From Geoff Baker's blog, Waka-san says

"We talked about several things. One is trying to really focus on teaching from the neck up, trying to play the game intelligently. Try to educate the players on their own abilities and weaknesses. Try to get them to understand how to play the game the right way. It's a cliche, but try to get more in depth in that.

"I think lot of players today are expedited to some point to big leagues, not spending as much time in the minor leagues. We want to continue to educate at the major league level. As a staff we want to invest in a player -- try to get to know a player, and understand how he thinks."

Wakamatsu talks about leadership incessantly. I approve of this. He has said that, whatever industry you're in, it's about getting people to give you their best. I believe this fervently.

Different people judge managers differently. Mike Hargrove himself would tell you that he's about making out the correct lineup card, and showing respect to the people who've earned it. Me? I want to know if a manager can judge talent and get his men into a battle-ready frame of mind.

Wakamatsu has a John Wooden UCLA mindset. We have mentioned before, that Wooden was studied by college psych teams, and they found that the major difference between him and other coaches was that other coaches spent 80% of their time EXHORTING -- "You want your family to see you playing like that?" -- and Wooden spent 80% of his time TEACHING TECHNIQUE -- "You want your low foot to be on the block when catching this entry pass."

Wakamatsu talks constantly about teaching technique. This is a good thing. Mike Scioscia, who is a Hall of Fame-class baseball manager, that is exactly the basis of his success in LA. He will sit with his catchers and discuss their pitch calls after the game -- not to exhort, not to second-guess, but simply so that his catchers will be thinking more.

Early on, Wakamatsu is saying things that indicate him to be the John Wooden, Mike Scioscia type of leader. The technical instruction IS the exhortation to play well. If you're thinking about your footwork, you automatically have your game face on.

...........

Waka-San on his Big Three:

"Obviously the reports are good on Bedard, and also Morrow. Psychologically, if we can get those guys healthy, that's 3 pretty good starting pitchers, and we'll work from there. We're going to give a lot of guys, because of the length of spring training, a chance to initially start and compete for the remaining spots.

It seems a looooonnnnnnnngggggggg time ago that Silentpadna and I were in a Dodgeball match with all the other blogs about whether Brandon Morrow should even be in the major leagues, much less whether he was capable of starting .... much less whether he should be penciled in as a TOR starter.

The New Regime has been talking about Morrow as though he already was a 17-game winner. Now, that's what I call having your head on straight. :- )

And now they're talking about Aaron Heilman as the #4. While Heilman's skeptics are -- no offense, honestly -- running simplistic bullpen/rotation splits from the past, Don Wakamatsu is asking what Aaron Heilman is going to do in the future.  These guys believe in talent.  Like Chuck Knox said, great players win big sports contests.  You cannot teach "gifted."

My guess is that he's going to win 15+ games verrrrrrrry soon.

I might not (yet) be as enthused as you amigos about the new suits, but everything Don Wakamatsu says makes sense. That guy, I could get enthused about.

............

On how many positions are truly set in stone: "Mine."

That'll do for me too,

Dr D