Hot Stove Interview: Diamondbacks GM Josh B …
http://tinyurl.com/5bypdk
Last Year, Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason
with his trade for Oakland ace Dan Haren, who went 16-8 with a 3.33 ERA and
was an All-Star in his first year in the National League.
This year, things seem a lot more quiet for Byrnes, as the biggest player
movement news in Arizona is on free-agent departures -- second baseman
Orlando Hudson, slugger Adam Dunn and reliever Brandon Lyon all are on their
way to greener pastures.
But with a solid young core in place, Byrnes doesn't have to scramble to
replace anyone. I talked to him this morning about Arizona's hot stove
action, and here's what he had to say:
On how the offseason is going
It's a little bit of a slow offseason so far. We entered the offseason with
not a lot of holes to fill. We have to address second base. There's a chance
we just deal with that internally, there's a chance we try Mark Reynolds at
second base if we find a third baseman that we like. Beyond that, we bring a
lot of our players back, a lot of them are very young. We'd like to get a
little more lefthanded on our roster, whether in the bullpen or with some of
our complimentary position players. Beyond that, it's been a little bit of a
slow start to our offseason.
On whether the type of moves the Diamondbacks will try to make require
patience for the rest of the market
We've probably been a little more patient than usual. Usually, we've entered
offseasons with maybe a few more needs, maybe a few more chips to play in
order to fill those needs. A lot of what we've done trying to create roster
stability, that's the good news -- we've still got (Steven) Drew, (Chris)
Young, (Justin) Upton, (Conor) Jackson, Reynolds all 26 and under as core
players. We've got (Brandon) Webb, (Dan) Haren, (Doug) Davis, (Max) Scherzer
in the starting rotation. So we have been active, but we have a lowish number
of holes we're trying to fill. We've also been trying to be patient and wait
to see if some value comes to us, whether it's a trade or free agency.
On value possibly lurking on the starting pitching market in the form of a
Freddy Garcia-type of pitcher who's dealt with injuries and could be
available for a low-risk, high-reward situation
As of today, Yusmeiro Petit would be our fifth starter and he's done a nice
job for us the last couple of years. I think maybe taking a flier on that
kind of pitcher could make sense. Again, I think that's where patience will
serve us well where we can get deeper into the offseason and see how many
dollars we have remaining, and see if we'd like to create a little more
competition in our rotation.
On the closer spot mainly occupied this year by free-agent Brandon Lyon
It'll almost certainly come from one of the three guys, (Chad) Qualls, (Jon)
Rauch or (Tony) Pena. Qualls finished the year as the closer, finished the
year with 24 innings, two runs allowed. Right now, he has the momentum, but
all three of those guys pitched very well late in games, mostly as
setup/occasional closing-type guys over the last few years. Even though our
2008 bullpen didn't perform as well as we would've liked, we feel that those
guys are pretty good late-game relievers.
On bullpen philosophy
In a perfect world, you'd have defined roles, you'd have an ability to create
matchups. Unfortunately, it's not always a perfect world. Each year I've been
here, we've spent less than $10 million on our bullpen, so we've kept it
affordable -- it's been mostly good, one year it was extremely good. We've
been a little righthanded, but most of those guys have been durable,
versatile relievers. Guys like Lyon and (Juan) Cruz who are now free agents,
Luis Vizcaino. I think we're always looking at the relationship between
starters and relievers. Our starters have pitched the most innings in the
National League over the last two years. As a result, (manager) Bob Melvin
and (pitching coach) Bryan Price don't need to overuse our relievers and do a
good job of keeping them fresh for a six-month season.
On whether it will be easier to find a replacement for Orlando Hudson at
second base, or move Reynolds and find a new guy at third
I think at this point, probably second. We really think we can use Reynolds
in either spot, and he's open to either as well. One of the benefits of being
a not-highly touted prospect in the minors is that he was exposed to a lot of
positions. He played second base for Team USA for Davey Johnson when they
qualified for the Olympics. He played short in college alongside Ryan
Zimmerman. At this point, as we've surveyed the landscape, there are more
candidates at second base, so that's probably the route we're gonna go.
On Reynolds' 204 strikeouts
There's a little bit of concern. He went over 200 and set a record, but
Mark's always going to strike out some. There's a lot of damage that comes
with it, but for most of the year he was one of our better runners in scoring
position hitters. So there's some adjustability to his approach. We struck
out more than we would have liked to as a team. Part of that is our youth --
some young hitters with power who are mostly righthanded, I think adds up to
some strikeouts. Even teams like us -- like the Marlins, like the Brewers --
strike out some. I think in a perfect world, the extra-base hits and the runs
go with it, and these guys mature, the strikeouts start to come down, and I
think it will.
On whether there are any rumors floating around to shoot down
No, like I said, it's been a bit of a quiet offseason. We've got some
flexibility on our roster. I think probably the biggest story for us of the
offseason would be our inability to sign Randy Johnson, and now he's a free
agent. We're going to stick with what we've got. We've built a team on
pitching and defense and young, athletic position players, and we feel like a
lot of our roster has their best years in front of them. So this is not an
offseason of reinvention -- just try to refine our roster and go get ready
for next year.
On whether the door is closed on Johnson returning
I think there's still a chance. As I told our local media, something will
fundamentally have to change, whether it's the money we have to work with, if
we make some sort of trade that gives us more dollars to work with, or how
the market treats him. But I think as we stand right now, there's enough of a
gap, something's going to have to change to get to a deal.
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