Speaker 1: An exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: It's Kershaw Day and the Big Apple, and we're joined
Speaker 2: right now by Dodger manager Dave Roberts.
Speaker 3: Dave, thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 1: Hey Dave, good to catch up and another exciting night,
Speaker 1: Yeah it is.
Speaker 3: It's always great to be in New York.
Speaker 2: And as far as coming back to City Field, I
Speaker 2: know we always talk about the World Series, but what
Speaker 2: stands out to you the most about the NLCS last year?
Speaker 3: You know what?
Speaker 1: I think the thing that stands out most is Walker
Speaker 1: striking out Lin d'Or with a three to two curveball.
Speaker 1: I think show hey hit a huge homer. Just the energy, there,
Speaker 1: a lot of good memories. I'm sure they're going to
Speaker 1: be looking to get some redemption and payback, but it's
Speaker 1: going to be a great series.
Speaker 2: The NLCS was just an encapsulation of how much you
Speaker 2: leaned on your bullpen, and this year you're kind of
Speaker 2: feeling the residual effect of the way that you needed
Speaker 2: to use those guys to win.
Speaker 3: The World Series.
Speaker 2: How are you right now with your bullpen now? And
Speaker 2: I guess that's a price that you're willing to pay.
Speaker 2: And they were willing to pay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think if you look back at
Speaker 1: that series and even that Padre series, I think it
Speaker 1: was Game three that we sort of had to kind
Speaker 1: of hang in there and use the bullpen to kind
Speaker 1: of get to the next day. We did that obviously
Speaker 1: at City Field in the CUS. Right now, it's certainly
Speaker 1: not ideal coming off and off day. I feel much
Speaker 1: better about the state of our pen, the pitching, but
Speaker 1: I think that as we look out, and I think
Speaker 1: Clayton coming into his second one, I'm going to be
Speaker 1: a little bit more mindful as far as the usage.
Speaker 1: But I think the other guys who've gotten their feet wet,
Speaker 1: I'm going to push them because you know, obviously we
Speaker 1: need to win baseball games, but these guys have got
Speaker 1: to go deeper in games, and they've got to kind
Speaker 1: of take a little bit of the strain off the pen,
Speaker 1: who have certainly been tax in the first couple months.
Speaker 2: Kershaw talked about having a lack of commit but he
Speaker 2: was happy with his stuff. Do you feel like both
Speaker 2: will get better with time?
Speaker 1: I do, And I think and I even told Clayton
Speaker 1: this after this outing is I think I would be
Speaker 1: more concerned if the stuff wasn't there, that we don't
Speaker 1: have enough to work with. But the stuff was there,
Speaker 1: so I feel and I think he echoes that feels
Speaker 1: good about that. And command is something that he's always
Speaker 1: been able to navigate and manage and have. So yeah,
Speaker 1: after the first one, I do think that the command's
Speaker 1: going to continue to get better.
Speaker 2: Manager Dave Roberts, two time manager World Champion, is our
Speaker 2: guest when you look at your bullpen and your pitching staff,
Speaker 2: I know it's hard to say who's the most valuable
Speaker 2: or who's the best, but would you say Benk Caspirius
Speaker 2: has been more valuable than anybody outside of these walls
Speaker 2: would have expected?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I think that this is a guy that came on
Speaker 1: the scene last year and pitched in big ball games.
Speaker 1: But the leverage innings, the amount of innings that he's
Speaker 1: given us stability, which, to be quite frank, we haven't
Speaker 1: really had that in the pitching. So for a guy
Speaker 1: that's got call it three months of service to be
Speaker 1: a stabilizer has been huge for us.
Speaker 2: He seems to be very open to the different versatile
Speaker 2: spots that you have for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's a good thing. I think
Speaker 1: some of it is youthfulness, naivete, just happy to be
Speaker 1: in the big leagues where there's a complete buy in.
Speaker 1: But I do think that he is understanding that his
Speaker 1: openness and willingness to do different things allows for a
Speaker 1: lot of ability to plug some holes and to protect
Speaker 1: and help us win baseball games. And so I just
Speaker 1: kind of put him in that high leverage bucket and
Speaker 1: use him as a Swiss army knife.
Speaker 2: All right, Dave, I'm gonna throw something at you that
Speaker 2: I get thrown at. And it's a valid question. With
Speaker 2: all those starting pitching injuries, has there been an urge
Speaker 2: among yourself and the group in the front office to
Speaker 2: maybe accelerate Otani coming back to pitch?
Speaker 3: And how do you resist that?
Speaker 1: You know the shortand no, I think that show hey,
Speaker 1: doctor elatross a training staff for all driving this sort
Speaker 1: of ramp up progression. I think it's separate. It's a
Speaker 1: separate issue, and I think that you know one part
Speaker 1: of it, or that I guess the main part of
Speaker 1: it is his value to us as a hitter as
Speaker 1: it is, as it stands, is so valuable, right, And
Speaker 1: so to try to speed something up to take on
Speaker 1: some type of downside just doesn't make sense. So I
Speaker 1: do think that we are being very methodical about it.
Speaker 1: I can safely say he's probably not going to pitch
Speaker 1: for us until after the break. But I don't think
Speaker 1: that the injuries that we've had is going to speed
Speaker 1: up his process.
Speaker 2: You played against and with Barry Bonds. Did you ever
Speaker 2: think you would say what you said as far as
Speaker 2: Otani being in the same sentence with him.
Speaker 1: No, I didn't know. Barry was number one with a
Speaker 1: bullet as far as by far, the best baseball player
Speaker 1: I've ever played with, ever seen. But now you laren
Speaker 1: what Showhy can do with foot speed, with power, with average,
Speaker 1: but also the pitching. And I think that's something that
Speaker 1: you know, you're you're trying to grate out the whole
Speaker 1: player in totality, where I can't believe I'm saying that,
Speaker 1: but yeah, show Hey in totality is a better baseball
Speaker 1: player because you can pitch.
Speaker 2: Hey, You've seen a lot of baseball and you're not done.
Speaker 2: You've seen a lot of things and a lot of
Speaker 2: great players and looking forward to more of a great season.
Speaker 3: Thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 1: Thanks Dave, good having you and good being on with
Speaker 1: you and uh let's have a great series.