XX Sports Radio: Jed Hoyer Interview with Darren Smith (MP3)
- "It's fun to get going again." Hoyer and the team are focused on the 2011 season.
- If Hoyer had brought back the exact Padres team that was on the field in 2010 it would have put the 2011 Payroll over $60 million.
- Hoyer jokes that Heath Bell hurt himself in the opening meeting. "He's doing fine. He's already playing catch." It's not something that the team is concerned about. Physically he looks thinner than last year. "I don't think it's a matter of him not working hard in the off season." Heath Bell jokes that he lost most of the weight due to Typhoid Fever.
- Ryan Ludwick came into camp in fantastic shape. He didn't do what was expected of him when came to the Padres. "I think he struggled, he put too much pressure on himself."
- Aaron Harang is one of the top fly ball pitchers in baseball. He's going from one of the top 3 best hitters parks in baseball to one of the worst. Harang needed a scenery change. Petco Park is a big factor. Hoyer is still learning how the park plays and he'll still be learning 5 to 10 years from now. They don't make any decisions without thinking about the ballpark.
- Mat Latos is still a young pitcher. At some point during the season they will give him extra days of rest. The gloves aren't totally off.
- A handful of jobs on the roster are still open. You put yourself in a bad position if you have open jobs going into spring training because it's hard to evaluate players in Arizona since it's such an extreme offensive environment. There is competition on the bench, for the 5th starter and in the bullpen. Hoyer likes the depth of their roster. "There's not a lot of jobs and I think that's a good thing." The challenge of the GM job is planning ahead for injuries and making adjustments.
- The candidates for the 5th starter are Wade LeBlanc, Dustin Moseley and Cory Luebke. Mosely will be on the club whether he's a starter or in the bullpen. LeBlanc pitched better than advertised last year. His bad outings were really bad, but he had a lot of quality starts. Luebke is still a prospect so he's really going to have to perform well in camp to get the spot.
- Ernesto Frieri or Dustin Mosely could eat innings when a game gets out of hand and take the role that Edward Mujica had last year.
- Hoyer would not recommend Mat Latos sign balls "I hate SF!" It's part of the process of being a young player, to learn that stuff will end up on the internet. Latos dominated the Giants for the 4 starts and they got him the last 2 starts. "There's some emotion there that I like, but it's probably not the brightest thing to do 'cause you know it's going to end up on the internet somehow." Buddy Black told Latos that if he's going to do that kind of thing that he better back it up.
- Hoyer says that Cameron Maybin is carrying on a Padres tradition of players insulting club ownership. Goose Gossage said that Ray Kroc was poisoning the world with hamburgers in the 80's.