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| Photo By Ernest Dove |
David Stearns: Pieces of news, just update everyone on as we get going here. Francisco Lindor is going to be evaluated tomorrow for a left stress reaction in his left hamate bone. Experience some, some soreness in his left hand wrist area over the past couple of days, informed our medical staff.
So he's going to go to a hand specialist tomorrow. It is possible this will result in a hamate surgery. If it does, that's a six week recovery, which puts us right at opening day. So at this point, even if it does require surgery, we would remain optimistic that Francisco would be, would be back for for opening day.
Second piece of news, Juan Soto is going to play left field for us this year. Over the last month or so, as Mendy and Juan were talking about the season, Juan was working out in left field cause he's going to play left field for the DR in the WBC.
As they had their conversations, he felt really comfortable there. It made sense for us from a roster perspective. So we're going to, we're going to go forward with it and everyone's on board with it.
Not something we had really contemplated coming into the off season, but as a, as we've had conversations over the last month, it made sense for all involved to do this. So making news right out of the shoot and and happy to, happy to answer any questions.
Steve Gelbs, SNY.TV: David, with Juan in particular, what, what is it about, you know, his own comfort level or the way you say your roster is constructed, where you guys feel like that will be beneficial to him to play left field?
David Stearns: You know, I, I think it's just where he is comfortable. He's done it in the past. He feels good over there. We've talked about it a lot. We've got a lot of athletic outfielders, both at the major league level, nearing the major league level. And so having right field available to them is, isn't a bad outcome. We were also comfortable with Juan and right field and having left field available to them. It was just as, as we were talking with Juan, frankly, didn't make a lot of sense to bounce him back and forth from corner to corner during spring training. He's comfortable in left, fits with our roster. So we'll go forward with it.
Steve Gelbs, SNY.TV: As you look at the roster right now in totality, where do you feel like you've made the biggest strides from where you were a year ago?
David Stearns: So coming into the off season, we talked a lot about improving our pitching and defense. And I think in a variety of ways, we were able to do that.
We've added multiple gold glove caliber defenders up the middle. We feel like we've improved our pitching staff as a whole. And part of that is the expected emergence of young pitchers who, some of whom have already been at the big leagues, some of whom are coming.
And so we're excited about that. We're also excited about the versatility of our position player grouping and the varied skill sets we now have across that segment of our team. We think over the course of 162 games, the unforeseen always happens and we feel as best as we can be right now, we are prepared for the inevitable hurdles of a marathon major league baseball season.
Dave Lennon, Newsday: Dave, with Lindor, I mean, a hammock bone usually from hitting, it was off season hitting program that he was doing. Did it happen just a couple of days ago or what was the timeline or timetable?
David Stearns: Yeah. So he, this is, he's had soreness, frankly, off and on there for a couple of years and he's usually able to grind through it and he's done it.
I don't know when he first felt it, but I think it just persisted to the point where he felt like he should say something about it. And once we examined it a little bit more yesterday, our medical staff determined that he should, he should go see a specialist.
Dave Lennon, Newsday: So when, when will you know about the surgery part?
David Stearns: Tomorrow...He's seeing the specialist tomorrow. And so by tomorrow evening, we'll, we'll know.
Reporter: Just to clarify, the hammock with Lindor has nothing to do with the World Baseball Classic decision?
David Stearns: No, no, no.
Reporter: But you are so confident he will be available on opening day?
David Stearns: Yeah. As of now, yes. We, we are optimistic that even if he has to go through with the surgery, he would be available on opening day. This is a generally sort of clean six month recovery, excuse me, six week recovery. And, and we've got six weeks until opening day.
So we were optimistic he would be ready for opening day....So that...is inclusive of a ramp up period where he's in major league spring training games. He would, he would be able to get to competition again before, before six weeks.
Mike Puma NY Post: And just as far as right field goes, would you look at Carson Benge is a potential option out there now in right field?
David Stearns: Yeah, I think he's a potential option out there. We've been consistent throughout the off season that Carson is going to come to camp with a chance to make our team that remains the same. He's played a lot of right field during his time at the minor leagues.
We're confident with him out there. We also think Brett's going to be able to adjust out there just fine. Tyrone Taylor, we're confident is a very quality right fielder.
And so we feel like we've got pretty good options to work through there. And M.J. Melendez, who, who may become official here shortly could potentially be another, another option.
Reporter: Just how do you feel covered at shortstop? And is it possible that Bo can work into that mix or would you prefer him to spend more time at third with that being part of his transition this year?
David Stearns: If, if we get to the point where we get closer to opening day and there are questions about Francisco, then we'll, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But at this point we're optimistic that regardless of what Francisco needs, he's going to be ready for opening day. And so that's what we're planning on.
Steve Gelbs, SNY.TV: David, obviously these things generally work themselves out, but right now you have at least six healthy starting pitchers. Would you consider a six man rotation to start the season if everybody's healthy or is that something that you're, you're not open to right now?
David Stearns: I think we'll cross that bridge if, if we get to it. We, we've got six healthy guys feeling really good right now. If we have six healthy guys feeling really good on opening day, I will gladly work through that that challenge at that point. And we may decide at times to go with the six men or we may not. But we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll figure that out. That's a really good problem to have if, if that's where we are on opening day.
David Stearns: You go into an off season with many different plans. It's, it's very difficult to know exactly how an off season is going to, to progress. A lot of things need to fall into place and you need to iterate and be adaptable throughout the course of an off season. I was also very clear from the moment we first talked in the off season that we weren't going to run back the same group. And we were committed to changing our team, improving our team, becoming better in certain areas. And I think we've made progress towards that.
As opposed to say last off season, this is a kind of major overhaul to what it is. Do you feel any level of stress because you're, it feels like much more your team today than at any other point since you arrived?
David Stearns: No, expectations are always high and we're, we're expectations are always high. We're always aware of that. That's going to be true every year I'm here. That's the fun part about this job. That's the fun part about being in New York is we have expectations to win and win at a high level consistently. And I expect we're going to do that this year.
Reporter: Hey David, you've mentioned that Benge has a real chance to make this team, but what is it that you want to see from him this spring? What does he need to do to prove to you that, that he can take that step?
David Stearns: Yeah, I think evaluations in spring are always a little bit fraught and we, we know that. We want to see quality at bats. We want to see him handle the outfield. It's also going to depend on what some other guys do, right? It's, it's, it's not all going to be dependent on, on how Carson looks. We're not going to get too preoccupied with surface line results one way or the other. And we'll make the best decision that we can on opening day, recognizing that opening day is one day. And, and rosters can change pretty, pretty quickly.
Reporter: Looking back at last year knowing that you were one game away from making the playoffs. Is there any one decision that if you had to do over again, you would done differently?
David Stearns: Yeah, unfortunately we don't get do overs. I think I think every year of my career, I've looked back and, and evaluated how we've done. And there have always been decisions that didn't work out that we would like to take back. And that's true with years that end really, really successfully. And it's true with years that like last year that, that, that ended disappointingly. So we're always in that, in that postmortem and evaluative process at the end of the year. But we don't get do overs. And so we need to move up, move forward.
Reporter: David, understanding at this point, it's kind of moot about Francisco going to the WBC. What, what, there's a lot of speculation, what happened, you know, a certain Superbowl halftime performer maybe was going to fund his insurance and all that stuff. Can you shed light on your, from your perspective, why, you know, didn't he, why wasn't he given a clearance to play in the WBC and whether you guys ultimately decided that he couldn't play in the WBC?
David Stearns: Yeah. I mean, we had, we had nothing to do with that. I actually don't know why he wasn't given clearance. He wasn't, he wasn't approved for insurance. Clubs have no part in that. That's all done through MLBPA and major league baseball. So I really don't know why.
Reporter: Just what do you make of Ryan Clifford's progress? And do you see him impacting in the major league club this season?
David Stearns: I think Cliff had a great year last year on both sides of the ball, really improved his outfield defense, has become a very viable outfield defender in both corners. We believe improved his defense at first base and had a really good offensive season last year as well. He's going to begin the year in AAA.
Whenever you're in AAA, you're a call away and we'll see how it goes.
Reporter: And also, do you have a better maybe timeline on A.J. Minter's return?
David Stearns: Yeah, his rehab is progressing well. At this point, we're looking at early May, I think is a realistic timeline for him to return to the major leagues.
Joel Sherman, NY Post: I think at the beginning you said your plan, it wasn't on your radar at all to shift Soto from one corner to the other. Is this a move that's kind of dictated by a star player?
David Stearns: No, this was just a collaborative conversation where our manager and our player were talking about different things. Juan was working out in left field and it kind of emerged organically.
I don't think it was really dictated by one side or the other.
Joel Sherman, NY Post: You mentioned obviously run prevention a lot at your first press conference. Does Soto in left field, for whatever models you do, show up as helping your run prevention better than if he played right field?
David Stearns: We would expect Juan to have a better defensive year in the right or left this year. I think Juan expects to have a better defensive year in right or left. And so we were and are open to either, but it made sense for our roster and certainly Juan feels comfortable there to have him in the left field.
Ernest Dove: David, last season, there was like a wave of starting pitcher prospects who started making debuts at the end of the year.
And it looks like there's a chance there could be another wave coming, starting pitchers and relievers. Do you see some of these other top prospects like Wenninger, Watson, Thornton, Dylan Ross, Ryan Lambert? Can you see some of these top prospects getting an extended look in spring training and kind of be ready for the season as possible ETAs of 2026?
David Stearns: Yeah, I think all the players you mentioned either are or are nearing the top levels of our minor league system. And they've all had really good minor league careers performed at a very high level.
And so when you get to the top level of the minor league system, things can move very quickly. And we saw that last year. So I wouldn't preclude any of those names at some point impacting our major league team.
Mike Puma NY Post: Tobias Meyers indicated he's been told to stretch out as a starter. Just kind of how do you view him? I guess obviously his rotation depth, but do you see him as a reliever if you don't have the need there on the major league roster or would you want or could he potentially be a triple A?
David Stearns: No, I think Tobias can pitch in either role. And I think we're going to need him in a length role. So we are going to stretch him out and follow a more line to maybe a starter's ramp, at least for the first part of spring training. Maybe for a little bit longer than that. And then see how our spring is going and determine where where he fits, where he fits best.
He's had success out of the bullpen. So we're not afraid to do that either. But I think his ability to provide length in either role is going to be important for us.
Mike Puma NY Post: And just what was intriguing about him when you made that trade?
David Stearns: Yeah, so part of it's what we just talked about. He has the ability to be effective in either role. He's proven that he's open to that.
He has the ability to bounce back and forth between those roles, which isn't easy to do. He fills up the zone. He has no fear. He can he can go after and attack hitters. And those are all things that generally play at the major league level.
Reporter: If you do need short term coverage at the beginning of the season for Lindor and you don't want to shoot, switch Bichette because you want to get him comfortable at third. Who do you think lines up best to play short and how confident and comfortable are you with it?
David Stearns: Yeah, I think if we need that, we'll tackle that when we when we get to opening day. I think right now we remain optimistic and confident that even if Francisco has to go through a surgery, he'll he'll be back by opening day. If we get closer to opening day, then we'll be able to have those discussions and determine what our best course of action is.
We've got we've got a lot of different guys. I mean, Brujan, Clough, Kessinger. You might see Mauricio there a little bit...Arroyo, we've got a lot of guys in camp with shortstop experience who can who can play there.
Dave, with Soto, was it a case of you said he was working out for the WBC and left? So did he just call you guys up and say, what do you think about me switching to left fielder? How did that conversation? I mean, where did it spring from? Like who mentioned it?
David Stearns: Look, Mendy is talking to our players regularly throughout the offseason. And in one of those conversations, they began talking about it. And then we began talking about it internally. So, yeah, I think this was just something that that popped up organically in conversations, made sense for both sides. And so we're going to do it.
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