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MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 5, 2007

Mike Scioscia

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Q. Start dealing with your team right off the bat. The American League certainly got interesting yesterday, specifically the Central Division.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: There's a lot of talent that's come into the American League -- Cabrera from Florida is a young player, and he's doing -- going to make Detroit's lineup even deeper than it was before. You have to pitch well. If you don't pitch well, they're going to let you know.

Q. Everybody talks about the obvious, what this is going to have the impact, but as a manager, you have the four-game series against them, they can chew into your bullpen and put your staff in shambles for a week. Do you have to approach a game differently in how you're going to manage your bullpen?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think you're always -- no matter who you are playing, obviously you have to evaluate where your pitching is and what they can do. Just like good offensive teams, Boston, New York, or Detroit who has been good. Cleveland, they can pressure in a lot of ways. You have to have good pitching, good pitchers can make pitches, if you're going to give yourself a chance to win. We have a strong pitching staff. If you get into your game plan and play good defense, that's going to give you the chance to beat the deep offensive clubs. But, as I said, if you're off a little bit or you're not making pitches you need, they're going to let you know very quickly.

Q. Regarding your ball club, we're almost finished here in the Winter Meetings, how would you characterize your chances of making a big splash before we get out of here?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: There's already been some splashes. Torii Hunter and Jon Garland are two guys are going to add depth. There's other things that come about. Our General Manager, he won't hesitate to make a move to make us better. Right now nothing is being proposed that's truly exciting. Long time between now and Spring Training. If we happen to get a player that makes us deeper, great. If not, I like our lineup.

Q. If you can't get that big bat that I guess you would like to get, are you confident that a return to health of some of you have core guys could be the difference?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We played our best baseball in May and June last year with Garret Anderson out of lineup and Guerrero the only big bat if the lineup. We scored more runs over that stretch than any other stretch we did last year.
Our offense has to be spread out. We need contribution from everybody. I think the solid middle of our lineup with Vlad and Torii Hunter and Anderson is going to give us the foundation we need. We're going to score runs.

Q. Mike, now that Cabrera is off the board, can you say what prevented this deal from happening from your end? Was there one player we just don't want to give up this guy?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, I think what we were going to be left with if -- certainly Tony has talked to a lot of GMs and certainly talked to Florida, the cost was much higher to us as to where we were going to be, what we were going to be able to do, and I think the balance of what they were looking for and what we could give up and still be the type of ball club that we feel we are was just something that couldn't be met. So, he's a guy that obviously is going to make Detroit's lineup deeper. Our offense right now if nothing else happens is deep enough to do what we need to do.

Q. So is it a fourth guy you didn't want to give up?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I'm not going to get into any numbers. Tony talked to these guys a lot and just -- the combination wasn't able to come together.

Q. Considering how rare it is on guys as talented as Cabrera and Santana to be available, you go to spring without one of those guys and leave here without one, are you going to be disappointed?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: If you look at our overall team, the depth of our starting rotation, Santana is obviously a name that's been out there. It would make any rotation stronger, but I don't think there's a glaring need in our club where you say you have to do this or do that or you're not going to be able to get to your goal. We're a deeper club offensively. At some point kids have to come up and play and play well. Howie Kendrick with the 600 at bats or Casey Kotchman staying healthy the whole year, these can easily add up to more than one big bat. On the pitching side right now we have six starters that are terrific, and to have five of them throwing the ball well when you have six you can pick from, there's a better chance five throwing the ball well, and that's as important as anything we're talking about.

Q. Are you moving closer now to having Ervin in the bullpen next year?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: You guys are the ones that talked about Ervin.

Q. Six-man rotation?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: No. There will be five.

Q. You mentioned earlier that the Cabrera trade, we were going to be left with the cost was much higher to us. Are you saying that the trade proposal they wanted from you is higher than what they eventually got from Detroit in your mind?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I can only tell you the names and the people that were going to leave our club was something was going to leave us with not as deep in some of areas we need to be deep in, and he's a terrific talent. It's just a trade that the names didn't match for us, and that's where we are.

Q. If a player is mentioned in the Mitchell report, what should be done to his statistics?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, I'm not sure exactly how definitive this report is going to be. I know that there's -- everyone is awaiting it, and we'll see what the names are, if the names are out, and which I understand from my understanding they will be. That's going to be something that baseball is going to have to wrestle with and see where it comes, but without definitive testing, a lot of this report really is just going to be -- going to have to be dealt with very carefully, because if some of it is hearsay, obviously, you know, it can't be attached to a player.

Q. Are you eager to get this out of the way, the Mitchell report, and finally get it out there and kind of get that cloud off of everybody?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think we're all eager to get this era behind us and to get steroids out of this game, growth hormone out of the game, get things that change the competitive balance other than hard work and a desire to be the best ballplayer you can be.
You have to get all those other things out of this game and that's -- I think so we're all waiting for that day, and hopefully we're going to see it.

Q. Do you think it has affected at all any deal making during this off-season because it's out there, the idea that somebody might be on the list, or do you think it's been a non-factor?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Been a topic of conversation, but I can't comment how other clubs view it or how we view it. Certainly it's -- in the last probably 15 years, it's been discussed more and more by I think baseball people, and especially with testing coming about that it could be the possibility of some things getting snagged on some deals.

Q. Mike, regarding the same thing, the Mitchell report, do you favor suspensions for those guys, or do you think the names will be out there, let's move on?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Let's see what the Mitchell report is. It's going to say that we know that you took steroids? Is that what it's going to say? I mean, I don't know. I don't know how they're going to find out definitively and without a doubt if somebody was taking steroids outside of a player admitting it or a test that's positive. So, I don't know. Let's take it one step at a time.

Q. Mike, you mentioned earlier how you have six starters going into Spring Training with the lineup put together, the fact if the Red Sox things work out, they could have two bona fide assets. Is the AL turning into a league you need two number one guys to beat these lineups?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: It's tough. I think the depth of some offenses, particularly in the American League and with the DH in the middle of the pack, at times it's a challenge. Our pitching has been fortunate. It's been very strong. Move in there and make your pitches, you're going to be able to hold your own with -- and if you make your pitches, you have a chance to hold down good offense clubs, but the margin of error is very fine. I don't know if it's a league thing. I think there's probably some more just pure power offenses in the American League than in the National League, and some is due to the DH and some with the cities to put together a team like this.

Q. If a team ends up with two number one guys, there is a major shift in the balance of power in their ballpark, basically?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think that having two bona fide lead forces in your rotation is important, and it depends on how you go about getting them. It certainly -- two is better than one when you have arms like that. I don't know if it's going to all of a sudden guarantee a tip of the balance of power for any one ball club, but I can tell you as you're getting through the season, you need the five-man rotation. You get into the playoffs, it's the lead horses that really make a difference. You saw it last year. We hope to have some of our guys finish strong and then pitch like that in the playoffs, also.

Q. Mike, along those lines, you obviously have Lackey and Escobar. Are Weaver and Garland guys capable of moving to the front of the rotation?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think they have potential. Any one of the six that we're going to talk about, they have the potential to be that type of pitcher. You saw what Joe Saunders did in Boston last year against the Red Sox. Same with Ervin Santana in the series. We went there late in the year. They have the ability to do that and stand up and pitch against good offenses. If you can do that, you can evolve into that lead dog of a rotation. So they have that potential. We're deep on the starters and deep in the rotation, and, you know, hopefully we'll maintain that.

Q. Mike, are you convinced that you're simply better now than you were when you ended the season?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Yes.

Q. Because of those two acquisitions?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think if you look at our pitching from probably through the last four to six weeks of the season, some guys got worn down a little about it. We didn't have -- I think the depth in rotation is going to help. Also in the bullpen I think having Justin Speier for a whole year as opposed to just probably -- he missed over two months for us. Take a little of the burden to keep Scot Shields fresher, keep Frankie fresher. From the offense side, Torii Hunter, he's a middle of the order bat that's going to allow us to free Gary Matthews up to play the corners in the outfield and to help Vlad and Garret to get some time off and stay fresh. Our young kids, Howard Kendricks, Casey Kotchman, Erick Aybar, giving them 600 plate appearances something we want to see because they're -- they can all be dynamic offense players. We saw with Howard with his numbers were just really missing two and a half months of the season last year or longer.

Q. Are there any obstacles to have those extra outfielders? You had the DH spot, then you also have Juan Rivera and Morales. Is it going to be a challenge to keep everybody happy?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We want to keep those four bats -- Gary Matthews and Vlad, Garret and Torii Hunter -- in the lineup connected for as many games as we can. So one of them is obviously going to have to DH. Unless there's another position you know about that I don't know about, I think one of them is going to have to DH. I think the key on the offense is to keep those guys together out there all the time and one will have to DH. So then you look at Juan and look at Kendry and add depth to your bench to see what kind of look you want to give and certainly how many at bats you would give the a player that's going to be an important consideration.

Q. You think Vlad is physically healthy this year occasionally maybe DH'ing, 30, 40 games?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: He did last year. He did by necessity. He DH'd really the whole month of September for us, leading into the playoffs, and he was fine.

Q. Right now in your mind, is Aybar the shortstop and that's his job to lose, or are he and Izturis on equal ground?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: You're going to evaluate in the spring. Erick Aybar is the guy that has the ability and the talent to be a special player. Maicer Izturis is as consistent as any defensive infielder that we've seen. So between the two, if it's one guy that takes the position, runs with it, or we have to use the two in a combination, we'll keep that open in Spring Training and evaluate as you get into the season. We have depth at that position.

Q. What can Percival bring to the team?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Percival probably made as impressive of a comeback as any player I've seen in baseball from where he was with Detroit a couple years ago, and he goes from a Spring Training instructor eight months ago to a guy who last summer was throwing the ball as well as any reliever in the National League. And he carried it over, and he's going to bring -- of course, I think with Tampa Bay, the talent he brings is going to be important and you spin that off with the experience, the leadership. It will be different feel on that club, particularly on the pitching side that they've seen for long time with Troy's presence there.

Q. Are you going to have to change anything else in the middle infield, talked about Aybar and obviously others. Do you want a shot at the job in Spring Training?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think Brandon is still on the learning curve, is very, very close to competing for an everyday job in the Major League, but there's some things that he needs to bring onto a Major League field that he's just not quite as consistent as he needs to be with that. And from a defensive end, there's no doubt that he can play shortstop and 3rd base at a very high level, particularly shortstop. I think there's been a lot of talk to move him to 3rd base to get that look to see if he was going to be able to do it last year, and he certainly can. He played terrific defensive 3rd base, but he can play Major League shortstop, too. The offensive end is what we're really waiting for to come together and be as consistent as we know it can be, and once that happens, this guy is going to be dynamic player.

Q. In terms of making contact?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think everything. If you look at the walk/strike-out ratio in the Minor League, maybe the consistency of where he struggled for a long periods. This is all experience, and once he gets it and gets comfortable, you know, I've seen a lot of hitters that have -- I won't say a lot of hitters -- seen some special players like Brandon and they click in and put it together, they are -- they have a real impact career in this game, and that's what we're hoping for Brandon.

Q. Mike, why is a five-man rotation ideal?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: As opposed to six or four?

Q. Either. Why did it get settled on as the number?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think there are times -- I think most clubs, it's not really purely a five-man rotation. It can be four at times, but somewhere along the line, four days off in between starts has become the norm, whereas probably 30, 40 years ago, it was always three days off. There's some built-in advantages to a four-day off as far as your routine and working on pitches, working on things mechanically that can either get you in or keep you locked in. You can do more work in between. You couldn't do it with a -- with three days off in between.
It does cut probably up to eight starts away from any pitcher when you switch from three days off to four days off in between. It's really what I grew up with since I was in the Major League ever since I remember starting and playing in 1980. Always four days off in between, which at times are you in a four-man rotation, but it's still four days off. In between if you have a off day, you might flip a guy here or there. I don't know. It's just evolved to that, evolved to specialization of the bullpen starters really getting little more time in between. And I think if you study it, there's probably a little bit longer career that you can point to for starting pitchers with a little less workload over the course of their -- little less grinding where they can let their arm recover.

Q. As we start the season pitchers breaking down towards the ends of seasons, do you think it's reasonable to suggest, two years, five years, ten years down the line the norm may be five days off instead of four?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Gosh, let's say wait and see. I think for the most part right now we're seeing our pitchers, after a start have no problem meeting bullpens, and some of them could come back on three-man -- three days, some of them need four days. Is this thing going to go -- this game to a six-man rotation or seven-man rotation in the future? I don't know. I hope I'm around long enough to see it and figure it out. I don't know right now. I don't see that happening, but who knows what's happening ten years down the road.

Q. Mike, with Hunter's speed, have you thought about him possibly as a three-hole hitter or pretty much settled in with him maybe hitting five?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Lot of things we want to see. One of the things is with Orlando Cabrera, who was a good table setter hitting 2nd. 2nd for Vlad. I think we want to make sure obviously Vlad is going to be the keystone. Then in front of him we're setting the table enough and behind him whether he's pitched to or not, he's going to create everything he's going to create, either way. Create by hitting the ball or create by getting walked or pitched around, whatever. You want to make sure you have depth behind him. So where Torii fits in is really going to be -- whole lineup is going to be contingent on is everyone bringing what they can do. Right now we have Gary Matthews who we project to be hitting 1, 2, in some combination with Vlad 3rd. I think that's going to be a whole lineup is going to be contingent on how all the pieces are fitting in and if you're setting the table enough for Vlad or if you need to adjust, and if it means we put a third person in front of Vlad, particularly with right now Erick Aybar hitting 9th, he's probably going to hit 9th, if he takes awhile to get his feet on the ground, then he's with Vlad hitting 3rd. You might want to separate that to keep feeding Vlad, and we'll take a look at it as we keep going.

Q. Vlad being the kind of hitter he is, have someone on base in front of him, Figgins's base stealing ability, very little impact on how he approached the bat anyway?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: There are times when you shut a guy down because you want Vlad to swing the bat. That doesn't -- it's not the normal, but there are times where you're going to -- the team offense you're going to keep still pushing it, and if they don't pitch to Vlad, you're creating a great situation if you have the hitters behind Vlad that are productive.
There's -- I don't think that it's going to affect it -- I mean Figgy last year when he was connected with Vlad, you're talking about maybe there's three to four bases that we maybe didn't take that we could have because we needed Vlad to swing the bat depending on what the matchups were behind Vlad and what the other bullpens were going to be like. Doesn't happen very much. I don't think it's going to be an issue, but surely there are sometimes we shut some guys down. It's not as much as you think, Tim.

Q. Sort of thinking the other direction, because the way your lineup actually was going when it was going well last year, seemed a little more open to let Chone do his thing and sort of deal with the consequences later.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: If you remember the first -- Chone missed the first month and almost the second month he was hitting 180 so at almost 100.

Q. 130.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Part of the reason why we opened up with Chone was he got on base to open it up. So it was really just a residual question he's playing better baseball. He's getting on base, and he's going to be able to run more. Our offense was the best it was last year when we had 1 through 9, all the pieces working, and there was one big bat in the lineup, Vlad. Our offense was the best it was all year, May through June.

Q. I think he was hitting 600?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Yes, he was.

Q. You still ran and allowed teams to make a decision on Vlad.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Yeah. I mean if -- I don't think -- I don't think it's going to impact when a team is really guessing. You're not going to pitch to Vlad. You're not going to pitch to him. What it's going to do behind us is to have a deeper lineup that says, Okay, if they walk Vlad with one out, well one of the next two guys you make a mistake we can break the game open or get back into a game. That depth is important to us, and I think Torii brings that. We're going to run when we get the opportunities. We have to.

Q. So potentially having your best base stealers in front of Vlad, you don't have any problem with that?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: It's been like that for three years, and are you saying it would inhibit?

Q. Because your lineup is changing a little bit. I was wondering if you were giving it any more thoughts? What are the options you're thinking of?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Figgy one, Garret two, hopefully, if Figgy gets on, he's going to have the ability to do what he can do on the bases, and even if he was connected to Vlad, he still could. But, with Figgy, he's going to hit in front of Vlad because he's high on base and he can create offense. As far as where our lineup is right now, Figgy will hit somewhere most likely one, but somewhere in front of Vlad.

Q. Have you had a chance to talk with Matthews about his changing role yet? And if so, is he onboard with it? Probably likes hitting 1 or 2 better.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We'll adjust. Last year Gary started off at leadoff and was hitting cleanup. Through like that stretch we're talking about, through May and June, Gary was hitting cleanup for us. So we'll adjust to what we need to, depending on how the pieces fit. We have to talk to Gary. I think his preference signed here. Play centerfield, that's like home to him, but he's certainly onboard with playing the corners and getting his 600 plate appearances.

Q. Are you going to have to sell Guerrero and Anderson the idea of DH'g, 60, 70 times?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think as we break it up through some of those guys, it's going to give Torii a chance to get off his feet. Gary might do it occasionally, and those corner guys are going to obviously get a chance to be resting more. Whatever the numbers are, we'll see where -- we'll see what they add up. I don't think there's anything you have to sell to these guys. These guys, they want to win more than anything, and I know Garret knows that his health is important to us. When he's healthy, he's killing the ball. When he hasn't been, obviously it's affected his ability to produce offensively. I don't think we're going to have one guy in that DH role, but we're going to spread it around between all four of them at times.

Q. Talk a lot especially during the season --
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Last year, look at Garret and Vlad, they did DH probably 40, 50 times a piece.

Q. Do you see that going up?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We'll see how it goes. There's going to be -- give us more of an opportunity to keep Torii or Gary fresh, and possibly they could swing into that, too.

Q. Talk a lot about offensive continuity. Is there something to the idea of defensive continuity as well if you're running a different set of three guys out there everyday it's not as consistent as the --
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Gary has played the corners a lot. He's not going to have any problem. Get being used to a guy's range. We'll pay a lot of attention to it in Spring Training and have the guys feeling comfortable around each other, knowing the range of each player. I don't think that's going to be anything but a positive. The continuity would be different if we were playing some guys that -- their skill set wasn't what you would need in a position, but you had to do it and you keep shuffling guys in. We're going to move players around in the outfield that are, you know, terrific defensive players, and I don't think that's going to be -- that's going to be continuity issue. Defensive chemistry is important. I mean, I'm more right now probably spending more time on our infield chemistry with the projection of Aybar, Izturis at short, with Figgy at 3rd than worrying about what our defensive chemistry and offense is and the outfield is going to be because it's going to be terrific.

Q. What are you hoping to see from Brandon Wood this spring?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Progress. You want to still keep seeing progress. He got off the a slow start last year, finished strong in AAA, got a taste of the big league. You want to see any player but particularly with Brandon's upside, you just want to keep seeing that progress. When he's ready for the challenge in the Major League, they'll still be some growth, but he'll be in a position that experience will make him better. Right now there's just probably some things you'd just like to see cleaned up a little bit on, particularly his offensive approach, but it will.

Q. Has he returned to Mexico yet?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: He came back. He's done in Mexico.

Q. I thought he came back for a funeral?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: He did. He ended up -- went back and then -- he's back in Arizona now.

Q. Is that a physical issue?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: No.

Q. What happened?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We'll talk at lunch.

Q. American dollar hasn't gone as far as it used to. Are you alright with Hunter's personality and what that injects in the clubhouse? Is that something that you've thought about?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: We've always had personality in our clubhouse, Orlando, or you look at some guys that have been in there. There's been a presence there of having some good chemistry, and Torii will bring another piece of that puzzle. I think he's just -- he's just a more importantly from being an outstanding ball players, he's a terrific person. I think if you spend any time around Torii, you can see that right away. He has a great passion for this game. He loves people, and he's going to be a great addition to our club.

Q. I apologize if you answered it earlier, but what kind of pitcher are you guys acquiring in Garland?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I already answered that, but I'll revisit it. That's an inside joke. I think Jon Garland is a pitcher that pitched much better last year than his won/loss record indicates. His internal numbers were good. If you go back a little further to his last three, four years, this guy has always been over 200 innings, he's won 18 games in the major league, a tough league in a tough ballpark to pitch in. So we're hoping that with the support that we can give him this year that he's going to put up numbers in the win column as he did a couple years ago in Chicago when he was one of the league's best pitchers. Been in playoff games. He's pitched well there, and we're looking for big things from Jon.

Q. Another guy that has his name thrown around is Nick Green. I know he hasn't been up much. How does he project?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: He projects as a front line starter if he reaches his potential. He needs some growth. He needs some innings. He's getting more and more in tune with his game. He has terrific stuff. He really throws the spots very well, terrific change-up, breaking good, good moving past ball. He needs to really understand what his tools are and how he's going to use them to get hitters out. Like any pitcher that's young, sometimes you just start picking pitches out of air, don't put them together the way you do as you get experience, and Nick is that at point right now. He's learning how to put pitches together. He's understanding his talent. He's going to be good, and he's going to be good for a long time, and he's still -- hopefully going to move on to our depth chart quickly as we get into the season and no reason why going to Spring Training you're going to consider a guy like this number seven or eight on your roster and hopefully move up from that as the season begins because he has a lot of talent.

Q. Going back to what you say about Percival, how do you rank him in terms of clubhouse presence and leadership he brings?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think when you say a player has a presence, that says a lot. When he walks into a clubhouse, he walks out onto the field or as he walks onto the team plane, there's a presence there of a direction that a team is going. There's one thing that Percy lives and breathes and that's winning. I think that's something that will always be part of him, and right now at this point he's regained the tools to go out there and do that. In Detroit it was tough for him, but he's regained that, and he'll have the impact in on our club.

Q. Younger team, sounds like?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think so. Percy is a presence. He walks in, you know he's there. The direction he brings is very -- it's very defining.

Q. Is it his words or actions?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Both. When he walks in and puts his uniform on, he goes down in the bullpen, he's a big horse out there. He's got one thing in mind, to get ready to win a ballgame.

End of FastScripts

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