Freddie Freeman, Miguel Rojas suggest Dodgers clubhouse upset over Jason Heyward DFA

[Music] all right let's ship gears uh if you missed the news Jason Hayward cleared waivers and was released on Monday from the organization he's now a free agent able to sign with any team uh Daniel I know you and Jeff did a live breaking news video the day that the Dodgers DF Hayward last week have your thoughts or feelings uh toward that decision changed at all over the past few days uh I wouldn't say they've changed um just because I think my overall thoughts and we talked about this at the time like you said like it was like we felt it was the right move but we we were just kind of our surprise came from the fact that the Dodgers actually did it and um I do think you know now it's been a week or whatever it's been um you kind of see how the roster Has Come Together they're obviously you know playing really good baseball every you know everyone's been producing and there just wasn't really a role for him like outside of the clubhouse leadership type stuff which I know everyone you know keeps harping on but there is a lot of you know veteran type guys in the clubhouse so it's not like the clubhouse is gonna fall apart um because hayward's not there so my thoughts haven't really changed um obviously it's it's a bummer for him just because um a who knows where he's going to end up if anywhere at all like this could this could be the end for him um and also obviously when you're on a team that's about to compete for a World Series to to not be a part of that um you know can't you know can't be very fun I know Freddy spoke on it as well so um tough situation but I I do think at the end of the day it was the right move and um when your team as good as the Dodgers when you have that much talent on the roster you're going to have to make some you know tough decisions and um that's just kind of what happened here yeah yeah for I've been surprised multiple times now with this one like you alluded to is I just didn't see the Dodgers making this decision with Hayward because of the clubhouse uh presence and how much that was valued in his his influence there too he is obviously very close friends with Freddy Freeman and the Dodgers I think typically uh you know Barnes has had a little bit of resurgence season this year if you will but we've seen the Dodgers basically kind of I don't want to say appease their stars but take care of you know stars on the in that regard uh and look Hayward like Hayward signed a minor league deal last season and then earned his way onto the roster and had a great year so credit to him for that but there is no denying that he he signed with the Dodgers to begin with in large part because of Freddy Freeman uh Fredy Freeman has been on record that as soon as Hayward was released by the Cubs in 2023 that he right away went to the Dodgers and started kind of planting the seeds and then they were working out during the offseason and kept you know following up with Andrew Friedman so it surprised me that you know it is it is out there that free Freddy and Hayward are very close friends and so I didn't think that they would necessarily do that but yes from a roster standpoint like it did make sense like just you know Hayward pretty much only plays right field even though a day or two before the DFA they had him uh Taking Flight balls in center field and Dave Robert said yeah you know it's just to kind of give us some options there uh it it there just wasn't going to be a fit I think all of that being said though the easy solution would have just been to delay Chris Taylor's return by like a week uh I guess the first sort of indication that that wouldn't necessarily be the case was Dave Roberts during one of his pregame interviews on the home stand before the the Hayward news came out sort of unprompted said you know mention Andy pz and September 1 as being the guy that who would kind of come back up so maybe we should have paid we should have read the tea leaves a little bit more I know with Dave Roberts sometimes the stuff he says isn't uh with injuries isn't always accurate uh yeah so that surprised me then I was also a little surprised that he then didn't get claimed off waivers and I know that if a team had done that they would have owed him the pro-rated amount of his $9 million salary for the year but I mean look we're almost to September like I don't know how much that would have necessarily been I'm assuming it's going to be less I guess than or I'm assuming that that total is still more than probably what the minimum would be if a team signs him at this point uh but that surprised me a little bit were did you expect him to get claimed or did you think he would clear I I guess I would say no just because if like if he doesn't get claimed then obviously like you said you could sign him for the minimum so I guess the only risk would be like if someone else claims him but I guess I don't know I feel like there's like Whispers around the league where it's like teams catch win like hey no one like no one's claiming this guy we don't need to bother and then obviously also like with a veteran like Jason Hayward like I don't know how you know what his thoughts would be if he gets claimed by like the Cincinnati Reds or something like I don't know if he'd be rushing to get on a plane to Cincinnati or you could probably name 20 cities that he probably doesn't want to go to right now so um I feel like you know with veterans like him like um you know they just go unclaimed and then they could kind of choose their next team or who knows maybe he doesn't maybe he doesn't even want to join a team this late in the season that you know that would be kind of awkward or or whatever so not not totally surprised he didn't go on claim now I'll I'll just be curious to see does he even catch on with another team because if he's gonna be um eligible for the postseason that would have to be before September 1st he would have to sign his new deal so you know the clock's ticking there he's got like five days or whatever so I'll be curious to see are we gonna have to you know be playing against Jason Hayward in the playoffs or is he just gonna be kind of hanging out maybe rooting on Freddy and and his former teammates yeah that'll be definitely interesting to watch uh the other sort of layer to this is the clubhous stuff and we've alluded to it a little bit with his close friendship with Freddy Freeman uh Freddy did tell Fabby and of the athletic and mikee diovana of the LA times that you know it's decisions like that aren't up to him it's obviously in the front office's hands uh but Freddy also sort of revealed that there hasn't he didn't to the best of his knowledge there really hadn't been much contact between Hayward and now his former Dodgers teammates uh Freeman did say that you know they've text each other maybe three times and then made some I don't want to get the direct quote incorrect but alluded to that those three text messages being more than basically anybody else in the clubhouse had heard from Hayward uh a little surprising I could understand from Hayward standpoint if you're upset like you know you're you're out of a job right now and so I can I can get that but I wouldn't have guessed that that would have necessarily been uh kind of the result Miguel roas also came out and said you know it's going to take the Dodgers a little bit of time I mean he was he was generalizing and speaking for the clubhouse but say it's going to take them some time to really kind of understand that decision and move past it are you worried that there might be some lingering like Clubhouse I don't want to say Rift but something kind of in amongst players where you know they obviously are either shocked and or upset by this I mean I mean I don't think there's any denying like the impact that Hayward has had in the clubhouse and the couple years he's you know been with the team he's one of the most respected you know veterans in in the game and um he obviously had a lot of close friends there whether it be the older guys the younger guys like he was kind of in the middle of everything so I do understand like where they're coming from um and obviously like the fact that they're speaking out just kind of shows that like it's not something they were required to do like they could have easily just said no we've we've moved on like it is what it is it's a business or you know whatever the case may be um but it's clear he he's made an impact and you hope that doesn't necessarily affect anything like um as far as on the field goes like they still have all the talent in the world and even in in the clubhouse there're still a ton of you know veteran guys to lean on there you know Kershaw mooki Freddy um you just said Miguel Roos has has been viewed as a clubhouse leader as well so um it shouldn't be an issue and um I guess you know we we'll see down the road but I don't I don't anticipate it you know having much of an effect um I I guess like if there's if there's like an injury or two like in September then you might have guys questioning like hey why did we get rid of Jason when we could have thrown him on the iio or something and then gotten him back right now but until you know unless that happens there's no there's no room on the roster so there's no reason to really you know keep sulking over this or whatever yeah my hope is that some of it I mean from Freeman's standpoint I was stuck between calling him Freddy and Freeman uh from his standpoint like I can I can understand you know maybe the emotions being a little bit Rous because they are such close friends and uh Freddy even said that it reminded him of when the Braves traded Hayward and you know that kind of broke up not broke up their friendship but they weren't teammates anymore uh the Miguel Roy house one surprised me a little bit I'm hoping that it was more just you know it it kind of just happened these are the first few games they're playing emotions are a little bit raw because yes like you said and it is no secret that Heyward was valued in that Clubhouse uh but the further away we get from it hopefully you know it kind of becomes more normal and yeah like to your point hopefully the Dodgers aren't in a situation in a few weeks where they might need an outfielder and then guys are going to start looking around again like hey you know we could have had we we had one uh yeah that'll definitely be something to watch moving forward