Maddon speaks at Winter Meetings

Posted Dec 8, 2009 by Roger Mooney

Updated Dec 8, 2009 at 04:25 PM

Joe Maddon had his turn with the media Tuesday afternoon during Day 2 of the Winter Meetings at the Marriott Indianapolis Downtown.

Here are some the topics he discussed ...

Who will bat leadoff in 2010?
“I would say J.B. As of right now, I thought a little bit about that, Jason Bartlett did a tremendous job. You guys that were with us last year saw it. I mean, he really blossomed into a really good hitter, period, but as a lead-off guy, he seems more apt or willing to want to work the at-bat, the count. The number of pitches that he saw last year was very, very good. You remember we’ve talked a lot about fly balls with him, getting him out of the air more on a line. He did that. He did that to a larger degree, used the middle of the field better, opposite field better. I think that he re-adjusts how he thinks as a hitter when he’s up at that spot, and it’s very productive. He’s a great base runner. He might be our best base runner, and he can steal a bag.
He’s an awareness guy, he knows what’s going on, and he brings that to the table.

Now, having said all that, I don’t know that it’s going to turn out that way, but as of right now, whatever, today is December 8, I would lean in that direction.

Where will B.J. Upton bat?
“B.J. to me can hit anywhere one, two, three, four, five. We did put him back down at the end last year because he was struggling so much, but projecting wise, B. J. is a top of the order hitter, and if he gets his stroke back with the power going on again, no telling where we’re going to stick him. But just to have that kind of balance within an American League lineup, American League East lineup is very important. You’ve got to be able to score runs up-and-down the whole order. “

What about the Rays being mentioned in blockbuster trade rumors?
“You know, it happens all the time. My expectations are I’ll wait and see what happens. Of course a lot of that stuff has been discussed. I can’t deny that. But I have to play wait and see, and if those things actually do occur, then you react and you set your plans. Of course we’ve talked about them, we’ve talked about what we could do if it would happen, but for me right now I’m just playing the waiting game like everybody else.”

Will you look at Reid Brignac and Sean Rodriguez some in the outfield in the spring, too?
“Sean is a really good outfielder. Reid has been primarily with the infield. We really haven’t even discussed anything more than just playing at second base like we did last year.
Sean has played the outfield and plays it well. He’s got a fine arm. This guy throws really well. Not a burner, but he runs really well, so he has that edge in regards to playing the outfield a bit.
Reid, as of right now, we’re still studying Reid primarily only as an infielder.”

What do you think is going to drive that decision, whether Ben plays second or Ben plays right and Matt and Gabe and Reid and Sean? Is it going to be the offense, the defense? “We really pay attention to defense, as you know, so it’s going to be a combination of things. You’ve got Kapler and Joyce, et cetera, out there, and you’ve got Ben and Sean, of course, and Reid to consider in the infield. We have a lot of nice—not problems necessarily, we’ve just got to figure it out, try to figure it out as well as we possibly can. When you think about it, it’s kind of fun to think about. Matt Joyce is a guy we haven’t even talked about. Matt Joyce we feel has tremendous potential as a hitter and a defender in right field. Great power, great swing, and he played pretty well last year in Triple-A, also. I don’t have a specific answer for that yet. These are just discussions that we’re undergoing right now. But we’ve kind of worked that little thing between right field and second base, and I think he did a great job with that. And Gabe Kapler, I’m still a big Gabe Kapler fan. You look at his OPS over the lat couple of years versus left-handed pitching, it’s among the best in all of baseball, and also the presence that he provides on the team. He’s a fine young man. So we have some nice things going on.”