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December 10, 2014

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interview with:

LLOYD McCLENDON
Q. A year ago you said it was all new.
How different of a feeling is it now and how
much more do you know after a year in the
seat?
LLOYD McCLENDON: I don't know how
much more I know. Is it different, yeah? It's a little
different. Obviously it was a pretty decent year for
us in a lot of different respects. I was looking
forward to Spring Training because you know your
personnel a lot better, we've got a couple of new
additions so it should be exciting.
Q. In terms of that personnel, you
obviously have to feel like you were ahead of
where you were at this point last year?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Well, I would hope
so. Going into Spring Training, we were hopefully
a little bit ahead of the curve. But we'll see.
Q. You made some big moves bringing
in (indiscernible), what still do you need to get
done before spring?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Well, I don't know,
when you try to formulate a ballclub, you want to
show up all your weaknesses and continue to build
on your strengths. But, obviously having Nelson in
the middle of the lineup is going to be tremendous
for us. I don't think you ever have enough pitching.
You know, we talked about it. We'd still like to
have one more bat in the lineup, one quality at-bat,
whether it's a right-hander or left-hander doesn't
make a difference. I think we're sitting in a good
position, and we'll see what happens.
Q. The big thing (Indiscernible). Do
you need another left-hander out there in the
mix?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Well, I'm not sure.
I'm not really saying we lost (Indiscernible). We
obviously haven't signed (indiscernible) as of yet.
But I've always liked two left-handers in the
bullpen. So I guess the answer to your question is
yes.
Q.
Would you like it to be
(indiscernible)?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Yeah, I've made
my feelings known that I like him and I'd like to

have him back. But that's not my decision.

Obviously the market is going to dictate a lot of that
because he has such a year this year, and the
lefties now, it might be a little difficult.
Q. You might have an extra guy in the
pen for a good portion of last year. Is that
something you can ponder again or is that a
luxury that you like the way things fell?
LLOYD McCLENDON: It's a luxury I'd like
to have again. I'm not sure if it's feasible right off
the bat, but it's certainly something we'll play
around with.
Q. Obviously you've got six starting
pitchers, five spots, how do you go into Spring
Training with that? Obviously Felix is your
number one and Iwakuma. Beyond that you
have some young kids and you have J.A. Happ
who is your veteran?
LLOYD McCLENDON:
I think as we
speak, we acquired J.A. Happ to pitch in the
bullpen. We gave up an everyday player for a
starting pitcher. We expect him to be in the
rotation. Beyond that, I'm not sure because we've
got six for five spots, I wish I had eight for five
spots, but we don't. We'll continue to move
forward and let them compete.
Q.
How's that right field situation
shaping up at the moment? I know you're still
looking, but nothing happening?
LLOYD McCLENDON: As we speak right
now today, I mean, obviously we have JJ out there.
And we have Romero. There is a possibility that
Romero could be out there from time to time, yes.
Q. When you look at the Oakland A's,
they traded away Jeff Samardzija, Josh
Donaldson, how surprised were you when you
saw those moves made by the A's?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Well, there is not a
lot that Billy does that surprises me, so I guess I
wasn't surprised.
Q. How do you think that will impact
the division race this year?
LLOYD McCLENDON: I don't know. I've
got my hands full with my club. I'm just going to
take care of the Seattle Mariners.
Q. You won 87 games last year. You
were one game away from the playoffs. You
add Nelson, it's not as simple as adding Nelson

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that would put you over the top. What do you

have to have that puts you guys there where
you want to be?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Well, we've got to
have tremendous preparation in Spring Training.
Obviously we need to stay healthy. The one thing I
tell my players this every year, and I'll say it again
this year, I don't want to get caught up in
expectations.
I want to get caught up in
preparation. I think my guys did a really good job
of that last year, and hopefully they'll do it again
this year. Just go out and run our race.
2014 was a hell of a race but it's over with.
We need to get to the starting line and run another.
Q. Offensively though you feel like you
guys with Nelson, if you do add another at-bat,
that's got to push you in a little better
direction?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Oh, there is no
question. We were challenged from an offensive
standpoint on a lot of different fronts. But I think
having a bat that hits behind Robbie should give
Robbie more pitches to hit. It should give Seager
more opportunities to drive in runs. He's going to
make our lineup deeper and better, there is no
question about that.
Q. Logan Morrison appears to be the
only returning guy?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Listen, I've always
said that playing time is dictated on performance,
and he performed very well. As we speak right
now, I'd be very happy if things (indiscernible).
Q. You talked about it a little bit. Your
shortstop situation, you've got Chris, you've
got Brad. You both are some good moments
last year at times. Where do you go with that?
Obviously you're probably not going to platoon
off-season, what will you do?
LLOYD McCLENDON: I think we're in a
very unique situation because we have two Major
League starting shortstops. We'll let them play in
Spring Training and see which is best. Open the
season and go from there.
We're in a nice position. A lot of clubs
don't have that depth. We certainly have some
depth.
Q. Taijuan's a guy that everybody's
talking about for a long time coming up. What
do you want to see from him this spring?

LLOYD McCLENDON: To continue to

work on his game, become very consistent with
what he's doing with his approach and how he
goes about his business. Quite frankly, I thought
he did a tremendous job in September for us, and
certainly has earned the right to come into Spring
Training and compete for a starting position.
Q. How is Elias doing? Everything
going good?
LLOYD McCLENDON: He checked out
fine. He was in Arizona. He did some throwing
down there.
He threw two or three bullpen
sessions down there. In fact, I was there and I was
very pleased with what I saw. He's back in Texas
working out and getting ready for Spring Training.
Q. We talked a little bit, but what things
did you see from Taijuan that last month? It
wasn't just on the field was it with what he
showed you?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Well, it was on the
field. He showed a lot of maturity, a lot of presence
on the mound. He performed extremely well under
adverse conditions. I was very impressed.
Q. When Paxton was healthy, he was
as good as anybody that age. But coming into
spring, is it just a matter of keeping him healthy
the full year? Getting him stronger?
LLOYD McCLENDON: I think so. He had
a tough injury, one that nobody saw coming. I
think he rebounded pretty well from it and pitched
extremely well for us down the stretch. I look
forward to having a healthy Paxton all year, as well
as a healthy Iwakuma right from the start. We took
our blows early on, and with both of those guys out
of our rotation, it would be nice if they were healthy
and ready to go right off the bat.
Q. Are you interested in seeing what
Montero looks like and some of the stuff he's
doing?
LLOYD McCLENDON: I saw him when I
was there. I saw his workouts. He's in a great
state of mind physically and looking extremely well.
He's working extremely hard and he'll get an
opportunity to compete in Spring Training.
Q. What are the kind of things that you
admire about a player like Nelson Cruz?
LLOYD McCLENDON:
Well, listen,
Nelson's a winner. He shows up every day, he's
ready to play. He plays through nagging injuries.

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He's a big-time player and gets big hits with the

game on the line. I don't know what else you can
ask for. If he does what he did last year, I'd be
extremely happy.
Q. Is there that bat that you talked
about out there for you guys realistically?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Yeah, listen, I'm
not sure what kind of bat you envision, but you
know you talk about make-up and our club and
what we want to look like, I think we have options.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a power guy. It
doesn't necessarily have to be a right-handed bat.
But I think we have options. It could be several
things. It could be a veteran left-hander, and it
could be a veteran right-hander or one of those
youngsters.
We have options. It could be an everyday
player, it could be a switch hitter. It could be a
power hitter. We're going to explore them and see
what makes the best sense for our ballclub at this
particular time. I think that's about as vague as I
can be.
Q. The bullpen group you had last year,
how good was that group?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Oh, they were -for a long, long time deep into the season we were
on the verge of historic numbers out there.
Obviously we tailed off just a little bit. But my guys
were tremendous.
We really shortened up
ballgames from a lot of different angles. I look to
build on that this year.
Q. Zunino, you used him a lot early and
tried to get him some rest late. Going in and
having significant (indiscernible), does that
make it easier this spring going into the
season?
LLOYD McCLENDON: It does. We had a
very difficult pitching staff to catch, and having
Zunino and his abilities back there helps it a lot. I
think it will give us a good opportunity to keep
Zunino fresh throughout the year. We probably
played him a little more than we wanted to early
on.

thought he took some steps forward last year, and I

think he'll continue to move forward next year.
Q. Can you hit him two? Do you like
that spot?
LLOYD McCLENDON: I can. I'm not sure
if I will. Quite frankly, I like him lower in the lineup,
but we'll see how it all plays out.
Q. Austin had such a disappointing end
to last season, and you've talked a little bit.
What do you believe is going to make a
difference this year with Austin, and having a
full kind of off-season and Spring Training with
him?
LLOYD McCLENDON:
Well, I mean,
listen, he didn't play as well as he could have when
he came over from an offensive standpoint, but I
think he won a lot of games for his defense. He's a
better player from the offensive side of the ball
than he showed in September. We probably
played him a little bit more than we should have
down the stretch because I just had so much
confidence in his defense. But I think he's the type
of player that probably needs a game off to stay
strong throughout the year.
You look at his frame and he's such a
greyhound. The grind can get to him a little at
times. So I would suspect that we'd rest him at
least once a week.
Q. James Jones be the logical guy?
LLOYD McCLENDON: Yeah, as we speak
now, yeah. Yeah, Jones did a nice job for us. He
has the ability to play all three.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

Q. What do you need to do to be

consistent with Ackley?
LLOYD McCLENDON: I told him he needs
to become a little more selfish. I think all good
players are selfish to an extent and not worry about
everybody else, be concerned about Ackley a little
bit more. This guy's got tremendous talent. I

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