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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES VS BREWERS

October 3, 2018

Craig Counsell

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Workout Day

Q. Could you tell us about your starting pitching plans as much as you can?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah. We're going to use a bullpen. It's going to be a bullpen day. We're going to use guys that haven't kind of been our starters this last couple weeks, so we're going to use a bunch of different guys and still deciding on exactly the order of that scenario.

Q. Your guys show a lot of emotion, and apparently you like it, and baseball is doing a promotional campaign now about guys showing emotion. Just tell us how you feel about it, just guys showing their joy and how much they like each other and they like playing.
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think -- it's been a really important part of the culture of this team for sure, that the emotional part of it comes out. The fun comes -- it's really the fun especially that we're allowed to see that, and we're not afraid to show it.

You know, the way the game is structured has squashed that for a long time, and I understand -- you understand why; it's played every day. There's lots of failure in it. I think that's been a reason why you've tried to -- you try to keep an even keel for the long haul.

But I think -- I've found that it works for these guys, and it works for our guys, and they need it. So you let the fun happen, and you enjoy it. It's not always things -- I'm certainly not comfortable doing, but I don't have to be comfortable doing it. They're the ones that got to perform, and I want them to be at their best to perform.

Q. Could you tell us a little bit more about the decision for the bullpen? It's harder to do when you're down to 25 guys. How many games in a five-game series could you theoretically do it, and could you share the strategy of opening with a game like that versus one of your traditional starting pitchers who are rested?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, everybody is rested. That's the first thing. We're all rested. And I think for our team, we have -- largely, we're trying to get away from what the word starter and reliever means, and that's how we're going to get through the postseason, I think. We really think when we're going to put together our pitching staff for this series, every one of the guys we're adding is going to pitch significant innings in the series, and that's what -- I think that's what allows us to consider different ways to get to 27 outs.

Jhoulus Chacin is going to pitch Game two, so we're going to go back to a starter in Game two, a starter. But we're not going to ask probably as much as we'd ask a starter in the regular season to do.

And we just feel like with the pitchers that we have available that getting 27 outs, they're going to share the 27 outs. We're going to share the outs a little bit more, but we really are confident with the days off in the series, the way we're coming into the series, that we'll be certainly able to do it.

Look, these aren't going to be one-out appearances. These are going to be longer appearances. These are going to be two, three-inning appearances that we think we can get through this with.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the influence that guys like Moustakas and Cain and Granderson have had on this team having been through a long postseason run before?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, their biggest influence is that they've -- I think they've played well. That's their biggest influence. I think for players, experience is a great teacher. And for all of us, experience is a great teacher. And so these are guys that have used the experience to their advantage.

I think their games -- especially when you think about Lorenzo Cain, I think his game is so suited -- he's obviously a very -- a brilliant player, but it's so suited for this type of game where you can expect the pitching -- you're going to get to see the best pitchers. It's a lower run scoring environment. I think contact is more important, and so he's a guy that's able to get on base, makes a lot of contact. He's handled these situations well.

But probably the biggest strength for these guys is that they're comfortable in their own skin. And I think when you get into pressure situations, that's when we tend to -- there's the bigger chance to change who we are. And these guys, through experience, they're comfortable with what they do. They know what they're good at. They're not going to get out of their process. And that's a recipe for success. It's really a recipe to take your game to a higher level in these circumstances.

Q. You've stressed before that it's important for Josh Hader to have rest. And considering you're doing a bullpen day, how do you think you're going to handle using him, and Curtis Granderson also mentioned that he doesn't believe that rest necessarily is something that's important for the postseason because guys come out of the gate ready to go. How do you relate that comment to a guy like Hader who needs rest?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think -- I mean, I think, look, you're going to apply different rules when you're on to games that it's win or go home, for sure.

We have to put our players in the best position to succeed, knowing them and knowing what hopefully what makes them tick a little bit and what allows them to have success and what we've learned from the past.

We're going to take that. There's not going to be hard-and-fast rules on how we're going to use any of our pitchers. And we know the rules change in this environment. They will change. The rules that we've used in the past may change.

But we also -- I want my guys to be successful, and I want Josh to be successful. We've had a pretty good recipe to make him successful, and we'll consider that when we make these decisions.

Q. You were here in '08 and '11. How does this team compare to those in terms of a playoff potential do you think?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah. It's hard to look back a little bit that far, but I think they're different makeup. You know, every team has different strengths. So you're going to -- we win in different ways than those teams won. And that's perfectly fine.

You know, we just have to say it's just going to be different. And I think that's part of what we're talking about here is this is a different team, and we've got to take advantage of what our players are good at and what their strengths are and how collectively we are strong.

So those were different teams for me, different types of teams for sure. I think this is a team that we're built on depth. We have great players, and I think Yelich and Lo Cain are in that category for sure. But I think it's the depth of the roster that is one of our true strengths this year, and that's something that we're going to lean on the whole way through here.

Q. I don't know if it was a buzzword like it is now, but I'll ask you, what was the culture like when you were in the Rockies' organization, and how did that shape you as a player and moving forward?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, yeah, I was part of the first Rockies draft. So I was, I guess, one of the first employees theoretically of the Rockies. There's still the train -- the Major League trainer is the trainer that I had for five years in the Minor Leagues that I know very well that took care of many injuries, too many injuries that I had on my way up.

There's still people there that -- the man that saw me and turned in a scouting report on me, Paul Egans, is still an employee for the -- original employee for the organization. I mean, I think there are definitely some connections there and memories there.

I think seeing something at the start was always a little -- was always interesting. They created a great energy and thing with their fans right away, early in their franchise with the great new ballpark and then a kind of group of sluggers that made their team kind of recognizable in the community.

You know, it's an organization I keep tabs on because I did have a part in it and was a part of it for a long time.

Q. Building off that, obviously you yourself as a player had a ton of World Series and postseason experience. Is there any advice and experience you can relate to this team on how to handle this long run?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, you know, the first thing is that we're in such a good place as a team. I really believe that. It's how we've handled the last -- really the month of September.

We don't have to handle these games any differently, and we don't have to think about them any differently. The guys have done a fabulous job of putting themselves kind of in the moment, fabulous job of staying to their process and not -- and what I mean by that is when the situations become big, when the emotion becomes great, it's easy to get off track.

If you kind of stay on what you're good at, stay on the important things, then the situation can take you higher and make you do things and allow you to do things as a player that you can even amaze yourself.

We've done a good job of that. We've done a really nice job of that, and so that's what we need to continue to do, and I think we'll keep continuing to get some really incredible performances.

Q. You stressed the importance of keeping an even keel throughout a long season and now the postseason. How do you avoid the trap, particularly with younger players, the danger of just so happy to be here and not looking perhaps far enough?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah. I mean, I just don't -- I don't buy into that kind of. I don't subscribe to that theory. It doesn't happen. When you get put out on the field and asked to compete, you're trying to beat the other guy. You're trying to win the situation. It just doesn't happen. That won't happen, flat out.

This is an opportunity where you get to play on a stage, on a bigger stage, and in front of an incredible atmosphere. You know, there's more of a trick of like we just talked about of not trying too hard and kind of staying in your process than being content. I don't think that kind of -- that word doesn't exist right now.

Q. Does the result of last night's game in any way influence roster decisions? What prompted the question is thinking about individual success, even some of your younger pitchers had, namely Freddy Peralta earlier this season.
CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think it does. It does affect it. The personnel on the other team will affect roster decisions, yeah.

Q. I wonder if you could describe the relationship you have with David, and being a first-time GM in his first stint, what your experience has been like getting to know him, and also anything that stood out in the way he operates or in the way he talks baseball with you that has really stood out to you?
CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, I mean, David has been nothing short of magnificent here in his first three years. He's been the architect here that's made a lot of this happen.

I mean, our first time we sat down and met each other, we sat down at the Pfister late Sunday night, and we just -- we had about a 45-minute conversation. And one of the things we kind of talked about is stacking good decisions on top of each other, just keep stacking up good decisions. If I would tell you anything about Davis, that's what he does. He just stacks up good decisions. He's a very consistent decision maker. He's a measured decision maker. And that makes him really good at this job. I feel really fortunate in the seat I sit in to work like -- work with somebody like that, and he's done a heck of a job.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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