MLB Winter Meetings: Brandon Gomes talks age of Dodgers roster, Roki Sasaki’s role, Tanner Scott

MLB Winter Meetings: Brandon Gomes talks age of Dodgers roster, Roki Sasaki’s role, Tanner Scott

[Music] I I can’t figure out how they they decide what they do with their pitchers. And that’s clear cuz on the national pregame show when we were talking about the playoffs for the Dodgers, I thought it was guaranteed that Show Otani was start a certain game. Then my my cohort Dan Pak and I had a bit of a wager put on it. Anyway, let me just show you. I don’t want to describe it. Let me take you back to this Show Otani wager I met I made. How about this? If Show Otani starts game two, I get to open this bottle on live TV and pour it on your head. Okay. If he doesn’t start game, two, you get to do that. You get to do that to me. Oh, take that bet. I’m taking it. You heard it here on national TV. Otani will not pitch games one and two. We had a little wager um on our show where if I believe show Otani is going to start game two, uh Dan Pac said he’s not going to start game two. And if Otani does not start game two, Dan gets to open up a bottle of champagne and pour it on my head live on the air. I get to do it to Dan if Otani does start game two. So I’m talking to the GM of the Dodgers so you can settle this. Who’s going to start for the Dodgers game two? Oh, I feel like you guys need to sweat this out a little bit longer. So, we’ll we’ll talk about it more postgame and then uh hopefully we’ll we’ll we’ll see some uh some champagne being poured out at some point. We want the champagne on Greg Brandon, please. Otani is not starting game two. I was wrong. I’ve been wrong a couple times in my life. And kids, it’s time to pay when you talk too much. Come on. Come on, man. That’s it. Look at all that product in your hand. [Applause] Yes. Oh, that was beautiful. Brandon Gomes, look what you did to me. I completely forgot about that. I appreciate you. Unbelievable moment. Oh man. Um, you guys are still just in in the afterlow moment of winning another world championship. Is there a is there a race when you get to the winter meetings to to address things at the same level when you haven’t won two straight world championships? Um, I think we certainly try not to have that mentality even prior to the last few years. I think it’s all about making sure you can put out the most well-rounded roster that’s going to compete for a championship that year. Um, that mindset’s exactly the same right now. And you know, we’ve been very aggressive the last two off seasons, which means we have a a very talented group right now. So now it’s having, you know, very targeted conversations and how do you how do you build out the best roster from there? Now look, obviously our last guest called you the gold standard in the industry for how you got run your operations. So it’s a it’s fascinating to watch. And I guess one of the questions is as you have a talented or roster that’s had a great deal of success, there’s an inclination where you can almost get a little sentimental or hold on to guys as they get older. And last year, I believe you had about three position players who are under the age of 30. Is there coming a time, whether it’s now or in the not too distant future, where you’re going to have to start pivoting more to younger players just to keep the music going longer? Yeah, I think that’s a constant balance. Now, the the good thing is, you know, the aging curve is not what it used to be. Our guys, you know, our our veteran players take such good care of themselves. It’s a huge focus of nutrition and recovery and making sure they’re taking care of themselves. And, you know, we’re fortunate enough to have a really good farm system. So, making sure that there’s a well- balanced roster that inevitably injuries happen, you know, and it’s timing up. Okay. Do we is it time for this younger guy to go and take those everyday reps right out the gate or allow for things to happen and uh you know flow in a different way where they’re still going to get their reps get to you know put a foot in maybe not have to be relied upon so heavily and then kind of ease them in that way. So it’s certainly a balancing act that’s not easy but it’s front of mind for sure. Brand was talking about your your talented farm system. You got some talented outfielders coming. When I looked at game seven, I’m like, this is how they do it. Tommy Edmond in center, right? You have uh Tioscar in right and then you have Kik who’s a free agent who just turns it on somehow in the off I mean in the postseason gets it done. I know Tommy has had ankle surgery and Kik is a free agent. How do you look at your outfield as you move forward in the spring training? Yeah, I mean uh obviously have have Andy in that mix who played in field. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so it’s kind of looking at what is, you know, what’s our internal options, which once again we feel like it’s a it’s a really high really high bar to get above that and then figuring out whether it’s free agency or trade. Are there moves that we can make to to supplement and be a real impact uh move to to move championship type odds? And that’s the, you know, we’re in in the good fortune of being able to do that with the roster we have coming in. When we put graphics together uh for shows like this, should the 2026 projected rotation have Roki Susaki in it? Absolutely. It should. Yes. Yeah. Wow. And that there was no hesitation on that at all. No. No. So, what we saw in October was just a need at that moment in time. For sure. I think it speaks to Roki as a competitor and you know the the culture that Doc and our veteran players have built to like hey however I can help right now all I want to do is win and at that moment that was Roki’s position to help us win and he fully embraced it and dominated and now use that as a springboard to go out and be the dominant starter that we feel like he can be. You know, obviously relievers are tough to project and guys with great track records can have down years and then get back right on track and given the performance at the end of the year last year. Uh is back into the bullpen something you’re prioritizing over the coming weeks or is the thought more that Tanner Scott and Blake Trinan have long histories of success and they’re allowed a blip here every so often like most relievers? Yeah, I think it’s it’s certainly that we expect, you know, really good years from both those guys. Their track records speak for themselves. You also have Brock Stewart coming back, Bruce Grderall, Alex Vesie has been a mainstay. Uh so we feel like we have a very talented bullpen group as it is. Our younger guys, you know, you have the the Will Klein game. Like these guys that that we know are talented just aren’t as famous. So it’s a very talented group. Now it’s about like is there something that makes sense to bring on uh a reliever that is a real impact or do we continue to look at like how do we round out that group and make sure we have depth. So I think it’s we have our different options but we feel like the the pitching depth as is is very high on the outside looking in. You know it’s always like you know what what questions do you ask Bran? Like how how many questions can you ask this guy when you win back to back? But I guess I would ask you more of, you know, I how much fun are you having as you go through this, you know, you know, this the trials and tribulations of figuring out rosters and stuff like that? Yeah, the the winning after the fact is very fun in during it. There’s highs and lows and not the greatest like quality of life. obviously wouldn’t trade it uh for anything, but it’s it’s making sure that, you know, as a group that we’re appreciating the wins along the way and not just getting so hyperfocused on like, okay, let’s do it again. That is certainly the focus, but if there’s small breaks in there, making sure to appreciate, no doubt, winning’s fun. Who’s the most who’s the most anxious person of the front office during game seven of the World Series? Oh god. That I mean that’s every we had like our whole group watching it and we’re all like running at 100 out of 10. I had I had my son sitting on my lap as like my security blanket and like talking to him the whole time. So I mean you could it’d be hard not to peg myself, but I think everybody was was running up there pretty high. Pretty great moment in time. Brandon Gomes, thanks so much for hanging out with us and thank you guys. You know, you got my hair wet. You’re welcome. Totally fine. Totally fine. I do it for you.

Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes joined MLB Network to discuss roster outlook for the 2026 season, having a veteran group, trusting the bullpen to bounce back, being fully confident in Roki Sasaki’s return to the starting rotation, and more.
#DodgerBlue #Dodgers #RokiSasaki

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