MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 5, 2023

Rob Thomson

Philadelphia Phillies

Press Conference

Q. In your mind what gives you confidence that Johan Rojas will come back based on what you saw in the regular season and postseason?

ROB THOMSON: Well, I think during the regular season his at-bats were really good. I think he hit over .300. But it wasn't just that, it was how he worked the count, how he used the field. And really I know the numbers in the postseason, the numbers weren't very good, but if you look at the at-bats, they were better than the numbers.

So, I think this kid's got some upside. Like Dave said yesterday, we're not going to anoint him the center field spot, we'll see what happens in Spring Training, but I really like this kid.

Q. What would you need to see from him in Spring Training to give him that?

ROB THOMSON: I think getting back to his regular season at-bats, where he's using the field, swinging at strikes, not chasing, that type of thing.

Q. You had Gardner with the Yankees, who was young, played a lot in center field on a good team that went to the World Series. Do you see any kind of comparisons in terms of what Johan is going through as a young hitter in a good lineup on a good team?

ROB THOMSON: I think so. I think when Gardy first came up, we moved Johnny Damon to left field and Gardy took over center field, which at that point in Johnny's career, Gardy was a better defender and we hit him ninth and just let him go.

But I think in our case we have other options with Marsh and Pache and Cave. So we want to do the best thing, the right thing for Johan. And if that is going to Triple-A and getting how many ever at-bats that he needs, then that's what we'll do.

Q. Without saying what it might be, is there a threshold in your mind, an offensive threshold where he has to produce at X level in order -- because the defense is so good, in order to stay in the lineup every day?

ROB THOMSON: I don't know if there's a threshold. I don't have a number in my head, but I think a lot of it has to do with what's best for him, what it looks like. Is he frustrated, is he getting in his own way and trying to do too much. Once he gets to that point, then I think we have to do what's best for him.

Q. If Rojas does not break in with a Major League club, do you see Marsh as the every day or more time share?

ROB THOMSON: I think every day to start out with because I do believe that he's going to be able to hit left-handed pitching. And I think that's one of the things that K. Long is really going to hone in on during Spring Training and prior to Spring Training, because he's going around seeing all the guys.

But, yeah, I have full confidence in Marsh.

Q. Will he get more opportunities to see left-handed pitching next season?

ROB THOMSON: I think so, yeah. I think so. I think that's kind of the plan, because we all think that he's going to be able to do it.

Q. Your downfall during the NLCS had a lot to do with guys expanding the zone on breaking pitches. Do you anticipate trying to make adjustments to that approach at some point in the Spring Training?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah.

Q. How does that discussion actually play out?

ROB THOMSON: Well, you've got to acknowledge it first. Then you've got to go to work on it. So I think the acknowledgment's the big thing and the buy-in from the players that, okay, that's correct, we chased too much, so now we got to bring the zone back over the plate.

I think we've got some ideas that we're going to work at. I don't think -- if a guy's a big chase guy, he's probably going to be a chase guy; we're just trying to make it better, that's all.

Q. It's making a problem not as destructive, right?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah. Yes.

Q. Is Rojas playing winter ball?

ROB THOMSON: No. He's in the weight room. He's doing his hitting progression, and he's still throwing and running. But he's doing a lot of weight room stuff to get stronger and grow up.

Q. What was the thought process behind that for a guy like Johan, who in theory needs at-bats against higher level pitching? Do you have a discussion internally about what's going to be more important, getting him in the weight room, having him take BP or playing winter ball?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, absolutely. He had a lot of at-bats this year, played in a lot of games. We just felt like it was time to get back in the weight room, get back in the cage, get back to drill work, get his swing back.

Q. What's he working on specifically on the offensive side? Is he focusing on anything specific?

ROB THOMSON: I think it's all about pitch selection. Not chasing. Understanding what his strengths are and staying with those and attacking his strengths. There's probably some -- a little bit of swing mechanic stuff that they're doing. I'm not exactly sure what they're doing. But we really want him to bring the strike zone back in over the plate and use the field. If he does that, he's going to be good.

Q. This was fresh when we asked you about it; did you ever have a conversation with Walker?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, while we were texting -- everything's good. Everything's good. Taijuan is a great guy. I love his competitiveness, I love the way he works. He's a great teammate. There's no issues there.

Q. With Caleb Cotham, his experience both playing at Vanderbilt and then having been in the Major Leagues for a few years as well, what does that experience kind of add to your team?

ROB THOMSON: Caleb is one of the smartest people I've ever been around. He knows a lot about a lot of things, and not just pitching. He can use all that knowledge to teach. When we first hired Caleb, he had never really coached before. So it was interesting to me to see how he would react to the players and Major League players, experienced guys, younger guys.

I mean, this guy is a rock star when it comes to teaching pitching. I lean on him every day. More times than not, almost all the time, he's going to give me the right answer.

Q. How much discussion has there been about Soto in terms of making him a better weapon for you? I feel like he was not that guy the second half of the season.

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, I think it's about consistency with him, because when he throws the ball over the plate, he gets outs. Whether that's delivery, mindset, whatever it is, that's what we're going to go try to attack in Spring Training, just to get him to be a little -- to power the ball through the zone and just let it happen, try not to be too fine. Because the stuff's going to eat hitters up if he throws strikes.

Q. It seems a lot of pitching now is maximizing every pitch with bullpen moves and shorter starts, but when you're in your role, how much do you value just innings --

ROB THOMSON: Oh, it's huge. It's huge. Especially during the regular season. The postseason you got off-days, so you can use more pitchers during a game because you know that in two days they're going to be off. But during the regular season it's a marathon, so you need length.

I think that's where the Aaron Nola signing is so big because you can almost mark down six innings every time he walks out there. That's what I love about him.

Q. Last year the gap between you guys and the Braves and the regular season was 14 games. Obviously the talent or the overall value you got was probably a little bit lower. What do you think you need to do to close that 14-game gap this season?

ROB THOMSON: Get out of the gate out of Spring Training. I think that we're going to have a -- I'm going to have a Zoom here in the next week or two with the coaching staff and just try to work through some ideas on how to do that. Last year Hoskins gets hurt at the end of spring, don't have Harper, three guys that went to the WBC, our position players, they got off to a little bit of a rough start. So that's part of it.

But I think that we still have to do our due diligence to look at Spring Training and see if there's some areas there that we can improve on so that we come out of Spring Training just running.

Q. What have you learned about when to go off script with an in-game decision, when to go away from what a large sample of information might say about third time through the order or something like that?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, I think a lot of that has to do with gut, and there's times when you're not going to be right, you know, you go with your gut, and it doesn't work out. That's baseball.

But I think it's mostly just how I feel and maybe how Caleb feels or how Mike Calitri feels, to where, you know, if the plan is to go twice through the lineup with a starter, if it looks like the starter is just lights out that day and the hitters don't have a feel for it, then you stay with 'em.

So, you know, I think it's a game-by-game decision and a situational decision.

Q. Do you expect to have a different look at the top of the lineup?

ROB THOMSON: I don't know yet. In my mind I'm bouncing around a lot of things. The one thing that you can't argue is that when Schwarber's at the top of the lineup, we won a lot of games. So, you know, I don't know how to -- I don't know how to really get away from that. But I am thinking through a lot of different things.

Q. Why would you be comfortable again going into the season spending most of the season without a set guy in the 9th inning?

ROB THOMSON: Say that again.

Q. Why would you be comfortable, given the personnel you have, going through a season without having a set guy, a set closer in the 9th inning?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, I think because of the fact we won a lot of games doing it the way we're doing it. I'm comfortable with the way we do it. If we had a set guy, that would be great, but I'm comfortable with what we do.

Q. Would you like to see an addition there to the bullpen?

ROB THOMSON: I think we have some people in-house that can do a lot of good work. You got Bellatti and Brogdon that didn't really pitch much last year for us, but they really pitched well for us the year before. So there's a lot of good arms down in our Minor Leagues that didn't finish the season with us last year.

Q. You guys didn't want Bryce to play a little bit of first and a little bit of the outfield, or just one or the other, was that kicked around much, the idea that he could play both positions, and why did you come to the decision that you wanted it to be one and not multiple?

ROB THOMSON: I think it's just cleaner. I think it helps him to be a better first baseman. Not that he's a bad first baseman, I was really surprised and really happy with the way he played. But I think he's got a chance to be really, really good. He just needs to get consistent reps.

Q. His biggest issue at first often was kind of wandering a little bit too far?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, in the 3, 4 hole. Yeah.

Q. How do you draw that in? How do you fix that issue?

ROB THOMSON: It's going to be drill work. Pitchers, second basemen, first basemen, just fungo-ing balls into that 3-4 hole and giving a feel of balls he needs to go after and balls he lets Stott take. The one thing he needs to do is he needs to know where Stott is at, at all times, so you're always peeking over your shoulder and making sure he knows how far he needs to go to get a ground ball.

Q. There's nobody that can push Sanchez for a No. 5 job, is there?

ROB THOMSON: He's in there for me right now, but, again, it depends on Spring Training. But I was really pleased with him last year. He came leaps and bounds.

Q. Why do you think he can be a guy that makes 25 to 30 starts?

ROB THOMSON: Strike throwing ability and the changeup as a weapon.

Q. You guys pushed him at the end. Were you surprised at how he held up? Because the volume was very high.

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, it was. Yeah. Really. I mean, he did a really good job of maintaining his weight, which has been a little bit of an issue in the past. Strength department, nutrition department. They did a great job maintaining his weight. So I think that helped him maintain his stuff, his velocity towards the end.

Q. Dave's talked about why he's comfortable bringing back most of the same roster, might find another outfielder, obviously. Why are you comfortable bringing back mostly the same roster and trying to go further next year?

ROB THOMSON: Because I think you're going to get a better Stott, a better Bohm. The younger guys are going to -- I think they will improve a little bit. You got a full year of Trea that's going to be Trea, hopefully. You're going to have Harper for a full year, hopefully.

So I really like our roster. I felt like we had a great chance at winning a World Series, and it really hurts me that we didn't. It hurts me more than it did the year before when we did get to the World Series and didn't win it. Because I just thought we were good, we were good enough.

So I love our roster. I love the makeup of our club, the talent of our club. I think we're right there.

Q. When you said yesterday you re-watched it, have you literally been re-watching NLCS games?

ROB THOMSON: Not just that series but other series too. A situation will pop into my head and I'll go, okay, I got to look at that. I just rehash it a little bit.

Q. Is that just like thinking through certain decisions and what you would have done differently?

ROB THOMSON: Sure.

Q. Did you watch the World Series?

ROB THOMSON: Not a pitch.

Q. Do you know who won? The World Series?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, I do.

Q. Okay.

ROB THOMSON: I read it somewhere.

Q. Do you usually watch it?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, probably not every pitch of every game.

Q. You typically watch?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah.

Q. This was too painful?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, it was. I was, I'm still upset about it, to tell you the truth.