Dodgers Territory - Opening Day VIBES! Will Smith extension, No Ippei = GOOD

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

Extension SZN! Did the Dodgers get a bargain with the Will Smith 10-year deal?Let's welcome Dodger Blue staff writer Scott Geirman to discuss the latest buzz around the club. Alanna & Clint dive into the better clubhouse culture without Ippei Mizuhara and highlight Tyler Glasnow as the staff ace. They also answer your questions in Bleedin' Blue and share a pup that needs your help.Watch DT LIVE on the Foul Territory Network Mondays/Thursdays 12p PT --> HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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experts, real-time updates only on iOS mobile app. I think he's being underpaid. And I know that sounds insane because it's a 10-year contract for 140 million. So what is that, an AAB of 14 million? What is up everybody? I'm just here for the music. Like seriously, I live for this intro. I live. Hey, everybody. Doesn't it feel like just like a little soulful groove there, Clint Paseous? Welcome to opening day, my friend.

How are you feeling? I am feeling phenomenal. And it's not just because, you know, I'm celebrating here at home, little homemade Marg in the Dodger Stadium Mule Cup. But this is a holiday. I heard you with Ken earlier on Fair Territory. This should be a national holiday opening day, for the Dodgers. It's a reason to celebrate how you feeling, Ms. Rizzo, a busy, busy day for you.

It has been a really busy day, but an unbelievably gratifying day. And I did on fair territory with Ken Rosenthal earlier today, Clint. I said that the dork of the week was anybody that did not allow their kid to miss school or their employee to take the day off to enjoy our national pastime on opening day. So I cheers to you, the fan at home. I cheers to you, my partner in crime, Clint Paseas, as we get ready for the 2000. 24 season. Dodgers playing in about what less than an hour. Let's get to it. What is your big ticket item today talking all things Will Smith? Yeah, I mean, everybody's kind of had their thoughts on it so far, but the Dodgers unexpectedly extend Will Smith, a record breaking

10 year contract extension. The Dodgers say, hey, they tell everybody, Will is our guy and he's going to be our guy for pretty much the rest of his baseball career. This is a move I've been asking for for at least the last two seasons. You know, definitely didn't see 10 years on the horizon, though. Longest contract for a Dodgers homegrown player in franchise history, longest contract extension. What did you think? Did you see this coming out of nowhere?

I didn't see this coming for 10 years, but I tell you why I think he's being underpaid. And I know that sounds insane because it's a 10-year contract for 140 million. So what is that an AV of 14 million a year? You see that quick math? from the University of Colorado that I just threw out at you. But here's why I think he's getting underpaid. Because normally a catcher is not your three or four whole hitter, right?

Normally he's down in the lineup a little bit more. But Clint, Will Smith is a three-four hitter. So if you look at what he's been able to do in that spot in the lineup, his OPS is a three-hole hitter over the last three years is better than Xander Bogart. It's better than Manny Machado. It's better than Francisco Lindor. his OPS is a cleanup hitter. So obviously in the four hole over the last three years, last time frame,

better than Jean-Carlo Stanton, which I understand doesn't play as much as Will Smith does. Kyle Tucker of the Astros, Jose Abreu of the Astros now, J.D. Martinez. Will Smith has better numbers than all three, all four of those three and four hitters. So I'm thinking, okay, maybe catchers are a little disrespected as far as that's concerned. This is a guy that gives you an unbelievable at bat at the plate. He's great managing a pitching staff. His defensive numbers have always been there. And again, I'm happy for him.

Happy birthday, by the way, Will Smith. Today is his birthday. A $14 million a year salary is nothing to sneeze at. But I think the Dodgers are the ones that have the better end of this deal. Because not only is, I think he is being undervalued, they also get to defer a lot of this contract, too. So he'll get the bigger portion of the money, I think, after the 10 years or even up. Yeah, this is another one of those almost 20-year deals for the Dodgers as we see Rude Street collectibles say Will Smith is going to get a statue at Dodger Stadium.

Again, 10 years, very much unexpected. We had the graphic up, I think a little bit earlier. This is the longest one. I already mentioned that, the longest contract extension for a homegrown Dodger. One of the notes I really liked that I threw out on the Twitter machine yesterday. We already had the graphic up as well. Well, the last time the Dodgers extended a player to a 10 plus year contract just before opening day, they went out and won a World Series that year.

And that's what Mook, or that's what Will Smith said in his presser yesterday. Big reason I signed here, he knows he knows he's going to have gotten more money somewhere. Big reason I signed here, World Series Opportunity. Same thing, Mookie said four or five years ago, rings. They are here for rings and what better place to do it than in L.A. I mean, you always have a chance to get to the postseason and go to the World Series if you're a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But I like what you're saying, too, about largest contracts signed by a catcher. Only behind Joe Mower, of course, eight years, 184 million.

And behind Buster Posey, nine years, 167 million back with the San Francisco Giants. But remember, Will Smith may not spend the next 10 years behind the plate. He could very easily do what Joe Mauer and Buster Posey did. Maybe when Freddie Freeman's contract is up at first base with the Dodgers or whatever, maybe Will Smith moves over there. So I like this for Will and Kara Smith, obviously, but I love this for the Dodgers because they're making a commitment. They're going to have him stay in a Dodger uniform for the next decade. He wants to be there. He's a good, good hitter. He's a great catcher. And I love this for both sides of the equation, no doubt. Yeah, this is a guy that is hitting cleanup behind

Mookiee Betts, Joey Otani, Freddie Freeman. That's three Hall of Famers, Sure Fire Hall of Famers. the Dodgers have a good one here and Dodgers fans can be happy for the next decade with a lot of stars in LA. You know, and I think maybe he's a little like, hey, you know, I'm a part of, how about the big four? Why does it got to be the big three? Why does it got to be boots free? Boots. What does it got to be, you know, Betts Freeman and Showhay?

Why can't it be, you know, Betts Freeman, Shohei and Smith? I would take exception to that. I mean, he's got some big, some, you know, some pop in that bat. I'm sure Max Muncie would love to get his name in there. To Oscar Hernandez would love to get his name in there. Let's throw in some Gavin Lux. Why not? But that's Will Smith for you.

You know Will Smith. You got to see him in your final couple seasons covering the team. He doesn't want the noise. He doesn't want all of that. He just wants to show up, do his job, do it well, command the respect of his team, and go home and go be dead. All right. Well, Dodgers, fans getting ready for the first pitch at home.

Of course, they started the season in Seoul Korea against the San Diego Padres, but they finally get to see their team in person at Chavez Ravine. We have a guest with us today, and I know that you know our next guest, Clint, very well, a staff writer before at Dodger Blue. And I want to welcome in Scott. And you tell me, Scott, how excited are you? You're all decked out in Dodgers stuff, which is very apropos. How excited are you?

Happy opening day, my friend. Happy opening day to you guys. Congratulations on the show. It's great to be here. I think myself, like all Dodger fans and the players, we're just excited. We're excited to move past spring training, get this team on the field. This is the most highly anticipated team we've seen in quite a long time. So myself as a fan and myself as a writer that covers a team, I couldn't be happier.

It's 10 out of 10. I think there's so many things to say about the organization right now. It's a fun time to be a Dodgers fan. And I think we all need to embrace it, wrap ourselves up in it because it's just, it's so terrific. Scott, Geyerman, good. see you here on the show happy you're our first guess my dude um you know what opening day will smith news aside it's good to have all of these kind of uh we'll say distractions from the ugliness of the past week uh with the show hey otani situation ipe isuhara situation as

alana uh lovely lovely alana put it in our chat uh here at uh the foul territory uh i don't know do you want to say it alon because they felt a lot like uh ipe was cock blocking uh Shohay Otani from everybody. He was. I kind of feel like he's my dog when my husband tries to give me a hug or a kiss and Bentley's like, uh-uh, uh-uh, that's my mom. Those are my, you know, those kisses are reserved for me. But it does kind of feel like Ipe Mizuhara was, you know, kind of cock-blocking Shohei Otani from the remainder of his teammates in that Dodgers clubhouse. And don't listen to what I have to say. That's what Dave Roberts. He didn't use that term. Obviously, he's much

more classic than I am. But that's kind of what he was saying, that there was a bit of a wall built around Shohei because of EPAY and now it seems like, you know, Shohei is a little bit more engaged, Scott. What's your take on it? I think that, yeah, there's a lot to be said. Dave Roberts's comments in this past week are very peculiar. It's, there's so many elements to this. I was reading the quote about that it's going to help relations internally.

The organization has done a fantastic job of not only distancing themselves from Mizuara, but also like creating the understanding that there was a definite, you know, just like they said, a buffer, which it's how odd between your superstar player, an incredibly talented guy, and there's a wall essentially between himself, the players. My hope is that this is stripped away and that Otani can be more of himself. I'm sure it's more of like a freeing type of thing. I can't speak for him, but just reading through the tea leaves and looking at it as it is, show Hey, Otani is in a very odd spot because now he has to prepare for the season. Essentially, he's in the whirlwind of this news.

And Dave Roberts coming out and saying that it's going to help the Dodgers with more information to him on the baseball side. I think there's so much more to dive in there and we won't know everything. We just have to really see how the game plays out. But I just really, I'm curious how everybody is taking this information so differently. but we might be seeing Otani go into a different side of himself and we just haven't seen it yet. Yeah, one of the things that I found a little odd and I know Alana kind of heard some of the rumors, maybe they're not quite public, but there was a report about, you know, Shoha Tani trying to get his own private clubhouse built away from everybody sort of further,

bubbling himself away from the team. I don't know if that was even a reality, if that's going to be a thing still. but if we're seeing more Shohei interacting with his teammates, I don't know if you were out at spring training this year, if you got a sense in the clubhouse kind of the early returns of Otani. But how do you think this affects this clubhouse in general that's over the last, you know, decade, especially the last five years, become really, really tight knit.

Yeah, I think that when Otani had his press conference on Monday, it said a lot that Stan Kasten, Andrew Friedman, Dave Roberts, Brandon Gomes, Joe Kelly, and I believe Kike Hernandez walked in with him. So this team's rallying around Shohei Otani. He's not sitting on an island. So it's a tough situation for him. And I know you've really dove into that press conference and how much it meant to it, like him speaking himself.

For me, Shohei coming out and not just releasing a statement, him going up there and saying it himself shows a ton of faith and his side of the story. And also that his teams rallying around him. This is something that they feel strongly in, and I'm sure they do. They have to. This is their guy. He's a pillar piece to the organization for the foreseeable future. And I'm upset.

I wasn't able to talk about Will Smith because that's a great topic. But Shohei Otani, really, this team's with him. They see how hard he works. He was there all offseason. He's setting a standard, a brand new standard. Setting a bar that was already high, well, it's higher. So I'm excited because of that. I'm hopeful that this organization is able to move past this.

I know there's a long way to go. We don't know all the facts that still have to come out with the investigations. But on the teammate front, they're doing everything they can to show support for show A. Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention, work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list, your breast health. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States.

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Accept Discover? In a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh. Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby. Get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants? These are making a comeback. I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nilsen report. We're talking to Scott Gehrman of a... Dodger Blue staff writer there at Dodger Blue, who is very much on the pulse of what's going on with this team.

And I'm all for you talking about Will Smith. Go ahead. I mean, just let's talk about the 10-year, $140 million contract extension that the Dodgers have given to their backstop. I mean, this team is printing money, but they're also spending money in smart ways. Yeah, looking back to 2021, right? So Will Smith's, he's led all catchers in F-war, you know, 12.9. He's beating out the best. he's beating out, you know, Sean Murphy, J.T. Romuto. And now you're able to sign him for, it's going to be per, you know, A.A.V. Average annual value fourth in major leagues. So they're getting him not only at a value.

They're getting a commodity that's incredibly tough to lock up around Major League Baseball for an insane, an insane deal. So when we all wanted Andrew Friedman to cook, he did this offseason. This was it. This was the pinnacle of front office work. This was general managing. and president of baseball operations managing at its finest. It was a master class. So getting Will Smith here, and he wanted to be a Dodger,

he undoubtedly could have gone on the free agent market and got more. But he took a deal that he was able to lock up $50 million in deferrals, I believe, and $30 million siding bonus, that's terrific. I'm, you know, congratulations to Will Smith. He's a Dodger. He's another one of those pillar pieces to the organization. And I heard you talking about how you can have your, top four. Will Smith is in that. He is a offensive weapon. I hope his defensive game

shores up a bit. But just like you said, to your point, towards the back end of that deal, we don't, I don't think anybody expects him to be a catcher for the next 10 years. But when Freddie Freeman's contract is up, to your point, he can take over a corner infield position. And he's still one of the best offensive players in the league. He walks. He doesn't strike out. Like, he caters to the new fan, the old fan, and he just wants to play ball. I love it. And he does it quietly, too. He reminds me a lot of Buster Posey, actually.

I mean, when he came up in 2016, I even likened him to that. I mean, they just put their head down. They go about their business. And who knows, a lot of people would argue that Buster Posy is a Hall of Famer. Maybe Will Smith is on that same trajectory. Might be a little too quiet for that one is Will Smith. So we know Will Smith, he caps off a very, very busy offseason. I mean, there's sort of extra offseason, thanks to Korea baked in there.

but hunt 1.3 billion dollars committed to this team this offseason so now we see it all on the field opening day you have tyler glas now starting his second opening day so far what are you looking for in glas now what did you like what did you not like in his uh debut in korea and what do you expect for him going forward what i really expect from tyler glasnow going forward is to be that ace like he has like the big talking point around tyler glass now is his ability to stay on field and that's fine like if anybody wants to question that that's something that is should be a question like i hope that dodger staff can find a good medium point for him to keep him healthy keep him on the field uh but when he's out there since 2019 he with pitchers who have logged more than

300 innings he's been some of the best the dodgers rotation lacked strikeout stuff last year that's exactly what tyler glass now brings six eight power righty he's going to throw it right at you he's going to say this is my stuff i don't care i'm going to throw it you know second and fifth since then, third and batting average allowed. He is the real deal. At the time, prospect costs, a lot of people said it was going to be high. Johnny DeLuca, Ryan Pepeyo, a lot of control there, and that's tough to give up. I understand that.

But you're getting an ace. And again, we talk about commodities a lot. It's tough to find those pillars. And you locked them up for five years, $136 million. There's a ton to like about them. We've seen it. Dodger fans have faced off against the Rays in the World Series. He's firsthand experience, everybody.

Like, Dodgers might have done good work against him, but now you're getting him in the prior lab. It's just, it's a value, guys. Like, this is stuff that I'm super. He, I'm super excited. His track record, his ceiling, he's an anchor. Let's lock him in at the number one, and there you go. And he is the best show flow.

I don't know anybody in the game that has better lettuce than Tyler Glass. Now, I'm looking for him to at least give you six innings, right? I mean, is that fair? I think the biggest thing was he's coming off, one of his best years, but he has only come off of, what was it, 120, 120 15 innings last season. So, I mean, is that fair to say that you got to give us at least six tonight? I would say so. I would love to see six. I'd love to see, you know, let's approach eight plus punchouts, keep it right there, a lot of energy. He's going to be adrenaline up.

I'm excited for it. I was talking, I went to, I was at Dodger Fest. I was standing with my, he's one of our, he's our editor, Dodger Blue. I took a, try to take a photo next to Tyler Glass now, I'm not tall. Tyler Glassnow is fairly tall. So I just want to see him stand tall on the mound, give us an incredible, just like you said, Alana, six innings,

and build on that career high of innings he posted last year and see really what he's got. Dodger fans should love Tyler Glassnow. You're going to love his show flow. You're going to love his demeanor on the mound. He's going to come right at you. I'm excited. Yeah, this is one of those guys.

There's a reason he's starting two opening days for this team. He is expected to be the workhorse. expected to lead the staff. You know, Yoshinoviyomamoto's not going to start every fifth day. You have some other injury question marks. You have injured players taking their sweet time, or not their sweet time, but taking some back. Walker Bueller could be pitching right now. You know he wants to be pitching, but they're playing it smart. Of course, but he's not taking his sweet time. They're protecting him. There's a difference. We're having a show mark here.

on how we do it on Thursdays. Scott, we got a lot of baseball ahead of us. What is, who is your X factor for the Dodgers in 2024? I think it's got to be the top three. Can't be the big four. Can't be the big four. Well, I'm a big to Oscar Hernandez guy. I've been on that on the channel on Dodger Blue, the whole offseason.

I'm taking a lot of flag for him not having an unbelievable spring training in the exhibition games. He didn't come up so big. but we're going to parlay that. We're going to roll it. We're going to double down. I'm saying to Oscar Hernandez, everyone should understand that he's a big bat on a one-year contract. It's tough to find. Let's get, you know, get him in there, keep his value. And I know it's, again, he's in a walk year. So I expect him to have amazing numbers. I expect him to be motivated. He's got lineup protection now. And he's an RBI guy. I advocated sometime. I know this might shock some people, but at different points, I was saying he could be like a spot for the cleanup role.

But that's Will Smith now. He's the captain. He's the captain behind the dish. That's his role. So Teoscar Hernandez can go right behind Max Muncie in the sixth spot. He's my ex-factor. Someone you might not know much about, but Dodger fans will understand when he has the ability to put up, you know, 30 homers and drive in 100 runs.

So that's my guy. All right. Our podcast audience, we're talking with Scott Gehrman of Dodger Blue. And all right. So that's your position player, to Oscar Hernandez. I liked the sign, definitely, when the Dodgers got him. What about a pitcher? Who's your X factor as far as the pitching staff is concerned?

It would be Emmett Sheehan if he had like a proper spring training. But I'm going to say, let's go. I'm going to say James Paxson to be fun. I'm just going to say because if he stays on the field, he's that bridge. He's someone the Dodgers lacked last year where it was the top two, top three, and then it just fell off. And then they really struggled to find those innings. and they really had to dive into their minor league staff last year.

So I'm going to say the big Maple. I'm high on him for the point that I hope that he stays healthy. And I hope that he stays out there because he's got a little bit left in the tank. I really do think so. And if we revisit this in two months and I am wrong, I will wear it just because this is a hopeful fan of me that he is one of those under the radar signings that just can provide valuable innings. that now if the Dodgers do rotate towards, you know, a pseudo-6-man rotation, James Paxson is one of those arms that will really be a bridge to the rest of the rotation. Scott, one more before we get you out of here, man.

We know negativity sales online. What goes wrong if the Dodgers don't win the NOS this year? Oh, man. That's not going to happen, Clint, for the low. I wish I prepared. I don't see, yes. Stacked now. Kind of stacked.

Yeah, I mean backs are good. Yes, I love what they've done this off season. The N.O.S. has been amazing this off season. What goes wrong? The bullpen, the veterans in the bullpen falter, the back end of the rotation doesn't get healthy. Walker Bueller is not himself. Clayton Kershaw doesn't make it back. Percy, that's a lot of stuff, Scott.

I'm telling you. I'm telling you. There's like the pitching, I know. You want a doomsday. It has to be a doomsday for this team to go wrong. It just has to be. They've done too much to buffer this. So that's it. Okay, fine. We'll keep bullpen mainstay. That Arlana, I'll walk that back.

Don't let her bully you. No, no, no, no. You let it eat, man, because we know. Stantal, stand tall. Okay, five seven of me, Stantle. Okay, let's do it. Okay. Five misfortunes for this team to not win the NL. West. Yeah, it's, there has to be a multitude of things to go wrong. So, yeah, all right. Clint, thank you, buddy. We're going to stay with this. Okay. So the bullpen stays fine. They, yes, yeah, yeah. They'll be fine because of the beginning of last year, they were a little shaky and they locked it in. They were fine. So bullpen stays good. They figure that out. They keep it on that same plane. But the back end of the rotations, the area that they'll have to,

ah, I can just double down again. Alana, I've got you here. So the front end of the rotation, they'll be good. They'll keep their one, two, three, they'll be fine. If Buehler doesn't make it back, Kirschau doesn't make it back, then now with all the signings they've made, they can dip into their farm system and replenish that starting rotation. But the starting rotation, say the four, five and maybe six. If Sheehan doesn't do so well, Gavin Stone doesn't continue that step he showed in spring. That's an area where we could really see the Dodgers kind of falter, where other teams in the West have really taken a step to buffer that. In Arizona, I think Arizona, it arguably has a little bit slightly bit more consistent of a better, like of a rotation, top to bottom.

Sorry, getting a little too excited. But that's an area that they've kind of kept pace. So if anything goes wrong for the Dodgers, it's the back end of the rotation. So, you know, last year's problems. I understand. I do agree with you about starting pitching depth, though. I am concerned that it may not be enough. And you never know exactly what you're going to get from guys coming back from injury. So I do agree with you there. But I don't, you're right. It's going to take a lot of different things, in my opinion, for this team not to win the NL.S. Scott Gehrman, staff writer at Dodger Blue, always a polythra of knowledge. Always great to have you on. We appreciate it so much. Thank you. Looking forward to it. hopefully be back on here soon. Congratulations, you guys. I'm looking forward to this year.

You know, you do a terrific job. Happy opening day. Happy domestic opening day. Happy domestic opening day. I'd love to see it. Yes, Chavez-Ravine is no doubt popping right now. Of course, a lot of fans at the ballpark getting ready for the home opener, if you will, for the 20204 season. And let's involve some of those fans, Clint. It's time now for bleeding blue. We love when our fans interact with us. So let's get to some of these tweets. What are we what are we talking about here as far as some of the bleeding blue questions. Are we talking first about Jack Harris, talking about what Dave Roberts is saying?

Yeah, so quickly we got, do have some updates, bullpen-wise, Bruzdar, Gratterol, this coming from Dave Roberts, his pre-game press, or Brousdard Gratrol and Blake Trinin are a little bit further behind.

The way. Yeah, they're delayed. So we will have to see more Michael Grove in there. Kyle Hurt gets a little bit more time in the bullpen Walker Bueller. closer back in here. Now, wait a minute. Didn't you just say that he was taking his sweet time?

Apparently, this according to Jack Harris, Walker Bueller, on the other hand, is coming sooner than I think we anticipated. Robert said he'll either head to OKC, of course, or Arizona next to continue his buildup. That is good news. Great news. That's huge. Let him pitch. Let him pitch.

They'll figure it out if they need to bake in a few extra days off here and there to keep the innings down for him, that's fine. I want to see Walker Effing Bueller back on the mound in the mix with this team because you know it. You're admittedly like, I wouldn't say not a fan of Gavin Stone, but there's a little bit of a concern if that's your number five. I don't know. I don't know enough about Gavin Stone. He hasn't pitched enough for me to get excited about Gavin Stone as our fifth starter. This is the Los Angeles Dodgers we're talking about. He is our fifth starter because of necessity, not because of choice. I mean, let's be honest. No disrespect to him, but if Walker Bueller was healthy, if Clayton was healthy, if Dustin was back, if Gonsolin was back,

Gavin Stone wouldn't be in the rotation right now. It's fair. It's fair. Hey, it's Carissa Thompson. Everything these days is fighting for your attention, work, family, social media, and it makes it tough to figure out what should really come first. But here's something that absolutely deserves to be at the top of your list, your breast health.

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I did say a question to shift gears and back to what I had just asked Scott on his way out as, by the way, what are you drinking? I didn't catch what you drink? This is tickled bumps, brute bubbly. from Scout and Seller. I'm a Scout and Seller consultant and I just got this today and I thought how appropriate

that we're going to pop some bubbly on opening day. So cheers to you, my partner, and cheers to opening day. Cheers to the Dodgers in 2024. Cheers. And now I put you in a really bad spot with this question we got from a commenter

Geshmake on YouTube. This leads into kind of what I was asking. If everything goes wrong for the Dodgers, they don't make it, what happens? Does Dave Roberts get fired? If the Dodgers don't win NOS or win a World Series?

No, I don't think so. Geshmeik. I mean, that's a reasonable question. I think you're only as good as your last season, but you have to remember to take the entire body of work, I think. I don't believe that you, I mean, listen, if they're two completely different organizations, but if Bud Black gets to come back year to year, Dave Roberts, my goodness. I mean, the man has taken this team to the postseason since taking, you know, the reins as

manager of this team. Do the Dodgers need to get further in the postseason than getting bounced in the first round? A hundred percent. But in my opinion, there's no way that, listen, the last time the Dodgers didn't win the NL West is because they lost by one game to the San Francisco Giants who won 107 games and the Dodgers won 106. Should Dave Roberts been fired that year because they didn't win the West? Absolutely not. Dave Roberts does not get fired if they don't win the West, but I do believe that they will. All right. I had one more thing. And then I'll leave it to you to, to shift us into our next topic or our next segment. But I see Scott Braun going off in our chat.

And he says, scouting seller slaps. They need to sponsor Dodgers territory. And I have no problems. No problem. I agree. I agree. Scouts seller does slap. And you know why Scott says that?

Because Scott, our boss is one of the most healthy humans on the planet. He doesn't, first of all, he's so ripped. It's ridiculous. And I say this with love and affection because the kid is like my little brother, Okay. But he is so health conscious and Scout and Cellar has no added sulfites, no added sugars, no added preservatives. So he actually, when Scott does drink wine, he does. It does. It slaps. It's good. You can, not that I recommend you drinking an entire bottle by yourself, but if you do, you don't wake up with a headache. Not that I have experience with that, I'm just saying. But I agree with Scott. And he is like the most health conscious. healthiest human I've ever met my life. Yeah, he's one of those guys when we saw, I saw him kind of reemerge and, you know, foul territory

blowing up in our face. It was like, damn, I remember brawny being this like jacked, but no, no, no. And Braun went to the you, of course, where the other Braun went. But Scott Braun did it all naturally. If you could see Scott Braun's muscles, it's a little ridiculous.

It's a little ridiculous. All right, moving on. Let's say we have our producers dealing in it. Opening day memory for you, Clint. I'm a lot older than you, but what's your favorite opening day memory? So I know a lot of folks are going to say the Clayton Kershaw does everything day. So I'm going to save that for you because I have one more. 2019 was when I first started like fully covering this team day to day, this was my job. This was my life.

And that 2019 opening day was a fun one at Dodger Stadium. They score 12 runs against the Diamondbacks, eight by Homer. They shell Zach Granke for seven runs. Jock Peterson, Keekh Hernandez, hit a pair of bombs each. That one was a pretty damn fun. But we all know the best one. Tell us that best opening day of all time. Well, I think everyone's experience is different.

But I am going to take us back to Clayton Kershaw, because Dave Asse, who does a great job on Dodgers talk on AM 570 there in Los Angeles, said this, and I agree with them. You don't have to go back 50 years for a memorable Dodgers Stadium opening date. 2013 will always stand out. And I wasn't covering the team at 2013. I didn't start covering the Dodgers until 2014. So I was there from 14 through the end of the 2020 season.

But 2013 is when Clayton Kershaw hit the home run in the eighth inning of a scoreless tie and pitched a complete game. shutout against the Giants. And I love that because obviously Clayton was the only offense, but that's the only offense he needed because Clayton threw a complete game. I mean, so many starters, nobody goes complete games anymore. Nobody goes into the ninth inning. They're not allowed. So it was just such a beautiful day. It was a beautiful, gorgeous day game at Dodger Stadium against the Giants. And for Clayton to be like, you know what, I got it. I got it. And again, that was that ridiculous record, whatever it was when Clayton had, you know, it's like four or more

and he wins the game but all he needed in this game was one and he and he provided his own offense and that was just a beautiful thing was that mark ellis running the bases who was 22 back in the day uh that's clayton kersha oh yeah because i just said that right yeah 22 you're right oh that was like maybe i should stop drinking tickle bumps we have smaller screens i get it no i just have really bad eyes alana give us uh give us some last licks all right last licks we're taking you this and i always appreciate doing being able to do this but last lakes where of course we're going to talk about uh some dogs as well but i want to talk about uh final thought here angels tribute to otani what do you think about this it was during an exhibition game what's what's your thought on that they couldn't wait

until the dodgers and the angels played in the regular season i think that was a damned if you do damned if you don't situation for those they're going to do it again hopefully they add some more uh to to the uh you know to the display there to the video you know to the video show hey is going to get plenty of standing oz he's going to get plenty of opportunities during the the real season freeway series so i'm not too heard about it i think i would be more annoyed if they didn't have something acknowledging show hey while he was there um you think that they're going to change something have you seen the angels pregame stuff the last decade and a half they haven't changed anything at angel stadium in the last decade and a half they're not going to add anything

are we still on the rally monkey they're still on it and they still play the same songs, the same videos, the same, all the things. I'm not going to piss off Angels fans two shows in a row. So I'm going to leave it. I'm going to leave it. And I'm going to say one final thought for me. We should give some prayers up to Dodgers broadcaster Charlie Steiner, who the team announced yesterday that he's going to be missing part of the season as he

had a great slip and fall or whatever happened. But he injured his back. So he's going to be on the 60-day aisle for a while before coming back strong in the second half of the season. Hopefully at the same time, Clayton Kershaw comes back. But prayer's up to Charlie. We'll miss him in the booth, but at least the team does have Tim Neversett to fill in for now, the young understudy, Tim Nevers. But prayer's up for Charlie. Yeah, Charlie's been doing this an unbelievable amount of time with two very historic franchises, obviously, the Yankees and the Dodgers. So we're thinking about you, Charlie, get better soon. And hopefully that sounds incredibly

painful what Charlie Steiner is dealing with. So I apologize for that to him because that just seems awful. All right. Gidre's Guardian Foundation, that is my nonprofit foundation where we try to rescue dogs and save them off of the streets and out of high-kill shelters. For more information, visit giddreysgarden.org to donate. We're dealing with a dog by the name of Boogie. She's trying to get her boogie back. She was abandoned and left and dumped basically in somebody's yard in South L.A. at night. They just left her there. She has definitely been neglected. But she is going to have a good story because somebody was able to bring her in. But she could use some help. We're going to get her spayed because we want to control the pet population and there's way too many

unnecessary litters. We're trying to raise money for that. So if you can do that, I would be greatly appreciated. Gidreysguardian.org for those of us watching and listening and very much appreciate all of that. I think, you know, we should always listen to the great Bob Barker. Have your pet spayed or new. I know. He had, I mean, I mean, he was ahead of his time. I mean, and the pet population wasn't even that bad when Bob Barker was talking about that on the prices, right? You have pets. You know what it's like?

I mean, they give us so much, so much joy. And you know what? You still have a busy day. I am finally done. I had a crazy day, but you have your main show coming up. Tell us a little bit more about that and when we can listen, how we can listen. And let's get people directed to that. Yeah.

So I do while on top of this, I'm also still doing my All Dodgers channel. So check it out, All Dodgers here on YouTube. if you're watching, uh, watching, uh, also all Dodgers podcast with Clint Poccius on the podcast platform. So usually live streams on Mondays and Thursdays. I might change it up a little bit here and there, but Thursdays for sure. So I will have a live stream tonight, seven p.m. Pacific. We call them the thirsty Thursday stream. So I started a little earlier today, but, uh, come hang out in the chat. That one's a lot more chat focused because it's usually just me talking to myself and the screen. And it's a, it's a fun time, hopefully for some fans. And,

We get to ideally talk about a Dodger win today. All right. So you think that's going to happen. Clayton Kirshott, by the way, is in the house for introductions. I know that's exciting. I know that he's not, I know that he's not pitching yet, but it's cool to see him there, number 22. We're happy about that.

Clint Pisces, Alana Rizzo, Dodgers territory on foul territory. Please go over. Subscribe, like us, tell your friends. Happy opening day, everybody. Let's go. Go Dodgers. Hey, it's Haley Steinfeld. When everything requires your attention,

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