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AL DIVISION SERIES: RANGERS v RAYSSeptember 30, 2011Joe MaddonARLINGTON, TEXAS: Game One THE MODERATOR: Joe Maddon has arrived. Q. Joe, can you talk about your decision on your starting pitcher? Obviously in '08 you had David Price and you chose not to do this and in '10 you had Hellickson and chose not to do this. What is different about this kid and this situation? JOE MADDON: For right now we stretched them out the way we have, he went from 30 pitches in Baltimore, 60 pitches in Boston, to 84, I think, in his start with New York. And we -- looking at the big picture, the whole thing, there's a lot of moving parts with it. The first-game starter is only going to pitch -- start one game here because Shields will have 2 and 5. I like the idea of Wade Davis being in the bullpen, because of the predominant right-handed line-up. This gives us a chance to use Wade on more than one occasion. And the thought of putting Wade in the bullpen always intrigued me. The last point is the fact that we believe that Matt can actually handle this moment. Not that we didn't think that Hellie could or David couldn't have a couple of years ago. The difference is right now, also, even when David -- just reflecting back, David's command of his fastball wasn't this good even at that particular time in 2008. So we just think probably that Matt may be a little bit more polished, a little bit further along as a pitcher right now. But the biggest question to be answered is the fact that we think that he's capable of handling this moment emotionally. Q. Joe, could you speak to some of those roster decisions, the three catchers, Ramos being off and Johnson being off? JOE MADDON: The three catchers, we thought that that's the one spot we will be the most volatile position with regards to maneuvering in the course of the game. We will either pinch-run, pinch hit or pinch-run defense for some of these guys. So that would be the one that has the most moving parts attached to it. Dan Johnson was attached to that decision. If we went with two catchers, there probably would be a good chance he would be on this particular team, but with three catchers it kind of knocked him out. Ramos on the back side of it, I came down -- we felt that J.P.'s experience and veteranship may play out in this series, also. The fact that he's done so well against left-handed hitters really stands out. So there's, again, a lot of close calls with that, but I think those are the primary questions, right? Q. What would be the -- not going with an extra right-handed hitter given they will start four lefties? JOE MADDON: Right. That part also we had to weigh the balance, the difference between one of the right-handed hitters, whether it is Guyer, Ruggiano, versus Joyce or Fuld getting an opportunity versus a lefty. We decided to go with the left-handers. We think Matt can run into a ball at any time, and we gave him some opportunities this year to do that. He actually had a home run against Wilson earlier in the season. That is the choice we had to make there, exactly the difference between guys that had been playing infrequently, like a Ruggiano and a Guyer, or giving Joyce or Fuld the opportunity. So we chose Joyce and Fuld. Q. Joe, the manner in which you guys got here, is there any carryover from that in terms of being a loose team? Or is that just history now and go on? JOE MADDON: I like to believe it is a carryover. We have been in the playoffs since September 9th basically, the time we started with the Red Sox, the night Wade beat them at home, and then we've been moving on ever since. I like to believe our guys will be the same regardless of the game or the day. Something we really try to nurture, that thought process all during this season. Of course we're going to find out, but I really believe our guys are going to show up and react in the same way. Q. Joe, I apologize for throwing two at you; I don't want to miss my opportunity. I am curious what it is about Moore that convinces you that he is ready for this. And also your reaction -- apparently Terry Francona has told people in the organization he is not coming back, your reaction to him leaving. JOE MADDON: I didn't realize that. Matt Moore first. We like his make-up. We love his stuff. We think he can handle the moment emotionally. Also the fact that the Rangers have never seen him. The fact that the game is being played the time of day that it is, it is kind of difficult to see here, so we're going to see if that all plays out in our favor eventually. But at the end of the day, if you don't believe that he can handle it emotionally, you can't do that, but we believe that he can. Regarding Terry, Terry is a great guy. I know him well. I don't know him extremely well. But the battles in a sense over the last several years have been really intense. They have been fabulous. A lot of those games have pretty much helped propel us to the point we are today. I'm just talking about the interaction, the fact we had to beat him under such difficult circumstances, have made us better. I know how well liked he is by his players and that city and in baseball in general. He's a great guy; he's not just a good guy. If that in fact does happen, I am sure he will come out standing on his feet. It is very difficult. I lived it as a coach a couple of years ago, that kind of moment. I know it's not easy. Q. Joe, you spoke yesterday about how B.J. had hit so much better after moving to the No. 2 spot. Did he also improve in your eyes or seem more relaxed after the trade deadline? There was so much talked about him being moved. JOE MADDON: That's a good point. You are probably right, because I know there was a lot of little scuttlebutt among the guys that was bothering a lot of people, not just him. Any time you get to the trade deadline, that is always -- the guys' names that are prominent, that's always going to be a concern among that group. And it is unavoidable. It will happen every year and you have to live with it. So we were able to keep him after that, and then he did settle in pretty well. You're right. I also believe hitting in the 2 -- being in front of Longo has really made a huge difference, I think. And he is seeing better pitches more than likely. Also, he is taking his walks. He is not just up there chasing. He's had better at-bats. Q. Could you run through your line-up and explain the change at the top? JOE MADDON: Yeah. Rodriguez, Upton, Longo, Zobrist, Damon, Shoppach, Kotchman, Jennings, Joyce. Desmond has been struggling a bit lately. Obviously he's like 3 for almost the last 40 I believe it is. I just want to take a little pressure off him right there, get him into the 8-hole and just have him relax a bit and see if that just gets him going in the right direction again. Sean Rodriguez does a pretty good job against left-handed pitchers in general. And at the end of the day the big concern is to get people on in front of Longo. So B.J. has been doing that. If we get Sean to get on base and just set the table for Longo, that's always what we try to do. With Desmond itself, hopefully this will shake things up a little bit and get him back to the top where he belongs. But for right now I have been watching him the last several days, and it's been a struggle for him. And, again, it's almost like you're talking about Matt. You don't want to -- you don't want to bury people, you don't want people to get emotionally distraught. Let's take a little pressure off him right now, get him going again and put him back up on the top of the batting order. Q. I know that the 2007-2008 rise was well documented, but through a season of 101 losses when you took over 96 losses, was there ever the sense that the three -- that there could be the sustained run? Were there signs on those ballclubs that there could be this sustained run of three in four years? JOE MADDON: Well, you look at 2008, obviously a great year. 2009 was disappointing. We thought we ran out of gas that year. Plus, we had the postseason hangover at the beginning of the season. 2010 we are pretty well equipped. We had a nice team. We felt -- with those two out of three years, we felt pretty strongly about being able to get to the playoffs. Although 2008, I mean, I felt strongly about it, we had never done it before, so that's kind of a mental reach, too. But then coming into this season is an entirely different set of circumstances. That's why I dubbed it another way in Spring Training, because you're losing so many quality players and you're having to fill them in and getting a new group of guys to play together quickly. Whether you're talking bullpen guys, talking guys on the field, the additions of Manny at that time and Johnny. A lot of different moving parts coming into the season. My hope was, my thought was that if the system that we had put in place worked, that by popping new guys into this system that you could still sustain success. And so for me this year's been more a validation of what we've been doing as an organization. What we have been doing in the Minor Leagues also is really big. Last year in Spring Training we had massive meetings among each department trying to homogenize everything we did within each area, whether it was base running, defense, hitting, pitching, etc. So now we get guys from the Minor Leagues called up to the Major League team, you're going to get guys coming up here very comfortable and understanding how we play. So that's a long-winded answer as to why, yes, I thought we can do this. Was I sure? No. But, again, I was hoping that we could validate our system, our method of approach to the game. And you look at all of the contributions from first-year players this year, it kind of does bear out that point. Q. Joe, what have you seen from Lobaton and what kind of future do up think he has? JOE MADDON: Loby has done a great job behind the plate. A really good receiver. He blocks and throws really well, too. Offensively has not really met his Triple-A expectations yet. He got hurt. He got hurt when he first came up, and that put him back behind the 8-ball a little bit. He was doing fine. He looked good at the plate. And he hurt his knee on a really innocuous moment. It just didn't even seem he could hurt himself, but he did. And he was out for a while. And since then, he came back and played well, he's caught well, but he has not swung the bat as well as he can. In the future I think he will hit the ball better. He has been a great teammate and definitely a Major League catcher right now, caliber. Q. Joe, could you explain the decision to leave Jeff Niemann off the roster? JOE MADDON: Yeah, Niemann is just not quite 100% yet. I know we talked about that after the last start. I didn't like the way he was throwing the ball early in the game. Under different circumstances he probably could have left him in in that game or might even be included right now. But I still don't think he's at 100, and we think it is wise to get him 100% well in case we do need him. And if he is 100%, man, I feel really good about him. I can just tell when he's not right. We all can. It is not just me. With him, we just thought it was better to keep him out for right now. Keep working in the training room and hopefully get to the next round and make another decision. Q. Joe, can you talk about James Shields' season and what made him so effective against the Rangers this year? JOE MADDON: He has been effective against a lot of teams. The biggest thing with Shieldsy, a couple of things. His command of his fastball has gotten even better. He is throwing it where he wants. He is picking better spots or counts to throw that pitch on. And I still think the proliferation of the curveball, the fact that he is using it more often matters a lot. It has taken some pressure off his change-up and that matters, too. His change-up is such a great pitch. He has a cutter. Just like I talk about with David Price a lot, they have all of these different weapons to utilize. I think James has finally understood how to utilize all of his weapons. I think you will see over the course of the next couple of years David Price coming to the same understanding to how to utilize all this stuff in my toy box here. So I just think that you see Shieldsy right now understanding what he's got and how to use it, and furthermore you are talking about a tremendous competitor. So you have all of those things conspiring to make this a really good year for him. Q. Joe, you mentioned you have been intrigued by Wade Davis in the bullpen for a little while. What is it about him and his stuff that makes him play there and how often you can use him, because he hasn't really played that role before? JOE MADDON: The thing about him I'm thinking we will see is by him coming in for an inning or maybe an inning and a third, whatever, you will see a higher-velocity fastball more consistently. He has a lot in him. He has 95, 96 on him on occasion. I think you see him more apt to let it all hang out a bit under those circumstances, where as a starter you see it when he needs it, but you don't see it on a consistent basis until it gets deeper into the game. That's A. B, regarding the resiliency, talking to him and Hick and everybody, we think he has that. We will find out. I talked to him before I came in here, and he was good about it. He understands why we are doing this, feels good about it, and, Just put me out there and I can do it. So we'll find out how resilient he actually is, but I think he's going to be okay. Like I said, against our lineup, pretty dominant right-handers, you see one lefty in there, they got three I think lefties on the bench, Murphy, Chavez and Moreland, and the potential to pinch hit for maybe Torrealba. I am not sure they will even pinch hit for. But a right-handed relief pitcher with some good stuff has a place in this series. Q. Could you talk about when and how you broke the news to Matt and how he took it? JOE MADDON: Yeah, we went through this whole process and were very democratic about it. We sat down yesterday at a little round-table because we have varied opinions on what to do. We had some very good thoughts circulating around the room. The guys were open. We have a nice openness about us. And at the end of the discussion it just seemed like the right thing to do was to start him based on all of the things that I have already talked about. And probably the most important is the fact that we think he can handle it. That's probably the most important factor. So I sat him down yesterday and he came into the room there and probably was trying to determine if he was on the roster or not. I don't know what he was thinking. And I told him he was going to start today, and he took it very easily. It wasn't like a gasp or raised eyebrows or anything like that. He was very good with it and confident about it. And that was kind of comforting, also. And, again, I think it speaks to part of our decision that we think he can handle it, and I think he thinks that he can, too. THE MODERATOR: Thank very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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