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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL C: TORONTOMarch 7, 2009Davey JohnsonTORONTO, ONTARIO Q. Ever establish a bullpen pattern here (indiscernible)? DAVEY JOHNSON: Basically, we'll probably have six guys that will be hot today. And, you know, depending on -- hopefully, Jake can go four, four or five, depending on his pitch count and how he's going. Then we'll go (indiscernible). Q. The sixth guy (No microphone.) DAVEY JOHNSON: Not necessarily, I mean, some guys might have thrown two games, but had a low pitch count the day before yesterday. Other guys, just depending on how we feel, a lot of the guys that had one outing will probably be hot today. So, you know, basically nowadays, it's spring, a lot of guys are used to having two days off, so we're trying to, you know, accommodate everybody's spring training habits. Q. (No microphone.) DAVEY JOHNSON: We're going to play this game as if there is a game tomorrow. You know, but we're not -- we're going to play it just like we would a very important game. Q. (No microphone.) DAVEY JOHNSON: I've communicated with my pitching coaches and we've communicated to the players, and, you know, when you see a guy get up out there, he'll be getting up for a reason, even though we haven't talked to him yet or made a call yet. So you guys can keep your eyes on the bullpen, and you see somebody stretching, you got a pretty good idea he might be coming in. Q. Coach, when you came in, you were looking for the screen fencing. Was that something you were thinking about, the screen above the (indiscernible) area? DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, it looks like a catwalk area. It looks like a catwalk to me. But Jeter said it's new. They noticed before the ball hits that -- it's extended down from the roof. I don't know what it's there for. It might be just a catwalk, or maybe -- I don't know what it is. You can see it. It's extended way down. It runs -- if a ball hits it, it's in play. Q. (No microphone.) DAVEY JOHNSON: If it hits in foul territory, it's foul ball. But if it hits in fair play, it's in play. Q. Coach, how much fun has it been for you to be preparing for this? DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, you know, baseball is fun to me. There's always a lot of problems, a lot of issues you got to deal with, and that's part of what you go through as a manager. I'm going to have a good time regardless of what happens. I enjoy it. Q. What's next after this for you? DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, I'm doing a college summer league here in Florida, for June and July, so I have a bunch of college kids. I want to give something back to these amateurs. So for two months I'll have a bunch of college kids. Q. Is that the one in Orlando? DAVEY JOHNSON: Actually, my team's going be in Stetson. Q. I saw it last year. DAVEY JOHNSON: Last year, they were in Winter Park, I think. This year -- which I would still prefer they be there. I live in Winter Park. Now, I have a little more road trip. Q. (No microphone.) DAVEY JOHNSON: No, I mean, I kind of got burned out in 2000. I've really enjoyed doing work for U.S.A. Baseball. I really enjoyed working for the (indiscernible) and the Olympics. I really enjoy working for U.S.A. Baseball. I'm not discounting it, but it's not something on my goal list. Q. A lot of things that you deal with, personalities and teams concerned about players getting hurt. What's the most difficult part of your task as being the skipper of this team? DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, this format, you know, there's still a lot of problems from the personnel side and from -- you know, there's a lot of off days. You know, there's too many off days, really. If you go to -- I think there's like 59 off days. So getting these guys enough time, as we go along, with 14 or 15 pitchers, getting them work. But that's why I've got two great pitching coaches, (indiscernible). It's their job to get these guys the work they need, and when they go back, they're in good shape. (Indiscernible). That's another problem with the job. Q. What do you talk about scouting Mike Johnson, unknown? DAVEY JOHNSON: He is not unknown to me. I had him in Baltimore. I said at the press conference, he is kind of modeled after Mike Mussina. I'm sure going and pitching in Korea for a number of years, he's probably developed a few new tricks. But, you know, so I'm not -- you know, I've talked to my hitting instructors about basically what he threw a number of years ago, but I'm sure he's come up with a sinker, a cutter, like everybody does. He had a great change-up. He had a great curveball when I had him in Baltimore. Q. Is there anybody who is unavailable? DAVEY JOHNSON: I've got two guys in the pen that I would like to stay off of, but other than that, everybody's a go. Q. (No microphone.) DAVEY JOHNSON: He's a great guy. I mean, I called him up and asked if he'd like to play on the team, and he said yeah. I asked him, Where you want to hit? He said, Anywhere. I mean, it's a joy to have him on the ball club. Q. You played a lot of years in the major leagues. Would you like to have had this type of Classic back when you were playing? DAVEY JOHNSON: Yeah. It's a great event. I think it's a great event for the fans around the world. You know, there's a lot of kinks with the off days that we've made adjustments from, you know. I was a coach a number of years ago, so I knew we needed to cut down the position players so we didn't have to run it like an all-star game, having too many guys and couldn't get them enough AB's. Balancing the event and also getting them playing time, that's, you know, not going easy for managers. It's probably going to be easier for some of the other clubs that probably have guys that -- although, I looked at Dominican, and they've got two or three shortstops, and I don't know how they're going do all that. So everybody's got their own problems. Q. (No microphone.) DAVEY JOHNSON: I saw Tejada was playing third, and Rios is playing short. Ramirez is a good one, too. Q. Probably put Ortiz at first. DAVEY JOHNSON: I'm glad I don't have this problem (laughter). I think I have a bigger problem than they End of FastScripts |
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