XX Sports Radio: Jed Hoyer Interview with Darren Smith (MP3)
- Hoyer has been putting out some small fires this morning and dealing with the "general frustration of 2011".
- Buddy Black's bobblehead makes him look really gray. Darren mentions that Hoyer is starting to get a little gray himself from the stress of this season.
- "We played terrible yesterday, that might have been our worst performance of the year." Hoyer thought the Padres had a chance to win 4 out of the last 5. The team hasn't been able to get it going. "Yesterday was a pretty big step backwards."
- The Padres haven't won a home series all season. "I don't know exactly why we're struggling at home." You can't blame Petco Park because the Padres' opponents have been hitting home runs. The Padres have struggled in the first inning and they've been outscored approximately 22-5. "It's not easy to play when you're behind almost every night."
- Petco Park does increase strikeouts because pitchers are more aggressive, but the Padres are above the norm.
- On power hitters like Adrian Gonzalez and Anthony Rizzo being affected by Petco Park: "You have to have offensive players who's goal is to beat the opponent and not worry about how it's affecting their numbers."
- Hoyer says there is "a lot" of frustration from the Padres coaching staff. "As frustrated as fans get -- it's no solace -- but I can assure you that everyone in that clubhouse is more frustrated by losses than they are. It's their job, it's their livelihood."
- Hoyer doesn't agree with Orlando Hudson's comments about fans booing.
"I don't agree with what he said."
"Fans are frustrated. I prefer a fan to boo when he doesn't like the effort."
"I understand the fan's frustration and frankly I understand why they boo. I don't like the fact that he kind of turned it around on the fans. I know they're trying hard, but I think the players have to understand that the fans get frustrated when they aren't seeing wins and series loss after series loss."
The Padres do talk to the players about their comments but they keep those discussions internal. -
Mat Latos said after his previous loss "I did my job for the most part..." but the defense let him down. Hoyer says
"I don't think that's the right thing to say, the fielder didn't give up a double off the wall right after that."
Latos was just frustrated and he said something in the heat of the moment. "Mat is very accountable." - "I feel like the effort has been good." He thinks a lot of the players are searching. When teams struggle offensively everyone focuses on effort. "When teams don't score runs, they look flat." He doesn't think it's a lack of effort.
- The fielding is a bigger mystery. "From a defensive standpoint, I really thought we were going to be stronger than last year, from a range standpoint I think we probably are." Last year they were winning games where they were keeping teams under two runs, this year they aren't doing that.
- Hoyer thinks that pitchers that give up a lot of unearned runs and ERA can be misleading.
- Hoyer was cautious with Orlando Hudson by putting him on the Disabled List. Hudson lobbied very hard not to be put on the DL. "We felt getting him to 100% was the right thing to do."
- Logan Forsythe was pulled from the on deck circle of a AAA game to be called up to the Padres. It was Hoyer's call. He didn't want to risk him being hurt because they are already pretty thin in the infield in the farm system. The trainer texted Hoyer that "it didn't look good" for Hudson and the Padres contacted their AAA system. Logan is one of the system's bright spots.
- "I'm actually excited that Brad Hawpe's swinging the bat better." Hoyer doesn't think it's fair that the offensive struggles have been blamed on Hawpe, when the blame really belongs on everyone.
- Anthony Rizzo is leading the PCL with 9 home runs, with 39 RBI and hitting over .400.
"Some time in the future he's going to be a very good Padre, but that time is not now."
- Roster moves will mostly be made due to injury. "These are our guys." They don't have a lot of guys that are "over ripe or ready" in AAA right now.