Dodgers Territory - Dodgers Pitching Coach Mark Prior Talks Yamamoto, Sasaki, and Elite LA Rotation

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Alanna Rizzo, Katie Woo, and Clint Pasillas welcome Los Angeles Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior to the show! But first, there are sights and sounds out of Camelback Ranch as several Dodgers players have arrived early to spring training (00:56). The hosts discuss the highly anticipated upcoming season and why it's good for guys to get it going early. (4:54) Tarik Skubal won his arbitration case against the Detroit Tigers and will be staying in the Motor City. With Skubal in tow and their latest addition of free agent pitcher Framber Valdez, are the Tigers suddenly challenging the Dodgers in the "best starting rotation in baseball" conversation?  (14:17) Mark Prior joins and shares his thoughts on LA's elite rotation and depth. He updates on Yoshinobu Yamamoto's workload (15:46) and Roki Sasaki's work to take the next step forward as a starter (18:11). Plus, his thoughts on Shohei Ohtani (23:58), the 2026 edition of the bullpen (25:52),  and a clubhouse without Clayton Kershaw (31:31). Check out DT merch at dodgersterritoryshop.comSupport Guidry's Guardian at guidrysguardian.orgFind Clint on YouTube at youtube.com/@alldodgersFollow Katie's work at The Athletic nytimes.com/athletic/author/katie-woo/ Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTubeRate and review our podcast on Apple and SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I won't rank my kids. And I won't rank my pictures either. I don't know. Welcome to Dodgers Territory alongside Clint Paseas and Katie Wu. We are your host. I'm Alana Rizzo. Great to have you with us on this Thursday. Please rate us five stars.

Like and subscribe to Dodgers Territory. The podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. Our next goal, 20,000 subs. We have surpassed 15K. We appreciate it very much. Big show today, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Pryor, joining us in a few minutes. But first, guys, let's get to the big ticket.

All right, Katie, I know that you're headed to Glendale for the first time, I believe, for the first time in your career, to follow the Los Angeles Dodgers on your first spring training. Of course, Katie does a great job writing for the athletic as well. We're psyched to have her on Dodgers territory this season. And you will be met by some players, Katie, who are already there. That to me is very exciting. The calendar changes to February. We know that there is baseball. That is Shohay Otani. Perhaps you've heard of him. What excites you the most about seeing guys already at Camelback Ranch? I think this is something all baseball sickos can relate to. Like, seeing athlete stretch is not something that should get anyone fired up. But this does.

If you're a baseball fan and you see guys playing catch in February, you're like, yes, it's almost our time to shine. And I think this is super cool because, as we all know, the Dodgers played until November last season. And here they are, a big group of guys. Pitchers and catchers don't report for Los Angeles. until February 13th. So they're well over a week ahead,

already at Camelback Ranch, ready to go. I know baseball fans are just like me, just like you. We see this and we're like, yep, it's time, fire me up. I could run through a wall. Yeah, this is a team.

When you're trying to go out there and three pete guys, you want to get back to work early. Shoha Tani, Anthony Bonda, Alex Fessia there, Heson Kim, Dalton Russian, Gavin Stone, Emmachian, among those that we've been able to see.

Shout out, by the way, to mess. Saya Kutani, who's one of the Japanese reporters already there. You know, they got those like nine foot long camera lenses and they're able to record them from space getting their work in. So really cool stuff. Yeah, this is the best time of the year. It's exciting.

And yesterday or on Monday, rather, when you and I had the show, Katie was on assignment. We talked about what excites us the most about spring training. So Katie, I wanted to get your input on it too. For me, it's my favorite memory of spring training is when you hear the cleats on the concrete for the first time when they're done with their first morning meeting and they start walking out in their cleats and they're getting ready to go to the fields and do whatever. That's fun to me. I mean, just the sights and sounds of that means signifies spring training.

What is it for you? See, that is another example of baseball sick or disease because no rational person is like, oh yeah, cleats on concrete. I love that sound. It actually like kind of hurts like nails on a chalkboard. But I'm with you, Alana. I love that sound because it's just, I think spring training, it's about being familiar with And it's so simplified.

It's a privilege. Don't get me wrong to work in Major League Baseball and have all the fans, the Grand Door, all of that. But spring training, especially those first few workout days, it's just the fundamentals. I mean, I remember in the backfields in St. Louis, just watching guys go through, taking ground balls on the infield, going fly ball rotations, who has priority.

Step that you learn in high school and Little League. And here are the pros doing it in a much more relaxed environment. And you can actually hear them communicating with each other, hearing coaches talk things through. through that first week of spring training is just baseball simplified and that just really makes me excited because we don't get a lot of that in the major leagues. Yeah, especially during the regular season. It's a job for these dudes.

They want to go home. They want to spend time with their families and their dogs and all the other people in between, I guess. Here, you're stuck. It's a little bit of a prison for baseball players. So we get to soak it up as much as we can. And yeah, I'm excited. We're going to be out there.

Katie, you're heading out in a week. Alana and I will be out there in two weeks. Of course, we got our annual sit down with Dave Roberts coming up. Riz, something we got to talk about. I hear he cut out the booze, so we might need to switch on the wine. Oh, no, I'm not switching for nothing. I'll bring him. I'll bring him water.

We still have to cheers him for the World Series championship. The three of us will raise a glass of good red to Dave. I will confirm about, I didn't hear about that. I'm going to ask Dave about that. But before we get to Mark Pryor and some nitty-gritty when it comes to the Dodgers, pitching staff and what to expect this season. Big news about 15, 20 minutes ago. They announced it, of course, on foul territory, AJ Piersinski, Scott Braun, and Eric Crats. But Terek Scouble has won his arbitration case. You guys, this is huge. Terrick Scuba went in at 32 million.

The Detroit Tigers went in about 19 and change. There's a $13 million difference, I believe, between both sides and Terrick Scouble, and I wasn't there, so I'm guessing. But he brought in those two Scy Young Awards. He put them down at table. He said, I deserve $13 million. 32 million and in what is a precedent decision, Katie, and you know more about the process than I do, he won. And that is good for baseball. It's good for the two-time Syung Award winner

and it's good for the future generations of guys that absolutely shove every time they take the ball. I mean, yeah, it's a record-setting arbitration win for someone obviously very well-deserved. To me, there was not going to be any other outcome than the two-time American League's winning his arbitration case. I'm not sure why the Tigers

decided to do that just because you can, just because it's, it's, you know, allowed in the rules, doesn't mean that you should. It was quite a bold strategy by Detroit. And arbitration, and players speak to this all the time. It's so damaging or it can be very damaging because you're essentially bringing one of your top players into a room and telling him why he doesn't deserve to be paid. And then a week later, you need him to go out and lead your rotation again as your ace. So I think the whole arbitration system is a little messed up, actually. And it just comes down to in this case a significant amount of money, but obviously in Skubel's case, a very well-deserved amount of money. So it was always perplexing on why the Tigers did that.

They get a little bit of a pass for me for bringing in Farmervaldas because up until yesterday, they were on my list of off-season losers. But they did. You're the right thing, bringing in Valdez, bulking up that rotation, and hopefully Scuble and the Tigers can move past arbitration, put it behind them. But it's a messy, it can be a very messy situation. Clint, Katie brings up a really good point. They just signed Frambervaldez. This was last night we found this out. It's a three-year, $115 million deal. So that's a pretty decent starting rotation, right? When you think about Terrick Scobal as the ace, and then Framber Valdez slides right in there, along with Casey Mize and some other good guys, Jack Flaherty, we know him very well. And they do have a decent bullpen as well. So the Tigers pitching staff as a whole pretty solid. Where would you rank them in terms of head-to-head with the Dodgers pitching staff. Are they the best in the American League? Are they now one of the best in all of baseball? What do you say? Well, I'll say on the Framber money, Mamas let your children grow up to be pitchers, because my God, the money is getting insane. But yeah, I don't know.

Maybe I'm a homer. I think the Dodgers still have a better rotation. Yes, the Tigers, one of the things we talked about, and I very much appreciate the, you know, throwing up that L spot for Katie on the Tigers offseason up to that point, because it was clear. Either trade Terrick Scoob, because you don't really have plans of filling out your starting rotation or filling out your roster or add a piece. And they needed a starting pitcher. They went out and got a starting pitcher. And one of the things I saw Thomas Nesicoe, who does a great job covering baseball, giving us good talking points on the Twitter machine X, whatever you want to call it, he had thrown this out here.

These are the latest war projections. This is not a perfect. This doesn't tell you whether or not a team has a better starting rotation. It just says, hey, they might accumulate. They are projected to accumulate more wins above replacement than the Dodgers. And that's where the Dodgers are right now. Third place, 16.4 wins above replacement. Tigers above them.

17.8. Yeah, there's a lot of factors to mix in there. Chances are, Tigers pitchers are going to throw a lot more innings than the Dodgers. You accumulate more war that way. But I don't know. I'm a big time on paper guy. And there's just something a little bit stronger about Shohey Otani versus Jack Flaherty. Gleiske, Casey Mize, Emmett Shee and Reese Olson, Roki Sasaki, Drew Anderson coming back

from Korea, Gavin Stone versus whatever a Troy Melton is, all due respect to him. River Ryan, when you're talking about depth, you can have a high quality one and two, and we've seen that with the Dodgers in the past. I think Clayton Kershaw, Zach Rankie. But you need to sometimes have a three and a four and a ten, and the Dodgers have that, and that's where, in my heart, they have the better rotation. Well, I certainly believe that the depth is on the Dodgers side, right? I mean, you're right. The one-two punch is pretty formidable with Terrick Scoobel and Framber Valdez. But it kind of is a drop-off and no disrespect to the Tigers. It is a drop-off.

I mean, when our number three is a Tyler Glasnower or whatever, it's different than what you're going to see with the Tigers. But that being said, good on the Tigers for signing for Amber Valdez and being competitive and trying to be competitive. Again, we talked to Kenley Jansen the other day on Fowd Territory. He's the newest member of the Tigers bullpen too. So we'll see what happens with the Tigers. Obviously, they made the postseason last year, barely after they absolutely tanked at the end of the season. And remember Cleveland came out of nowhere and we were wondering who was going to get in in that last spot. But that will be a question that we will have with Mark when he comes on about this is a tremendous starting rotation.

Where does it rank for you in your Dodgers tenure? So here we have it. I mean, he's going to join us next. But first, we want to ask you, please, to consider supporting the show with some sweet Dodgers territory swag. Visit the Dodgers Territory Shop. Pick yourself up a t-shirt, a hoodie, a mug, a duffel bag, whatever your heart desires. Look good this championship season while directly supporting us and the Fowl Territory

team. Go to Daughtersterritoryshop.com. Scan that QR code. Click the link in the description below. Support the show and style. We thank you very, very much for your support. So Mark is trying to get logged in here. He should be doing that shortly.

He just sent me to text. so hopefully he'll check, I'm telling you, check your email. Hold on, check your email, sir. So the fun part about doing it live, baby, sometimes. Listen, I'm just happy that he's coming on, and he's a great guest, so hopefully he'll figure that out, and we'll have him on momentarily. Katie, you're in your estimation of the Dodgers' depth and comparison to perhaps the Boston Red Sox, who were the first team on that list for Portico, or Nestico, rather, sorry.

What's your impression of the Dodgers depth, the Tigers depth, and the Red Sox depth? I think the Dodgers depth, and we've talked about this pretty much all winter, sets them apart. Like obviously when you have Otani Yamamoto, Snell glass, now as you're four, and that's not even including what Sasaki could do with his net, with first or second full year in the majors. Like that rotation speaks for itself. But the depth is what makes the Dodgers dangerous, and we saw that last year when they had, what, 13 pitchers on the aisle at one point? And they didn't really, I mean, it got a little dice.

in the division for a little bit, but they ultimately were able to hold their ground because they had so much depth. I really like the Red Sox rotation on paper. Going and getting Rangers Suarez was a must for Boston. You put that next to Garrett Crochet, Sunny Gray, right around at number three. I saw the Mariners a little blower that I would put them personally. Again, these are just war rankings. And then the Tigers, we just talked about it. All those teams have very strong one, two, three, maybe four. But what about after that? We know pitching injuries are out of rise throughout baseball. It has been more and more each year. We see it specifically the most in March and April. So if you don't have depth in your rotation, and I'm talking an abundance of depth, not just that we

have a number six guy and a number seven, nine, ten, you don't really have a rotation you can depend on regardless of the names that make up the first half. So for this one, I still think the Dodgers have the best rotation in baseball because of the depth. There are certainly guys that you can put up against Otani Yamamoto and be like, okay, that's a really formidable one and two. But depth means everything here and the Dodgers have the best of it. Let me ask you this, Katie, and then, Clint, I'd like to get your opinion on this as well as we still navigate this stuff with Marquis coming on. I just texted him the links as well. So does it matter to you or does your opinion change at all with Blake Snell being a little bit

on a delayed schedule, if you will, maybe not exactly ready as he would be for opening day? and then Yamamoto likely probably having to have some sort of load management considering he was an absolute beast in the postseason. Katie, we'll get your opinion, then we'll bring Mark in. Yeah, and I think we can add Otani to the load management conversation as well. It doesn't necessarily, when I say concerning, like it's in the back of my mind is, okay, the Dodgers have to plan around this. They have to plan to bring in snow maybe a little bit more delicately than they would

in a regular season, right? They need to monitor Otani's workload. Yamamoto's workload because as we mentioned, those injuries happen the most in March and April. And the last thing you want to do, I mean, any major league manager coach will tell you this. You'd rather have your best pitchers in September than April. So when I say concern, I say lightly. It just means that they have to be more aware of how they're planning. And this is something that they know already.

We talked about this with Dave Roberts at the winter meetings. I mean, that was two months before pitchers and catchers were scheduled to report. And he's talking about maybe having a hybrid six-man rotation to start the year. So concerning, I say that lightly. think a better word is intrigued to see how they monitor the workload. But again, this goes back to the depth that we talked about. And I'm excited to see what Mark Pryor has to say about it, because I think this is what's going to make spring really interesting is who on that depth chart can they slot in to start the year. 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

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IHard TikTok Radio. Plus TikTok's most influential creators all in one place. Search for IHard TikTok Radio. Make it a preset and stay connected all day. Well, look no further. Ask and you shall receive. Katie. We want to welcome in Mark Pryor now. Longtime coaching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He's been, of course, with the staff for a number of years, including as a bullpen coach before becoming the pitching coach. Mark, great. to be with you as always. Thank you. We were just talking about the depth of your starting rotation and we're interested in knowing. I mean, is this possibly the most formidable pitching staff that you've ever worked with going into a season? I hate to have you rank your guys, right? You're kind of like ranking your kids. But man, you've got a lot to work with. Well, one, I won't. I won't. I won't rank my kids. And I won't rank my pitchers either.

You know, look, I mean, we're blessed, you know, from a standpoint, from our ownership standpoint, from management that they've gone out and acquired a lot of talent, a lot of really high-end talents. And so it's a fun group to work with. At the end of the day, they want to win. They enjoy competing against other teams. They enjoy competing, you know, and pushing each other. It's just a fun group to work with. I think that's ultimately, as a staff, you know, you. you enjoy the moments because they care and have such a passion for their craft.

And so that's what makes it a lot of fun and a pleasure to work with these guys. Mark, hi, my name's Katie. You'll meet me officially next week down at Camelbeck Ranch. But thanks so much for joining our show. I wanted to ask a little bit about Yamamoto because we know he's going to go play in the WBC for Team Japan. He also had that heroic, monstrous performance for you guys in the World Series last year. When you're looking at workload, and we touched on this a little bit earlier, is he maybe still a little bit tired from his performance last year?

Is this something where you're going to be monitoring his workload because he pitched so extensively, so late for you guys in the season? What's the plan for him to start spring? Well, I mean, that's the nature of the WBC. You know, there's no perfect time to have a tournament like this, but this is where the schedule falls. And so Yama's been, you know, getting ready for his 20-26 season, you know, since, you know, he kind of picked up from his rest after the World Series.

You know, he's in a great spot. He feels good. He wouldn't do this if he wasn't feeling good. He made that very clear, I think, to ourselves as well as to, you know, Japanese officials that, you know, he needed to make sure and kind of take stock and where he was at. He feels great. I mean, I think what he did last year in the playoffs was unprecedented.

But I think he's in a good spot right now. And it's from a workload standpoint. You know, he's prepared. We'll get him ready to go out and be able to compete in the WBC. And then once, you know, because of the limitations that are set forth kind of in the, you know, the parameters that they have for pitchers, it's not that much different from a standpoint of what it would be with us. Obviously, the intensity and the magnitude of those games is going to be more.

so it's hard to, you know, account for that. But he's going to be in a good spot, and he'll be ready to go once the season starts. He's a unique individual. He takes unbelievable care of himself. Last year was special to watch him, you know, navigate his season, and ultimately, you know,

reached the pinnacle at the end and doing some things that's, you know, I know it's been said, like probably won't see again. And, you know, he wanted to win just as much as anybody. And he just, you know, you felt like he was in a position. to do some things that were extraordinary. Yeah, special stuff from him. And if he's a type of dude who needs a blow either early in the season or later in the

season, the good thing is you guys got a lot of arms. You got a lot of bodies there, very high-end, a lot of talented dudes. We are entering year two of Roki Sasaki, obviously a lot to build on for the dude. The ceiling is very high. And we've heard a lot so far over the last really, I guess, weekend. He's working on adding a little bit, a few wrinkles to the pitch mix, maybe a little bit of cutter, a little bit of a two seamer. What are those kind of conversations looking like as we try to make, you know, build Roki into a high quality major league starter? We've seen him do it as a reliever,

of course, but building them into a starter and how do you make the cutter and two seamer not necessarily affect that splitter forkball? Yeah, I mean, I think you touched on it there at the end. I mean, it's ultimately he's, he has a high velocity fastball when he's right and he has that nasty, you know, split-finger pitch. So adding those other pitches has been a conversation been going on since the, you know, beginning of last summer, even when he was, when he was on the I-L. But you obviously, you don't want to take away from what his strengths are. So it'll constantly be, you know, managed, not managed, but monitored more, just so that we're not pulling back from the other things. But we do that with everybody. With all guys, you know, we're in an era where

because of the technology and the and the resources that everybody has, you know, guys are able to test things out on a much more regular basis. So you're always making sure that they're not pulling back from what their strengths are. And I think with Roki, you know, it was an interesting year. It's a learning year no matter how he slices it. You know, it started off, you know, obviously with high expectations. The injury comes, you know, a role transition, you know, pitching in big playoff, big moments in the playoffs. So there's a lot for him to kind of, you know, digest and learn from, like all major leaguers,

no matter, you know, whether they're, you know, a high school, college, or you're coming over from, you know, the Japanese or Korean baseball leagues. I mean, there's a lot to learn at that level. And so I think he's probably has a lot of time to reflect over the winter on what went right, maybe for him, what went wrong, what he needs to do to prepare, you know, to come into camp and be ready to try to, you know, put a good foot for. forward to be a starter. I think the part that it needs to kind of still be ironed out is we never really got to see the full version of or the healthy version of Roki as a starter. And so I think that's intriguing for I think everybody is. I think at the end we got a taste of it of a healthy Roki. I think this year we're going to see the full version of Roki and then we get to actually

see him grow and mature as a starting pitcher in the major leagues. Nothing but upside for Ropee says Rocky Mark. I want to talk about the sixth spot in the Dodgers starting rotation, perhaps the one question mark. Dave and Andrew Friedman, of course, very high on, I'm just going to give you three names. Emmett Sheehan, River Ryan, and Gavin Stone. Make the case or make, what should we know about each of those young men? What can they bring? I mean, look, all three of those guys are going to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers at some point this season.

I think if one thing has been consistent over the years is that we use our roster, either out of guys performing in the minor leagues and pitching well or out of need because I think some guys have had some injuries. You know, all three of those guys I think are going to impact our roster to win and how and in what degree. I can't tell you that. The one thing that I think that I've learned now going into my, gosh, I don't know, seven season or eight season, whatever it is, every year, every year's been different,

but we've been consistently knowing that we do need starters at some point. And so I think with Gavin Stone, I mean, you look at a guy two years ago who you could probably say it was kind of almost like our bedrock in our rotation at the time. The guy all the way through August was one of our most consistent pitchers. He would give us, you know, games where he'd go deep into games.

He'd give us huge impact games. I remember against the Padres with some big strikeouts and some unbelievable performances. So, you know, he's got that talent. He came up in his, in his rookie year, and he had a lot of learning experiences from understanding who he was as a pitcher, what he can do to dominate, what his strengths were to tipping. And then coming back in that, you know, 24th season, what he did was unbelievable. So I expect him to, you know, probably we'll have to figure out where he's at. He was just because of the timeline, he never really got

out to pitch a whole lot. So we'll kind of see whether or not we're at, you know, where we're at with him from a standpoint at the end of spring and how he competes. M. and Sheehan did what he did last year. I mean, coming off of Tommy John, got thrown right into the fire. I think it was against the Giants in a game, and he stepped up big time. He had a lot of big performances down the stretch. And a lot of games were I think he was key to our success, where we started picking up and really started firing on all cylinders.

So he's going to be in that mix for sure. And then River Ryan, look, I mean, we only got to see a taste of him that, you know, that year. He came out of this, came up for us out of necessity. And he, you know, that game he threw against the Astros was unbelievable. And I don't think any of us, we knew the stuff was there, but for him to put it all together in that one performance, I think that's the ceiling that you're looking for. And I think it's, in all accounts, he finished off his rehab progression last year. He's bigger.

He's stronger. I think he understands what it takes to prepare to pitch at this level. So I think we're all excited to kind of see a little bit more of them, just because we I didn't see a lot of them the last time, but excited to see him in a much more extended look this year. And again, I think all three of them were gonna impact. It's just hard to pinpoint when that's gonna be and how.

Mark, when you look at how this roster is shaping up, it's the first time that you are slated to have a full two-way Shohei Otani. There is gonna be some workload. Dave Roberts at a fan fest, you know, he's going to be using Otani as a traditional starter, but the usage might not be on a five-day schedule, you might get a six, seven day rotation or for Otani,

just kind of to keep him healthy to start the year. What are you seeing from Otani? What's kind of the plan to start his spring? Yeah, right now he's throwing bullpens. I mean, he is last year, you know, was obviously a very unique year. You know, he was coming off Tommy John, and then he had the shoulder injury on the non-throwing arm.

And this year, yeah, a full version. The WBC will, you know, maybe provide a little bit of wrinkle. But he's so flexible with what he's so flexible with what he does, his ability to win he can pitch and how he goes about keeping himself sharp. So it's going to be fun to watch him. I mean, we'll go into spring training. He'll keep throwing bullpens, you know, try to get him to face some hitters before he leaves for the WBC.

And then we'll just, from then, we just kind of have to wait and see where everything's at. You know, how long do they advance through the WBC tournament? And then his ability to continue to maintain throwing off a mound or even if he can be able to face hitters while he's gone. If he can, that's great. If not, then we'll deal with it when we get, you know, when he gets back to us and returns to the team. You know, the fun part about show is, you know, he'll pitch.

As long as he knows when he's pitching, he'll pitch whenever. If it's six days rest, if it's eight days rest, if it's three days rest, like he's willing to do what he needs to do to help this club win ball games. And so we'll just kind of plan it out and kind of go day by day like we always do. you know, when we're in kind of these unorthodox situations where you can't just map out, you know, the next four weeks. And we talked a lot about the starting rotation. We know that's going to be the elite. We expected a lot out of the bullpen last year. Definitely struggled to find its footing. Now you add Edwin Diaz at the back of that rotate, or so the back end of that bullpen.

You're hoping for probably more of what you expected out of Tanner Scott entering the season. Kyle Hurt in the mix, Bruisdard are all back. I'll probably talk more about them in a little bit. but what do you like about this bullpen unit heading into the new season? Like, is this, could you say it's the best bullpen in baseball or they have that potential? Well, I mean, bullpins are unique, you know? I mean, it kind of ebbs and flows year to year and season to season. You know, I, for me personally, you know, you never really know what your bullpen is until you kind of, they kind of form their own identity.

and you can have the same players for two, three, four seasons in a row. But those of bullpen identities are always evolving and always changing. And I think so you kind of have to give it time. You got to kind of let it summer a little bit and just kind of see how that makeup starts to materialize. And, you know, last year, you know, we struggled on the field, but that bullpen was tight. That bullpen was, they stuck together. They went through a lot of adversity, but they kept kind of, you know, showing up every day, putting their work together, you know, similar to what they had done, you know, the previous season.

It just didn't have the same fanfare and maybe the same, you know, dominance from a statistical standpoint. Tanner obviously, you know, had his ups and downs, I expect him to bounce back and have a great season. Edwin has been one of the premier closers in baseball, and in all accounts, he's great to work with, and we've had a few conversations. He's another one. Again, I think the one common thread we have with all our players, position players and pitchers, is they got one common goal and they just want to win ball games. You know, I think they're at a point in their careers where a lot of them feel very confident and where they stand in the game. And so they're all about what can they do to help their team win ball games. But back to the back to the bullpen, I think

we have a bunch of, we have a lot of talented arms that can do, it can do a lot of different roles. You know, Edwin, obviously at the back end, you know, going into the season is going to definitely shorten the games from our starter to the finishing the games. But then you start adding, Trinanin's going to have a great year. Vessi's going to have a great year. Scott, you got Klein. I mean, you got so many names with so much talent in there. And I think once we get through those first six weeks and you kind of start seeing

what that identity is, you know, then it's up to them and them to kind of gel together and come together and do their jobs. But it could, it's lining up to be, it could be a pretty fun group to watch them go in out and go out to work night in and night out. They got a lot of talent, and they pull for each other, and they're very close. One guy I wanted to expand on ever so slightly before we let you go is, dude, I'm super high on. I mean, I think this guy just got closer makeup, even though he's kind of been a starter.

But I'm going to call him Big Haas, Kyle Hurt. What do you think about a potential role for him heading into the spring? I'm telling you, if there's somebody I want with me in a bar fight, it's Kyle Frickin'Hurt. Dude is a beast. But what do you like about Kyle Hurt? I would hope that he's not in a bar fight. Yeah, yeah. We'll start there.

Don't use the right hand. Yeah. Well, look, I mean, Kyle is, he's another one again. We got big boy stuff out of him with his fastball and his change up. Another guy that we saw, you know, I guess my dating myself is, I guess it was at the end of the 24 season, you know, kind of what was going on with him. Or maybe it was the 20, again, my dates, my years are all starting to blend together. But we saw what he did against the Padres late in the year, one year, and you saw the skill and the talent and just the raw stuff.

And when you start seeing really good big league hitters, Machado, you know, Cronenworth at the time, Tatis, and you see what he's making them kind of take those awkward swings. Then you know something's in there and something's real. And unfortunately, he had the injury that came up. But he's another one. I think he can put him in any role. I think he's a guy who can go in.

he could, you know, be a setup guy in the eighth inning if you need him, and that's the way the game dictated. I think he could get you out of trouble in the fifth or sixth inning, if that's the way the game calls for it. I think he can give you multiple endings as well. I think he has that ability, and that's the one nice thing about, I think, all our guys, clearly Edwin's going to be probably at the back end. Tanner's going to be mostly, you know, kind of like one inning at the back end.

But all our guys, they're all, you know, they can adjust and they can adapt to whatever the game is asking out of them or what the team is in need of. And so that's something that has been built with our culture. I think it goes back to almost the 2020 season. And it starts with Blake. He kind of started that. And then you kind of have guys, Daniel Hudson and Kenley.

They all have kind of built on it and they all kind of compounded on each other. But they're all adapt to whatever was needed for this to win a ball game. And I think that's been the beauty to watch this team. It's not about what do I need to do or what do I need out of what role do I need? what role do I need to be in? They just need to know, like, am I available today or am I not? And then they're ready when the phone rings. And it's, again, that doesn't happen everywhere.

I know it happens other places, but it's a nice, as a staff and as a coach, it's nice to watch these guys pick each other up and support each other, because that's what makes it fun and it makes it a lot of fun to go out there and win ball games together. Yeah, take the ball. Whenever the phone rings, before I let you go, a two-part question. How strange is it going to be for you, Mark to not have Clayton Kershaw in some form or fashion in your starting rotation.

And Andrew's really chomping at the bit for Clayton to start working with you guys. Are you making any phone calls to number 22? Like, hey, come out of retirement early, come work with us. What's that going to be like? Well, it's definitely going to be different without him. There's a lot of things that have been said that, you know, I don't need to repeat. I mean, he's, but it's going to be different without his presence. He is, you've been around him enough and you've seen it.

You know, he has a presence on what he does to prepare. I think that everybody's documented that. But he's also an energy giver when people don't realize it or don't see it. I mean, this guy, when road trips are getting long or it's early nights or a quick turnaround, Sunday day games, this guy will get people going. This guy will get people, Clayton will get people motivated. he would always bring energy. And, you know, it's going to be different. It's going to be a little quieter in the weight room.

The music's going to be a little softer. He had some, he had some petoons. So it's going to, I'll be missing him around. I feel very blessed and fortunate that I had a chance to just, you know, be a small part in his career. And he taught me so much about being how to be a coach. You know, it's not always a linear path or linear job. and you've got to communicate through a lot of different things.

But he was a pleasure to work with, and it is going to be. But that being said, Clayton will never be gone. He's always around. He'll be texting. And, you know, he's doing this pseudo-unretirement thing for the WBC. And I'm extremely happy for him. I know he was bummed. He couldn't pitch the last time.

So I think everybody is extremely excited to see him pitch and get a chance to represent the U.S. because that's a special thing. And for him to actually have this chance and this opportunity now, I think caps everything off. Yeah, from the WBC, perhaps to NBC, not officially, but he could be one of us coming to the dark side. Mark Pryor always appreciate the unbelievable insight and your thoughtful answers.

We'll see you at spring training in about a week and change. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate you very much. Anytime, my pleasure, and I'll see you guys next week. All right, Mark Pryor, long time pitching coach, for your Los Angeles Dodgers. Let's get to Last Licks. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also as 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. 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 their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, its 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 Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, guys.

I've said it once. I'll say it two or three or 12 more times. This is Morgan, and she has been officially adopted, but we're trying to get her from San Diego, Texas, calm down, San Diego, Texas to Haseanda Heights, California. Her family is waiting. Her adoptive family, who has also adopted a pup by the name of Mookie, is waiting for Morgan to join their family. We've raised about half of the money so far.

We need the second half for the transporter, secure, licensed, and enjoy. transporter. So if you're led to do so, please donate a couple bucks to giddreysgarden.org. As always, appreciate you. Let me talk about the foundation and let me talk about some pups in need. All right. So before we get to our baseball thought for the road, Clint, what do you have coming up on all Dodgers with Clint Paceas? That's right. I will be back live Saturday morning, 11 a.m. Pacific time or 1130. We'll figure that one out. But it's a voicemail show. I want people's thoughts, their opinions, their excitement for the season. Cleats are hitting the concrete.

So that means baseball is here. And it's a fun and exciting time for everybody. Get your final gripes in before, you know, we get really into it. But appreciate the opportunity to talk about that. And I really want to talk about what our final thought is, our thought for the road here. Well, Katie has, yeah, Katie has props. Katie Wu has what our last, our thought for the road is. Shohay Otani, not only is he a multi-world series champion

and multi-MVP award winner, probably going to get a Sy Young too at some point. He's also a published author, and his pup, Dekoi, is also a superstar. So Shohay Otani tweeted, Decoy, and my first children's book is out today. We can't wait for you to read it. Is there anything Katie Wu that this man can't do?

Apparently not. I went to college for four years to be come a writer and he's a published author before I am, the decoys of media star already. And now he has books after him. I was actually going to do a little unboxing for all of you guys, but I think we're like pretty short on time. I did buy the book for a gift for my friend who is a big Otani poster, like loves to post about Otani, loves to talk about him.

So I figured why not get him a little book. So I'm, you know, maybe I'll buy another one just for me. Why not? Yeah. I mean, you got to fill out the apartment, right? Sure. Sure, sure. Well, I mean, I have young kids in my life.

I have young nephews. If Shohei and his team want to send some books about decoy to the Dodgers territory staff, we would be happy to share those with the young folks in our lives. Great show today. We're a little bit over time, but it's worth it when Mark Pryor comes on the show. Katie Wu is headed down to Camelback next week. I believe on Wednesday, Clinton and I will be there on the 17th. Clint and I and Katie, hopefully, will be back on Monday with you guys.

So thanks for watching. Thanks for being here. Always get your comments in. We love to hear from you. And don't forget to like, subscribe as we try to get to 20,000 subscribers, Dodgers territory, family rolls on as we enter our third year.

So we'll see you on Monday. Have a great weekend. Go Dodgers and go Broncos. Oh, wait. They're not in the Super Bowl. All right, bye. Bra. Bye.

I'm Daniel Alarcon. And this is my friend. He's much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-hosted at the podcast, 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 aurekone and john green on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts then she says have you seen a photo of my son and i'm like who is this person welcome to the boys and girls arranged marriage is basically a reality show and you're auditioning for your soulmate and who's judging only your entire family i sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition hoping to find love the right way and instead i found chaos comedy and a lot of cringe listen to boys and girls on the i heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Come check this. IHeart and TikTok have come together to create something new. I love it. Where the world of TikTok meets your playlist.

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