In the eyes of Adam Lind, one of the biggest benefits the Toronto Blue Jays will reap from the 12-player blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins will be the pressure it removes from some of its young, core players.
During an appearance Friday on the Jeff Blair Show on Sportsnet 590 the Fan, the Blue Jays first baseman/DH was asked how much he thinks the acquisition of veteran starter Mark Buehrle will help his teammates, in particular Ricky Romero.
“That’ll benefit guys that were kind of thrust into the leadership role before we were ready,” Lind explained. “Ricky, great guy, great competitor but we all know Ricky — he doesn’t have that leadership-type personality, so-to-speak in his DNA.
“It’ll let him relax and be himself and observe Mark Buehrle, and I’m sure we’ll sign a few other people, but I think it’ll benefit a bunch of us in a bunch of different ways. But I think the No. 1 way will be to take the pressure off our shoulder and be like, ‘look, there’s other guys that have been in the playoffs, won World Series, and I think it’ll let Ricky take a deep breath.”
Lind also adressed a number of other topics with Blair including the John Gibbons hire, the Blue Jays running game under John Farrell and whether his Blue Jays teammates are upset with Farrell for leaving to manage the Boston Red Sox.
On the Gibbons hire:
“Surprised, I think everyone was. I’d probably even guess to say Alex might even be surprised to say he was considering hiring him. All in all I really think it was a good hire. He has control of the clubhouse, it’s his clubhouse. It’ll be interesting to see what staff he brings. I think John will be fine as a manager. I think that we will need a better staff than we had his first go-around. I think Brad Arnsberg did a great job as a pitching coach, but I think as a whole, all five, six, seven guys on a our staff… we’ll need a better staff than we had last time.”
On the Blue Jays running game:
“I think John (Gibbons) being a manager himself and a former catcher, I think he understands the running game a little bit better (than Farrell). When you have a pitcher trying to tell people when to run I think some of the times we were just running with our heads cut off and not really in the right situations. I think (Gibbons) understands the timing and the situations when you should and shouldn’t run versus just running recklessly. I think it’ll be good to have more of a purpose in that part of our game.”
Later in the interview, Lind added: “Boston will be very concerned with how we’re trying to run the bases. We know how John Farrell might think in the game, so hopefully we’ll cause havoc and confusion for other staffs in the division.”
On whether he thinks about being traded:
“I haven’t even concerned myself with being traded. That really does nothing positive for me. That doesn’t drive me. If it happens, it happens. It’s out of my control. I just look at myself as a Blue Jay as I have for the past nine years of my life.”
On his struggles vs. left-handers:
“The second half of last season I really changed my approach. I stopped trying to do too much in the second half of the season, especially against left-handed pitchers. I’d like to see the splits from the first half to the second half. They might not be tremendously greater but I bet they’re better than they were even the year before. That was the biggest thing; I quit trying to do too much. I started to look off-speed much more and I think I quit being so proud and stubborn. I was like, ‘look, you’re going to hit the slider, that’s just the way it’s going to be.’ I accepted that and I think my numbers improved.'”
On how’s Buehrle experience might help Romero:
“I don’t think it’s just Ricky, I think there’s a bunch of guys in our clubhouse, that’ll benefit from that. You put yourself in the situation of our clubhouse last year and Ricky was considered the veteran leader even though he had four years of service time and really, in the grand scheme of things, that’s not a veteran at all. And that’s part of going the young route and we’ve changed that and it’ll probably take some pressure off Ricky, it’ll take some pressure off me.
“That’ll benefit guys that were kind of thrust into the leadership role before we were ready. Ricky, great guy, great competitor but we all know Ricky — he doesn’t have that leadership-type personality, so-to-speak, in his DNA. It’ll let him relax and be himself and observe Mark Buehrle, and I’m sure we’ll sign a few other people, but I think it’ll benefit a bunch of us in a bunch of different ways, but I think the No. 1 way will be to take the pressure off our shoulders and be like, ‘look, there’s other guys that have been in the playoffs, won World Series, and I think it’ll let Ricky take a deep breath.'”
On whether Blue Jays players are “pissed off” with John Farrell:
“No, I wouldn’t say they were pissed off. That’s pretty strong. That’s his only coaching experience — was in Boston — at the professional level. I guess you kind of always love your first love and I think he really enjoyed his time in Boston. You could tell when we were in Boston playing he always had a little extra pep in his step when we were there.
It’s somewhat disappointing for a guy like me or a guy like Casey Janssen who has spent our whole career with the Blue Jays and fighting the Red Sox, trying to pass them in the standings. It’s like man, “would you be a Blue Jay instead of a guy working for the Blue Jays.”