Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: Dodgers return home for a big ten game homestand beginning
Speaker 2: tomorrow night against the San Francisco Giants. Our coverage begins
Speaker 2: at six o'clock. First pitch at seven to ten, Yama
Speaker 2: Moto against Webb, a great first pitching matchup between the
Speaker 2: Dodgers and Giants. And don't forget tomorrow is the twelfth
Speaker 2: annual kickoff to the PMS Summer Tour at Rock and
Speaker 2: Bruce and El Segundo from three to six o'clock. They
Speaker 2: got prizes, Dodger padres, tickets, gift cards to living spaces
Speaker 2: and barbecues galore. They're giving away a fifty five inch
Speaker 2: Westinghouse TV. So they got a lot of stuff out there.
Speaker 2: And of course you got Petros papadaekas out there. That's
Speaker 2: the main attraction. And you never know if you might
Speaker 2: see the fancy bow tie of our next guest at
Speaker 2: Rock and Bruce and El Segundo tomorrow. He runs ys
Speaker 2: for the athletic. He does it on television as the
Speaker 2: number one sideline reporter for Fox Sports Baseball's coverage baseball coverage,
Speaker 2: and he is the best baseball insider out there, and
Speaker 2: that's our friend, the great Ken Rosenthal. Ken, thanks a
Speaker 2: lot for taking the time to call in. Appreciate it, David.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that build up. You're very kind. However, it's
Speaker 1: going to be difficult for me to be in El
Speaker 1: Segundo tomorrow as I am right now in Boston.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, okay, yeah, well we'll take a rain check
Speaker 2: on that.
Speaker 1: I didn't mind being there though. For Yamamoto Web, that's
Speaker 1: going to be special.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. And we're all trying to figure out Ken,
Speaker 2: how are the Giants just to game back of the
Speaker 2: Dodgers with that lineup that they have. Have you seen them?
Speaker 2: Are they for real? Can they stand the test of
Speaker 2: a marathon season?
Speaker 1: They pitch and that's why they're where they are right now.
Speaker 1: And I believe lest I checked that we're second in
Speaker 1: the league and you're aight to the Mets, and you're right.
Speaker 1: The lineup has been I wouldn't say awful, but it
Speaker 1: hasn't been great, and now they're without Chapman and Bailey,
Speaker 1: who are two critical players for them. Adamis seems like
Speaker 1: he's finally getting going, but their offense has been a
Speaker 1: challenge for them, and first dates is a particular challenge,
Speaker 1: but even beyond that, they need more out of players
Speaker 1: that they have as well. So it's going to be
Speaker 1: an interesting test for them against the Dodgers, and obviously
Speaker 1: they're a team that has hung in there. I expect
Speaker 1: them to be aggressive at the deadline. Bust O Posy,
Speaker 1: in an interview with Tim Kalakami of the San Francisco
Speaker 1: Standard recently, kind of indicated that he wants to do
Speaker 1: some things, and David I found this really interesting. He
Speaker 1: reflected back on the Zach Wheeler for Carlos Beltron trade.
Speaker 1: I believe that was twenty thirteen, and obviously that trade
Speaker 1: did not work out great for the Giants in the
Speaker 1: sense that they did not win that year and Whiller became.
Speaker 1: Of course, Willer became. But what Posey was saying to
Speaker 1: Tim KALACAMEDI was that's the kind of trade you have
Speaker 1: to make. So it's going to be interesting to see
Speaker 1: how they handle the deadline under Posey, and I do
Speaker 1: expect them, because of those comments, to be at least
Speaker 1: trying really hard to get some players.
Speaker 2: All right, Since you brought up the trade deadline as
Speaker 2: far as the Dodgers are concerned, and just around the league,
Speaker 2: can the Braves obviously have had a disappointing start. If
Speaker 2: they get towards the end of July and they believe
Speaker 2: that the Phillies and Mets and the wild card situation
Speaker 2: is just not going to happen for them this year,
Speaker 2: do you believe they would consider trading Chris Saale.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to be buried to do that, and
Speaker 1: I'm not totally convinced yet that they will be. And
Speaker 1: when I say buried, I mean really out of it,
Speaker 1: and in an expanded playoff format, David, I know the
Speaker 1: Dodgers don't have to worry about this effort, but it's
Speaker 1: kind of tough to paul out of it unless you're
Speaker 1: really bad, like the Rockies or the Marlins, some team
Speaker 1: like that. So obviously they have not played well. They've
Speaker 1: been a huge, immense disappointment, and in some ways it's
Speaker 1: difficult to see them turning it around. But they're going
Speaker 1: to give it every opportunity to do that, and they
Speaker 1: may even add in the coming weeks because they know
Speaker 1: that the situation has turned urgent quite frankly, and if
Speaker 1: they're going to get back in this thing one. They
Speaker 1: have to play better and maybe they have to find
Speaker 1: some more offense somewhere. So it's a tough question to answer.
Speaker 1: And I know there's so much deadline talk already, but
Speaker 1: it's an eternity away seven weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a while, a whiles away. But even in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles, ken people are starting to have dreams of
Speaker 2: Walker Bueller wearing a Dodgery uniform again, could you see
Speaker 2: that happening? And he's on a one year contract. If
Speaker 2: the Red Sox are out of it, could he be
Speaker 2: one of the more valuable trade ships out there?
Speaker 1: He could be. But that's another team that is intent
Speaker 1: on competing hard this year. After several disappointing seasons in
Speaker 1: a row, they're coming off back to back series victories
Speaker 1: now over the Yankees and Race. They've got Roman Anthony
Speaker 1: up finally, top prospect in the game. They're not going
Speaker 1: to concede easily either.
Speaker 3: Now, even with all I'm saying here, art creates that
Speaker 3: are of by cell nature possible, yes, and maybe that's
Speaker 3: how a Walker Brewer's tray comes about. But right now
Speaker 3: their biggest need is starting pitching. So I don't see
Speaker 3: how they can do that viewers. He's been consistent, but
Speaker 3: he pitched better the other night. It seems to me
Speaker 3: they need to add pitching, and their surplus is with
Speaker 3: the outfield, and really the problem, it's a very interesting problem.
Speaker 3: They've got too many.
Speaker 1: Good position players to fit on everyday lineup, So I
Speaker 1: would expect that they're going to look for pitching. And again,
Speaker 1: I don't expect that they're going to sell easily at all.
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic and Fox Sports is joining
Speaker 2: us on off Day Dodger Talk the Dodgers and Giants
Speaker 2: in Action tomorrow night. All right, Ken, you've been around
Speaker 2: the Dodgers a lot. You're around them throughout their entire
Speaker 2: postseason run last year. I'm curious, from your standpoint, has
Speaker 2: Freddie Freeman's legacy become something that we should be talking
Speaker 2: more about after the heroics of the World Series last year?
Speaker 2: Has he elevated the way people value him because he's
Speaker 2: always so consistent and those players sometimes get lost in
Speaker 2: the shuffle.
Speaker 4: The World Series definitely elevated Freeman. Now, you're right, he
Speaker 4: is not a showy type, obviously, and he is someone
Speaker 4: who just is kind of like a metronome.
Speaker 1: Producing and producing, producing after day. There's not much color
Speaker 1: to him, but it seems to me, and I was
Speaker 1: talking about this with someone just this week. Leaving Atlanta,
Speaker 1: as painful as it was for him, best thing that
Speaker 1: ever happened to him. He got to play for a
Speaker 1: Dodger team that of course won the World Series, and
Speaker 1: he got to be the hero of that World Series,
Speaker 1: the MVP of that World Series. And as much as
Speaker 1: he loved Atlanta and didn't want to leave, La was home,
Speaker 1: a different kind of home where he grew up, and
Speaker 1: it worked out great. And if you had Freddy on,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've had Freddy on, he would say this
Speaker 1: has been tremendous. And of course last year, the outpouring
Speaker 1: when his son was ill from the fans, all of
Speaker 1: that plays into it. So his legacy is going to
Speaker 1: be quite prominent and vast and something we do talk
Speaker 1: about for a long time. Even if your point is
Speaker 1: well taken, David, he is somewhat overlooked in the pantheon
Speaker 1: stars right now. He's still the guy.
Speaker 2: Ken, I never asked you this before. You were the
Speaker 2: first one to interview Freddy after his walk off Grand
Speaker 2: Slam in Game one of last year's World Series. I'm
Speaker 2: just curious from your standpoint, in that moment, you understand
Speaker 2: the history of the game, what were your feelings, How
Speaker 2: did you compose yourself to be able to capture the
Speaker 2: moment and calmly interview Freeman.
Speaker 1: Well, David, you've done this countless times too, and it
Speaker 1: is easy to get caught up in the moment and
Speaker 1: it is hard to collect your thoughts because there's so
Speaker 1: much happening. You've just witness history. You know the importance
Speaker 1: of a game one walk off Grand Slam in the
Speaker 1: annals of the sport. So my first question, actually was
Speaker 1: it a great question? If you asked me looking back,
Speaker 1: it was, Hey, where did this one rank for you?
Speaker 1: But Freddy Dee, and Freddy he gave a good answer.
Speaker 1: It is obviously the biggest hold of his career. And
Speaker 1: from there there were things to ask And obviously when
Speaker 1: he went over to his dad, I saw that and
Speaker 1: I asked him what was said? And if Freddie is
Speaker 1: a really good interview. And it's funny to me people
Speaker 1: will sometimes say those are good questions, those are bad questions.
Speaker 1: The questions are generally the questions. It's the answers that
Speaker 1: you're looking for and Freddie is really good in that moment.
Speaker 1: And when that interview was over, I thought it was good,
Speaker 1: but not because I was so brilliant in asking the questions.
Speaker 1: He just is someone who is really eloquent, frankly, in
Speaker 1: those moments, and he was that night.
Speaker 2: That's a lot different than Kirk Gibson blowing off Bob
Speaker 2: Costas before he went into the clubhouse to celebrate with
Speaker 2: his teammates and then came back out.
Speaker 1: Well, David, I was at that game. That was my
Speaker 1: second year as a baseball writer, and in that era,
Speaker 1: that was the late eighties, and it was just different.
Speaker 1: Players were different. Gibson was the most course of all
Speaker 1: of them, but players in general were not as cooperative,
Speaker 1: not be the right word. They just didn't see media
Speaker 1: the way players do today. It's players today, in many
Speaker 1: respects see it as a vehicle who promote themselves. Not
Speaker 1: necessarily fready, but they understand media. They've been interviewed from
Speaker 1: the time they were in high school. It was different
Speaker 1: back then. And yeah, Kirk Gibson, he did that. I
Speaker 1: remember one year with the Cardinals, might have been twenty
Speaker 1: twelve where they were doing a ceremony after the game,
Speaker 1: Jim Edmonds would run into the clubhouse with all the players.
Speaker 1: They'd toast themselves after when and then they'd come out
Speaker 1: for the interviews. That wasn't great, and then baseball couldn't
Speaker 1: stop them, and it was the same kind of situation.
Speaker 1: But in general, players today are pretty good and it's
Speaker 1: kind of a pleasure now. Where before when I started,
Speaker 1: I was afraid to walk into the clubhouse, now it's
Speaker 1: not the case.
Speaker 2: Yeah, did you immediately think Kirk Gibson as you see
Speaker 2: Freddie and the flight of the ball, I mean it
Speaker 2: landed almost in the same place that Gibson's home run
Speaker 2: landed in nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 1: Well, I didn't think it as quickly as Joe Davis did,
Speaker 1: And that was an amazing moment in my opinion as
Speaker 1: a broadcaster doing that and quickly immediately connecting the two
Speaker 1: and his call was unbelievable. He just won the Sports
Speaker 1: Emmy for play by play a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and I have to think that call had a lot
Speaker 1: to do with it. That was just so brilliant and
Speaker 1: it reminded me of his predecessor, Joe Buck. Joe Buck
Speaker 1: had some amazing calls in his career. I remember one
Speaker 1: in particular, when the Cardinals forced Game seven, the David
Speaker 1: Freeze home run, and Joe's call was, we'll see you
Speaker 1: tomorrow night, and that was an echo of his father
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven, Kirby Tunker's home running Game six,
Speaker 1: he said the same thing, and the best play by
Speaker 1: play people, I don't even know how they do it.
Speaker 1: They're amazing. And Joe was amazing that night. So he
Speaker 1: thought of it even faster than I did. He thought
Speaker 1: of it in the moment, which was cool, amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, that's the soundtrack. You got to have the
Speaker 2: soundtrack to a great moment, and he did. Freddie Freeman Justice.
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal does the players justice on Fox Sports and
Speaker 2: The Athletic all the time. Before I let you go, Ken,
Speaker 2: you did cover the last team. You were there on
Speaker 2: the national stage for the last team to win back
Speaker 2: to back World Series championships, and that was Joe Torrey's Yankees.
Speaker 2: Do you believe the Dodgers have what it takes, not
Speaker 2: only talent wise, but the mentality to give it a run.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like with the extra round, even with that,
Speaker 2: they have as good of a chance as you've seen
Speaker 2: in the past. I don't know, handful of years.
Speaker 1: Is healthy. Yes, My question is are they ever going
Speaker 1: to get And I know they're basically slow, playing the
Speaker 1: entire regular season and trying to set up everything so
Speaker 1: that they're strongest in October. That's what they should be doing,
Speaker 1: and it's easy to understand the way they're going about it.
Speaker 1: It's just David, I wonder if it's all going to
Speaker 1: come together. Is easily, not as easily, but the way
Speaker 1: that they think it's going to come together, that's the
Speaker 1: concern I have. Who is going to be pitching at
Speaker 1: the end. It's going to be Otani, Yamamoto and snow
Speaker 1: If so, I give the doctors an excellent chance. I
Speaker 1: just don't know if that's going to happen. And Glass now,
Speaker 1: of course, is another wild card, and that to me
Speaker 1: is the concern. Position player wise, the lineup good, good
Speaker 1: enough for sure to do what you just describe back
Speaker 1: to back. It's the pitching that I just wonder about,
Speaker 1: because for whatever reason, they have a hard time getting
Speaker 1: it right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have a hard time keeping it healthy, that's
Speaker 2: for sure. But one thing I'll guarantee he can snail
Speaker 2: Zilla will be there at the finish line all season. Well,
Speaker 2: there are little hiccups, Ken, We'll get the hiccups worked out.
Speaker 2: He'll be there at the finish line.
Speaker 1: Hey, he's a great second half pitcher. So I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing it.
Speaker 2: Hey, can't wait to see you back at Dodger Stadium. Ken,
Speaker 2: thanks a lot for the time. And you got what
Speaker 2: Red Sox Yankees at Fenway I would imagine.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's exactly right, all right, look.
Speaker 2: Forward to seeing that. Thanks a lot for the time, Ken,
Speaker 2: and we'll see you on the West coast soon.
Speaker 1: David sounds great. Thanks for having me there.
Speaker 2: He is the best, the best in the business, all class.
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal from Fox Sports and The Athletic