Catching Up With Mike Hazen Last Night
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Last night Mike Hazen addressed some of the rumors and topics being discussed at the Winter Meetings.
Catching
Yesterday news came out that the D-backs were interested in A's catcher Sean Murphy.
Look, we have our catcher. I said this before in other positions, we're exploring ways to make ourselves better. I don't know how that's going to come together. We're in markets that maybe aren't traditional. There are other positions too that we've had that conversation about, [shortstop] I think this is part of that too. We feel like it's our responsibility to explore every way we can to make the team better. Having two good catchers could be better than having one good catcher. But we're not close to anything. Yes, we've made a lot of phone calls and had conversations.
Gauging where they are as a team
"We're trying to weigh all factors in order to add as much talent to the organization this off season via free agency or trade. We're trying to weigh both the short term and long term. I think we're in that zone right now where we're really looking to push the ball forward, but like I've said we're not going to do it in a reckless fashion and get too far in front of where we are right now. I think we still need to be semi-realistic about who we are and what we're able to accomplish in an off season."
Trading for players based on years of control
For the most part they seem focused on players with at least three years of control minimum, but not exclusively.
"We've talked about some guys that have less than that. It's harder for me to see us doing that, especially for guys that have full control. I think three or above, we've engaged in those markets pretty aggressively."
Outfielders:
Do other teams value your outfielders in the same order that you do?
"No."
Do other teams try to low ball you because you have a glut at the outfield position?
"No. I think we're pretty clear about how we see the player. We talk about the evaluation of the player when you're having those conversations. They get a pretty good understanding of how we see the player. I mean they might. Yeah, we've received offers we're not going to do. But I wouldn't say lowball. I would say we come to a an understanding of how we both see the player. I'll tell them not to make an offer if they see a player a certain way. I don't think it's worth it. If you think that's what this guy is and we have him valued way higher than that, I don't think it's really in your interest to make an offer that we're just going to say no to"
Jake McCarthy said he was primarily trying to put the ball in play and impact the game. Do you view him as much better than his Statcast Metrics?
"I think from a performance standpoint he outperformed almost everybody that was on our team. The ability to put the ball in play and run , those skills are going to get enhanced this year [rule changes]. He had even platoon splits. He's the only one that did that. So there's a lot of value in what he brought to our team. Yes, we're aware of the Statcast data. I don't think we are going to fall down over who's hitting the ball the hardest or who has the 95th percentile exit velocity."
"That guy came out and was one of our best players for half a season. Yes, everybody noticed and I think other teams noticed that too. But every team sees our outfielders somewhat differently. I do think he's an interesting one with the new rules. I actually think he becomes more valuable externally as well as we get into next year because I think that speed is going to be a major difference maker."
"He's going to mature as a player. He's gotten better every year since he's started. He works his butt off. I don't see why he's not going to get better too. He's a ridiculous athlete, he's got power, we've seen him hit balls. He has the ability to drive the ball. "
Would he consider trading from your stable of young starting pitching prospects?
"I'm probably more hesitant about it right now.......Trading away those guys is complicated. They all have a ton of value, that we would do well in a trade. There's no young starting pitching available via trade. Unless you're trading a stud player. We're not really dangling that off of our major league team. To acquire a young starting pitcher is extremely difficult. So vice versa we would have a very high value on those guys, so a deal may not happen. They're hard to get. A lot."
