Dodgers Territory - Kiké is BACK, Phillips Re-Signs, Muncy Extension; Dylan Hernandez Joins!

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas dive into all the latest news and notes out of spring training for your Los Angeles Dodgers! And Dylan Hernandez of the California Post joins! Kiké Hernandez is BACK with the Dodgers, reportedly returning on a one-year contract (1:01). Reactions to Kiké's return and does that complete the roster? The hosts discuss! Along with Kiké, Evan Phillips has also re-signed with the Dodgers as he recovers from Tommy John surgery and Ben Rortvedt has once again been DFA'd. What does the roster carousel look like for LA (2:24)? The Dodgers also agreed to a contract extension with Max Muncy. Why was now the time to complete the deal and will Max be a Dodger for life? (3:52) Dylan Hernandez joins the show from Arizona to touch on the news of the day (8:33). He also shares his insight into Roki Sasaki, his growth and maturity entering year two with LA (11:39). Get 10 free meals and a FREE Zwilling Knife (a $144.99 value) on your third box at HelloFresh.com/FT10FM. Offer valid while supplies last. Free meals applied as a discount on first box, new subscribers only, varies by plan. 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.

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 at 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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getting the band back together, keeping the band together for that three Pete. Today afternoon to you, everybody, and welcome to bring the live episode of Dodgers Territory. We are your host. That is Clint Fasias. My name is Alana Rizzo. Katie Wu is on assignment in Arizona covering the team. We'll be down there next week. Great to have you guys with us.

Please rate us five stars. Like and subscribe to our podcast. We're trying to get to 20,000 subscribers. You can go to Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. Do it on YouTube. We appreciate it very much. Dodgers and baseball columnist, Dylan Hernandez of the California Post. We'll be joining us in a moment.

We'll talk to Dylan about all things. Dodgers some news today, Clint. Let's get into the big ticket. Everything happened. We went from no news to a lot of news and to one signing and one extension. Let's start with the obvi, like as the kid. kids say right. Obvi. Kike Hernandez, welcome back. Clint, your friend and mine, he announced it himself. The Dodgers have since made it official. He's gone for three, my friend. What do you

think of this? No surprise. No surprise at all. Kike was always going to come back. You know, we just had Andrew on a couple weeks ago. Kike, let everybody know. Andrew was the holdup. Let's play this. Let's have Kike tell us in the flesh that he is back and the holdup, and then we'll come back and digest it. Here's Enrique, if you're not. nasty. What up, Dodger fans. Playing simple. I'm back again. Sorry it took so long. That wasn't up to me. Andrew. But yeah, there's no other place I would rather be than here. So let's go for three in a row. Oh, God. He's, he is a character. And, and yeah, you got to have this type of dude in the clubhouse. They talked early in the offseason about needing that three Pete, getting the get the band back together, keeping the band together for that three Pete, four and a half million.

dollar deal. Kikei returns to the Dodgers. And yeah, he, he, it was the worst kept secret in baseball that Kikea would come back as soon as, you know, roster spots became available. So let's talk about the logistics of this, right? How do we get Kiki on the roster? Obviously, with the signing of Evan Phillips, that was news a couple of days ago. So logistically, tell the folks how this all works out. Yeah. So we see on the screen here, if you're watching, on the YouTube side. Once again, Ben RoortVet DFAD and Evan Phillips agrees to a $6.5 million deal and the roller coaster that Ben RoortVet has been on this offseason, the welcome back party has, it was back on. It's postponed again. Shout out to Brajoin on the Twitter. That's a really, really good post. But Dodgers needed a roster spot for Evan Phillips. They created one. And now for Kike Hernandez, eventually what we're going to see is E-Filly go on that 60-day IL. The have a roster spot for Kike and, you know, Bob's your uncle. Everything is good.

And if they, you know, need more space, they'll have to get a little creative again because there aren't a lot of dudes that are heading to the 60-day IL this year, as many as there were last year. So, yeah, Bob's your uncle. That is funny. I like that very much. But that being said, I do feel that Ben Roertvet will clear waivers and the Dodgers can have him back if he does do so.

And he will provide some much needed depth, rather. I can't talk today. Oklahoma City at the time. And then if, you know, if need be, he'll get called back up to the big league. So we may not see the end of Ben Wirtman as a Dodger. Another bit of note here before we get Dylan Hernandez to join us. Max Muncie is back. I thought the timing was a little interesting because we knew that Max obviously was a Dodger for this season. But now they have already agreed here on February 12th to extend him for a one year contract extension, 10 million guaranteed six seven of which is the salary for this season. And then it's a 10. million club option for 2028. Max Muncie is now the longest tenured Dodger, I believe, from the early, you know, he got here in 2018, I want to say. But he's already received four extensions now as a Dodger, and that's pretty cool. I mean, he's made it known, obviously, that he wants to end his career as a Dodger. Why else would you want to go anywhere else? So, you know, your thought about this. I mean, I want, anyway, I'll stop.

talking you go no i i love this for the dodgers i love it for the clubhouse i love it for max um if there is somebody on that 40 man roster in that clubhouse in particular that deserves this it's max munsey and i'll put the numbers back on the screen it is it is wild you know um somebody of the uh the always incendiary melb network shredder has max as the second best third baseman in baseball right now um which is i don't know if it's a show He is very good. He provides a lot of value for sure. But I love that he is willing to take less money.

The Dodgers keep printing money. We know this much. They don't need to worry about saving up their pennies to have Max Muncie around. But I love the fact that it's like, let's get this out of the way now. Essentially acts as a two-year deal to keep him around and likely, you know, keep him in Dodger Blue for the rest of his career, which is great. It's great for him. He says it. He's very open about it. And he's putting his money or less money where his mouth is to make it happen. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, how it's easy for me to say because it's not my money,

but how much money do you really need? He loves it in L.A. Kelly loves it in L.A. There's something to be said about wanting to stay there and probably end your career. I mean, this was a guy that was watching stuff from the couch when the A's decided to do claim for assignment. And now he is one of the most important Dodgers we've seen in the last decade because of what he's been able to do.

They just had their third child. They're familiar with L.A. They want to be there, you know, between L.A. and Texas, their home state. So good for them, man. You know, it's interesting that Dodgers didn't have to do it, but why not? If you know both sides agree, that's great. I know that Dylan Hernandez. Go ahead, go ahead.

And keeping the clutch. I mean, the important thing is Max's clutch. He finds a way to step up in big moments. And, you know, we look back at that game seven. Miguel Rojas is not in that position to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth if it was not for, or I guess top of the ninth, if it was not. not for Max Muncie and his I call it the don't give me hope uh Homer in the eighth inning he finds a way to step up and you know the the defense has gotten you know more playable third

base as he's gotten more and more reps there um just got to keep the dude on the field keep him happy keep him healthy uh for longer but but really really cool really cool for for max and and uh he played it 100 games last year 19 home runs I think it was um but he this is a guy that has consistently hit 30 or more bombs and all you all take a 200 betting average a 250 batting hour. He gets on base, his OVP is good. You know, I'll take it. I'll take it. Congratulations to the Muncie family. Congratulations to the daughters. All right, Dylan Hernandez from the California Post is going to be joining us momentarily after this quick word. AJ, you know what I love about Hello Fresh, the variety. Every single week, I can choose from over

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Free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only varies by plan. That's FT10FM. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault in Our Stars, and now I guess also is the customer. 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

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the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We are pleased to be joined now by Dylan Hernandez, long time sports columnist from the LA Times, who has just made the move over to the new California Post. Dylan, it is great to have you on. It's been a long time since I've gotten to see you, but I appreciate you taking the time on what is Cactus League Media Day. Clint and I were just talking about the Max Muncie extension and the interesting timing of it all. I'd like to get your take on the timing of it. And why do this for Max and not do it for J.T. at the time? I mean, honestly, probably Muncie's more productive right now than, you know, Turner was at that point.

I think, you know, this gives them, right? I mean, the Dodgers love the word optionality. This kind of gives them optionality in a way. You know, I mean, look, the reality is that this team is getting older, right? And I think, you know, to be honest, had they not won the World Series, I probably would have been advocating in the times to kind of blow the team up and maybe kind of start, you know, by kind of injecting younger blood in here. What this kind of gives them the option to do, obviously, if Muncie's still, you know, good at the end of this season. They can obviously bring him back if it looks like, you know, okay, maybe he's not quite the guy he used to be.

And, you know, you have to have to reduce his role or maybe even, right, part ways with them. The salary is not big enough to where it's going to kill you by any means. So, again, I think this just kind of presents the Dodgers with the option. And, you know, they, you know, like you were saying, kind of going into the break, obviously Moncie likes being in L.A., you know, and when you want to be in a certain place, you're willing to give up some money. And I think it just kind of got to a place, you know, where the Dodgers thought it was working for. The other guy, the other news of the day, the other big news, the return of Kike Hernandez,

the worst kept secret in baseball. Bro was always going to be back. We were talking about it before you joined. I think eventually we're going to see that become official. Well, it became official, but you need a roster spot. Is it most likely going to be an Evan Phillips to the 60-day IL kind of situation? That would be my guess, you know, obviously, you know, I don't think that they, you know, I know we kind of joke about like all the roster moves they're doing.

and right, Rortbed and his whole saga over the last few weeks. I don't think that they like doing it. I think they do it because they kind of have to. So, yeah, I think if it's something like that, that's just kind of a simple transaction where they don't actually have to get rid of anybody, that's probably kind of the ideal thing. But you're right. You know, this was kind of a, you know, really kind of obvious kind of thing to do,

especially after the World Series they had. They absolutely had to bring them back. You know, I am kind of a believer in that, you know, team wins a championship. You kind of owe it to the guys to, you know, give them another run at it. And obviously he's, you know, he was a huge part of what happened. And, you know, one of the great things, again, that the Dodgers kind of have going for them is they really don't have to be, you know, really going until October. So, you know, with all these guys, yes, it's kind of an older team. And, you know, they're coming off a short off season.

And I think the way they're going to manage these guys throughout the spring even, is probably going to be a little bit more gradual than it has been in the past. But, you know, yeah, you know, as long as, again, he's there in October. I think that that's what they're looking for. you know, fans obviously are going to be happy about that too. Dylan, one of the things I admire the most about you is your ability to speak three languages fluently, obviously English, Spanish, and Japanese. I mean, you have such a bigger insight into this clubhouse than most because you can speak the language of some pretty big stars that are walking around in Dodgers uniforms.

You recently wrote a really interesting article about Roki Sasaki, and it seems like, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, of course, it seems like there seems to be some sort of like lack of communication in terms of Rokey's assessment of, you know, kind of finding some, I don't know, some things that he needed to work on with his pitches versus what the Dodgers coaching staff was saying. So if you could explain a little bit more about that piece and kind of where they sit with it. Yeah, so, you know, basically just kind of stemmed out of a conversation I had with Dave

Roberts in the offseason where he just said, you know, the guy needs like a third pitch, right? It's obviously he's got the fastball. He's got the forkball that he throws. That's really kind of like a magical pitch. And, you know, when he was in Japan, that was good enough for him to, you know, at least when he was healthy, to be the best pitcher in the league over there. And so now it's obviously a little bit different. And he's, right, the fastball probably doesn't play up as much as it did in Japan. And so, you know, they're talking about, okay, well, kind of has to add something. Now, my kind of view of this has kind of been the fact that, you know, again, maybe

it's kind of an arm slot issue, right? And I've talked to the scouts that are kind of questioning whether he can actually throw a slider, right? And I think he himself said that he thought that he had problems in Japan with his shoulder because he started throwing that slider. So I think that there are some questions here in terms of, okay, can he do it or not? You know, Roberts seems to believe he can do this and that what this really kind of comes down to

is kind of his openness to things, right? You know, one thing I thought that was very, you know, noticeable. The clubhouse last year was the fact that, you know, when you see guys kind of walking around coming out of the shower with their shirts off and stuff, most professional athletes, their bodies are built. Like, you know, they look like people who spent their entire bodies,

like their entire lives sculpting their bodies. Society still kind of has like the body of a kid, right? And so, you know, you do kind of wonder, again, right, how much kind of work is kind of going on behind the scenes and stuff. You know, now he showed up to Fan Fest and said that he has been, you know, lifting weights and stuff like that. But, you know, I think that there is this kind of question of how much of this, this inability to develop a third pitch is about.

kind of intent and how much of it is just like okay maybe he just kind of can't do it in which case you know the maybe you know long term he profiles better as a closer right i mean i think you know but again roberts kind of says i think he can do it and that it really this kind of comes down to kind of how open he is you know i thought what was really kind of interesting last year obviously you know i think you know because it's right and let's be honest right front offices you know they're there to some degree PR conscious you know and this right this organization right now has a reputation of like breaking pictures, right? You know, they've obviously kind of gone into this whole, right?

They've bought into all the drive line stuff. And, you know, there's questions about how effective it is. So, you know, when Sasaki kind of came back and, you know, reestablished himself as a closer, obviously, I think the organization kind of wanted to celebrate this thing. And, you know, they kind of, right, there were stories that came out about, you know, Rob Hill and kind of the work that he did with Sasaki and stuff. The interesting thing is, you know, when Sasaki kind of gets asked about it,

He was just like, oh, no, I was just like watching, like, videos of myself in, like, my hotel room one day. You know, he's never said Rob Hill's name. Like, you know, he kind of said, like, oh, yeah, at one point I met with somebody who was kind of like a pitching coach, you know, in Arizona. We agreed on the ideas, but as far as like a solution for it, I was the one that kind of came up with it. Now, you know, it is kind of important to establish here that this might not be necessarily

like a Dodger issue, right? Because Sasaki's kind of had this reputation of being this very kind of staunch individual from the time he was in Japan, right? I don't think, you know, look, it's not like I'm buddy buddies with Otani by any means, right? He's obviously kind of his own little world. You know, that said, like, for example, if I walk by, you know, Otani, he'll usually, like, bow or something. Right? We give each other, like, little boughs, right?

Just kind of little social formalities that kind of exist in Japanese culture. You know, Sasaki's not great with that stuff, right? Now, I personally kind of excuse a lot of this stuff from the fact that his background is very different, right? obviously, you know, he, you know, survived the very traumatic tsunami that wiped out his entire hometown, lost his father with him. He was very close, you know, and the fact that he spends as much time in that area, you know, because usually guys that come from, like, rural communities will spend, like, the entire offseason, like, in Tokyo and stuff.

You know, this place is, like, really hard to get to, by the way. You know, I went there, I guess it was last year. Yeah, I went there last year before they opened the series in, you know, in Tokyo. and it took me like seven hours to get there, right? I mean, because they're not even train lines that run there because, again, everything kind of got wiped out. And, you know, he still orders the same, every time he goes back to, like, his favorite restaurant,

which is run by, like, his dad's very close friend, right? He orders the same dish every time. You know, so again, I think he has, you know, when I talk to the guy about it, like, why do you think he kind of comes back here? He says, you know, this is probably like when he was, like, happiest, right? In terms of, like, you know, his dad was still alive. He had grandparents. And so I'm willing to kind of look, you know,

Like, okay, guys've been through a lot. You know, if he doesn't kind of fit the mold that every other baseball player in Japan does, like, well, like, let's kind of excuse that. The Japanese are less forgiving about that, right? So, you know, they think he's rude and this and that. And it's kind of interesting because he's a very divisive figure in Japan, right? Like, you know, yes, obviously, Otani is their Michael Jordan. That said, you know, you write something about Sasaki. You, you know, he comes out on TV.

it almost draws as many eyeballs just because of, again, how divisive of a figure he is there. Interesting. Yeah, that was one of the things I was kind of wondering in reading your column there. Is there sort of like a communication problem with between the Dodgers and Sasaki? But it could just be that, you know, I wouldn't, I don't want to go as far as saying that he's stunted in his growth, but still young.

He's still got a lot to learn. And hopefully, you know, being with this organization that could help, you know, not only make him a great pitcher, but turn him into a great big league or great teammate and all that kind of stuff. I can think of somebody, Yasio Pue, who had to learn a lot after entering the league.

He was also a young pup entering baseball, coming from a different country, all that kind of stuff. So when you got a 100-mile-an-hour fastball in your right and that nasty forkball, you can give him the grace for sure, but I appreciate you sharing a little bit more there because I thought that was a very interesting kind of look at Roki. Roki is definitely one of the big storylines at Spring Train. What else are you kind of keeping an eye on with this team that's primed to go for a three Pete?

Yeah, I think, you know, just the way camp in general is going to go, right? You know, they obviously had the short offseason. They had a short off season last year. You know, now you got the WBC here. It's just kind of how do you kind of manage everybody, right? I mean, I think, you know, it's probably going to be more, you know, because modern baseball, like we're used to seeing, right, guys training around. they show up to spring training already in shape, right?

This type, right, you know, when you think about like spring training, like in the 1960s or whatever, these guys were working out of their jobs. It was right. And spring training was actually to get into shape. You know, and so obviously, you know, it's not like these guys were just sitting around doing nothing the whole winter, but I do think that a lot of these guys needed to give their body some time to recuperate, especially, again, the fact that it's an older team. You know, I'm guessing there are some guys that, you know, probably started things a little bit later than usual.

And so, you know, kind of, I guess the way to... they're going to kind of build everybody up. You know, and then obviously with, you know, that really applies, especially on the pitching side. You know, in a way, I'm guessing the Dodgers were probably happy that, you know, Otani is not going to pitch in the WBC. That said, you know, they're going to have Yamamoto going, right? And it kind of sounds, you know, from what I've heard, he looks great right now.

You know, he showed up early. He's been looking really good. You know, and how much can he do, right? I mean, I think a lot of this, too, is now, you know, I mean, you want to look at a key guy here is probably Osamu Yada, right, his personal trainer. And this is going to be kind of a test in a way, I guess, of Eastern training methods, right, which are very kind of different than they are out here. You know, we saw, obviously, Yamamoto do what he did in the World Series. And you kind of think, like, well, you know what? Like, there's probably not an American pitcher that could have done that.

So maybe they're on to something, you know, and maybe, you know, even after doing all that last year, he can go to the WBC and, be Japan's number one pitcher and then still kind of come back and make 30 plus starts and win a Syang Award. So to me, that's going to be kind of interesting too. Obviously, you know, Blake Snells already, you know, kind of talked about some, you know, issues he's avivating and about slow playing it. You know, so and last year, you know, the one thing we saw too, though, is that I think, you know, when you kind of look at the early, I don't know what we want to call them, Guggenheim Dodgers, you know, obviously when Friedman first came in, they were really kind prioritizing, you know, quantity I felt over quality, right? You know, I think this philosophy

of the time was, okay, we need, you know, just playoffs our crapshoot. Let's just get in as many times as possible, right, get as many rolls of the dice as we can, and we're eventually going to hit. You know, but I think you kind of got pushed to a certain point and then, like, you kind of start realizing, like, well, maybe you kind of need stars, right, to really win. And I do think that we've seen, you know, part of it, maybe it was just opportunity. Maybe it was, maybe it was a slight change in philosophy, but we were seeing them build, right? They're going out and actually getting the top guy now, right? Whereas, you know, they didn't really make a play for, you know, Bryce Harper or whatever, you know, Mookie becomes available. Okay, let's go get them,

right? They, you know, they jumped on Freddie Freeman. They get Otani. They're getting, like, the top of the top guys. And now, you know, you know, and Alana, you remember, right? They were platoons, like, up and down the lineup to change drastically every day. Now they have, like, a pretty set team, right? And you can kind of predict what's going to be out every day. And I do think that's great, again, for the postseason. You look at the bullpens, too, the way they're constructed. It's right, everybody throws 100. And that's great. You know, for one month, if you just tell everybody it just throw the crap out of the ball, you know, that's going to work. Sustaining that over six months, I think it's kind of tough, right? And, you know, I went back

not too long ago when I was looking at, like, you know, Tanner Scott was fine for the first month and a half, right? It was just like, he had pitched like in more than half the games at that point. And so now all of a sudden, right, and that kind of style, like maybe you just kind of get worn down. And so, You know, I do think, and then like last year we kind of saw, right, they went through a period where you're kind of like, oh, my God, like, are they going to, right? Are they even going to win the division? Are they going to get caught? Now, once they get into the postseason, it's great, you know.

I think before they kind of had the opposite problem, right, where it was like, okay, they're getting into the postseason for sure, but what's going to happen? Do they really have the big horses to get them over the line once they get there? So I guess, you know, and that kind of folds into this whole idea about the ramp up is, you know, while, yes, they do have the luxury for the most part of being able to look ahead to October, they don't want to be too cute, right, in doing things because there is a chance, you know, right? You don't win 90 games. Maybe, right, you end up in a, you know, I mean, last year they had to plan that wild card around, which, you know, I mean, again, it turned out to

not be a problem, but it can turn into a problem. You run into the wrong pitchers. So I think just the way they kind of manage all of that. They got a lot going on right now in terms of that. Obviously, a lot of really good players that they kind of have to take care of. And, you know, it's obviously kind of managing them individually while kind of keep in in mind the bigger picture. And Dylan, one of those players that they have to manage a big player to big personality in terms of playing time and those types of things is the newest guy in Kyle Tucker. And with the signing of Kyle Tucker and the amount of money and all of the things, in your estimation of the CBA coming up and those types of things,

will this force a salary cap to be put in place? And what is your estimation that we actually do get locked out in 2007? Well, the lockout is probably going to happen for sure, right? Just in terms of like the season's going to end and it's going to kind of be like an automatic thing. Just to kind of start the negotiations. You know, the salary cap, I don't know. The union has just been so against it, right? And I think here's a thing is that I do think, you know, when you kind of get into these types of situations,

obviously, you know, the teams have, right, they have more money. and so they can like kind of wait things out longer, right? Whereas if you're a player and say, you know, like if you're lucky, you get to, right, you know, you get a 10 year career, you got 10 years to really kind of earn your money until you have to kind of deal with the rest of your life. And so like losing a year, for example, you know, it's kind of financially catastrophic, right? And so usually like there's more kind of power on the sides, you know, the players. Here what's kind of interesting, though, right?

Because I don't buy this, by the way, this whole idea that this is about like competitive balance because I don't think these people care about competitive balance, right? I mean, even before any of the, right, even before the Dodgers kind of came in and spent as much as they did, half the teams weren't even trying anyway. You know, and clearly from, you know, if you look at it from a business standpoint, I would argue, actually, the Dodgers being good, the Dodgers having Otani, you know,

is like really, really good for business to the point where it's even kind of camouflaging how the industry as a whole might be in some trouble, right? I mean, we've seen the RSNs all kind of collapse. And my guess really is that, and again, I'm not, this is just kind of more speculative, but like, I'm guessing, you know, basically what happened is, you know, a lot of these owners made bad financial decisions, you know, and usually, right, when you buy something and this has happened like in, you know, this happened to sizzler and red lobster, right? You know, you buy the business, you borrow money to buy it, but it's not like your debt. You saddle the business with that debt. And so all of a sudden now, whatever money you were making, all of a sudden, it's not enough, you know, and you've got to find ways to, um, you know, generate more, right, or make more profit. How do you do that? Usually these companies, you know, they lay people off. Now, obviously with, you know, a professional baseball league, you can't just like fire players. So that's not going to, right, you can't cut the labor force. So that's not going to happen. And so kind of the next best thing I'm guessing that the owners are

thinking is, well, let's put in a salary cap to control these things. I don't see, I don't see that happening because I do think that it's, it's a two-way thing, right? Just kind of with, you know, all the TV deals and stuff that are kind of up in the air, even like at the national level. I do think that there's going to be pressure on the owners for there to be a season, right? Now, usually it's just the players that are kind of like, okay, I can't lose this this year. But for the owners, this could be pretty catastrophic, too, if they don't get back at a reasonable time. My guess in the end, it's going to be more severe, like, three tax penalties. You know, because I think for like, if you go like salary cap, it's just such like a, you know, such like a hard line that I think that that is the type of thing that you would be able to rally the players and,

convince them like, you know what, just kind of for the sake of going forward, like, you know, we need to kind of sit out a year if we have to, you know. And so my guess, again, it's going to be kind of more severe luxury tax. It's probably going to be built in some, right, because they're going to have to kind of justify all this. It's going to be done, you know, to kind of cripple the Dodgers up to a certain degree because that's, at least what they're pretending is the problem, is that this is, like, a competitive balance issue. So, yeah, I don't think it's going to get to a cap. I might, I might be wrong about this. I've been wrong a lot about major issues.

You know, I just feel like the owners, they're acting, they're playing a role like, oh, my God, how can we compete? But so many of these owners, they don't want the salary floor that would likely come with it. They don't want to be spending this money. They want to pocket it. They want to go get their, you know, lavish haircuts, all of the McCourt era and, you know, what have you.

So for now, there's baseball or is baseball as we know it. you're out there in Arizona. We, Alana and I will be out at Camelback next week. And we saw you and Jack Harris, of the California Post. You put together,

this is something I've been wanting to do for a while. I love what you guys put together, given a kind of look, a fan guide to the Cactus League, because me and my buddies, we've been going out there every year. We don't just stay at Camelback. We go to every ballpark.

I'm sure a lot of your colleagues are going to be upset at you giving away some of the trade secrets for spots to go to. I have very, little doubt about that one. But tell us a little bit about the fan guide, what, you know, sort of was the decision to throw that thing together and kind of take a, you know, given people who maybe haven't been out to spring training.

Like here's a guide. Here's an entry level guide. Come check it out. Eat some food. You might meet some reporters there. Don't bother them. Yeah. Tell us about the guide.

Yeah. No, it's just, you know, because anytime like right at friends that come out and they bring their kids out and stuff and they kind of don't know where to go, they call me. And I kind of find myself telling them, like, oh, this is here and this is there. And the one thing about Phoenix, it's a great dining town, right? It's a really underrated dining town, I think. You know, a lot of times if you're a, you know, a chef, say, like a younger chef in L.A. And you don't have the money maybe to put up a restaurant in L.A.

A lot of those people come out here, right? So there's a lot of exciting stuff going on. You know, it's not as expensive as L.A. But you kind of do have to know where to go, right? You know, like even downtown Phoenix kind of gets like a bad rap, but like if you know where to go, like you can have a lot of fun there, right? And so, you know, that to me was just kind of more, you know, kind of pointing out just that, you know, I think, right, people come to spring training. They just go to the games. You know, I wrote a thing today, too, about how, you know, to me, the fun part of this, if, you know, again, if I were bringing my kids, don't like baseball.

But if they did, right, I would make sure to bring them out to the workout before the game, right? It opens at 10 o'clock every day. It's free. You will never be as close to the players as he will to be there, right? I mean, these are basically like little high school fields, the little fences. People gather behind there when guys are taking batting practice, you know. And, you know, Frank McCourt did this one thing right, right? Of all the bad this Frank did, he did have this really good idea about building a facility

where kind of the fans or the players have to like walk by the fans, right? And so they're these little dirt paths that connect all the roads. Just, you know, sure, they're like little barricades on both sides of them. So it's not like you can just, like, run up and, like, hug them. But, you know, a lot of guys will stop and kind of sign autographs and say hello and stuff. And you'll really get to see these guys up close, you know. And, again, it's just very instructive to see the other side of that complex where the Whitehawks are. You know, for them to go to their clubhouse throughout to the practice fields, they go through a tunnel, right?

And that's, again, to design to keep them separated from the public. But here, you know, as a fan, I think if you're out there, you feel kind of like part of the whole thing. You see guys kind of running from one practice field to the other and stuff. And so, you know, it's just kind of, you know, I guess as somebody who's just been out here since it opened in 2009, you know, I feel like if you just go to the game, you're missing out on a lot that, you know, both Camelback Ranch and the City of Phoenix has to offer. No doubt about it. Go to the parlor for pizza. It's very good. Dylan Hernandez, thank you so much.

I know that Cactus League Media Day is today. Thanks for taking a few moments of your time to be with us. And we'll see you next week. All right. sounds great let's go to uh so they just open on andretti's one of those like oh they did yeah i haven't i haven't been there yet and i'm probably terrible i think it'll be fun let's do it let's do it all right we appreciate it i'll talk to you soon let's get to let's get to last look splint i'm john green you may know me as the author of the fault in 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. 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 their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game.

I love its history, its hope, its 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 Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love.

Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. All right, guys, the good news is Morgan made it to her forever home. So we have a new pup chip. This is a guy that's been in our organization for almost two years. This is the longest resident of the Guidry's Guardian Foundation. He's a good boy.

He's a mixed breed about two years old. He's neutered. He's great with other dogs. He's currently being fostered with three other dogs. So you know he's good with other dogs. He's an active guy. It would be great as a hiking buddy, an active family, somebody like going out and taking adventures,

but also can snuggle with you on the couch. If you're interested in learning more about Chip, he is being fostered in the Los Felis area. Just give us a shout-out. We'll get you connected with him and get more information. What do you have going on on All-Dodgers, Clint? Well, we'll be live at some point later today. Obviously, a lot of news to talk about,

a lot of thoughts to get in with myself and Jeff Snyder and potentially Kevin over there on the All-Dodger side. So make sure you guys are subscribed over there. It'll appreciate it. It'll also be live with a Valentine's Day edition of the show on Saturday. I would really appreciate Valentine's more than you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm big time, big time lover.

A couple things before we do sign off that we didn't get to early in the show. We'll have this be our sort of baseball thoughts for the road. There were, I guess, two more transactions today. Well, fans will be upset about one of them. Anthony Bonda is no longer a Dodger officially. traded to the Minnesota Twins for that sweet sweet cashola international pool money. Yeah, that's a good deal. That's a good deal for him. I think, you know, the AL Central, the twins, they kind of disappointed a whole lot last year, but they have an interesting club.

I think they can do a little bit of something. And having a veteran in the back end of that bullpen could help them out a whole bunch. And beyond that, the Dodgers are never done adding to the roster. They brought in, uh, what big league veteran big league journeyman kestin hira as i'm saying that wrong keeston here i always forget how to say it it's it's custom it's ceston you're right but uh like lifelong uh infielder he agrees to a minor league deal he joins the now 33 non roster invitees at camelback ranch a lot of bodies over there is i don't know how they're going to fit them all in that locker room i mean clayton only gave up two two lockers yeah no they won't all be in the big league locker room

Yeah. They can't be. There's not enough room, but there's not a lot. There's not anybody on that list that was really exciting to me that really stood. And I know you and Katie talked about it or you may have talked about it on all Dodgers as far as the NRIs. It was just kind of like, no, there's not anybody that was like really, really exciting. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple of the names. You know, some of the pictures, I have my five names to watch, Hoseway to Paula.

If you guys see him, give him an eye. Same with Zaire Hope. Yeah. Two of the top outfield prospects, Jackson Ferris, Adam Sirenowski, two lefty pitchers. And Ryder Ryan, who is River Ryan's brother. He has some big league time under his belt, but he is somebody I think the Dodgers can really turn into a weapon under, you know, Mark Pryor and companies' leadership and, you know, their vision. Watch those dudes. They could help, they could help the ball.

Particularly, Ryder Ryan could help the ball club in some way, shape, or form this year. But other than that, spring training is here, baby. Let's go. This is here. Let's go. All right. So Monday is our last show from our home studios. And then we will be out there on Tuesday.

We have our exclusive sit down with Dave on the 20th. And that'll air at a different date. And we're also going to be in the clubhouse getting guys talking to obviously. I think we're doing it live, no. Oh, are we? Probably. We'll have more information. Yeah.

We'll figure that out off here. But our interviews in the clubhouse, will air at a longer date. Yes. That idea. All right. All right, guys. Well, good to be with you.

Thanks for being here. Don't forget to like, subscribe all the things as we try to make our way to 20,000 subs. We appreciate it. Dylan Hernandez, we appreciate you coming on. Dylan, of course, now with the California Post, long-time columnist, Clint, and I will see you. And Katie, probably, too.

We'll see you on Monday. 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 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 Auerkone 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 podcast. 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 Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your friends? parents to hear. I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org.

Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal.