Press Tour Wraps Up: More Tidbits; Interviews on STO

Final Thoughts - Wrap Up at 5:50

It's interesting. Skipping Matty Underwood because he really has nothing interesting to say at this point in time.

But like I said. Aaron Laffey is always a great interview. I don't know what it is with these guys like Laffey, and why they are better to listen and talk to than someone like Matt LaPorta. But, it was very informative and some good stuff to know, especially from Carl Willis.

Updated 5:48 - Carl Willis

-Joe Smith and Kerry Wood. Thinks it could be an elite bullpen and Kerry Wood's addition can take a lot of pressure off the guys behind him. Also thinks it will take pressure off the hitters in not having to press for extra runs. A lot of guys that have experience that pitch the 7th and at the end of the game.

-Jensen Lewis. Great to have a guy who can step in and close a game once and awhile. Thinks Jensen's confidence can allow him to step in.

-The All Important 3-5 in the Rotation. Scott Lewis, Zach Jackson also in the mix with Sowers, Laffey, and Huff. It's a great position to be in to have quality of depth. A bit young and in-experienced, but it's nice to have someone to call up and plug in if need be.

-Fausto Carmona. Fausto needs to relax to get back to his 2007 performance. His delivery breaks down because he tries to hard. The injury set him back and he never caught up. He saw his DR start and said he was commanding the fastball and controlling the zone and most importantly kept his mechanics.

-Anthony Reyes. The philosophy was to play off the player and Reyes did what he did and was successful. Willis said he thinks Reyes felt comfortable last year after coming over.

-Zach Jackson and Scott Lewis. On Zach, he's going to compete for the final spot in the rotation but also be an option for the bullpen as a long man or a situational lefty. On Lewis, when he's healthy he's been effective. He's a "baseball player on the mound."

-Jeremy Sowers. It's command. Sowers has to rely on his control, they saw his velocity return.

Thoughts: You can tell by my comments that Willis really sacrafices no detail. Always insightful and he's always giving you great information about his pitchers. It's good to know Jackson isn't just battling for a rotation spot, but a place in the bullpen.

Updated 5:35 - Matt LaPorta

-The Trade! THE TRADE! TELL US ABOUT THE TRADE DAMNIT! Great opportunity to be in Cleveland. It was an honor to be traded for CC, but mistake number one was saying he was going to go on to do great things in New York.

-The Chance to Move Up? His time will come and he'll do what he has to do to make it there. Sounds confident.

-His low strikeouts? Problem with it in College, and he's tried to tone down the strikeouts.

-His Position? Took fly balls in college and was used to the outfield and the adjustment wasn't too hard.

-Olympics Experience? Opportunity of a lifetime and an honor to represent the United States.

-The whirlwind after the trade? It wasn't easy and mentally tiring and it was a grind but he learned how to deal with it and overcome with it. He learned a lot how to handle situations that many minor leaguers don't learn how to handle that early.

-Spring Training Chances. Excited for Spring Training, completely avoided his chances for making the big league roster completely.

-Potential Triple-A Outfield. Exciting to know him, Crowe, and Brantley could all move on together to the big leagues.

-On Brantley. Great player and great person and he knows his role.

-Goals for 2009. Go out everyday and play hard, do the best that he can.

Thoughts: What is with these top prospects? Him and Miller were like drones with these short answers that were all politically correct and almost sounded rehearesed.. His more than Adam's. Miller just sounded ho-hum I don't really talk much, but LaPorta just sounded like he was confident, but he didn't want to talk about a few things. I thought that was an interesting interview really and honestly it was probably our first exposure to him as a person because other than his Akron Presser, he hasn't done anything like this since coming over.

Updated 5:22 - Aaron Laffey

-How he's feeling? 100% ready to go, full extension on his arm.

-His hot streak earlier in 2008. He was confident, not afraid of contact and throwing well. Middle of the season he got away from that. His struggles snowballed after that Cincinnati start where he gave up five runs in an inning after pitching four shutout.

-His Confidence? Not concerned with making a spot in the rotation. He's concentrated on staying healthy and pitching his game and staying focused.

-Fifth Spot in the Rotation Competition? Last year he tried to hard in in Spring Training and got away from what made him successful. This year he isn't putting any pressure on himself to make the club.

-Toughest Outs in the Majors? No one specific but he talked about the division and the different lineups in it.

-How Awesome is Cliff Lee? Laffey said he talked to Cliff about the difference in his performance and said Lee strengthened his core and improved his location.

Thoughts: Aaron is a very good interview. He loves to talk. He definitely gave a lot of insight into his game. If he keeps that mentality that he says he wants to have going into Spring Training, we have to start remembering that run he went on last year. He can be a very good pitcher and at one point he was a given for a rotation spot going forward.

Updated 5:10 - Adam Miller

-Bullpen or Starter? Not sure until he feels himself out in the bullpen.

-Health? Feeling good and 100%

-Kerry Wood's Potential Impact and Picking His Brain: He wants to find out how you pitch on back to back days. He wants to see what kind of leader Wood is.

-Opportunity to Make the Club? Excited, and he's working hard.

-What did he learn from the injuries? Patience. He's also really motivated to make an impact.

-Big League Friends? Aaron Laffey and Jensen Lewis.

-His Fastball? His breaking pitches benefit the most because they have to cheat to catch up his fastball.

Thoughts: Adam was very timid, but he seemed to be motivated and confident in staying healthy. His answers didn't really get too deep, but he knows what he has to do.

Initial Post 4:35 - I'm starting this as a live type of a thing.

As I type, it's about 4:35 and STO is broadcasting live from one of the final stops on the Press Tour with Al-TV doing the hosting duties on ABAO.

He's scheduled to have some people on and I'll comment on that as it happens.

But right now, Anthony Castrovince has updated his blog with a bunch of valuable information from the Press Tour.

-Slim Chance but a chance that one of the trio of outfielders makes the Big League Roster. But, like CastroTurf, I don't see it. Not the way they've been talking up Josh Barfield and the fact he can play the infield.

-AC confirmed what we've basically been hearing from Wedge and the attitude that I've basically thought about Josh Barfield. Earlier post today I said, hey I guess Wedge doesn't hate Barfield and Garko as much as I thought. Well AC is too wondering, and it really is weird to see the turnaround in Wedge liking Barfield. But hey, whatever. I like Barfield so I'm not going to complain.

-If you saw the clips of Jensen Lewis' interview the other day on STO, you know the shaved head isn't that bad of a look on Jensen. Damnit, people complain about the sideburns, he shaves his head and they complain about that. Well you know whaaaaat. I like both.

-Rafael Betancourt has I guess gotten some muscle? Well.. That's all fine and dandy but will he still touch his hat fifteen thousand times between every pitch? That gives me an idea. I'm going to start a Betancourt Cap Counter, because God knows we need to know how much he does that in every game.

The rest is really stuff we've heard about or I've mentioned before. The other thing is with Adam Miller and how he's a little bit more into the race for the bullpen spot than I thought. Miller is going to be on STO here, so we'll see how he's doing, but really if this kid is healthy, he could be one of those starting pitchers that come up near the end of the season (David Price last year, Joba Chamberlain, Adam Wainwright, Jonathan Papelbon, ETC.) that make an impact in the bullpen.

Long term though, I really don't care. Sure, Joba is still being debated about being a starter/relief pitcher, and even Papelbon went through that should he switch thing after he did so well as the closer. Let's just get him healthy and up here and see what he has to contribute before we worry about him as a starter.