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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 8, 2009Bob GerenINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Q. Jake Fox is one of our local guys. Just want to get a comment or two on what you see his role being since you guys added him. BOB GEREN: Well, he's going to obviously come to Kemp, compete for a job. Obviously we like his offense, his right-handed power, and I'm going to take a look at him in positions and see how it all fits in. Jake is from this area? Q. Yeah, from Greenfield, east of here. BOB GEREN: He's doing well in the Dominican, swinging the bat well. Q. He's about the only hitter from the Indianapolis area in the Majors right now. BOB GEREN: They're probably not training outside much here. Q. Can you comment on the actual news today, we just heard the signing of Chone Figgins by the Mariners and Granderson. BOB GEREN: Comment on which one? Q. Either one or both. BOB GEREN: Well, Figgins obviously is just changing American League west teams, and he's always been one of those pesky players who's tough to defend against because he can do so many different things. He's just moving up the Pacific coast to another team, and we're going to see him another 18, 19 times a year. We're used to what he can do. It's a good sign. He's a great player. He's a good guy, too, and he's tough to defend as a manager. Q. Are you confident the A's can get something done here in Indianapolis? BOB GEREN: We never put pressure on ourselves to get something necessarily done right at these meetings, but there's always a lot of groundwork being laid and a lot of conversations. Billy, Dave, they're all upstairs working hard all the time. Q. What do you envision as the team's needs? BOB GEREN: Well, we have real good, young starting pitching. I thought we had one of the better bullpens in baseball last year. Our offense was down towards the bottom. But the second half we really used speed to increase our run production. You know, if you could add another bat or two into the lineup somewhere to add some more power, it would definitely help, because anybody would like to have good power and speed, and we were looking a bit in power last year. Q. Could you talk about your DH situation? BOB GEREN: Well, last season our season ended with Jack Cust as our DH, and he had a good year for us. As of right now, that's -- there's really no change at this point. I mean, Jake Fox is a guy that obviously we like -- we talked about him earlier, we like his bat. He could move in and take some at-bats in that there, too. It's really early in the process being December. We have a lot of time to get everything, the roster, all situated. Come Spring Training, I think we're going to have a pretty young team, but we're going to have some talent. It's going to be a fun team to watch. Q. With the philosophy to hold on to your young talent, would you envision there's more of a scenario of fill a need to be a free agency instead of a trade? BOB GEREN: The chances of that would be much greater, yeah. Definitely. Definitely people call us a lot about our young players, so you can never say that would be a possibility. But it would be a greater chance to acquire players through the free agent market. Q. If you added a veteran, would it be more likely than not a veteran and a short-term sign? BOB GEREN: We're open to any kind of possibilities. We're open to -- if we need a veteran to kind of fill in the spot for a year or two, then that would be fine. If we could find somebody that we could keep long-term that would be a great situation because we want to try to keep the core group of these young players, a lot of them arrive at the same time together for a long time. Our goal is not just to try to build a winner in the short-term but for the long-term, and you do that by keeping guys as long as you can. So somebody could fit in for a long-term, be it a trade or a free agent, we'd be all for that. Q. What are your thoughts on replay in baseball? A. I think what they've done with the boundary calls has -- came into a little bit of skepticism, but I think that it's worked out perfectly. I think that I'd like to see it the way it stands right now. I wouldn't want to see any change. On the record, I was for that when they asked me originally what I thought about boundary calls, home run calls, I thought that was a good idea at the beginning, and I still do. I don't think it -- I don't see a need for it to go much further than that. I'd like to keep it the way it is. Q. What do you know about Jake Fox as far as defensively? You said he could play a few different positions. BOB GEREN: Yeah, I think he was a third round pick as a catcher. He's a tough guy, likes to catch. He's played third, played left field. All the reports on his defense is more kind of an average defender. I don't think there's one specific position where he stands out defensively, but he doesn't necessarily have any bad deficiencies anywhere defensively. He's really known for his offense and his versatility. Q. If Eric were to be healthy and able to play for third base at the start of the season, do you have a position in mind where Jake could fit best for the team if it's not third base? BOB GEREN: Well, you asked a lot of ifs. First, if Eric was healthy and played every day, that would be great. That's what we all want. If not, he'd be a candidate for that position. There's always competition at first base. You have the outfield situation where last year we were very left-handed heavy and then we became right-handed at the end, so that could work itself out, too. As you say, he'll be given an opportunity to earn playing time like a lot of these guys. Q. You said third and left? BOB GEREN: Or first. Q. First base, too, okay. BOB GEREN: Mm-hmm. Q. Where do you see him playing the most? BOB GEREN: It depends how the roster shapes up. I think in Spring Training, I'd like to look at him at all the positions to see what he can do and how the roster might shape up, where he'd fit in. Q. Where is he in the order? What kind of hitter is he in terms of the order in games he'd play? BOB GEREN: It depends on the roster, but he's a bit of a middle of the lineup type of guy. Q. Where is Chávez now? BOB GEREN: He's still conditioning. He's going to start the baseball activities after the first of the year. Same schedule as everybody else. But where is he, he's either in Phoenix or San Diego. He kind of rotates between the two. Q. He's probably further along than he was this time last year? BOB GEREN: Definitely. Yeah, he should be. But you know, with him and anybody that's had that surgery, the real test is when you're actually playing games and back to back games at a demanding position. You're diving for balls and sliding and breaking up double plays and playing back to back games, three and four games in a row. That really will be the true test for him. Q. Is there a scenario where he would either play first base or DH, or if he's healthy he plays third and if he's not he doesn't play? BOB GEREN: I hate to put any kind of certain parameters on it, but I mean, the ideal thing is he's a six-time Gold Glove, and we have a need at third base. That's where we'd want him to play. Q. Is he an option at first? BOB GEREN: Well, if he can play first, I think he can play third. Right now I'd say he's our third baseman until we have to change that. But right now, third base. Q. Who are you leaning to at first? BOB GEREN: I thought Derek Bart on had a great second half of the year. He had an .820 OPS the second half of the year. We didn't have anybody on the team at .820 for the year, so if he can maintain that type of production, that's what we envisioned him all along as being that type of hitter where you have a high on base and he can drive the ball in the gaps and hit an occasional home run. He did do that the second half of the year last year. And he's very, very young. So we're hoping that that's -- Q. He might be a front runner going in? BOB GEREN: Yeah, without a doubt, yeah. Q. Guys are pushing him, as well? BOB GEREN: Well, we have some first basemen in the fold, that's for sure, with Carter coming along and Doolittle and Fox. So there's plenty of first base production on its way. Q. How far along is Carter in terms of being ready? BOB GEREN: You know, in a perfect world he could get some more Triple-A at-bats and kind of dominate that league like he's dominated every other league he's been in. When he goes to Triple-A and dominates, then what are you going to say? He's absolutely fantastic in the California League and the Texas League MVP and goes to Triple-A and does that again, then you have to say he's ready. Ready for a shot anyway. Q. The A's have been mentioned as possibly a good fit for free agent Hideki Matsui. What are your thoughts? BOB GEREN: That's the main goal so far is we're going to try to -- if we're going to add talent, somebody for the long time. Like I said earlier, we're not opposed to bringing a veteran in that can help us in the short-term until we create somebody from our organization to take that spot. He's certainly one of the better players in the league for sure. He's had some great years, great numbers in New York. He's helped them win a lot. But as far as commenting any further on free agents, is probably not a good idea. Where is he going? Have you heard anything? Q. No, but he did hit .976 OPS against lefties last year. BOB GEREN: Not too many lefties can do that. That's a good point. That's pretty good. Q. How about Brett Wallace as far as his development? BOB GEREN: I'm sorry, when we were talking first basemen, I totally missed on Brett. Brett is a third baseman right now, but he could end up being a first baseman someday also. He has the ability to play both. When we got him in a trade, obviously we were very happy with that acquisition. He was a guy at Arizona State that we thought highly of, and our scouting heads, the top guys in scouting, say he's one of the best pure hitters to come along in a long time. He's definitely -- he's also a local guy in the area, from the bay area, so that adds a little extra. Q. In a perfect world like Carter, would you prefer him in Triple-A to start? BOB GEREN: Yeah, I'd like to see Eric come back in Spring Training and be ready to play every day and give these guys a little bit more time. When you can really hit like he can, I hate to put a timetable on it. I'm anxious to see him play on a daily basis. He's going to be talked about the way he can hit the ball to all fields off lefties and righties and make it look real easy and natural. You don't see that come around very often. So I'm anxious to see that. Q. Did you see enough from Cliff Pennington that he can be the guy to play there every day? BOB GEREN: I saw him do a little bit of everything. I saw him struggle a little bit everywhere, too, and I think that's what you see in young players. He hasn't really established himself yet as an everyday Major League player yet, but he's shown flashes of what he can do. He's showed incredible range. Obviously we know about his arm strength, and he swung the bat pretty well at times. He did struggle at the end. Now, whether that's just a league adjusting to him or him getting a little bit tired towards the end or just a bad week, like can happen to anybody, that's still to be determined. Q. Did you see him going into the season as your -- BOB GEREN: Yeah, he is, if we started tomorrow, definitely. Q. How far away is this team from being an actual contender? BOB GEREN: Well, depends on what we do the rest of this winter, but when you have -- I think the best teams that go into the playoffs, go deep in the playoffs every year and contend, are the ones with the best pitching. We have that core group of young pitchers that can be that caliber to compete year in and year out. They're there. Q. Looking at the rotation, Anderson and Cahill seem pretty entrenched. Do you put Breslow (inaudible)? BOB GEREN: You're missing Braden, one of our best guys. He started last year, and he just missed a lot of time last year with his ankle. The reports on him, just went and saw our medical people just recently, he's doing very well. You've got to add him in there, too. Q. What about the outfield? Who has a leg up? BOB GEREN: Well, I mean, right now you have Hairston and Davis and Sweeney. Those guys all are talented player. What Rod did the second half was just phenomenal. The numbers he put on the board, he's played so well. And Ryan was one of our most consistent guys all year. And Hairston came over, was one of the top hitters for the Padres, their number three hitter, he hit over .300 in the National League. He came over and he had a couple of injuries late for us and missed some time, but you could see his talent level, too. Q. So if Eric is ready to play third base and you have guys pencilled in at every position -- BOB GEREN: Well, you always have them pencilled in, yeah, sure, at this point. But like I said, it is still very early. It's December. Q. So if you're still looking for a bat, maybe it comes as a DH more than a position player, or do you think third base is still the focus? BOB GEREN: It's not necessarily any one position that you're looking for, you're just always looking to add strength to the team. You know, there's not exactly one spot that we say we have to fill. We're just trying to get younger and get better. Q. What's the latest you've heard on Joey Devine? BOB GEREN: He just flew out to see our doctor about three or four days ago I talked to him, and he's doing great. He's been throwing, and he's up to a point where we actually want him to take a week off or just take a break. He's been following the program very hard. He's going and working out in the Atlanta area with two different people, one for physical therapy for his arm and throwing, and the other one for his body. He feels great. He's coming along perfectly. We came out just to give him like a little look, physical, the doctors flew out and the doctors gave him all thumbs up. Everything is really good. Q. (Inaudible) could be an everyday player defensively? BOB GEREN: I think that he can play right field. A little bit below average defensively, but a lot better than most people think. Q. What about left field? BOB GEREN: Sure, left field. Last year when we had -- right field spot last year fit better for the team for him, but he probably might be better in left field in the long hole. Either one. He's a lot faster than people think, he has a better arm than people think if you watch him play every day. He had a couple miscues that I think a lot of people remember, a couple of the errors he made, and they don't remember how many nice plays he made, also. Q. Overall what's the common thread for your pitching to get better? I realize individually everybody has got a few things to work on. BOB GEREN: First, I'm very happy with the bullpen. If we could just equal that production from the bullpen, I don't really think we need much improvement there. They're very, very good. And getting Joey -- talking about Devine, getting him back adds another real good piece to that. But as far as rotation goes, Dallas Braden threw strikes all year. He's our best strike thrower, and we missed him a lot when he was injured in the second half. But as far as the young guys, Mazzaro, Cahill, and Anderson, Anderson threw the most strikes, he was more aggressive in the strike zone, and he's coming around. He had an incredible year, really. If you think about a few breaks here or there, he could have been considered rookie of the year, also. Q. He could have been an All-Star? BOB GEREN: Without a doubt, yeah. The other thing with Trevor and Vinny, they just need to throw more strikes. We tracked them from start to start and they did improve, but for them to reach their potential, they have to get their strike percentage higher. Q. How about Gio? BOB GEREN: Same. More so. Gio we saw steady improvements like from Cahill as far as all year, just slow and steady. Gio was up and down. Gio would have a game where he didn't have any command, and then he'd have like the game in New York where he was just pounding strikes in the 70 percent range. So he was more of a hit or miss as far as his command from game to game. So it tells you what he can do when he does throw strikes. And with Trevor, you just saw him slowly get better throughout the year. I don't know which one is better to be honest with you. I know that if they keep improving, pretty soon they'll be pretty good. Q. Would you like to see another starting pitcher come in? BOB GEREN: We could definitely use some depth in that position. If we add another free agent, I mean, that would be one that would fit in real nice is another starting pitcher, because as you saw last year, it's almost -- it feels almost impossible to have too much depth in that position. But the young guys are going to get their chance to go out there every five days. Q. Anything on Josh Outman? BOB GEREN: Josh is doing well, too. His surgery was in late May, early June. Yeah, he's questionable ready for Spring Training. Q. No setbacks in his recovery, it's going as planned? BOB GEREN: No. Now, whether we use him as a starter or reliever will depend on how quickly he can come back. You're talking about maybe a month difference if you're building him up for a starter. But he's got a great arm, too. You talk about all those guys, and he's actually a guy that might have had better numbers than all of them, had he not got hurt. Q. Who are you talking about? BOB GEREN: Josh Outman. Q. This might be a hypothetical question because you haven't been in both positions yet, but as a manager, which is more exciting, having a set team and you know which direction you'll go, or in your current position where the roster is transition and you don't know exactly how it's going to be? BOB GEREN: Well, when I first came in as a manager, we did have pretty much a set team, but that set team was obliterated from almost the first day of Spring Training with injuries. You know, like in the winter meetings, my first time as a manager, you kind of say is it defending ALS champions and our team is pretty much intact, but from the first day of Spring Training, we started falling where that team was not the same team. That's why it's a little different now. I'm a little more -- I wouldn't say cautious, but more just opening about what the team is going to look like in December because it's going to change. Q. I guess you've -- where do you feel you are as far as rebuilding, starting over, chance to contend? Where are you in that? BOB GEREN: We're right in the middle. We have a real good core of good, young pitchers, and we have a group of young players that are on their way. Now, when the pitchers keep maturing and improving and we get this new group of young players coming, you look at guys like Kurt Suzuki, he's young, he's already -- he should have been an All-Star. Ryan Sweeney is coming in; Rajai Davis played well. You have obviously Hairston is a proven player now, and you have these other players on their way, Barton has a chance to be a pretty good hitter, and you look at Carter who's -- not too many guys have MVPs of leagues, homers, and Brett Wallace coming along. So there's a group of young position players that are coming in -- they're going to start breaking in at about the same time as the pitchers start really coming on. Q. I guess when you think back to the year of all the injuries and everything like that, it's been a long road to get to where you're at right now? BOB GEREN: Yeah, but the thing about it is that the organization has always been one that tries to develop from within. It wasn't that we had to go out and say we need to put an emphasis on young players to get younger. We've always had a good stream of young players coming up. Just when they've matured into good players, we've always lost them. Q. Is that hard to deal with? I mean, is it a vicious cycle -- BOB GEREN: I think over time it's hard. Any time you lose a -- when Jaunvi left and Tejada left, and guys would leave, sure. But you could always see more players coming along. We're in that kind of market where it's tough to keep the superstar players for a long time. We have to be young to be competitive. Q. That's just something you have to learn to deal with. What's the best way to deal with it? BOB GEREN: Well, eventually get a new venue and create more revenues and keep those players. That's kind of what we'd like to do, and the timing of it could be perfect because when all these young players develop and come through, hopefully we can keep them for a long time. We're trying to build something for a long time. Q. There was a previous generation, but people used to say that clubhouse chemistry doesn't matter. Just look at the old A's, they fought all the time and they won. But given the changes, do you think that you need a good clubhouse now to keep players, or is money just going to override that every time, and a guy can either re-sign or go? BOB GEREN: I think a lot of times it comes down to financial decisions with a lot of players and agents. I do. Also, if you're winning, if you have a good winning team, people want to play for a winner, people want to play where they make good money. So it's a combination. Every player is different, it's hard to say. But as far as chemistry and just a good clubhouse, good atmosphere, you can't get much better than Oakland. Any player that's ever played for us that's no longer with us will look back and say he really enjoyed himself there. Q. So that's been a priority for the organization? BOB GEREN: I don't know if it's been a priority. I just think it's a culture that we've just created with a little bit of the California atmosphere, a little bit of smaller market helps. There's not as much -- it's just a little more relaxed atmosphere out west, period. We've had some pretty good continuity as far as front office. Billy has been there for 11 years and it's not a huge changeover all the time. I think it creates a good atmosphere, too. Q. It seems to me that the makeup of your team is young. You talked about having Eric come back and play third base, but it seems like if he could come back his impact as a leader in that clubhouse could be even more important than the physical. BOB GEREN: Well, yeah, Eric has always been kind of a leader on and off the field. He's been around longer than anybody. He has the credentials, six Gold Gloves. Nobody works harder than he does on the field. He leads because he's been there longer. He leads by example because he works hard. He's a super guy, everybody likes him, too. Even when he was hurt last year, a lot of times he wouldn't make a road trip or different things like that. But when he was around, people would always feed off him. He was good for anybody. Q. And your realistic expectation is he could be there next season? BOB GEREN: It's just -- you hope for the best and plan for the worst. That's why we'd like to have somebody else in case he can't. But if he can, then obviously it's his job. Q. Chávez you mean? BOB GEREN: Yeah. Q. What's your pet peeve? What drives you crazy? BOB GEREN: I have no idea. I'm a pretty patient guy. Q. Even away from the ballpark. Is there anything that just drives you nuts? BOB GEREN: My wife would probably be able to answer that better than I would. Q. So you don't have any? BOB GEREN: No. I think she would probably say I have a lot of them. Q. What do you think she'd say? Would be your number one? BOB GEREN: It's hard to rank them. It depends. Certain guys bother me on the road when they drive crazy. That bugs me. Talking in movie theaters bugs me. I don't know. Nothing major, just little things, probably very common. Q. But around the clubhouse nothing in particular? BOB GEREN: Wasting time. I don't like to see guys waste time. End of FastScripts |
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