Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 1: He's the man in demand. That's the manager of the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: the managers of the National League, and it all presented
Speaker 1: by Downy Hundai. That's the one and only Dave Roberts. Dave,
Speaker 1: thanks a lot for the time and officially at the
Speaker 1: halfway point.
Speaker 2: Yes we're here.
Speaker 3: You know it certainly goes doesn't go without a lot
Speaker 3: of mishaps and injuries, as it always does with Dodger Baseball,
Speaker 3: but you know what, we've got the best recking ol
Speaker 3: of baseball. I'm excited for our players to be a
Speaker 3: part of the Midsummer Classic. For me to be able
Speaker 3: to address the superstars again in the Citizens Big Clubhouse
Speaker 3: is an honor for me, and just to be around
Speaker 3: the game's best. So yeah, you'd like to be on
Speaker 3: a beach for four days. But you know, knowing that
Speaker 3: you went to the World Series the year prior to
Speaker 3: then have the opportunity to manage you also our team
Speaker 3: something special.
Speaker 1: What is the message you give the All Stars?
Speaker 2: You know what?
Speaker 3: Every year it's different. I remember one year I had
Speaker 3: Reggie Smith speak, another year I had Albert Poohle speak.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure. I obviously speak myself, and then I
Speaker 3: kind of pull a player to give them some relatability
Speaker 3: for the room. But I think for me it's gratitude.
Speaker 3: I think that you know, some guys like Freddie, for example,
Speaker 3: this is his tenth, it might be his last, you
Speaker 3: never know. And there's some guys that it's their first
Speaker 3: and so and it can be fleeting. So I think
Speaker 3: for me is for players to sort of be in
Speaker 3: the grind and what they do and try to perform
Speaker 3: every day, You've still got to take a step back
Speaker 3: to enjoy some of the fruits. And so that's part
Speaker 3: of the message, and just the respect for the game.
Speaker 3: And you know, there's a lot of people that come
Speaker 3: a long way that support all of us and watch
Speaker 3: us every single night, and just be mindful of stuff
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 1: Manager Dave Roberts is our guest. He'll be there in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia leading the National League.
Speaker 2: Again.
Speaker 1: There's been a lot of talk about Justin Roeblae. He's
Speaker 1: become somewhat of a sympathetic figure for not being named
Speaker 1: to the All Star team. Yet, do you still believe
Speaker 1: the doors open for that possibility?
Speaker 3: I hope so you know, Major League Baseball has a
Speaker 3: committee to kind of go through certainly the backfill of
Speaker 3: players on the position player side, the pitching, and there's
Speaker 3: a lot of pitchers that will pitch on Saturday Sunday
Speaker 3: that are not available, and Justin would be available.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of my plea to them.
Speaker 3: And also with Tanner Scott, so I think he's had
Speaker 3: a tremendous first half. So obviously there's a little bias
Speaker 3: lens from me, but I also think that both those
Speaker 3: guys are deserving. So my fingers are crossed. And you know,
Speaker 3: Justin's had a tremendous first half and so won ten games,
Speaker 3: and ere is stellar and he's just such a good guy,
Speaker 3: So I really want it for him.
Speaker 1: When you talk about confidence and swagger, you usually talk
Speaker 1: about the guys that have won cy Young's won championships.
Speaker 1: He was such a big part of what you did
Speaker 1: in Toronto last year. What is it about him that
Speaker 1: he has so much confidence in himself?
Speaker 2: You know, that's a great question.
Speaker 3: I think as I think through that question, I think
Speaker 3: real confidence comes from people that know who they are,
Speaker 3: they really do, and they're comfortable being who they are.
Speaker 3: So I think that Justin knows who he is as
Speaker 3: a person. He knows who he is as a pitcher,
Speaker 3: and I think that's where the confidence comes from, because
Speaker 3: I think that people that are indecisive, unsure, not confident
Speaker 3: in who they are, don't know who they are. That's
Speaker 3: hard to find confidence. Then it's more manufactured. But I
Speaker 3: think Robo really knows who he is.
Speaker 1: That's interesting because even in life, when you're trying to
Speaker 1: be somebody that you're not, it really comes through.
Speaker 2: It does.
Speaker 3: It does, and so I think that the people that
Speaker 3: know and also in sports, it manifests itself when it
Speaker 3: gets hot, when moments get pressurized and you don't have
Speaker 3: that confidence, then you panic, the games beats up, you fold,
Speaker 3: you run from it. Whereas you know, the people that
Speaker 3: know that they're not afraid to fail, they know what
Speaker 3: their strengths are, their weaknesses. Those are the people that
Speaker 3: I try to identify because when the postseason goes around,
Speaker 3: I've said it to you many times, the postseason when
Speaker 3: you've been on people all.
Speaker 1: Right, so speaking to people and guys that you bet
Speaker 1: on and guys that believe in themselves. Where does Dalton
Speaker 1: Rushing fall on that spectrum of being himself.
Speaker 3: So Dalton, So he's a different in a different category
Speaker 3: in the sense that he is a fiery guy. He's
Speaker 3: a tough competitor. He expects a lot of himself. There's
Speaker 3: really no soft edges with him. But in the catching position,
Speaker 3: he's got to evolve and you've got to have that
Speaker 3: serve and mentality, and that's something that for me, I'm
Speaker 3: trying to get him to understand that your job number
Speaker 3: one is not to get hits. It's tough because you
Speaker 3: expect to get hits and you are a hitting catcher,
Speaker 3: but your job is to serve the pitchers. And you've
Speaker 3: got to be able to separate the catching game calling
Speaker 3: from the hitting, and you know, the emotional part of it.
Speaker 3: You've got to sometimes temper because you don't want your
Speaker 3: pitchers thinking you care more about your bat than the fingers.
Speaker 2: So Dalton is growing.
Speaker 3: He definitely is a confident player, knows he's talented. But
Speaker 3: I think for him, there still needs to be a
Speaker 3: finishing school that has to happen.
Speaker 1: Where is the learning curve. Do you feel like the
Speaker 1: talks that you've had with him, his teammates have had
Speaker 1: with him, do you feel like there's a breakthrough in
Speaker 1: some ways.
Speaker 2: I do. I do.
Speaker 3: I think that, you know, even in the last few weeks,
Speaker 3: you haven't seen as many outbursts that are caught on
Speaker 3: the broadcast and in the dugout, And I think that
Speaker 3: you know myself, Brent Walker a mental performance guy. The
Speaker 3: players and other coaches are pouring in in Bob Garren
Speaker 3: and so I think, you know, with this opportunity, with
Speaker 3: Will being down, this is a crash course for Dalton,
Speaker 3: which he's embraced and I think with that he's gotten
Speaker 3: better every game and offensively he's been fantastic.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Will Smith, obviously he's been down now for
Speaker 1: over a month with the neck issue. Where is that at?
Speaker 1: And are you confident that at some point in the
Speaker 1: near future after the All Star break you could have
Speaker 1: him back?
Speaker 2: Where is he at?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what, he's kind of he's moving around,
Speaker 3: playing catch, he's swinging the bat, but it just really
Speaker 3: hasn't got over the hump as far as being able
Speaker 3: to move forward. So it's certainly obviously going to be
Speaker 3: after the break, and for me, I just don't see
Speaker 3: it happening anytime before August, and it could be further along.
Speaker 3: I think the main thing for us is we've missed
Speaker 3: a lot of time. We just need to get Will
Speaker 3: back healthy, feeling good, get the at bats under room,
Speaker 3: and then whenever that day is, it is without any expectation.
Speaker 1: Speaking of managing players, not only Will Smith, but Show
Speaker 1: Hail Tani, you guys did such a great job last
Speaker 1: year ramping him up, managing his innings in that respect,
Speaker 1: Do you feel like there's a chance to find some
Speaker 1: middle ground in the second half where you manage the
Speaker 1: innings in each individual start.
Speaker 3: I think so, And I think with Show Hey, it's
Speaker 3: got to be fluid. You can't just be emboldened too,
Speaker 3: you know, one way of beholden to, one way of
Speaker 3: doing something. You know, it's a two way player, very physical,
Speaker 3: very taxing. So when he's going six innings, seven innings
Speaker 3: and then hitting, I do think that we've given him
Speaker 3: a lot more off days on the D eight side,
Speaker 3: which I'll continue to do, and then at that point
Speaker 3: in time, you know, we'll see how it goes. And
Speaker 3: then you still got to manage a game when he's
Speaker 3: pitching for the game itself, and so I can't tell
Speaker 3: you if it's going to be five innings. I don't
Speaker 3: want to say it's going to be six every time,
Speaker 3: because if he's efficient and he feels good, then we're
Speaker 3: going to keep running him out there. But he is
Speaker 3: definitely front of mine as far as his health.
Speaker 1: Is it fair to say you can't fluctuate when he
Speaker 1: starts because that affects the rest of your pitch and
Speaker 1: the rotation. It can't be once every week and then
Speaker 1: once every ten days. Is that accurate as far as
Speaker 1: the ripple effect it may have on other guys, You.
Speaker 2: Know what, It's somewhat accurate.
Speaker 3: But I do think that because he's such a unique
Speaker 3: player that we've got to be able to read and react.
Speaker 3: And it's not a day before situation, But I do
Speaker 3: think if there's a few days before it doesn't feel good,
Speaker 3: we can plug someone in there.
Speaker 2: And we've done that.
Speaker 3: We did that in Sacramento to give him an extra
Speaker 3: extra couple days, and so whatever is best for him,
Speaker 3: we're willing to do. And the great thing about our
Speaker 3: guys is that they're on board with it, and so
Speaker 3: we have the depth, we have the lead in the
Speaker 3: in the in the division that we can kind of
Speaker 3: do things for the best interest of Showy and all
Speaker 3: of our players.
Speaker 1: Before I let Dave Roberts go leading the National League
Speaker 1: this year, three time World Series winning manager. You have
Speaker 1: a big lead, Like you said, do you feel like
Speaker 1: this team understanding how to win helps manage this big
Speaker 1: lead and not allow them to exhale before the postseason starts.
Speaker 3: I do you know, we lost a game earlier this week,
Speaker 3: you know where we sort of gave it away.
Speaker 2: We don't do that very often. We catch the ball.
Speaker 3: We're pretty good fundamentally, and a lot of teams that
Speaker 3: we play find ways to lose, and conversely, we do
Speaker 3: a good job of finding ways to win, and we
Speaker 3: know how to stack wins regardless of who's healthy, who's not,
Speaker 3: playing on the road, playing at home, day game after
Speaker 3: night game, it doesn't matter. So I think that that's
Speaker 3: probably our biggest superpowers. We just know how to win,
Speaker 3: and that comes with winning, and that also comes with
Speaker 3: feeling the pain of losing with there's a lot of
Speaker 3: guys in this clubhouse that lost in you know, twenty two,
Speaker 3: twenty three and don't want to revisit that feeling.
Speaker 1: That's a great point because we always just talk about
Speaker 1: experienced teams. There's a lot of experienced teams but teams
Speaker 1: that don't know how to win and you guys know
Speaker 1: how to win.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's a there's.
Speaker 3: A you know, a DNA, a pedigree that is real.
Speaker 3: It's not tangible, it's not quantifiable, but you know, you
Speaker 3: can see players out there that you don't want them
Speaker 3: in a big spot. As far as other opposition, there's
Speaker 3: players that you want to the ball to hit to
Speaker 3: them or don't or you want it bad or pitching
Speaker 3: in So I think for me, as we kind of
Speaker 3: get through the second half, just identifying, as I said earlier,
Speaker 3: those guys that can handle the smoke and can have
Speaker 3: that confidence and know because in the postseason, as we
Speaker 3: all know, you just never know where that game is
Speaker 3: going to land, on who it's going to land, on
Speaker 3: what big moment, And to get as many guys ready
Speaker 3: for that unpredictable moment is everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a guy like Miguel Rojas last year, Dave, thanks
Speaker 1: a lot for the time, Enjoy the All Star Game.
Speaker 1: Don't forget the little people in the second half day.
Speaker 2: They've all tried. I'll try to remember you man,