Dodgers Territory - Snell and Edman Concerns? Roki Sasaki Reveals Changes; WBC Drama

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas break down their biggest takeaways from Dodgerfest over the weekend! The latest on Tommy Edman and Blake Snell's health (1:19), new pitches being implemented by Roki Sasaki in his second MLB season (6:14), and more Los Angeles Dodgers news and notes! Mookie Betts shared his grand plan for the rest of his career and steps taken to get his bat back on track for the upcoming season (12:39). Will Mookie be a comeback player of the year in 2026? The hosts discuss. And Freddie Freeman says he plans to play for 4 more seasons (22:08). Will they all be in a Dodger uniform? (26:29) Alanna shares her thoughts on the state of the WBC with several big players being unable to participate due to insurance issues. What is going on and is this bad for the tournament? (35:44) And what are the best parts of spring training? Share your thoughts in the comments section! 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.

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 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. Come check this. IHeard and TikTok have come together to create something new.

I love it. Where the world of TikTok meets your playlist. Three words that will change your life. IHeart TikTok Radio. The biggest hits across IHeartRadio? What's trending for you on TikTok? Tell me a sound that's better than this. IHart TikTok Radio.

Plus TikTok's most influential creators all in one place. Search for IHard TikTok Radio. preset and stay connected all day. I don't want him out there if he's not 100%. What's the point? I mean, why put yourself at risk of injuring it again or injuring it further? They meet Tommy Edmund when it matters the most and that's in the dog days of summer. What's up? Welcome to Dodgers territory. I'm Alonarizzo. That is Clint Paceas. Katie Wu is on assignment. She will be with us on Thursday, I believe. I'm happy that you're here.

Don't forget to like and subscribe. And by the way, we did it. We hit 15,000 subscribers. We appreciate you guys very much. Looks like we made it. Our next goal is to get to 20,000 subs. Again, it means so much to us. So rate us five stars, like and subscribe to the Dodgers Territory podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your pods. And of course, on YouTube.

Clint, good to see you, as always. We've got a lot to talk about. Let's get to the big ticket. I'm interested to know, my friend. What was your biggest takeaway from Fan Fest? Yeah, a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff coming out of Fan Fest. This is the thing that makes you really excited.

The season is just around the corner. Pitchers and catches report next Thursday. And we got some updates, continued updates, following up in our conversations with Andrew Friedman. By the way, if you guys missed that, check it out. Andrew Friedman, the architect of this great team. He joined us last week on the show, myself, Alana, Katie Wu. But we got a little more clarity question mark with Tommy Edmund.

That's kind of amongst, I got nine takeaways, essentially, first with dive in, too. Let's talk about Tommy Edmund first. He did reveal he's out of his walking boot finally about two weeks ago, starting to do some baseball activity, starting to move around a little bit more. But it seems like maybe his status for opening day is a little in question, which is fine. It doesn't bother me. But is mixing in the baseball activities, but he thinks it depends on his progression.

He is not putting a hard line in the sand to be ready for opening day. He's going to try to do everything he can. But if it's not right, if that ankle, that surgically, repaired ankle. He had surgery to repair some ligament damage and also remove some bone spurs. If he's not ready to go, 100% ready to go, he's not going to be on the opening day roster. And I think that's okay. I think, you know, if anything, the opening day roster is more show and flash and pomp and circumstance than anything important. How do you feel about the Edmund update? I don't want him out there if he's not 100%. What's the point? I mean, why put

yourself at risk of injuring it again or injuring it further? They don't need him. They need Tommy Edmund when it matters the most. And that's in the dog days of summer. That's after the All-Star break. Obviously, he's coming back before that. But my point is, they need him for October. I don't care if he's playing on March 26th or whatever opening day is March 28th or whatever it is.

Yeah, I mean, I'm glad that he's out of that walking boot. I'm glad that he's starting to put in some baseball activities. But the thing about this roster with the Miguel Rojas's of the world and the Hassan Kim's of the world and that type of thing, there's enough bodies right now to get them through where they need to be until Tommy Edmund is 100% ready to come back and play a solid, solid second base. Yeah. One of the things he added at the end, and I love it, is like, I just, I don't want to have

to go back on the injured list at any point during the season. We saw that a couple of times last off, or last, last regular season, a few fall starts, even into the postseason, having to miss some time and kind of affecting that roster construction and the ability to move some pieces around for Dave, whether he's going to, center, second base. Get him healthy. That's the most important thing. Next guy, too. Let him be healthy for the entirety of the season. We should talk Blake Snell. I don't know if you saw a lot of the Snell stuff. This happened after. I mean, I thought when Jack Harris originally said, Jack Harris obviously now writing for the California post, not the L.A. Times. It's a new publication there

in California. And this is what Bill Plunkett, who's a friend of the show confirming as well, Blake Snell said he was guilty of rushing to be ready last season, feeling weight of expectations after signing with L.A. Remember, he signed late. He signed late. Shoulder never felt great last year, stronger after PT. This winter goal is opening day, but he's not going to be a lot. He's going to be a lot smarter on that this year. Again, you want Blake Snell to be available and post every fifth day when it matters the most. I don't like the fact that he missed the first two plus months of the season this year.

That sucked. And I certainly hope it's not that long. I don't think it will be for all intents and purposes. It doesn't seem that it's going to be that long. But I do think that, again, the Dodgers are fortunate to be in a position where they have enough depth. Again, I know that they probably wanted to start with the six-man rotation because of Otani and Yamamoto. We don't know what's going to happen with Sasaki yet. But I'm okay with it.

We have the Emmett Sheeans of the world. We have the River Ryans. We have the Gavin Stones. Remember, when Andrew Friedman was on the show with us last week on Thursday, he said, like, this is an opportunity. And I'm paraphrasing here. I'm not trying to speak for Andrew, but he wants to see, he's excited to see what Gavin Stone can do this year. He's excited to see, obviously, what River Ryan can do.

And we know that, we know what Emmett Sheehan is capable of. I mean, you think Emmett Sheehan's going to be in the rotation to start the season. So I'm okay with it, but let's not do two, three months now, okay? Like, I get that you rushed into the season last year because of the late signing, but you've had some good off season, I'll be short, thank God. but a good PT and take care of yourself, but let's go. You're all right. To me, this is definitely not really a problem at all.

You got enough bodies who need, they need to throw some innings. The kids need to throw innings. So why rush Blake Snell? They signed this dude. Dodgers are in this enviable position where you don't need to have all your aces on the bump every five or six days to make the postseason to even win the division. They don't need that. They have the tools.

They have the talent, whether a Blake Snell or a Yama, Motelamist time or Shohei doesn't pitch the entirety of the season. As long as these boys are ready for September and October, that is the most important thing. There was also some Roki Sasaki talk at what Dodger Fest, continuing a little bit with what you had asked Andrew Friedman about something Dave had mentioned earlier in the week. The whole thing about, hey, there's probably a need to add a third pitch for Roki Sasaki. it turns out he's trying to add two pitches, both of them fastballs technically,

but we got this from Dylan Hernandez, working in a cutter and a two seamer to play off of that that four seam fastball and, of course, the forkball splitter, whatever you want to call it. Is that enough? Is that enough for you? I almost think it's too much right. I, you know, I think I asked for a third pitch, not a third and a fourth, but this is what I need to know. Is Roki Sasaki going to be a starter? If he's going to be a starter and that's the, that's the projection they see him as, then he needs to start training himself to be a starter and he absolutely needs a third pitch.

If they're going to keep him in the bullpen, then he has shown that he can be effective in the bullpen with a fastball and, you know, his with his two pitches that he has. But yes, a cutter and a two seamer. Okay. Again, this is this slow ramp up and only like Dylan Hernandez can say on the 24 year old starter, turned closer, turned back starter, who will once again show up to camp as one of the team's greatest mysteries. Oh, Dylan. But it is. I mean, he just has a way with pessimism like nobody else. But he's a fantastic writer. And he loves good wine, too. So I appreciate that about him.

I don't know. Yeah, he definitely needs more than two pitches. I just, you know, should we, should we nail the cutter before we work on the two seamer? Should we nail the two seamer before we work on the cutter? What is your thought about? My, my impression or what I would have imagine they're doing. And I talked a little bit about this last night on my All-Dodgers show, trying to make it as, as simple as possible with one of the things I love that Bulldog Oral Hershey's talks about is the pro-nation of your throw or a supination. And that's how you would get a pitch to move this way rather than this way. Of course, you know, you've covered baseball for a million years, married to a catcher, all this kind of stuff. You've seen enough pitching in your life to know what that does. But I do wonder about somebody with that splitter, with that for. ball, something that's a little more straight over the top. If you're trying to create some wrinkle in on a left hander, away from a right hander, if that can kind of affect a forkball splitter and his four-seem fastball. So what I'm imagining Mark Pryor and company are doing with Roki Sasaki is more of just little grip changes and not so much of wrist tilt and elbow

things to make the pitch move. So with that said, I think throwing in these little wrinkles, even if they're not massive, they're not stat-cast darlings with a bunch of run, enough to make a difference, enough to put that in the back of a hitter's mind. It's not just going to be fastball at the top of the zone and a forkball dropping off the plate. I think that could be enough to really help Roki Sasaki out, and I'm excited. I'm excited. I think, like I told Andrew, there's a reason everybody wanted this dude. You bring him aboard to be a starting pitcher for a reason.

And why not? Why not try to make him a starter while you still can't? you know like he's there another dude i'll say it again you got the tools you got the talent and you have the ability to let him figure it out and if he doesn't well you've seen him be a pretty damn effective uh closer reliever whatever his role may end up being but uh i'm excited i'm excited to see roki sasaki as you said dylan mentioned the one of the greater mysteries uh for the dodgers heading into camp that that's going to be one of those things you really got to watch one of the But there isn't a mystery, though, is how much faith Andrew Friedman has in him.

I mean, when we had him on the show last week, he was talking about just the talent level that he truly believes that Roki Sasaki has. Another thing that we forget, too, is he's only 24. You know what I mean? He's been in this country for a hot second. Like, we need to be a little bit patient. We're so used to being like, all right, we signed this guy. He chose us. Like, let's go.

You know, he came with so much pomp and circumstance and fanfare. But, I mean, he is still young. He is still learning his ways. You know, he was in the pitching lab or, in, Siberia, wherever they sent him last year. I don't know. But I would like to get Mark Pryor's thoughts on it. I will probably get him on the show soon. But there's another guy he gets to work with, and that's Shohei Otani, who made it official. Dave Roberts did tell us that Shohei Otani, Clint is not pitching in the WBC, adding that it was Otani's decision, this

from Alden Gonzalez, who covers the team and Major League Baseball for ESPN. And I believe that. I believe that the Dodgers will do what Otani wants. So I do believe it was Otoni's decision, because I think it's silly, and we had this conversation just on foul territory with AJ Piersinski and Eric Kratz and Jim Bowden, that it makes sense that, you know, you don't want to push it and get hurt into WBC when he's so unbelievably valuable to his, you know, his major league team. Again, he could get hurt hitting, but position players getting hurt and being taken out for an extended period of time is a lot different than it tends to happen more to pitchers, right? So I'm okay with him not pitching

And we're still going to be able to see some cool matchups You know, he's still going to be in the WBC So I'm okay with him He'll still be rocking some dingers But yeah, when you're talking about your everyday D.H Your lead off batter, yeah, you want to protect that boy As much as you can protect that arm That twice surgically repaired arms

So I think it's the right call. Dave as well said, you know, It's the right call to focus on that ramp up And he wants to start. I think Shoah really wants to start 25 to maybe 30 games for this team this year. I'm pretty sure that's a goal, get himself a MVP, and hell, why not throwing a Syung Award while we're at it? Yeah.

You call it? Why not? Why not? Right here right now? You know what? I will step back. You're bowling over Yamamoto. Top three.

Top three. Oh, all right. I think Yamamoto is going to be a little beat up from last year. I'm telling you, man. Like, that dude threw so many damn in that postseason and in that World Series. and making 30 starts for the first time in his life. I would be shocked if Yoshi doesn't at least get, you know, a 15-day blow on the aisle at some point because, you know,

he's real hurt, wink, wink, wink, wink, seizure. Tired. He was the only one that wasn't on the aisle last year of all the starting stuff. So, all right, Mookie Betts on staying at shortstop for the rest of his career. I thought that was pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, obviously, go ahead. Sorry.

I'm cutting you off. I'm proud of him. I'm proud of him. I just think it's, I mean, this is a guy that literally will do whatever he's asked to do, and he doesn't have to. No, it's really cool. It's obviously a game changer as well, but this is one of the things he told my buddy D. Mack over there with the place I used to work at, that he wants to play the position for the rest of his career. That's until, what, through his age 39 season. So I got a few more years in the tank there. But if he's able to do that and play it at a, at a, at,

least the level we saw on the second half of the season or maybe he takes a few steps back. I think worse comes the worse, you move Mookie over to second base towards the tail end of his career. If he starts to, you know, show some signs of slowing down or maybe not being able to get some balls at shortstop. But, I mean, the build, the frame, it was always middle infielder. There's a reason he was drafted as a middle infielder and obviously he was forced to right field where he was very good as well because he's, bro's just an athlete.

But Dustin Padrejoa was pretty good over there. so on, so forth in Boston. The big thing we worry about with Marcus Lynn Betts, of course, this year is the hitting, is getting that bat right. And he did also speak with Dylan Hernandez, Jack Harris, actually, in this particular piece of work we see on the screen about rewiring his body, trying to get rid of some of the bad habits he had with his swing. Pretty notable he had some bad habits.

We saw a lot of the strikeout, but definitely a lot more pop-up out of MLB-50 last year. So trying to get everything back. on track with probably where he's at in his life and in his career and his age, but also coming off of that, the stomach bug and all this kind of stuff that he was dealing with last year, myriad issues he dealt with. I mean, losing all that weight was, I mean, he's a small guy to begin with. No disrespect, of course. I mean, he does. He has an infielder's body. He does not have, he's not a tall dude. He's not a big guy. He doesn't have an outfielder's body, per se.

You know, he's not Jason Hayward in terms of like, or Matt Kemp or, you know, the bigger, bigger type of guy. But losing all that weight when you're already slim is tough and the strength to get back that. And then it just, then he's just started mind-effing himself, remember? And he was just like getting in his own way. And, you know, it was his wife that was like, you know what? Stop looking to everybody else to solve what's going on. Looking inside. And, you know, Brianna kind of, of course, as a good wife does, like helped him through that.

And I never in a million years I've ever worried about Mookie Betts and I won't ever worry about Mookie Betts. I just won't. No. I believe in Mookiee. I think you're going to see some, I don't even know if he would technically be eligible for comeback player of the year award. But I think if he is, you'll see some love there. And I said earlier in the offseason, I think we're going to see so much of a resurgence. You're going to have some MVP votes, probably finished top five, Will Mookie Betts,

well behind his teammate Shohei Otani who is you just give it to him now I mean it's just get it out of the way you know he could have done a two for one at the BBWA awards with the FT boys it's like I'm here let's get next year out of the way put it over with yeah absolutely

one thing that Andrew Friedman said Clint when we had a conversation with him is that he wants to give his son Kim a little bit more runway right like we were and I think you needed this too like you need to see or you would like to see have some more opportunity to see it like what is what is he capable of what can he really do and I know he has worked on some swing things and defensive things this offseason at the direction of

some of the Dodgers coaches so what would you like to see um he admitted as you put here in our rundown the biggest challenge was transitioning from the KBO the Korean baseball organization to major league baseball so um and the velocity yeah that velocity I think that's a big thing That is huge. That's a problem. This problem. Bro, bro ain't used to seeing 95 plus with that much frequency.

Not for him. So what do you need to see from Kim? Yeah, you just need to see consistency. I mean, obviously, when he made his major league debut, the first couple of weeks, he was tearing the cover out the ball. We were, you know, having kind of tongue-in-cheek conversations about this dude, maybe hitting 400 for the season. But after the league made its adjustment, he had a hard time,

adjusting back. And we know it's a cliche. Baseball is a game of adjustments. He's got to be able to make that next adjustment and then continue to make those adjustments to find that consistency. You know, to have a have yourself, you know, I think he had 308 or something like that last season, to be a 300 hitter and all of it be front loaded. I'm not a fan of that. And I think he's not a fan of that. No big league or no major league. No baseball players should be a fan of getting all your work done early. So yeah, that'll be the big thing. just consistency, bat to ball, and making adjustments in real time as he needs to.

He's saying the right things. He's working on the stuff. I trust this Dodgers front office to point him in the right direction. We know he's still kind of a lottery ticket, a little bit of a wild card. They have enough talent around where if Hassan Kim does not work out, they could pivot, but he'll make things a lot better with the athleticism, the arm, defensive ability up the middle. If this guy can figure it out, that's a huge. huge boon for the Dodgers.

Well, especially if Tommy Edmund needs extended time. That's when you need to see this. Like, let's get this runway early and see what happens. Miggy Roe, which I feel, so we'll get into the WBC conversation in a hot second. I feel badly, though, that he's not allowed to play for Team Venezuela because of his age, which is asinine. But he said that he truly believes that Kiki Hernandez is coming back. Coming back.

Constant communication with Kiki. there's no doubt in his mind and miggy rose mind that kiki will be coming back and and i believe that to be true because i feel that way about kike i mean there's no point in saying or doing it now because he can't play because you know he's had offseason harm surgery um and when he's ready and he can be placed on the roster i do believe that he will be um but it's nice to see that miggy is talking to him and he wants him back as well yeah he had mentioned they're in constant communication uh no doubt in his mind and obviously we had the chat with with friedman last week and i asked him as indirectly point blank as i can uh is kiki coming back and end the smile the smirk the you know the stifling of some

laughter from from uh andrew tells me kike will be back when the time is right probably about the time my wrist says when uh the 60 day i l opens um i guess in two weeks i do feel bad like keke Gke the Dodger Fest was made almost for somebody like Kiki Hernandez for him to not be there and be able to just yeah to soak it all in I know I know yeah he's a blast I actually texted with him today to see if he could come on foul territory to talk about the whole WBC stuff with Puerto Rico but he was getting ready to fly I didn't ask him where he was going but hopefully it's a fun trip that he's going on um I'm john green you may know me as the author of Walt 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 start. 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, it's heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I Heart and TikTok have come together to create something. new. I love it. Where the world of TikTok meets your playlist. Three words that will change your life. I heart TikTok radio.

The biggest hits across Iheart Radio. What's trending for you on TikTok? Tell me a sound that's better than this. IHart 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.

All right. So Doc, revealing a little bit more about the lineup. He likes Will Smith batting fifth, and you can certainly see Mookie in the three hole. Do you like that? Yeah, this starts the lineup with a lot of things he's already told us. We've been telling people this offseason, Kyle Tucker, somewhere hitting second or third. Well, if Mookie's hit in third, I think that leaves a spot for Kyle Tucker. Show Hey, Otani, he said, is going to be hitting leadoff.

So that tells me you have a top five, pretty much solidified, unless Doc goes back on the whole Tucker Freeman, kind of or more so Tucker hitting second, you know, if he decides to move in third or fourth or whatever. But I like the way this lineup is shaking out, you know, it's like shocker. Dodgers team that is good is going to have a good lineup. But Otani, Tucker, Betts Freeman and Will Smith in the top five, followed by some order of Max Muncie. Teasker Hernandez, Andy Pa has eventually Tommy Edmund in there. We've said it before. We've said it again.

We've said it a whole bunch. It's a good problem. for this team to have. Yeah, and I don't care if you flip-flop, Tucker and Friedman. I'm okay with that too. You know, obviously, show hay leading off is fine. Yeah, I mean, it's great. I mean, I have zero qualms about any of this.

I mean, when you have Max Muncie who hits 30 home runs a year, I don't care what his average is. When he hits 30 home runs a year and he's batting maybe sixth. Okay. Okay. I'm fine with it. I believe Teasker is going to have a bounce back year, and I think Andy Paa is only going to get better.

So I think that's a great, a great lineup to have. How about this? We got Dodger Dog in the chat here mentioning about moving Shoah down to third. A lot of solo homers. Yeah. Well, yeah, the lead-off spot, sure. But that's not his problem.

Guys got to get on base, too. You only hit lead off once. You know what I mean? So the guy's got to get on in front of him, too. Yeah, absolutely. I'm tired of solo shops, too. But unless it's our pitcher giving up a solo shot instead of like a grand slam, then I can deal with solo shots a little bit.

Yeah, I don't know. Not all solo shots are created equal? They're not. They're definitely not. But I get it. Freddie Freeman, he has a goal apparently, Clint, told George Davis and Stephen Nelson at Fan Fest, he wants to play four more years and get to 20 seasons in the big leagues, which is insane to think.

He's already been in the league for 16 years. That's just so crazy to think that. So he has two more years Clint left on his Dodgers deal. Does that mean L.A. re-signs him for final two years? Or does Freddie Freeman end his career, his Hall of Fame career, I believe, someplace else besides Los Angeles? No. You know, it's funny just a few years ago, what, four years ago now, the absurdity of Freddie Freeman leaving Atlanta was absurd. I was like, no, there's no way in hell this organization.

organization, be stupid enough to let homegrown talent, a future Hall of Famer face of the franchise would let him leave. Now here we are. Four years later, two more years under contract the Dodgers and the idea of a world without Freddie Freeman

in that clubhouse, in that locker room. I just don't see it. I think the Dodgers would do everything they can. I think Freddie has made more than enough money in his lifetime and will be able to make more money after the fact if he really, really needs it after his playing career. He will be back with the Dodgers after this contract.

If he ends up a free agent, I'd be shocked. Could be an extension sort of thing. But that would be mind-blowing to imagine him in a different uniform. And especially if he has a goal where it's just really two more seasons beyond what is currently, you know, under contract, Dodgers are going to do the right thing. You always find a way to fit Freddie Freeman into that lineup. And I'm not trying to compare Freddie Freeman to Clayton Kershaw just because Clayton was, you know, he was in our farm system.

He was a homegrown talent. He was drafted by the Dodgers organization, all the things. But what Freddie has meant, too, the Dodgers since coming over here has been pretty special. I mean, obviously, the postseason moments, but just all of who Freddie is, you're not going to find a guy that is as good as for, I mean, he's just a good dude. Not to say that, you know, the Dodgers have to give him a contract for being a good dude. But the point is, I mean, I think he's still going to be able to compete and help this team, you know, for the remainder of his contract, whether that's two or four years.

but I do think he retired. If he doesn't retire a Dodger, he retires a brave. That's the only other team I can see Freddie going back to. That'll probably eventually be somewhere down the line, like the Dodgers did with Matt Camp, a one-day contract, but I don't even know with the Braves. This then. Does he go into Cooperstown in a Braveshatter or a Dodgers hat?

Depends. How many more rings are we getting in L.A.? I think you fill up that hands with Dodgers' rings? In the next four years, too. how about four why not okay yeah i mean we'll never we'll never lose again for the rest of our existence but i know i'm just saying two two i mean i mean i think i mean i don't isn't the player doesn't have the ability to pick their cap i think not a hundred percent certain on that they do that one i'm not a hundred percent certain about but i think by that point in his career especially

if you you add at least one or two more rings uh in the next four seasons That cap's going to say L.A. Okay. I don't think he does the MLB thing. He's not going to wear the generic Roblo NFL hat. Is that a thing? You didn't see the old meme Roblo? I think it was Roblo.

He just had the NFL logo on his hat because he didn't want anybody like questioning or having him creating agendas about whichever team he was rooting for in a Super Bowl a couple years ago. So look at a guy, send it to her. Send it to him. Just keep on your Atkins bars. All right. Still much more to come on Dodgers territory, but first we want to ask you to please consider supporting the show with some sweet swag. Dodgers Territory has it all, you guys. Dodgers Territory Shop.com. Pick yourself up a t-shirt, a hoodie, a mug, a duffel bag, whatever your heart desires, look good for the new year while directly supporting myself, Clint, Katie Wu, the show, Fowelterritori, all of it. You can scan the QR code as well. Click the link in the description below. Support the show in style. We cannot thank you enough for your support. Let's get into behind the seams.

Riz, I'm going to throw this one at you mainly. Obviously, we've talked a little bit about the World Baseball Classic coming up. Rosters need to be submitted tomorrow. They will be revealed to us on Thursday. And apparently, insurance is out here wild and making things a little bit difficult. The guidelines have changed. Some stars are not going to be. Here's a very short list.

Some stars not participating in the World Baseball Classic because of insurance. issues. Miguel Rojas was one of those people pretty upset about this on Saturday at Fanfest saying it's not right. It doesn't feel right. He can't participate because of his age. We know Shohei said he doesn't want to pitch probably according to these new insurance or the updated insurance guidelines maybe would not have even been allowed to participate. I know it's not because of like the WBC itself and their officials. It's insurance. But it's, Is the WBC dropping the ball here? Well, this is a very complicated issue, and it's going to take more than three minutes for me to explain everything. And I'm certainly not the expert on the WBC or this insurance issue. But we, on Fowell Territory, we just had Sean Spradling on the show talking about it. And he is very much into the WBC and covering it. What it basically boils down to is guaranteed salaries.

Now, to play in the World Baseball Classic, a player on a major. league 40-man roster must be covered by insurance to guarantee their salary. Now, the insurer for the WBC is NFP who Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Union have both agreed upon. So players undergo entrance and exit physicals to help distinguish injuries incurred during the WBC from pre-existing ones. So basically, there's different ways that they're evaluated on three different health designations as to whether or not they're going to be insured for this or not. Now, if a player receives insurance, their salary is guaranteed. If a player does not receive insurance, their salary is not guaranteed. So the thing is, the players,

when they're guaranteed, they will still receive their salary if they are hurt. If the team loses that player due to injury in the WBC, the team is obviously on the hook for that player's salary, but doesn't get the player, doesn't have the availability of the player. You remember what happened with Edwin Diaz? And it's like a two-year time frame in which you're responsible to ensure that player when you don't have the services. So Major League Baseball teams can choose to waive the insurance requirement and guarantee the salary of an uninsured player. If a player is deemed uninsurable and Major League Baseball will not guarantee their salary, it comes down to the player's personal choice as to whether or not they're going to want to play.

without having the insurance. The Miguel Rojas situation is idiotic because that's an age thing, not necessarily an uninsured thing. You're trying to tell me that he's not healthy enough or capable enough of playing when the two-time World Series champions want him back and just signed him again for another year. And it's like by a couple of weeks that he's not eligible to play. I think his birthday is coming up right before the WBC takes place. So it's a very frustrating time for the WBC because now players,

are really interested, Clint, in playing in the World Baseball Classic. It used to be, you know, even two or three tournaments ago, that the Latin players, the Spanish-speaking players have always been into this. They take a great amount of pride in playing for Team Venezuela, Team Puerto Rico, which I understand is a part of the United States. Calm down. You know, the Dominican, Cuba, those types of countries is a huge amount of pride. And it was the American players, the United States-born players that weren't necessarily.

necessarily as into it. Now you're seeing that change very much. And I think Mike Trout, obviously wanting to participate and carry out the American flag, going up against his then-teammate Shohei Otani, who's pitching for team Japan and, you know, the whole dramatics and the ninth inning, those types of things. So there's certainly more of an interest now for all of the nations to want to participate. And I can't imagine a world in which somebody like a Freddie Freeman wanted to play for Team Canada and Dodgers are going to say, no, you can't do it. I know what happened with Clay and Kirshah in 2003, but Miguel not being able to play because of age is silly. I understand it's a rule, but it's silly. But Team Puerto Rico is getting absolutely effed in this. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, there's eight or nine guys that are not being insured for this. And obviously, they're threatening to pull out of the tournament. I don't think they will because that's going to be a black eye in Puerto Rico. They'll never be able to host again. This is the first time they've ever been able to host in San Juan. You know, Japan gets to host every year. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of politics like everything else in this. I love the WBC, but this needs to get figured out. There's enough money to, I understand insurance rates are astronomical. They're going up. Just ask all of us that are paying for house insurance or car insurance or whatever. but you can find a way to get your player insured to let them participate.

And what some players say is more important to them than their time that they've had in, like in the postseason or in the World Series or whatever. Yeah, I mean, we understand a lot of the Latin countries, the importance of this, in particular the Latin countries. And you have seen the growth with U.S.-born players with Team USA this year, is absolutely stacked. And the reason I asked a question about is a WBC dropping the ball, even though the tournament people,

the people who actually put on the event, aren't in control of this. Thank you for explaining it better for everybody about the insurance side of things. A lot more coverage. I think I saw Scott E. Braun mentioned somebody else's joining FTE this week to explain more. Ken Rosenthal this morning unfair.

Also talked about it a bunch. Just the timing of it's a bad look. It's bad timing, especially when you're coming off of such a high watermark for the tournament for the event in 2023. This is just a bad timing for this to take this kind of black eye. And I hope you got 24 hours to figure it out before those rosters need to be submitted. Like these guys need to be on there.

If they want to play, figure it out. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, figure it out. Absolutely. Figure it out. And, you know, this is this lands. No, no, but this lands equally on the league and the players association. They're in tandem with this with the WBC.

and it's a great tournament. It's good for the game. If you want to continue to grow the sport internationally, and even in our country, I mean, the Caribbean series started yesterday. We are in baseball time, folks. It is February. We are playing baseball this month.

Let's go. Let's go. Figure it out. I love that for us. Yeah. Well, thank you for coming to our TED talk about that. We got a little more DT coming up. But first, we need to let Riz tell you all about a dog. So that's coming up now and last licks. I'm John Green.

You may know me as the all. author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of The Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable.

And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, it's hope, it's heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I heart and TikTok have come together to create something new. I love it. Where the world of TikTok meets your playlist.

Three words that will change your life. IHeart TikTok Radio. The biggest hits across IHeart Radio. What's trending for you on TikTok? Tell me a sound that's better than this. IHart 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. All right. Morgan, good news for Morgan, guys. We talked about it earlier, but Morgan has been adopted. Finally, we found her roaming around in San Diego, Texas, covered in scabs and wounds and mange, and she was an absolute train wreck. Poor thing. But she has blossomed into the supergirl that you see right there on your screen. She is a sweet, sweet girl. I mean, really, truly a great dog. And the good news is a wonderful family in California in Hacienda Heights is adopting her. So we need to get her, Gidre's Guardian Foundation, needs to get her from San Diego, Texas.

to Hacienda Heights, California. And that's going to happen. Basically, she's getting picked up on the 12th or 13th of this month, and hopefully she is at her new home by Valentine's Day. So we need some help getting her there. It's $1,300 or it's $1,300 in total just for the transport part itself.

And then there's a bunch of other ancillary costs that go to it. So we've raised about $6.50. We're looking for another $6.50 to get her to her forever home. So if you can even donate a couple bucks to giddreysgarden.org would really, really appreciate it to help us get Morgan to her forever home. All right, Clint. When is,

what's your next show, buddy? What are you up to? So we had a little debate about this last night, whether it be today or tomorrow. It'll be tomorrow. We're coming back. We're going to be actually bringing content again more regularly this week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Saturday, Sunday shows, Saturdays of voicemail shows, get thoughts in if you know where we're leaving. But yeah, we will be live. We will be back. Plenty of content here. Plenty of content there. And I'll add, Morgan's going to be a neighbor because Hosanda Heights is just a few miles away from me. So, oh, get out of here.

Well, then you can go, Minder and this great family, big Dodgers supporters, huge Dodgers fans, it's the Dean family, and they've actually already adopted a dog from Gidre's Guardian Foundation. They adopted what is now by the name of Mookie, it used to be Sheldon, but now he's mooky moose, and that's one of Boogie's puppies, so one of Boogie's

litter, litter, one of the seven puppies that she had, has already been welcomed into this family. They're phenomenal. So very, very grateful and so excited. Thought for the road. Spring training, you and I are headed there. Fowel Territory is going as well.

We get a sit-down exclusive with Dave Roberts. We'll do that again. What is your favorite part of spring training? You know, I really love the early days at Campbellback Ranch, just in general. Spring training, baseball, smell of grass, crack of a bat, the fact that it's not the pump and circumstance of a game day. like it feels almost like camp you know you're just hanging out with the boys there and then you know they're done working most of the time by 12 o'clock 1230 and you go have some beers play

some golf whatever it is but you know get get me a marg or get me a beer uh you know give me a seat somewhere close to you know a home plate and um just just let me go to town also bring me a bunch of dollar bills so i could bet with friends uh but yeah just being out there watching baseball uh having some drinks being very loud in the daytime. It's fun. It's a lot of fun. What about for you? Both as a fan and a professional. Well, I think something very specific for me as a fan and I guess as a professional too, because I feel like fan fest is the kickoff to baseball. Like you know like Dodgers had fan fest. All the teams are having their fan fest. So it's like, okay, it's here, right? And the

calendar has turned to February. So it's really here. For me, it's the sound of their cleats that I hear, I heard for seven years at Camelback Ranch when they when they finish their morning meetings and were waiting for at the time it was Don Mattingly and then of course more recently Dave Roberts to address the media before workouts when the guys finished their morning meeting and they start to walk out and this this was before they built the new area behind their meeting area so now there's a different way for them to go out but when they used to come out straight out to head to the backfields and you hear the cleats walking on the concrete there is something so

special about that sound like just knowing that baseball is back. So I think as a fan, that's mine. Professionally, it's just getting back into it. You know, being a part of something that is so special that I had the privilege and honor of doing, I mean, you're with them every day for eight months. You know, so it becomes a huge part of your family.

You're with those guys more than you are with your own family. So it's a privilege and an honor. And I'm excited that we're entering our third year of this show together. And we'll be heading to Arizona soon. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun. Three Pete, baby. that's what we're here for.

We can tell you. I need a ring. I got to find a way to get us rings. Talk to Lawn. If they still like us, talked at Lawn. Make sure you guys are a part of the ride the whole way through.

Subscribe to the channel. Help us get the 20K. Thank you for the first 15. That is really cool to get there. Hit that like button, subscribe, notification bell, all of that kind of stuff. Rate and review the podcast.

Give us a follow. We got Instagram now. We got the Twitter at LAD territory. We're bringing you. a shit ton of content this year, so it should be a lot of fun. Yes. I got nothing else to add,

so I guess we just say bye. That's it. Enough. All right, go Dodgers. We'll see you Thursday. Bye. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am.

I wouldn't go that far, but I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel on our podcast The Away End. We'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup.

Together, we'll find out why of all the unimportant things, football, soccer is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel 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. I heart and TikTok have come together to create something new. I love it.

Where the world of TikTok meets your playlist. Three words that will change your life. IHeart TikTok Radio. The biggest hits across IHeart Radio? What's trending for you on TikTok? Tell me a sound that's better than this. IHart 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.