Latest / Foul Territory / Miguel Rojas joins FT: Real talk WBC insurance callout, Inside his legendary World Series moment

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Miguel Rojas joins FT: Real talk WBC insurance callout, Inside his legendary World Series moment · Foul Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: Wow, what a privilege it is to be joined, Miguil,
0:11
Speaker 1: turn your camera the other way, my friend, let.
0:14
Speaker 2: Me see what I can do right here. Okay, we're good.
0:20
Speaker 3: Wow, Malthuia, what a house?
0:23
Speaker 4: What a casa?
0:26
Speaker 2: It's just a man case. It's not the whole house.
0:29
Speaker 5: I Bragg doing the Zool meetings here so everybody can
0:32
Speaker 5: see the good stuff.
0:34
Speaker 2: But it's not it's not like that on the whole house.
0:36
Speaker 1: Miguil Rojas, a multi time World Series champion, of course,
0:40
Speaker 1: trying to do the three peat with the Los Angeles Dodgers,
0:43
Speaker 1: A longtime big league veteran, said that twenty twenty six
0:46
Speaker 1: is going to be his final year and then he'll
0:48
Speaker 1: transition into a role with the Dodgers' front office. Miguel,
0:52
Speaker 1: good to have you on the show. We're going to
0:53
Speaker 1: get to all the Dodgers stuff in a second, but
0:55
Speaker 1: I really wanted to talk to you about the situation
0:58
Speaker 1: with the World Baseball Classic. Obviously, you are Venezuelan. You
1:02
Speaker 1: would love to play for Team Venezuela, but you're not
1:05
Speaker 1: able to because of an age issue. Tell us more
1:08
Speaker 1: about the situation itself and what you're hearing about about
1:12
Speaker 1: this specific rule.
1:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, the situation is been uh, nothing but confusing and
1:18
Speaker 5: and it's been kind of a problem for for the
1:21
Speaker 5: players that are being denied to play just because of
1:24
Speaker 5: the an insurance problem. I guess it's something that we
1:28
Speaker 5: didn't have really clear going into this year.
1:31
Speaker 2: Knowing what happened in the past.
1:33
Speaker 5: We all knew the organizations and and kind of the
1:37
Speaker 5: insurance work kind of together with MLB and the WBC
1:41
Speaker 5: UH commitment or whatever they have to uh to control
1:45
Speaker 5: all the players coming in and that the team submitting
1:49
Speaker 5: the rosters, and definitely we know when there's an injury
1:53
Speaker 5: issue and injury related uh kind of deal.
1:57
Speaker 2: Uh. The insurance always worked with that. But now now
2:00
Speaker 2: in my case, I think I've been pretty healthy the
2:03
Speaker 2: last couple of years, other than in twenty twenty four
2:06
Speaker 2: when I have to.
2:08
Speaker 5: Take care of and hernia, a sports hernia on my hips.
2:12
Speaker 5: Other than that, I haven't missed games because of an injury.
2:15
Speaker 5: So now I heard just a month from from today
2:20
Speaker 5: that if I'm thirty seven years old, the insurance company
2:24
Speaker 5: that works with US WBC and MLB is not gonna
2:29
Speaker 5: be able to get insure h the players that are
2:33
Speaker 5: thirty seven years and older. So that's something that I
2:36
Speaker 5: didn't know, and that was kind of like thrown out
2:40
Speaker 5: to me when when it was like a month from
2:43
Speaker 5: the from the WC to start, and it was kind
2:46
Speaker 5: of frustrating to know the news at that time and
2:50
Speaker 5: couldn't do anything about it.
2:53
Speaker 6: Maggie, did you tell me you retiring at the end
2:54
Speaker 6: of the year, and like they don't to ensure you
2:57
Speaker 6: for multiple years? Like this is it, man, I want
2:59
Speaker 6: to go out play for my country one last time.
3:01
Speaker 6: If I get hurt, then I get hurt. But it's
3:04
Speaker 6: my last year. It's not like you have a five
3:06
Speaker 6: year deal they have to cover. That's literally you know
3:09
Speaker 6: this year, Like you got to get this figured out.
3:12
Speaker 5: I mean, you're saying all the things that I was
3:15
Speaker 5: trying to say to them, and and that's one of
3:17
Speaker 5: the things that I got me frustrated because I'm not
3:20
Speaker 5: making I mean, with all due respect, I'm not a
3:23
Speaker 5: thirty thirty million.
3:25
Speaker 2: Dollars guide, you know, I'm just making five million dollars.
3:27
Speaker 5: And how how hard it is to to insure.
3:31
Speaker 2: And protect a guy that is making five million dollars.
3:33
Speaker 5: And I understand, I totally understand the Dodgers now signing
3:36
Speaker 5: my waiver because I mean, we all know where the
3:39
Speaker 5: Doyers are on the on the tax cracket, and if
3:43
Speaker 5: something happened to me during the WBC or to any
3:47
Speaker 5: player that is thirty years thirty seven years and older,
3:50
Speaker 5: and the Dollyers say, Okay, I'm gonna sign the waiver
3:53
Speaker 5: for this guy to play without an insurance, They're not
3:56
Speaker 5: gonna get their money back to sign another player in
3:58
Speaker 5: the middle of the year. So I totally understand the
4:01
Speaker 5: doll You're saying, we can let you play without an insurance,
4:05
Speaker 5: and I totally understand that part, but I feel like
4:08
Speaker 5: like you're saying, I'm everybody knows that I'm retiring after
4:12
Speaker 5: this year and I'm not making thirty million dollars or
4:15
Speaker 5: twenty five million dollars for them to kind of like
4:18
Speaker 5: really look into this coverage. But I kind of understand
4:22
Speaker 5: that that's what they're gonna do. But I hope, uh,
4:25
Speaker 5: they're doing the same thing for every country and for everybody,
4:28
Speaker 5: because it's I don't I don't think this this tournament
4:31
Speaker 5: is gonna go anywhere if they're gonna continue to make
4:35
Speaker 5: it harder for players to go.
4:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that that was gonna be my question,
4:40
Speaker 4: do you feel like it's the same for every country?
4:42
Speaker 4: The only reason I say that and I didn't play
4:44
Speaker 4: in the WBC. I played for Team USA when I
4:47
Speaker 4: was thirty nine years old in twenty nineteen, and I wasn't.
4:51
Speaker 4: It was, you know, not big league forty man guys.
4:54
Speaker 4: But there's gonna be a superstar of Venezuelan who wants
4:59
Speaker 4: to play for his country after thirty seven. Thirty seven
5:02
Speaker 4: is not that old. Sorry, it's it's not that old.
5:05
Speaker 4: There's going to be others. So you're gonna deny superstars
5:09
Speaker 4: when they get to that spot. You're gonna deny Aaron
5:11
Speaker 4: Judge the next time he gets to WBC at thirty
5:14
Speaker 4: seven years old. I have a hard time believing that, Maggie.
5:17
Speaker 2: Same thing.
5:18
Speaker 5: That's that's why I'm so frustrated, because I don't I
5:20
Speaker 5: don't think that's gonna happen with someone else. That that
5:23
Speaker 5: is just me, And I'm not fining these this this
5:27
Speaker 5: fight right now because of myself.
5:29
Speaker 2: I'm fighting for everybody else. And you know, as a player,
5:33
Speaker 2: we always fight for the rise of the next ones.
5:35
Speaker 2: And that's why we're here in this moment right now,
5:38
Speaker 2: and we have to kind of like fight this battle
5:41
Speaker 2: just because the next generation is gonna come and they
5:44
Speaker 2: would like to play when they're thirty seven or older.
5:47
Speaker 2: Because I totally feel like if I'm if.
5:50
Speaker 5: I'm on the roster for the Dodgers and I can
5:52
Speaker 5: help the Doyers play and win a championship when I'm
5:55
Speaker 5: thirty six thirty seven years old, why I can't really
5:59
Speaker 5: go and help of my country to get the championship
6:03
Speaker 5: on a competition like that. It's my only opportunity to
6:06
Speaker 5: kind of represent my country and put this uniform on,
6:09
Speaker 5: and like I'm making a statement. A few days ago,
6:12
Speaker 5: I didn't really know if I was going to be
6:14
Speaker 5: part of the thirty main roster.
6:16
Speaker 2: All I wanted was to make.
6:18
Speaker 5: Myself available for the manager and the front office guys
6:22
Speaker 5: from the Venezuelan team to tell the man, I'm available
6:26
Speaker 5: if you guys need me, either in the first round
6:29
Speaker 5: or if someone get hurt, like.
6:30
Speaker 2: It happens the last time with Hotel Tube.
6:32
Speaker 5: He got hurt and they called me and I was
6:34
Speaker 5: in Arizona, and if they beat the United States, I
6:37
Speaker 5: was playing in the semi finals in Miami. So that's
6:40
Speaker 5: the only reason why I wanted to make myself available
6:43
Speaker 5: because I know I'm in death with the Venezuelan country,
6:47
Speaker 5: especially because I have to step out of the last
6:50
Speaker 5: tournament because of obvious reasons of playing short stuff for
6:54
Speaker 5: the Dodgers, and I was just getting traded Gavin Lots
6:58
Speaker 5: his injury, and they didn't want me to go and
7:01
Speaker 5: play for Venezuela when knowing that I wasn't gonna get.
7:04
Speaker 2: An off of bats to get ready for the full season.
7:06
Speaker 5: So there's a lot going on to go to this tournament,
7:09
Speaker 5: and I totally understand the guys stepping out because they
7:13
Speaker 5: wanted some time off. They playing the in the like
7:16
Speaker 5: a full war series, like Mookie Bats or Freddie Freeman.
7:20
Speaker 2: They need time off.
7:21
Speaker 5: They have personal matters like Osera Meres, things like that,
7:25
Speaker 5: and it's really hard to understand how they're gonna continue
7:29
Speaker 5: with this event if they don't let the people who
7:33
Speaker 5: want to go participate.
7:36
Speaker 4: Have you looked at alternative or not just you, but
7:40
Speaker 4: have people looked at alternative insurance methods that would enable
7:45
Speaker 4: you and make the Dodgers feel okay with letting you play.
7:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, we we had, and the Union is being supportive
7:53
Speaker 5: of the idea of finding an alternative insurance. But the
7:58
Speaker 5: problem was it was so late, and I don't know.
8:01
Speaker 5: I don't want to point fingers to anybody. I don't
8:03
Speaker 5: know if it was a bi organization or everything was
8:08
Speaker 5: led like to the last minute to kind of like.
8:13
Speaker 2: Get on top of this issue.
8:15
Speaker 5: But we didn't have the form that we have to
8:18
Speaker 5: fill out like two weeks prior to today, so it
8:23
Speaker 5: happens too late.
8:24
Speaker 2: I felt like, if that was going.
8:26
Speaker 5: To be an issue, they should have let us know
8:28
Speaker 5: in advance, or like maybe last year they say, okay, look,
8:33
Speaker 5: this is going to be a problem if you have
8:34
Speaker 5: a player that is thirty seven years older. You guys
8:37
Speaker 5: are going to have to file this hipA form that
8:42
Speaker 5: they have to sign so we can find them another
8:45
Speaker 5: insurance company to cover them just for the tournament.
8:48
Speaker 2: But it was too late and they couldn't find another one, and.
8:51
Speaker 5: They just say, you know what, your permission has been denied.
8:56
Speaker 3: That sucks. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, really sorry.
9:00
Speaker 6: I hope it works out for you and for everyone
9:02
Speaker 6: that's trying to do this, because it's not just you,
9:04
Speaker 6: Lindor and some of the other guys. I mean, listen
9:06
Speaker 6: to Edwin Diaz can play than anyone should be able
9:08
Speaker 6: to play, because he is the poster child of getting
9:11
Speaker 6: hurt and costing people, you know, a season.
9:13
Speaker 3: So I hope it works out.
9:15
Speaker 6: I want to go to some a little more fun
9:16
Speaker 6: besides insurance, because we've talked about insurance for three days, okay,
9:20
Speaker 6: and I'm just tired of talking about insurance. And I'm
9:22
Speaker 6: happy you came on to discuss this. But in your career,
9:25
Speaker 6: do you know how many home runs you've hit?
9:28
Speaker 2: Closer to I'm close to sixty right.
9:30
Speaker 3: Now, yeah, fifty seven?
9:33
Speaker 6: Okay, right, but you hit the biggest, not the biggest,
9:36
Speaker 6: bill one of the probably two biggest home runs in Dodgers'
9:40
Speaker 6: postseason history this past year. Do you wake up still
9:43
Speaker 6: and say that was me that hit that home run?
9:46
Speaker 6: Like I actually hit that home run to win US
9:49
Speaker 6: a World Series?
9:52
Speaker 2: Guess what AGG just said it?
9:54
Speaker 5: I had fifty something home runs in a twelve year career,
9:59
Speaker 5: and now I'm going to remember as a home roun hitter.
10:02
Speaker 2: How crazy is that?
10:05
Speaker 3: Right?
10:05
Speaker 5: So I've been kind of putting my whole life and
10:08
Speaker 5: a whole career on difference and being a different first
10:12
Speaker 5: guy to be able to play short stuff for anything,
10:14
Speaker 5: that I'm on, but definitely having this moment, it's kind
10:18
Speaker 5: of like the answer of all my prayers because I've
10:22
Speaker 5: been wanting a big moment in.
10:24
Speaker 2: My whole career.
10:25
Speaker 5: I think in my whole career, I have to walk
10:27
Speaker 5: off hits one maybe one basit and one sack fly
10:33
Speaker 5: or something like that. And I always kind of like
10:35
Speaker 5: wanted to come through in a big moment in my
10:37
Speaker 5: career offensively because I definitely believe on myself and every
10:42
Speaker 5: time I step on that play, I feel like I'm
10:44
Speaker 5: the best.
10:45
Speaker 2: Hittered out there.
10:46
Speaker 5: But I never had that kind of moment, and it
10:48
Speaker 5: kind of I mean, like I said, my preparation kind
10:52
Speaker 5: of meet up with the opportunity right there to play
10:55
Speaker 5: in Game six and Game seven, and you know how
10:57
Speaker 5: it is, you can be on the bench all this
10:59
Speaker 5: time and it takes just one opportunity to change the
11:03
Speaker 5: narrative of everything in your career.
11:05
Speaker 2: So that's something that kind of kicking Hernandez.
11:08
Speaker 5: Always talk about, and that's why he is huge in
11:11
Speaker 5: the post season, is because it doesn't matter what you
11:14
Speaker 5: do during the regular season or how have you done
11:18
Speaker 5: in the post season, all you need is one moment
11:21
Speaker 5: for people to.
11:22
Speaker 2: Remember you for the rest of their life.
11:24
Speaker 5: And now I'm just extremely happy and excited that I'm
11:29
Speaker 5: going to be remember as as.
11:31
Speaker 2: A home row hitter in the World Series for the
11:34
Speaker 2: rest of my life.
11:35
Speaker 4: Home run hitter, Mike Rojas, I love that, But I
11:41
Speaker 4: want you to go into the dugout with us, because
11:43
Speaker 4: everybody's like, oh, after you hit it, how did you
11:45
Speaker 4: feel all that stuff as a guy that came off
11:47
Speaker 4: the bench, as a guy that came in maybe like
11:49
Speaker 4: late for defense. I know that the manager, the hitting coach,
11:53
Speaker 4: the bench coach is kind of like looking like, oh,
11:56
Speaker 4: air Crafts is coming up, like maybe we could pinch
11:59
Speaker 4: hit and get How close were you to not getting
12:02
Speaker 4: that at bat because you guys still had some guys
12:04
Speaker 4: on the bench. There was Lefty, you know, Rod Vett
12:09
Speaker 4: I think was still on the bench.
12:10
Speaker 5: Correct, King King was on the bench, had some king
12:15
Speaker 5: was on the bench, was on the bench.
12:20
Speaker 3: On the bench.
12:20
Speaker 4: How close did you feel like, because you can feel
12:23
Speaker 4: when people are like looking at you like, hey, uh,
12:25
Speaker 4: if something happens, Miggy, like you gotta like we might
12:28
Speaker 4: pinch it for you or was that you're at bat bar?
12:30
Speaker 3: None, no matter what happened.
12:32
Speaker 2: No, I got surprised when I walked to the to
12:35
Speaker 2: the on deck circle. I didn't. I I thought for
12:37
Speaker 2: sure I was gonna get pinched it.
12:40
Speaker 5: I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm never gonna get
12:42
Speaker 5: myself off of of data bag until the dog tuged
12:48
Speaker 5: me in the shoulder or tell me like or or
12:50
Speaker 5: he sent the bench coach to tell me like when I'm.
12:52
Speaker 2: Like taking my stuff off.
12:54
Speaker 5: But as soon as I got to the dog out,
12:56
Speaker 5: when I put my glove down and Danny Leman, our
12:59
Speaker 5: bench coach, wasn't there, that tells me everything that I
13:03
Speaker 5: needed to know. I knew I was getting that bad
13:06
Speaker 5: because one good thing about Dog and the organization, especially
13:10
Speaker 5: the coaching staff and with the Dodgers, they're they're really
13:13
Speaker 5: great because they're transparent as it is. You know, they're
13:16
Speaker 5: gonna tell you what's your role, what they expected of you,
13:20
Speaker 5: and if they have to put you out and put
13:21
Speaker 5: someone else in, they will do it. And they always
13:25
Speaker 5: send Danny. During the season, I got pinched maybe.
13:29
Speaker 2: A hundred times for someone else, and I was totally
13:34
Speaker 2: expecting for them if they want to make a move.
13:37
Speaker 2: Even though I got a good at bad.
13:38
Speaker 5: Early in the game against Chercer, and I think my
13:41
Speaker 5: third about was a really quality about as well. So
13:45
Speaker 5: I felt like dog got a feeling that I was
13:48
Speaker 5: getting closer because my advats were getting better, especially after
13:51
Speaker 5: not playing for a long time.
13:53
Speaker 2: And I didn't get one a bat in the NLCS.
13:56
Speaker 5: Then as soon as I put my glove down and
13:58
Speaker 5: I sent my heart on top of my glove, no
14:01
Speaker 5: one was there.
14:03
Speaker 2: I was getting that a bat.
14:04
Speaker 5: So my mentality went straight to, Okay, what I need
14:07
Speaker 5: to look for against this guy. I'm gonna look fastible
14:10
Speaker 5: away first first pitch because I got a hit against
14:13
Speaker 5: Chersey with a hanging slider, so I don't think he
14:16
Speaker 5: gonna he's gonna throw me like a hitter. Go slider
14:18
Speaker 5: in the first in the first pitch, so also looking
14:20
Speaker 5: fastile away, and you see the results. I chased the
14:22
Speaker 5: slider down in a way. But then I think that
14:25
Speaker 5: that pitch kind of like locked me in for the
14:27
Speaker 5: rest of it.
14:29
Speaker 3: I love it, I love I love how you're building.
14:31
Speaker 3: You're a path.
14:32
Speaker 6: Can we show those pictures again for what? And I
14:35
Speaker 6: just want to know when you touched home plate, who
14:38
Speaker 6: was there waiting for you show? Did you look at
14:41
Speaker 6: him and say show, hey, that's how superstars do it
14:44
Speaker 6: in the world. Eat that one, show Hey, because look,
14:48
Speaker 6: look there's a swing right now. Watch when you're round it. First,
14:52
Speaker 6: show Hayes in the background. Now when you there, look
14:55
Speaker 6: show Hayes with his hands up behind you. Then you
14:57
Speaker 6: hit home plate and show Hayes there to get a
15:00
Speaker 6: high five. Was there like right there? Or were you
15:02
Speaker 6: like that's how it's done.
15:03
Speaker 3: Show Hey.
15:04
Speaker 6: You might make seventy million, but my five million hit
15:07
Speaker 6: that Homer.
15:09
Speaker 2: Not kidding, not kidding to you.
15:11
Speaker 5: I just I just feel good for show He because
15:14
Speaker 5: the last thing you want right there in that situation,
15:17
Speaker 5: knowing how the game was and how a special show
15:21
Speaker 5: has been for us and everything that he's going through
15:24
Speaker 5: this last couple of years, kind of carrying.
15:26
Speaker 2: Us in so many different ways.
15:28
Speaker 5: Man, during the regular season this twenty twenty five, pitching
15:33
Speaker 5: and hitting at the same time.
15:35
Speaker 2: With that game, a lot of things came to my mind.
15:37
Speaker 5: Know, when I'm rounding the bases, I'm thinking about my family,
15:40
Speaker 5: I'm thinking about my wife. I'm thinking about like the
15:43
Speaker 5: possibility of winning the World Series now because.
15:45
Speaker 2: We just tied the game.
15:46
Speaker 5: But when I got to home play, I see show
15:48
Speaker 5: He and I see a sign of relief. So remember
15:52
Speaker 5: Shohil Tony gave up a three round homer by Bobby
15:54
Speaker 5: Check and he potentially beat the last hour of the
15:57
Speaker 5: World Series. Ok, he is not It's not fair for
16:01
Speaker 5: a guy like that, you know, Sholdani, He's been doing
16:04
Speaker 5: so much for the game of baseball, and I feel
16:06
Speaker 5: like the relief that I see on his face that
16:09
Speaker 5: it doesn't matter.
16:09
Speaker 2: What he doing that at bad. We already tie the game,
16:13
Speaker 2: so we're going to find a way to win.
16:15
Speaker 5: And I feel like that's that's a kind of like
16:18
Speaker 5: the sensation that I have on show here ever since
16:21
Speaker 5: I got all the videos online and all the pictures
16:24
Speaker 5: that I see, Like when I see he sends up
16:27
Speaker 5: and kind of like the relief that he doesn't have
16:30
Speaker 5: to hit with two outs and down by one and
16:34
Speaker 5: everybody expecting a home run from Show. He he's really
16:36
Speaker 5: hard to get a home run in that situation. And
16:38
Speaker 5: I mean, it happens to me, and I'm so I'm
16:41
Speaker 5: so happy and proud.
16:42
Speaker 2: That I could have get showed hair out of the
16:44
Speaker 2: hand and in that game.
16:47
Speaker 1: Miguel, I've known you a long time. It's been a
16:49
Speaker 1: pleasure to watch your career and I know you talked
16:51
Speaker 1: so much about how much pride you take in defense,
16:53
Speaker 1: and you had some really good defensive plays obviously in
16:55
Speaker 1: the postseason too. I want to know what was going
16:58
Speaker 1: on in your head with the I K the Isaiah
17:00
Speaker 1: Kiner Philefis situation. I mean, you guys were this close
17:03
Speaker 1: to losing the World Series to a very good Toronto
17:06
Speaker 1: Blue Jays team. Obviously you tied the game. We all
17:08
Speaker 1: know what happened in extra innings, But what take me
17:11
Speaker 1: through the lead that he had and what was going
17:13
Speaker 1: on with you guys defensively on how to on how
17:16
Speaker 1: to handle that?
17:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, I didn't know that it was that close
17:19
Speaker 2: to third base. It's impossible. It's impossible for me to kind.
17:23
Speaker 5: Of like be so locked in on the play and
17:26
Speaker 5: like take a look at the third base runner, right,
17:29
Speaker 5: It's impossible to be locked locked in and on the
17:32
Speaker 5: hitter and then making sure that the guy at third
17:34
Speaker 5: base is not getting a good lead. So for me,
17:37
Speaker 5: like the fact that he was that close to the bag,
17:40
Speaker 5: it was a decision that they'd make as an organization,
17:43
Speaker 5: and the coach kind of like went to him and
17:45
Speaker 5: told him, Hey, this is where you have to be
17:48
Speaker 5: and I'm I'm just seeing a player following instructions, right.
17:51
Speaker 5: But to me, I feel like for the guys who
17:55
Speaker 5: play in a and synthetic grass, you guys, how like
18:01
Speaker 5: that ball bounds in that grass is different then in
18:04
Speaker 5: a regular grass. And we we've been kind of struggling
18:07
Speaker 5: in practice to take down balls infield in and the
18:11
Speaker 5: ball wasn't even that far away from me.
18:13
Speaker 2: It was a couple of steps, but kind.
18:15
Speaker 5: Of like the way that he hit it the chopper
18:17
Speaker 5: like it was like a toss spinner, like rining to
18:19
Speaker 5: the ground, make me kind of go backwards on it
18:21
Speaker 5: because I was gonna get like in in between half
18:24
Speaker 5: and the most important part for me, I need to.
18:26
Speaker 2: Glove this ball.
18:27
Speaker 5: If I bowl, we're don't we We're losing the word series.
18:32
Speaker 2: That's why I kind of like went back to it
18:33
Speaker 2: a little bit. Then I kind of stumbled a little bit,
18:36
Speaker 2: lose my footage, but I was able to kind of
18:38
Speaker 2: plant my feet and make I think that the hardest
18:41
Speaker 2: stroke that I make the whole year, uh to wheel And.
18:44
Speaker 5: Then so as soon as I see the replay and
18:46
Speaker 5: how close it was when he left is uh is
18:50
Speaker 5: a clip off the play and put it back down.
18:53
Speaker 5: He was kind of like nerve racking watching that, and
18:55
Speaker 5: I still like dog say a couple a couple of
18:58
Speaker 5: weeks ago, on an interview or something like that, he said,
19:01
Speaker 5: I can't really really watch it because I'm I don't
19:05
Speaker 5: want that play to get overturned, you know, I I
19:08
Speaker 5: want to make sure that that we win the World.
19:10
Speaker 2: Series and and another.
19:12
Speaker 5: Outcome is going to happen, because you know, like I
19:16
Speaker 5: would have nimers still if I if I put a
19:18
Speaker 5: ball or I don't get that home play, what.
19:23
Speaker 4: Would have been which was tougher the end of game
19:26
Speaker 4: six play that you had to bail Kik out for
19:29
Speaker 4: that brutal throw that he made and made you make
19:31
Speaker 4: a long hop, or that play.
19:35
Speaker 5: That play for sure in game seven, because it's a
19:37
Speaker 5: it's do or die and you know how it is.
19:39
Speaker 5: You can't really mess this up. This is the one
19:41
Speaker 5: that you practice every single day. You finish your routine.
19:45
Speaker 5: You can take million grand balls, but when you put
19:48
Speaker 5: in your mind, okay, basis loaded nine inning, two outs,
19:52
Speaker 5: winning by one, you always want the last ground ball
19:56
Speaker 5: to mean something to you.
19:57
Speaker 2: And that's what we practice every single day.
19:59
Speaker 5: And that's a little behind the scenes of what we
20:02
Speaker 5: do every single day with the Dodgers, especially in mookie
20:06
Speaker 5: transition into short stuff. But that's what we do. So
20:08
Speaker 5: we take all our routines and then at the end
20:10
Speaker 5: of the practice we always go okay, bases loaded one
20:14
Speaker 5: Now winning Game size or Game five of the World Series.
20:18
Speaker 5: We got to make this play and then if we
20:20
Speaker 5: boot it, we lose the word series. And that's the
20:22
Speaker 5: situation that you put yourself in into every time you
20:25
Speaker 5: practice in And that's the reason why I feel like
20:28
Speaker 5: that was the hardest play because I have no roule
20:30
Speaker 5: forever if I boot up, if I book the ball,
20:33
Speaker 5: that kick it through me. We got another opportunity with
20:35
Speaker 5: glass on the mound to win the game.
20:38
Speaker 2: But definitely that Game seven play, a.
20:40
Speaker 5: Home play, would be forever the hardest play that that
20:44
Speaker 5: I have to make.
20:46
Speaker 3: You ain't kidding a lot of pressure.
20:48
Speaker 6: You made a great throw, a lot of as big
20:52
Speaker 6: of a Dodger fantasy. I always tell people the Blue
20:54
Speaker 6: Jays were literally this far away from winning the World Series,
20:57
Speaker 6: but you made the throw. You made the perfect throws.
21:01
Speaker 6: I love everything you've said today. I want to ask
21:03
Speaker 6: this and you can tell me to screw off. I'm
21:07
Speaker 6: okay with it, but I got to know the answer
21:08
Speaker 6: to this. Every time I've ever talked to you've been
21:10
Speaker 6: unbelievably awesome. Okay, you've been a great interview. I've talked
21:14
Speaker 6: to you when I've done Dodger games for Fox. You've
21:16
Speaker 6: been unbelievable, always saying hello, always a smile on your face.
21:20
Speaker 6: Every guy I look at and I've ever talked to
21:22
Speaker 6: about you say you're like one of the best teammates,
21:24
Speaker 6: you're one of the happy guys, and as somebody that's
21:27
Speaker 6: had things said about me, and then you have. And
21:30
Speaker 6: again you can say you don't want to talk about it.
21:32
Speaker 3: I get it, But the.
21:33
Speaker 6: Jazz chishm thing man, like, can we put the record
21:35
Speaker 6: straight on this, because I've heard a million things, I've
21:38
Speaker 6: never heard you say something about it, which honestly.
21:40
Speaker 3: To me, is a badge of honor for you.
21:42
Speaker 6: Because everyone I talk to about you say you're just
21:45
Speaker 6: unbelievable and you don't want to get into it.
21:48
Speaker 3: I just I feel like you need a before him.
21:50
Speaker 6: And again, if you don't want to talk about it,
21:51
Speaker 6: I get it, but it just drives me crazy because
21:54
Speaker 6: every time people ask me about it, I'm like he
21:56
Speaker 6: seems like an unbelievable dude. I don't know where this
21:58
Speaker 6: came from. If you don't want to talk about it,
22:01
Speaker 6: you want to move on, fine, But I just want
22:03
Speaker 6: to give you an opportunity to clear the air if
22:05
Speaker 6: you want on that.
22:06
Speaker 2: No, I and I really appreciate that.
22:08
Speaker 5: And as as I mean, the reason why a lot
22:11
Speaker 5: of people talk good about me is because I don't.
22:14
Speaker 2: I don't let things that happen in the clubhouse outside
22:17
Speaker 2: of that.
22:17
Speaker 5: And I feel like I'd rather take the plane of
22:19
Speaker 5: being the bad guy in the clubhouse then then come
22:23
Speaker 5: in a in an opportunity like this and talk about
22:25
Speaker 5: bad about someone I respect that I'm not gonna be
22:30
Speaker 5: like likable by all the people.
22:33
Speaker 2: And you guys were just talking about from about this,
22:35
Speaker 2: right and the situation.
22:37
Speaker 7: And uh Craft just make just make a great point
22:41
Speaker 7: of like, depending on the circumstances and the situations that
22:46
Speaker 7: you are in a in a season or in in
22:49
Speaker 7: your life for your career, people gonna have their own
22:53
Speaker 7: perspectives on you.
22:54
Speaker 5: And I feel like my best, my best times has
22:58
Speaker 5: been here with the Dodgers. And I mean maybe I
23:01
Speaker 5: was a little bit more susceptible when I was there
23:04
Speaker 5: with the Marlins, and maybe I was, I mean, a
23:08
Speaker 5: different guy there. And the only thing that I will
23:11
Speaker 5: say is I'm just hanging my heart on the comments
23:15
Speaker 5: that more people than just one player said about me,
23:20
Speaker 5: because I'm not gonna be liked by everybody, and I'm
23:22
Speaker 5: not expecting to be the like the likable guy everywhere
23:26
Speaker 5: I go because that's not what I want to be.
23:28
Speaker 5: I want to be myself and I'm just gonna hang
23:31
Speaker 5: my heart on the people that make the comments about
23:35
Speaker 5: me that I'm I know there's more better comments than
23:38
Speaker 5: one negatives coming, and I don't feel like I should
23:41
Speaker 5: be kind of defending myself because then that would make
23:45
Speaker 5: me like, Okay, this guy is trying to defend himself
23:47
Speaker 5: because it is something wrong.
23:49
Speaker 2: I just felt like I was being myself man, and
23:51
Speaker 2: I'm not. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna blame anybody
23:54
Speaker 2: for not liking me.
23:56
Speaker 1: Positives way outweigh the negatives. Brand around that as well.
24:01
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about the jersey behind your
24:03
Speaker 1: right shoulder, Megal with Jose Fernandez. Obviously, this is a
24:06
Speaker 1: story that transcends not just baseball, but being a Cuban
24:10
Speaker 1: American myself and you know, my mom having to leave
24:13
Speaker 1: Cuba and everything that the Fernandez family went through, and
24:16
Speaker 1: of course the tragedy that befell him when he passed away.
24:21
Speaker 1: What was it like being a teammate of his and
24:24
Speaker 1: just what a what at a superstar in the making,
24:27
Speaker 1: and and why is that Jersey important to you?
24:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, just just being around Jose and knowing the abilities
24:35
Speaker 5: that he had and and the year that he was
24:37
Speaker 5: kind of like facing at that time with his.
24:41
Speaker 2: Girlfriend or or wife at the time, I don't I
24:45
Speaker 2: don't remember they were married or not pregnant and expecting
24:48
Speaker 2: the first child.
24:49
Speaker 5: And I something that I remember about Jose and not
24:53
Speaker 5: many people know, this is the last dinner that we
24:57
Speaker 5: had together as a team.
24:58
Speaker 2: So I remember Martin Praul was.
24:59
Speaker 5: There, then Marcelo Sooner and kind of like his best
25:04
Speaker 5: friends on the team plus plus Jose, and he was
25:08
Speaker 5: talking about like how he wanted to be better for her,
25:11
Speaker 5: you know, and how he wanted to kind of like
25:14
Speaker 5: ma sure and get better as a human being and
25:18
Speaker 5: over all.
25:18
Speaker 2: You know, because he was young and he was playing
25:21
Speaker 2: for the Miami Marlins for the Miami.
25:23
Speaker 5: Marlins at the time, and he didn't know where his
25:26
Speaker 5: future was going to be because he was about to
25:28
Speaker 5: be a free agent and he was really excited for
25:31
Speaker 5: the future. And that's something that kind of like really
25:34
Speaker 5: impacts us when when that happened, because first first thing
25:38
Speaker 5: you see from Jose is the talent, right, the kind
25:41
Speaker 5: of the personality, how he put people in the on
25:44
Speaker 5: the seats. Even here in Miami that we don't draw
25:48
Speaker 5: many fans and big crowds, but every time he s pitched,
25:52
Speaker 5: he was like a twenty five percent increase on fans
25:55
Speaker 5: coming to the games, just because of the talent, the atmosphere,
25:58
Speaker 5: the way that he he cared for the game, the
26:01
Speaker 5: joy that he that he brought to the game. And
26:04
Speaker 5: he was the same guy outside of the field, energetic guy,
26:08
Speaker 5: He always want to be around his people, and I
26:12
Speaker 5: think he was about to make his his move to
26:15
Speaker 5: UH to like go to the next level. And that's
26:18
Speaker 5: why it was so hard to see him go that
26:21
Speaker 5: early in his life, and not just because of baseball,
26:24
Speaker 5: it's because what he had behind him.
26:27
Speaker 2: He was like his.
26:28
Speaker 5: Family was his first child getting born and a totally
26:33
Speaker 5: disaster for the organization definitely, because you're losing not just
26:37
Speaker 5: your age and the face of your franchise. You're losing,
26:41
Speaker 5: I mean, one of your your best persons that you
26:44
Speaker 5: have in the team.
26:45
Speaker 2: So it was it was really hard.
26:47
Speaker 5: And that's why it means a lot that, uh that
26:50
Speaker 5: I play with him, and I mean I got to
26:52
Speaker 5: wear the number sixteen Fernandez jersey.
26:54
Speaker 2: For one game for the wrong reason, definitely, but.
26:57
Speaker 5: Uh, that's something that he was gonna is gonna unify
27:01
Speaker 5: that team for the rest of our life.
27:04
Speaker 4: That's awesome, that's well said. We have to ask two
27:08
Speaker 4: last questions. On a lighter note, show us your two
27:11
Speaker 4: favorite shoes from the collection, the two that you're like there,
27:16
Speaker 4: this is this is it for me that everybody needs
27:19
Speaker 4: to see. These are the two whether you've worn them
27:21
Speaker 4: or you just like have a cool story with them.
27:25
Speaker 4: Because I've just been oddling those shoes the whole time.
27:29
Speaker 2: So yeah, the thing with me with shoes I wear.
27:32
Speaker 2: I wear all my pairs, but I feel.
27:34
Speaker 8: Like again showing you, hmm, okay, I'm gonna show you.
27:45
Speaker 5: Two pairs that are important to me because it's not
27:48
Speaker 5: it's not just because I mean Michael Jordan, right, so
27:52
Speaker 5: he played for the Chicago Bulls and this is an
27:54
Speaker 5: iconic pair it means a lot because you always want
27:58
Speaker 5: to be a champion and you always want kind of
28:00
Speaker 5: like do what winners do.
28:03
Speaker 2: So this pair is really important.
28:04
Speaker 5: He's got the Chicago kind of framing and so his
28:07
Speaker 5: signature is right here. And then this this pair calls
28:11
Speaker 5: Trophy Room. So I mean, we all know he won
28:15
Speaker 5: a lot of championships. And then I kind of like
28:17
Speaker 5: have my own pair right here from being a champion,
28:20
Speaker 5: he's a he's a pair of Jordan Force. And then
28:24
Speaker 5: the company that I'm gonna be working on this year,
28:27
Speaker 5: they make this pair for me.
28:29
Speaker 2: So that's all we want. We want to be champions.
28:31
Speaker 2: So he got a couple of things.
28:35
Speaker 5: That kind of like resembled those back to back champions
28:38
Speaker 5: the last couple of years.
28:40
Speaker 4: That's that's so last one. And this is you did
28:45
Speaker 4: an incredible job speaking English. It's a second language. You
28:49
Speaker 4: did it. It's awesome. But this is something that people
28:52
Speaker 4: don't know. Okay, Spanish speakers can never say my name
28:56
Speaker 4: right because you said it during the show. You say
29:01
Speaker 4: my last name, my last name is Kratz. Say my
29:03
Speaker 4: last name Crats. Okay, when you guys talk, when Venezuelans
29:08
Speaker 4: Dominicans not so much Puerto Ricans, but Venezuelan Dominicans when
29:11
Speaker 4: they say it fast, they always say crap. And if
29:14
Speaker 4: I'm on the team, they call me crappy. So you
29:18
Speaker 4: said it during the interview, you said it. I just
29:21
Speaker 4: wanted people to like kind of get in. It's all
29:23
Speaker 4: Dominicans in Venezuelans, and it's one of those.
29:25
Speaker 5: Things might be might be clip now, you know, because
29:29
Speaker 5: you guys gotta clip that and say crappy, because that's
29:32
Speaker 5: what I.
29:32
Speaker 3: Was to say.
29:33
Speaker 2: I was try to say katzi yeah, and he came out,
29:36
Speaker 2: you know.
29:37
Speaker 4: And and I would love it if people would clip
29:39
Speaker 4: my Spanish because I know my seventy five Spanish words
29:42
Speaker 4: and I am fluent in my Spanish, my baseball Spanish.
29:46
Speaker 2: It's not it's not. It's not easy to be bilingual.
29:49
Speaker 2: So I understand. I understand.
29:52
Speaker 8: Miguel.
29:53
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, such great answer, such great information
29:56
Speaker 1: and insight. You took so much of your time to
29:59
Speaker 1: be honest and candidate, and we appreciate it. Go get
30:02
Speaker 1: that third World Series championship in a real please. I
30:04
Speaker 1: want nothing more than that for you.
30:07
Speaker 8: Good luck you can take.
30:07
Speaker 6: He's gonna take his Dodger gear off at some point,
30:10
Speaker 6: like some point in his life, he's gotta take his
30:12
Speaker 6: Dodger gear like you kids, eat, sleep and work out
30:15
Speaker 6: in your Dodgers gear.
30:19
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna move on. I'm gonna move on
30:23
Speaker 2: at the end.
30:23
Speaker 3: Of the year.
30:24
Speaker 5: Don't don't worry. I'll be I'll be a retired player.
30:28
Speaker 5: I'll be a retired player. And I can't wait not
30:30
Speaker 5: to work out anymore and get ready for another season.
30:33
Speaker 2: That's that's the worst.
30:34
Speaker 5: That's the worst part of my year, getting ready for
30:37
Speaker 5: for the full season.
30:38
Speaker 2: I'd rather play all the games that you that that
30:40
Speaker 2: you want me to play.
30:41
Speaker 5: But working out and doing all this running and all
30:46
Speaker 5: these form things, that's one song. That's one thing that
30:49
Speaker 5: I'm looking forward to do. Just taking all this stuff
30:51
Speaker 5: away and just grab a phone, go start phoning punge,
30:55
Speaker 5: go out my kid and and BP to to my kids.
31:00
Speaker 1: That's awesome, Miguel, good luck.
31:01
Speaker 2: We'll see you.
31:02
Speaker 1: We're gonna come down to camel back here in a
31:04
Speaker 1: week and change, so we'll see you in the clubhouse.
31:06
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, my friend.
31:07
Speaker 2: See you guys over there. Thank you