|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MLB WORLD SERIES: CUBS VS INDIANSOctober 30, 2016Dan OteroBryan ShawChicago, Illinois - Pregame 5 THE MODERATOR: Dan and Bryan, thanks for coming in. Questions? Q. Just for both of you, your entire bullpen has had a very good postseason. I was just wondering if you could both speak to just what Andrew Miller has meant to it? DAN OTERO: Well, obviously he's a big part of our bullpen. When we got him over here in July right at the deadline, we knew he was going to be a big part of what we were going to do the rest of the season, and watching him and Cody succeed as they have in this postseason has been amazing. The rest of us down there are trying to complement them as best as possible. BRYAN SHAW: Miller, he's really tall. He's got a nice beard. I think he's got a son. He's just a good guy. Q. Bryan, can you guys, for people that haven't followed you all year, quantify what you guys have overcome in terms of the guys that have gotten hurt, suspended, missing, all the different things you've had to deal with to get here? BRYAN SHAW: Absolutely. There's been quite a few different injuries and things we've dealt with to Carrasco, Salazar, Bauer's hand in the playoffs. There's a lot of different things that have happened, Brantley, but it always seems like we have that guy, whether it's position players stepping up in the wake of somebody getting hurt or a pitcher stepping up or starter, whatever the case. It always seems to be that guy waiting to step up and take over whatever the role was or whatever the situation is that they're in to overcome, obviously, whatever's happening. So it's been a lot of fun to watch everybody do what they've done. DAN OTERO: Same question? I don't know if I can list all the things we've had to go through, but anytime during a long season you're going to face adversity, and it's how you overcome those different times that kind of reveals your true character as a team. I think we have an unbelievable clubhouse from the top down, starting with the front office and how they communicate to the manager, all the way down to us. So I think it starts there. And I remember from day one of Spring Training, Tito's big point during our meeting in Spring Training was this team. All 65 guys there, he was trying to preach team. All the players, even if you weren't going to make the team or not. That's carried through the whole way until now. Hopefully we can continue it through tonight and however much longer we need to do. Q. Confidence in the bullpen, you have it or you don't have it? Of course you have Andrew Miller, but you guys, at least from above, you look so confident every time you come in to pitch. Could you compare the confidence you have in this 'pen of the Cleveland Indians with the one you've had with other teams, if any, before? BRYAN SHAW: I've spent most of my career here, and I think everybody down there has confidence. It doesn't matter what team you're on, pitchers in the Big Leagues, if you're here, you have to have confidence in yourself, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Somebody, whether it's the front office or manager, staff, somebody has confidence in you. So I think just feeding off of what everybody else's thoughts are on you, it helps. But definitely the way that we've pitched and the way that this team has gone about its business, and the way that we've done things is definitely a boost for us. DAN OTERO: Yeah, I think it helps that there aren't many egos down there. I remember during the trade deadline happening, Cody offered up his closer role to somebody, if the front office wanted to bring somebody in, and I think that set the tone. I think that helps everybody down there. We have a lot of confidence in one another, and we care about each other on and off the field and we help each other out. If we see something in somebody's delivery, we try to help them. So I think you have the support of your teammates down there, since we spend so much time together, it helps you be more confident when you do go out there. So I think that's a big part of our success down there. Q. Do you almost get a sense about this game that Tito might treat it like a Game 7, just go all out and use the whole roster to pull out all the stops? DAN OTERO: Doesn't he do that every game? I think it's the playoffs, you're trying to win every game. I always keep hearing, "Is this a must-win game?" Every game's a must-win game, whether you're down one, up one, up two, up three, it doesn't matter. Once you get to the playoffs, you're trying to win every game, and every game is a must win. So I know we're going to go out and try to win this game. However we're going to go about it, I don't know. I'm not in Tito's head. I don't think he even knows how he's going to go about it yet. BRYAN SHAW: Yeah, from a pitching standpoint, all of us down there will be ready from inning one. Obviously, Bauer's hand is good to go now. But obviously if something were to happen to it, obviously we're all going to be ready, just like last time. I think that everybody every day is ready to go, from pitch one, regardless of who's on the mound or whose starting in what position, obviously, just in case something happens. Q. Along the lines of no matter, everybody's stepping up when something happened, like starting with the Brantley thing, have you ever thought, who is it going to be? Have you ever been amazed at kind of where it comes from? BRYAN SHAW: I think, you know, we've shown as a team everybody that's here the last couple of years has shown little bits of what we can do. And I think that this year everybody's really put it together and shown, you know, not only our staff and within our organization, but the rest of the team has shown what we can all do. I think that, like you said, it comes from so many different places that you can't just say, oh, it was just that one guy stepped up here. It's literally everybody on the team, on the roster that's done a really good job for us so far. Q. Can you both speak to one thing that's different or unique about your experiences with the Cleveland organization versus your previous organizations? I know, Bryan, you were only with the Diamondbacks other than Cleveland. DAN OTERO: Yeah, I felt a part of the team from day one going back to Spring Training. Don't think it's like that everywhere. I remember in the off-season when I was shifted over here through the waiver process, Tito even called me, you know, the manager of the Big League club, and that usually doesn't happen. A lot of times it's just the front office members calling you and letting you know, hey, you're part of our organization now. So I thought that was really unique, and I think that's one of the big things about this organization is they treat everybody like a family. Every time you see somebody in the hallway or something, they always say hi to you, ask you how your family's doing. So they treat us like human beings and individuals. At the end of the day, we try to go out and win them some games. BRYAN SHAW: Yeah, I completely agree. Obviously with the Diamondbacks to here, every coach, every manager has their own style of managing. Like Tito's really a player-friendly manager. He talks to us. He asks everybody how they're doing every day, all that kind of stuff. Whereas when I was with the Diamondbacks, they didn't really do that aspect of it. It's kind of, you come to the ballpark every day knowing you're going to play, ready to play. Here it's more communication and wants to know how are you actually feeling today. Are you good to go? Or are you just going out there? So I think that is a little bit different from team to team. Q. Speaking of Terry, obviously he managed a few teams that came back from 3-0 and 3-1 deficits. What's been his message to you in the clubhouse, now being on the other side, having that 3-1 advantage? BRYAN SHAW: I think it's just his message has been the same all postseason, to go out there, do our game, play our game, play it the right way, the way we've preached it from starting in Spring Training all the way until now. We don't need to change anything. We don't need to do anything differently. There's a reason and a way that we got here. So just continue on doing that, and obviously hopefully everything will work out. DAN OTERO: Yeah, that's been his message all year. He hasn't really wavered from that, and that makes it easy. When the manager doesn't put any extra pressure or try to change anything, the players can go out and play, and it makes it somewhat easier on us. Q. I was just wondering, other than a World Series ring and a player's trophy, are there any other tangible reminders that you or the other guys are going to be scrambling to get to remind yourselves that you were part of this very historic World Series here in Chicago and Cleveland? DAN OTERO: Try to get some Wrigley ivy maybe (laughter). No, I don't know. You always try get anything signed by your teammates. I remember when we were at home, we had champagne bottles going around from our last couple clinches getting signed by everybody on the team. So any keepsakes you can keep from these experiences, this is really cool. So you can reminisce, and show your kids and show your family members, put it in your trophy case. So hopefully we can cross that path just one more time and pick some new items out to get signed and stuff like that by our teammates. Q. I'm curious whether you think as sort of the broader baseball world looks at what Cleveland has done in terms of really using the bullpen a lot and sort of focusing on Kluber and bringing you guys in a lot, will it change the way that other teams approach using their bullpen in the future? BRYAN SHAW: I think that what we've done in the postseason especially, I don't think you can do that for a full 162 games. I think a lot of the guys, Miller throwing 24 innings or whatever it's been or however many innings he's thrown for us, and Cody throwing multiples every time, you can't do that for 162 games or you're going to be burnt out by July. Other teams have done it. Kansas City has done it the last couple years. They've shown it. And I think that the bullpens, it takes the stress off, I think, of the starters, knowing that you have a bullpen that can come in -- well, we've been in in the first, unfortunately, and had to do that in a game. Coming in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh inning, anytime they can go out there and say, "I need to do my job for a couple innings," instead of, I have to go six, I have to go seven, I have to go eight. They can lighten the load themselves and I think that helps them and the staff. DAN OTERO: Yeah, I think it could be a blueprint for future teams. Like maybe we've copied the Royals or Giants for the last couple of years. But it takes a special group down there. Not everybody's going to have an Andrew Miller type of pitcher or Cody Allen type of pitcher that can come in in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and finish the games. They're a special breed, and not every team has the luxury of having those guys. And the guy to my left who has had 70 games five straight years, nobody's done that, I think, the last five years. So it does take a special group down there. But with the built-in off-days, you're able to do that in the postseason. But the regular season our arms would fall off by mid-April, not even the end of April. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|