AL WILD CARD SERIES: RANGERS VS RAYS

October 3, 2023

Kevin Cash

Tropicana Field

Tampa Bay Rays

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Could you just run through some of the roster decisions, like how ready is Siri and your decision to go 11 pitchers?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, I think Siri, we saw enough out of him yesterday that he had some live at-bats, he took batting practice, kind of took infield, outfield. Everything looked pretty normal. Does that mean that he's not sore? He's probably going to have some soreness throughout these at-bats, but that's okay, it's postseason. Normally we wouldn't have done this, but these games are a little bit more meaningful.

Q. Then Raley?

KEVIN CASH: Raley, pretty unfortunate. He tried. He's worked really, really hard to get back. He's done everything that we've asked of him, the doctors, the trainers. And he looked pretty good, but still not quite himself and did have a little bit more pain.

Felt like we didn't want to put a version of him or put any -- it's a neck, so you don't want to irritate that too much, now test it out. We got enough information yesterday that it made the most sense to go in another direction.

As far as the pitchers are concerned, it's a short series. We've got confidence certainly in our starters. Littell is on there. He's pitched out of the bullpen before. Kevin Kelly, not on there, very difficult decision. The fact that he contributed all season long to us. Felt like Kit was really trending in the right direction here as of late and can help us.

Q. What was the thought process like with Junior, obviously just given the limited major league experience and his agent and everything?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, see if we can get a little lucky. The guy is talented, no doubt. We're probably asking more of him than we would have if it wasn't the postseason, but I think that's what Eric and Pete's thought was that once we have these injuries kind of creep into our position player group here in the month of September and midway through, who can be our best options throughout the organization.

I think Junior fit that. We've seen him enough that he's very talented, and we'll see if he plays a role in this series.

Q. Obviously he's talented, but was there anything you saw specifically in the last week of the season that made you say he's not going to be overwhelmed by this stage?

KEVIN CASH: A lot of things. I really did. I maybe didn't expect that before I saw it, but playing in Toronto in front of all those fans didn't faze him one bit. We rushed him up at the top of the lineup, first or second, trying to get as many at-bats as possible. His at-bats were all very competitive. He faced some very, very good pitching, and the plays he made -- I think the one error, that's on me. I stick him at second base midway through the game just to get him looks. But when he started at short, when he started at third, he made the plays.

Q. Obviously you guys have had a lot of losses, physical and other losses throughout the year. Wander Franco is one of your best players. Specifically about him, how did you overcome the loss of him baseball-wise, of such a good player?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, look, I think our group, our players that we didn't lose did a tremendous job of kind of staying in the moment, staying consistent. What you said about Wander, you're right, and everybody in that clubhouse knows how talented of a baseball player he is. Saying that, we didn't have much of a choice other than to just go out and play.

I felt like some of the leaders, whether it was Zach Eflin, Jake Diekman, Yandy, CB, they really took some of the young guys under their wings more than you would do in the norm with Basabe coming up, and we wanted him to feel as comfortable and possible. And Curtis Mead came up. Feel as comfortable as possible because we were pretty confident that we were going to lean on those guys the rest of the way.

So I really commend our player group, and then certainly the coaching staff for staying consistent through some of those trying times.

Q. Not to go back specifically to last year, but the difference in momentum you have going into this postseason and kind of the vibe amongst the players, how different or good does that feel?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, I mean, look, I put more stock in that maybe than the players do. The players, they have short memories, and that's good. That's what makes them special.

But I didn't have a good feeling heading into the postseason. You're excited to get there last year, but we were not playing our best brand of baseball. I felt like here as of late and certainly in the Toronto series, did we have some hiccups, not do some things well? Sure. But we scored runs, we played with a lot of athleticism, we pitched well when we needed to. And I do feel like there's better momentum this year maybe than last.

Q. Talking about the experience, you mixed the catchers all season. Will you always keep the same starter during this postseason?

KEVIN CASH: Yeah, we've got so many good contributions from Rene, CB and also Frankie Mejía. And I think the way we're built, we're not going to run a catch route five days in a row, then he gets an off-day and the backup comes in. We feel like we have right now on this roster two really good guys that I'm guessing in tight ballgames both of them are going to play roles in the course of a game.

Rene has really done a nice job getting up here, making the most of his opportunity defensively, getting to know the staff, working well with the staff, and CB, he's got as much knowledge as we could ask since he's been here now for two years.