Baseball starts in a few days – in the meantime, we get used to having these personalities back in front of us. Not just the GM and the manager, but the younger guys who actually get to play the game. Some of them are boring, say the “right” thing all the time, and some are a little more interesting.
Adam Dunn
My favorite guy to listen to on the team right now is Adam Dunn. He’s got an attitude that belies the amount of work he actually puts in, but his humor is pretty infectious. Don’t be mislead – everything I’ve read says that this guy puts in the time and works his butt off. He’s just got a very laid back attitude. The Junkies interviewed him this morning, so go ahead and take a listen. Here are some of my favorite parts:
“I’m not Canseco, man, I’m all nat-u-ral.”
Asked what his best game as a high school QB was:
“You could just pick any Friday night in the fall”
Describing his offseason workouts:
“I did alot of motivational speaking to ’em… just a bunch of crazy stuff that won’t help you any way shape or form in baseball but will get you in shape.”
To me, the most interesting he said:
“My wrist was jacked up, man, towards the end of the year and I didn’t do anything for about a month, month and a half.”
Wait, what? Dunn’s wrist was hurting? There you have it, the explanation for ONLY hitting 38 HRs last year. At one point he was on pace to hit over 40, but he slowed down at the end. That is a little scary that he was hurt, although he didn’t mention that he has a problem anymore. Hopefully he’s feeling great now and ready to top 40 homers this year.
He refers to pitchers as “kickers” in the interview because he doesn’t pay too much attention to them.
He mentioned that he’s been on bad teams before, but he didn’t think it was such a bad team. He always thought it was “only a matter of time” before they turned it around but the season ended before they could. He seemed to think that the team was better than a bunch of other teams he’d been on, even though it had the worst record. Maybe this was because he never pays attention to the “kickers.” Especially the punters. Or whatever he refers to relievers as. Because the bullpen really put them under early in the season, and while they scored enough runs to win more games than they did, they gave up the most runs in the NL.
Anyway, good interview, he’s got a great personality, and it’s fun to listen to. I wish they had asked him about fielding first base, but oh well. And by the way, the most salient point he makes involves Kettle One. Nothing wrong with mixed drinks, but if you’re gonna mix your liquor, no need to get the expensive stuff. As for drinking vodka on the rocks, Dunn needs to get a hold of Ciroc. Or try some better beers.
Riggleman
Riggleman was also interviewed today, this time by Thom Loverro and Kevin Sheehan. A little less funny than Dunn’s, but the manager had some interesting things to say. Here are some of the things he went over:
He was asked about Strasburg, but mentioned Ian Desmond specifically when he said that position players need to be playing, and wouldn’t get the number of ABs in the major leagues. He also said that just because they think they’ll send Strasburg to the minors doesn’t mean he won’t pitch more than once in the spring. And there’s always the chance they decide to “take him to Washington with us.”
Thom Loverro pressed him on Desmond, and the Guzman move to second. Riggleman said Cristian looks good at short, and the primary motivation to move him was that they were worried he was unhealthy. He looks healthy, so now with Desmond they want to make sure he gets enough playing time. They are even giving him some time in the outfield, but if he’s not gonna get enough playing time, he’ll be in the minors.
They’re trying to create an atmosphere for Elijah Dukes to succeed – “It’s his job, we anticipate he’s gonna have a good spring and show the world that he’s ready to take the next step and be a regular in the big leagues.” This, by the way, was his response to the question of whether RF is an open position. In other words, not unless Dukes can’t handle it.
Lannan or Marquis will be the opening day starter, and who ever starts will be based on matchups later in the week. That starter will have to turn around and face the Phillies – and probably Roy Halladay – twice.
There you have it, two interviews, one funny, one informative.