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MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 8, 2008

Joe Maddon

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Q. What are your needs now when you look at the guys -- you look at the organization, it seems like you have a lot of Minor League depth, you've got several short stops and a lot of pitching. What are the types of things that you can bring in using some of that?
JOE MADDON: I know Andrew has mentioned it, primarily if there's anything you're looking to augment, maybe the outfield a bit, although we do feel like we have people there that can still do it that are in-house. If you just break down the team, it's not rocket science to see where offensively what we did at that position last year, the potential to improve upon it is there.
Also, you're always looking at depth in different areas. I think the bullpen, you play in October because you have a good bullpen, so you've always looking to make your bullpen better.
But overall we still feel as though we have people there that can do those things, but as Andrew often talks about, and it's true, we're just consistently or constantly trying to upgrade in different areas, and he's having a lot of conversations right now with a lot of different folks.
But then again, there are some people that we still have in-house that I thought did a really nice job last year, too.

Q. Could you see Garrett Anderson fitting into that picture?
JOE MADDON: Yeah, I love GA. GA is wonderful. Actually, I thought over the last two seasons, I thought GA's game got even stronger. I thought offensively speaking, I thought he was swinging the bat -- when we saw when we played against him, I thought he was very crispy the last time, running well, the whole nine yards. I think that's attractive to a lot of people right now. Regardless of his age. He looked very good last year.

Q. Does your success increase the amount of money you guys are going to put in?
JOE MADDON: You know, you'd have to speak with Andrew specifically about that. I know we're probably able to spend more money, but I don't know exactly what the number is going to be. But I really -- I don't really even discuss that with him. I tell him -- when Andrew and I have discussions, I talk about the guys that I like, and throughout the Major Leagues, and we talk about people specifically. I called him on the phone this year talking about one guy, and he had the same vibe as I did, so all of a sudden that guy became even more prominent to us.
We have constant discussions, we do, during the off-season, at least every day. We're on the phone, we're talking about different ways to make it better. With regard to the money spent, I swear to you I don't know how much we're willing to spend. I don't know that.

Q. Have you talked to Perci?
JOE MADDON: Yeah, I did. I talked to Perci before and after the surgery, and he felt really good. He thought it went really well. Somehow I guess cleaned things out a bit to relieve some of the pressure in the lower half there. He was very optimistic. According to him, I don't know if he would be ready right for the opening of the season, but it could be something relatively close. But he was really optimistic about it. So was the doctor, so it was a good thing.

Q. You mean the opening of the regular season?
JOE MADDON: Yeah.

Q. What would you like to see? You say Andrew has talked to a lot of different possibilities, maybe a DH, maybe a right fielder. Do you have a preference?
JOE MADDON: I'd say the preference is just to make us better offensively, however that shows up, however that happens. You break us down from last year, and of course we had a really nice year, and it was done primarily through the pitching and the defense, which I would like for us to remain that constant forever and ever.
But also, you could see there was areas where you can improve offensively, and wherever -- if it were to come through an DH or an outfielder, whatever it may be, right or left-handed, you're always looking to make yourself better. We're trying to research and explore all the different possibilities regarding that and then just try to come to the best conclusion.
However it happens, just looking to gain more offense.

Q. If you sign a DH, who would play right field?
JOE MADDON: I mean, right now you've got Gabe in-house right now. I thought Fernando did a nice job at the end of last year, also, and those guys match up because Fernando hitting right-handed and Gabe hitting left-handed is not a bad fit. I know Fernando is doing some winter ball right now and I guess he had a bit of a problem, but he's doing better. Those two guys match up nice.
And within the culture, when you put a Fernando in the outfield, the speed and the base-stealing ability, the run production goes up in that regard, also.
I also think that Gabe coming off the season he had last year is going to be better this season. I think there's a lot of confidence that he derived from the confidence that we showed in him, the amount of meaningful moments that we put him out on the field. So I think he's going to be a different player in a positive way this year, also.

Q. Just conversely, if you sign a right fielder, DH-wise, who are the current guys? Willy?
JOE MADDON: Willy does -- he has that potential, there's no doubt. The thing about Willy that happened last year, going into that season I always wanted to be he was a much better left-handed than right-handed hitter, but I thought by the end of the season he balanced things out pretty nicely.
Actually, I think his numbers turned out to be better right-handed than left-handed, probably because he got more opportunities. I'm just a big Willy fan, and that is a possibility, that he would get time to do it.

Q. You mentioned the bullpen briefly. With Perci you don't know what you're going to get coming off the surgery, losing Trever, how does that look to you?
JOE MADDON: Well, you still -- my old four-plus guys, you've got J.P., still got Grant, still got Danny. Again, you don't know where Perci is going to be at. I know Hammer got better with the role as the season was in progress. Did I say J. P. Howell?

Q. Yeah, he only counts once, as good as he was.
JOE MADDON: There's times he seems like he was more than one guy. I just believe if we're going to get back to the postseason, we really have to make sure that that pen is as strong or stronger than it was last year. And also Chad Bradford. That's the guy I was forgetting.
And the way that we use them, I mean, it wasn't the conventional way as you saw. Wherever the most stress was being put on the game, whether it's the sixth or the seventh inning, I think we found out that J.P. in that situation or Grant in that situation, which permits you to get to the ninth inning with the lead, is something that has to be pursued, also. You just can't worry about the closer because if you can't get to the closer with the lead, what difference does it make anyhow.
It would be nice to attempt to recreate the formula that we had last year. I'd like to believe that these guys are going to be at least as good as they were. I think they've gained a lot of experience. We've got to make sure that their health remains positive.

Q. The reality is the bullpen, especially setup guys, can be so volatile these days, year to year. Like you say, you'd like to think they'll be as good if not better, but do you feel like you need some more depth to make sure?
JOE MADDON: I always like depth with that. Whether or not they're going to be as good, like you said, that's such a hard thing to gauge. J.P. probably threw the most innings out of the whole group. Maybe he was stretched beyond normalcy for him.
I mean, Grant got what he needed to get, I think. I thought we took good care of Danny Wheeler. I don't think Danny threw too much even with the postseason. Chad Bradford was a gem. He's also great. I don't think we over extended him, either.
I think the one guy to pay attention to would be J.P. just based on usage. The one thing I'm really cognizant of talking with Andrew and talking about different things is usage from one year to the next and how that impacts the next year.
As that season got longer and we got deeper I was really aware of J.P. Of course you want to win now, but I'm thinking about his and our future.
He'd be the one guy that's going to be interesting to see how he reacts physically next year with his workload that he took on for this year.

Q. And not being a real big guy --
JOE MADDON: Right, exactly, and they're all unknowns. But I like those names, I like depth. Of course if we can make ourselves better, we want to. But I have a lot of faith in those guys that are here, and I think it's up to us as a staff to try to continue to put them in the right situations.

Q. You got a long way in September but very unconventional with the way you were using guys. How much of a season would you be confident playing that way?
JOE MADDON: I'm confident with the whole season. I mean, again, it's -- you'd like to have the normal construction of this dead-on closer at the end of the game. Absolutely, that's optimal, you want to have it that way. But if you can't, I was comfortable with the way it all worked. I mean, those different guys, whether it's Danny or Grant or J.P., it was primarily Danny picked up a lot of those saves.
I just think -- this is just a thought. I mean, I thought that you have to pay attention to the emotional usage, also. I mean, you always monitor number the pitches, the number of times they threw during the week, whatever, but you've got to monitor the high leverage situations they've been put in, also, so that was something I really can't necessarily just describe it to you other than that right now.
But I was trying to pay attention to how many real hot situations guys were in and how often I wanted to put them into that point, like the eighth or the ninth inning with the lead.
The point is to try to move that pressure around a bit. If you don't have that one guy, I think it's wise to move that intensity around, because a lot of these guys aren't used to that intensity night after night after night. That's one thing I was cognizant of last year.

Q. Have the last five weeks been different at all considering what you guys accomplished as opposed to the past couple changes?
JOE MADDON: Getting married (laughter). Well, yeah, it's nice -- it's more than nice, to be able to reflect on a very positive season, and now you're building it to next season with a bunch of positive stuff that's been affirmed in the background, whereas now you're able to move forward from there, where before it was primarily theory and you're trying to move this theory forward and have it become reality, which we did.
So now you're looking into the season, and we've talked about this in the past, you walk into the first day of camp, you know who your catcher is, third baseman is, shortstop is. You know that. The first year I did this we had no clue what that was going to look like. You know who your starters are go to be. You're talk willing about the bullpen. We're going to go into spring training this year with 20-some guys maybe that we know maybe, whereas in the past it wasn't even close to that.
So with that, you know, when you have your conversations with these guys in the wintertime, you talk with them about confidence, they're able to better plan themselves, so when you walk into that camp the very first day you have this real sense of team going on, and I think that permits you possibly to carry over I'd like to think.
I mean, the thing I've been thinking about primarily going into spring training is fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. I think what we did and how late we played last year really magnifies to everybody within our organization player-wise, how important it is to have a good secondary lead or to go first to third when you can or to hit the cutoff man or to back up first base when we need to.
I'd like to believe you don't have to sell those perceived minor points anymore because to play at that time of the year and win, you have to do all those things.
I think the longer spring training is going to help with that and I really want us to plan that out and take advantage of it. I just think that the proverbial perfect storm with regard to instruction, getting our message outgoing into next year, into this season, most Major and Minor League teams together for the first time, a little bit more secluded spot, not many places to go at night, all this other stuff, I just think it's perfect for us to get our program out there.

Q. How do you approach spring training? You guys have the World Series, but the 200-pound gorillas haven't left the room. In this division it's always been, oh yeah, them.
JOE MADDON: I think it's great to play in this division. I've said it before. Playing in this division keeps you on your toes every minute of the day. I think it's wonderful to have a high level of expectations on our back. I think it's great, and I think it's going to bring out the best in our guys.

Q. Do you subscribe to the thing -- whenever teams are in this situation, they say they'll have a target on their back the next year. Does that really happen?
JOE MADDON: I think maybe it does to a certain extent. What I was going to say is I think particularly teams that aren't necessarily in the hunt, teams that might be a second division team like we always were, always wanted to be that first division team to get the recognition that you wanted. So yeah, I think you walk around with a bigger target, I think you do.
And again, I think that's a good thing. I really believe our guys will be up for the challenge. I believe the conversation we're having right now I'm going to have with them just about these same topics when I get to camp, and I want them to understand and embrace the idea that we have a big target. I think it's a good thing.
When you are working in practice, whether it's spring training or pregame, et cetera, you know that the work has got to be exemplary. You know that. I think it's a good thing.

Q. The year after you guys won it all in '02, the Angels took a significant step back. I don't know if the situations are comparable, but are there lessons you picked up from them you can apply to this coming year?
JOE MADDON: Yeah, and I've already spoken about that to people before this ever happened with us. I thought you really have to pay attention to the injury factor from the year before, guys that had been hurt, they're having less time to recover going into the next season.
Furthermore, I think we're going to really take our time in spring training, I think. The fact that the tournament is going on this year and the length of the spring training permits us to slow down spring training, which I like, less throwing in the beginning, less hitting in the beginning, less running in the beginning, really parcel out the instruction, the day.
In the past you've seen where I've been rather intense with the guys even from day one. Not. We're just going to build into that intensity more so.
The primary thing I thought I learned was to really pay attention to the smaller time frame to get ready for the next year. People that had been hurt, be more patient with them, and don't push them so hard the moment they walk into the door.

Q. And I guess the human nature part of complacency. You guys didn't win the whole thing, but having pushed so hard one year, then maybe the next year when you've reached that level, kind of maybe go a little slower, is that a concern at all?
JOE MADDON: No, I'd like to think not. I mean, we didn't win any -- we got there, but we still have a major goal ahead of us right now. I think once you've tasted the last eight teams of the year, you want to be one of those every year. You don't want to have a barbecue around October 3rd or 4th and invite everybody over for a couple beers and a steak and watch the playoff game. I hate that.
I want to believe our guys have gotten to the point where they want to participate and they want to be the show for everybody else having a little bit of a barbecue come October. I really believe that.
Guys, once they've had a chance to taste that -- I believe our guys are going to want it again, and I'd be very surprised.
Of course, injuries come up, all these other things. We have to just approach it as a newer year. I don't want to consistently talk about the previous year and what we did last year and how we did last year. It's a new year and a new set of circumstances. Everything will be brand new. The difference is we've had the experience of being able to play at that time of the year. That's what I want to be able to draw on.

Q. The last game when you guys lost the World Series, it seemed like the guys on your team were looking around like they had never considered the fact that they were going to lose.
JOE MADDON: Yeah, it was. We really thought we were going to win, we really did, even though it was kind of a difficult moment, difficult circumstances. We all -- we figured we were going to figure it out somehow and pull it out somehow, we really did. And then it was over, and it was like, you mean there's no game tomorrow, because we haven't finished our business yet. I got that same sense.

Q. Did you talk with anybody about that?
JOE MADDON: Well, I had a little meeting with the boys afterward, I did. I tend to get emotional in those moments. I'm really not good. So I tried to convey to them one-on-one, I was able to go to pretty much all of them and let them know how I felt.

Q. What do you think about Upton's October? What will be the carryover for him going forward?
JOE MADDON: I mean, Upton's October was more like Upton's 2007. It was like all of a sudden he had that struggle. I think the shoulder was an issue all year. He wasn't saying a lot. I think what you saw there is more what he's going to look like in the future. Of course, he was really hot at that time, but the power, the speed, he's gotten to be a better base runner. He's picking better spots to steal, and his success rate has been much higher. He's not getting thrown out as often.
He's really dramatically cut down on missing cutoff men. Just his overall routes in the outfield, the little nuances of playing center field I thought he got better at. The obvious part it his offense. But I thought he got better in all these other arenas, also, and that to me was what I was really pleased with.
One of the biggest things I thought, base running really reveals instincts of a baseball player, and I thought he has really raised his level there, picking better spots, understanding situations better, which tells me he's paying attention.
If that's getting better, I think the rest of his game can improve.

Q. We learned he's a pretty good moderate, too.
JOE MADDON: Yeah, how about that? That was all his. We're pretty wide open with all that. I only have a don't-go sign. Again, when you're working with athletes like that, I want them to think so little about should I do this or do that. Just do it, and then if I say no, you know it's no for this moment, and I think that permits them to utilize all the athleticism that they have. That's what I'm talking about. He made a lot of mistakes the first couple years, but all of a sudden they started going away, and that's what I appreciated about his game.

Q. Do you have a surplus of rotation now to the point where one of those guys can help you in the bullpen? Do you count a guy like Wade Davis as a candidate for that?
JOE MADDON: Not yet I don't think, but it's not -- like David filled in in the bullpen at the end of the year, and it's something that we may eventually consider doing, but I don't -- honestly, in the talks so far, that hasn't come up yet going into this next season. I don't anticipate that right now. But it's not something that we wouldn't consider eventually.

Q. When you talk about roster moves, how much do you still need what Cliff brought you last year, and Perci probably will be around to some extent, but do you still need a lot of that?
JOE MADDON: Yes, I think every team needs a lot of that all the time, and as your younger guys are growing up to be that guy -- we still have a ways to go in that regard. Cliff, totally invaluable with all that, Perci, of course, and I thought Danny Wheeler, I've always talked about Danny in that respect, too, and I thought Carlos has really evolved into that person, too.
It's kind of nice that you're getting some of your own home-growns, because when I talk about the Ray way, these guys really are those that have bought into the program and thus they're the best carriers when you want to take it to the next couple guys that come in the door. But I'm all for that. I'm a big proponent of having those guys in the clubhouse.

Q. Did you end up seeing any Rays fans in Europe?
JOE MADDON: One, Ryan Atwood, Rome train terminal.

Q. B.J. for opening day?
JOE MADDON: I don't know. I know that he's doing pretty well. I don't know what the timetable is. I don't know that.

Q. What about Price for next year?
JOE MADDON: You know, of course he's in the mix, but the guys that have been there, the incumbents, did a pretty nice job, too. We'll evaluate that when it comes to spring training. Of course we view him as a starter. But to just chop somebody's head off that really -- I mean, of course you're going to talk about Andy, you're going to talk about E.J. and both of them had spectacular years and were part of us getting to the end. That's going to be sorted out as we get to spring training.

Q. Given your economics background and your interest in business, how do you think the economy has affected baseball so far and the recession going into next year?
JOE MADDON: You know, it it's got to have some kind of an impact. I'm out in California right now and I'm reading the morning paper and you're talking about families of disposable income of 70- to $80,000 all of a sudden showing up in line for Social Services. You get that group of people having to go for a meal or spending the night, all of a sudden obviously that's going to impact a baseball situation.
I'm just curious to see to what extent -- we don't even know where this is all going yet. There's no doubt it's going to have some impact. I can't see how it cannot have some impact where you have people that want to work and have worked and all of a sudden can't work. It's going to decline, there's no question. I'm not smart enough to know exactly, but I do believe there's going to be some form of an impact.

Q. (No microphone)?
JOE MADDON: When they asked me, we already had our plane tickets made, and the game was on the 22nd and that was the come-home date. For me to change would have cost like $10,000 or something stupid like that. If Lafayette was willing to pick up the tab, I may have done it, but that's why we couldn't make it. We were going from London to Atlanta to LA, and then I would have had to do something else, and it wasn't worth it. And they got beat.

Q. Did playing in the division you're playing, does that make picking up another bat even more important than maybe it would have been?
JOE MADDON: I think yes. I mean, playing in our division, it does matter. I just think in general, regardless of the division, if we had this particular team, we still would like to pick up another bat. But yeah, you look at the groups we have to play against, and again, you break down our season last year, runs scored, the batting average, et cetera, it wasn't that wonderful, and we still were able to accomplish what we did.
If we could maintain the integrity of the defense, maintain the integrity of the pitching staff in the bullpen, the starters and relievers, and then obviously the offense that would appear to stay in line with what's going on with the rest of these guys.
We do. I think we do have to improve the offense somehow to stay up with the rest of the guys.

Q. With the dialogue to date here, are you confident that you guys can do something meaningful?
JOE MADDON: You mean --

Q. In terms of making a player move and improving your ballclub?
JOE MADDON: We always believe in being able to do something like that. We have a lot of lines in the water and we'll see what happens.

Q. I heard Andrew during the playoffs talking about for so long you guys were making long-term decisions. Obviously now you're looking in the short-term. How refreshing was that to start improving the ballclub in the immediate?
JOE MADDON: We're still looking at both. I think you always have to look long-term, also. We've been all about that from day one, so we're looking into 2009, no question, but we're always going to keep an eye beyond that, too. I think that's always the prudent thing to do, and I think if you set yourself up with that kind of philosophy you can do it.

Q. It's been a year since the relief of the Mitchell report, and I'm wondering if there's any impact that you've seen in this last year, and particularly with regards to -- when you're looking for players off-season, are their numbers or statistics much more credible perhaps than in the past?
JOE MADDON: The one element of all that stands out to me as a manager, what I draw from that, is it becomes even more important to play the game right. Fundamentals take on an even added import because the three-run homer is not going to show up nearly as often in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning.
I think when you see teams grab like a two-run lead in the eighth inning, all things being equal, you're going to see less people from the opposition walking up that are able to take you out of the game with one swing of the bat.
With that, I think base running is going to become a bigger factor. Again, obviously defense last year showed the bigger factor. Again, the nuances, the intricacies of the game will become more important again. It's not about just a bunch of bullies beating you up. You've got to play the game right.
I think for me that's the most noticeable impact is that there's maybe not one or two guys on the team that can impact the game late like maybe it had been, where now fundamentals are really going to come into the light. And that's why I talk about that all the time, because I believe that.

Q. Perhaps as you're procuring talent more emphasis on athletes?
JOE MADDON: We're pretty much about that. We really look to not only get an offensive player but we want him to be able to play defense, too. Sometimes you're going to sacrifice at different positions. For us, you sacrifice a DH with regard to defense as far as I'm concerned. Otherwise you could see so many times last year that every guy on our field defensively had an impact on us winning the game, whether it was the catcher or any of the infield or outfield position. I think when you overlook that for the sake of offense now, it might bite you.

Q. Looking at the perspective from five weeks out on what Cole Hamels was able to do against you guys throughout the whole playoffs, do you think that he's really established himself in that very upper echelon of starters at this point, and what in particular has he been able to do?
JOE MADDON: He's really good. Well, what he particularly really does, he's got a great change-up obviously, but everybody has that in the back of their mind, and with that, he's able to pitch with his fastball.
The thing he did against us that I wasn't expecting was the breaking ball command. He was really good with his breaking ball against us. All the stuff that I had watched with him or on him, I didn't see that kind of command on the breaking ball. Of course everybody knows with the change-up, and I thought he pitched around the zone a lot with his fastball, too.
But he was able to throw strikes when he wanted to against us, which I didn't see that in reviewing him prior to the series. That showed me something about him, too, that maybe he pitches outside the zone intentionally against teams that are less patient. Maybe he's got to come within the zone against teams like us, maybe a little bit more patient. But I was really impressed with the command of all pitches because I didn't see that going into it.

Q. Would you say maybe Santana, Sabathia, no disrespect to Kaz, but is he right there behind them?
JOE MADDON: Absolutely, yeah. I haven't seen Sabathia in a while, and maybe Santana, but yeah, he's got a nice presence about him, too, a good make-up. When I heard him speak post Game 1 time, I knew we were in trouble.

Q. How come?
JOE MADDON: Just because he handled himself to well. Just like when people talk about David Price as a young player. When I heard him talk, I thought, this guy is going to be really good.

Q. Do you get that from J.P.?
JOE MADDON: J.P. is a little bit different. It's all about the walk and the hat tilt and all that stuff with J.P. (laughter).

End of FastScripts

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