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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 7, 2009Dave TrembleyINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Q. What do you feel is the most pressing issue is with your team this off-season? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think not necessarily in any particular order, I think starter, closer, first, third. I think that's kind of where it is. You know, it would be nice to get a veteran starter and a closer so you could put your bullpen back in order. And first baseman. I think that's kind of where it's at. Q. A lot of the names you were connected to the Orioles are not necessarily middle of the order hitters. Do you think you are confident that you guys will be able to make a huge upgrade and get somebody to hit clean-up and kind of protect Jones and Markakis and Wieters? DAVE TREMBLEY: Yes, I do. You know, I think the preference would be a right-handed hitter. And, you know, we are confident that we are going to be able to do that. But, you know, there's a lot of names out there, and I'm sure there's a lot of other teams that have similar interests that we do. I think the arbitration thing is tonight at midnight, and see what happens there. There is a non-tendered date, which is the 12th, so you see what happens after that. And then you have free agents and trade possibilities, so there's a whole lot of scenarios. Q. Outside of trades or free agencies, how optimistic are you about your team compared to last year at this point? DAVE TREMBLEY: You know, I would think that with the amount of young guys that have got the experience that they had last year, and knowing what their makeup is, I would think we are really a lot further ahead than we were last year, as far as individual progress. I think what we need to do now is take the individual progress and turn it into a team, a collective team progress. You know, use all those guys who showed a lot of improvement, and we think are going to be better -- all of those guys, and now put it into the team, and translate into the possibility of more wins. Most of those guys last year, it was developing them. I think now we ought to translate that development into the team winning more. Q. Does that bring more pressure? DAVE TREMBLEY: Oh, I'm sure it does. But that's baseball. Q. Have you guys decided that Jim Johnson is going to be back in the eighth inning? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think it is. I think that is dependent upon us getting a closer. I think you have to get a closer in order to put Johnson back in that role. If you don't get a closer, now you come into spring training kind of unsettled again, and you might have to take a look at it again. You might have to take a look at J.J. there. You might have to take a look at what Chris Ray does. But if you go out and get a closer, then I think you can kind of line up the back end of your bullpen. Q. Is Koji involved? DAVE TREMBLEY: You know, I don't know -- to be honest, I don't know what to say about Koji. I think you've got to see Koji coming into spring training and see if he's healthy. I think you've got to get him into spring training and see if he's healthy, and then decide what's best for him and where he fits in with the team. It's hard for me to say right now, because the end of the season hurt. Q. Did you get any reports on him? DAVE TREMBLEY: I haven't. Q. What's like your ideal way of acquiring a closer, identifying a closer? Is it spending money on a guy who has done it or do you develop somebody internally or do you take a chance on a guy that maybe has the stuff? DAVE TREMBLEY: You know, it worked -- your last point, it worked with what we did with George Sherrill. That was a guy that we could fit into it makeup-wise, stuff-wise, and he had never done it before. Myself, personally, I think with Bergesen, Tillman, some of the younger guys on the way, I think you need to get a guy who has been there, done it. I think you need an experienced guy who has done it, is a closer, boom. Q. So you would not want to take a guy, not necessarily one of those guys but another young guy who has good stuff -- DAVE TREMBLEY: Well, I'm getting some suggestions from, you know, from our scouting director on possible guys in the system that we think could probably do that. I'm not so sure that's the way to go right now. I'm not so sure that's the way to go. Q. As things stand right now, do you like Felix is getting the bulk of the time? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think it's a nice thing to be able to sort out, as opposed to the way he played the second half of the season and unfortunately got to play a lot, because Jones was hurt. You know, there was a lot of interest in Pie, and you've got to like what Reimold did. You still have Luke Scott. I think as we get towards spring training, that will sort itself out. Q. Are you totally against putting Reimold out at first base? DAVE TREMBLEY: I'm not totally against it. I just don't know how practical that is in a short period of time in spring training, teaching a guy to play first base at the Major League level who has never done it before. I think in a perfect situation, it probably would be better if he were healthy and sign him to winter ball or something like that to do it. I'm sure that's probably going to be discussed in the next day or so about -- I talked to Samuel about it last year. I don't know. Q. Has Andy told you to be patient this off-season because he expects it to go down to the wire and won't be aggressive off the bat? DAVE TREMBLEY: He has told me that he felt like it might be a later, developing period of transactions. There might not be as much movement at these Winter Meetings as there's been in the past, based upon guys holding out longer, the economy being what it is. I think there's going to be a lot of guys available late. Q. In your situation, would you be willing to sacrifice some young prospects you guys have built up to maybe get that clean-up hitter? Do you think that makes sense to where you are at? There are a couple of big sluggers on the trade market. DAVE TREMBLEY: I think what you do is you still -- I think you've got to remain pretty consistent with what the pattern has been, and the short-term solution is not worth losing a guy of value for the long term. I think that we all agree. Q. Do you have concerns that if you don't make the big move this off-season, this becomes a harder sell for the fan base, how frustrated they are right now? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think we have so many good, young players that have come up through the Orioles system that, you know, the fan base has identified with those guys and they know there's more of those guys on the way. But I do think Andy has gone on record as saying, you know, we are going to do what we can do to acquire a piece or two until some of those other guys are ready. I think it's going to take care of itself. It might just happen a little bit later. It might not happen this week. Q. Getting back to first base for a second, do you feel like you have a pretty good handle on what Luke Scott can or can't do there? Did you see enough of him in September at first base? DAVE TREMBLEY: I would say that, for me, I would say that priority would be for left field, DH, first base, in that order, you know, as far as rating where he's at. Q. Dodged that one. DAVE TREMBLEY: I did. Luke's my neighbor at home. He's bigger than me. (Laughter.) We live in the same county. I don't want to tell him. Q. Last year you guys were obviously very aggressive. Do you see any free agents with whom you anticipate similar interest or anyone that's in that class with Markakis? DAVE TREMBLEY: I don't really see that. That's a once-in-a-lifetime, you know, marquis guy that comes. There are some guys out there. I'm not so sure they are going to generate the amount of interest that he did last year. A couple pitchers. Q. How much growth can you reasonably expect from Matt Wieters from one season to the next? DAVE TREMBLEY: I expect people think I'm going to hit him third or fourth. I think Wieters will be more like you saw the last month of the season, over the course of six months in the big leagues next year, from when he first got there. That's what I think. I think the thing that probably was most impressive about him towards the end of the year was his defense, his catching and throwing. Especially his throwing. I think that's more in line with what you'll see from him. Offensively, he'll probably hit some more home runs. His power, as he gets a little older, it will probably get better. Q. What's the one free agent that you suggested that you would like to see the team go after? DAVE TREMBLEY: There's a few of them. You know, the names that everybody has been talking about. Q. Do you think you have a legitimate shot at Lackey? DAVE TREMBLEY: I see the Angels -- myself personally, I would think the Angels would really make a concerted effort to try and keep him. I don't see that -- I don't see that happening. I've got to be realistic. I'm not trying to be -- Q. Is that a priority for you guys, to run the bases better? What fundamentally do you want to do better? DAVE TREMBLEY: Don't give outs away. I think that's probably going to be an emphasis in spring training. We have to be better about giving some outs away on the bases carelessly. There was too many careless giveaways; more of a mental thing than a physical thing. Q. Did some of the things that happened last year, your education as a manager, are you going to be a different manager in how you deal with players based on what happened last year? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think you always -- that's the beauty of the off-season. You go home in the off-season and you get to digest all of it and think about it and see what you can do to improve and how you can do better. You use the experiences that you have had in the past as your barometer. I think patience is very key. I think not taking it personal is probably as important. And I think communication is something you always strive to improve and get better. Q. Can you communicate too well; players can start taking things for granted? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think everybody -- I think one of the beauties of the game and this business is people ought to be more appreciative for the opportunity they all have, and you probably don't realize it until it's not there or you feel like it might not be there. That's going to be the thing this year. There are going to be some guys on the outside looking in. If you had to do it all over again, maybe you try it a little bit lighter. Maybe you be just a little bit appreciative of what you have, because it won't last forever. I think sometimes human nature is such in this game that you don't appreciate it until you don't have it. Q. Are you going to be a tougher guy this year? DAVE TREMBLEY: Oh, I know -- Q. Were you too nice at times last year to certain players? DAVE TREMBLEY: I don't know if "nice" is the word. I think probably the word is -- I probably give people the benefit of the doubt. I think sometimes I think that people care as much as I do, and want to be treated the way I want to be treated, and that's not necessarily the case. Sometimes you have to figure out the buttons a little bit differently that everybody needs to be pushed. Basically my job is to get the most out of everybody, and maybe I can do a little bit better job of doing that. Maybe I can get a little bit more out of everybody by being a little bit different. I think you have to stop worrying about hurting people's feelings, stop worrying about hurting people's feelings. Really, the bottom line is the game, and that they care about the fans in Baltimore a little bit more and maybe care about the opportunity that they have a little bit more. But I know what you're saying. I don't think, though, you can be -- I don't think I can be what I was. You can't do that. But I think you can be better and not give the impression that it's okay all the time. It's not okay. It's not okay. It's not okay to just not do things right, you know what I mean? That's not okay. Q. Do you have a pet peeve? Is there any one thing that really drives you crazy? DAVE TREMBLEY: Yeah, losing. That drives me absolutely right up the wall. My pet peeve? You know, people that just don't give 100% all the time. I think that's everything. I think that's not just baseball. I think that's common life. Give it all you've got. Appreciate it. Q. Would you support trying to get Bedard? Is that a guy you would like to work with again? DAVE TREMBLEY: Well, you know, I had a very good relationship with Erik. I think like anything else, you'd like to find out as much as you can where he's at health-wise and then go from there. I think you need to know that a guy could be counted on to pitch every fifth day, and I think he's coming off a shoulder issue. So I think our medical staff and our medical doctors, his name's on the board, just like there's a lot of other guys' names on the board. I think that's one of the first things that people look at, is where are these guys at medically? Where are they at health-wise? I don't think we are in a position to get a guy and he can't -- he ain't ready to pitch until June. I think if we are going to get a guy, we need a guy that's going to pitch beginning of the year. Q. Adam who was a Gold Glove misses the last part of the year because of the injury. With everything he did up until that point, how much better can he be? And do you think Nick gets the credit he deserves from people watching? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think Jones is going to be a much more complete player with more experience. I don't think he is -- I don't think he's done getting better. I think he's going to be a much better player. I think the key now is to keep him motivated and keep him headed in the right direction. I don't have any doubt about that, because I saw him in Sarasota a couple of weeks ago. Markakis is just a steady guy that probably doesn't get a whole lot of attention because he doesn't attract it. But he's certainly not a guy that's not appreciated. I think maybe the first year or so he was kind of a secret, but I don't think he's a secret anymore, especially in our division. I don't think he is. I think he's one of the better players in the American League. Q. What are your expectations in terms of getting something done here? DAVE TREMBLEY: Oh, I think that's why we're here. I think we came to -- I think we are here because we expect that we are going to do something to improve the club. That's how I feel. I was in a meeting before I came over here with Andy and our scouts and the front office. I would expect that it's going to happen. Q. Can you share with us your views of what the ballclub needs? DAVE TREMBLEY: Well, I said that. I think the priorities are a starter, closer, first and third; address those areas, answer some questions about what our bullpen is going to be and see what we want to do with our young players, some of our young guys. Q. There's been a lot of talk about replay. What's your view on should baseball expand it or just leave it the way it is? DAVE TREMBLEY: When replay first came in, I think Peter might have asked me or -- when it first started, I wasn't for it. I'm okay now because of the way it's set up and the limitations on it. I don't think they should expand it. I don't think it should be just for playoffs and World Series, and not for the regular season. I think every game is equally as important. I think they have done a good job of it. Q. Going through this period of reflection you go through every year, is it possible to theoretically next year, player x does not run out a ground ball, you'll be more likely to be proactive rather than handling it behind closed doors? DAVE TREMBLEY: I think that needs to be communicated by me much clearer than I have in the past. And I think we probably should be a little bit more consistent on following through with that, no matter who it is. Q. What did you think of Hideki Matsui's World Series performance? DAVE TREMBLEY: Well, he picked up right where he left off against us. We couldn't get him out. I know what the stats were after July. From the seventh inning on, he was hitting over .400. Every time I brought in a left-handed pitcher to face him, he hit it out of the ballpark. He is a proven hitter in the clutch. Proven hitter in the clutch. Q. It might be Andy's call, but would you be interested in managing a guy like that? DAVE TREMBLEY: Oh, yeah. That would be a guy that I think a lot of teams would want to have. I wouldn't know -- somebody was asking me earlier, this guy was MVP of the World Series. I mean, I would think it would be hard for him to not be playing in New York. But I don't understand the business side of it sometimes. I'm sure there's a lot of teams that would like to have his bat in the lineup. Q. If Andy said you guys agreed to terms, for instance... DAVE TREMBLEY: He wouldn't have to twist my arm. He wouldn't have to twist my arm. Who wouldn't want him? Who wouldn't want him. End of FastScripts |
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