Speaker 1: This is off season Dodger Talk.
Speaker 2: Get in on the show by calling eight sixty six
Speaker 2: seven hashtag Dodger Talk and now your host, David Bassey.
Speaker 3: We are not in Siritos. No, we are not at
Speaker 3: a BJS in Siritos. We are at the Sportsnet LA
Speaker 3: studios where I just finished access Sportsnet Dodgers and we
Speaker 3: were joined by three time, three time World Series champion
Speaker 3: Max Muncy, and we will share part of that conversation
Speaker 3: with you coming up at seven point fifteen at the
Speaker 3: bottom of the hour, we are going to be joined
Speaker 3: by the PCL Pacific Coast League. For those that don't know,
Speaker 3: the Pacific Coast League Player of the Year and now
Speaker 3: added to the Dodgers' forty man roster, Ryan Ward. Yes,
Speaker 3: that Ryan Ward. And the reason why we're having Ryan
Speaker 3: on the show is because I don't want to harbor
Speaker 3: this type of resentment to a guy I don't even know,
Speaker 3: to a guy that had a great season. And the
Speaker 3: reason why I harbored minimal amount of resentment towards Ryan
Speaker 3: Ward is the fact that probably from I don't know, July,
Speaker 3: after the All Star break until maybe even the Wildcard series,
Speaker 3: somebody called the show somebody at the stadium would ask
Speaker 3: me about him. One of the broadcasters would ask me,
Speaker 3: why aren't they calling this guy up? Why is he
Speaker 3: not up here? Why is Michael Conforto in left field?
Speaker 3: And quite honestly, I didn't have a great answer, but
Speaker 3: all I could relay is the fact that the Dodgers
Speaker 3: were sticking with Conforto. Well, Confordo's gone and Ryan Ward
Speaker 3: now on the forty man roster. And now Ryan Ward
Speaker 3: is going to be on the show tonight, and we'll
Speaker 3: see what Ryan Ward is all about on the show
Speaker 3: tonight as a personality, as a guy that we're going
Speaker 3: to get to know. And we'll see how much of
Speaker 3: an opportunity Ryan Ward gets this season. A lot of
Speaker 3: it is contingent on you know who the Dodgers are
Speaker 3: able to either trade for or sign this offseason to
Speaker 3: help upgrade not only their outfield defense but also their offense.
Speaker 3: Their offense was not very good the second half of
Speaker 3: the season. They scored almost twenty five less runs in
Speaker 3: the postseason this year than what they did when they
Speaker 3: beat the Yankees and went through the postseason last year
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four. So Andrew Friedman is very aware
Speaker 3: of the fact that their offense wasn't very good the
Speaker 3: second half of last year, and he wants to make
Speaker 3: it better, and there are a few guys on the
Speaker 3: free agent market that can help him make it better.
Speaker 3: There are opportunities on the trade market that could help
Speaker 3: him make it better. So the Dodgers are not done adding,
Speaker 3: but there's no rush because there are a number of
Speaker 3: different ways the Dodgers can pivot now. I've been a
Speaker 3: big advocate for the Dodgers to sign Bo Bishett, but
Speaker 3: it seems like the Phillies now are the team that
Speaker 3: are emerging as the front runners to sign Bishett. The Phillies,
Speaker 3: in case you missed it, hired former Dodger manager and
Speaker 3: more recently, former Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattinglee to
Speaker 3: be their bench coach, and from what we can gather
Speaker 3: out of Toronto is that Bo Boshett and Don Mattinglee
Speaker 3: had a very tight relationship and that may have played
Speaker 3: into why the Phillies hired Don Mattinglee, among other reasons,
Speaker 3: to be their bench coach. Now and Bob Bashett is
Speaker 3: scheduled to have either a video call or an in
Speaker 3: person call with the Phillies coming up next week. According
Speaker 3: to John Hayman, his camp is looking for three hundred
Speaker 3: million dollars. I don't know if that's true or not,
Speaker 3: but Phillies players are reportedly texting Bashett encouraging him to
Speaker 3: sign with them. And the Phillies are a very left
Speaker 3: handed oriented team, so they could use a really good
Speaker 3: right handed hitter like Bo Bashett, who is only twenty
Speaker 3: eight years old and already in his career, has led
Speaker 3: the league in hits two different times. And that's why
Speaker 3: I'm a big fan of Bobashett. I think the Dodgers
Speaker 3: had some level of interest in Bobashett. It may still do,
Speaker 3: but it feels like the Dodgers are focusing on the
Speaker 3: outfield and we hear so much about Kyle Tucker. Look,
Speaker 3: Bobashett isn't going back to Toronto, so the chances are
Speaker 3: very high the Blue Jays are zeroing in and closing
Speaker 3: in on a deal for Kyle Tucker. Now we've heard,
Speaker 3: and I've told you this before, that the Dodgers have
Speaker 3: this saying amongst their front office people that Andrew Friedman
Speaker 3: coined is hanging around the backboard in case a guy
Speaker 3: like Freddie Freeman doesn't re sign with his team, or
Speaker 3: a guy like Mookie Bets becomes available in a trade
Speaker 3: among others. So if Kyle Tucker and the Blue Jays
Speaker 3: can't come up with a significant number, maybe Kyle Tucker
Speaker 3: does settle for a three or four year deal. If
Speaker 3: that was the case, I feel like the Dodgers would
Speaker 3: be definitely interested, and that's the reason why you're hearing
Speaker 3: their name. But it seems like the Blue Jays are
Speaker 3: going to sign him. We haven't mentioned Cody Bellinger in
Speaker 3: a while on this show, and I feel like a
Speaker 3: reunion from what I can gather, a reunion with Cody
Speaker 3: Bellinger is still not out of the question.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: The Yankees really need Cody Bellinger to come back, but
Speaker 3: the Yankees are a mess now. According to a few
Speaker 3: different reports, Scott Boris is seeking a seven year deal
Speaker 3: from the Yankees for Cody Bellinger at an annual average
Speaker 3: salary of thirty million dollars. So that would be seven years,
Speaker 3: two hundred and ten million dollars. I don't see the
Speaker 3: Dodgers doing that. Maybe the Yankees are desperate enough to
Speaker 3: do that, but I could see the Dodgers saying, okay,
Speaker 3: thirty million dollars a year for Cody Bellinger, how about
Speaker 3: three years, how about four years? Things are being equal?
Speaker 3: If the Yankees are not going six or seven years
Speaker 3: or even five years, why wouldn't Cody Bellinger want to
Speaker 3: come back? And I can understand, and I've mentioned this
Speaker 3: the sentiment of let's turn the page on those Dodgers.
Speaker 3: Let's turn the page and move on. From Justin Turner,
Speaker 3: from Kenley Jansen, from Corey Seeger, from Cody Bellinger. I
Speaker 3: can understand that the Dodgers have won back to back
Speaker 3: World Series championships without those players. But Cody Bellinger is
Speaker 3: still only thirty years old, and he was a really
Speaker 3: popular player here. He won the MVP and talking to Cody,
Speaker 3: keeping in touch with Cody, he's become a way more
Speaker 3: mature player in person since he left the Dodgers after
Speaker 3: what the twenty two season, And let's not forget Cody
Speaker 3: Bellinger came up with a lot of big hits for
Speaker 3: the Dodgers in the postseason. They don't advance to the
Speaker 3: NLCS in twenty twenty one if Cody Bellinger doesn't come
Speaker 3: up with a huge hitting game five of the NLDS
Speaker 3: in San Francisco, to name one, of many. How about
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty postseason catches home runs. I mean, he
Speaker 3: wasn't the same for a while after hitting that huge
Speaker 3: home run in the NLCS and Keik Hernandez giving him
Speaker 3: a shoal forearm shoulder shiver. It seems like he has
Speaker 3: He hasn't returned to the player before that, but he's
Speaker 3: become a better player and he knows himself a lot
Speaker 3: better than he did when we last saw him in
Speaker 3: a Dodger uniform. So one way or the other, whether
Speaker 3: it's Kyle Tucker, whether it's Cody Bellinger, whether it's making
Speaker 3: a trade for a Brendan Donovan or a Lars Noubar,
Speaker 3: Andrew Friedman is going to upgrade the offense. And he
Speaker 3: still has a lot of options on the board of
Speaker 3: outfielders to name just a handful that are out there
Speaker 3: that are still available and huge impact players. So there there,
Speaker 3: it's incredible to say this on January eighth, one eight day.
Speaker 3: I'm celebrating Yamamoto one eight day, by the way, but
Speaker 3: on January eighth, and we are just a little over
Speaker 3: a month from when the Dodgers report to camp, Kyle
Speaker 3: Tucker Cody Bellinger are still on the board. Lars new
Speaker 3: Bar and Brendan Donovan have not been traded, so to
Speaker 3: put it lightly, there are still as many options on
Speaker 3: January eighth as there were on December first, So the
Speaker 3: Dodgers are not feeling the urgency. Now there is a
Speaker 3: player of interest that did not come to an arbitration
Speaker 3: agreement with his team. We'll let you know who that is.
Speaker 3: We'll let you know how far apart the two sides
Speaker 3: are and how that may change the dynamic of his
Speaker 3: availability in the trade market. We got Max Munsey coming
Speaker 3: up next, and at the bottom of the hour, Ryan
Speaker 3: Ward David vass live from the Sports net LA studios
Speaker 3: with you until eight o'clock tonight right here, seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 3: David Vassa with you until eight o'clock tonight here on
Speaker 3: a five to seventy LA Sports. Thanks to the folks
Speaker 3: here at sports net LA for inviting me back for
Speaker 3: access sports Net Dodgers, and thanks to them for allowing
Speaker 3: me to squat in one of the offices here to
Speaker 3: host Dodger Talk until eight o'clock. Coming up at the
Speaker 3: bottom of the hour, Pacific Coast League MVP and Dodger
Speaker 3: nerd Cult legend Ryan Ward is going to join us
Speaker 3: and can't wait to meet Ryan Ward. Can't wait to
Speaker 3: talk to him coming up at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 3: You know, I mentioned this on Petro some money. I
Speaker 3: went back to my alma mater last night, Notre Dame
Speaker 3: High School in Sherman Oaks. It wasn't as bougie when
Speaker 3: I graduated there in nineteen ninety four, but still a
Speaker 3: grade school, A great place to send your kids if
Speaker 3: you can. But I went back because my cousin who's
Speaker 3: like my sister, her son now is a grown man
Speaker 3: and teaches there and is an assistant basketball coach for
Speaker 3: the varsity team. So I decided to go back there
Speaker 3: support the school, support him, and they embarrassed me. They
Speaker 3: blew a sixteen point lead going into the fourth quarter
Speaker 3: and lost by a point to Loyola. But that's a
Speaker 3: that's not the highlight of the day. I actually saw
Speaker 3: my old dean of boys at the school, and he
Speaker 3: turns out to be now the president of Notre Dame
Speaker 3: High School, Rob Thomas. No, not that Rob Thomas. Mister
Speaker 3: Thomas is now the president of Notre Dame High School.
Speaker 3: And I always try to stander the radar, and I said, hey,
Speaker 3: I remember you. You were the Diana Boys when I
Speaker 3: went to school here. He's like, yeah, when'd you graduate?
Speaker 3: What's your name? David Vasse ninety four? I listened to
Speaker 3: the show, Well there we go. So high school ever
Speaker 3: needs me because of you know, their president, Rob Thomas,
Speaker 3: I would be there for them. Great guy, a man
Speaker 3: of strength and dignity and class, Rob Thomas. All Right.
Speaker 3: I mentioned that Trek scooble Well. I did not say
Speaker 3: his name, but I mentioned a player did not come
Speaker 3: to an agreement as many players did for to avoid arbitration.
Speaker 3: Scott Boris, Scott Trek Scougbell's agent exchanged a number of
Speaker 3: thirty two million dollars with the Tigers. The Tigers came
Speaker 3: back with nineteen million dollars. That's a big disparity, right there.
Speaker 3: Not Usually a gap like that does not happen in
Speaker 3: arbitration trying to avoid arbitration. Just in case you're wondering,
Speaker 3: the record for a pitcher in these type of situations
Speaker 3: was David Price back in twenty fifteen, who got nineteen
Speaker 3: point seven five million dollars. So the Tigers, you know,
Speaker 3: ten eleven years later, want to pay Trek's Scouble less
Speaker 3: than what David Price got for being, you know, equally
Speaker 3: as good of a pitcher at that time, maybe less
Speaker 3: than twenty fifteen. That's a thirteen million dollar cap gap
Speaker 3: between the Tigers and Schoolball right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 3: Gonna say this is going to trigger anything to change
Speaker 3: significantly as far as the Tigers trading Schooble. But if
Speaker 3: they do go into an arbitration hearing and what happens
Speaker 3: there is the team basically tears down the player to
Speaker 3: try to get the arbiter to side with them to
Speaker 3: pay the player less. That can get very contentious. And
Speaker 3: that's the reason why Andrew Freeman for the most part,
Speaker 3: has avoided arbitration hearings with the majority of his players
Speaker 3: outside of War one or two, going back to his
Speaker 3: days with the Rays. So I'll say this, if the
Speaker 3: Tigers and school Bowl go into arbitration and the Tigers
Speaker 3: are going to try to poke holes in Tarrek's Schoolbull's
Speaker 3: game to try to bring him down to closer to
Speaker 3: their offer of nineteen million dollars, I can assure you
Speaker 3: number one, Trek Scuble will not re sign with the
Speaker 3: Tigers when he becomes a free agent and the chances
Speaker 3: of him being traded go up significantly. Now, I don't
Speaker 3: think it's going to get there, because they have until
Speaker 3: the end of the month to try to compromise on
Speaker 3: a number. But certainly Scott Boris, this is an indicator
Speaker 3: of Scott Boris asking for thirty eighty two million dollars
Speaker 3: to avoid arbitration and the Tigers submitting nineteen million dollars
Speaker 3: that Scott bores not only is trying to set a
Speaker 3: record in arbitration, but I can assure you Scott bores
Speaker 3: Is trying is going to try to set a new
Speaker 3: record to top the contract of Garrett Cole and Yoshi
Speaker 3: Yamamoto for Schooble in free agency. That's what all this
Speaker 3: signals to me, more than Schooble all of a sudden
Speaker 3: being traded to the Dodgers, the Mets or anywhere else.
Speaker 3: That's what it tells me. Eight six six nine eighty
Speaker 3: seven two five seventy is the phone number. Would you
Speaker 3: want a reunion with Cody Bellinger? I've laid it all
Speaker 3: out for you. Would you want a reunion with Cody Bellinger?
Speaker 3: Or are you of the thinking that the Dodger should
Speaker 3: just turn the page from those group of players that
Speaker 3: Lefia free agency or, in Bals case, the Dodgers decided
Speaker 3: not to tender uh back in twenty twenty two. Where
Speaker 3: do you stand? Are you open to a Bellinger reunion
Speaker 3: or do you believe it's time for the Dodgers to
Speaker 3: move on and find somebody else. I'm of the mindset
Speaker 3: that Cody Bellinger should be back in a Dodger uniform
Speaker 3: if it makes sense. Four year deal. I'm all in
Speaker 3: four years at thirty million dollars, I'm all in bring
Speaker 3: him back. He could play all three outfield positions. He's
Speaker 3: a playoff player, he knows the culture of the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: He's a great guy. The players would love to have
Speaker 3: him back. And if you're talking about giving Freddie Freeman
Speaker 3: more days off at first base, who better than Cody
Speaker 3: Bellinger to give him those days off? Eight six six nine,
Speaker 3: eight seven two five seventy is the phone number. Cody
Speaker 3: Bellinger was part of the twenty twenty World Series championship
Speaker 3: that was Max Munsey's first three World Series championships. Max Munsey,
Speaker 3: a three time World Series champion, part of the dodgers
Speaker 3: first ever back to back World Series Championship team joined
Speaker 3: us on Sportsnet LA, myself, Jerry Harriston Junior, and Kirsten Watson,
Speaker 3: And here's part of our conversation. And I asked Muncie,
Speaker 3: how difficult was it to repeat as champions? Now that
Speaker 3: you've had some time to exhale and celebrate, how difficult
Speaker 3: is it to repeat as world champions?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's it's something that you can't really
Speaker 4: discuss in like a short segment, like there needs to
Speaker 4: be a long talk about it one day. But you know,
Speaker 4: as I mentioned, the off seasons get short, and that's
Speaker 4: what you want. But when your off season is so short,
Speaker 4: you don't have, you know, the full time to recover.
Speaker 4: Most guys when when the off season comes, they'll take
Speaker 4: you know, anywhere from like two weeks to a full
Speaker 4: month off before when they get back into training.
Speaker 1: And for us, we don't have that time.
Speaker 4: You know, you have to get right back into training,
Speaker 4: and so your body is not getting a full time
Speaker 4: to recover.
Speaker 1: And you know.
Speaker 4: That's where with the long season you start seeing some
Speaker 4: of the guys break down a little bit. There's just
Speaker 4: not enough time to recover, and you know, there's not
Speaker 4: really anything you can do about that. We're trying to
Speaker 4: be smarter about how we're managing guys and you know,
Speaker 4: workloads and that kind of stuff. But at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, you have to get recovery. And you know,
Speaker 4: for us, when in that that that first World Series,
Speaker 4: you know, we started in Korea and then you win
Speaker 4: the first World Series, and then we start in Japan
Speaker 4: and win another World Series.
Speaker 1: So you're talking about, you know, our season was already longer.
Speaker 4: Than anyone else, just as you know, as it was
Speaker 4: just starting overseas, and then we went to the World
Speaker 4: Series and you know, so that's back to back years
Speaker 4: of having just the longest season possible. It takes a
Speaker 4: toll on everybody, and that's why it's so hard to
Speaker 4: go out there and keep winning. And that's why you
Speaker 4: saw a lot of the dips, you know, as this
Speaker 4: season went on. It's just it's tough. It's tough to
Speaker 4: keep that.
Speaker 5: You know, Max, you spoke on Superman, who we all
Speaker 5: know he was probably the greatest player to ever play
Speaker 5: this game in Shoyo Tani, and you got a couple
Speaker 5: other superstars like obviously Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman. But when
Speaker 5: you speak on and you're a star in your own right,
Speaker 5: but when you speak on the other guys, because it
Speaker 5: took everybody last year and really the year before, but
Speaker 5: especially last year, it took everybody to win that World Series.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really cool for me to, like, you know,
Speaker 4: the small times I've had to reflect on it, it's
Speaker 4: really cool to look back and just realize, we don't
Speaker 4: win that World Series without every single person that participated
Speaker 4: in it. You know, every single guy on the roster
Speaker 4: played a key part in winning that World Series. It
Speaker 4: wasn't just one guy taken over, you know, the World
Speaker 4: Series and past Freddy kind of took over for us,
Speaker 4: and this year it was literally every single guy played
Speaker 4: at least one role throughout the entire postseason. And you know,
Speaker 4: you could just name a guy on the roster and
Speaker 4: you can say, oh, that guy made a play. You
Speaker 4: look at just Dean in center field with you know,
Speaker 4: the ball that got stuck. You look at Will Klein,
Speaker 4: who was in Arizona for every series prior to the
Speaker 4: World Series. You know, Tommy making defensive plays, Mookie doing
Speaker 4: what he did Ashore and then having a big hit
Speaker 4: in Game six and.
Speaker 1: Seven for US, and.
Speaker 4: You know, every single guy played a role to where
Speaker 4: if we didn't have any one of those guys, we
Speaker 4: don't win. And that's a really cool thing for me
Speaker 4: to look back and just realize how much of a
Speaker 4: team effort it was.
Speaker 3: Wait a minute, you just said that you've only taken
Speaker 3: small parts of your off season to reflect on the
Speaker 3: World Championship, something that hasn't been done in twenty years.
Speaker 3: To repeat, what have you been doing? One see that
Speaker 3: you're so busy that you can't reflect. Max, feel free
Speaker 3: to yell at him. Yell at him.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. He gets yelled at all the time.
Speaker 2: He knows it.
Speaker 1: I've been I've been busy, man. We got we got
Speaker 1: maybe number three popping out any day here.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: I've been trying to train and get get you know,
Speaker 4: get ready for the season, and you know, the holidays,
Speaker 4: it's it's a whirlwind.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: Like I said, I feel like we've only had like
Speaker 4: a week off from when the end of the season happened.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's already it's already January and we're
Speaker 4: going to be in Arizona before you know it. So
Speaker 4: it's ah, you don't really have time to just sit
Speaker 4: around and you know, just gloat about it.
Speaker 1: You have to. You have to start getting ready and
Speaker 1: prepare for the next season because it comes quick.
Speaker 6: Maxally formulas you always have a quick one for you.
Speaker 6: We all happen to know. There were some tattoos that
Speaker 6: of course made the way around the world. If you
Speaker 6: guys go back to back to back, are you committing
Speaker 6: to getting a tattoo as well?
Speaker 1: No, I'm not gonna catch that. I don't I don't
Speaker 1: do needles. I can't do it.
Speaker 4: So you know, there might be some other guys that
Speaker 4: will commit to it, but I'm not going to commit
Speaker 4: to that.
Speaker 1: You will not see me on that table with my
Speaker 1: pants down.
Speaker 3: I'll promise you that I can able the procedure for you, Max,
Speaker 3: if you need me to.
Speaker 4: Oh, if you're there, you definitely will not see me.
Speaker 4: You know, if you're there to day, I probably will
Speaker 4: be at the party. Let's be honest, Max, We thank
Speaker 4: you as always.
Speaker 6: We can't wait to see you here shortly what only
Speaker 6: a month, Not that we're counting down or anything, so
Speaker 6: enjoy the rest of your off season. We're wishing the
Speaker 6: best to you and Kelly. Hopefully baby number three is
Speaker 6: here soon.
Speaker 3: So thank you.
Speaker 1: As always us Rutch. Of course, love you, Dave. You know,
Speaker 1: I give you crap all the time. You're the man.
Speaker 3: Muncie there he is, Max Munzie. I love you too, Moncie.
Speaker 3: And Max is in La his wife Kelly, who's a
Speaker 3: great woman, getting ready to deliver their third child, and
Speaker 3: their great parents, great people. And you know, during this offseason,
Speaker 3: I've gotten more questions about whether or not Max Munsey
Speaker 3: hates me or not. He does not hate me, And
Speaker 3: that's the beautiful part about it. We want you to
Speaker 3: believe he hates me. He has taken the torch from
Speaker 3: Andre Ethier with the insults, and nobody can figure out
Speaker 3: whether or not Munsey's being serious and is disdained for me,
Speaker 3: or hate if you want to use a stronger word,
Speaker 3: or whether or not he's just fooling around. Well, I'd
Speaker 3: like to believe he's just messing around. And you know,
Speaker 3: maybe some days there is some you know, basically not
Speaker 3: feeling great towards me days. You know, I feel like
Speaker 3: there's some days of resentment towards me, no doubt, but
Speaker 3: Munsey and I find a way to coexist, and he's
Speaker 3: a great guy. And without his home run in game seven,
Speaker 3: and Jerry even asked him this in the interview. It's
Speaker 3: one of the most overlooked home runs of Game seven.
Speaker 3: If Munsey doesn't pull the Dodgers within one run, there
Speaker 3: is no ninth inning, there is no Will Smith, there
Speaker 3: is no epic Game seven finished. So Max Munsey's home
Speaker 3: run and Game seven is just as important as any
Speaker 3: other home run in that game, because without it, the
Speaker 3: climb was going to be almost impossible to come back
Speaker 3: down to your last six or nine outs eight six
Speaker 3: six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number.
Speaker 3: Like I mentioned, the door is still open for a
Speaker 3: reunion with Cody Bellinger. Do you want a reunion with
Speaker 3: Cody Bellinger or do you believe it's time to move on.
Speaker 3: We'll get into that and more, but coming up next
Speaker 3: we will check in with Ryan Ward. Yes, that Ryan
Speaker 3: Ward that you called in about every single night during
Speaker 3: the summer. When is Ryan Ward going to be called up?
Speaker 3: How can the Dodgers keep Ryan Ward down? Well, you're
Speaker 3: gonna hear from that Ryan Ward next on Dodger Talk
Speaker 3: right here on a five to seventy. LA Sports. Thank
Speaker 3: you to Max Muncy for joining us on Access Sportsnet.
Speaker 3: Dodgers on Sportsnet LA. They already have posted the interview
Speaker 3: on their Instagram page so you could check out the
Speaker 3: full conversation with three times World Serio. He's champion Max Moncy.
Speaker 3: But you know, we got Dodger Talk for you until
Speaker 3: eight o'clock and our next show is going to be
Speaker 3: next Tuesday night. We're on next Tuesday and Thursday next week.
Speaker 3: And it's gonna be a fun road up to spring
Speaker 3: training because not only are the Dodgers bringing back so
Speaker 3: many of the core players from their back to back
Speaker 3: World Series championships, but have talked about giving some of
Speaker 3: their young players opportunities to earn spots roster spots during
Speaker 3: the season to contribute to a three peat run. And
Speaker 3: one of those men is going to join us right now.
Speaker 3: He was born and will Chester, Massachusetts and now is
Speaker 3: living in Millbury, Massachusetts. Maybe he's neighbors with Milton's own
Speaker 3: Rich Hill. But he was the PCL Player of the Year,
Speaker 3: and like Eric Carros and Mike Piazza have won that
Speaker 3: award in the past. As Dodger farm hands, he hit
Speaker 3: thirty six home runs drove in one hundred and twenty
Speaker 3: two runs for the OKC comments and had a unique
Speaker 3: disposition on this show last year where somebody asked me
Speaker 3: every day for three months about him, and that is
Speaker 3: the one and only Ryan Ward. Ryan, Welcome to Dodger
Speaker 3: Talk and great to have you on a show that
Speaker 3: so many were calling and asking about you last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Hi, guys, I'm happy to be here. Thank you
Speaker 2: for having me. I'm excited for this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm excited too. I mean I feel like I
Speaker 3: know you already with the way everybody's been pumping you
Speaker 3: up to me. What was last year like for you
Speaker 3: to have that type of season at Triple.
Speaker 2: A, Yeah, it was. I mean, it was a fun year.
Speaker 2: We had a great team too, So it was just
Speaker 2: a lot lot of swing changes and approach decision decisions
Speaker 2: that I made like during the offseason and really committed
Speaker 2: to during the year. So being able to see it
Speaker 2: all pay off and see the right results was really
Speaker 2: cool for me, and then just just continuing to try
Speaker 2: and build on it.
Speaker 3: Your season actually started with Team USA the Premiere sixteen
Speaker 3: where they were playing in Japan, and your manager was
Speaker 3: Mike Soosha. One of your coaches was Dino Ebel, who's
Speaker 3: the Dodgers third base coach. How much did that experience
Speaker 3: help you get ready for the season and the one
Speaker 3: that you had, the big, you know, coming out party
Speaker 3: that you had in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think incredibly. I mean those guys, that whole staff,
Speaker 2: including them, like the baseball knowledge was insane, so so
Speaker 2: being able to pick their brains and talk about things,
Speaker 2: whether you're on the field or not, like watching something
Speaker 2: happen and kind of learning from them seeing the way
Speaker 2: they see the game was huge and I tried to
Speaker 2: take advantage of it as most as much as I could.
Speaker 3: How much did Rich Hill try to buddy up to
Speaker 3: you being from Massachusetts and try to brow out that
Speaker 3: you guys are Bostonians.
Speaker 2: That was one of the first things we talked about,
Speaker 2: and then we became pretty close throughout that tournament, and
Speaker 2: we've actually been on a couple flights together, whether it's
Speaker 2: coming home for All Star Break or heading back out,
Speaker 2: so we've been able to kind of stay in touch
Speaker 2: and it's been awesome.
Speaker 3: Ryan Ward is joining us, Yes that Ryan Ward is
Speaker 3: joining us on Dodger Talk. You can follow him on
Speaker 3: Instagram our Ward oh twelve on Instagram and really get
Speaker 3: to know him through social media. Get to know him
Speaker 3: right here on Dodger Talk, and you will get to
Speaker 3: know him during this upcoming season because he is going
Speaker 3: to be in big league camp. You are on the
Speaker 3: forty man roster. Did you believe the Dodgers were going
Speaker 3: to add you to the forty man roster or did
Speaker 3: you believe that they were going to you were going
Speaker 3: to move on and get an opportunity with another team.
Speaker 3: What were your feelings after the season.
Speaker 2: You know, I really wasn't sure what was going to happen,
Speaker 2: especially with the Dodgers. I mean, they make so many
Speaker 2: moves you never really know what's going to happen. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I was kind of just sitting there on
Speaker 2: that last day of kind of just sweating it out,
Speaker 2: wondering which way it was gonna happen, what was gonna happen,
Speaker 2: which way it was going to go. And I eventually
Speaker 2: got the call that they aded me, and I was excited.
Speaker 2: I mean, forty man Dodger or forty man roster for
Speaker 2: the LA Dodgers is no little thing. So I'm excited
Speaker 2: to get back out there and get on the field
Speaker 2: and just continue playing and having fun.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know how you felt Ryan, But
Speaker 3: I'll let you in on something. You may have heard
Speaker 3: me say this when you were on hold, but literally
Speaker 3: every day for the last three months of the season,
Speaker 3: as you were exploding and having your tremendous year, I
Speaker 3: literally got a phone call on this show, or somebody
Speaker 3: would stop me at the stadium, or even some broadcaster
Speaker 3: would ask me. Every single day I had a Ryan
Speaker 3: Ward streak going where somebody would ask me about Ryan
Speaker 3: Ward and why he wasn't called up to the Dodgers.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you got that more than I did. How
Speaker 3: did you handle all that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I was getting I was getting a
Speaker 2: lot of dms from people, you know, asking why I'm
Speaker 2: not up there and all this stuff. But you know,
Speaker 2: it was It's a tough spot because, like I can't
Speaker 2: control any of that stuff, so so me thinking about
Speaker 2: it and pondering it is something I try not to do.
Speaker 2: Obviously I think about it all the time, but I
Speaker 2: try not to like sit there and think about it
Speaker 2: twenty four to seven. You know, just just focus on
Speaker 2: My big saying is control what I can control, and
Speaker 2: that's going out every night and doing my best. You know,
Speaker 2: can't can't control moves that are being made or decisions
Speaker 2: being made. I can control how I prepare for the game,
Speaker 2: how I play game, and that's kind of where I
Speaker 2: direct all of my focus.
Speaker 3: Do you use it as fuel for motivation? Do you
Speaker 3: play with a chip on your shoulder because you still
Speaker 3: haven't got that call yet?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I feel like I've always played with
Speaker 2: a chip on my shoulder. It's just something that you know,
Speaker 2: gets the fire lit underneath me and just pushes me
Speaker 2: to be better every day. And I just try to
Speaker 2: go out there and carry that chip around and leave
Speaker 2: it all out there every night, whether it's the preparation
Speaker 2: before the game, the play during the game, looking at
Speaker 2: stuff the next day about the game before and trying
Speaker 2: to make changes, and you know, just continuing to build.
Speaker 2: So I'm always trying to find ways to be better
Speaker 2: and push myself to be better.
Speaker 3: Since you are from Boston, obviously a crazy sports town,
Speaker 3: especially for the Red Sox when you were growing up,
Speaker 3: did you have a favorite player on the Red Sox
Speaker 3: or on another team who who inspired Ryan Ward to
Speaker 3: want to become a professional baseball player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, obviously Red Sox fan. Growing up. I
Speaker 2: was a big big Dave Artis fan, just because I
Speaker 2: was I was a lefty. He was the lefty power guy,
Speaker 2: like it was. David Ortiz was like like he was
Speaker 2: an icon around here. So David Ortiz for sure, it
Speaker 2: was my favorite Red Sox growing up. I mean I
Speaker 2: watched him all the time. And yeah, I'd say David
Speaker 2: Ortiz for sure.
Speaker 3: Were you old enough to remember Dave Roberts stealing that
Speaker 3: base in two thousand and.
Speaker 2: Four, Well, yeah, I've watched that thirty for thirty documentary
Speaker 2: one hundred times, you know, like lest four or five
Speaker 2: times in a row and then they shit and the
Speaker 2: homer all of it.
Speaker 3: Have you have you spoken to Dave Roberts? I know
Speaker 3: you haven't been in big league camp. Have you had
Speaker 3: many interactions with him?
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, I've been in I've been in big league
Speaker 2: camp for I think the past two years.
Speaker 3: That's right. I apologize. I must have introduced myself to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, no, no, no, yeah, but.
Speaker 3: Sorry, Alex Friedland and Gavin Stone try to dominate my time.
Speaker 3: I forget you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's fair, that's definitely fair. So yeah, we've had
Speaker 2: a couple of conversations like during spring training for sure,
Speaker 2: here and there, But no that's never came up, so
Speaker 2: I'm sure will at some point, but just hasn't yet.
Speaker 3: Ryan Ward is our guest. He was the Pacific Coast
Speaker 3: League Player of the Year in twenty twenty five. Looking
Speaker 3: to make a big impact for the Dodgers in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six, and I'm sure this has got to be
Speaker 3: a huge step closer to you realizing your dream. Ryan.
Speaker 3: With the Dodgers outfield situation in flux, especially in left field,
Speaker 3: you got to feel optimistic that this is going to
Speaker 3: be the year that you get an opportunity.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean especially kind of like you said, being
Speaker 2: put on the forty man like gives you a real shot.
Speaker 2: Granted they can do it during the year with all
Speaker 2: those news and everything, but being on it already is huge.
Speaker 2: And you know, like trying to get my body into
Speaker 2: the best spot it can be strength wise, getting all
Speaker 2: my recovery done and get my swing right in, you know,
Speaker 2: just trying to show up with my foot on the
Speaker 2: pedal all the way to the floor and then just
Speaker 2: give it everything I got and leave it out there.
Speaker 2: But trying to have fun with it too, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, you can't go in there and then just
Speaker 2: play under pressure from myself day after day. It's because
Speaker 2: it's that's going to hurt me. So just trying to
Speaker 2: have fun with it, enjoy it and learn from all
Speaker 2: those guys and talk to the guys. And I kind
Speaker 2: of liked earlier I said, picked their brains about certain things,
Speaker 2: and you know, just improve and chase my dream every day.
Speaker 3: No doubt, you must be doing something right. Ryan Ward
Speaker 3: to hit thirty six home runs for Oklahoma City last year.
Speaker 3: Before I let you go, I got to ask you this,
Speaker 3: since you were part of the organization last year. Where
Speaker 3: were you watching number one, the eighteen game when Freddy
Speaker 3: hit the walk off home run? And number two? Where
Speaker 3: were you watching Game seven of the World Series?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the eighteen inning game. I was at home, and
Speaker 2: I was having flashbacks too because the before I got
Speaker 2: dropped about dollars, they played the Red Sox and had
Speaker 2: like that seventeen eighteen inning playoffs. Yeah, so I was
Speaker 2: having flashbacks to that while I was watching it. But
Speaker 2: Game seven, I was actually at my buddy's house. There
Speaker 2: was a group of us all sitting there watching the game.
Speaker 2: So it was a really cool environment to be able
Speaker 2: to watch it. I mean, that was one of the
Speaker 2: craziest game sevens I think I've ever seen in my
Speaker 2: life any sport. So we able to watch it with
Speaker 2: some of the guys and have something to celebrate with them.
Speaker 2: Was pretty cool, was.
Speaker 3: That In you're talking about some of the guys that
Speaker 3: you were teammates with at Oklahoma City?
Speaker 2: Well, were we were. I was with friends from home
Speaker 2: back in Massachusetts, but a lot of us from the
Speaker 2: OKC team or in a group message and we're all
Speaker 2: texting throughout all the games and everything. So it was
Speaker 2: cool to be able to like integrate my OKAC friends
Speaker 2: and my friends from home, and everyone's kind of rooting
Speaker 2: for the same thing. So it was pretty cool.
Speaker 3: How invested did you feel watching the Dodgers in the
Speaker 3: World Series.
Speaker 2: I felt pretty invested. I mean a lot of the
Speaker 2: guys I've played with because of their either down in
Speaker 2: rehab or during spring training or I was down in
Speaker 2: a stay hot camp for all the series up until
Speaker 2: the World Series, so I was there staying ready in
Speaker 2: case something happened. So I was pretty invested in what
Speaker 2: was going on with them.
Speaker 3: Did you see this coming with Roki Sasaki when he was,
Speaker 3: you know, making his way back at Oklahoma City before
Speaker 3: he came back in September and did what he did
Speaker 3: in the postseason.
Speaker 2: When he really got going and kind of got his
Speaker 2: strength back. And it was in a role down in Okay. See,
Speaker 2: I mean, nobody was touching him. He was he was
Speaker 2: throwing strikes, he was town zone. He's throwing hard. His
Speaker 2: split was unbelievable, and I was just kind of like,
Speaker 2: we're all kind of stitting there like, oh, like, oh,
Speaker 2: I think he's ready. I think he's ready to go
Speaker 2: back up there. It was really fun to watch while
Speaker 2: he was down there.
Speaker 3: That's so great, great perspective from a guy that everybody
Speaker 3: wants to see make his major league debut this year
Speaker 3: with the Dodgers, and that is Ryan Ward. Thanks a
Speaker 3: lot for the time, Ryan. Can't wait to see you
Speaker 3: again in big league camp like I have the last
Speaker 3: couple of years, and I'll I'll box out Stone and
Speaker 3: Freedland and say, hey, we need some alone time here,
Speaker 3: all right, let me focus on this guy from Boston.
Speaker 2: That sounds good to me. Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it, No, my pleasure.
Speaker 3: Thank you for the time, and we'll see you in
Speaker 3: a month.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll see in a few weeks.
Speaker 3: All right, there he goes, Ryan Ward. Are you happy
Speaker 3: I got Ryan Ward on the show for you? See?
Speaker 3: This show is for you. And Ryan Ward made his
Speaker 3: Dodger Talk debut tonight. You can follow him on Instagram
Speaker 3: at r Ward oh twelve. Great guy And yes, I
Speaker 3: have seen him in big league camp. He had to
Speaker 3: remind me, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Everybody was getting me
Speaker 3: so flooded with why isn't he up in the big
Speaker 3: leagues last year? And look, there were other factors in play,
Speaker 3: and the Dodgers were a really talented team. Conforto teased
Speaker 3: them a few different times like he was coming out
Speaker 3: of his slump, but it never really materialized. Conforto was
Speaker 3: a very popular and positive teammate as well. And if
Speaker 3: you called up Ryan Ward, you're basically just saying goodbye
Speaker 3: to Michael Conforto and the bet that you made on
Speaker 3: him for seventeen million dollars. So that was part of
Speaker 3: the factor. I mean, this is not high school baseball.
Speaker 3: There is business at play, there are contracts at play,
Speaker 3: there's a resume of track record, all those things. But
Speaker 3: you know, at the end of the day, the Dodgers
Speaker 3: gave Michael Conforto every opportunity to come out of his
Speaker 3: season long slump, and he never did, and they left
Speaker 3: him off the postseason roster. And I feel like that's
Speaker 3: another area that will have a residual positive effect as
Speaker 3: Andrew Friedman goes through this off season to add to
Speaker 3: the Dodgers' offense, whether it's in the outfield, probably the
Speaker 3: outfield and the infield is getting the Dodgers more options
Speaker 3: off the bench. His son Kim, he may be part
Speaker 3: of this equation. Justin Dean was on the bench for
Speaker 3: the Dodgers and certainly was a defensive replacement. But if
Speaker 3: you told me last year in spring training that those
Speaker 3: two guys were going to be on the Dodgers World
Speaker 3: Series roster, I would have laughed at you. I would
Speaker 3: not have believed it. And I think that's part of
Speaker 3: what the Dodgers are looking at as well, to strengthen
Speaker 3: their bench and to give Dave Roberts more options than
Speaker 3: he had at the end of last season. And that's
Speaker 3: why it's kind of comical when people I never even
Speaker 3: heard this, but I guess there were some second guessers
Speaker 3: out there saying Dave Roberts should have pinch hit for
Speaker 3: Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning before he eventually obviously
Speaker 3: hit that game tying home run with two outs or
Speaker 3: one out in the ninth inning. But who was Dave
Speaker 3: Roberts going to go to. Was he going to pinch
Speaker 3: it Kim for Rojas? I wouldn't have done that. Was
Speaker 3: he going to pinch it justin Dean? He may have
Speaker 3: been out of the game by then. He had no
Speaker 3: other options, no better options than allowing Miguel Rojas to
Speaker 3: hit in that situation in the ninth inning of Game seven.
Speaker 3: So that's something that the Dodgers have had such a
Speaker 3: big strength of having the depth to be strong one
Speaker 3: through twenty six, have a great, strong bench, whether it
Speaker 3: was Chris Taylor when he was going good, Jock Peterson,
Speaker 3: Keik Hernandez, those type of guys that the Dodgers did
Speaker 3: not really have as options last year. Whether it's injuries
Speaker 3: or just poor production, they just didn't have those options
Speaker 3: at the end of last year. And let's let's make
Speaker 3: it clear the Dodgers the last two or three years
Speaker 3: have more have had more of a set everyday lineup
Speaker 3: than they did the previous five or six years. They
Speaker 3: are not platooning in different positions because they got guys
Speaker 3: that get hit lefties and righties. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 3: speaking of lefties and righties, if you're worried that the
Speaker 3: Dodgers have too many lefties and they should stay away
Speaker 3: from Cody Bellinger, well, he has continued a trend that
Speaker 3: he started with the Dodgers of hitting left handed pitching.
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter if you're a lefty or righty if
Speaker 3: you can hit left handed pitching. And that's something that
Speaker 3: Cody Bellinger has continued to do. In fact, last year,
Speaker 3: Cody Bellinger hit three point fifty three against lefties and
Speaker 3: his OPS was over a thousand against lefties. His OPS
Speaker 3: against right handed pitchers was just seven forty one, and
Speaker 3: he only hit two forty four against righty's last year.
Speaker 3: So when you're talking about stacking a lineup of trying
Speaker 3: to find somebody that can hit behind Otani, especially when
Speaker 3: the opponent brings in a left handed reliever to face
Speaker 3: Otani specifically and pitch around Otani, Cody Bellinger is a
Speaker 3: dangerous guy to have hit behind Otani because of how
Speaker 3: good he has been against left handed pitching. So you
Speaker 3: could have a lineup of Otani, Bellinger, and Freeman in
Speaker 3: your first three, and say, wait a minute, what you're
Speaker 3: stacking three lefties. It doesn't matter when you have three
Speaker 3: lefties that can hit lefties better than some right handed
Speaker 3: hitters can hit lefties. Otani hits lefties, Bellinger certainly hits lefties,
Speaker 3: and so does Freddy Freeman. So that doesn't concern me
Speaker 3: at all. Eight six six nine eight seven two five
Speaker 3: seventy is the phone number. I bet you didn't realize
Speaker 3: that Cody Bellinger last year has continued to mash against
Speaker 3: left handed pitching. He hit three point fifty three, he
Speaker 3: slug six' oh one against left handed pitching last. Year that's.
Speaker 3: Remarkable I'm i'm convincing myself even more that bringing Back
Speaker 3: Cody bellinger is more right than. Ever and if you
Speaker 3: ask me right, now IF i had to pick a,
Speaker 3: player whether it Be Kyle tucker Versus Cody, bellinger, LOOK
Speaker 3: i Know Kyle tucker is a really talented baseball, player
Speaker 3: BUT i would Take Cody. BELLINGER i would Take Cody
Speaker 3: bellinger because of the, versatility the guy that has played
Speaker 3: big in the, postseason And tucker was a big part
Speaker 3: of The astros run in, nineteen no doubt about. It
Speaker 3: but you, Know tucker has played in The World. Series
Speaker 3: he has been a good playoff. Performer but it just
Speaker 3: seems like all signs are pointing To tucker going back
Speaker 3: to or going To, toronto especially now with the reports
Speaker 3: that The phillies And Bo bischett conversations are really heating,
Speaker 3: up With bishett scheduled to meet with them and the
Speaker 3: relationship he has With Don. Matte so, yeah it's, uh
Speaker 3: it seems Like tucker's going To. Toronto it really. Does
Speaker 3: and The dodgers have the door open for A bellinger
Speaker 3: reunion if if the years make. Sense eight six six,
Speaker 3: nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone. Number
Speaker 3: as we are getting closer to the top of the,
Speaker 3: hour our next show is going to Be tuesday night
Speaker 3: and then next Week thursday as. Well so that'll do
Speaker 3: it for us tonight On Dodger. Talk in case you
Speaker 3: missed any of the, show you can find it on
Speaker 3: The iHeartRadio app and that's where you can listen and
Speaker 3: stream Live iHeartRadio. App make us your number one pre.
Speaker 3: Set we will keep you updated on all The Free agent.
Speaker 3: News as guys Like, Bishett tucker And Bellinger frembervaldez have
Speaker 3: not been. Signed Ron Hare Suarez Ranger suarez has not
Speaker 3: been signed. Either so there's a lot of guys still
Speaker 3: on the market that we're there when free agency, open
Speaker 3: and The dodgers and every other team out there has
Speaker 3: a lot of options still at their. Disposal and The
Speaker 3: dodgers are in a great spot because they have the
Speaker 3: best player on the. Planet they've, got you, know two
Speaker 3: Other hall Of famers in their lineup And Freddie freeman
Speaker 3: And Mookie. Betts i'm a firm Believer Mookie betts is
Speaker 3: going to have a big comeback season next. Year Anti
Speaker 3: Oscar hernandez is going to have a big comeback season
Speaker 3: next year to, help you, know bring The dodger offense
Speaker 3: back to where it was the first half a last.
Speaker 3: Season All, right we'll keep the hot stove going Next tuesday,
Speaker 3: night coming up Next Fox Sports. Radio thanks again To
Speaker 3: Ryan ward And Max munsey for joining. Us we will
Speaker 3: talk to you Next. Tuesday see you