XX Sports Radio: Josh Byrnes interview with Darren Smith (MP3)
- Josh Byrnes says the Padres were more explosive offensively this past road trip and the pitching was good too. Those were the keys to their success.
- Byrnes was "a little shocked" by Alexi Amarista's power. "He's not just a little guy that slaps the ball around, he can drive the ball."
- The front office talks about the ballpark all the time, but it's not something they want to use as an excuse. "It does affect team morale." The Padres need to create a home field advantage.
- There's no real update on Andrew Cashner's injury. He's getting an MRI later today or tomorrow. They're pretty sure it's the lat and not the shoulder joint. He'll likely be out 3-5 weeks and then be back at it.
- Byrnes has asked a lot of question internally about why there are so many injuries on the team. "It's extremely frustrating." They've looked at age, work load, delivery, arm action, volume of breaking balls, background work, strength conditioning and how they treat guys that have symptoms.
- Byrnes' team is working on active trade talks. They're going over scenarios. It's important to get scouts in there to have the most information they can. Byrnes has been the aggressor in the past, but they've been waiting back a little this year to see who comes to them. The team doesn't necessarily need to make any trades.
- Ownership issues makes a difference. "We have to proceed a little more slowly." At this moment Byrnes does not have the power to offer extensions to free agents, but they've talked to players like Carlos Quentin.
- Byrnes' team had been talking about demoting Nick Hundley for awhile. Byrnes wanted pitchers to feel comfortable with Grandal in a park that didn't give up a lot of runs. Buddy Black suggested that they needed Grandal's power in the offensive parks. Black's reasoning eventually won out.
- Both sides got what they wanted out of the Mat Latos deal.