Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio network. Guardians Weekly is brought
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi,
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you this weekend as
we join you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. A packed show for you
today, Stay with us. The second half of our show, we had
a chance to visit with Stephen Kuan and talk to him about another goal Glove
award is second in two major league seasons. Always fun to be joined by
Steven Kuan, and we'll also visit with Matt Foreman, the assistant general manager
for the Cleveland Guardians, and we'll take a deeper dive into the managerial hiring
process, something that hasn't happened very often in recent hears for the Guardians as
they had that long stretch of eleven seasons under manager Terry Franconas. So some
good stuff coming up in the second half of our show. We'll take a
time out, and when we come back, we'll talk about a busy week
on the transaction front. And here's some of the comments of President and Baseball
Operations Chris Antonetti as well. That's coming up on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio
Network. Progressive. We love sports and saving your money, so we'd bundled
them together. Two seconds left on the clock, third field goal range,
and it looks like he's going to go with a five yron. No wait,
the quarterback is skating back on the ice. He's talking with his caddy.
They're pulling the goalie. He skates off the fairway. Has to Ketcher
lives off his button right away. They've bugled their home and auto with charts
with Progressive touchdown savings verting goal for brisk Kesh ten Jerms Company affiliates and other
injuris just count not available in all stateser situations. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly.
Jim Rosenhaus back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. Busy week
on the roster construction front for the Guardians as a couple of deadlines have come
and gone. Tuesday, teams had to set their forty man rosters for protection
from the Rule five draft coming up at the winter meetings, so they wanted
to make sure that the proper moves were in place, and for the Guardians,
a surprising day. To many, they added to the forty man ross
a couple of young pitchers that they're very high on. Right handed Daniel Espino,
a former top prospect, still is, but he's been hurt for the
better part of a season and a half now, so really hasn't had a
chance to show what he can do since the early stages of the twenty twenty
two season when he was pitching at Double A Acron. And they've also added
relief pitcher Kate Smith, who we saw in Major League campus season ago had
a very strong year this past season between High A Lake County and Double A
Akron. He is really on the radar as a back end reliever with some
good stuff for World Baseball Classic. Member for Team Canada, so some good
stuff there from Kate Smith. But to make room for those two arms,
they designated for assignment reliever Michael Kelly, who we saw a little bit during
the season last year. But the shaker to many was the designation for assignment
of right handed pitcher Cal Quantrell had a fifteen win campaign in twenty twenty two,
but shoulders injuries really set him back a year ago and it just wasn't
the season that he had hoped for, and he was designated for assignment on
Tuesday and then traded to the Rockies on Friday. More on that in a
little bit, but first some of the comments from Chris Antonetti on the cal
Quadrille situation and the other roster moves that were made to set the forty man
roster. We have a great deal of appreciation for all of Cal's contributions to
our team over the past handful of years and how hard he's worked. But
ultimately, you know, we made the determination that you with where we were
in the off season, we wouldn't be able to commit the resources necessary to
keep him through the arbitration process. So once we did that, we made
the Once we made that determination, we made the decision yesterday. Rather than
losing another player and designating another player to create room for the two players we
added, we made the determination and designate Cal a couple of days early.
What's your prognosis. I'm he's about six months post stop right now. He's
doing a flyball program right now, and hopefully he'll progress the throwing here at
some point soon and then build up build up from there. We don't have
a clear time frame yet though, so Chris by resources. I assume you
mean financial, and then what does that suggest about the payroll or the rest
of the winter and your means to make external additions. Yeah, I think
we'll stay engaged with cal Zach, but we have to make the determination.
Obviously, we look at what the arbitration projections are and what the expected contributions
might be for that salary, and we made the determination and in our context,
we were better off allocating those dollars in a different way. And so
you know, if if we don't trade call the next couple of days and
he's a free agent, we'll stay engaged with him and certainly wouldn't rule out
him returning to us, it just wouldn't be through the arbitration process. Chris,
did you know the uncertainty with Bally's sports TV contract? Did that play
into this at all? Paul, We've touched on that before. We don't
yet have clarity on that other than there's financial uncertainty. So that makes things
a bit harder to plan. It's difficult to plan in a normal year at
this point in the offseason, as we're still trying to wrap our arms around
what our revenues might be. The Ballet's component adds more uncertainty, and that
certainly makes it harder. Chris, where do you feel like you're at starting
pitching depth wise? I know you had to dig pretty deep into that last
season. Is that an area you feel confident in or that you need to
address? I think we'll always be looking to add depth there, Zach.
I think we do feel good about the group we have returning in some of
the upper level options in our farm system, but I do think that's a
place that we will look to add depth if possible as we as we move
into the winter. I think we use four teams starting pitchers last year and
right now, I'm not sure I could give you who are twelve, thirteenth
and fourteenth starting pitcher would be so to the extent we can add depth there,
we certainly will, but I don't think that's a typical for really any
team at this time of year. I'm guessing most teams are probably in a
position where they're looking to add a one through five starter or multiple one through
five starters. Thankfully, we feel really good about the group we have in
place there, and we just need to make sure we're building depth beneath death
Chris, would it be easier to trade Quantrill now or I'm sure you must
have tried to move him before, you know, set and a roster.
Yeah, we've had We've been engaged with teams in trade conversations. Ultimate Ultimately,
we haven't been able to find that right partner yet, but the next
couple of days we'll continue to give us opportunities to do that. Do you
have any updates on the coaching staff. We are working through that now.
Actually, Stephen has been in town this week and we've been working with him
and trying to complete that. Our hope is that by the time we break
for Thanksgiving we'll be able to announce our coaching staff in full. It's a
lot to get done in the next few days, but we're hopeful we'll be
able to do that. Does this change your approach with Shane Bieber? I
mean, do you look at him more as you know kind of you're still
your number one starter? I mean going you know, do you project him
like, you know, start opening the season with you guys? Yeah,
I'm not. I'm not sure there's any connection between the two. Paul.
We had to make a decision on cal We're excited to continue to have Shane
Lee our rotation moving forward, and we're really encouraged by the fact that he
came back and made a couple of starts at the end of the year and
look pretty good. And he's had a really productive offseason so far, and
it's setting a great foundation to have a really successful twenty twenty four. Chris,
what were the reports on Kate Smith's from last year. Yeah, Kid's
been exciting to see his continued progress. You got an exposure last year in
the WBC for Team Canada and and when the season and put together a really
good year in Triple A for US. Really, he's a big, physical
right hander with a fastball that that really plays and his secondary stuff both is
split and slider. You know, made some strides this year, and you
know, we believe that he's he can be a really effective major league labor
for US and then in the not too distant future, Chris, Kyle Manzardo
uh named to the first team All Fall League and slugged over you know,
five twenty for them out there. Just anything you can say about his improvement
in terms of his power numbers. I would actually highlight both Kyle and Chase
the latter had an outstand had outstanding fall leagues. You know, we partnered
with them too with some specific goals for them to work on while they were
out there, and both of them did a really extraordinary job and that and
I think with Kyle we saw some of the top end exsit velocities. He's
hit some balls a long way out there, which was really encouraging to see.
And I think he's now back fully healthy and can go into the offseason
preparing for spring training. But he finished up the season really really well.
Not included in those stats I think are the three I think he had three
homers in the postseason there and really so I don't think even his final numbers
will show the totality of his performance where he and Chase both continuing to play
well in the in the full league playoffs. Any updates on Tristan how he's
progressing with the elbow, Yeah, progressing well, you know, hopefully at
this point it's just a normal offseason as he gil prepares for twenty twenty four.
So nothing new on that front. So that was Tuesday when cal Quantrell
was designated for at Simon and some other moves were made and Chris had made
mention that they still had an opportunity to make a trade for cal and they
did, acquiring young care Cody Huff from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Quadrille.
Huff spent last season in the Single A California League. He's very highly
regarded as a defensive catcher and also put up some decent numbers offensively. He's
a former seventh round pick out of Stanford. Also on the trade front,
on Friday, the Guardians exchanged relievers Angel Delo Santos, who had done some
nice work for Cleveland out of the bullpen the past two seasons. He's been
traded to San Diego and acquired from the padres Is right hander Scott Barlow,
who the Guardians are very much familiar with from his time with Kansas City.
A reliable back end reliever for the Royals, especially in twenty one and twenty
two. Those seasons a combined one hundred and forty appearances, and a lot
of that in high leverage situations late in games. This year a slow start
for the Royals, but then really came on down the stretch after being traded
to San Diego at the deadline, So Delo Santos on his way to the
po Andre's Barlow on his way to the Guardians, who also signed Ramon Loreano
to a one year deal to avoid arbitration. So all of these moves coming
on Friday, the trade of Cal Quantrill to the Rockies in exchange for a
young minor league catcher, Cody Huff, and then the Barlow de Los Santos
deal and the Loreano signing. The Guardians trying to clean things up before the
eight pm deadline on Friday night to tender contracts to players, and all thirty
four remaining unsigned players on the guardians forty man roster were tendered contracts in advance
of that eight o'clock deadline on Friday night, So a lot going on.
Chris Antonetti explains the moves. As we announced yesterday, we acquired Scott Barlow
from the San Diego Padres exchange for Angel Dale Santos. We're excited ad Scott
to the organization. Obviously we've had a chance to compete against him for a
number of years while he was with Kansas City. But for us, we
viewed Scott as a a guy that can come in and help us late in
late innings, he's got experienced closing, He's pitching a lot of leverage situations,
so hopefully he can be a key piece for us in the bullpen,
especially in those times when the games are close and late. Chris, what,
what was the difference between d Loo and Barlow in your mind? How
did that balance out? Yeah? I think in the end, we really
like Scott's experience pitching in those late innings. One of our goals was,
you know, as we talked about last year, we did not you know,
we didn't perform as well on the late innings and lost a lot of
those close games. So what we were hoping to do is that another leverage
reliever that could help us and when those games are tight, and it gives
us another option on the days when a manual isn't available or you know,
maybe a little bit fatigue, we have another option to go to back there.
Chris does I guess I saw some of the projections on barbwow salary,
it's gonna be around six or seven million. Is this kind of a trade
off? Law? Control it all? Coincidentally, their salaries or projected salaries
are in the same general ballpark. But obviously we need to figure out how
to manage payroll. But it's not necessarily a one for one tie there,
Terry. But I just I mean in terms of, like you said,
this guy fits a significant need yep, Barlow and so that that's all I
was just thinking, because you know, with with the money and that and
uh so, uh what is about how do we Terry? Had we not
made the move with cal, I'm not sure we would have been able to
acquire Scott. There we go if I could, if I could ask a
better question, we would have got there quicker. You see, like an
expanded role with Lariano. Now, maybe tell me a little an expanded role
with yeah Ramon Mariano? Yes, yes, yeah, So Ramon came over
last year, did a good job for us, as you know, both
playing right field and occasionally in center. So exactly how they'll be deployed we'll
figure out once we have a complete sense the roster. But we think he's
part of the puzzle for helping us be a better overall team next year.
What did you learn about him? And like that short span that you guys
had with him this past year, I think he maybe mostly came his advertise,
Mandy, a guy that puts up really good at bats against left handed
pitching, especially, has some power, plays well defensively, especially in right
field, and has the ability to slide over to center. So we think
he compliments our roster really well. I saw I forgot whether Barbwell pitched well
at the end of the year or the first part of the year. I
don't know. The stat's right in front of me, Chris, but what
was going on with it. It was like he kind of had two seasons
yeah against while he was with Kansas City and actually even I think a couple
of games against So he struggled a little bit against left handed hitters in particular.
That's something that's that hasn't been an issue for him in his career and
wasn't an issue for him when he went to San Diego, and he did
pitch really well in the second half while he was with the Padres. Now
they're they're kind of cutting budget too, and all that there is that part
of the reason he became available. Would you would you say I would have
I would defer to you know, Aj on that one. Terry have enough
challenges in managing our payroll and situation, let alone someone well, you had
a bigger one like that, then you have more challenges or more something.
So yeah, hey, Chris, is there any thought of Cole Calhoun coming
back? I'm not sure what his situation is right now. He's a free
agent, Jeff, so he's one of a number of guys that will continue
to stay in touch with as the offseason progresses. With Cody Huff, what
kind of what can you tell us about him? We're excited to add Cody
to our system. It's a guy we like that of the draft as well.
He's got a really good reputation defensively, receives the ball extremely well.
That's a really good job leading with leading and pitching staff, and we feel
there's some upside to him offensively. So we're excited to add him into our
system and gives us another catching option that could contribute it to me major league
level. Down line, at some point, you feel with the trade of
Quantrill, you have enough well right now front, I guess the top five
starting pitching at least, we feel really good about the quality of the group
we have. Paul, if everyone stays healthy and you know, can make
thirty plus starts, I think we feel really good about where we'll be at
the end of the year. But we also appreciate that things don't always go
as planned, So if there are opportunities for us to add depth to the
group that we have, we will look to do that. As President of
Baseball Operations, Chris Antonetti, a busy busy week for the Baseball Ops department,
as not only were they shoring up the roster and taking care of things
that had to be because of deadlines, but they're also still interviewing for vacant
coaching spots on the major league staff. Well, stay with us when we
come back. We will visit with Stephen Kwan, who for the second straight
year both the years of his major league career, now wins a Gold Glove
for Outstanding defensive play out in left field. He joins Andre c the second
baseman, who also won a Gold Glove and a Platinum Glove as well.
So the great stuff coming defensively for both Jmenez and Quanta. Will visit with
Stephen Quan after this timeouts the one too swung on line drive base it left
center field, Quan in the gamp to cut it off. Carpenter's going to
third throw the third slide tank Gotta what a play by Quan. How my
the pitch and it is swung on, ripped toward the gamp and left center
diving catch by Quan. What a play by the Gold Glover. Welcome back
to Guardians Weekly. We are joined now by one of the two Guardians Gold
Glove winners doing it for a second straight season, left fielder Stephen Kwan.
And Stephen, you back up, what is a really prominent award for defensive
excellence and when you do it again that second time, what level of satisfaction
is there for you to gain another Gold Glove award this season. Yeah,
it's super affirming, and I think it's also super affirming for all the people
that helped me get there. Obviously a lot of people had a hand in
that, and just being able to kind of put in the work and show
people that you know, doing the small tedious stuff every day pays dividend.
I think that's that's a really cool message to share. And obviously, for
myself, it's something that I've always prided myself on. Even when the hitting
doesn't go great, I know that I can make an impact with the glove
and it showed there and it's such an individual award, But you kind of
touched on it there that there are a lot of people to thank, And
I know you had mentioned earlier your center fielder Miles Straw is a big key
for you, and explain how that works and how that makes you a better
player. Yeah. Absolutely, And I mean I think it's it's criminal that
he wasn't at least mentioned for the goal glove stuff. I mean, he
makes my job so much easier out there. His range seems endless, you
know, left center, right center, doesn't even matter where his position.
He just somehow finds a way to cover so much ground. But for me,
at least, it makes it really easy to you know, shade and
keep towards the line I think where a lot of like the sexy players at
least are made or down the line or in the foul territory. But the
only reason I'm able to do that is because I know that that left center
gap is going to be covered by Miles again, like I said, whether
he's even shaded there or not, Like he just has a knack for finding
that ball in his glove. So if it was a different center fielder,
you know, maybe a different story, but I would I have to give
a ton of credit to miles out there for making my job much easier.
I know we touched on it a little bit a year ago, but you
were a career center fielder for the longest time, yet last year you made
the switch to left subtle differences are Are there some big keys that you had
to adjust to to become an outstand Yeah, no, a lot of a
lot of differences really. I mean the most obvious one, the angle is
is it's much more different, but I mean there's just less grind and left
field, so a lot of the plays that are made are kind of off
that first initial jump. In center field, it's more like you got to
get the good jump, but then you know you have to have really efficient
strides towards the ball and you know you got to make the play there.
So it was that was a big learning curve. And then it's also in
center field, at least I was. I know, I was really good
at playing balls off the wall, But of course, like I said before,
with more ground, you get less of those plays. But in left
field, big powerful varieties, especially in the big leagues, they're pepper and
the ball off the wall, especially in Cleveland with the high wall. So
I think that works to my benefit at least that I know I can play
the wall really well, keep some doubles to singles, or you know there's
a run around first and a ball down the line, we can keep them
from scoring. So a lot of those things, a lot of those things
playing to it had a lot of help obviously from the coaches and getting me
there, but it was it was a big transition, but it there was
some benefits center field that I had for that. You mentioned coaching, and
you had a new coach for the Guardians this year at the major league level
in terms of outfielders in JT McGuire, but mentioning that you and he went
back aways in the minor league system, and what did he do for you
coming up to kind of set that foundation to half success at the major league
level defensively? Yeah, No, I think the biggest thing that kind of
come on I was he just had a lot of drills and a lot of
like inside that I had never seen before from like an outfield coach. Like
I feel like, you know, in a little league, high school travel
ball, it's like outfield drills consist of like quarterback drill and then you know
maybe some live, live stuff. But like with him, it was very
methodical. It was very intentional, Like, you know, we go out
there on windy days and he has a tennis racket and these little light like
squishy golf balls, so he hits it up in the air and the ball
is dancing like I've never seen that before. I failed on that a couple
of times, and I'm like, oh gosh, Like you know, this
isn't just out here to check off a you know, check the boxes,
like he wants us to get better, teaching us different things. Hitting a
little squishy balls with a fung go as literally as hard as you can while
we're sprinting in Like I think it was those things where I was like,
okay, like this guy obviously loves his craft, and I was just somebody
I wanted to attach myself to. And through the miners, we would always
consult each other about different things, kind of unmarking some things I learned in
college. He gave me very tangible proof of like what the big leaders do,
Like he pulled up Echiro Diffrank who are on a lot of those things,
and it showed me what I needed to get to to become an elite
outfielder. So a lot of my success, i'd have to I'd have to
say it was through JT. And that's all going to get the baseball if
you touched on it earlier, keeping runners from taking extra bases. And a
lot of that is arm strength. You have a strong arm. But Michael
Brantley always used to say that that outfield assists were in the legs because of
how you went and got it. And is that the biggest key playing those
cameras off the wall and things like that to make your arm look really good?
Sometimes I think, yeah, I think another part of the story is
the quick release. I have also shorter, shorter limbs in general, So
the kind of transfer time of getting the ball from my glove to out of
you know, or ball in my glove to then getting it out and throwing
it, that's just gonna be a lot faster than you know, somebody with
longer levers. So I think a little, you know, biologically, I'm
blessed in that aspect too. But but to go back to what Brandley said,
like those balls coming in, like you have to attack those fearlessly almost,
like you know, we talk about like do or die balls, Like
there's I mean, runners an MLB or fast or athletic, like you can't
kind of gingerly get a ball and like kind of go up to it thinking
that like, okay, after I catch this, like you know, I'm
gonna I'm gonna make up four of my arm, like you gotta sprint through
it, snatch that ball and then with the momentum that cares your throw.
So it's a lot of those things, but I would agree it's it's big
a lot on the legs. It starts from there, Stephen Quand joining us
a goal glove winner for a second straight season in his major league career,
and Steven a year ago. I mean it was a haul for Guardians players
taking gold gloves away, and this year it's you and Andre Cimenez who wins
a gold glove. You have a unique view from the outfield of some of
the great plays that he makes. And how much can you appreciate what he
does to earn another gold glove? I mean kind of the same as I
was talking before, like he does with the little tedious stuff he works every
day. I will say my death perception isn't great just because obviously I'm in
left field. He's the second base, so like balls that are to his
left into his right. I can't really see how far to the left and
right it is, but to that point also, like anytime does a ball
hit that way and he doesn't get it, I'm like, oh, so
nobody could have got that, Like that must have been way in the gap.
I'm just so used to seeing him make every single playoffusly the ones,
the routine ones right at him, balls up the middle, balls to his
left, like it's it's unbelievable. Like people use the analogy of a vacuum,
but I truly think, like he epitomizes that to the most. Any
ball on the ground that hits him, I mean, or even in the
air like he gets to it's it's truly amazing. Stephen Kwan joining us,
and you wrap up your your second major league season the Guardians with some transition
here this soft season, and personally for you, any changes in how you're
going to go about it preparing for spring training with two years in the books
and maybe some learning experiences from a year ago. Yeah, absolutely, I
think last year with kind of how we finished in the off season or in
the postseason, I mean, and then obviously it was like the whirlwind of
the year. I took a lot of time just appreciating how what happened,
like kind of looking in the rearview and just you know, processing like what
really happened. And in doing that, I think I started a little too
late. I don't feel like I was super ready for spring training this year.
So with that in mind, I'm trying to be on the other end
of that, like I think I wanted. You know, I'm starting a
little earlier than I normally would, working out a little more than I would
on different things, and seeing kind of how that takes me. And I
was talking to you before, Vugue was telling me about how every off season's
a little different, and I think that gives me confidence to kind of go
into this head first and you know, try something new that I wouldn't normally
try. And you mentioned Steven Vote introduced last week as the new manager for
the ball club. Very small sample size, but early impressions of him just
on some small conversations. Yeah, I mean, obviously he talked with great
confidence, great poise. Obviously he was very close or he's not very far
removed from the game, so he's gonna have a great insight on that really
excited, but also another end. Obviously he had his great years with the
A's and I grew up right around there. I admitted they didn't grow up
an A's fan, but it's hard to ignore when he's putting up numbers like
that every single year. So as a fan of baseball in general in the
Bay Area, like, I'm super excited to be under him and learn as
much as I can. And for the team, it obviously didn't finish the
way most of the players expected or wanted it to. But what's that mindset
in the offseason now as you prepare for a new season coming up here in
twenty twenty four. Yeah, I talked with Josh and Steph about that.
Actually, I think it's obviously that's not how we'd want to do it,
But I think it's good that a lot of us didn't have years that we
wanted and the team didn't do as well as we would have wanted, because
I think, again, after that last year of just you know, Cinderella's
story, we weren't we weren't picked to be you know, winning any games,
blah blah blah. Like you know, there was kind of like a
high and mighty feel I think that we had where you know, if we
do the same thing, we'll be in a good spot. I think getting
kind of punched in the face a little bit is going to reset that mindset
and you know, really bring bring the whole team back down to earth.
And I know it's done that for me at least. I never want to
feel that way on the last series of the of the season, thinking these
games don't matter at all. You know, I want to make sure we
play meaningful baseball as much as we can. I want all our teammates to
be doing as well as they can. I think it's going to really motivate
a lot of us to perform the best that we can going into the next
year. Well, Steven, as always, we appreciate the time. Congratulations
on the gold Glove. It's an annual thing now in your major career,
and that's a great thing to be able to say. Yeah, I'm hoping,
so I hope we can keep that going. I appreciate your rosie.
Thank you. Always. Great to have Stephen Kwan join us and can congratulations
to him on his second consecutive Gold Glove award. Stay with us while we
come back. We'll hear from assistant general manager Matt Foreman, and take a
deeper dive into the managerial hiring process. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians
Radio Network. Why don't go away, folks, This has got a chance
to be a classic ending progressive. We love sports and saving you money,
so we'd bundled them together. It's forty love here in the third set,
and there's the bell. She's coming off the bench hop looking for a quick
knockdown. But wait, she's driving to the hoop co town goes the champ.
That's another double fault. She'll be shooting too to serve us up.
And here comes the left hook. She's bundled her home and auto insurance with
progressive Swish ace savings to PKO for CHRISI keshteen Urns Company affiliates and other insurans
discot not availble in all states of situations. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly.
Joining us now Matt Foreman, assistant general manager for the Cleveland Guardians, and
we wanted to add Matt on this week with being not too long that Stephen
Vote was officially announced as the manager for the Guardians last Friday, and he's
a week into the job, and Matt, I know you were referenced a
couple of times in his introductory press conference from Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff about
your role in the process and coordinating that process and how efficient and effective that
turned out to be. First off, when you were given that assignment,
it seems overwhelming because it's been a while. And what was your reaction when
they said, Hey, Matt, why don't you kind of put this whole
thing together here and facilitate things as we get going. Yeah, Rosie,
thanks for having me on. I think I don't know that I would have
said it was an efficient process, but hopefully, hopefully it was an effective
one. You know, we had so many people across the organization involved over
a number of weeks and couldn't be more excited about hiring Stephen Vote as our
as our next manager. And yeah, I think you know, fortunately,
because we have such a collaborative dynamic, everybody across the organization who contributed to
the process made it made it so seamless. So, you know, a
lot of ways I was playing air traffic controller for the process, but we
have such a great group who contributed to bring the process to life. And
when you look back on it, I'm sure you want to kind of cast
that wide ranging net of potential candidates. How did you determine what's too much
and maybe what's not enough to try and find that happy medium so that you
really got a good cross section of potential candidates for the job. Yeah,
we started really broad. I think we probably had a list of about fifty
initially, and we wanted to make sure that we had a diverse group of
candidates with a variety of skills and experiences and backgrounds. And you know,
we started with a ton of reference work to get to know candidates through other
people's lenses. And I think you're right, it's a it's a balance of
zooming in and zooming out, making sure that you know, at each turn
we were being you know, thoughtful and open, open minded, but also
narrowing things down as we got more and more information. So that was the
art and science of the process of working toward a decision. But to your
point, I think the process itself was just so invigorating and enlightening and educational
in so many ways, and I hope in that regard developmental both for the
people that we got to know in the process and for people across the organization
who contributed to the process. When you look at managerial jobs, I'm sure
throughout baseball there are some who were a certain candidate would look at a certain
jobs and say, oh, man, that's going to be a tough one.
And there's others where they would say, hey, you know, I
like a lot of the things that are in place, And what did you
hear from from candidates that that made this an attractive job. Well, I
think we've had a great deal of continuity and stability, both from an ownership
and you know, front office perspective, but also a coaching staff perspective.
I mean, Tito, you know, was such an influential figure in our
organization over the last decade plus, and he made the joke I think at
his last press conference that oftentimes you have a hug at the first press conference,
and you don't often have a hug at the next press conference. And
I think from a distance, and the feedback we heard is that people appreciated
the way that we partnered with Tito and the stability that we were able to
create together by having such a supportive environment. Matt Foreman's joining us, so
he's the assistant general manager for the CLI Guardians, and he was the coordinator
of the managerial search process. And it started a little bit earlier, as
Tito had had made some references that this very likely was his last season and
it turned out to be. Was that an advantage in certain ways in that
it wasn't something that happened a week or two after the season, but but
you had a pretty good idea of what was coming here for a little bit
before the end of the season. Yeah. I think in so many ways,
Tito was selfless and thinking about the organization's best interest by communicating how he
did, what he did and when he did to you know, Chris and
Mike, and that gave us a little bit of a head start to be
able to know that Tito encouraged us to begin thinking about what a future would
look like with a different manager, and so, you know, ultimately,
I think we ended up one of several openings across the league, and I
think we were the first at least formal official announcement across the league, and
so I think we had a little bit of a head start relative to the
to the league and you know, in our process, and it allowed us
to be really thoughtful about what are we seeking in this position and who are
all the possible candidates, who could you know, who could fit that criteria
for what we're looking for. So you get to the finish line and it's
Stephen Vote, who is just a year removed from his playing career. You
said you mentioned earlier you had not met him until this process began. What
were some of your first impressions, maybe from just what you had heard from
other people or viewed from a distance, compared to that first meeting that you
had had with him. Yeah, well, I think the common refrain from
people who we spoke with about Steven was just how great of a teammate he
was. And I think that's one of the highest compliments you can you can
pay someone, especially in the in the baseball industry, is just he was.
He had a reputation that he had earned over you know, a sixteen
year professional career, ten years in the major leagues, and you know,
six or seven different organizations, as an incredible teammate, who cared deeply about
the people around him, who wanted to bring out the most in everybody.
And those are some of the characteristics that initially stood out and certainly those qualities
and attributes were illuminated by Steven as we got to know him, you know,
over the last several weeks. And I think Chris had mentioned in the
press conference to introduce Steven that we were looking for a caring connector, a
collaborative partner, and a self confident learner. And Stephen really embodied each of
those things through others and through our direct experiences with him in the process.
AND's assistant general manager Matt Foreman, and we thank him for his insights into
the managerial hiring process. That's going to do it for our show this week.
A reminder no show next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. We'll
take some time off as most of America does over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend,
and we'll join you the week after next, so we hope you can join
us then. Until then, as always, thanks going out to Brian Motse
for all of his help on our broadcast each week and until we join you
in early December. This is Jim rosen House reminding you that you've been listening
to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly has been
brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians Fans save hundreds on car insurance