Winter Meetings interview with Bud Black

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Updated: December 5, 2016

Q. How much input have you had and do you expect to have during the offseason with Jeff?BUD BLACK: You know, it’s been great with Jeff, even for the last — well, since I’ve been hired, because he’s been open about where he sees this team going. And I think from my vantage point, I think he likes the fact how I saw the team from the other side and what I do know now about the players and the group. He’s asking me a lot of questions. Again, I think I’m just part of the decision-making group. And there’s some really talented guys in that room that I’ve come to find out, experienced guys, Bill Smith, Danny Montgomery, a bunch of guys who have been around a long time, and the younger guys who are bright and creative. So just another one of those voices that lends an opinion.Q. And specifically, suppose if you guys do close in on a reliever, which has been a hot topic about this team, would you be consulted?BUD BLACK: Oh, sure. Yeah.Q. Listen, this is a guy I like for this reason or that reason?BUD BLACK: I would give my opinion. Ultimately it is Jeff’s decision. But I’m one of the guys that, amongst others, were asked those questions.Q. When it comes to bullpen, the way you handled it in San Diego, as you’ve said, very conventional. Did anything that happened like in the post-season, where floating relievers, back and forth, really good relievers, does that change how you would look at a regular season?BUD BLACK: Yeah, I think that obviously what we saw in the playoffs this year is really — and you’ll hear other guys talk about it. You know, managing a bullpen during the regular season is different than managing the bullpen, especially as you move down the line. But, you know, what does work, if you have those types of relievers that have multi-inning performance, who can throw parts of innings and continue, that’s very valuable. And there are some guys who maybe that’s not their bag. You know, maybe they are just get them up one inning and when the inning is over, they can’t come back out. But if you have the versatility and you have guys who do perform and you can sort of mix-and-match, and if, again, like the Cleveland model, per se, with Miller and Allen, they had two good guys, and you throw in another really good guy like Shaw, it’s really nice. I think with what you saw Joe do late in the year with Chapman, he felt as though he might not have other weapons.Q. When you were in San Diego, it seemed like, especially your better years, you were able to go one inning at a time with some specialists.BUD BLACK: Oh, yeah, I was fortunate that the years I was there we had some All-Star closers: Trevor and then Heath Bell, Huston Street. Those guys all made All-Star teams. If you look specifically at Street and Trevor, they were pretty much one-inning guys. That’s what we were built for. Heath was a little bit different. You see early years of Heath when Trevor was there, multi-innings. He threw a lot of innings in ’07 and ’08. And then he transitioned in, and then here came Gregerson and Adams, and they were solid. But, again, if you have those players who can hold their stuff through 30, 40 pitches, it’s great, and are able to bounce back and be resilient enough to throw upwards to 80 innings, you can see that. But the postseason management of the bullpen is extremely different than the regular season management.Q. We’ve seen so many teams that have a big chip, be able to trade it and kind of transform their club. Carlos Gonzalez is somebody whose name always comes up at trade deadline time and over the Winters. What are your thoughts on bettering the Rockies through a move like that?BUD BLACK: Well, every GM will tell you that when you have a player like Carlos, he’s valuable in a lot of different ways. He’s valuable for to you win. Right. For us, right now, present day, he helps us win a lot. So our mind-set as relates to him is, you know, he’s here. He’s a Rockie. He’s going to help us win 2017. Now, there are times, depending on where you are in your team’s cycle, that valuable of a player might help transition into another cycle. I think for us, right now, he’s a Rocky, and I know that there’s — I’ve only been here a month, but I think from what I’ve heard from both sides, there’s a willingness for him to continue being a Rocky past 2017.Q. So he’ll be in the Opening Day lineup, you think?BUD BLACK: Yes.Q. Is there a guarantee?BUD BLACK: Is there any guarantees (laughter)? Yes.Q. Where are you in your team’s cycle?BUD BLACK: I believe that this team is trending up.Q. What did you tell your pitchers walking into Coors Field, and does that — whatever it is, does it play over the course of 81?BUD BLACK: I think so. I think that the main message was — and this goes to anywhere you pitch, more specifically in Colorado — the true pitching fundamentals, if you don’t adhere to those, they are exposed more in Colorado. First pitch strikes, staying ahead in the count, avoiding walks, don’t beat yourself, do what you have to do as a pitcher in all phases to be successful. Because mistakes, whether they are not fielding your position, not controlling the running game, pitching behind the count, a bad walk, all those things come up, will bite you more. Because one swing from a number of players in the lineup can get you. So if you minimize those over the course of 750 innings of, basically, a home season, a home regular season, you should have success. And you have to have the pitchers from a talent standpoint to be able to do that, and that’s where I think that we’re getting to. But specifically, when I was coming in as a visiting team, was, hey, don’t walk anybody, not don’t keep the ball down, if you’re a high ball pitcher that you’ve had success throwing the ball up in the zone, Chris Young, others, hey, pitch your game. You can’t pitch tentative in Coors Field.Q. That maybe turns you into my follow-up question. There have been five or six managers that have come before you, and countless pitchers, who have all said the same thing about pitching there, and many of whom have failed. Is it the tentativeness? Is it the notion of it?BUD BLACK: I think there is a perceived notion, and, again, it gets over time there’s a momentum that builds up over pitching there. It started in 1993, or it started whenever the Denver Bears — or prior to the Denver Bears. I think, again, we talked about this. Besides the talent, I think there’s a mental toughness that you really have to identify. I think there’s a mental component that has to be strong. And, you know, there are 350 Major League pitchers, and they are all sort of built differently, mentally and physically. And we have to find those guys, of the 350, and even the2,500 Minor League pitchers, we have to identify those guys that have that ability, mentally tough, to be able to handle the adversity that happens there. And, you know, a three-day stretch as a visiting team, you don’t see that as much. I saw a little bit. I saw certain players, over nine years, in however many games I managed there, 60, 80, whatever it was, that had a tough time. Other guys, it depends on the player. You have to get the right player.Q. From that perspective, with having younger starters, does that present more of a blank canvas in terms of bringing guys along and attempting to develop the mental toughness?BUD BLACK: Again, I think develop is a good word, because you look at some of these pitchers coming through the system now, they were drafted as Rockies. They were born as Rockies, developed as …

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