Los Angeles Dodgers assistant trainer Greg Harrel talks maintenance programs, warm-ups

It's important to have their bodies ready for what they're going to do. If you're a fan and you come to our games and you get there early enough to see the players stretch before batting practice or before the game, what a lot of people don't realize is that even if they're out there doing that on the field there's an active warm-up, people call it different things, that's been done by most players inside the weight room and inside the conditioning center. There they are doing stuff to get their blood flowing before they go out on the field. What you see on the field should be pretty good, because most of those guys have done something before they even go out there.

On a typical day, like a 7 o'clock game at home last year, I was typically at the field by 11:30 (a.m.), sometimes earlier. Some of that is to do some of my personal stuff but we have players that show up as early as 12:30 for a 7 o'clock game. A lot of times the guys who are injured or have something going on feel a commitment and they're there earlier than we even tell them to be. That happens quite often.