Baseball Isn’t Boring
West Coast Bias: Dodgers Early Spring Training Takeaways With Bill Plunkett
01 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What are the early takeaways from Dodgers Spring Training?
Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring.
You don't get bored by baseball. Okay, one thing the game needs is more people like you. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.
You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.
You. And welcome to another edition of West Coast Bias. We're going to go around and look at different spring training camps. And obviously, we got to start with the defending champs that there's a little bit of bias here from both of us. But the incomparable Bill Plunkett of the OC Register joins me now.
He's joining me from the compound in Glendale, and he's been having the early mornings for spring training, and he's around it all.
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Chapter 2: Why did some Dodgers players opt out of the WBC?
But, Bill, thank you for taking time and joining me today.
Hey, happy to do it.
So let's talk about camp. Obviously, it's starting, but this is a unique year because of the WBC. A lot of guys are excited about that. The Dodgers obviously have a handful of guys that are going off to WBC camps as well. But as camp started, from when you got there to kind of now, what's been your kind of overall sense of the vibe at camp? Because
We're going into a they just won the World Series for the second time in a row. And obviously, the expectations are sky high for the fan base. Players obviously have sky high expectations as well. We saw Kike Hernandez allude to it quite a bit. He's back for three. And so I just kind of wanted to get a general sense of what the vibe is at camp.
In a word, boring. There's just no drama. It's go about your business. They have pretty much everything decided. There will be a pitcher or two who probably open the season on the IL. So some of the younger guys have an opportunity. Maybe they're kind of competing for that this spring. Second base isn't locked down because Tommy Edmonds is going to start on the IL.
So there's a little bit of that. But the other side of it is this is the first time in three years they've had a normal spring. The last two years, they opened the season early over in Korea and Japan. So spring was very different. It was almost a sprint to get ready for those. This year, they are relaxed. They know they have six weeks to get ready.
Max Muncy didn't play in a game until today in the Cactus League. Mookie Betts hasn't seen the field yet. They're aware that last year their position player group had the highest average age in the majors. Guys like Freddie Freeman is 37. Max Muncy is, what, 35 or 6? Mookie's 33 or 4, somewhere in that range. So they're taking it easy on those guys.
And spring training is at a much slower pace than what we saw the last couple of years.
So it's interesting you bring up River Ryan and Gavin Stone, both those dudes coming back from different things. But Gavin Stone, obviously surgery, big time surgery, getting kind of back in the groove of things. And I think to kind of your point, there's an opportunity there for those guys to probably kind of get ahead of the thing. I wanted to ask you, we've seen both of those guys now.
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Chapter 3: What is the general vibe at Dodgers camp this year?
Well, the initial thing is shoulders and elbows are very different. Tommy John Rehab, and that's what Brian had, is very established and regimented, and it's this step after this step after this step. It's very predictable, as surgery can be predictable in the recovery. So you know what you're going to get. Stone had a massive shoulder reconstruction. Shoulders are much trickier.
The recovery is not this. It can be this, you know, a very roller coaster. He looked good in the bullpens I've seen. His first outing the other day in a Cactus League game, the changeup, looked really good. And as he says, that's my bread and butter. If I don't have that, I'm screwed. So that's a positive. River Ryan put on like 30 pounds.
He took his year away and decided to get more physical that he thought he was too skinny, loses weight during the season like most guys do. Maybe that was putting too much stress on his elbow. So he is a different looking dude than he left us looking. He's a much bigger guy. He said he used to be 190, I think he said, and he got up as high as 230. And I saluted him.
I think gaining weight is – I could help you with that. But he also worked out, so he put on muscle. I don't know if I can help you with that. And now his goal is to get it back down to around 220. That's where he wants to sit. But – I think one of those two guys will open in the rotation because Blake Snell won't. He won't be ready.
I'm still not convinced that they won't give Shohei Otani some more time to build up as a pitcher before they start putting him in games. I think Emmett Sheehan probably, if they go with a six-man rotation, which they are planning, I think Emmett Sheehan sneaks in there and gets one of those spots too. But I still think at the front of the season, there's going to be starts for Ryan or Stone.
Probably Stone. If I had to guess, I'd say Stone.
Yeah, I think it's a very healthy competition because they both have really, really good stuff. And I think you're right. I think Gavin might end up kind of getting, I don't know if the nod is the right word, right? But it's just, you know, out of the two, you kind of give Gavin the edge.
He's more of a proven commodity. He was terrific until the shoulder exploded in 2024.
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Chapter 4: How are injuries affecting Dodgers' roster decisions?
River, we've only made four starts in the big leagues before he got hurt. So if Stone is fully healthy, he's more of a proven commodity.
Speaking of prospects, Roki Sasaki is, I want to, I'm curious from your perspective, how long, and kind of from what you've heard, because I mean, we all forget too, you're very plugged in all over the place with the Dodgers. With Roki, what do you think the leash looks like for 2026? Because I feel like Speaking of like a proven commodity, I don't know if Rookie is a proven commodity, right?
I think it was interesting kind of in the offseason how they made emphasis of, hey, he's going to be a starter and not a reliever, especially kind of coming out of the World Series stuff. And listen, he was put in some very serious situations throughout the postseason. to kind of get him in there, right, to see what the intensity of the game is.
And in my humble opinion, sometimes, especially when you're coming from Japan, you're coming from another kind of level, sometimes that's the situations you've got to be thrown to the wolves into so you can really see kind of what a guy is made of and see where the stuff is.
But, you know, when you kind of look at it optically, from what you've heard, kind of what you're gathered, and you've been around the game long enough, what do you think that leash really does look like in 26 for Rokey?
I think it is a mile long. I don't think they have any intention of making a quick decision or pull him from the rotation, you know, anytime early in the year. I think you have to think the way the Dodgers think. They don't value the regular season the way most teams have to value the regular season.
They can afford to mess around a little bit and absorb some things because they're so deep and so good. That's why you will see the Oklahoma City shuttle and pitchers will be coming up and down, soaking up innings. You won't see a starting pitcher make more than, I would say, probably not more than 24 starts. or throw more than 140, 150 innings because everything is built towards October.
So they have no motivation or desire to make a quick decision on Rokey. He's going to get a long leash. The other thing is he's a 24-year-old kid who has been kind of overwhelmed by the major leagues.
whether that's, you know, he's just an individually immature person, whether the challenges of moving to the United States have been too much for him, whether it's just a lack of confidence on the mound, because he honestly hasn't had a lot of success here yet. So I don't think the Dodgers want to risk losing him mentally, right?
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Chapter 5: What is the competition like among Dodgers' young pitchers?
And really, this offseason, when you kind of look back at the offseason, you know, I think the Dodger fan base also forgets, like, yeah, you're losing, obviously, Clayton Kershaw. You lost, you know, as far as, like, position players, you lost Ben Roarvid, right? You've lost Andy Ibanez, who was designated for assignment, I feel like, 19 times. And then you throw in...
Quietly, Tony Gonsolin was designated for assignment. Michael Kopech looks like he's not coming back. Kirby Yates not coming back. Conforto has signed elsewhere. Clayton Kershaw retired, right? So you kind of see those bigger things, and then the additions are Kike Hernandez. Obviously, that sounded like that was a match made in heaven.
It doesn't sound like Kike was going to play for anyone else, it sounds like. And then Evan Phillips quietly added to the 60-day IL. He won't be ready for a minute. And so you don't really ever think like, Oh yeah, Santiago Espina. Like that's, that's a guy that you pick up and, and,
Dodger fan had talked about it for a couple of years up until the, you know, kind of this run they're in, they needed that depth. And that was really the only thing they were kind of, you know, for lack of a better term missing. And he's a really good depth piece.
And to your point, having him give max, those breaks is not a bad thing because I mean, he max max is a lot of things, but some, you know, the season's long and it's going to kick your ass. And yeah, You need those breathers. So an astute observation on your behalf, pointing that out, because I didn't even think about the third base part.
Espinal basically just replaced Ibanez. If they had snuck him through DFA and waivers like they hoped, Ibanez would be in camp getting the same opportunity. Yeah, Espinal just was signed as a replacement for Ibanez.
And not a terrible replacement at all.
No, a cheaper replacement.
Yeah, oh yeah.
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Chapter 6: How is Shohei Ohtani's performance being evaluated this season?
Where are we going to stick Tanner Scott at?
But the problem is they tried that last year. That was the way they were going to handle the closer position. Tanner Scott was not signed to be the closer. He was signed to be one of the options. Well, Evan Phillips was another option, and his elbow blew out. Blake Trinan was another option, and he got hurt and didn't pitch for much of the season.
Kirby Yates was going to be in that mix, and he got old real quick and just did not pitch well. And then it ended up being Tanner Scott just by default, and we saw how that worked out. He was not up to just being the dedicated closer. You go into a season, you think you have a lot of options, but things happen. Things happen and the picture changes.
The one thing that the Dodgers do have is depth. If things aren't going great in the first couple months, well, here come Brock Stewart and Evan Phillips to reinforce and bounce a couple other guys out of the way.
And if need be, right, you can, hey, Edgardo Enriquez, we need you to step in here, right? Oh, hey, Will Klein.
Ben Kasperius, Justin Robleski, on and on. Yeah, they have a lot of options.
Before we wrap this guy up, I wanted to ask you, how weird, you've been around the Los Angeles Dodgers for a long time. How weird is it showing up to camp and Clayton Kershaw isn't there?
You know, not as weird as I thought it would be. His locker right by the door that goes to the weight room is now Blake Snell's. Well, Clayton was never at his locker very much. And neither is Blake Snell this spring. So it's just the usual empty locker. I think, you know, for fans, it may be more emotional. But I think we were kind of prepared for this. You saw how it was coming.
You know, Clayton had his physical issues the last couple of springs and was not even around that much. So it was like we kind of he he was nice enough to kind of ease us into it. But it is definitely the end of an era. This is a Hall of Fame first ballot guy. I think he will be around more than you realize because he's doing the NBC broadcasting.
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Chapter 7: What predictions are being made for the Dodgers' season?
Right.
Oh, absolutely not.
Yeah. Like I think, I mean, I know for sure that that's the, the 5,200 thing in the sense of like that, but, but just like, but, but anything like offensive and like that crazy pitching wise has never, ever been done before. And the only reason I'm just thinking about it is because I feel like with Otani, you have to question everything because it doesn't feel real. Right. Yeah.
It just – because, again, like, I mean, I think about the World Series game, 10 strikeouts, three home runs.
NLCS.
NLCS, yeah, and the playoffs.
And you know what happened? The story in front of that, he was struggling in the postseason. The Phillies really locked him up, and the first couple games against the Brewers, he didn't do anything. Well, on the off day – We had interviewed him. He came in the press interview room in Milwaukee during those first two games, and the questions were really pretty negative.
They were, you know, why are you struggling? What's wrong? Don't you hit left-handers? He didn't take well to it. Shohei is very polished about handling these group interviews, and you could see the smoke starting to come out of his ears. And then on the off day, they travel back to L.A. and they work out at Dodger Stadium. He throws a bullpen because he's going to start game four.
So he throws a bullpen while everybody else is working out. And it looks like things are done. He comes walking out of the dugout with a bat in hand. And they play his entrance music, his walk-up song, and all the teammates are clapping and going crazy down there. He never takes batting practice on the field. Never. He prefers it in the batting cage.
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