Winter Meetings interview with Ned Yost

Q. Have you got a wish list at all, next few days?NED YOST: For, like, the next week or so?Q. Yeah.NED YOST: I gotta refill the feeders at the farm, planted some grass, finally got some rain so my wish is that it comes up.Q. How about your roster?NED YOST: What about my roster?Q. Are you guys set for next spring?NED YOST: You’re never all set this time of year, Dayton is looking at, you know, anything that could help our club get better. That’s important. The thing that we got better at the end of the year is that we got healthy, hopefully, coming through this winter, having Mous healthy and Gordy back to being 100% and Wade being healthy and Cain being healthy. I mean, those were all big pieces there and parts of our club that, you know, it’s hard to be successful when you’re missing those pieces. I think health was the most important part. And you look at the bullpen that we have now and you kinda look at some internal options that we have with some of these young guys that are throwing the ball really, really well, you feel like, you know, we’re pretty well covered. But that still doesn’t take away from the fact that you’re always looking for more.Q. Was fatigue a factor down the stretch? Do you think that will change next year?NED YOST: You sit here and I always say to myself, you don’t want to make excuses but the fact of the matter was, yeah, we missed three months of recovery and conditioning time over the last two years which is vitally important. I think that that played, for me it had a big impact on guys like Chris Young, who is so diligent and dedicated in his off-season conditioning program, it was cut short. Wade Davis is the same way. His recovery and conditioning time for the winter was cut way short. I know how it was for me last year. At the end of the winter, I told my wife, I can hardly wait to get to Spring Training so I can get some rest. And it was the same way with the guys, too. I think a full winter is going to benefit us greatly.Q. Ned, did you watch any of the waiver stuff given that you have all these free agents and it’s like the rules are changing? Did you sort of get any take on how that might affect you guys?NED YOST: I didn’t. Where I live in Georgia, I don’t have Wi-Fi, so I’ve got to walk outside and get 3G. And I’ve already burned up my data twice. So I kind of pick and choose on what I care to look at. I didn’t really study the collective bargaining thing too well. I did get a sheet upstairs when I got in. I was supposed to get in yesterday at 11:00, but my daughter-in-law went into labor and didn’t get here until midnight. And we have a brand new baby girl, so we’re excited about that.Q. Is this your daughter?NED YOST: It’s my son and my daughter-in-law.Q. New granddaughter?NED YOST: Yeah.Q. When was that?NED YOST: She was last night at 1:30.Q. What’s her name?NED YOST: Amber Lin.Q. A-M-B-E-R?NED YOST: Yes, Lin.Q. Was that in Georgia?NED YOST: Yeah, LaGrange, Georgia. I’ve got that packet to study the collective bargaining agreement, but I just haven’t had a chance to look at it yet.Q. You guys have these guys who are getting closer. Does that lend any sense to your team in terms of urgency? NED YOST: Honestly, probably, maybe a little bit. I could say no, but, yeah, it does. We don’t know what’s going to happen after next year. We know who we have under control for next year and it’s a really, really good core, nucleus of championship caliber players. Our focus this year is, you know, to get back to where we’ve been the last couple of years competitively to where we can compete for a championship and we think health is going to be a big part of that. And worry about 2018 when that time comes.Q. After the success you had with your bullpen those couple years in October, what was it like to see other teams adopt similar strategies?NED YOST: It was amazing to see — to watch games and kind of understand the feeling that other teams had against us. Because when I would watch Cleveland play, if they were tied or had the lead in the sixth inning, I’m like, Boys, this game is over. That’s the same feeling that I think other teams had when they played us in the past. It was interesting to see how effective and successful that strategy can be.Q. Ned, Terry was saying he’s not sure you can use Miller that way for all season. Do you think teams will build that whatever you want to call it, the guy who comes in and puts out the fire in the sixth, seventh, or eighth, but is still not a closer? Do you think that’s where bullpens are morphing to?NED YOST: I think so, but you gotta understand, Andrew Miller, these guys don’t grow on trees. They are few and far in between, guys that are that durable that can pitch like he did, especially down the stretch. Terry is right. You can’t do that during the regular season, you’re going to blow somebody out. But in the playoffs, it’s a lot easier to do. But I think that, you know, bullpens are looking — and it’s not that you label a guy a seventh inning guy or eighth inning guy or ninth inning guy, I think what teams are trying to do or what successful teams have done have had a seventh or eighth or ninth inning guy, and all three of them can pitch in the ninth inning. All three of them can close. When you have that, man, that’s a huge advantage late in the game.Q. Despite some extenuating circumstances, like injuries and different things, given the success that your guys have had the previous two years and what they achieved, what do you think the feeling was around the team? Were guys ticked off at the end of the year or disappointed? Did you get that sense?NED YOST: You know, I didn’t get a sense — I think they were disappointed. But, you know, it’s like I tell my guys, you know, all you can do is when you step on that field just give all you have for that day, every bit of it. I never felt one moment during that season that our guys didn’t do that. With the injuries, when they started piling up, you’ve got guys like Escobar and guys like Morales and Eric Hosmer trying to pick up that slack, that’s a lot of slack to pick up, you know? I think our guys at the end of the year, each and every one of them, they could look themselves in the mirror and say, Hey, you know what? We gave it everything we had, it just didn’t work out. We had too many injuries, we just ran out of steam there at the end because, you know, we at times lost three or four, maybe even five All Stars, you know? It was what it was. I don’t feel like, you know, we left anything on the table. I don’t feel like they felt like we should have done better. I think everybody is excited headed into next year.Q. How thin is that fine line? You went the distance two consecutive years, World Series, you got the ring the second time then. Coming around the next time, you want to protect these guys, but at the same time you want to stay competitive. How thin is that line?NED YOST: It’s a fine line but, you know, even going through ’14, we didn’t really kind of like figure it out until the playoffs started. So we were just playing. Once the playoffs started it was like, OK, here we go. ’15 was a different story. From day one of Spring Training, our goal was to win the World Series. From day one. The only thing going through ’15 every day when you wake up it’s like please nobody get hurt. And we were really lucky that we didn’t have a bunch of injuries that year. That’s the biggest threat to the championship team is health, when guys get hurt. Some of it …

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