Dodgers Territory - Dodgers Finally Sign Someone! Any Other Big Splashes to Come?

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas react to the return of Miguel Rojas (1:09), who is coming back for one final season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thoughts on the deal and his future with the organization and what it means for Kiké Hernandez's potential return (4:40).Another big free agent name tied to the Dodgers is off the market with Devin Williams going to the Mets (6:49). Are the Dodgers going to sign any of the big names still on the market (10:53)? And do they have to? What do the Dodgers look like if the season started today? Alanna and Clint discuss.Baseball author Eric Vickrey joins to talk about his new book about the Dodgers and the greatest draft class in history (19:57).  Pick up "Before They Wore Dodger Blue: Tommy Lasorda and the Greatest Draft Class in Baseball History" http://bit.ly/4pk0wbLYour Holiday wardrobe awaits! Get 20% off @chubbies with the code foul at chubbiesshorts.com/foul #chubbiespodCheck out DT merch at dodgersterritoryshop.comSupport Guidry's Guardian at guidrysguardian.orgFind Clint on YouTube at youtube.com/@alldodgersSubscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTubeRate and review our podcast on Apple and SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Great deal for the Dodgers, great deal for Miggie Row. And I love the fact that they just, they put the language out there already. He is going to remain in the organization. He is going to be involved in some way. Be welcome to Dodgers Territory, a brand new, fresh episode on this Thursday, December 4th. My name is Alana Rizzo. That is Clint Pesias. We are psyched that you are here.

Please rate us five stars. and subscribe as Clint and I do our damnedest to get to 15,000 subscribers. We appreciate you guys so much. You can do it on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, whether it's Apple or Spotify or whatever floats your boat. We appreciate that very much. A lot to talk about. Eric Vickery is going to be joining the show later on in just a few minutes.

He's an author talking about Tommy LaSorda and the best draft class in his opinion that ever was. So we're going to talk to him about that. But I tell you what, we got some news. Welcome back, McGee Roe. News, Alana. It feels nice. News.

We have a warm stove. Clint the Seas. Miguel Rojas was retiring. Then he wasn't. He was a World Series hero. And he's coming back reportedly on a one-year deal. Our friend Fabian Ardaya with the athletic says that Miguel Rojas is coming back with the doyers for his final season. We think it's his final season.

season. In the big league, on a one year, five and a half million dollar deal sources confirmed. Daniel Alvarez, E.E. was on it. Rojas is then expected to assist the Dodgers front office and player development once his time as a player is done. So it's not only this next year, but he also has the next level of job opportunity. Mickey Roe working it. I love it. Good for him. You know what? He said he was going to retire and he didn't want to retire and he's coming back with the Dodgers. He wanted to finish his career there. This is good for L.A., Clint. Five and a half million. That's nothing. good for Miguel Rojas. Yeah, I mean, I got that in my back pocket, you know.

Really easy money there. Easy money. No, great deal for the Dodgers. Great deal for Miggy Roe. Obviously, this is one of those moves I predicted last about a month ago when I did the nine Dodgers who will return, won't be returning. I said between him and Kiki, I could almost guarantee that Miguel Rojas would be the guy returning.

Kike, you know, Jury's still a little bit out on where that ends up. But a great deal. And I love the fact that they. just they put the language out there already. He is going to remain in the organization. He is going to be involved in some way, whether it's a coach, whether it's some sort of roving instructor or whatever that role is going to be. Obviously, right now, it's going to be a little ambiguous because he's still got

another season or another World Series to win. But great deal, five and a half milly, easy money for the dude. And it's nice to know that not all of Andrew Friedman and companies, I guess Andrew and Farhan, not all of their, you know. time is going to that Lakers gig. No, I think that the Dodgers are still their priority. If Cartman from South Park has anything to say about it. Yeah, good for him.

I don't know. What does this mean to you in terms of the likelihood, Clint Pesias, that they bring back Kike. They're similar players, right? They're both postseason heroes. Kike has more of a resume of being a postseason hero. But Miguel has done some other things. And he's obviously much more of a player coach, I guess.

but they are very similar in their styles. Does that mean that Kike is not coming back? I mean, how do you see this playing out for him? I mean, this is a team that really loves competition in spring training. I think it helps this team a whole bunch, Dave Robertson and company to have more people, veterans, good players, living players, show up in spring training and battle, fight for jobs. It really comes down to how much they trust Heson Kim to be playing.

some sort of role for this team. Also to a degree, I guess with Kiki, not so much to a degree the health of Tommy Edmund, because the expectation is Tommy is going to miss, you know, he could miss a couple of weeks into the season coming off the ankle surgery. Not that there's anything out there about that. But, yeah, if it comes down to the Dodgers and Kiki reuniting, it's going to come back to what you and I spoke with Andrew Friedman about on this show last off season. The importance of him in that clubhouse, his ability.

to step up big when it matters most. And the good thing is with Kike, we know he's going to miss the first month, maybe two months with that elbow surgery. It gives him time where and the organization time where if another job, another opportunity doesn't arrive, arise somewhere along the way, he's going to be sitting there. Then Dodgers are going to sign him. And he'll be around.

He'll be in the org. And then eventually October will come and he'll be happy with this new healthy elbow. You know what? I'm telling you, I know it sounds a little silly. Again, it's very easy for me to spend other people's money. But if I'm Andrew Friedman, I'm like, you know what? I'm telling Kikei right now, you go ahead and heal up, son. We're not going to need you, obviously, for the first two months of the season.

This is a club that's built on October. That is where you shine. Take all the time you need. I don't know that there is, you know, 29 other teams banging down the door to get Kikei. Because they, I think a lot of folks look at his regular season average. average. They don't realize unless you're watching the Dodgers all of the time. And if you know Kike, they're not begging for Kiki to join their team. So I do think this might be a situation where they're like, we're going to, we're going to sign you. It's the old unspoken. I know.

We don't want I know, right? We're going to sign you when the 60 day I'll opens up or what I kind of like an Evan Phillips situation, right? Evan Phillips on a position player's side. I do hope to see Kiki Kike again with the Los Angeles Dodgers. One final thought on it too is I love, I think it was something that Miguel Rojas said a couple weeks ago, the idea, the ability to have them all run it back. He believes they all deserve it. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But to button this up, congrats to Miguel Rojas, staying home, being in the right spot,

spent 10 years or so away from the organization, but he's back and he's here. And he is ready to continue doing a phenomenal job off the bench in whatever role. And he ends up needing to play for this team outside of Miggy Row since we were last live. There was another move. There was. You want to tell the fine folks. Yeah. I mean, I think everyone knows at this point.

But let's talk about it. Devin Williams is not coming to Los Angeles, guys. And that's okay. I mean, he's staying in the nationally, John Heyman on X, saying that the Mets have signed him, apparently, for a $45 million deal for three years. So what does that mean as far as the Dodgers' back end of the relieving core closer situation is concerned? Riceel Iglesias stays with Atlanta. Ryan Helsley goes to the Orioles.

Devin Williams apparently is now a Met. So you still have the biggest name out there in Edwin Diaz. Now, the Mets, from what I understand, are not closing the door on bringing back Edwin Diaz, but it seems like the door is pretty closed, right? If you're bringing on Devin Williams, what is the likelihood that they also sign Edwin Diaz. I don't see that. And I think Edwin Diaz is going to want a five-year deal. I don't, I am more than you, I think we need a closer. You don't think we need a closer, but I am not paying a closer a five-year deal. I'm not paying a closer for five years.

So what is this? I'll say five years and probably about 20 million a year. I don't know. I don't think the Dodgers go that route either. But we know Steve Cohen has crazy money. We also know that GM David Stearns over there with the Mets, not very big on investing in relievers. It is kind of a shock that they go with Devin Williams, but it is only three years. It's not a massive commitment there. Seemingly, you would argue, and we talked about this on my All-Dodgers show,

you would argue that maybe it opens the door a little bit more for the Dodgers. I mean, they have the most money. Maybe the Yankees get in the mix, and they just do some sort of weird closer swap there. My thing is, are the Dodgers willing to go to that kind of price range? I don't think so. I think this is one of those off seasons where they are waiting. They aren't willing to go to the agent's markets.

They aren't willing to go to the players markets. They're waiting. They're back to being normal, back to pre-shoi-o-Tani days, where there aren't a lot of holes in this roster right now. Yes, there are a couple of holes, some nice left field you'd like to add to. And we'll look at something in a little bit that tells you what the team would look like right now if the season were to start and there is a Miguel Rojas in there now. But that's the big question. Like are they willing to go to a five and 20, you know,

five and a hundred million? And do they need to? I don't think so. I don't think they do either. I don't, I don't, I don't see a world in which the way that the game has changed, Clint, I don't see a world where you need to pay a dude a hundred million dollars to be your closer. I think you could be serving. And again, like I am more of the, the school. of like we need all closer but I don't need a I don't need a hundred million dollar closer I don't need to be on the hook for an Edwin Diaz for five years for a hundred million dollars um I would be happy I was I would have been really happy with the devon Williams three year 45 million um but that being said I'm still okay with um I don't like closer by committee and I hated the fact

that Dave had to figure out every flippin night of the world series and the postseason like what he was doing, but he did it beautifully. But I don't want, like, that's unnecessary stress that I don't need. But I'm okay. I'm okay with the fact that, you know, okay, Devin Williams is not going to be a Dodger. Okay. But I don't need a, I don't need an Edwin Diaz price tag. And, you know, you could argue, they already, you know, kind of made that play last year

with the Tanner Scott signing. You, I think we're all really crossing our fingers in every other digit that we can that Tanner Scott rebounds. It becomes a dude we assumed he was going to be. But still, they're in a good spot, the pitching side of things. We can have more conversation. I'm sure we'll have a lot more conversation next week as the winter meetings kick off. But this thing, and obviously Dodgers now, they re-signed Miguel Rojas. He's not one of the top free agent names out there.

But losing out, missing out on some of those. names that they have been linked to. Some of the bigger name, you know, free agent right-handed, free agent relievers, all that kind of stuff. The way the off-season has played out so far, yes, still early. Like I said, so I got the winter meetings next week. That's the thing. I wonder.

I'm kind of asking myself aloud, and apparently everybody here and you, it's like, what happens if the Dodgers do miss on the big targets? Like, I don't think it's a major problem. I don't know that there's like a big target. I mean, what are the big targets in your opinion? Outfield is a problem. right? So we now know that Cedric Mullins is signed with the Tampa Bay race. Okay. So we know that Cedric Mullins is not going to be in the Dodgers outfield.

So what does that leave? It either means a Stephen Kwan trade with the Guardians. It means a Byron Buxton trade with the twins. Or it means a free agent outfielder, a Mike Yistremski. My dog doesn't like Yershamski. Okay, sure, sure, sure. Yeah, I get it. Or the big names. Or the Kyle Tucker in the world.

As much as I'm not paying Edwin D as $100 million for five years, I am not paying Kyle Tucker 400 million or whatever it is that he's going to get. He's a serviceable outfielder, but he's not a $500 million or $400 million outfielder. I'm sorry. I would take my chances with Tay Oscar, with Tommy Edmund, with Andy Paix and whoever the F we're going to throw in left field, whether that's Ryan Ward or Alex Call, who, by the way, is coming on our show on Monday. I don't need, I'm not paying $400 million for Kyle Tucker. I'm just not.

Well, either way, we're not. I guess we are in some way, shape, or form through either Mitchellada sales and hot dog sales and parking sales and all that kind of stuff. You know what I mean? Like, that's a silly, that's really price tag. For me, it's less about the money. It's more about the commitment. And, you know, we've talked about the whole idea of the Padres have a bunch of years

committed to aging stars, aging superstars that are all going to be in there late, 30s, some even into their 40s by the end of their contracts. I don't like the idea of the Dodgers having a bunch of those type of dudes. Maybe, maybe Kyle Tucker profiles to being a very good hitter, still being a very good hitter and decent enough outfielder towards the tail end of that contract, but you still also have Mookie under contract for years, Shohay Otani under contract for years. And not to say both of them can't hold up, but still to have,

when there are already conversations about age and the age of this roster, and all that kind of stuff, to have, be stuck, in so many words, with guys that are going to be playing almost into their 40s. I don't know that that is the best play. I do know they need a left-fielder. It's probably not going to be Tucker, probably maybe won't be Cody Bellinger. And that's kind of the market I'm thinking about. Like the way things are playing out, I think they'll miss out on the bigger targets. And we talked earlier today about this, the whole idea of like, what do the Dodgers look like if the season started right now, putting this on the screen? for the people who are watching and not listening to the podcast side.

A lot of the same names that just won a World Series are out there, Alana. The biggest difference is left field is Ryan Ward. He's taken over for Kike Hernandez who didn't really hit in the postseason, and Michael Conforgo was a black hole. Kiki hit in the postseason. No, I didn't. He did for a little bit. Then he stopped hitting after aggravating that elbow.

He played a defense. He played a phenomenal defense, all that kind of stuff. I'm not taking away. I'm not saying Kiki was a problem. nobody hit in the postseason for what it's worth. Sure. Okay, let me ask you this. Like throw your beautiful graphic, throw up that beautiful bean footage again.

Because Ryan Ward, no disrespect to Mr. Ward and certainly no disrespect to his parents, that cannot be your starting left fielder for the Los Angeles daughters. The rest of the field, I'm fine with. But that ain't it. Okay. Like, I'm sorry. I guess, and this is, this is assuming Clint Paseas that Teasper, Hernandez is going to be like one of those swing players that you were talking about in terms of a

Teoska rebound. You're assuming that Teo is going to be as good as he was in 2024, okay? You're hoping for that because he struggled in 2025, especially coming off of that injury. I'm fine with the Andy Paix's experiment. He runs some interesting routes, but he is getting better. But if you don't have a left fielder that is a bona fide left fielder, and I don't want to throw Dalton rushing out there. I'm sorry, that ain't the answer either because I know he, I know that he's had some time in AAA and left field, but he is built like a brick house. He needs to show what he can do behind the plate to spell Will Smith, especially if maybe Dalton can move into the primary catching role if Will goes to first eventually, you know, when Freddie retires and all the things. My point is,

Ryan Ward is not your starting left fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers on opening day. Like, you need somebody else. Yeah, focusing on the 2026 side of things. And I'll put the traffic back up. I mean, he's also see some of the names in the depth chart side of things. Alex Freeland, I kept in there because he is one of the infield options that is currently still on the

40-man roster. But yeah, as of right now, Ryan Ward or Alex Call are your opening day left fielder. Dalton rushing, that's one spot. Realistically, that is one spot where he could find a way to kind of slither into that lineup, you know,

picking up two more days. a playing time a week. If he can find a way to get some left field in there, that would go a very, very long way for this roster for the kid. Beyond that, though, Ryan Ward, you don't have a lot of faith in him. He had a very good year, very, very good year at AAA. He's been improving. He's not that I don't have faith in him. There's no reason to have faith in him. Sorry. He's never done it. Putting words in your mouth there. Yeah. Maybe 2010 Dodgers, I think of a Jerry Sands type of dude. 2010 Dodgers, the right now most teams,

let's say the right now White Sox can run a Ryan Ward out there and you probably might feel pretty good. But a team that's trying to go and run it back for, you know, its third championship in a row. Yeah, Ryan Ward, and even Alex Call, as good as he was in, you know, particularly the postseason in the small sample size and was fine with the Dodgers

and had, you know, a very nice first half of the season with the Washington Nationals, Alex Cole probably shouldn't be your starting left fielder. He can be part of a platoon. He could be, you know, pick up playing time as a fourth outfield, a very, very good fourth outfielder and all that kind of stuff. And we'll talk to him about that. Like, he's kind enough to join us on Monday, and we will talk to Alex about the season that was for him and like his role moving forward and the outfield situation for the Dodgers

and all the things. But I think if you're really thinking about the holes that need to be filled, left field is one of those. You're 100% right. I mean, we have enough infielders. We have enough utility guys. We have enough. I say we have enough. You know what I mean. We have really good starting pitching. But yeah, left field is an interesting question mark for sure. Yeah, I still think you know, to kind of button this up and move on. We obviously have a guest waiting. I still think they'd likely find a way to sign some insurance pieces, some, some competition for in spring training. They love those kind of dudes. Your Jason Haywards. Obviously, Conforto did.

not work out, but there have been plenty of other dudes who have worked out in some way, shape, or form. They need a solid right-handed reliever does not need to be a top tier. Right-handed reliever does not need to be a closer and they need a veteran left fielder if it is a Yistremski. You know, that is that is one of the options. They will find somebody, but the thing is, most of the pieces are already in place. And that's a good, very good position for this thing to be in. 100%. You said it really well. That's a really good position to be in. So much more to come on Dodgers territory. Eric Vickery is going to be joining us momentarily. But first, a word from our friends at F.L. K.P., the website is chubby shorts.com. The brand is chubby's, but it's not just shorts.

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Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back to Dodgers Territory. Everybody's psych that you are here as always. We appreciate the support. There's another way that you can support us, and that is buying our merch. Go to the Dodgers Territory Store. It is open.

You can go to Dodgers Territory Shop.com or click the store button here on YouTube. support the show and style, support those that support us, and that would be awesome if you guys could help us out on that. We are pleased to be joined by author Eric Vickery, who is the author of Before They War Dodger Blue, Tommy LaSorda, and the greatest draft class in baseball history. Eric, great to be with you. Thanks for taking the time to be with Clinton us today on Dodgers territory. Tell us, first of all, how this particular subject matter, interested you? Why Tommy LaSorda in that particular draft class? Yeah, so I'm always interested in kind of a under the radar baseball stories.

And really, this came to my mind a couple of years ago when I wrote a book about the 1946 Spokane Indians, which was a minor league baseball team that was involved in a tragic bus accident. And it was kind of during the research of that book that I learned about the 1970 Spokane Indians, which was one of the greatest minor league teams. teams ever assembled. There were seven future all-stars on the team and of course this was the Dodgers AAA affiliate and the team was managed by Tommy LaSorda. So when I saw that roster and just the amount of talent on that team I really piqued my interest and so I decided to really dig into that. And what I learned is that most of those players came from the draft class of 1968, which is

by all accounts the greatest draft class in baseball history. So I thought it would be a fun project and set out to tell the full story from the adoption of the amateur draft in 65 through the Dodgers 68 draft and then this 1970 Spokane Indians team. Now when you look at that class, it is an unbelievably impressive class. So the Dodgers end up drafting six future All-Stars in 1968, headlined by future NL MVP and National League Iron Man Steve Garvey. Tell the folks that are listening and watching Eric who else. was on or in that draft class and why it was so intriguing. Yeah, so the number one draft pick in the June 68 draft was actually Bobby Valentine,

who given all the talent you see there, Bobby Valentine was actually considered the best prospect of the mall. He was a star football player in Connecticut and actually committed to USC and was going to take over for O.J. Simpson as running back at USC. but the Dodgers talked to him into signing, and he won a couple of MVP awards in the minor leagues, but ultimately injuries kind of derailed his career later on. But yeah, plenty of other talented players on that out of that 68 class. Of course, the Dodgers Future Enfield, three of the four, came out of that class.

Ron Say, Davy Lopes, and of course, Steve Garvey, Tom Pachorick was an outfielder, future All-Star, Doyle Alexander, Jeff Zahn were a couple pitchers that won over 100 games in the majors. So there's really kind of a laundry list of future stars out of that 68 class. It really sort of reshaped the direction of the Dodgers franchise in the 70s. Yeah, I mean, you look at all those names. Of course, you think about Tom Lasota in there. A lot of those players, all of those players played in one under Tommy at AAA.

Of course, you mentioned Spokane Indians eventually becoming the Albuquerque dukes. They win in 72. Everybody essentially gets called up and they start winning at the big league level. Tommy piloted them to a number of World Series births. All of them kind of make it through and eventually reach that final mountain beating the Yankees in 1981. And then, of course, everybody kind of goes away. Talking about the Tommy factor, this is this one. for me. Tommy's former players, dudes have stories. They got a lot of Tommy's stories. I'm curious about

some of the guys you ended up speaking with. What was your favorite La Sorda story or La Sordaism that maybe was shared amongst several players or just something that really stuck to you? Wow. So that's a tough question to answer because there were so many La Sorda stories. And I really, the book actually starts with La Sorda as a scout. The first chapter is, him attending the funeral of Willie Crawford's grandfather. LaSorda, this was in 1964, was trying to recruit and sign Willie Crawford for the Dodgers. And this was a year before the amateur draft.

And LaSorda went to Willie's grandfather's funeral and actually ends up giving the eulogy at the funeral as only Tommy LaSorda could. And then a year later, the Dodgers, Dodgers hired LaSorda to be a rookie league manager. So he had managed in the rookie leagues in Pocatella, Idaho, and Ogden, Utah for four years. And I interviewed a number of players from those teams. And what I found was interesting is LaSorda was really the guy you saw later in Los Angeles

way back in the mid-60s in rookie ball. He was third base coach slash manager dancing around in the coach's box, the ultimate motivator telling his players that are some of the day they're not going to play at Dodger Stadium. So he really convinced these young rookie league players that they were going to reach the major league someday, even though many of them, most of them in fact, didn't have a chance. One of my favorite stories involving LaSorda came from a cup of coffee pitcher named Bruce Brubaker, who had a really short major league career. He told me in 1969 with the Spokane Indians, Bruce was pitching in Tacoma one day and Lasorda got ejected from the game.

Shocking. Yeah, not at all unusual. And then so Bruce is in the on-deck circle and he hears this voice coming from the crowd. And he looks over and he realized it's Lasorta in disguise. He had snuck into the stands and was giving his player signs from the crowd in a costume. And then, and then decades later, that's where Bobby Valentine learned it from. Exactly. So decades later, Bruce Brubaker is watching a game on ESPN and sees the highlight of Bobby Valentine doing the exact same thing. Turns out Bobby was the shortstop for the Spokane Indians that day.

And so that's phenomenal. Undoubtedly, where he learned that. Unbelievable. And Oral Hersheiser was in that game or in the dugout as well. Obviously now the Daughters longtime broadcaster. That's a great story. I'd never heard that before. Eric,

thanks for sharing that. Do you think that there is any sort of comparable draft class in today's game in terms of accolades or potential than that 1968 class? What would be the closest if there is even one? Yeah, really there's no one even close to that, no matter how you look at it. So in terms of war, wins above replacement, that draft class had something like 234 wins above replacement. The next closest draft class was about 180 war, and that was basically almost all Roger Clemens and Ellis Berks. The only other, in terms of just number of future major leaguers, the Mets 82 class, they had 17 future major leaguers, including Dwight Goodin and Roger McDowell.

but again, didn't come close to reaching the success of the 68 team. That group had over 11,000 hits combined over 1,100 home runs and 300 wins from their pitchers. So anyway, you look at it, 68 draft classes is the best of all time. Yeah, it worked out pretty dang good for that team, for that organization. Still working out, hey, back then, they hired all these dudes to be scouts and kind of broke the draft. I love part of the what I guess the liner notes of your book or whatever it would be

from your publisher mentioning the draft was kind of instituted to help the poor clubs, to help bad clubs get better. Dodgers are already a good club and found a way to get better by finding the best talent out there. And again, that's still something we see this organization employing today by having the best

scouting you possibly can out there. You mentioned that record setting infield. Three of those guys were drafted in that draft class with Garvey Lopes and say they join shortstop Bill Russell and go on to play together for eight and a half seasons. Do you ever think we'll see anything close at? Maybe even like five years together. Will we see an infield play five years together in this game, in this modern game? Yeah, that would really be hard to imagine as much player movement as there is today with free agency

and trades. I really don't envision that at all unless somehow a group all came up at the same time together. and you know, club control, clubs have six years of control over players. So, but as far as eight and a half years, I don't think that'll be ever, ever be topped. Yeah, I doubt very seriously that we'll ever see anything of the likes of that again. Eric, the holiday season is upon us. I know you can pre-order the book now, but tell us how we can get our hands on this. Yeah, the book officially comes out on December 7th. So it'll be available everywhere at that time.

right now my publisher which is called August Publications is doing an exclusive pre-order so for the next few days you can order from them I also think it's available on Barnes & Noble.com for pre-order after December 7th it'll be available on the Amazon I always encourage people to check out your local independent bookstores as well yeah I'm excited to see it come to fruition after working on it for a year and a half I'm certain that it's going to be nice to finally get it in your hands and take a look at all the different work and all the time that you put into it. Eric Vickery, author of Before They War, Dodger Blue, Tommy LaSorda,

and the greatest draft class in baseball history. Thanks for taking the time and taking us kind of down memory lane. We wish you the best of luck with the publication and the book sales. Thanks, Alana and Clint, it was great talking to you. All right, Eric, thanks so much. All right, Clint, let's take a look at Last Licks. Let's do it. I'm John Green.

You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of The Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love.

On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer... Football is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was there.

most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, it's heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists policymakers and performers like composer Mark Schaman.

Once you've established that you have the talent, it's about the hang. It's the pleasure of hanging out with the people that you're with. You know, Rob and I was always a great hang. We would sit in kibbits for hours and then eventually get around to the music. That's what I mostly think of when I think of him, the time together laughing. Lawyer at Robbie Kaplan. The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can.

You can really make a difference to causes in the United States if you bring the right case at the right time. Marriage equality. Yeah, Windsor's the perfect example. And journalist Chris Whipple. Every White House staffer, they work in a bubble called the West Wing, and it's exponentially more so in the Trump White House. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the I-Heart Radio app

or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, guys, let's do our third. thing, right? Southern California, I have so much faith in you. Dodgers fans, I have faith in you. This is Lula Bean. She needs an adopter. Okay? She is a sweetheart. She's a border collie German Shepard mix. She is a three-legged tripod. It does not slow her down. She does zoomies. She's all over the place. She doesn't even know that she only has three legs. Other than that, she's perfectly healthy. What happened was she had a break. It healed very misaligned. in order to give her the best quality of life,

we needed to amputate her back leg. She's spayed. She's healthy. She's vaccinated. She's awesome. She needs to be a solo dog right now and probably a home with older kids because she's a little active in that type of thing.

But if you know anybody that would like to adopt her, man, she is so ready for her forever home. So hit us up on giddreesgarden.org or any of my socials for more information. All right. What are you doing on all Dodgers with Clint Pacea? So are you guys continuing to hand out grades? Yeah. We started our grade series this week.

It's been fun. It's been, of course, engaging because people get mad at you when you don't give the grade that they wanted. People will say we were harsh to Freddie Freeman earlier in the week by giving him a B. Actually, I think I gave him a B minus, but Freddie wasn't as good as Freddie can usually be. He just went on, or Max Muncie went on foul territory earlier this week and said, hey, Freddy is mad at himself. Even hitting 300, or if he doesn't hit 300, it's a waste of a season. It's a garbage season. So we're continuing the series tonight to be in on the All Dodgers YouTube channel, if you don't mind.

We'd appreciate it. But we got other news as part of our network. We do. Big, big, big props to Katie Wu, who has done a great job covering the St. Louis Cardinals for five seasons for the athletic. But she's going home. She's from California. Now, albeit she's from Northern California, but she's going to be the second beatwriter for the athletic, joining our friend Fabi and our Daya at the Athletic to cover your Los Angeles Dodgers.

So both Fabi and our Dyer and Katie Wu will be the Dodgers beat reporters for the athletic. Congratulations, Katie, on her opportunity to go back to California and cover a championship organization. Katie, we love you. This is huge, huge for us. Of course, the network, I'm sure we'll see her here on Dodgers territory time and time again. She covers the baseball, the baseball, great. and I'm happy to see her come to L.A. and see what she can contribute to this organization, getting different angles, different views for fans to read and enjoy and all that kind of stuff.

So congrats. Katie, looking forward to getting to know Katie Wu, but otherwise, that's about it for us today. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this Thursday edition of Dodgers Territory. If you can, please subscribe to the channel. We'd appreciate that as well, trying to get the 15,000 K. as Alana said on the subscriber side of things. Also leave a rating and review on the podcast side of things if you could. Positive only.

That goes a long way. Buy your stuff. You still got time before Christmas and all the holiday shopping season. Dodgers Territory Shop.com. I think I hit all the important talking points there. My Beanie came in, by the way. It's behind me. I did not put it on.

It is behind me off camera. It's 32 degrees here today. So please go ahead somebody and buy me in Dodgers Territory Beanie because it sucks in Massachusetts. All right, guys. We appreciate you very much. Great Thursday, great rest of your week. Clint and I'll be back on Monday. Go Dodgers. Bye.

I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the iPod.

IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I heart and TikTok have come together to create something new. I love it. Where the world of TikTok meets your playlist. Three words that will change your life. IHeart TikTok Radio. The biggest hits across IHeartRadio. What's trending for you on TikTok?

Tell me a sound that's better than this. IHart TikTok plus TikTok's most influential creators all in one place. Search for IHard TikTok Radio. make it a preset and stay connected all day. This Women's History Month, the podcast Keep It Posit, Sweetie, celebrates the power of women choosing healing, purpose, and faith, even when life gets messy. Love is not a destination.

You have to work on it every day. Keep It Posit, Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self-worth, love, growth, and navigating life with grace and grid, led by women who uplift, inspire, and tell the truth out loud. I have several conversations with God, and I know why. It took the 20 years. To hear these and more, listen to Keep It Posit, sweetie, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.