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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 8, 2009Ken MachaINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA KEN MACHA: I thought coming up he was a tremendous shortstop. He played so well there in Boston at shortstop and showed his versatility going to first base, third. He's a good athlete and a tremendous competitor. As far as battling the injuries and everything, his makeup is fantastic. You've got to have it in your heart to do all the things he did with his injuries. I take my hat off to him on his career. Q. My second question is about the winter meetings. So far have you seen anything that is of interest to you for Spring Training? KEN MACHA: Well, I think you're always looking forward to making your club a little better. We, like most of the clubs, are out looking for some pitching, upgrading our pitching. Our scouting staff and our GM system have some people out there that they've looked at. But just like everybody else, we haven't gotten anything done yet. Q. The names are out there, we all know who they are, Randy Wolf, et al. I know you can't comment specifically on player, but from your vantage point in the dugout what have you seen from Wolf the last few years? KEN MACHA: He didn't pitch against us last year, and then the other two years I wasn't in the game. I saw Randy back when he was coming up in the Minor Leagues with the Phillies. He's got a good arm. But nothing has happened yet, so we'll just wait and see what's going on with the rest of -- I'm sure there's other clubs interested in him, also. Q. Would Rick's prior relationship with any other pitchers, would that have any impact on your decision making in terms of acquiring a pitcher? KEN MACHA: I think everybody that's in the room has input. Rick has got some specific guys, as I do, also. We signed John Halama, who's a Minor League guy, pitched for both of us back in Oakland. There's some other names that have been thrown out there, guys that have either pitched for myself or both of us, and we're interested in those people, also. We'll see if there's a fit somewhere. Q. Losing guys like Cameron and Kendall and Hardy, some of the core guys who have been around a little bit the last few years, what does that do to your clubhouse, and like who might step up and fill that leadership void a little bit? KEN MACHA: Well, those guys definitely had a lot of impact on the guys that were in the clubhouse earlier. I think you just take a look at the how the year prints out. You have leadership and you have leaders, and some guys lead by the way we play. Prince is a guy that gave up no at-bats the whole year and played with intensity and proved himself in the field and worked very hard at first base and worked on his offensive game. There's a guy right there who can be a leader by just what his work ethic and how he approaches the game. We've got other guys up there. Hoffman has done a great job with our bullpen guys. He's showed a tremendous amount of leadership. Hopefully we'll get Conseil back. He's been terrific. And I'm looking forward to having Murphy Weeks back, also. And Braunie, he just goes out there and puts up the numbers and does what he does. So there's a lot of candidates out there to go ahead and assume those leadership roles. Q. Will Zaun be a little bit like that, too? KEN MACHA: You know, veteran guy. I've had conversations with some of the people that he's played for, and one comment from Joe Maddon was the first pitchers' meeting was he just took over the pitchers' meeting. He's already asked for films and tapes of our pitchers, interested in getting to know those guys, and that's what we're looking for out of him, the type of qualities that Kendall displayed handling the pitching staff. Q. I know you haven't played Game 1 yet, but how do you see the workload breakdown? KEN MACHA: You know, when we did talk to Jeff, it was a three-way, four-way conference call. I told him how I liked to handle it and what I did last year with Kendall. Being that Greg is a little older than Jason and not used to playing every day, it might be a little different. We'll see how that goes. From what the people in Tampa told me, tremendous hard worker, prepared, concerned about his conditioning and physical status. So he's somebody that's going to be ready to play and hopefully will get 100 plus game out of him. Q. In terms of addressing the pitching need, would you expect it to be a veteran presence and short-term? KEN MACHA: What we have done while we were sitting in that room is looked at all different scenarios, so I wouldn't say, no, we're looking for one guy short-terms, no. Q. Is there a favorite to be the other catcher? KEN MACHA: Well, there's Catares that they've picked up on. You've got Matthew Lecroy that had a pretty good year in Double-A, and really, the reports from the scouts who went out to the fall league said he made great strides out there. And then you've got Mike Rivera. So all these guys come into the mix. And Angel Sulimay, who had come from Triple-A, also. Q. Are you comfortable with a young catcher? KEN MACHA: With a young catcher? Sooner or later they're going to have to get in there. You take a look at what Zaun did when he signed with Baltimore last year. His job was kind of hold down the fort until they had their big prospect kind up, and it kind of groomed him. You know, the Kemp is kind of split a little bit. Lecroy, maybe he'll need some time in Triple-A. We'll see how that all plays out. You know, this guy, Mathis, speaking of Lecroy, he's very much into calling the game and learning the situations and all that. You saw him last year get out of A-Ball, played extensively last year in Spring Training and did all right for somebody out of Class A. And then Wynaun (phon.) had a pretty good year, Double-A. There's been guys go from Double-A to the Big Leagues and have success in the catching area, so we'll see how that plays out. Q. The other thing is you have really young guys that are shortstop and center field, and I'm wondering if that makes you nervous, too. Those are key defensive positions to not have any veteran types in those spots. KEN MACHA: Right. That's all -- I've been through that kind of before going with the Bobby Crosby as a rookie. I look at Escobar. I think the fans are going to see, and they did last year in the last month, occasionally there's going to be spectacular play, and occasionally he's going to boot an easy one. But that's all the growing pains of a young guy. Is there concern? I think some of that concern is tempered because I'm fortunate to have Willie Randolph there who's had excellent rapport in Spring Training, and the one thing about him, his eyes were open, and he wants to learn. So Willy has got a tremendous amount of knowledge to help him out. Now, as far as Gomez in center field, sure, there is concern there, but you know what, everybody I talk to said this guy can fly and cover the ground and he can play the game defensively out there. Just occasionally he gets a little excited and he may overthrow the cutoff man, but he's got the tools to go out there and run the ball down. Q. Cory has been mentioned prominently in trade rumors. How much of a challenge is it for a manager if that player who's been bandied about in trade rumors returns? KEN MACHA: I mean, I think that -- I don't know if it's a problem for me, but probably more in his own mind, you know. He's got to understand that he's out there to make a living for himself, and he's got to have full focus on what he's doing. If he needs a reminder for that, I'll be there to give him that reminder. But one of the things that's nice is you get talked about by a lot of clubs as far as being a guy that's going to be traded, it means that there are five, six, seven clubs in Major League Baseball that have interest in you. So that says something about you as a player. Last year for Cory, he had some injuries. He had an appendectomy that really slowed him down. Hopefully that's all over with, and he can get back to playing like he did. Q. What are your thoughts on the replay issue in baseball? KEN MACHA: Frankly, I'd rather them not have it. That's just me. Q. A guy that can run as fast as Gomez should have a better batting average and on-base percentage. Would this be a thing where you just turn it over to Dale and say to remake this guy, apparently he doesn't hit the ball on the ground enough, doesn't bunt enough or doesn't use his speed like he should offensively? KEN MACHA: Well, guys that get to the Big Leagues, they want to show everybody what they can do. I was talking to the Minnesota people last night, sometimes he swings and both feet are off the ground, to try to hit a homer and swing hard. If I took Gomez and Escobar and look at both those guys, they've got great speed. They've got to understand putting the ball in play, sometimes just with two strikes. We saw that with Escobar, putting it in play, a ground ball to short and winds up beating it out. I think it'll be Dale and myself working with him and explaining to him that's what we want him to do, get him on base, and making contact is going to be the thing to do it. Q. Have you heard anything from either the guys in Minnesota or anybody about his aptitude for coaching and to get it when you're trying to get him to do different stuff? KEN MACHA: Well, last night I ran into one of the Minnesota people, and he said this guy has just got a tremendous amount of energy. You've got to try to get that under control. That'll be our job. So we'll see how that works out. But he's got tremendous ability and speed and a good arm and can run the ball down, so he's got all those tools. Where that all comes together, I mean, if somebody has got a magic formula, then they can come up with it. But we'll do our best with him. Q. With a younger player is confidence a key element of development? How important is it to get a good start in training Kemp for the young players? KEN MACHA: Well, if they don't get off to a good start, it's important for us as a coaching staff and as a manager to continue to encourage them and pat them on the back. In Escobar's case, his history says that everywhere he's gone, he's gotten off to a slow start, and as the year has gone on, he's gotten better. So you have some players like that. You've done this job for a few years, you see the guys that do that. But I think the most important thing is keep reminding them of the ability that they do have and what they can do and encouraging them. I think in our situation, sure, there will be a little pressure because we're looking to win. But I think in Gomez' case, he's going to be down lower in the order, and there shouldn't be a whole lot of pressure on him to do a whole lot. Q. Can some of your fans have seen the move from Cameron leaving, Hardy, the established shortstop leaving, some guys moving around, and they feel like maybe this is a little rebuild that's happening here, but it doesn't sound like that's your mindset going in. KEN MACHA: No, not my mindset at all. It's not a rebuild, it's kind of a re-shifting a little bit. As much as Tom gave me static about not stealing bases, we've got some guys that can run this year. It's going to be a little different. The game is maybe a little more exciting with the guys that do get on base, getting Rickie back, got Ryan Braun, hopefully Cory gets his legs under him this year, so you've got five guys in the lineup that are definite stolen base threats. You're going to see a little bit of a different -- it's like a retooling kind of thing. And that concerns me a little bit, the power factor, kind of losing a little bit. Zaun has got a history of hitting some homers, so he may pick up a few. It would be nice to get Ricky back, but we're probably going to be a little more speed oriented that. Q. That's not really your favorite brand of baseball, is it? KEN MACHA: Well, I think at the end of the year when we sat down, I sat down with Doug, he asked me about -- when you manage in the Minor Leagues, you get a different team each year. The first year that I managed, we didn't hit a lot of home runs, so we did a lot of that stuff. You learn how to apply that. I think you're branding me as this is the type of baseball. No, these are the type of clubs that we had, so I try to do what's best for those players that we have there. So now you take a look at the club that you do have, there's going to be a little more activity on the bases this year. Q. After having Braun for a year now and seeing him, is he better than maybe you even thought he was? KEN MACHA: I think he can get better. I think it's scary. Coming into this year, I think -- in 2008, he swung at more balls out of the strike zone than anybody in the Major Leagues. I believe his walk total went up a little bit last year. He does have Prince hitting behind him, so if he makes those guys get the ball in the zone, he's going to be even better. I mean, what else do you want from a guy that drove in, what, 115 runs, 30 home runs, stole 20 bases and hit .315? That's a pretty darned good year. You look at what Prince did, it was tremendous for him. The only thing holding these guys back from getting a little more recognition as far as being MVPs and stuff like that is us getting ourselves in the playoffs. If you take Prince's numbers and compare them to Pujols and Ryan, they're right there. Q. Were you surprised he ranked where he did in the MVP vote? KEN MACHA: Was I surprised with that? Pujols, Hanley, Ramirez, those guys, they deserve to be up there, too. So the focus, we need to go out and win, okay. That's what we need to do. Numbers are good. But if you want to get that type of recognition, you've got to go out and win. Q. With the pitching, are you convinced that the guys you need are there? I mean, now that you're two days into the winter meetings and you have your boards lined up -- KEN MACHA: You mean guys available that we can put in there? Q. Yeah. Are you confident with the guys that are available? KEN MACHA: You have to put all the pieces together. Guys leaving, Cameron, Kendall, that will free up some areas salary-wise. You have to fit it all into the budget, too. So what are your options? Well, one of the options is Escobar, who's one of your best prospects, can be plugged in there, make minimum salary and free up that money. That's just the way it is. Hopefully we've got enough money aside that we can fill in a hole or two and be a big help. Q. Is there anyone other than Gallardo who today you can say is definitely going to be in your rotation this year, that's on your roster? KEN MACHA: I think Manny Parra is going to be there. Q. What about Bush and -- KEN MACHA: I couldn't answer that 100 percent that all those guys are going to be in there or not. Q. What about your bullpen, how is that looking? KEN MACHA: You've got Hoffman, Coffey, and they're working on Vargas and Stetter, Villanueva. Q. They're working on trying to get -- KEN MACHA: Vargas, yeah, Villanueva. I like what Axford did at the end of the year, so that's a young guy that may come in there and help out. Q. (Inaudible). KEN MACHA: Well, they've got some kids that they feel are close. Q. Like Braddock? KEN MACHA: Braddock, yeah. Q. So in the system? KEN MACHA: Yeah. Braddock, they compared him to the fellow that came up to the Giants last year, left-hander. His name escapes me. He pitched in that game where everybody fell down. I'm sure Tom Karen had that highlight on films. Q. Did he come in and strike out the side, that guy? KEN MACHA: Yeah, he was throwing like 100. Q. Stetter paid a little bit of a price, didn't he, physically? He had a stretch there where you had to really back off him for a while? KEN MACHA: Yeah. Q. And he sort of regrouped at the end a little bit? KEN MACHA: Well, that was laid out to him. Either he was going to pitch a lot or we had to hold him off until the game was on the line. It's nice to have somebody else out there. Q. Do you see Vargas as a relief option? Do you guys talk about him as a maybe starter? KEN MACHA: I don't think we brought that up. He does have a history of that, so he may be like in a Plan B kind of thing. Q. But you liked him as a reliever? KEN MACHA: I can't question the job he did at the end of the year. He was a guy I could bring in in the eighth inning, and I didn't have to worry about whether guys were left-handed or right-handed. Q. You lost your one trick pony, your right-hander that always gets right-handers out. KEN MACHA: We did, yeah. That was quite a story with him, though. That was quite a story. Q. Did you get to talk to him? KEN MACHA: I haven't talked to him, no. Q. Are you guys fairly confident you might be able to retain Vargas? Is it looking good or too early to tell? KEN MACHA: I think Doug kind of keeps asking if he's got it done yet. You guys do all the asking for Doug. Q. How is optimism in that room now on getting pitching? KEN MACHA: We'll see. I guess we're going to find out. You don't know. You think you've got somebody, and you might not. Q. Is that the worst part of it is just like waiting to see who you're going to -- KEN MACHA: I think the worst part would be if you get nobody. End of FastScripts |
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