Summary of Mike Hazen's interview on 98.7
Latest on Ketel:
"I don't have a lot that I can really share at this point in time. He's obviously flying back here for an MRI tomorrow. I'm set to meet with him tomorrow. So I don't really have a lot." Has texted Ketel back and forth.
"We are fully committed to helping in any way that we can, figure out how this gets better and move forward. ... And we have been that way since day one. We deal with stuff that you never hear about."
Re: Torey:
"This guy treats our players with respect. He handles situations not just with kid gloves, he gets in the dirt with these guys and he lays it out there to them too. But he doesn't go out there publicly and talk about it."
"The work that gets put in that doesn't publicly get out there is done for a reason and it's happening. We are where we are. We have to deal with it. The focus needs to remain on playing good baseball. The fans deserve it. The work that these players have put in for the first five and a half months, five months of this season, trying to finish this thing off and get into the playoffs with all the things that have gone on with this team. That's what needs to remain the focus, period."
Do the public things make it more challenging?
"I think so. ... It eats up focus and attention that we want on baseball when it gets that way. So that's the motivation. It's not to hide some of this stuff. It's not really great dirt. It doesn't help."
Will Ketel play again this year?
"There's a lot of variables. I will say I'm hopeful. I've never not been hopeful. But going too far beyond that is probably not something that I can honestly get into right now."
Leadership in the clubhouse through it:
"Gerry is probably the shining example of everybody that rallies behind this guy and takes a lot of cues from his leadership. I know that ERod has been front and center of a lot of things. And I know Corbin is stepping into this. Not for the first time, he does it. Corbin does it in his different way. And we have some steady veterans that have been around a lot of blocks like Nolan. ... Those things coming back together with that leadership I think is what is going to hold this team together."
Playoffs:
"The opportunity that is still in front of us, very much in front of us, requires us to separate whatever comes our way and play good baseball. And that's what my message has been internally. ... It's what I've told Torey. It's what Torey is I know telling the team and individual players. And I believe that these guys have the ability to do this."