MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 5, 2022

John Schneider

Toronto Blue Jays

Press Conference

Take us through the process of hiring Don Mattingly. And what did you like about him that tipped the scales?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: A lot of stuff, obviously. It was a long process and a lot of different guys we talked to. But I think kind of the combination of his experience, things that he's been through as a player, as a coach, as a manager, you know, kind of checked a lot of boxes for us. Adds a different dynamic to our staff. I think our team will like him, what he has to offer.

I think our staff, who has been together quite a while, will kind of like a fresh voice as well.

Q. When you say you went through a lot of names, is that one that really stood out from the beginning? Like, if we can get this guy, this is who we want?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I think so. We weren't quite sure he was going to be available. And it kind of just came together, right place, right time. And I think his interest level was real, and ours became really real as we got talking a little bit.

So he can do and bring a lot of different things to our team, helping in a very broad way with not just myself, but I think with the entire staff and with a lot of our players. So that was kind of the big draw once we got talking, it seemed like a really good fit.

Q. (Indiscernible) what it's like to be a bench coach for a Major League team? How do you anticipate him helping you and being that guy for you?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Offering suggestions, and I think offering advice, he's been through more experiences than I have. I've said it from the get-go when we started the whole thing, I wanted someone to disagree with me and tell me that I'm crazy at times or have I thought it a certain way. So I think that also was appealing to me to have him in that role.

We're going to continue to work through the specifics, me and him on a day-to-day basis. But it was just a really cool opportunity I think that we couldn't pass up on.

Q. How are you going to handle the dynamics of a guy who was an MVP when you were growing up, Hall of Fame, manager of the year, working under you?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I mean, how do I go about every other person in the clubhouse really. I think the dynamic with him is a little bit different because of what he's done. And I wouldn't call it working under me. I would call it working with me and with the rest of the staff.

It's exciting. And I think that the experience and the knowledge and the things that he can offer, not just me, when we're talking about pregame prep or in-game discussions, I think what he can offer the players and staff is appealing too.

Q. Have you interacted with him much or met with him at all before this process started?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Just kind of briefly throughout the course of the season when you're playing against the Marlins, but kind of really got talking quite a bit over the last couple of months.

Q. How involved have you been in personnel discussions this offseason and what do you like about that part?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's nice to be involved. It's nice to be involved when you're talking about getting people around you that you're going to be comfortable with and roles they're going to be in. It's nice to get your opinion on players and how they would fit into your roster and how you would try to deploy them to win.

And it's a relationship that we've had for quite a while, myself and the front office. And it's been kind of more the same.

Q. How active has he been the last --

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I can't tell you. Like any team that's trying to win it's been active. And I think there's a variety of ways for us to continue to get better. But it's nice to keep your phone on silent every once in a while.

Q. You guys have been (indiscernible) starting rotation. The guys you have in place, do you prioritize upside in most spots or are you working for reliability? How do you look at (indiscernible) you have in the rotation?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: You look at it in a variety of ways. If it's upside, yeah, for sure. You trust your staff that you have with Pete Walker and Matt Buschmann, and how you get the most out of every pitcher. Or if it's someone that's been there and done that in the (indiscernible) innings we're comfortable with that too.

I think we're built uniquely to where we're going to score runs, we think. And when you put our bullpen in the right spot they'll prevent runs from the fifth inning on. Depending who is available and at what cost and what price, I think either one of those guys would be a good fit.

Q. The starters you already have individuals (indiscernible) group, how do you think that group gets better year to year?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Starters, you look at Manoah and Gaus right off the bat, they just continue to do what they've been doing. And you're looking for Hosey to do what he's been doing his whole career. And you look at the back end with Kikuch and Mitch Wright, and you try to be creative with some other guys that you can build length into whether it's Nate Pearson or Trevor Richards or someone like that who has thrown multiple innings.

You try to just continue to evolve with it. I think for the guys at the front of the rotation, you hope they continue to build on things they've had success with.

Q. (Indiscernible) the whole offseason leaving is kind of a fait accompli, not that anyone has said those words.

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I get the gist.

Q. Would you guys love to have him back? Would he be someone that you would --

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Absolutely. I think any team trying to win would love to have Ross Stripling. He had a great year, a great time for him personally. He had a great year for us as an organization, too.

We know very well what he's capable of, and obviously we'd love to have him back. And he's earned the right to kind of go through the process he's going through right now for the first time in his career. We're happy to be part of that process with him.

Q. You traded Teoscar and a couple of weeks ago we haven't really talked to you since then. What was your reaction to that trade? And knowing that there was a hole in right field now, how do you look at that as an opportunity for your team to fill?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Teo was a fun guy. And I think it was a little bit of a surprise. But you look at it going forward, you look at how we improved in the bullpen with Erik Swanson, and immediately a guy on the back end who could strike people out.

But with the versatility with Whit Merrifield and Lourdes, guys that can play kind of anywhere in the outfield. I know Lourdes has played left. There's definitely an opportunity to add from outside the organization for an outfield spot as well.

But it's a good way to get creative. I think we're going to do everything we can to put as strong of an outfield as we can out there.

Q. There was a lot of talk about your team after the season ended, especially was the balance or (indiscernible) having a diverse lineup. Do you look at adding a left-handed bat as something that you would like the team to do?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, people especially talk about it now with no shift involved too. You want to have as much of a balanced attack as you can. But we're unique again where we have a lot of good right-handed hitters.

In the perfect world you line them up right, left, right, left, and you kind of match up from a bullpen standpoint. But if that's the case, I think just collectively how our lineup can be most productive is what we're going to try to target. If it happens to be a lefty, that would be great.

Q. When you look at (indiscernible) at times hit four for five for you last year, (indiscernible) a lot of production that you lost there. If there's no add from outside the areas creatively, how do you replace that production that's been lost? And (indiscernible) the impact and the threat the way that he affected the lineup?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I think you try to get creative with different ways to score. It doesn't have to be a homer. I think when you look at Teo over the course of his career, the past handful of years or three years where it's been, a lot of damage, balls over the fence, balls in the gap, runs batted in, you can score runs other ways.

I think we've added pieces to get on base and to make something happen on the bases. You're looking at other guys in the middle of that order. You're look for Kirky to do what he's done over the past of the year. And you're looking for Bo and Vlad to go back -- Bo to continue what he did at the end of the year and Vlad to build on what he did in 2021 to get back to that form. That's a way to replace it.

I think whenever you're taking away something like that, another way to look at it is what are you gaining from it. If you're gaining less scored runs against us that's a good thing too.

There's opportunities. There's opportunities for Lourdes Gurriel to be healthy and for his power to come back, too. There's a variety of ways to do it.

Q. Is it your impression that Lourdes' power was impacted by the (indiscernible)?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yes, I think it was a drastic drop-off for him this year, and over the course of his career it's been significantly different I think for him in terms of the power. So he was grinding through it, battling through it to his credit. So we're looking for more of the same from him.

Q. How long over the course of the season, like when did that start? How long was it affecting him?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I don't remember the exact date. A couple of months. Like anyone, you're battling once you hit the All-Star break. So he was I think around that time feeling a little bit. And happy that he's going to be full go in spring training.

Q. You mentioned Vlad. Did you see maybe a bounce back, bounce back is maybe too strong, but you mentioned returning to that form 2021. Is that something you would expect of him?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yes, I think so. We forget, he's so young, too. And him adjusting to the league I think was a big part of his year in 2022. And how he's going to do that going into 2023 is going to be a big part of what we are as an offense.

He's driven. He's talented, he's one of the best hitters in the league. We're confident he's still going to -- you're still looking at .280 with 30 and 100 in a down year, or whatever it ended up at.

I think Vladi getting back to being an absolute threat every time he steps in the box is going to really help us.

Q. Spoke to Ross about the Don Mattingly hire. He mentioned one of the things Mattingly will bring is a sense of accountability. Is that something (indiscernible) stress, the (indiscernible) matures and grows and will continue to be more accountable?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I think in a perfect world our guys are getting to a point where they're getting old enough and they've been around each other long enough where they kind of drive that. For us as a staff we want to collectively be there to kind of support that.

And when things do not go your way, how are you going to respond to it? And, again, it's a cool time for our players to be where they are in their careers. And to have another voice like him, you can't kind of have one person do it or one or two people do it. It's something I'm going to stress with the staff from day one, how I want it to be a collective effort. It's not going to be me screaming or me talking or Don doing it. It's going to be everybody.

So I think to kind of have that voice of reason and voice of experience do part of that too is big.

Q. A lot of talk this offseason has been on your team's catching situation, having three of them. Just from a manager's point of view, what is the benefits but also maybe the challenges to carrying three catchers?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: The benefits, you can DH one. And you always have those bats in the lineup. It is tough to balance playing time. It's such a physically demanding position where you want to keep people healthy but you want to keep people in a rhythm too.

You look at everyone and what they bring to the table, versatility. We saw Gabi do it a little bit at the end of the year.

If I had to pick, in a pinch-running standpoint in the ninth inning, Kirky or somebody a little bit faster, I'd probably pick someone a little bit faster and hope the game didn't go into extras. But if it did you have someone available to catch.

It's a good problem to have for sure. And I know Ross has said the same thing when talking about acquisitions and people being interested.

It will be -- we'll sort that out in spring training to see how we land with who we're carrying.

Q. On your team there's pretty big free agents with (indiscernible). How closely do you follow that?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I think as a baseball fan you follow that. You're not waking up every day saying who is going where. But I think you're following it because you've seen those guys play up close and you're familiar with them and respect what they do.

So it's always funny because you could follow every rumor and everything and stress yourself out, but I think once everything kind of lands where it lands you gotta pivot and you say how is that going to affect us. If it's Gerrit signing with the Yankees a couple of years ago in our division, how is it going to affect us? Whatever it may be.

So you wish them the best. They've earned to be in that spot and hopefully a lot of other teams have to deal with it more than we do.

Q. Do you expect any more changes to the coaching staff and shifts in roles in the other additions?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: No, I don't think any other additions or changes. I think just still working through finalizing specific roles or titles that may or may not change. But expect everyone to be back in a very similar capacity. It may be a different area of focus, but nothing new on the horizon, no.

Q. Do you anticipate or what do you anticipate coming out of the more balanced schedule?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's going to be interesting. I think that American League East is tough, everyone knows that. I think the record speaks for itself. And I think it's going to be interesting to see kind of how teams, how they're built and how they line up and how teams' three and four pitchers line up against three and four pitchers in different divisions and things like that, how lineups match up with different pitchers and how different teams play and how they deploy.

It's going to be interesting. And I think that it's a good thing for the game. I know I'm looking forward to it. Not looking -- playing the same teams over and over again, you get familiar with them. That's a good thing, but I think at the same time when you're talking about our division, it's tough.

So I'm excited for it. I think it's good for the game. I think it's good for the Jays.

Q. How much does it help not having to play the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox and Orioles, an extra 24 times?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I guess you could say that for sure. I think we play those teams well and if get to where you want to go you're going to beat those team eventually.

Baseball is at a point where I think where a lot of teams are making a lot of good moves and a lot of teams are really competitive. You saw that this past year. And I think with some of the moves being made right now I think you're going to see it again in '23.

So on paper it may look a little bit better. Major League Baseball is hard to win every night. So hopefully we can do it with a different opponent a little bit more next year.

Q. Kirk is such a solid hitter at a young age. What do you see his top-end potential being?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Man, he's unique. I mean, you put damage potential and controlling the zone and contact ability, you put all those things together at a young age, he's had that since we've signed him.

I think you look at every good hitter that kind of learn how to hit first and power came later. And he still was 14 homers, I think, in his first full season. So it's a very, very talented hitter for sure.

And at a young age I think the most impressive thing is over the course of an entire season how he was healthy and controlled the zone. I don't know if he ended up with more walks than strikeouts, but it was pretty close. And that's saying a lot for a young guy.

Q. Part of the recruitment process with free agents, have you spoken to them and participated and if so what do you enjoy about that?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: You enjoy getting to know people. I've been, I don't know, very vaguely kind of involved with it. You get to talk to some guys and get to know them a little bit. You enjoy that because you respected the guys that have gotten to where they can test the waters a little bit. And you try to learn a little bit more about them.

That's part of the game. I like meeting new people. I like getting to know people. And I think not just players on paper, how they're going to fit in, but how is that dude going to fit in our clubhouse. It's been fun.

Q. What's your (indiscernible) sales pitch with the Blue Jays to join the club?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: There's no more COVID and customs are easier to get through. I don't know. I think you all know that. But the city itself is absolutely beautiful. Team is fun. Team is young. Team is on the verge of being able to do something really special. I think everyone who comes to play us they see the same thing.

Q. Have you (indiscernible)?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Definitely heard of him. I know that he's got a lot of quality pitches and has been doing it for a long, long time. And as the dominos have kind of fallen I think in free agency a lot of good teams who want to win are really, really interested in him.

So I know where it shakes out. We're one of those teams have done our homework on him and been -- paid a lot of attention to him over the past couple of years.

Q. How much contact have you had with your players this offseason and what's been your messaging?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Quite a bit. I always want to give guys their space. I talked to a few before I got the job. I talked a few when we hired Don.

We talked to all the guys before the offseason really started about what they're doing for the offseason. Messages. Take the time you need to get healthy and get yourself ready for a full season and understand that what we went through in September and October hopefully makes us better.

But I like talking to those guys. It's funny to talk to them where the stress of everyday Major League Baseball has come and gone, and you get a different version of them a little bit. It's nice to keep in touch with those guys and understand what they're going through and their families and all that kind of stuff. It's been cool.

Q. With George and the elbow procedure he's had, is he active or doing baseball activities yet?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: He's in Florida. I saw him this past week. He's down there full time, which is awesome. He's feeling great. He's doing a regular offseason workout program right now. Baseball activities he hasn't started yet.

But if you were to watch him in the gym, it's not like -- you wouldn't think anything would be bothering him.

He's on track. He's good. He's feeling good. It feels like every year when the season's over we have to fix George a little bit. But he's doing great.

Q. Another player (indiscernible) something new, what is your feeling or expectations of Ryu?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I hope he gets back soon. I really do. He's done a great job in the early parts of his rehab up in Toronto when we were still there and even when the season was over to try to force the issue and get back as quick as he can.

So hopefully at some point in time in the middle of the season he gets back and gets back to the form he has shown the whole year, and he can be a boost for us at that point in the season.

But him as a person, can't say enough good things about him and how his teammates love him, too. If we can get him back in some capacity it's a big boost for us.

Q. Everyone wants to talk about the catchers, whether they talk about Blue Jays, (indiscernible) having a great year. How much does Jano mean to you?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: To me or the Blue Jays? I think our relationship is well documented. I've known Jano since he was a 17-year-old kid. I've watched him grow into a father recently. So that part of it is cool.

But I think what he means to our team in the clubhouse is a big deal. And it's not to take away from Kirky or Gabi. They've handled themselves extremely well since they've transitioned to the big leagues.

And it's a very unique spot to have three guys that can play at the level they can at the Major League level. It's crazy to see how it's going to unfold right now. You're going to wait and see and you're thankful that you have those guys. But all those guys mean a lot to me. I think just the fact I've known Jano a little bit longer puts a little bit more on that relationship for sure.

Q. In the (indiscernible) every day there's a lot of picking at (indiscernible) and talking more about what guys aren't doing necessarily than what they are. What does it mean to you that Bo is getting sixth and seventh place MVP votes and getting that kind of recognition after four months in Toronto? A lot of people complaining about the defense --

JOHN SCHNEIDER: People are hitting him seventh and things like that. It speaks volumes to him as a player and him as a competitor. I think during the course of the season it's easy for us that are in it every day to see the bad. When you take a step back, not the bad, but the things you can get better at.

You take a step back look at the offseason, these guys are really good and this is a really, really good team. It's a credit to them as players. It's a credit to Bo as a competitor who never quit and went back to what he's always been doing. So it says a lot about those guys for sure.