Speaker 1: And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talking.
Speaker 1: It's an exciting night here at Dodgers Stadium and we're
Speaker 1: joined right now by the President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman.
Speaker 1: I know Clayton Kershaw said yesterday it feels like the
Speaker 1: players are fans wanting to see Otani pitch.
Speaker 2: What's the feeling for you tonight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel the exact same way obviously, what he's
Speaker 3: done in the batter's box. For us, this is a
Speaker 3: guy who went fifty to fifty last year, leading the
Speaker 3: league in homers, and then you watch him pitch and
Speaker 3: it's hard for your brain to reconcile that the guy
Speaker 3: who is throwing with that kind of delivery, arm action,
Speaker 3: the deep mix is also the guy on the other
Speaker 3: half of the inning that does what he does offensively.
Speaker 1: Can you take us through the decisions, the conversations about
Speaker 1: why tonight is the night that he makes his Dodger
Speaker 1: pitching debut.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, a lot has been
Speaker 3: written in discussed about how we kind of got to
Speaker 3: this point. But going through this progression, there's been really
Speaker 3: good communication and talking through it. And after his live
Speaker 3: in San Diego, we had another live setup for today,
Speaker 3: and talking to him over the weekend and just understanding
Speaker 3: more the fatiguing effect it had to get up, get hot,
Speaker 3: throw three innings, four innings would have been tonight, go
Speaker 3: cool down and.
Speaker 2: Try to ramp back up.
Speaker 3: Just how taxing that is, and so in his opinion,
Speaker 3: he felt like he would be way better served to
Speaker 3: kind of finish his rehab process at the major league
Speaker 3: level being active and not having basically doubleheaders.
Speaker 1: So what are the expectations for you tonight and what
Speaker 1: will you be looking for?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think you know, coming back from a
Speaker 3: lot of miss time on the mound, you know, I
Speaker 3: have no doubt this stuff will be Their execution is
Speaker 3: something that takes guys a little time to get comfortable
Speaker 3: repeat their delivery over and over with him, who knows
Speaker 3: he could have it, you know, from the first pitch on.
Speaker 3: But it's just about us being patient, continuing to build
Speaker 3: up a foundation for him. Obviously, whatever you know, we're
Speaker 3: able to get to this year in terms of workload,
Speaker 3: hopefully he'll be a presence for us in October. But
Speaker 3: it's also about the longevity. He wants to do this
Speaker 3: for as long as he possibly can, so setting a
Speaker 3: really strong foundation this year is important.
Speaker 1: There's been former players, Hall of Fame caliber players that
Speaker 1: have voiced their opinion unsolicited that they believe this is
Speaker 1: a little bit of a risk to have him come
Speaker 1: back to pitch and he's doing so well as a hitter.
Speaker 1: What do you think about you know, these unsolicited opinions,
Speaker 1: and is that the equation in your mind leading up
Speaker 1: to this decision to allow Showhy to become a pitcher again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think part of it is it's
Speaker 3: hard for the human brain to comprehend this.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, he's one.
Speaker 3: Of one in the modern era, and so a lot
Speaker 3: of guys weren't able or capable of doing it. It's
Speaker 3: hard to imagine. This is really important to him. And
Speaker 3: I don't blame him. We've talked about this a lot.
Speaker 3: I think he is incredibly underrated, which is amazing.
Speaker 2: I mean, just what he can do on both sides
Speaker 2: of the ball.
Speaker 3: You know, when he didn't win the MVP in twenty two,
Speaker 3: he finished fourth in the say young he is a
Speaker 3: really talented pitcher, obviously a really talented hitter, but in
Speaker 3: twenty three, when he was pitching, he was also really
Speaker 3: good in the batter's box, excellent in the batter's box.
Speaker 3: And so I just think it's too simple. People apply
Speaker 3: too much of Well, if I had to do both,
Speaker 3: i'd be exhausted or one would really suffer. I agree
Speaker 3: for most people, Yeah, show it is not most people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1: It seems like when the lights are the brightest and
Speaker 1: the expectations are the highest, he delivers. So I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised tonight if he strikes out the side in order.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think for us just being thoughtful about this,
Speaker 3: and obviously we're all really excited about tonight, we'll get
Speaker 3: through tonight, figure out how he's recovering, where he's at,
Speaker 3: and just kind of keep taking steps towards it. We're
Speaker 3: not gonna sprint to get there, and just make sure
Speaker 3: that his body is adapting and that the fatigue isn't
Speaker 3: affecting him offensively. And so you know, it's kind of
Speaker 3: serving two different purposes. One is to make sure that
Speaker 3: he has a good foundation to pitch for a long time.
Speaker 3: The other is to make sure that his body is adapting,
Speaker 3: feeling good, recovering well so that he can stay a
Speaker 3: productive force in the lineup as well.
Speaker 2: You've surrounded him with a great roster.
Speaker 1: How much do we have to appreciate the fact that
Speaker 1: you're able to do this? Otani's able to do this,
Speaker 1: to come in for one or two innings and build
Speaker 1: up in a game and have a guy like a
Speaker 1: bank Asparius or a jag Dryer to back him up.
Speaker 1: Would that be possible if you didn't have guys that
Speaker 1: were able.
Speaker 2: And be willing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed it. It's both.
Speaker 3: It's being able and willing. And we're very fortunate with
Speaker 3: a number of our homegrown guys who've gotten some opportunities.
Speaker 3: It's one of the silver linings and upsides of some
Speaker 3: of the injuries we suffered is guys being given opportunity
Speaker 3: and a number of them have really run with it.
Speaker 3: And watching Ben's development has been really fun. And his
Speaker 3: mindset is I'll do whatever it takes to help us win.
Speaker 3: I'm good with whatever, And so we actively are communicating
Speaker 3: with him, just trying to make sure that he's in
Speaker 3: good position. But his ability and willingness are off the charts.
Speaker 1: All right, Before I let you go, your kids are
Speaker 1: involved in you sports. So once this was announced yesterday
Speaker 1: that Otani was going to pitch tonight. How many ticket
Speaker 1: requests did you get, Andrew?
Speaker 2: I got quite a few.
Speaker 3: We were joking that we were going to set the
Speaker 3: Internet on fire when this news came out. I stopped
Speaker 3: short of saying that my text messages were also going
Speaker 3: to catch on fire, but they did as well.
Speaker 1: Do you want to make a public announcement to stop
Speaker 1: texting you for tickets?
Speaker 2: You're tapped out, tapped out no more. All right, thanks
Speaker 2: a lot for stopping by.
Speaker 1: Appreciate the insight on everything that's gone into tonight being
Speaker 1: the night that Otani pitches, So thank you, absolutely thanks
Speaker 1: for having me on