MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 5, 2023

Bud Black

Colorado Rockies

Press Conference

Q. If you could just kind of outline what you are looking at for the rotation coming into the season?

BUD BLACK: That's a fair question. Well, I think right now we have Freeland, Gomber, Quantrill, Feltner, Lambert, Davis, Seabold. That's seven. Those are the top guys.

Q. Obviously you're looking for a lot more depth.

BUD BLACK: Yes, as are 29 other teams.

Q. Is that an ordinary thing just to build (indiscernible) in one way, shape, or form?

BUD BLACK: Yes. Until obviously Antonio and German come back, which we hope is in the second half of the season, and whether some of our younger pitchers pop a little early, right? Some of our younger guys, sometimes it was Double-A level last year. We'll see a lot of those guys in Spring Training. Palmquist, Rocker, amongst others.

Q. (Indiscernible)?

BUD BLACK: Possibly. Gordon -- Tanner Gordon, Van Scoyoc. There's a few guys that we're going to -- some of our younger pitchers.

Q. As you and Billy in the front office and scouts, as you look for potential fits via trade or waivers, whatever, are you guys looking for a certain type of pitcher --

BUD BLACK: No.

Q. -- the way you used to or the organization is --

BUD BLACK: I don't know what --

Q. It used to be there was an era where the ground ball pitcher was a really big thing for a while. It feels like you guys have kind of gotten away from that.

BUD BLACK: Since I've been there, that hasn't been the case.

Q. You're looking for a talented pitcher?

BUD BLACK: We're looking for talent. I said this earlier today and have maintained this all along. Talented pitchers can pitch anywhere. Now, every pitcher has their style of how they get their outs, and it can come in many ways.

I mean, with us we have the altitude factor that comes into play. But still, if you can pitch, you can pitch. Now we're looking for talented pitchers, whether it be a sinker-baller. Whether it's a high fastball pitcher, whether it's a curveball pitcher, slider, change, split, cutter, it doesn't matter.

Mean, with all the data that all 30 teams have and understand, it's a matter of getting talented players, using what we know about altitude and combining all the factors to make good evaluations on players. Our own players and also players outside our organization.

Q. Sort of related. Have you changed over the last couple of years how you view innings and how much -- and they're always valuable and you're always going to be starting pitcher X amount -- but almost a 200 inning pitcher is almost done.

BUD BLACK: Becoming obsolete.

Q. We saw the trend towards more guys, more max effort, 130 innings, 140, whatever. But have you changed any of what you look at for a guy who has that 160, 180, those bulk eaters -- innings eaters is what we used to call them. Has their value changed over the last couple of years because of their scarcity?

BUD BLACK: I've always been a proponent -- and I can just harken back to my first couple of years here when we went to the playoffs -- that our starting pitchers pitched innings. We had guys who logged innings. And I still think the key to a season's success is tied to starting pitching and the ability to accumulate innings out of a starting rotation.

Now, the playoffs are a different animal, but I think sustained success in the regular season is, you need innings out of your starters. Because obviously the simple factor is you start taxing your bullpen early in the year, you have to go into your depth of your Minor League system and picking more arms. It just really gets difficult.

So those starting pitchers who have the ability to in this modern era pitch 150 to 200 innings I think are very, very valuable.

Q. Is there almost a market change that you can have, say, a higher ERA and less gaudy stats, if that innings pitched and you can actually reward that with money? Because for (indiscernible) that's how it's rewarded?

BUD BLACK: I don't look at it that way. But in those discussions I'm sure in the front offices and in suites here in the Opryland Hotel, they're talking about that: The value of starting pitcher innings and what that means to a team.

If you have that pitcher who is capable of 30-plus starts and close to 200 innings, that guy is a stud in this day and age.

Q. Regardless of the results?

BUD BLACK: Well, I mean, usually if --

Q. Because if they're too bad, they're not going to get that many.

BUD BLACK: They're not going to get 30 starts and 200 innings. There has to be some level of performance that gets them there. Those guys are valuable. They're valuable.

Q. I know you reflected on it probably throughout the year with all the injuries to the starting rotation. With some time away, have you thought about the impact that that had on the season? Particularly the bullpen because it was so good.

BUD BLACK: We lived it, so I thought about it every day. The reality at the moment was you just keep going. You look past what happened. How are we going to win today? What do we have to do for tomorrow? All those things.

But you look back, and you realize the value of your best pitchers taking the ball every fifth day. I mean, there's something to that that lends itself to the team's success.

You have to have your best guys pitch. I think we used 32 pitchers last year, which is, I think, the most in Rockies history. We've talked about it. I mean, the guys that have been here recently, right, with me and the team, in our most successful pitching season, we've stayed relatively healthy where our best guys have taken the ball both in the bullpen and in the rotation.

Q. Last year you used some openers on some occasions, and I remember with Karl Kauffmann, it seemed like having someone else start the first inning kind of helped him get into it. With more pitchers coming up in your system, some of those young guys that we talked about, do you make that part of the strategy? Maybe use the opener a little bit more to help or would you rather these guys --

BUD BLACK: I would rather not. I would rather not do that, but last year we felt because of the talent level that we needed to do that to give us the best chance to win that game.

Q. Could you discuss your first base situation? You've talked about Kris transitioning there. Not full-time, but certainly a lot of the time.

BUD BLACK: Right.

Q. So first part of the question, if you can revisit why you think Kris is a good fit at first and then discuss a little bit the competition to who will back him up.

BUD BLACK: I think first base as it relates to Kris is sort of tied to what we do in right field as well. I think they're tied together.

I'll say it this way. I think if you look at DH, right field, and first base, I think those three are all tied together with Bryant, Blackmon, Montero, Toglia, Goodman, and Bouchard. Because you can say that Jones will play left. Doyle will play center.

There's no need really to rotate those two guys through a DH. Built to play every day. Mid 20s, young players. Everyday players.

With Kris and Chuck, the DH is in their game. Then the Toglia, Montero, Goodman, Bouchard combination, somewhere in there we need performance.

There's a little bit of a gap between what we project maybe even later in the year or into '25 -- I'm getting ahead of myself. Am I answering your question?

A. Yes.

BUD BLACK: Zac Veen, Jordan Beck, Yanquiel Fernandez, they're outfielders.

As it stands now, the first part of my answer is sort of how first base is connected to the DH and the right fielder and that versatility. And specifically to Kris, Kris can play anywhere, and he is fine playing anywhere, you know, whether it's better for us to have him at first and an outfielder in right field or the other way around.

Q. With the a year left on your deal, do you feel like some sense of urgency to add pitching? You mentioned all those young outfielders that are in the minors that might not necessarily impact the '24 roster. Do you feel like there should be a trade out there possibly to try to find to take some of the depth from the minors?

BUD BLACK: I look at the team aspect over anything personally. So everything -- that's how I feel about that.

I'm always looking at today's game. But also, I think for us there's a perspective over the long-term game too of what we need to do this year to get where we have a sustainable type of roster to compete year in, year out.

Q. Where do you think you are with that prospect depth? Because you mentioned those guys and also Amador and Carreras in the infield. Do you feel like that gap is closing?

BUD BLACK: It's closing. It's getting closed, which is a good thing. The last couple of drafts I think have been fruitful in that regard. But time will tell on the roster. We have to see what they do on the field.

Q. Last year you had a mix of veterans and newbies, shall we say, on the bench. Is that your preference, or is it whoever can do the job no matter their experience level?

BUD BLACK: I think -- like we've spoken to it, we have a number of guys who look to be everyday players. With the exception of that first base/right field/DH; right?

Everybody else, they play. There's no platoon. They play. Rodgers, Tovar, McMahon, Jones, Doyle, Diaz. They play.

The five or six guys I mentioned for the three other spots, I mean, that's where we are now. Unless something happens to the roster, we sign somebody or we trade somebody.

So another backup outfielder and another backup infielder are going to have to be on our team. I mean, for me, more often than not, it's a role for a veteran player or a guy who has been around who understands that playing time could be limited because the guys that we have are everyday players.

It's unfair to put a young guy, like Carreras as a backup infielder because we've got Rodgers and Tovar. So Carreras goes to the minors. Amador most likely goes to the minors and they play.

Now, if something happens, injury or poor performance, where it dictates we make a change, those guys have their at-bats and innings and are playing and hopefully ready to go.

I think there's a type of player that fits a bench role, and we're trying to -- like Billy said, we're trying to upgrade that player from what we had last year.

Q. What are the next steps, plural, for Nolan Jones? He is fun to watch. He showed so much talent potential, but he is young. As you mentioned, he is new to the outfield.

BUD BLACK: Well, started on defense; right? I think just more polish in the outfield. I think we saw some plays that are Major League quality. Long-ranging routes that he made plays. And also we saw some long-ranging outs that there was a drop in there. So just ball security; right? Can't fumble. But that hopefully will come with time and the reps in the outfield. There's some technique to that.

You've heard of outfielders, the ball bouncing on them, just how they run. So there's practice there to be had to improve the ball security aspect and just more comfort in the outfield by more time being played. That can be improved, which it will because he is a hard worker.

On offense, like a lot of our guys, right, cut the strikeout rate down. I think the on base percentage will be fine because he has a good eye. But with that, I think there's some aggressiveness that could come into his game earlier in the count too. Being selective early in the count on certain pitches, fastballs especially. I think that can enhance his game.

Q. When you saw Nolan come up, really dynamic, but Tovar was steady throughout the year. What's next for him? What do you feel that -- what are the areas that he can grow, and where does he stand with a leadership (indiscernible)?

BUD BLACK: Well, a couple of things. I think defensively he proved himself very worthy. Gold Glove finalist. All the metrics were in order. All the data solid. The baseball eye test, he passed just from what we see as a defender. Made all the plays. Exceptional at the ball in front of him, the charging play. Turned double play fine.

Just continue to polish his defensive game, which is already for me above average.

Offensively a young player will chase. That will happen over time. He'll learn to lay off pitches. He'll learn to stop as opposed to reaching for the breaking ball down and away from him.

He's got power. I think the power should increase a little bit, which is not a priority, but there's going to be a home run in there. What did he end up last year with? 15? 14, 15 home runs as a rookie? Yeah.

So there's 20 homers in there. There will be more RBIs if he hits at the top of the order, but I think for him offensively, it's just controlling the strike zone a little bit better, taking more walks, striking out less. Pretty simple for him.

Q. (Indiscernible) Do you feel that there's almost a strong potential --

BUD BLACK: He's a really good player. You guys wrote about it. He didn't get the national exposure that other players got. What, he had .250 something on base .280, .290? That needs to improve. But I think for him in a year or two, I think on the national stage he'll be a guy that's talked about as a really good player. He's a future All-Star.