MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 5, 2022

Mark Kotsay

Oakland Athletics

Press Conference

Q. David has said a couple times that one of the priorities this off-season will be to improve the Major League roster. Where would you like to see additions?

MARK KOTSAY: I think for our ball club looking at last year from a talent level, we had a lot of young players, as you're aware. That expectation levels for them to grow, to continue to improve, to continue to get better.

Adding to this roster, I think ultimately, based on the season we had last year with the record we finished at, we can improve everywhere really. We need to be better offensively. We need to catch the ball better.

So overall, I think we can improve with the current roster we have and adding to that from a talent perspective I think can only help us improve in both offense and defense.

Q. When you look at the rotation options you have right now, just as the roster stands now, how many spots would you say are spoken for, and how many would you say are kind of up for grabs looking at the spring?

MARK KOTSAY: I think in terms of rotation, the true spoken for rotation spot is Cole, Cole's right? Cole's earned that. Cap did a great job finishing his season on a positive note. I'm not sure where Cap will end up in terms of being ready for the season. He had off-season surgery but is recovering really well.

Beyond that, it's a list of younger guys, younger guys competing for a job. We have to see where Paul ends up as well. Blackburn had an unbelievable first half, All-Star selection. He's obviously in that mix to be considered as someone that would start in that rotation that's earned it.

Beyond that, it's the younger guys. It's JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Martinez, Oller. It's going to be a fun Spring Training to watch these guys compete and try to go out and win a rotation spot.

Q. What was Kaprielian's surgery?

MARK KOTSAY: He had shoulder surgery, I think it was on the joint area. That was something he dealt with in the past in Spring Training that kind of delayed his season.

Q. How much of a concern is that given his injury history?

MARK KOTSAY: I don't think it's a concern. I think it was something that the organization and him felt strongly about moving forward with. He's doing great. Rehab's going great. He's getting stronger by the day.

I obviously can't give you a timeline on that, but he's doing well.

Q. Is he expected to be ready to go by the start of spring?

MARK KOTSAY: As always, we talk about timeline with injuries, there's all kinds of variables that can take place between now and February, but the expectation level is he will be ready, yes.

Q. Is Puk part of that starting rotation possibly, or was his season in the bullpen something that could continue?

MARK KOTSAY: Talking about A.J., obviously going into last season, the history of injury, which I think kind of lined him up for his role, and the success he's had in his role really from a performance standpoint and from an injury related, non-injury related standpoint, he finished the season healthy. A.J. expressed his desire to get back and kind of compete for a starting rotation spot.

I think we're going to make that available to him. I think that A.J. showed last season that he can handle the rigors of a full season and get through it, and he understands his body better. I think he came to camp and matured throughout the season both on the field and off the field with his routines. My expectation level is he comes into camp and has this opportunity to be stretched out and possibly be in the rotation.

Q. You spent some time at the AFL. I know it was important to you to see some of the young guys. What stood out to you when you went down there?

MARK KOTSAY: I really liked the crew we have there. Lawrence Butler, Denzel Clarke, Zack Gelof on the position side really opened up some eyes in what they were able to accomplish on the mound with Miller, Cusick, Guillen, guys that have come to this organization and been acquired really opened up some eyes to, had some success there.

To get a look at that, it was great to have a conversation with them, make them aware that there's a lot of opportunity in this organization to have impact quickly. Used some examples of that as well for them to just show them, and they're aware of it.

They're young. They've got a little ways to go to mature, but it's always nice to see some talent like that and know that that's going to be part of the future.

Q. The uncertainty, obviously it's part of the time of year, part of your job, but when you see a guy like Sean Murphy, Liriano, guys whose names are all about the rumor mill, how do you deal with that as a manager? How has it affected your job?

MARK KOTSAY: Well, two hours before my first conference with the team in Spring Training, I was told Matt Olson was going to be traded. It started from day one. There's no control over what takes place in my situation.

The only thing I can control is just leading these guys and building a culture of winning baseball and how we're going to go about that. Sean's a great player. He's a young kid on the right path. I think we're all aware of our processes in Oakland, and with Sean, from my perspective of the control that I have, I want to write his name in the 3 hole and have him in that lineup as a leader as well.

But this is a situation we've been in before, that we dealt with last season, and I think we're going to hopefully move forward as soon as possible and build something that we all know can be done in Oakland in a short and timely manner to success.

Q. What do you like most about Sean defensively as a catcher? Handling the staff or how he sees the ball?

MARK KOTSAY: Everything. Sean's really matured, and I think I made a comment earlier that his injuries that he sustained earlier in his career are trending in a downward direction, and his maturity and performance is trending in an upward direction.

Sean's done a really nice job of understanding the routines and understanding what it takes to finish a season this year. He caught 120 games, just short of that. He DH'd for us. I think total games played is over 150. That's pretty incredible for a young catcher to be able to accomplish that.

Defensively he controls the running game. He handles the staff. He's dedicated to his game plan. He's learned how to prepare and study. He led scouting reports for us this season.

So really in terms of what he's done from the time he got to the Big Leagues till where he's at now, it's a really, really nice path.

Q. What's his upside? You described him as a No. 3 hitter and you talked about how he's maturing, he's already got a Gold Glove. Where's his upside? Where does it trend?

MARK KOTSAY: It's still going up. I don't see a ceiling for Murph in terms of that position and the value that that position brings to a ball club. So I think he's still got power. He's going to probably hit for more power. I think he's going to cut his strikeouts down because he started understanding the strike zone a little bit better.

In terms of defensively, as you talked about, he's already got a Gold Glove. I don't know how much higher he can go unless he somehow pulls off a Platinum Gold Glove at the catching position, which probably isn't going to happen. He's well rounded.

In terms of the maturation process, that's just part of your routines, your preparation, how you prepare in the off-season, what he's doing to train. He dropped probably 10, 12 pounds coming into camp last year. So that shows that maturation process as well, helping his knees out and his back, and it kept him healthy throughout the whole season.

Q. There's still plenty of off-season left. Curious as to what you think about how the division is shaping up, just with all the moves that have happened so far?

MARK KOTSAY: Well, one of my mentors just took a job in Texas. That will be fun managing against Boch. It was a tough division last year. It's going to be a tough division this year. Doesn't mean we can't compete and win baseball games and have an opportunity to do something special here.

You build off the successes and not the failures. You learn from your failures. But we had success last year in certain areas against certain teams. I think we were one of the only teams to sweep the Houston Astros during the regular season. Hey, we beat them.

We just need to build on those small confidences and understand that, if we play the game the right way, we have an opportunity to win every baseball game possible.

Q. But as far as the division as a whole, do you think that perhaps the division has gotten even more competitive than it was from last season, or it just gets more competitive every year?

MARK KOTSAY: We had two teams go to the postseason, Seattle and Houston. Texas obviously bringing deGrom in is an impact on their club. So, yeah, I think the division has gotten better.

Again, every division seems like it's getting better. In terms of the way we're going to compete and where I see ourselves sitting in this division, we understand the talent that lies there. I don't think it changes things from how we looked at it this year to next year, though.

Q. If you guys do end up having to replace Sean, how do you gauge Shea's readiness to step up in and be an everyday or regular catcher?

MARK KOTSAY: That's a great question. We saw Shea limited in September in the role behind the plate. I think he has all the ability to step in and be an everyday Major League catcher. I was really impressed with his game planning, his preparation, how he followed Murph and learned from Murph in the time he was there, and not just Murph, but with Vogt. He soaked in a lot of experience in a short amount of time.

But I do think if he ends up being here and Murph is not, we'll have a lot of support for him in terms of game calling, game planning.

Can he step in and be the everyday guy? I believe he can, yes.

Q. Going back to Murphy's game planning, it's very stellar. What were some of the pitchers and their feedback as far as pertaining to how Murphy game plans, as far as that goes?

MARK KOTSAY: I got nothing but positive feedback. In terms of pitchers, sometimes it's not game plan, just it's execution, right? But for Murph, they love the way he dove in. They love the fact that he competed with them.

And he was open to their thoughts, ideals, and what they wanted to do as well. Any time you have that connection, relationship, it generally leads to success.

Q. It seems like catcher is getting to a spot where we're not seeing as many marathon-type guys who make every start. How beneficial is it to have a catcher who's prolific enough with the bat that you can use him at DH some on days where he's not behind the plate?

MARK KOTSAY: It's great. It's a really valuable asset to have. You mention the everyday guys, and the first name that popped in my head was a former Oakland Athletic and teammate Jason Kendall, right? He wanted his name in the lineup every day. He'd fight you if he didn't.

Murph wasn't aggressive enough to fight me, but Murph was aggressive enough to say, I'm playing tomorrow. I'll play tomorrow. I said, I write the lineup. I'll let you know when you play.

But he's great. He wants to catch. He wants to play. I think there was a point where I finally realized after maybe 13 straight days of where he caught and DH'd that he needed a blow, and he actually thanked me.

He's a guy that it's nice to have a position as valuable as he plays in, that you can write his name in the DH and feel confident about his bat as well.

Q. Do you see Seth as more of an option at first base or outfield heading into the season?

MARK KOTSAY: That's a great question. I love the fact that we have that option with Seth that we can play him in the outfield. As you saw, I challenged him to play center field, and I still feel he can handle center field. Maybe not on an everyday basis, but well enough to be out there.

So his versatility in the outfield and his ability to play first, I like him at first base. If we have that opportunity to utilize him there, I'm on posed to putting him at first.

Q. I think you mentioned Bochy as a mentor. What is the extent of your relationship?

MARK KOTSAY: When I got traded to the Pads in 2001, Bochy was the manager. For the next two, three seasons, really just loved playing for him, built a relationship as a player.

Then moving forward, we were part of a friendship group bigger circle and got to spend some time with him on some trips. Really just took to -- the relationship grew, I should say, into the mentorship of, hey, you're ready for this. When I went through these processes to try to become a manager prior to landing here in Oakland, one of the interviews was with San Fran after he was done there, and he guided me, helped me through the interview process.

From playing for him as a 25-year-old kid to being 47, I still look to him for advice and mentorship.

Q. Is there one element of his style or just him as a person that's been most impactful on you as a manager?

MARK KOTSAY: I think the way he cares just about his players, the relationship aspect of it. That lies even further back. I get an opportunity to honor one of my heroes, I feel the person that had the biggest impact on me prior to getting to professional baseball was Augie Garrido, another guy, another mentor, and another leader that cared about relationships and taught the value of it through baseball.

I was blessed to be able to have that in my life at 17 years old, which was really impactful.

Q. Did you think he was truly done, after the Giants, managing?

MARK KOTSAY: No. But I knew it had to be the right opportunity, the right place, a place that valued his tool set, and I think his relationship with C.Y. kind of led him to be open to going back to Texas.

It will be fun. We have a couple guys in this division now with Phil Nevin managing the Angels and myself and Boch, a little inner circle of competition there.

Q. Did you guys send Diaz into the off-season with any marching orders in terms of defensively in particular, how to improve? Is he a candidate at second base going into this year?

MARK KOTSAY: So Jordan Diaz, the conversation with Jordan was, Hey, you've got here pretty quickly. There's some things that we want you to address to be able to come to Spring Training and earn this opportunity to play here again and have impact.

I think that message was heard. I think Jordan's doing the right thing training-wise this off-season to show up and compete at second and even possibly third base, some footwork stuff in terms of just fine tuning and working on his body and what we feel he would benefit from possibly maybe being a little leaner and work on foot speed.

Q. You talked about the new rules kind of last year. What are the expectations in terms of the process in Spring Training to kind of prepare for it? Any process that you guys are going through?

MARK KOTSAY: I think we'll have definitely meetings prior to our first game just so the players are well aware of the changes. They will be, but it's good to remind them.

I think the biggest change is going to be with the hitters and how quickly they need to be ready and prepared for a pitch. They've got to be focused and looking up within eight seconds. That's going to be difficult for them to get used to. I know there will be some leniency to start this out.

On the pitching side, it will be times to the plate. They've got to be able to control the running game with only limited amount of step-offs or picks. That's going to be a challenge for them to be able to deliver the baseball.

Thus, it brings up another valuable asset with a catcher that can throw. Both of our catchers can throw, Murphy and Langeliers. So we've got two really good catchers that can contain some of the running game with the limitation of being able to pick the bases. It's going to be a real issue in my opinion.

Q. I'm sure you probably had info with the bench coach decision. What made Darren the right choice to go there?

MARK KOTSAY: Darren and I obviously have coached together since '16, and spending a lot of time in the dugout together and not just in the dugout, but obviously in the coaches room, traveling together, getting to know him more intimately, for me the relationship has grown to where I really value Darren's opinions in terms of how he sees the game and how he handles himself.

Obviously, he's been a lifelong Oakland Athletic coach, and we love to promote within. I think just the symmetry of it. I think that really helps the staff.

I think the other moves that we've made in terms of kind of repositioning certain guys also helps just in the continuity. And then adding Mike McCarthy into the bullpen, he's got a pitching background. He's an assistant pitching coach, bullpen coach, which is different for us. Marcus had the catching side of it.

I think overall I like where the staff is. I like the balance of it and the fact that we kind of just stayed together.

Q. I know you spent a little bit of time as a hitting coach. Industry-wide, why do you think those jobs are so challenging?

MARK KOTSAY: A lot of failure. A lot of failure. Especially in the game now the way pitching is, the velocity. It's a definite challenge for these guys to get hitters to think confidently. It's a grind.

Somebody takes responsibility for failure, right, and it just seems like it's always landing on the hitting coaches right now. It's a tough job. It's a full-time job and one that I don't envy from being able to speak as a prior hitting coach.