Speaker 1: All come on back.
Speaker 2: Before you know it, they'll be back on the field
Speaker 2: at Camelback Ranch.
Speaker 3: Why can't this be spring training?
Speaker 2: But our coverage of the blue never stops a sports
Speaker 2: This is off season Dodger Talk. Get in on the
Speaker 2: show by calling eight six six seven four hashtag Dodger
Speaker 2: Talk and now your host, David Basse.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Dodger Talk.
Speaker 4: David Vasse with you until eight o'clock tonight here on
Speaker 4: a five to seventy LA Sports and we have a
Speaker 4: great show for you tonight. Sometimes it just works out
Speaker 4: this way some nights where we don't have a guest,
Speaker 4: or we have one guest as the centerpiece to the hour,
Speaker 4: but sometimes they all come crawling back on the same night. Well,
Speaker 4: one guy, Chris Taylor is going to join us. He
Speaker 4: did not crawl back. I wanted to help him out
Speaker 4: and make you aware of his third annual CT Plunge,
Speaker 4: which is happening again at the Manhattan Beach Pier on
Speaker 4: Sunday morning, February first, for a great cause, pediatric cancer
Speaker 4: Near and dear to Chris Taylor and his wife Mary's Hart,
Speaker 4: because obviously they want to help the kids and want
Speaker 4: to help those kids that are bad only cancer. So
Speaker 4: great cause you can register on Chris Taylor's Instagram. He
Speaker 4: has the link in his bio. But my guy Joe Kelly,
Speaker 4: who is on the world tour, who said he has
Speaker 4: not retired, he has just decided to stop playing baseball,
Speaker 4: is going to join us at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 4: Chris Taylor in fifteen minutes and Joe Kelly at the
Speaker 4: bottom of the hour. So a very heavy interview show
Speaker 4: tonight here on Dodger Talk. And look like I said,
Speaker 4: sometimes that happens and other times you know, it's all
Speaker 4: about you. But we may have some time for phone
Speaker 4: calls at eight sixty six nine, eight seven, two, five
Speaker 4: seventy if we can't get to you tonight. We have
Speaker 4: three shows next week, and don't forget, we have a
Speaker 4: show a week from Saturday. That's right, a Saturday Dodger
Speaker 4: Talk from Dodger Fest at Dodger Stadium is happening on
Speaker 4: January thirty first, from ten to one. We will be
Speaker 4: broadcasting live from Dodger Stadium. And if you want tickets,
Speaker 4: which you should and to be there, go to Dodgers
Speaker 4: dot com slash Dodgerfest for all the great experiences the
Speaker 4: Dodgers will be having out there at Dodger Fest. Don't forget,
Speaker 4: Cactus League play is right around the corner. The first
Speaker 4: game for the Dodgers is going to be on February
Speaker 4: twenty first in Tempe, Arizona, against the Angels. We will
Speaker 4: carry it live right here on Dodgers Radio AM five
Speaker 4: to seventy LA Sports and the voices of Spring Training
Speaker 4: Baseball Rick Monday and Tim Neverett will have the call.
Speaker 1: And then on Opening Day at.
Speaker 4: Dodger STATEUM March twenty sixth against the Arizona Diamondbacks. That's
Speaker 4: a nationally televised game on their new broadcast partner, Major
Speaker 4: League Baseball's new broadcast partner, Peacock. So the game time
Speaker 4: for opening day a little bit different. Five point forty
Speaker 4: ish opening Day, so it should be special to celebrate
Speaker 4: the back to back World Series champions and to hoist
Speaker 4: another flag out there in center field and more talk,
Speaker 4: more talk about you know, the Dodgers, they're out of control.
Speaker 4: Other teams can't compete. You remember this time last year,
Speaker 4: everybody said the Dodgers were going to break the Mariners
Speaker 4: record of one hundred and sixteen wins. They were going
Speaker 4: to blow by it when one hundred and twenty games. Well,
Speaker 4: it turned out the Dodgers won ninety three games, won
Speaker 4: the NLS by only three games. It was the Milwaukee
Speaker 4: Brewers that had the best record in the National League,
Speaker 4: it was the Phillies that had the second best record
Speaker 4: in the National League, and the Dodgers had the third
Speaker 4: best record at ninety three wins. So again, this time
Speaker 4: last year, there was such an overreaction to what the
Speaker 4: Dodgers were doing to try to be better, to try
Speaker 4: to win the World Series. Again and again, the voices
Speaker 4: are getting louder and louder of overreaction and emotional people
Speaker 4: from basically that live in small markets. Saint Louis, Kansas City,
Speaker 4: you know, Saint Louis, I have news for you. The
Speaker 4: owner demolished the old Busch Stadium. It was a parking lot.
Speaker 4: They built that beautiful, brand new Bush Stadium, and in
Speaker 4: that parking lot, over the course of the last I
Speaker 4: don't know, ten years, they have built kind of like
Speaker 4: an la live in that parking lot. And the owner
Speaker 4: of the Cardinals owns all that restaurants, drinking places. He
Speaker 4: is getting all that revenue. Why are the Cardinals rebuilding.
Speaker 4: Are the Cardinals all of a sudden baseball poor. No,
Speaker 4: it's just the owners prerogative not to reinvest in the team.
Speaker 4: So once again, don't point the finger at the Dodgers,
Speaker 4: because the Dodgers used to have an owner that didn't
Speaker 4: want to invest in the team. They wanted to invest
Speaker 4: in their houses, in their limo drivers, and everything else
Speaker 4: except the team. We know all about that. It wasn't
Speaker 4: that long ago, only fifteen years ago, sixteen years ago,
Speaker 4: that Frank McCort bankrupt the Dodgers. So we know how
Speaker 4: much passion there is for Dodger baseball. And if you
Speaker 4: give any fan base a reason to come to the game,
Speaker 4: they will be yours. They will be eating out the
Speaker 4: palm of your hand. That's with a It's not just la.
Speaker 4: The Dodgers are where they always should have been, at
Speaker 4: the level of the Yankees and the Red Sox to
Speaker 4: be able to go out there and be aggressive in
Speaker 4: free agency. Now, it wasn't the Dodgers. I'll say it again,
Speaker 4: it wasn't the Dodgers that offered Kyle Tucker this short term,
Speaker 4: fifty five million dollar contract. That was the Mets, and
Speaker 4: the Dodgers said all right, how about sixty? And he
Speaker 4: said yes for a number of different reasons. And in
Speaker 4: case you missed our show two nights ago, you should
Speaker 4: go back and listen to our interview with Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 4: It'll tell you that this guy does not want to
Speaker 4: be at the forefront center of attention. And I don't
Speaker 4: believe he would have done well in New York with
Speaker 4: that kind of pressure, even with Juan Soto there.
Speaker 1: He is going to.
Speaker 4: Blend in here in Los Angeles and he is going
Speaker 4: to be you know, I believe the Dodgers are going
Speaker 4: to bring out the best in him, and Dave Roberts
Speaker 4: actually set it where he wants to bring out even
Speaker 4: more out of Kyle Tucker to be better defensively, be
Speaker 4: a better base runner, be a better hitter, and we'll
Speaker 4: get to where Kyle Tucker should hit in the lineup
Speaker 4: in just a moment. But you know, going back to
Speaker 4: this overreaction amongst baseball people that are saying, now this
Speaker 4: is going to trigger his salary cap It shouldn't. Like
Speaker 4: I mentioned two nights ago, Scott boris incredibly the voice
Speaker 4: of reason saying what I have maintained that the Dodgers
Speaker 4: have a megastar who signed the most unique contract to
Speaker 4: allow the Dodgers to make millions upon millions in endorsement
Speaker 4: and sponsorship and also be allowed to go out and
Speaker 4: sign more players to surround O Tani because of the
Speaker 4: unique deferred contract. That's all the Dodgers are guilty of.
Speaker 4: There's nothing in the rules that the Dodgers couldn't do that.
Speaker 4: Out there in DeVos, Switzerland, the DeVos Conference, one of
Speaker 4: the Dodgers' main owners, Todd Bowley, spoke publicly for the
Speaker 4: first time with Sportico about how baseball is freaking out
Speaker 4: over what the Dodgers are doing. And Mark Walter and
Speaker 4: Todd Bowley don't really make public comments too often about
Speaker 4: the Dodgers, but here was Todd at the DeVos Convention
Speaker 4: conference out there in Switzerland.
Speaker 5: Ultimately, you want really big teams that are really pulling
Speaker 5: the league forward, and I think that there's just going
Speaker 5: to have to be a little bit of teeth gnashing
Speaker 5: around how it moves forward.
Speaker 6: But if somebody does point the figure the Dodgers and
Speaker 6: say it's a problem for baseball, you say, what, the.
Speaker 5: Yankees have twenty seven World titles, and you know, we're
Speaker 5: you know, roughly twenty behind. So I think that the
Speaker 5: facts are that you know, baseball has Ultimately you want
Speaker 5: really big teams that are really pulling the league forward.
Speaker 4: That's the reality of it. You need big market teams
Speaker 4: to pull these major sports through. The NFL is so unique,
Speaker 4: it's not a regional sport. But you need the Lakers
Speaker 4: and Celtics in the Knicks in the NBA. You need
Speaker 4: the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Mets, the
Speaker 4: Cubs to be players in some way or some form,
Speaker 4: to give some drama, to give some talking points to
Speaker 4: all of us to talk about and keep the sport relevant.
Speaker 4: And the last two years of Baseball and World Series
Speaker 4: has put Baseball in the conversation above the NBA. That
Speaker 4: hasn't happened in a long time. And I firmly believe
Speaker 4: it's about the Dodgers. It's about the Dodgers versus the Yankees.
Speaker 4: In twenty four, Otani and Judge being in the same
Speaker 4: World Series for the first time ever, Baseball had their
Speaker 4: two biggest stars in the World Series. I mean, that's
Speaker 4: like having Magic and Bird, having the Celtics with Garnett
Speaker 4: and Kobe in in the finals. The Dodgers are good
Speaker 4: for baseball. What they're doing is good for the sport.
Speaker 4: And oh, by the way, they are making the other
Speaker 4: teams a lot of money. Eight six, six, nine eighty seven,
Speaker 4: two five seventy is the phone number. All right, let's
Speaker 4: get to where Kyle Tucker is going to hit in
Speaker 4: the lineup. I thought it was hilarious when you hear
Speaker 4: some of these talking heads. Oh, I got the lineup here,
Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker's going to hit sixth. Really, the guy they
Speaker 4: just paid sixty million dollars annually to is going to
Speaker 4: hit sixth. Dave Roberts put a stop to that pretty
Speaker 4: quickly two days ago.
Speaker 7: Kyle's in the in the hot box, right in the
Speaker 7: hopper right now. So I think for me, I was
Speaker 7: talking to Gomer and Andrew just recently, and it's just
Speaker 7: fun to kind of think about, you know, where Kyle's
Speaker 7: going to hit in the lineup, and obviously he'll be
Speaker 7: in right field, and Tao's excited about playing left field.
Speaker 7: You know, he'll be in the top third. I don't
Speaker 7: want you guys to hold me to it right now,
Speaker 7: but you know, second or third seems to make sense.
Speaker 1: It makes so much sense. I never.
Speaker 4: I was laughing when I heard people say I think
Speaker 4: he's going to hit sixth, and even MLB dot Com
Speaker 4: had some projected lineup where they said he was going
Speaker 4: to hit sixth.
Speaker 1: No chance.
Speaker 4: You don't pay a guy sixty million dollars to hit sixth.
Speaker 4: And the reason why Kyle Tucker should hit second is
Speaker 4: because he was really good against lefties. He had an
Speaker 4: ops of eight forty two last year against lefties or
Speaker 4: in his career against lefties. So you know you have
Speaker 4: Otani Tucker and to start the year, I'll go Mookie
Speaker 4: Bets hitting third. I'll give Mooki Betts the first two
Speaker 4: months of the season to prove that last year was
Speaker 4: an outlier. But at some point, if Mooki Betts resembles
Speaker 4: the Mooki Bets offensively from a year ago, you gotta
Speaker 4: consider having Will Smith be your number three hitter and
Speaker 4: Freddie Freeman being your cleanup hitter, having Teoscar Hernandez and
Speaker 4: Muncy follow and see where it goes from there. But
Speaker 4: I will say this, Mooki Bets is a great player.
Speaker 4: I would find it hard to believe even at age
Speaker 4: thirty three, he is going to have another type of
Speaker 4: offensive season that he had a year ago, because that
Speaker 4: was the worst offensive season of his career and he
Speaker 4: only got things going in September. So I would say
Speaker 4: the lineup is very fluid at this point in time,
Speaker 4: but I would advocate to have Otani, Tucker Bets Freeman
Speaker 4: to begin the season as my first four hitters. Eight six, six, nine,
Speaker 4: eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. When
Speaker 4: we continue on Dodger Talk, we are going to catch
Speaker 4: up with a fan favorite. He started the year with
Speaker 4: the Dodgers, finished it with the Angels, but certainly a
Speaker 4: big part of what the Dodgers started back in twenty
Speaker 4: fifteen twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: And that is Chris Taylor. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 4: We got Chris Taylor next and Joe Kelly Mariachi Joe
Speaker 4: crawling back to Dodger Talk at the bottom of the
Speaker 4: hour right here on AM five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 2: This is off season Dodger Talk on your official home
Speaker 2: of the Los Angeles.
Speaker 8: Dodgers, a M five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome back to Dodger Talk. David Vaz say with
Speaker 1: you all until eight o'clock.
Speaker 4: Tonight here on AM five to seventy LA Sports, and
Speaker 4: I am so happy to be joined by a man
Speaker 4: that put in so much for the Dodgers in his
Speaker 4: ten seasons with them. One of the biggest home runs
Speaker 4: in Dodger playoff history, the wildcard walk off home run
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty one, such a big part of the
Speaker 4: Dodgers going to the World Series in twenty seventeen and
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen, and being a big part of their championship
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty And certainly a guy that will always
Speaker 4: be remembered in Dodger history as part of such a
Speaker 4: special group of guys from the moment that he arrived
Speaker 4: to you know, the time that things started to change
Speaker 4: as far as the chapters in Dodger history. But he
Speaker 4: has not forgotten his baseball roots, his second home here
Speaker 4: in Los Angeles, because he and his wife Mary are
Speaker 4: going to have their third annual Polar Plunge benefiting Friendship
Speaker 4: Foundation and Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, presented by Sketchers and
Speaker 4: Schwartz Capitol Group. And that it is the one and
Speaker 4: only Chris Taylor CT. Awesome to still have you on
Speaker 4: Dodger Talk. Awesome that you and Mary are continuing what
Speaker 4: you started three years ago. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3: What's up?
Speaker 9: I say, yeah, thank you what an intro. Appreciate it
Speaker 9: and you know, always good to be on with it.
Speaker 4: What has motivated you and Mary, even after having your
Speaker 4: second child seven weeks ago, to keep this going and
Speaker 4: to keep your roots in Los Angeles.
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, we're just trying to keep the momentum going.
Speaker 2: Really.
Speaker 9: You know, Manhattan Beach is are home now. We've been
Speaker 9: there for four years, I think.
Speaker 4: And.
Speaker 3: We did.
Speaker 6: Three years.
Speaker 9: We've done an event and this will be we did
Speaker 9: a top golf event our first year there and then
Speaker 9: the last two we did the Polar Plunge and that
Speaker 9: I think we were really changed with the momentum we
Speaker 9: built from the first year to the second year and
Speaker 9: just trying to continue that trend and hopefully it continues
Speaker 9: to grow and get bigger and better and ultimately like
Speaker 9: it's a lot of fun. I think it brings the
Speaker 9: whole community together. But also you know, the goal is
Speaker 9: to as much money as we can for these awesome organizations.
Speaker 9: You know, the Friendship Foundation you mentioned, they're a staple
Speaker 9: in the South Bay community. They've been around forever. They're
Speaker 9: in the process of building a state of the art
Speaker 9: Friendship Campus that is going to do some amazing work
Speaker 9: there and help all kids with special needs. And then
Speaker 9: so we've worked with them the last two years on
Speaker 9: the Polar Plunch and then we added the Pediatric Cancer
Speaker 9: Research Foundation as our second beneficiary this year, and that
Speaker 9: has a special place in my heart just because I've
Speaker 9: you know, one of my closest friends, the reason I
Speaker 9: started the CT three Foundation, he lost his fight with cancer,
Speaker 9: and you know, just over the years through the foundation,
Speaker 9: we've we've met so many special kids that are struggling
Speaker 9: with their fight with cancer. And the unfortunate part of
Speaker 9: you know, doing this and you know, trying to to
Speaker 9: do the work a foundation does is you meet a
Speaker 9: lot of kids and it's not what's happy endings. And
Speaker 9: we've really had some special bonds with these kids and
Speaker 9: their families. And one of the kids we met her,
Speaker 9: his mom introduced us to the to PCRF, and we
Speaker 9: thought it was a great way to, you know, help
Speaker 9: kind of represent him and help out in the California area.
Speaker 9: We haven't done a whole lot with cancer out in
Speaker 9: California and mors in Virginia. So glad we're going to
Speaker 9: add them as our second beneficiary.
Speaker 4: The third annual CT three Polar Plunge is on Sunday,
Speaker 4: February first. It's at the Manhattan Beach Pier. It starts
Speaker 4: at nine o'clock and to register very simple. Just go
Speaker 4: to Chris Taylor's Instagram page and in the bio you
Speaker 4: can link and sign up for a great cause. And honestly,
Speaker 4: a player that has a foundation sometimes can just be that.
Speaker 4: But I think everybody understands how genuine your foundation is,
Speaker 4: especially after everything you said and the intentions behind it.
Speaker 4: How many of your former teammates do you believe are
Speaker 4: going to take the plunge CT.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think we're going to have a great turnout again.
Speaker 9: You know, I've reached out to all of my former teammates.
Speaker 9: All the Dodgers got the inby obviously, and then I
Speaker 9: think we're going to get a couple other guys too
Speaker 9: that aren't with the Dodgers, either former Dodgers or guys
Speaker 9: I've played with on the Angels, or maybe even just
Speaker 9: like some local California kids that I've played against. We're
Speaker 9: really trying to get it to be get as many
Speaker 9: of the local athletes in the LA area to come
Speaker 9: out and yeah, so I think it should be a
Speaker 9: good turnout.
Speaker 6: There will be some Dodgers there, of course, but.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think I think there will be a lot
Speaker 9: of familiar faces, not only baseball, but maybe some other
Speaker 9: sports as well.
Speaker 4: Hey, maybe you can get Cody Bellinger, who just signed
Speaker 4: a big contract with the Yankees, to show up now
Speaker 4: CT Is he too big for the plunge?
Speaker 9: Yeah, you need to get out of him about that.
Speaker 9: Maybe we can seem up on Cody.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4: I'll add you to a group text and we'll really
Speaker 4: get everybody going there. You go, Hey, I saw this
Speaker 4: video and I saw that you commented on it when
Speaker 4: we talk about some of the great times in the
Speaker 4: Greek group of teams that you had your former hitting coach,
Speaker 4: Turner Ward posted on his Instagram behind the scenes type
Speaker 4: of video justin Turner in the cage, a young Cody
Speaker 4: Bellinger must have been twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen with his
Speaker 4: EyeBlack on, and you guys were all in the uniform
Speaker 4: watching you kind of mimic Turner's you know, famous stance
Speaker 4: and laid kick and all that. When you saw that video,
Speaker 4: do you remember it like it was yesterday, And what
Speaker 4: do you remember the most about those times in the cage.
Speaker 9: I do remember that. And it's funny because Turner was
Speaker 9: the one that was always Turner Ward or hitting coach
Speaker 9: at the time. He was the one always trying to
Speaker 9: mimic everyone's batting stance, and so he kind of started that,
Speaker 9: and like, just like Turner, I'm terrible. I'm so bad
Speaker 9: that trying to imitate my teammates swing. Some of the
Speaker 9: guys are very good, and I don't know if it's
Speaker 9: like body awareness or what. That type of athleticism is
Speaker 9: where you can see something and make it. I mean,
Speaker 9: everybody knows about batting stance guy, right, Yeah, but I
Speaker 9: do not have that coordination, and whenever I try to
Speaker 9: copy somebody's stance, it ends up looking like my swing.
Speaker 6: And I.
Speaker 9: Kind of already knew that, but then seeing the video
Speaker 9: it just confirmed that already, like, oh, that looks nothing
Speaker 9: like JT. Maybe like when I'm holding the bat before
Speaker 9: I start the sling, you can kind of see it,
Speaker 9: but then I just do my slang and it's exactly
Speaker 9: the same.
Speaker 4: What did you think about the look on Cody Bellinger's
Speaker 4: face on the couch?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 9: I gotta ask him what was going through is I'm
Speaker 9: sure he was like what is he trying to do
Speaker 9: right now?
Speaker 4: And then you see Jack Peterson walk by in his
Speaker 4: uniform with one of his Jock Peterson phases of haircuts,
Speaker 4: kind of like a fro Hawk walking by.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, one of Jackson manilocks, and Jock actually was
Speaker 9: pretty good at imitating. I mean, he's had so many
Speaker 9: different stances, so maybe maybe that has something to do
Speaker 9: with it.
Speaker 4: Hey, what do you remember the most and what made
Speaker 4: those teams so special? Especially you know, the teams from
Speaker 4: twenty seventeen to twenty twenty. I have to include twenty
Speaker 4: twenty because you guys won the World Series after coming
Speaker 4: up short in seventeen and eighteen. What do you remember
Speaker 4: the most and what should we remember the most about
Speaker 4: those teams and those group of players that you were
Speaker 4: such a big part of.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I thought we just had a good core group
Speaker 9: of guys that you know, we're all so close and
Speaker 9: were all still keep in touch. You know, years later
Speaker 9: of us, a lot of us are not playing on
Speaker 9: the team anymore, but you know, I think that bond
Speaker 9: from those years, as you know, we still go on
Speaker 9: vacations together in the offseason.
Speaker 3: We you know, so it kind.
Speaker 9: Of shows how close that group was, and it showed
Speaker 9: on the field, I think, And yeah, it's just I
Speaker 9: think we're always going to remember those years. Those were
Speaker 9: special teams and you know, some of the best years
Speaker 9: playing baseball, the most fun times.
Speaker 3: I've had, no doubt.
Speaker 4: It was so special being around you guys and just
Speaker 4: seeing how you were able to get over the hump
Speaker 4: over the Cubs and then finally, you know, we all
Speaker 4: know what should have taken place in twenty seventeen, but
Speaker 4: you guys had such a special group, and I think
Speaker 4: what made it special CT is that you guys failed
Speaker 4: together and then you succeeded together.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, it did take a few
Speaker 9: years to get over the hunt, and it made it
Speaker 9: that much sweeter. We were finally able to do it
Speaker 9: in twenty twenty, and we still have that core group
Speaker 9: of guys.
Speaker 4: Chris Taylor is our guest on Dodger Talk Don't Forget
Speaker 4: about the CT three third Annual Polar Plunge on Sunday,
Speaker 4: February First. You can go to Chris Taylor's Instagram page
Speaker 4: C Taylor Underscore three and click on the bio and
Speaker 4: that's where you can sign up two amazing causes, the
Speaker 4: Friendship Foundation and of course, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation
Speaker 4: fighting for kids battling cancer. All right, Chris, here's the
Speaker 4: million dollar question. You finished the year with the Angels
Speaker 4: after starting the year with the Dodgers. Do you still
Speaker 4: want to continue playing baseball or are you content with
Speaker 4: your career?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 9: No, I'm still playing.
Speaker 3: Don't pull a cord on me yet. Least say no.
Speaker 9: I'm down here Arizona working out. You know, I I
Speaker 9: don't know where it's going to be, obviously with free
Speaker 9: agency being the way.
Speaker 6: It is, but.
Speaker 9: I will be playing again this coming season.
Speaker 4: You feel like maybe you could join the Rangers and
Speaker 4: reunite with Corey and Jock, or maybe you know, Bellinger
Speaker 4: put in his contract to cet three clause.
Speaker 9: I have no idea, Honestly, I like all cards are
Speaker 9: on the table, you know, I really just right now,
Speaker 9: I'm just focused on getting myself right, being ready to
Speaker 9: show up in spring training and be playing like my
Speaker 9: best way. I know I'm capable of playing. I'm trying
Speaker 9: to get the body right, make sure I'm healthy and
Speaker 9: able to stay on the field that's been to challenge
Speaker 9: for me the last couple of years.
Speaker 6: A lot of that has to.
Speaker 9: Do with, you know, things outside of my control with
Speaker 9: the broken bones and hit by p just but yeah,
Speaker 9: but yeah, it's just like for me, I think I
Speaker 9: still have more to prove to myself and that's the
Speaker 9: biggest thing. Yeah, I would not be able to hang
Speaker 9: it up right now and not have some regret.
Speaker 4: That sounds like Clayton Kershaw wanting to go out on
Speaker 4: your own terms. What did you think about the way
Speaker 4: his career ended and what were your feelings watching that
Speaker 4: World Series with the Dodgers winning it, since you did
Speaker 4: start the year with those guys.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that was special, you know, I think you know,
Speaker 9: I was happy for all the guys. But you mentioned Kersh.
Speaker 9: I think everybody was probably over the moon for him,
Speaker 9: and everybody wanted him to go out on top right
Speaker 9: and to see him go out the way he should
Speaker 9: have with a ring with the Dodgers. It just was
Speaker 9: too perfect. And I couldn't have been more throw him
Speaker 9: and his family. They've they've been through so much, They've
Speaker 9: done so much for LA and nobody was more deserving
Speaker 9: than him.
Speaker 4: Hey, during the summers, he caught on to the CT
Speaker 4: three plan of living in Manhattan Beach. Maybe he can
Speaker 4: get that carcass out for the third annual Plunge before
Speaker 4: he goes to Team USA and the World Baseball Classic.
Speaker 9: I know, you know, he he told me, he said
Speaker 9: it took me way too hard to get out here.
Speaker 9: And I told everyone. I tell all the guys, like
Speaker 9: you know, once he moved to Manhattan Beach. You know
Speaker 9: it's a special place. And yeah, I just I love
Speaker 9: it there. I've been there for years. It just puts
Speaker 9: me in a great mood. Waking up close to the beach.
Speaker 9: The community is awesome, the people are great. It's super
Speaker 9: late back and yeah, that would be great if if
Speaker 9: we can get kershops there, no doubt.
Speaker 4: Hey, third annual CT three Polar Plunge. Go out and
Speaker 4: support Chris Taylor and his wife Mary. They're doing great
Speaker 4: things still in the South Bay. It's Sunday, February first,
Speaker 4: starts at nine am. You jump in the water with
Speaker 4: a bunch of Dodgers professional athletes for a great cause. Chris.
Speaker 4: Awesome to hear your voice again. Awesome to share your
Speaker 4: voice with everybody because you will always have a big
Speaker 4: place in Dodgery history, and for those of us that
Speaker 4: got to know you, I'm certainly always pulling for you.
Speaker 1: So thank you for the time.
Speaker 4: And you never know, maybe I'll bring my skinny fat
Speaker 4: carcass out there and jump in the water with you.
Speaker 6: Oh, I'd love to see that get out there.
Speaker 4: I'm sentimental, so I might do it this year for you.
Speaker 3: You to it. I've already put your name on the
Speaker 3: VIP list.
Speaker 1: Do I have to register in the bio or can I?
Speaker 7: Is this?
Speaker 1: It is this official?
Speaker 3: I got you.
Speaker 6: This is your invite?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 4: Sounds good? All right, I'll manscape before Sunday, February first.
Speaker 3: Yeah, please please do.
Speaker 1: Right there, he goes Chris Taylor.
Speaker 4: Don't forget about the third annual CT three Polar Plunge
Speaker 4: on Sunday, February first.
Speaker 1: Chris, thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 9: Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me that say.
Speaker 4: There, he goes Chris Taylor. A big part of the Dodgers'
Speaker 4: success from twenty sixteen all the way up to last year.
Speaker 4: Chris Taylor unfortunately injured. You just heard him say it
Speaker 4: right there. He wants to play again. He felt like
Speaker 4: he wasn't himself because of injuries. So we'll see where
Speaker 4: Chris Taylor ends up. But certainly the Dodgers rewarded him
Speaker 4: with a big, four year, sixty million dollar contract before
Speaker 4: the lockout going into the twenty two season, So you know,
Speaker 4: I would say Andrew Freeman was loyal to Chris Taylor. Unfortunately,
Speaker 4: by the end of that contract, he just wasn't the
Speaker 4: same player as he was before. But you know, always
Speaker 4: a fan favorite. I'll never forget his leadoff home run
Speaker 4: in Game one of the seventeen World Series. He came
Speaker 4: up with a huge catch in Game seven of the
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen NLCS, and obviously his last big signature moment
Speaker 4: with the Dodgers in the clutch, a walkoff home run
Speaker 4: in the Wildcard game against the Cardinals, basically the last
Speaker 4: time the Cardinals were good at any point in time
Speaker 4: in the last five or six years. Chris Taylor knocked
Speaker 4: him out in that Wildcard game with a walkoff home run,
Speaker 4: and the Dodgers went on to beat the Giants, who
Speaker 4: won one hundred and seven games that year, in a
Speaker 4: five game NLDS series. So Chris Taylor a big part
Speaker 4: of the Dodgers' success during Andrew Friedman's tenure. It kind
Speaker 4: of feels like this is a new chapter in the
Speaker 4: tenure of Andrew Friedman. Guys like Cody Turner, Taylor, that
Speaker 4: was one chapter, and now with Shoho Tani and Yamamoto
Speaker 4: and the rest of these guys, it's a new chapter.
Speaker 4: And Andrew Friedman is still there bringing sustained success to
Speaker 4: the Dodgers. But so many people come up to me
Speaker 4: even today walking into the station. I was actually on
Speaker 4: the phone with Andre Ethier and I told the guy,
Speaker 4: the fan that recognized me. I said, Hey, I'm on
Speaker 4: the phone with Andre Ethier and he I put Ethier
Speaker 4: on the speaker phone with him, and he just kept saying,
Speaker 4: I love you.
Speaker 1: I love those teams.
Speaker 4: And that's that's feedback I get from you about those
Speaker 4: teams from twenty fifteen to about twenty twenty, those group
Speaker 4: of guys Jock Peterson, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seeger, that was
Speaker 4: an incredible time and that was such a close knit group.
Speaker 4: And maybe part of it was we watched those guys
Speaker 4: grow up. We watched those guys cry after losing in
Speaker 4: the sixteen NLCS to the Cubs, and we celebrated when
Speaker 4: Keyky Hernandez hit three home runs at Wrigley Field, Kershaw
Speaker 4: Domine and the Dodgers went on to their first World
Speaker 4: Series since nineteen eighty eight, a World Series they should
Speaker 4: have won. But I feel like the fan base went
Speaker 4: through all of that with those guys, and that's why
Speaker 4: there's still such an emotional attachment with Chris Taylor and
Speaker 4: the rest of his teammates from that chapter of this
Speaker 4: Dodger incredible time in Dodger history. All right, Mariachi, Joe
Speaker 4: Kelly remember him? How could you forget from seventeen to
Speaker 4: ninety nine? He certainly is a fan favorite, and his
Speaker 4: mural still up there on the reserve level. I'll have
Speaker 4: to let him know that we got Joe Kelly right
Speaker 4: around the corner on Dodger Talk until eight o'clock tonight
Speaker 4: here on five to seventy LA Sports. You never know
Speaker 4: what Joe's going to say. Don't go anywhere?
Speaker 2: Is Boss season? Dodger Talk on your official home of
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles.
Speaker 8: Dodgers, am five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to Dodger Talk. David Vasse with you until
Speaker 4: eight o'clock tonight here on a five to seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 4: And I mentioned this earlier in the show. I have
Speaker 4: a saying. Well, one of my many sayings, and maybe
Speaker 4: the one that is the most true, is that they.
Speaker 1: All always come crawling back. That's right, they all always
Speaker 1: come crawling back. You know.
Speaker 4: When I'm around them every day, they get tired of me,
Speaker 4: and then they start to have vassay withdrawal.
Speaker 1: And that's what started to happen for Joe Kelly.
Speaker 4: An incredible picture, incredible career, three times World Series champion,
Speaker 4: Mariachi Joe legend, and he's texting me, I miss you
Speaker 4: so much.
Speaker 1: I miss you so much, and so.
Speaker 4: Here he is the one and only Mariachi Joe Kelly
Speaker 4: from Parts unknown on Dodger Talk, Did I describe that perfectly?
Speaker 1: Or do you do? You have some issues with anything?
Speaker 6: I said, no, And the ten thousand dollars for thirty
Speaker 6: minutes is nice. Thank you for that too.
Speaker 1: You are having so.
Speaker 6: Much all those things. Hey, that was our agreement right
Speaker 6: on contract. You pay me ten grand for thirty minutes,
Speaker 6: and you're gonna say whatever you'd like.
Speaker 1: It's in the mail. It's in the.
Speaker 6: Mail, okay, ten thousand paces jeez?
Speaker 4: Wow, yes, Papa, Hey, I will say this. You didn't
Speaker 4: forget the little people. When you got your ring last year,
Speaker 4: you did take time out of your family to say
Speaker 4: hi to me, So I wasn't sure if it was
Speaker 4: going to go that way.
Speaker 6: No, of course you're You're one of the little people
Speaker 6: compared to the Dodger well oiled machine. Right, But you're
Speaker 6: not a little person. You have your own niche, right,
Speaker 6: you have your own fan base. People meet you and
Speaker 6: they think you are what you think of me, Joe Kelly.
Speaker 6: So people come to meet you and like, oh, David Vasse,
Speaker 6: you're the best. Listen to your show. You're popular amongst
Speaker 6: your crowd. But yes, you are a little compared to
Speaker 6: me saying hi to everyone else that was at Doater Stadium.
Speaker 3: But you're not little to me.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 4: I actually was buying my wife a birthday present and
Speaker 4: the guy that was helping me listens to the show
Speaker 4: and I said, Hey, I'm going to have Joe Kelly
Speaker 4: on the show tonight and he said, oh, I have
Speaker 4: I have his number seventeen jersey. I said, oh, you're
Speaker 4: the one that still has one, So people still love you, dude.
Speaker 6: There's people still with number seventeen jerseys, and those are
Speaker 6: those are going more for Pokemon cards nowadays, that tag
Speaker 6: og skin, the Joe Kelly seventeen it's pretty rare. I
Speaker 6: love that those are one of one. You know, it's
Speaker 6: kind of like going to Disneyland and you're like one
Speaker 6: of those pin collectors.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: It's like one of those those own little things. Are
Speaker 6: you're going to find the hid and Mickey's. And when
Speaker 6: you're waiting in line and someone walks around with a
Speaker 6: Joe Kelly seventeen jersey, you're like, he gets it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 4: It's not like a guy that's walking around with a
Speaker 4: brand new Dodger hat that says twenty five World champs.
Speaker 4: It's a legit Dodger fan if they have a seventeen Kelly.
Speaker 6: Jersey, Oh, die hard, bro. You know they watched you
Speaker 6: know they're watching all.
Speaker 1: Dodger games, no doubt. Hey, since you.
Speaker 6: Know you asked, you you go up to those fans,
Speaker 6: you say, Hey, who the frick do you think we
Speaker 6: should cut?
Speaker 3: Or who the hell do you think we should trade?
Speaker 3: They'll give you a right they'll give you a straight answer.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: If you go up to a guy with a brand
Speaker 4: new hat, they'll just talk about otani.
Speaker 6: Guy with a brand new Kyle Tucker Jersey have no idea. Yeah,
Speaker 6: what I like the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we should trade nobody.
Speaker 4: Since you're not playing baseball anymore. How many times have
Speaker 4: you been to Disneyland in the last couple of years?
Speaker 3: Once? Bro?
Speaker 1: What right?
Speaker 6: Years? Years?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Two years? Last two years, dude.
Speaker 6: I don't know if you just heard what I said
Speaker 6: like five minutes ago about you know, you being like
Speaker 6: the little person. But if I go to Disneyland, it's
Speaker 6: not like I could just walk around there pretty easily,
Speaker 6: you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So every time I go to.
Speaker 6: Disneyland, I'll waste money which I should put in my kids.
Speaker 3: Saving the account.
Speaker 6: But I'll buy I'll buy the plaids, you know what
Speaker 6: I mean. I'll buy the VIP tour, even if it's
Speaker 6: just like four of us, just so we could like
Speaker 6: do everything and you know, get in and out. And
Speaker 6: I mean I'm only doing that once a year. Maybe
Speaker 6: it's worth it passes. Yeah, Me and Ashley used to
Speaker 6: live in Anaheim actually probably like three minutes from in
Speaker 6: the stadium and then like six minutes from Disneyland, like
Speaker 6: on a bicycle.
Speaker 3: Like my first couple of years in.
Speaker 6: The league, we lived right and sorry ride in Anaheim
Speaker 6: and we were we remembers And this is more COVID
Speaker 6: because COVID kind of changing everything where they got rid
Speaker 6: of like the annual pass holder type thing, like they're
Speaker 6: kind of bringing it back.
Speaker 1: But you are a Disney nerd.
Speaker 6: Dude, I'm not a Disney nerd. I just like free,
Speaker 6: like like entertainment, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's not free? Are you?
Speaker 4: Are you a member of a Club thirty three? Are
Speaker 4: you a club? Are you a Club thirty three member?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 6: But I've been a few times with my dad his
Speaker 6: childhood best friends.
Speaker 3: The couple of remembers.
Speaker 4: Wow, mooching off a Club thirty three member, very Joe Kelly.
Speaker 3: Like, hey, I would, I would.
Speaker 6: Uh, I'm not going to bash Club thirty three because
Speaker 6: you know I might go there one time.
Speaker 1: Are you on the list before before.
Speaker 6: Being a member of Club thirty three? The food is
Speaker 6: no better than like, you know, tacos, most trolos, you
Speaker 6: know what I mean. But I mean that's firings, but
Speaker 6: the food is not great.
Speaker 1: All right, So we're not missing out too much?
Speaker 6: No, no, no, no no, but it's cool just to
Speaker 6: say you're getting in there.
Speaker 4: All right. I love it. Joe Kelly is our guest.
Speaker 4: If you need any advice on how to navigate Disneyland,
Speaker 4: he's your guy. But you're the perfect guy to have
Speaker 4: on the show. With all these people overreacting again because
Speaker 4: the Dodgers are trying to win, I thought that was
Speaker 4: the point of professional sports. What have you made about
Speaker 4: all these people saying there's gonna be a lockout? Now
Speaker 4: the Dodgers are are playing unfairly, nobody else has a chance.
Speaker 4: Since you're the guy that is a best selling author
Speaker 4: with an incredible book, a damn near perfect game, reclaiming
Speaker 4: America's pastime, what do you make of all this?
Speaker 3: I love it. I love when people are mad and
Speaker 3: said there's nothing.
Speaker 6: I'm not a very happy guy.
Speaker 3: You could ask my wife. But what makes me happy.
Speaker 6: Is other people bitching and complaining. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3: God, it makes me feel so good.
Speaker 6: I don't even play, but I just like to stir
Speaker 6: the pot and see all the animosity. It's wonderful. I
Speaker 6: think it's great for the game of baseball. There's no
Speaker 6: way it's going.
Speaker 3: To be fixed.
Speaker 6: I don't care about people saying there's a lockout.
Speaker 3: There's a lockout. Last time guys.
Speaker 6: You know what I mean, there's gonna be a lockout.
Speaker 6: There's always gonna be a lockout eventually to see who
Speaker 6: you or how long it goes, that is to be seen, obviously.
Speaker 6: But I mean, these guys were all free agents. It's
Speaker 6: it's not something that's very hard to do, you know
Speaker 6: what I mean.
Speaker 4: I don't understand what Joe Kelly unfiltered on Dodger talk.
Speaker 4: Uh so, okay, I'm a big believer that what the
Speaker 4: Dodgers have done is just make baseball more relevant, having
Speaker 4: the Dodgers and Yankees in the World Series, having that
Speaker 4: epic World Series. How can anybody say the Dodgers are
Speaker 4: bad for baseball? The Dodgers being this good is great
Speaker 4: for baseball.
Speaker 6: Of course, it's great for baseball. You know, there's any
Speaker 6: given day I could go on, you know, someone giving
Speaker 6: an interview or I mean, you got NBA analysts, you know,
Speaker 6: talking about Dodgers in baseball. You got NFL reporters talking
Speaker 6: Dodgers and talking baseball.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 6: You got comedians getting mad with the effect of Dodgers
Speaker 6: signing baseball like you're doing something right, and as an
Speaker 6: owner and as a league if you could get all
Speaker 6: these people who didn't really care about baseball now talking
Speaker 6: about it as a top of conversation. You know, that's
Speaker 6: just good pub. It's it's good pub, and it's gonna
Speaker 6: open a lot of eyes to like the new CBA.
Speaker 6: That's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3: There's gonna be people giving their input and following.
Speaker 6: Along, you know, day by day on this kind of
Speaker 6: thing that you know, don't really watch sports.
Speaker 4: Joe Kelly is our guest who did not announce his retirement,
Speaker 4: just that he's not going to play baseball anymore.
Speaker 1: Uh, just to let.
Speaker 4: You know, you still have your mural at Dodger Stadium
Speaker 4: up on the reserve level. Maybe that'll change after this interview,
Speaker 4: but you still got it up there right now. And
Speaker 4: I was just wondering the reaction that you got when
Speaker 4: you start to say these things that you're not pitching anymore,
Speaker 4: you're not retiring.
Speaker 1: Uh what what did it? Did it trigger anything inside
Speaker 1: of you?
Speaker 4: The reaction you got from fans in Saint Louis, Boston,
Speaker 4: in La.
Speaker 6: No, I don't think it.
Speaker 1: You were really celebrated. It was like a victory tour
Speaker 1: last week.
Speaker 3: I know, but I didn't.
Speaker 6: I'm not aware of that. That's see, that's what's the
Speaker 6: good thing about having no social media or nothing. Maybe
Speaker 6: that's why you're celebrating.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why you're sad all the time.
Speaker 6: I'm not sad all the time. I'm very content. Brother. Uh.
Speaker 6: Maybe if I said I retired though, they'd ripped that
Speaker 6: mural down.
Speaker 1: No, No, I.
Speaker 6: Feel like I say I'm not playing, They'll keep it. Yes,
Speaker 6: I I think that there's no way they take it down.
Speaker 6: You know what this is why, because ever since that
Speaker 6: mural has been up, the Dodgers have one World Series.
Speaker 6: You take it down, you're gonna lose World Series.
Speaker 3: They're gonna drinx it.
Speaker 1: Wow, all right, you're saying that's the lucky charm.
Speaker 6: I mean, you take that mural down, Let's see if
Speaker 6: they win the World Series.
Speaker 4: I love it. I want you man, I love that.
Speaker 4: I hope you loan your Mariachi jacket to one of
Speaker 4: the guys.
Speaker 1: Uh. When they get their rings this year, when they
Speaker 1: go out to the line and they.
Speaker 6: Bick one, who do you think should wear it?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 6: I think skinny enough, because dude, when I threw that
Speaker 6: first picture was so tight on me. I guess I'm
Speaker 6: like one ninety five.
Speaker 3: Now I played it.
Speaker 6: I played at like one eighty one eighty five, and
Speaker 6: my arms are so yoke, dude, I couldn't even bounce
Speaker 6: the ball. I couldn't move my arm or so tight.
Speaker 1: You're saying you're so jackinny enough to wear that thing.
Speaker 1: You're saying your swollen patrol.
Speaker 6: Now, oh, bro, I'm stronger, you know the you know
Speaker 6: the joke, man, Bradford are the best shape of life.
Speaker 6: I'm way stronger than when I played. Wow, if there's
Speaker 6: a fist fight, there's just like now now I could
Speaker 6: do you know what I mean? Like, so Jo Kelly
Speaker 6: Cloth walk up on me like I'm way more prepared
Speaker 6: than when I was.
Speaker 3: But playing men as of.
Speaker 4: Baseball, Okay, I think Yama, Moto or Mookie would fit
Speaker 4: into that jacket.
Speaker 6: Oh, Mookie will obviously, Yama would Obviously. That's it. We
Speaker 6: only have two.
Speaker 4: I mean, who else, Like Barnes isn't on the t
Speaker 4: won't be there? I would say, Barnes, what about.
Speaker 3: He wouldn't have been able.
Speaker 1: To Will's Wills Will's myth that's kind of yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: a good call, bro.
Speaker 4: He's a legend already. You know him and Walker Bueller
Speaker 4: our legends forever.
Speaker 1: We should pitch it to him.
Speaker 6: I would like to him.
Speaker 1: All right, here's another question for you.
Speaker 4: Did you see Freddie Freeman at the at the party
Speaker 4: after they won the World Series do the worm? What
Speaker 4: did you think about his worm skills? I?
Speaker 3: I did it.
Speaker 6: It went, it went across. Uh, I forgured I was
Speaker 6: watching with a spectrum like a Laker game or something. Yeah,
Speaker 6: but yeah, I did see. I think it's I think
Speaker 6: it's a solid worm.
Speaker 4: All right, all right, hey, uh, this is part one
Speaker 4: of our five part series. So unlike your unlike yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: so unlike your podcast that can go on and on,
Speaker 4: this is a live show, so we got to uh,
Speaker 4: we gotta end it here.
Speaker 1: But let's let's do this again soon. Maybe you'll come in.
Speaker 6: Yeah, take have some people call in, because I know,
Speaker 6: I know, I've your producer and they kind of went
Speaker 6: behind your back and told me that I could have
Speaker 6: your show whenever I said yes, So people call in.
Speaker 6: Let me know if you want me to take over
Speaker 6: a Vasse show. We can still have them. He could
Speaker 6: be like a you know, maybe a regular, have a
Speaker 6: couple appearances, but let me know if you want me
Speaker 6: to run Dodger talk, get back to me.
Speaker 3: Get on the phones, dial in JK or DV.
Speaker 1: Wow, JK. We're going to the initials route.
Speaker 6: Now, huh yes, sir.
Speaker 4: All right, maybe uh do you maybe you could find
Speaker 4: your way to Burbank. You just gotta get over the
Speaker 4: dirt roads in Riverside and Rancho and find your way
Speaker 4: to the one thirty four.
Speaker 6: Oh, I know where it's at.
Speaker 4: Bro All right, let's make it happen before spring training
Speaker 4: or in spring training. We'll take some calls together.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'll be out there in spring training. We got
Speaker 6: a tournament.
Speaker 3: Actually, we're coming to bring the team to maybe the
Speaker 3: practice field and see what's going on.
Speaker 4: All right, sounds good. Thanks a lot for coming on
Speaker 4: and congratulations on you know, just being a guy that
Speaker 4: lives at home and mooches off other people and Club
Speaker 4: thirty three and wears his Mickey ears all over the
Speaker 4: streets of of Riverside.
Speaker 6: I feel like a normal American. Now, thank you.
Speaker 1: There he goes the one and only Mariaji Joe Kelly.
Speaker 1: That's the end of the show. I mean, you walk
Speaker 1: it off with Joe Kelly. We will be back next week.
Speaker 1: Have a great weekend. See Yu, first time drinking you
Speaker 1: up years and the thing is so great it's too