Winter Meetings interview with Brian Snitker

Q. Explain how this winter has been different than so many of the others you’ve experienced. BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, it’s way different. I said last time I was here was 28 years ago. My son was born at the Winter Meetings. So it’s been — the whole off-season has been different because the job is different and I kinda knew that going in. Like the job was different when I got here in May. It was something I had never experienced. And learning, you know, I tell people, too, I’m learning how to do this job in the off-season as much as I did during the season and it’s been ongoing. Really haven’t had a lot of downtime yet, and I don’t know if I will. I will turn around and probably wake up in Orlando, do it again. But that’s okay, it’s been really interesting. I’ve gotten to experience some of the inside and the business end of it and sit in on meetings that I’ve never been privy to before. It’s been a really interesting learning experience. I kind of see what John and John go through to put this thing together, the pains and how hard they really work to make this thing happen.Q. So Troy was born while you were at the Meetings? BRIAN SNITKER: We were at the team dinner like we had the first night. I got a call and actually met my wife at the emergency room. A neighbor brought her in and we had Troy. It was in Atlanta and Bobby was the GM and he was like, Come on over, go to the Meetings. I called him the other day and I was like, Well, happy birthday. That was the last time I’ve been to Winter Meetings.Q. Have you taken time to jot down a headline of plans? BRIAN SNITKER: You know, you do. And especially since I got here, kinda got back in the baseball mode. And I thought of it even at the end of the year, you know, you could kind of — when we finished the season you could tell. We weren’t that far off. And, you know, we knew the off-season was going to be about adding starting pitching. We talked about that end of September, pretty much. You know, I jot it down and like it. Our line-up, it’s pretty good. And with the addition of Sean and that’s about it really when you think about it. The guys we had and how we finished and how our line-up was, getting Dansby in the fold, I think, was big, just getting him out there and experiencing the Major League game was going to be huge for him going into this, if we decide to bump him to a 2 or something like that. So I look at our line-up and it lengthened out last year, when we brought Dansby up and lengthened our line-up and legitimized a lot given what we had going on.Q. Given what you’ve seen from Dansby, you feel like a move like that would be something that he would handle? BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, absolutely. I think Dansby can pretty much handle anything we throw at him after what I witnessed. Just the person he is, the make-up, the confidence, just a player. That kid is a baseball player. And he jumped in there at the end. And we talked about when we hit him eighth and that’s tough for a young guy, but shoot, he adjusted, adapted. And he’s asking all the right questions, too. So it’s something I will talk to the guys about and we will get a feel for it in Spring Training and see where we’re at. I feel right now — ask me today, yeah, I feel very comfortable about him there.Q. Have you had time to think back about how the guys rallied for you and what that’s meant to you down the stretch? BRIAN SNITKER: I’m still very proud of how we finished in the second half of the season. How they went about — like you say, went about it every day and the professionalism and how they prepared, the way they played the game. Like I said, people would ask me in the end, and I felt like we were chasing a Wild Card berth, the way we played the games and never gave up, just played a hard 27 outs. And just how those guys — you know, it was fun to watch, it was very gratifying, it said a lot about those guys which I saw when I first got there. The record was bad, they had been beat over the head, just things weren’t meshed real good. But the day in, day out preparation, the clubhouse, how they played the game was very impressive to me, to a man.Q. What does Sean Rodriguez do for you? I know you like that versatility. BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah.Q. He seems like the ultimate type of Swiss Army knife? BRIAN SNITKER: Exactly. In our situation he was exactly what we were looking for. We had our meetings in Orlando and you’re targeting guys and talking about things with your scouts and things like that, he was kind of the guy that stood out, the fact that he can play shortstop and center field was two of the biggest reasons. He had a heck of a year. Talking to guys that know him, he’s just one of those guys that keeps getting better. When we met with him, I talked to him — he’s another one, he’s a baseball player. I think he will fit in really good with us. He likes to play the game. Obviously we love the versatility, the hybrid guys. I think that especially in our situation and how we’re looking to go in our bullpen, the hybrid guys are going to be very important, as they were last year. Whether Jace or Chase or whoever was on the bench, it was a big deal. I think in the game that versatility is going to do nothing but help guys in the long run. I think you will see that in our Minor Leagues, we’re going to be moving guys around not necessarily just developing a second baseman, but there are guys that will profile but I think you will see guys moved around on the diamond probably a lot more than you did before, because it’s big. I know personally from experience you have those guys that it helps the whole situation out.Q. By the way you will go to the bullpen you mean go with eight? BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, if we go with eight. Those are things we will work out in Spring Training. We did last year, but we will wait and see. It’s something I saw kind of industry wide a lot of people were doing that.Q. 25 years ago the Braves were the first national team to go worst to first and nobody anticipated they could do that. Are you going to Spring Training thinking the Braves can do the same thing? BRIAN SNITKER: Well, I said early, I think to a man when we go to Spring Training our goal is going to be to win the division and I don’t see why it should be anything other than that. I think, again, to a man we feel like we have a pretty good club, real good club. To go in there with any other thoughts to me would — we’re showing up there to win the division. Like I say, I think if you asked our players, they would tell you the same thing, with how we finished and where we feel like we’re at as an organization, as a team, and the depth that we have and our club the way it’s shaping up right now, I don’t see any reason why that shouldn’t be our goal.Q. When you look at the season you had the first half, there were never more than one or two guys hitting, it was amazing how many guys had poor first halves, some of them were hurt and that kinda thing. The second half everybody but maybe one had really good second halves. Do you think in actuality it’s somewhere in between or do you think in the second half they didn’t overachieve offensively? BRIAN SNITKER: I don’t know that Ender can go out and hit what — I said I was sitting there and I would look on the big board during the game and I’m sitting there watching that and I don’t even realize how good it is. I don’t think if that’s realistic. You look at what Freddie did, he’s capable that, that’s the kind of player he is. And I think that’s the kind of player probably that Ender is and guys got it going. I didn’t feel like we were overachieving. I kinda felt like they were doing what they were capable …

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