Padres Manager Mike Shildt talks postseason plans and injury updates

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the Padres are going to the playoffs again. Mike Shelt, their manager, joining us right now in foul Territory. Mike, great to have you on the show. And first off, congratulations. How pomped are you to bring this group to the postseason?

00:00:15
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, thanks guys, good to be here. We're pumped, We're excited.

00:00:20
Speaker 3: You know, back to back playoffs for the Padres for four of the last six years.

00:00:25
Speaker 2: Good time to be a Padre.

00:00:28
Speaker 4: I love it, shilty have you you? I'm just thank you.

00:00:31
Speaker 5: I was going to say, move that water bottle and then you're trying to hydrate after all the champagne.

00:00:35
Speaker 1: He's got a water bottle deal, that's right.

00:00:37
Speaker 4: Just the just the cap though, just lid with no cap.

00:00:40
Speaker 6: Yeh.

00:00:40
Speaker 5: But I don't think I think this is right. You've never managed a losing team, is that correct? In your career in the big biggies now in.

00:00:49
Speaker 4: The minor league?

00:00:49
Speaker 1: Like a losing record, saying a losing.

00:00:51
Speaker 4: Record, have you?

00:00:53
Speaker 6: No? I'm not no.

00:00:54
Speaker 4: I mean that's something to hang your hat on right there.

00:00:56
Speaker 5: I mean, there's not a lot of managers in this game that can do it for as many years as you've done it.

00:01:01
Speaker 4: Never had a losing record. What's your secret?

00:01:03
Speaker 3: So I can tell everybody, Oh, good players. I mean, let's don't pretend here, let's don't kid ourselves, gentlemen.

00:01:15
Speaker 2: That's good.

00:01:16
Speaker 4: That's a good answer.

00:01:16
Speaker 1: You did good players, and you found the right team for it with San Diego.

00:01:20
Speaker 4: So so let.

00:01:22
Speaker 1: Me ask you about Aj Preller and how he's looked at by your team and your players, because I always think that players on a contender desperately want to sign from their front office that they care and that they're invested, and Aj clearly is that guy. He went nuts nuts this past trade deadline. Do you see that, Like when you guys were popping models the other day, are they going up to him like thanks for bringing me here or thanks for believing in us and supplementing this absolutely?

00:01:49
Speaker 2: Absolutely?

00:01:49
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, listen, it's a privilege to work with Aj. He's it's hard to qualify who's the best general manager, who's to qualify the best anything in our industry.

00:02:00
Speaker 2: I wouldn't trade it for the world.

00:02:02
Speaker 3: Uh. It is so nice to work with a guy that competes and cares and works as hard as I do, or potentially even harder. He is all about winning, all about the padres, and he's very he's really brilliant. He's an amazing and now this I could say with a lot of confidence. He is in the top five easily and the best evaluators of talent in the game of baseball.

00:02:26
Speaker 2: Along with his his staff, they're they're amazing.

00:02:29
Speaker 3: Amateur scouting, International scouting Chris Kent leads that professional scouting Pete de Young.

00:02:36
Speaker 2: But AJ is a.

00:02:38
Speaker 3: Not only a great evaluator and a really dedicated to winning and but also he's got some got some real cajones.

00:02:45
Speaker 4: Man.

00:02:45
Speaker 3: He ain't afraid to pull the trigger and he wants to win. And I love riding with him. We go back and forth, and you know, we're both passionate guys, but there's nobody I'd rather ride with his GM And to your last point, you know, the players obviously appreciate that. You guys have been in clubhouse, know what that feels like. You know, we knew our part was to get to the trade deadline and be in it, which we were. We fault scratched and called to overcome adversity, which most everybody does.

00:03:09
Speaker 2: Became on the good.

00:03:10
Speaker 3: Side, and AJ stepped in and so yeah, there's guys that clearly love aja, include myself in our clubhouse.

00:03:17
Speaker 7: There was reports before about how he is so like he's involved with a lot of stuff.

00:03:22
Speaker 4: There's arguments. You just said it.

00:03:24
Speaker 7: Somebody is competitive, somebody that is smart, and somebody that is driven. You're gonna have arguments. What's the one thing that you guys butt heads about that also helps the team grow and improve and you have those good quality arguments?

00:03:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's healthy. You know, we talked about this a lot amongst ourselves. You know, like you said, passionate, competitive, driven, greater, good conviction. But the real key to it is when that does settles. First of all, he's our general manager, and you know I took my hat and you know, serve with the pleasure. But we walk out and lockstep and that's the key to this thing. You know, we whatever the decisions made, and he has the final hammer. You know, we go and we ride together and and we make it the best decision possible.

00:04:20
Speaker 2: And you know, you can't ask for much more than that.

00:04:22
Speaker 5: Quite honestly, Shelty, do you ever look at at Preller? Because I appreciate all the praise that you're giving me when you're saying I'm the best evaluator, So you got to call him Preller because I my ego gets just too blown up when you Okay, So, but do you ever look at Preller and just say because I had never met him until last time I was in San Diego and I had played for him when he was at the Rangers, and I'd never met him. All the times I've been to San Diego, I met him, And do you ever look at him and say, he look he just dresses like a like a fifteen year old skater boy, like off the street, because he had the he had like the great I'm like looking at him, going, I.

00:04:57
Speaker 4: Am so jealous.

00:04:57
Speaker 5: He was in shorts and like a nice button up, you know, skater shirt with the top button button, and his hair is a mess, and I'm like, this guy's living the life right here.

00:05:07
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's living it, dude.

00:05:08
Speaker 2: He He's just him.

00:05:10
Speaker 3: He's authentic who he is, who he is, and I can pretend to be anybody else. He's one of those dudes that like has his own style that really really works for him.

00:05:19
Speaker 2: If I try it look like a complete goober.

00:05:21
Speaker 3: But I'm not, you know, I don't have his style to begin with really, So, yeah, he's got some some game that just kind of is natural.

00:05:28
Speaker 2: But he's uh, he's got his own stick.

00:05:32
Speaker 7: And he can shoot some hoops too, which everybody knows. If you ever went through the Padres system, they always they got the nice hoop in the back, even back in sixteen when I was there. What about Tatis? What about Fernando Tatis? Is he have you guys gotten any more answers about his sickness, not the flu, not COVID, whatever it is. Is he going to be back? And when he's back, has he lost weight? Has he you know, been able to stay doing some baseball stuff.

00:06:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, listen, he's just been sick. Man, He's been you know, just I don't know, he's rundown. He's he's been posting every day all season and getting after it. You know, this guy plays, you know, plays really aggressively. I was going to say something probably wouldn't be appropriate, but yeah, he gets after it and you know, might have just been gotten to the point where he got.

00:06:20
Speaker 6: Sick and worn down.

00:06:21
Speaker 3: And you know, just for the alarmist out there, I mean, he's ultimately fine. You know, he's feeling better today. You know, as far as wake goes, we monitored him pretty closely.

00:06:31
Speaker 6: I think he's going to be fine.

00:06:32
Speaker 3: He's a guy that you know, can lose some weight but can put it on pretty quickly. He's really an amazing athlete and physically as we all know. But you know, short answer to wrap it up as we expect him to be back tomorrow and you're ady to rock and roll over the weekend and get ready into the playoffs.

00:06:49
Speaker 7: How big of a loss is Ramon Leariano, guy that you didn't even have before the trade deadline, and then what he did to come in against not only against lefties who started giving him at bats again rights and really carried your team when the offense wasn't there. How big of a loss is that right now?

00:07:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good point because when we acquired him, I didn't know Ramone very well and got to know him and clearly a talent having a great year, and as we you know, did the research on him, it's like, oh this dude, this dude's like top five against righties, so he's not a splitty dude. Didn't feel they need to platoon him and rewarded that, you know, great tough at bats against right, he's left.

00:07:27
Speaker 2: He doesn't matter.

00:07:29
Speaker 3: Is a grinder, tough dude, got a real edge to him, which I love, competitor. You know it's gonna hurt, you know, I mean listen again, you know, as as the lineup was starting to get back and we really hadn't had a full lineup that you know talking about pro or you know, his vision for it, my vision for it, which is typical. I mean, you know it doesn't you know a lot of teams go with that. It's not complaining, it's just a fact. And we were about to get that band together and you know, have him, you know in that seven hole, which, man, that's a dangerous dude in that spot. But he's gonna be out. It's gonna be out for a while. You know, how deep we go determines how likely he is to get back.

00:08:12
Speaker 2: Does it hurt?

00:08:13
Speaker 6: Yes?

00:08:14
Speaker 3: You know, the one sound we have in our clubhouse is you know, winters find solutions and you know we're gonna be their support, promote and and and be there for him to help him get back.

00:08:25
Speaker 2: But no one's gonna feel sorry for us.

00:08:27
Speaker 3: And you know, we got a deep team and we'll ride what we got and we'll feel good about.

00:08:31
Speaker 2: It, krats.

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00:09:34
Speaker 5: You guys have had more injuries. I don't know if more than anybody, but you guys have had a ton of big injuries.

00:09:38
Speaker 4: And this is another one.

00:09:39
Speaker 5: The last three games you got three, you're pretty much locked in. I mean, I know you're saying, we're still going to try and catch the Dodgers, but you know that's not unlikely.

00:09:45
Speaker 4: You're not going to catch the Cubs. It's probably unlikely.

00:09:47
Speaker 5: So you're kind of locked into the five, which means you're going to go to Chicago. But these last three games against Arizona, are you just gonna put everybody in bubble wrap and say please? Cause you just got Bogers back, Loriano goes down, Adam went down not long. Are you just gonna try and put everybody in bubble rab and just say, please, guys, just no more injuries because I can't handle anymore.

00:10:06
Speaker 6: Dude.

00:10:06
Speaker 3: I think that's fair, you know, in that sweet spot of like we want to keep guys going, keep them in.

00:10:12
Speaker 2: Um, you guys know this.

00:10:13
Speaker 3: You know you want to get the proper amount of rest, but you also need to get your you know, spice in the dirt and keep them there and get your bats and keep going.

00:10:22
Speaker 2: You know, we'll be smart about it.

00:10:23
Speaker 3: You know, with the pitching will be completely scripted as an instructional league, but you know, we're gonna be smart about how we set our relievers up for getting ready for Tuesday, either way.

00:10:32
Speaker 6: Home or road.

00:10:34
Speaker 2: You know, Dark is gonna go tomorrow.

00:10:35
Speaker 3: We'll be you know, in touch with him about what he feels he needs for you know, moving forward into next week.

00:10:43
Speaker 2: And then the position players very similar.

00:10:45
Speaker 3: You know, I expect them to ride a couple of games and then we'll evaluate Sunday.

00:10:49
Speaker 2: And see what that looks like.

00:10:51
Speaker 3: But you know, clearly people need to play with you know, the roster we have that you know, nine's got to get out there, so but YEA, ultimately want to get there. I want to make sure we're healthy and in the best shape we can. We've had had we have had some injuries that you know, and really the injuries are been you know, on the on the unusual side. You know, outside of Jackson's hamstring, there really hasn't been any injuries that have been you know, attrition related.

00:11:18
Speaker 2: There have been more. You know, Jason was trying to catch a comebacker and.

00:11:21
Speaker 6: You know, the the quad blue and you know.

00:11:24
Speaker 3: Bogie falls the ball off his foot and are on a good tip by a pitch. Crony gets drilled in the ribs. You know, earlier Jackson got concussion and.

00:11:32
Speaker 2: So anyway you get it. It's part of it.

00:11:34
Speaker 3: And but now we'll keep him bubble wrapped and getting ready to roll for Tuesday.

00:11:39
Speaker 4: Talk about that scripted rotation.

00:11:41
Speaker 7: Talk about how you guys want to set up your rotation to win the Wildcard series. Do you have who's going to start Game one and are there any Are there any surprises that you're like, hey, I got to have a conversation with this guy because we want him to move to the pen or maybe sit out the wild Card Series, and that could hurt somebody's feelings.

00:12:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's that's got a chance to be real. You know, decision are still about to be made. We haven't announced our Game one starter, but I don't think we need to, you know, do too much detective work on that one, and then it's just a matter of you know, making sure we're in the right spot for games two, thinking about a game three if necessary.

00:12:29
Speaker 2: You know, there's three.

00:12:29
Speaker 3: We got multiple starters that to pitch well for us, So there's gonna be some discussions there. And the good news about our club is two things will happen when those discussions take place. One, guys will, rightfully, you know, potentially be disappointed and frustrated because they want to compete, which I love that they care that much and and what the moments. And then two, they'll go and do what the role they need to do for the team, because it's a very team first oriented group. So you know, we'll we'll.

00:12:58
Speaker 2: Have them ready and go compete and get after it and take our shot.

00:13:03
Speaker 4: With the bullpen that you have.

00:13:04
Speaker 7: Talking about your rotation, how much are you as a staff saying, no, we're not scripting this, We're gonna watch the game because Nick Pavetta has been giving you guys ridiculous innings and has gone out there and been dominant. But you have monsters in the pen, and you have monsters lined up to just mow dudes down. Are you saying, all right, fourth inning, he gets one runner on in a one run game or one runner on three run game, We're going right to our boys because you have you have weapons that you can go right too. How much are you scripting it and how much are you watching the actual game at hand, and how they're seeing your pitchers, your starting rotation.

00:13:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, great question. Not scripted, absolutely.

00:13:55
Speaker 6: You know, I don't feel and believe.

00:13:57
Speaker 3: In that the script the aware and this really is where the best matchups are at certain points in the game, not only for the game at that moment, because as we all know, you know, there are just moments in the game that you can feel that that are you know this, this is a big.

00:14:14
Speaker 2: Part of the game.

00:14:15
Speaker 3: This can sway the game one way or the other and be ready for what those possibilities are and then make the decision for who's the best to to take care of that situation at that moment. So it's a it's a balancing act, you know, there's one of which that I'm gonna look and see what's in front of us and see what we have. If if, as your example, Nick's commanded the baseball throwing, well, the matchups are still good. It's at a point in the game where it makes sense. Yes, he's gonna ride, you know that. That's that For me, it's more common sense. You know, there's no clear science to this. You take your best understanding of the situation and the big picture of the game relative to where it is, what ending, that is what you know you have relative to the rest of the game. And then you also clearly have an awareness that, yeah, we have a back in the bullpen. It's very talented, and you know, in a shorter series the bullpen can come into play, more guys can grab you know, we do have a three potentially three games in a row scenario. But you know, you're you're scratching and calling to get too man and you take down that first, and you take it down and you know, you know the guys that have a chance to get extended a little bit more than they're used to, and you just you weigh it out so you really see the game in.

00:15:36
Speaker 2: Front of you.

00:15:37
Speaker 3: You know where the inflection points are for the matchups, and then when you hit those spots, you read what the situation is, you make your decision and go from there.

00:15:47
Speaker 5: All right, so it's gonna be Paveta, we know, and then the one we know that, okay, But then then you have your choice of you Darvius who is three and two of the two three six against the Cubs. Dylan Sees is four and two of the two four seven against the Cubs, and he used to be a Cup. So he hates the Cubs like we all do. So we know that he wants to pitch against the Cubs. But then you have Michael King, so I mean you have some options. Would you think about bumping one of those guys, especially in the short series, to the bullpen and saying, hey, you're my length guy if we need it.

00:16:19
Speaker 2: I think that'll be on the table.

00:16:20
Speaker 3: You know, we haven't thought os anything, but just the math tells you it's on the table with two games and three guys that we trust. And you mentioned that that the pet success there pitching there, you know, obviously Darbish just you know, pitched years there. So yeah, oh that's on the table.

00:16:38
Speaker 5: Okay, Yeah, Darvish also hates the Cups because he played there, so we know anyone that played in Chicago that you know, they all everyone hates the Cups, including you.

00:16:46
Speaker 4: Don't die.

00:16:46
Speaker 5: Don't deny because you're a cardinal guy at Hart, so you can deny it, but we know it's right, Okay, exactly, it's okay, I.

00:16:55
Speaker 4: Admit all the time. Right before I let you go.

00:16:58
Speaker 5: He got ejected last night, only the second time this year, So I'm proud of you. It's only your second one this year. But what is the average fine for a manager? Is it like five hundred bucks to fifty one thousand? And is that why your your apartment that you're in is one it doesn't look like it's on the beach. And too, it doesn't look like it has any furniture in it. So can we get someone to contribute, like maybe Manny, throw you some money to get you some furniture.

00:17:21
Speaker 3: All right, well I'm gonna I'm gonna first of all, I ask you the question, and then I'll flip the screen. But the picture gets a little liked because there is a water view. It's usually it depends. It depends, like honestly, I think yesterday I'm looking at probably no fine.

00:17:41
Speaker 2: It was like, wasn't personal?

00:17:44
Speaker 3: My guess is My hope actually is that it's you know, just hey man, you know it happened, and see you later.

00:17:51
Speaker 2: The average finds one thousand dollars and it goes to the Bats, you know.

00:17:57
Speaker 3: Bats Charity, which you know again you know it's good calls.

00:18:04
Speaker 2: Here we go.

00:18:05
Speaker 4: Oh you're mad?

00:18:10
Speaker 2: Okay, man?

00:18:12
Speaker 4: Oh, I know I know what. I don't know why I said that, because I know exactly where you live.

00:18:16
Speaker 5: Do you live in the same neighborhood as one of your announcers and your name of the street is not near as cool as his.

00:18:23
Speaker 4: Name of his street.

00:18:25
Speaker 2: Probably not.

00:18:27
Speaker 5: I'm not going to say the name, but you know what I'm talking about. But do you have a miniat? Do you have a miniyacht like your announcer has. No, I do not have a mini yacht. Playoffs for the boat.

00:18:41
Speaker 1: I gotta get that big playoff share people.

00:18:43
Speaker 4: That don't know Don Rosilla has like a mini yacht.

00:18:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is like.

00:18:47
Speaker 5: It's like a two person little boat. He goes out in the backyard where Chilty just showed us, and he goes fishing.

00:18:52
Speaker 4: I said, dude, Dot, we've worked together a lot of times. Can I not get.

00:18:55
Speaker 5: Invite it on the miniat? He's like, the weight limit is like two hundred and eighty pounds. He's like, I think we'll to minium.

00:19:02
Speaker 4: It's a one so it's a one one person. We'll take it.

00:19:07
Speaker 1: Well, Mike probably has access to in the off season exactly. Chilty, thanks so much for joining us. Really appreciate congrats again on making the postseason and good luck.

00:19:17
Speaker 2: We'll be watching. Appreciate you Guys always a pleasure.