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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 9, 2009Trey HillmanINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Q. How about the health of some of your starters, with Meche, Davies, and Bannister all sidelined? TREY HILLMAN: Reports on all three of those guys -- first, I'll try not to get too windy on this. Nick Kenney has done a really good job of staying on top of these guys and keeping me informed. But I met with Nick the day before yesterday, and yesterday talking specifics about the off-season injuries, even as deep as a B list, you know, a guy that was off the field the whole time. But those three you asked about, thumbs up report. All very healthy, very strong and in great condition. Actually, one of the comments was that they think Gil Meche was in the best shape of any year, and Gil is always in pretty good shape. So that perked my ears up about his condition. Q. So in February, they should be full go? TREY HILLMAN: That's my understanding with absolutely no reservations. Also encouraging reports, since I brought his name up, Mike's rehab is going outstanding. Willie Bloomquist, minor knee surgery. His rehab is going very good. Haven't spoken to Willie in several weeks, but we stayed in contact for a little while right after the surgery. He's feeling good. Banny, shoulder. Davies, shoulder. Q. Davey was lat, wasn't it? TREY HILLMAN: Yeah, but he's been having some shoulder soreness along with the lat. There wasn't anything that was a major red flag. But with them being pitchers, it always seems like it's more shoulder with us, so really honed in on that. Everybody reportedly is very good. Q. A B list, when that first went down, usually that's a year; he kept saying he's going to be ready in spring training. TREY HILLMAN: I asked that specific question to Nick Kenney. If there's no setbacks, he has a chance to be ready. And from what the original prescription was there as far as a timetable, there's a history on it. So I was worried that it might not be until midseason. But it's looking like it could be a lot sooner than later. Q. Where does he fit, if he's ready? TREY HILLMAN: You know, you could ask me the same question with Fields and Getz as opposed to Gordon and Callaspo. He would fit somewhere, if he's healthy and ready to go, going on what he was able to do, healthy in his rookie year up there in 2008; I would want to make a fit somewhere. The thing that we have the advantage of with him, and with Callaspo, especially, and guys that we have seen with their versatility and being able to play different positions. Callaspo is second and third. Aviles, I would be comfortable, honestly, if we had a need at second, short, or third. Not sure how all those pieces are going to come together. Q. Could Aviles, with that injury, could he go back to shortstop with the strain on that arm and elbow? TREY HILLMAN: I'm not concerned at all, as long as the surgery takes. If that surgery takes, the track record is very good to get the arm strength back. And I've had experience with guys that were pitchers that actually came back stronger. So I'm hoping that's the case for Mike. He had plenty of arms; we all saw he could play short in 2008. Coming back even stronger, that would be the potential of playing anywhere in the infield. That would be a plus. Q. You've talked about this. This will be a little repeated. But the double play combination and all of those guys in the mix, you've got Aviles if he's healthy, Callaspo. What about Yuniesky, where does he fit into all of this? TREY HILLMAN: Well, I still like Yuniesky with the unknown of Aviles, I still Yuniesky as our starting shortstop. I don't think there's any of us with Kansas City -- obviously we had a need. We were basically driving Willie into ground playing him at short every day. His whole career had been a utility man. He actually held up very well, considering the amount of usage in him playing center and playing short. But I don't have any reservations moving forward with Yuniesky being our starting shortstop. Spoke with Eddie Rodriguez the day before yesterday, and Eddie has been in constant communication. Eddie actually took a trip to Florida. Yuniesky is in the Miami area. He's already started hitting, and he's on his off-season agility program and very committed and dedicated to the program. He's been in constant contact, a go-between because of the lack of language skills, has been in constant contact with Ty Hill, our strength and conditioning guy, and he's doing everything we have asked him to do with his off-season prescription. Q. What can you tell us about Joakim Soria? What are the plans for him next season? TREY HILLMAN: The same for Joakim. We don't have any plans to do anything other than what he's done the previous two years: closing for us. The thing that was different for me, that was comfortable for me leaving Kansas City after the season was that he planned to stay there in Kansas City. We have a full, available staff, strength, conditioning, and training in Kansas City, as well as one in Arizona. And Joakim made the commitment to stay in the Kansas City area this off-season, so we thought that was a great advantage for him staying more on site and having the availability, the facility, and any needs from a strengthening standpoint if need be in any area of his body. He's in pretty good shape, although he had some shoulder issues obviously. But he's been another target guy to make sure that we have solidified the deficiencies in the rotator cuff just with the strengthening of any of the musculature there that needed shoring up. Q. At this time, do you consider him one of the best closers in the world? TREY HILLMAN: Well, I'm prejudice. I get to see every outing. But, yes, I do. Just the pitch repertoire, the ability to throw four pitches; the lack of anxiety in the situations that he pitches in; his ability to locate the pitches. Q. And what can you tell me about Jorge Campillo? He's going to be in spring training in Kansas City. What about him? TREY HILLMAN: I can't tell you much about him. I'm not familiar with him. Q. Have you ever seen him? First time in spring training. TREY HILLMAN: Yeah. Q. Last year out of need, to some extent, you used him two innings; would you like to pull back from that? TREY HILLMAN: I would love to turn him into a four-out or three-out only guy. I think because of what I just mentioned, I think he's going to be stronger. With more strength, you project the possibility of more usage and more pitches. But I really don't want to be in a position to do what we did this last year. Q. You were so protective of him last year because of the shoulder problems, and then you had to end up using him, I don't know how many times, three or four times. TREY HILLMAN: And then when we did, obviously we made sure we took the appropriate amount of time off, which put us in harm's way, I would say more often than not. But it wasn't more often than not, because of our lack of run production. So a lot of days, after we had used him for two innings or one-plus, and he had accumulated, you know, between 20 and 30 pitches, you sit there and you weigh that. You'd be lying if you said you didn't think about it the next day. You know he's not available. But more often than the opposite way, I find ourselves in a position where, Well, it's a good thing we used him for two yesterday, because we are not in a position to have the lead or to have the win in this game anyhow. Q. After Guillen had ankle surgery, I think he had it before the season was over, is he going to be able to play right field? TREY HILLMAN: Reportedly, his off-season is going really good. I haven't seen him. I spoke to him -- I spoke to Jose. I don't want to tell you inaccurately. I think it was about a week after. I think it was shortly after I left Arizona. I went to the Kansas City Arizona Instructional League for three or four days. I got home and spoke to Jose, and said it's been good. Nick Kenney has been in constant communication with him, and he said his workouts have been good. He's spent more time in Miami than he has in the Dominican. Q. If you had to start the season with the present roster, what would you do about centerfield? TREY HILLMAN: Right now, it would be a combination of what we went into the season with, Mitch and Josh. Q. No thoughts of moving David at all? You want to keep him in left? TREY HILLMAN: I'd like to leave him right there. I'm sure he would make the adjustment. The only thought of moving him, if there was a need, if we felt like Jose was not going to be able to play right and we had a better fit in left field and possibly move David to right just because of his accuracy and the strength of his arm. I don't think he would have a problem doing that and being very good over there. I would prefer not to do that, because I know he didn't win one. But we all felt like he had a Gold Glove season in left. It's just one of those things, where unless there's a need because of personnel, I would prefer to leave him right where he is. But not back to center. Q. Who votes on that Gold Glove? (Laughter.) TREY HILLMAN: All of the managers, and I believe one coach. All of the managers and one coach on each staff. I was wrong. I told you guys early on, and you guys never -- I don't think you ever backtracked and asked me the question; I thought I had remembered that we could actually vote for our own players, but you cannot. Q. Well, if you would have moved David to right field and you've got other guys that can play left, for instance, I presume Fields or Callaspo, any others that could be moved there? TREY HILLMAN: No, I think you hit them all with the guys that we currently have. Can't think of anybody else. Other than obviously Willie, you know. But I would like to not lock Willie into a one-position thing. Willie and I talked about that at spring training, and we talked about it through the course of the season. I really would not like to lock Willie into one position. Just like to have flexibility. Now, having said that, that could change if we have a healthy Mike Aviles Opening Day. So that would give us another bullet in the infield, and we could effectively maybe transition Willie into something a little more permanent out of need into the outfield, because he plays the outfield positions so well. But I think Willie's comfort level is in centerfield. And provided he would be the other piece of puzzle that I would add to the mention of Maier and Josh Anderson, that would certainly fit. Q. Today, December 9, Gordon the third baseman? TREY HILLMAN: At the moment, for me, he's our third baseman. We are all hopeful that he's going to be fully recovered and have a healthy season. I don't think any of us have enough history on that hip/labral tear. I know that Michael has had some recurrences, and of course we are dealing with two different-aged guys. A lot more wear and tear on Mike's body than there is Alex's body. I really like -- although I hated losing Mark, and I'm happy for him with the new deal he got in Chicago -- I'm really glad that we got Getz and Fields, because I like the athleticism there and the potential versatility there. Q. Talk about those two guys. What do you like about them? TREY HILLMAN: You know what, one of the things that stuck out to me obviously in my first year managing the American League Central, Josh had the big year. And not only liked what he did with the bat, but I liked his lateral range. When we talked about the potential of the deal I started researching further, and I knew he had been a Big 12 quarterback. Looked up his statistics. I think specifically it was from 2005. A big year. A big year. I'm no football scout, but I don't think you can put up those kind of numbers as a quarterback on a fluke season. Shows me a lot of athleticism. And I liked the way he moved defensively, anyhow. Q. As a third baseman? TREY HILLMAN: As a third baseman. And knowing that he does have some left field time in professional baseball, that was also attractive for me, just knowing matchups and how comfortable David can be in right if there's a need. Okay, if we have a tough lefty depending what our outfield looks like, we can put Josh in the left, David in the right. David left on left is really good, and even Mitch has been good against left-handers. Just like the option of that. Getz, the thing that intrigued me the most about him is his lateral range. The type of game that he plays, I think, fits to our ballpark, and I think we are trying to get more of those types. So we have always talked about on-base percentage, but he's a speed guy. He has a passion for running. He has a passion for stealing bases. And both of them, as we started diving into that, that potential for that deal, all of the reports were very consistent. Both guys are very hungry to continue along, adaptable and adjustable to whatever their roles might be. Of course, Chris had the wrist injury, but, even after he was kind of segued out and wasn't part of that lineup, when he did get to play, I saw him play in the game real hard. And then that -- same with Josh. Didn't get to play nearly as much with the emergence of Beckham. When he did get to play, he played the game the right way. All of the reports matched what we were seeing. Q. Sounds like Getz, at this point, projects as the second baseman; is that fair? TREY HILLMAN: Depends what we think we are going to do with Callaspo. But it's difficult to put a .300 hitter with what he slugged in run production. I would like to hit Alberto second, because of the knee. He was very effective in the middle of our lineup. I don't think any much us projected the slug. It was there. Getz fits best at second, but I'm not sure that we are going to come out and say that's exactly what we are going to do until with he get a clearer picture, how we are going to utilize that .300 batting average of Callaspo. Q. I wanted to follow up on Betancourt. The Mariners, they kind of lost their patience with him because of his lack of patience at the plate. What did you see of him in the time he was there, and what do you think he needs to improve on in his plate appearances? TREY HILLMAN: I think if I put it in order, what I saw of him is a young man that really wants to continue to get better. I never saw anything counterproductive of that. The biggest thing offensively is pitch recognition and kind of pulling back the reigns on feeling like he's got to swing early in the count. The way that we presented that, that meeting -- we held off on that meeting for almost a month. We told him when we got there, We are just going to watch you play. We know some things that we think are going to help you, but we want to see whether or not this is going to play out the way it's been reported and what we were seeing when we played against you. He was very, very accepting of everything we said in Tampa. We went through a step process, and he admitted there's still a lot of development to be done at the Major League level. He agreed that there needed to be a higher walk ratio. But when we covered that part, I said, number one, we don't want to take any of your aggressiveness away; but number two, if we could refine your aggressiveness to swing at better pitches, your walk ratio is going to go up. And he explained to us that he had never had it explained that way, how the walk-on in statistics improves the on-base percentage so much. And seemingly, the light bulb came on a little bit. I thought Kevin did a great job with him in getting him to be more patient. So that period of time, he actually had -- from the time that we met in Tampa Bay to the end of the season, he actually had more walks per at-bats than he ever had previous to that in his Major League at-bats. So hopefully we hit something there. Seems very committed. Never saw a lack of an attitude. We did see the same thing that had been reported in Seattle two different times. I saw mental focus letdown defensively. We saw it specifically in two different games. Sat him down, talked to him calmly about it, said, This is part of what we have already talked about. We need to get that focus and that perception of more urgency to be consistent every game. He was very respectful and he said, You're right. So the fact that it only happened two games, I was elated. I don't think he's a young man that's got a bad attitude. I've never perceived him as a young man that thinks he's got it all figured out and here it is, this is all I'm going to give you. I think he really wants to get better. Q. You look at Billy, first baseman, DH? TREY HILLMAN: First base. Q. So he's not a DH option? TREY HILLMAN: First base. I think Bob -- I hope I'm right. I think he's going to be -- again, show that much development that he showed this past year. I think he's going to show that much, plus some, again, this next year. I'm not going to say Billy is going to be the American League Gold Glove winner at first base, but you'll look out there -- I'm hopeful you'll look out there at the All-Star Break and go, You know what, I don't even think about him being out there at first base anymore. I saw a tremendous amount of improvement just giving you a comparison from saw this last season with other personnel. I saw a tremendous amount of improvement in Morales from the first time we played them this past season to the last time we played them. Which led me to ask questions of their staff, how much is he working. Billy does all the same things. He's a great worker. They will stay on the same plan, turn it up a little bit, give him a little bit more. I think it won't be as fast for him next year because of the amount of time that he got this year. I think he'll take the field with more confidence, just because of the number of games played. Q. Butler at first, Gordon at third, Dejesus; where does Fields fit? TREY HILLMAN: Not sure exactly how it's going to play out. Again, just like the ability and versatility. I don't know of the reports, because I've focused mainly on the left side of the field. But because of his athleticism at third, if there was a need for him to spell Billy at first every now and then, I think he could do that. I don't know. I think it could be third. I think it could be first. I think it could be DH when there's a need. I think it could be left field if there's a need. But I'm just judging on the athleticism. Q. You expect to get him into the lineup at this point? TREY HILLMAN: I would like to, especially if we could see a resurgence of what he was able to do offensively in 2008. I say that, in our ballpark, as opposed to Chicago; take a lot of that slug out there. Some of that slug goes for two bases in our ballpark and went for four at that ballpark and what he did there. Q. DH possibility? TREY HILLMAN: It's a possibility. All depends on his physical condition and being able to run defensively and offensively and how his body is going to hold up. If he does everything that he needs to do this off-season, I don't have any reservations about him playing right field. Obviously he's going to need a spell from time to time, more so than David, which was one thing I was really pleased to see David play as many games as he did this last year. But I think a by-product of that was moving him out of center and moving him to a corner, a little bit less acreage. He still covers some ground but I don't think it's as taxing on anybody's body to play a corner as it is center. Q. Considering how these meetings have gone, kind of slowly, who is going to be your catcher? TREY HILLMAN: Well, as of today, it's John Buck and Brayan Pena. We will see if there's anything. We are not going to do anything unless we feel like it's going to be an upgrade. If we don't feel like there's an upgrade situation that is affordable in our market, that's who it will be. In the three years, I think I mentioned this at lunch, but the three years of coming to the Winter Meetings, this has probably been the quietest in the meeting room. Although, every area at every position, you always look to upgrade and then you try to match it up with other organizations of what we might possibly have that they need and how that matches up with what our needs are. Just not sure that there's going to be any changes there. Q. I know that the Royals have really focused a lot of their efforts on building up the farm system, spending a lot of money on Minor Leaguers and the draft. But going into spring training, are there any players you are interested in seeing, maybe not to break camp, but even over 2011, guys that you have a focus on? TREY HILLMAN: The production in instructional league that I saw from some of our younger position players, Dyson. And obviously because of the high round picks of Moustakas and Hosman. We have not gotten to that point yet where we are looking at exactly how big our Major League spring training roster will be on day one. But I saw a lot of development from what I had seen even in spring training, not only with the swings, but the defense. And then to hear the reports of how well Moustakas played in the Fall League, with our need, the potential for our need in continuing to find runners in the outfield, Dyson is interesting in his development. But I couldn't highlight anything for you. I don't even know if any of those guys are going to be at Major League camp with us. So we just haven't got that far. Q. With the way the economy is in baseball, do you feel like a smaller market team now, or do you feel like you're ahead of the game because you guys have been doing this longer than everybody else? TREY HILLMAN: You know what, I don't -- I've kind of been programmed since day one here not to use those words, small market. (Smiling.) But the facts of it are that's what we are. I think that everyone internally understands that for us to be consistently competitive, whether it's every three to four years, maybe having to deal with pieces at the Major League level, we have to get a spur plus developed within our own system to be able to fund it ourselves and have that be the majority, and things that we talk about at the Winter Meetings be greatly in the minority. So that was encouraging for me after a really disappointing season, 97 losses, and the things that we incurred; it was encouraging for me to see, even if they are still some of our upper-level prospects. Still a year or two away, maybe three years, but we have some pitching prospects, specifically left-handed pitching prospects that I was encouraged to see. That's encouraging. I hope I'm still here to see it play out at the Major League level, but it's got to be developed, and I think everyone understands that. End of FastScripts |
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