WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: QUARTERFINALS 2 - USA VS VENEZUELA

March 16, 2023

Omar López

LoanDepot Park

Team Venezuela

Workout Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: First question for Omar.

Q. The United States will be your next rival. How can you define the Team USA? Can you confirm who would be the starting pitcher on Saturday and how is the game in the quarters?

OMAR LÓPEZ: First of all, good morning. I cannot announce the starter. We're practicing and we're training today. We'll define the strategy for that. Just the other night I studied the lineups used by Team USA, a very basic standard in some situations, but we're speaking about Team USA, right? As well as Venezuela. They have powerful lineup from number 1 to number 9, and we will have to see a way how to articulate our rotation or how we are going to use our pitchers.

We have one more day of rest and this benefits a little to see how we can manipulate the pitching rotation. That being said, we're going to see. Today, we woke up early in the morning. We had a meeting with the coaches and we had some practices today. Tomorrow we're going to have another day off. Team USA will have another day off to be ready for the game. It's going to be a very interesting game and I think we will get the victory. We hope to get the victory.

Q. What's the communication like to prepare for the USA lineup? You have faced two important teams, such as Puerto Rico the Dominican Republic, how are you preparing yourself to face Team USA and it's powerful lineup?

OMAR LÓPEZ: Yesterday, we watched the first game, the Mexico game. They won. It's just a matter of time, we thought, that the U.S. would be our rival on Saturday. And every coach individually started the preparation.

After this press conference, I'm going to have a meeting with the team. We're going to discuss a lot of -- a couple of things, and the scouts and the coaches will have a meeting. The scouts are coming back today. They will give us some information about Team USA, what they saw live.

We're going to have collective cooperation, and then we're going to pass on that information to the team on Saturday before coming to the ballpark.

Q. The announcement of the starting pitcher on Saturday, you have several names with the days of rest in order to be able to pitch that day. Is that decision depending upon the pitcher you would select for that day or would it depend on the schedule you have? Does it depend on the MLB organizations? How do you manage that?

OMAR LÓPEZ: It's very simple. Historically speaking, in the last couple of years and considering the Team USA lineup for the Classic, I will see how to neutralize some things with some pitchers. Maybe I'm going to have only one starter, and then I use the bullpen. No, I'm starting and I will have to study more to see, for example, how Columbia neutralized Team USA's offense, how other teams did that, watching some videos about the pitchers used by Columbia to see their repertoire, to see if I can have a match with my own pitchers.

Q. (No microphone.)

OMAR LÓPEZ: No, no restrictions right now. I don't have enough restrictions right now. We're going to do our best in the next games.

Q. I'm going to ask you the question in English, if you don't mind, and then you can answer in Spanish as well. Obviously last night with Edwin Díaz, what happened with him, obviously a very unfortunate situation and we don't know the extent of the injury yet. But the talk around all the people that are against the WBC is that this is the kind of stuff that happens in the WBC, and that it shouldn't happen. What is your stance particularly because you have emblematic players of names? I mean, your team is stacked, but when we mention Miguel Cabrera, Jose Altuve, Sandy Alcantara, right, like, these are guys that obviously -- on the DR side, but these are guys that a super important to Major League Baseball. Where do you stand on these kind of injuries that can happen in the WBC?

OMAR LÓPEZ: I think it's part of the game. It's part of what you have to deal with every single day. Unfortunately, it happens right before the season starts. But that's part of the game. I don't think we have to -- I mean, it's unfortunate. We don't know how long Díaz is going to be out, right, and everybody was very sad last night, myself, all the team, we were talking about it this morning.

But I think it might happen in the middle of the game, it might happen at the end of the game, it might happen at the end of the tournament, at the beginning. But this is the game. That's baseball. When you play hard and when you play for your country and when you're representing your country in the best way that you can, anything can happen.

And I do believe, like, WBC and MLB have to understand this. I mean, this tournament has to continue and be part of our life. We have to take the risk. We have to take everything as we can to support every single country because the players want to represent their country. I don't think this is a reason for kind of avoid players participating in the WBC.

What I said in Spanish is that I don't think this is a reason to stop to avoid players participate in the Classic. It was sad what happened to Díaz. It could happen to any of us on the field. The way it happened or the circumstances that happened, that's part of baseball. It could be in the middle of the game, at the end of the game, especially when you are going to represent your country. You are going to do your best when you represent your country. The risk will be always there. I don't think that's a reason so that the WBC and MLB can put some restrictions.

WBC should continue. It is a good financially for the sport for all the countries involved. Let me add this, they don't know how proud we feel when we see in the crowd so many Venezuelans enjoying and smiling. That would be the most important thing and what is boosting us to move forward. The same happens with the other teams. Yesterday, I saw Team USA playing hard, things that I haven't seen very often before in Team USA. That's why the Classic is so well organized. That's why it should continue, and it's part of the risk, what could be at risk and get injured at any point in time.

Q. Two questions. Number one, tomorrow, you have day off and today as well. Is it benefit, is that positive, is that an advantage for the team for the pitchers to rest? And number two, any update about Luzardo and Rodriguez?

OMAR LÓPEZ: So far we don't have any update about them, answering question number two.

And number one, we have a day off, actually two resting days. We're going to have a working plan. We're going to be active and proactive. You cannot let anything affect you, mentally speaking. You have to be convinced and focused.

Yesterday, we spoke about the salvation of God, of Jesus Christ, and that is to believe in Him. And I told them from the very beginning, We have to believe that we can make it. We made a first step, we built the foundation, we built the floors number one, number two, and number three. I hope that God gives us some wisdom to continue playing and getting the title for Venezuela.

Q. This is a short tournament, but it's a result of a long process. It didn't start with you as a manager. How has your opinion changed? How is Omar today compared to one previous year?

OMAR LÓPEZ: First of all, the most important thing in this game, and if you don't see it that way, I think you should do it, and that's why you study journalism and that's why you have passion for the sport. As a matter of fact, I wanted to be a journalist. I wanted to be in the military. I went to a military academy, and then I liked being a journalist, and now I'm loving being a commentator of baseball games.

But the most important thing is that this is a gift, God's gift. When you do something you like there is no time for you to execute projects and do things that you like. I'm more mature, more conscious of things, knowing that in this business and in any other profession, it's complicated, but you cannot complicate it more, and for that, you should be mentally strong.

That's why maybe I have learned more in the last couple of years, especially facing adversities. I cannot be in a pathway where everything is happy, no. You may fail so that you can get back on your feet and move forward.

Q. Speaking about the starting pitchers, you will have a meeting with the scouts and with the coaches to define the starting pitcher. This could affect the rest of the order because the one pitching on Saturday wouldn't have the time to pitch on a possible final or a semifinal, and the lineup we're going to see will be the closest we have seen against Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico?

OMAR LÓPEZ: You may have in your hotel room, you know, this kind of scores and screen with the possibilities and stuff. No, of course the one pitching on Saturday, once we have the lineup against the Team USA, I can tell you about the hypothetical lineups or pitchers for a semifinal and final. I have some options, but I'm not going to be crazy now. It's a very short tournament, and I'm using data and I'm speaking about numbers, information, and I use my feeling as well, my feeling in baseball.

Speaking about the lineup, sometimes I prepare one, two lineups and I speak with my right hands and my other right hands, and then we -- or I make a decision. But I will let you know at the right time.

Q. Any thoughts about what happened with the Dominican Republic? Many people see this as a failure considering the great team they had. They didn't qualify for the second round. Baseball should be played, but we have to respect the rivals. Venezuela has this lineup, that roster. Martín Pérez had a great season. His ERA is 1.7. It sounds so easy that Dominican Republic could terminate Venezuela and win the first game. People outside are speaking about a failure. What do you think about this rival?

OMAR LÓPEZ: It's a very simple thought, very simple reflection. In this society, we are living today. We should respect one another as a team, as societies, coaches to journalists, reporters to coaches. All the people involved here, we should respect each other because we are human beings. We have all made mistakes.

This could be very expensive. The Dominican Republic being out of the Classic doesn't mean that the team they had could guarantee their ticket to the next round. You have to go out and play baseball. You have to go out and execute the plan you had. To me, in this kind of tournament anything could happen, any team could be very well engaged with the best dream team of the world, but if you don't execute correctly with planning, if you cannot communicate or connect with the players, it's difficult. It's difficult.

To me, it was difficult to see Team Dominican Republic throughout the days, you know, like, kind of hesitating and they didn't move on to the second round. But Puerto Rico and Venezuela were in the same pool and we are solid teams as well. So we all needed some cohesion and execution on the field. The Team Dominican Republic had a good game, but Puerto Rico dominated them, and we have to accept that result.

I don't think this is a failure. Other two teams or other three teams played better than Dominican Republic. In 2006, the Dominican Republic had so many superstars and what happened? The same. The same. So this is not a guarantee in an event that came down from 10 to seven games. So it is more complicated now. Sudden death starting tomorrow. So there is no guarantee here. It depends on many factors. That's why you have to recognize all the teams, everyone that fought to be in the second round.

Q. I'm going to ask you in English. What do you think it means to your younger Venezuelan players to have this time around Miguel Cabrera? And what have you seen in terms of just the way they react to being around him?

OMAR LÓPEZ: Number one, I don't know if they've been before around him, but I think they're really enjoying it right now to be around Miguel, the way that Miguel is leading the team inside the clubhouse. Now, this is another, basically I'm going to say, like what is my goal through Miguel Cabrera before we make this team, we put this team together. It's just leave a legacy to the younger guys, for the next generation, for the next WBC and understand that. That was my goal. And I told Miguel, Miguel, I want you to lead my team inside the clubhouse for this young generation. Because the Santanders, the Giménezs, etcetera etcetera, etcetera, that's the same guys that they're going to be in the same, in the next WBC. And we need to leave a legacy, a commitment and an example, lead by example that as a team we can work together. Because those younger guys will be the leaders in the next WBC.

Q. (No microphone.)

OMAR LÓPEZ: Yes, of course. Of course. I mean, it's been great, man. It's been like a dream come true so far. We still have a long way to go, even though there is three games, three games left, it seems like six months in front of us. But there's only a few days left. But we're not done yet and we have to continue to do what we've been doing.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.