Results tagged ‘ Josh Johnson ’
Q+A with pitching coach Pete Walker
Here’s what pitching coach Pete Walker had to say during a scrum on Wednesday afternoon regarding several key members of his staff:
Why only one inning for Brandon Morrow when all of the others are going two innings during their first time out this spring?
“It’s what he did last year. We’re going to stick to what worked for him. He had a great spring last year, came along nicely. Gave him the necessary days off that he needed to keep him fresh and things worked very well so he’s going to stick to the plan.”
So it was more his own personal decision to go just one inning rather than the club’s?
“Obviously it worked last year and he wants to get off to the same start he did last year. It’s kind of a mutual decision.”
How is the workload determined for other pitchers?
“More or less it’s going to be a pitch count. It’s going to be 30 pitches and then all of those numbers to start off right now, we’ve discussed them, and obviously the pitches are the primary importance. If some of those starters are listed for two innings, they certainly aren’t going to throw two if it’s a long first inning.
“We have time, we’re getting them right, most of them are on their five-day rotation right out of the chute. The second outing will only be two innings as well. We have an extra four or five days in the spring so we’re going tomake sure these guys are where they need to be at the end of Spring Training to start the season, get the right number of innings and control their pitches throughout.”
On Casey Janssen’s progress from a shoulder injury…
“He’s coming along as expected. It’s a little slow, we’re still hopeful that he’s ready to start the season. If he’s not, we’ll go to Plan B but we’re prepared for that. Right now, he’s doing everything he needs to do to be ready for Opening Day and that’s his goal.”
Janssen’s plan for the next couple of weeks?
“He has a couple of more sides and then we’re going to get him into a couple of live BPs. But his schedule is subject to change at any time. We’re going to take it day-by-day, see how he’s feeling. Our goal is to just get him 100% whether it’s Opening Day or seven days after that. There’s going to be no rush to push him. Obviously, if he’s going to be the closer in Toronto we want him to be 100%.”
How much work does Janssen need to get in before the start of the season?
“I think with him, that’s a tough one because obviously our concerns are him being 100% so it’s impossible to put a number on it. We’d like to get him into games by the 13th or 14th of March. Realistically to get him to start the season, he needs to be able to go back-to-back days, he needs to be feeling great after those back-to-back days because when we bring him up to Toronto and he’s pitching in front of 50,000 people, the expectations are high, the team’s ready to go.
“He wants to be 100%, we don’t want to put him in the situation where it’s a struggle for the first week or two. We certainly wouldn’t do that. I think it’s not really a number of innings, it’s just after that back-to-back outing, if he’s feeling great he’s ready to go.”
Lots of time remaining to work out the kinks…
“There’s plenty of time but certainly we’re not going to rush him right now. He’s coming along at the pace that the doctors recommended and we’re going to stick to it. If there are any setbacks, we’ll go to Plan B. Right now, he’s feeling good and he’s on schedule.”
Josh Johnson lost some velocity last year. Wasn’t entirely unexpected since he was coming off a shoulder injury the year before. Where do things stand now?
“I think he looks really strong. The conversations I’ve had with him, and some of the video I’ve seen of him in the past, he looks really good and he’s feeling really good. I’m very encouraged right out of the chute.
“He has turned into a pitcher. He knows how to pitch. He’s not as concerned with the velocity being in the mid-90s consistently. if he’s in the low 90s at times, he knows how to pitch. He keeps the ball down. He has incorporated that curveball now which is going to help a lot to keep the hitters off balance. But his location and fastball command is impeccable right now and it’s fun to watch.”
With the curveball in place he could become really dominant if the velocity returns…
“There’s no doubt about it. That’s what we’re hoping for. But what he did last year, if he can just carry that into this season, I know he’s really encouraged with the breaking ball. The fastball, if that velocity jumps a click, great. If it doesn’t, we still have a super pitcher.”
On Esmil Rogers…
“He has a tremendous arm. I’ve seen quite a few good arms here to be honest with you. There’s some power and some untapped power. But he’s a guy that came into his own a little bit in Cleveland, struggled a little bit in Colorado. You look at the numbers and you’re trying to figure it out, I don’t know what was going on there. It could have been the Colorado air. But in Cleveland it came together a little bit, used his slider a little bit more and he knows how to spin the baseball and has a power arm. He seems to be a very athletic kid, just learning and getting better.”
Who are the untapped power guys?
“(Jeremy) Jeffress is a guy, tremendous arm. And even some of the non-roster guys I’ve seen so far. Very deceptive deliveries and guys that can definitely help throughout the course of the season.”
Media scrum with Mark Buehrle
On expectations following the club’s busy offseason…
“I think I’ve come to realize that making expectations or putting stuff where we’re going to get to isn’t a good thing because every year I feel like we have a good team. The last couple of years we haven’t gotten to where we want to get to. Coming into a new team, on paper we look good, we have to stay healthy obviously.
“I think that’s with any team, we need to stay healthy and keep guys on the field and I think if we do that then I think we have a chance to get to the playoffs. From there, anything can happen.”
On having to leave family behind in the U.S. because of Ontario’s ban on pit bulls (Buehrle owns four dogs, including one American Staffordshire terrier which is banned in the province)…
“I think we’ve wrapped around it. At the beginning it was, just realizing the family wasn’t going to be there. Miami, we were able to live out in a different suburb so they’re there. But I think the biggest thing on that was we’re trying to bring awareness to the breed ban. Some families aren’t as fortunate as we are to be able to maintain two houses and be able to live away. She’s going to come see us, it’s not like we’re not going to see eachother.
“I’m not going to see the dog for awhile but we’re trying to bring awareness for the breed ban and help out those less fortunate than us. I don’t want to make it a big story all year, it does suck that the family’s not going to be there. But guys go through it, guys deal with it. We’re going to deal with it, we’re going to make it work and I’ll see my dogs whenever I can.”
Any success with people in Ontario on having the ban lifted…
“To be honest, that’s mostly my wife. I’m going to do what I can when I’m there. The last four or five years we’ve done some stuff with the teams that we’ve been with, doing rescue stuff, she has kind of spearheaded it and has been the leader of it. I’ve done what I could but obviously with going to the field every day and playing. She’s not going to be there, we won’t be able to do as much but if she has some stuff I can do in my off time I’m going to do everything I can to try and help out.”
On impact teammates will have without family being around…
“Obviously you’re around these guys a lot so we have a lot of time down here to gel together and get to know everybody. A lot of new faces obviously but yeah, just having these guys around, I know a couple of the guys getting traded over from Miami, playing against some guys, I know Sergio from Chicago. It’s good to know a couple of people over here and it’s going to be fun getting to know everybody and hanging out with guys.”
Been without family before?
“No. We’ve been lucky, this is our first time having to go through this. Kids are just getting into school this August so we haven’t had to go home for school, we’ve had them together. The last three years of this contract are going to be away and it’s something we’re going to deal with. It’s going to be tough in the beginning and not seeing your kids but people deal with it and we’ll make it work.”
Hard feelings about Miami after the club broke its word and dealt him during the offseason…
“We took the chance going in, with a no-trade clause. That was one question my wife and I kept asking, knowing what (Miami management) had done in the past and what the plan was , if it was going to be a long-haul thing or just one or two years. From what we got told, we decided to sign there.
“I don’t want to talk too much on it. I wasn’t too happy at the time and still not too happy with those people down there obviously being lied to. It’s in the past and I’m looking to move forward.
“It took me a couple of months and I think I got over it a little quicker than my wife. I think she holds onto a little more. We both realize there’s nothing we can do about it. From what we were told, it’s kind of hard to let it sink in.”
Did anyone from Miami reach out after the trade…
“(Marlins president David) Samson called me on the trade and then when the article came out where I said that they lied to me, he tried to reach out again and I pretty much said ‘I’ve got nothing to say, I don’t know if you want to hear from me right now. It’s not going to be the friendliest thing.’ I haven’t talked to anyone since then and I don’t really intend to.”
What did Samson say?
“He told me they didn’t see the kind of season we were going to have and the attendance was low. He kind of went that route. He apologized and said that ‘I know we told you these things, but unfortunately we have to do this.’ “
On what he’d say to people who don’t have pets and don’t understand why he is so upset about the ban…
“Being a responsible pet owner, you can’t just dump your dog on somebody else or take a chance of breaking a law and taking him up there. We’ve had people say ‘Oh, you can bring him up here and knowing you have money, no one is going take your dog because they know you’re going to fight against it.’
“But the thing is, Slater will have to sit in a cage until that court date gets there. It could be two weeks or it could be three months. People who don’t own dogs are not going to understand that you’re leaving your family, your kids, behind over a dog. We just feel that all the training we’ve done with our dogs, it’s better they stay with my wife.”
On the supposed myths surrounding pit bulls and what he would say about the breed in general…
“They’re real loyal to their owners. Obviously everybody thinks they’ve got the locking jaws and they’re strong and mean but the way his temperament is, he’s awesome with our kids. He’s awesome when we have parties at our house and kids run in and ask where slater is. Every kid wants to go right to him.
“That’s the shame. Just because the way he looks is kind why we’re going to be separated. I know people are scared of them and freaked out by them but it’s mostly the owners, not the dogs. If you’re going to tie your dog up out back and treat it bad, it’s going to treat you bad right back. If you tie up any dog and don’t show them love and abuse them or don’t show them attention, I think any dog is going to be aggressive and have bad behaviour.
“Often the news stories you see on TV about a pit bull-type dog biting somebody and you look at the dog and it’s not even a pit bull. People just throw that name out there.”
More on Slater…
“We adopted him from a shelter. He was going to be put down the next day. We do a lot of work with Hope Rescues in Illinois. It just happens to be the week she was coming home (to Chicago) from Spring Training that she got returned and she was ranting and raving about this dog and I told if if she felt like that, to adopt it.”
On the upcoming season and the hype surrounding the team…
“You can obviously say we have a good team on paper but that’s why we have to go play 162 games. You don’t crown the winner in spring training off what they did in the off-season. All the experts pick who’s going to win the World Series and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody have the two teams who actually end up in it.
“I like our chances, but we have to come out here and gel together and everybody has to stay healthy.”
Distractions in Miami last year… Johnson said the new stadium caused a lot of issues…
“I’m pretty laid back and don’t let stuff bother me. I like to have fun on the mound. I’m out there laughing. Good start, bad start, I just throw it out the window and get ready for my next one. Obviously I’m down to No. 3 or No. 4 in the rotation, so that’s always a good thing.”
On the Blue Jays getting Dickey and how it changed his outlook on the team…
“When you get a guy like that. The last couple of years he’s been dominating games. I faced him three or four times and two or three losses were courtesy of him. He was fun to watch. He’s a great pitcher.”
On his pitching style…
“I throw four pitches in any count. Obviously I’m not the hardest thrower so I have to go out there and keep guys off-balance. I just know I have faith to throw a changeup in a fastball count. I feel like I can throw any pitch in any count.”
Johnson talks to Toronto media for first time
Recently acquired starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle spoke to the Toronto media today for the first time since the 12-player blockbuster trade with Miami was completed earlier this month.
There wasn’t anything earth shattering in terms of news but Buehrle provided a lot of information about the problems he is going to encounter in Ontario because of his four dogs — including one pitbull. Johnson talked about how he wasn’t all that surprised by being traded because he expected something to happen before free agency. It’s just the timing of the deal that caught the potential No. 1 starter a little off-guard.
My article on Johnson can be found here while my article on Buehrle can be found here. Make sure to check both of them and if you’re not already doing so please give me a follow on Twitter @gregorMLB
Below, I’ve provided the transcript for Johnson’s conference call with reporters:
On his reaction to the trade….
“At first it was a little bit of a shock. I’ve only known one thing and that’s the Marlins ever since 2002 when I got drafted. They’ve always been good to me but as soon as I slept on it, I woke up the next day and I was excited. It was a little bit of a shock, I thought I’d be there for maybe another half season to give it one more run at it but as soon as I woke up the next morning I was excited and ready to move on.”
On whether he’d be interested in signing a long-term extension in Toronto…
“That would be great. That’s the last thing on my mind, is worrying about getting an extension, or how long I’m going to be there. It’s more about winning. That’s all I’ve been about since I started playing baseball. I’m all about winning, that’s all I want to do. It makes everything better. It makes food taste better, it makes your wife happier, your family happier, everything is better when you’re winning.”
What were the major differences between your 2010 season and the one you had last year…
“2010, everything was clicking. Everything was working. I felt like I could throw anything up there and it would be an out, or a swing and a miss, get lucky and a line drive right at somebody. Last year it felt like every ball fell … My timing, my tempo, tempo is everything for me in my delivery. Whenever that’s missing, or it’s off, everything is going to kind of be thrown off. My tempo was all over the place, I was getting into bad habits early in the year. I’d get away from them for a start and I’d get right back to them a couple of starts later. It was tough and frustrating but the last 10 or so starts of the year I felt like I was getting back on track and getting right where I need to get.”
On what he asked John Buck about Toronto and the Blue Jays organization…
“Just kind of how is it, what should we expect? Those kinds of questions. I’ve known nothing else but the Marlins. Mark went through this last year a little bit, got into Spring Training and didn’t really know anybody. But just what to expect, I knew where Spring Training was, I flew down there and kind of saw Dunedin a little bit, where do you live. Just the basic questions that make that transition a little bit easier.
“Buck said that it’s an amazing place to play. The fans are amazing and the coaching staff all the way through the front office and everyone was amazing while he was there and said it shouldn’t be any different.”
On Buehrle saying Johnson turned a corner near the end of the 2012 season…
“Yeah. At the end of the year last year, I’d say maybe the last 15 starts I felt so much better than before. I was kind of fighting myself, my body, trying to do this or that. Maybe trying to find a little bit more velocity but once I started to relax and trust myself, trusted my stuff, it kind of just came out. I don’t know if I was throwing any harder or anything like that but the depth I had on my slider, curveball and the location of my fastball got much, much better.”
On whether he’s talked to any of the current Blue Jays yet…
“Yeah, I talked to J.P., he texted me. I actually met him last offseason in Miami and I talked to him for about five minutes. He texted me and said ‘Welcome, I’ve already got a video on you, I’m watching it, and getting ready for Spring Training to get you back on track.’ I texted Ricky Romero yesterday I believe, maybe the day before, just to tell him if he’s ever in Vegas to let me know and if he needs a throwing partner. I told him whenever I’m in Southern California I’ll hit him up and we’ll get together.”
On his thoughts about the revamped Blue Jays’ roster…
“Extremely excited. The people I hadn’t seen in awhile, just last night, went to a basketball game with them and they were asking me about who’s in the lineup, and just going through it again and I was just like, ‘Wow, it’s even better than what I had first imagined when the trade first went through.’ I’m extremely excited to get it going, to meet the guys and start that camaraderie going.”
On using the curveball more last season…
“I used to throw it back when I first got drafted. Whenever I was in low-A, somebody told me I’m not going to throw a curveball anymore you’re going to throw a slider. So I just had to jump into throwing a slider in the middle of the season and with kind of mixed reviews. The first outing was really good and then after that it was all over the place. The next couple of years I learned how to throw it.
“I didn’t throw a curveball for six-seven years, maybe more than that. Occasionally I’d mess around with it, during flat ground I’d throw it. Then in 2010 I actually started throwing it, but my season was so short, nine starts, and I’d throw it once or twice a game and that was it. A little show me, slow the hitters down and then I’d just throw them a fastball, slider, changeup. Then, this last year I finally learned how to pitch with it.
“This was my first full season to pitch with it and to throw it that much. I was learning the whole year. Good thing I had John Buck back there because he helped me out tremendously. Whenever I was in doubt he would put it down, kind of gave me that re-assurance that this is the right pitch, let’s throw it. So I could throw it how to throw it and when, where to throw it, things like that.”
On whether he’s comfortable using it at any time now…
“Any count. Last year, I started throwing it 0-2, 3-2, 2-0, I was throwing it in every count. It’s a pitch I relied on a lot last year.”
On why he stopped throwing it in the first place…
“They told me not to throw it anymore. It wasn’t consistent enough and actually the game before that I was starting to throw it for first-pitch strikes, two strikes, I finally got that feel for it just like I had in high school. It took awhile, it took half a season to figure out, but then all of a sudden I go to my bullpen the next time out and they said no more curveball. So, I was like, ‘Um ok, I guess I’ll start throwing a slider.’”
On whether he’s talked to any of the coaches yet…
“Yes, I talked to the pitching coach. Talked to John Gibbons really briefly, he texted me the day he got hired and just said I wanted to say happy thanksgiving and I’ll call you after the holidays and stuff like that. Two brief conversations and I talked to Alex a couple of times. Everybody seems nice and everybody’s excited and ready to get this thing going.”
On what went wrong in Miami…
“It was tough. Seemed like everything that could go wrong, went wrong. We’d have a good stretch there in May where everything was going right and I was pitching terrible too. I was maybe 0-3 in five starts in that month or something like that. We went like 21-8 or something like that. But then all of a sudden I started throwing well and the team was playing bad.
“I don’t know if it was more about, sometimes it seemed like it was more about the stadium. It was more worried about all of the new stuff, what’s going to happen next with the stadium and not worrying about just playing baseball and down to the basics of it.”
Gregor Chisholm
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