you wouldn't have to
Speaker 1: be that positive reinforcement for a lot of these guys.
Speaker 1: But it seems like you may have to do that
Speaker 1: more than what people on the outside believe happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, you know, just you know, I had a
Speaker 2: couple of conversations this past homestand when we're playing the
Speaker 2: Angels in the series, sat a couple of players down
Speaker 2: and just kind of wanted to see where they were
Speaker 2: at because they've been going through it and and I
Speaker 2: think that we got to a good place and try
Speaker 2: to give them some perspective on expectations and what they
Speaker 2: are doing well and try to free them up and
Speaker 2: so yeah, it's not talked about a lot because obviously
Speaker 2: I have to, you know, mind the privacy and respect
Speaker 2: the privacy of the clubhouse and the players. But these conversations,
Speaker 2: Dave were happening all the time with guys in the bullpen,
Speaker 2: the pitchers, you know, me and miggi Row, which we've
Speaker 2: talked about a lot. Last year had a lot of conversations,
Speaker 2: you know, when he was looking at being done with
Speaker 2: the game because he was so frustrated and trying to
Speaker 2: talk him off the ledge and keep him positive and
Speaker 2: you know, and it's obviously we know he had his
Speaker 2: moment in the World Series. So these are these are
Speaker 2: good things and these are more life lesson conversations.
Speaker 1: Some of my favorite scenes over the years with you
Speaker 1: being the manager is how you have those conversations with
Speaker 1: players as the game is going on, You'll call somebody
Speaker 1: down and have a conversation with them.
Speaker 2: I do. I like that because it just I want
Speaker 2: to there's certain moments, there's certain things that are happening
Speaker 2: there as certain players that are performing that I want
Speaker 2: that I feel that it resonates with them and their
Speaker 2: game and I want them to not miss that moment
Speaker 2: and so you know, whether it's Robo, it's Roki, it's
Speaker 2: Max Munsey when he was younger, it's it doesn't matter,
Speaker 2: it's Dalton rushing. There's certain guys, Emma Shehan, you know,
Speaker 2: you know certain guys that are doing certain things. I
Speaker 2: want these guys not to you know. I like them
Speaker 2: talking to each other, you know, a little banter around
Speaker 2: the end of the bench, and that's all, and they
Speaker 2: are watching the game. But I think as a manager
Speaker 2: it's important for me it also pick them out, single
Speaker 2: them out and take a little bit of time with
Speaker 2: them to kind of point something out to them. Love it.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the insight. It's always great catching up
Speaker 1: with you, and again another great week with you. And
Speaker 1: congratulations to you, your wife and your daughter for accomplishing
Speaker 1: something big graduating from Stanford. So congratulations to a great dad,
Speaker 1: a proud papa.
Speaker 2: Thanks Dave, I appreciate you. And let's win a ball
Speaker 2: game tonight.