PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ first official workout began with Dave Roberts picking on the new guys.
Over the offseason, star outfielder Kyle Tucker and star closer Edwin Diaz agreed to shorter-term, higher-salary contracts to join the Dodgers in their chase for a third consecutive championship.
And so on Tuesday morning, Roberts, embarking on his 11th season as the Dodgers’ manager, asked them to stand in front of their new teammates and share their reasoning.
“I think it’s powerful for our guys to hear it from the other side,” Roberts said, “from somebody who hasn’t been here.”
Tucker, not typically one for public statements, and Diaz, whose brother, Alexis, spoke highly of the Dodgers in his time with them last year, spoke briefly. Their message, Roberts said, centered on the team’s attention to detail, the professionalism with which they play and the way staffers take care of players’ families.
It helped to underscore a message many within the organization have been trying to send while in the midst of uproar about their exorbitant spending:
The Dodgers don’t just win because they have more money than everybody else, team officials believe. They win because they do everything else well, too.
Two days earlier, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper and San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, star players on rival teams, were effusive in their praise of the Dodgers, with Harper in particular crediting their player-development system for their success.
“I think one of our most overarching goals is to be a destination spot,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “Most important, where our own guys don’t want to leave. But where players from other teams are looking longingly, like, ‘Oh, I want to be on the Dodgers’ — that’s our goal. Because we feel like if we’re able to maintain our really talented players, we’re able to get really talented players from other teams, that obviously will help in our ultimate quest to win World Series.”
The fruits of the Dodgers’ labor have been sprinkled throughout the backfields of their spring training complex over these past five days. On a daily basis, hundreds of fans — not to mention hundreds of media members — gather behind the fence to watch live batting practice, or line up along the walkway near the facility to snap photos as players walk by or congregate around the bullpen mounds to catch a glimpse of someone pitching.
The Dodgers have dominated three consecutive winters, beginning with an offseason that saw them land Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow heading into 2024. Blake Snell, Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki followed going into 2025. Tucker and Diaz now represent a new group heading into 2026.
In the meantime, players such as Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez, Max Muncy, Enrique Hernandez, Tommy Edman, Miguel Rojas, Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips have all found their way back, either by signing extensions or agreeing to new deals in free agency.
“We have it really good here, and we definitely don’t forget that,” Muncy said. “But it’s always refreshing when you hear that from the outside, and then you get that little extra hunger from guys who want to go out there and win a ring. It keeps everyone else in here hungry, as well, because you just start feeding off each other.”
