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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC POOL C: TORONTO

March 10, 2009

Davey Johnson

TORONTO, ONTARIO

DAVEY JOHNSON: All the relievers are very happy. Everyday players are chomping at the bit.

Q. Do you plan to do Lilly four and Guthrie four tomorrow, is that how you want to set it up?
DAVEY JOHNSON: We'll just have to see. You know, they're on a pitch count, but Guthrie will follow Lilly, unless I have to get somebody up earlier for Lilly.
We just have to play it by ear, but I got a fresh bullpen, so I'm not concerned about it.
But I need for him to get a full day, as well as Guthrie get a full day.

Q. Do you have any other line-up changes in mind?
DAVEY JOHNSON: Yeah.

Q. Anything you can share with us?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I don't know who we're going to play yet, who is going to pinch yet, so I just as soon as wait and see, you know, what pitcher we're going to face, and then what line-up I'm going to use.
But I got a pretty good idea. But I'd like to wait until we see the pitcher before I settle on that.

Q. Would you like to get some guys in who haven't played as much or who played less the first two games though?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I think everybody's, you know, got a few ABs. Basically, the one player that's a little short on ABs is my catcher.
And, you know, ideally, given it's just another game for us, we qualified for the finals, ideally, I'd like to probably, you know, use both catchers to give them -- Iannetta doesn't have as many at-bats as anybody else from the club, and he's about eight behind McCann, so I'm thinking about doing something there. And it gives him a chance to work with different pitchers.
You know, I'm planning on alternating them, but I want them both -- you know, it would be six days off for my other catcher, and that's just too much. So that's one area I'll probably try to get both of them in the game.

Q. Seeing the big power hitters, how many guys have you seen with Adam Dunn's raw power?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I mean, you know, I've seen a lot of big guys that swung the bat hard, but he has a really good eye for a big strong guy.
But there was a guy, McCovey, that used to hit the ball pretty well. But he does have, you know, a good eye, and for a power hitter, he's awesome.

Q. (No microphone.)
DAVEY JOHNSON: He's got two -- he hit a home run the opposite field; he hit a bullet the opposite field. You know, for a big strong guy, he uses a lot more of the field.

Q. Anybody surprised you with their talent here? I mean, a guy that has one skill you hadn't expected?
DAVEY JOHNSON: No. Pretty much I've seen a lot of them play, obviously on TV. You know, you look at any game you want, you know, on TV. You know, the personalities are the thing that a manager looks at. You know, I've been real impressed with all the personalities. I mean, the little instigator, Pedroia, you know, that's been the fun part. Just getting to know them a little bit.
You have a pretty good idea of their personality just watching them play, but, you know, having them in the clubhouse, around the bat cage, it's kind of enlightening.

Q. What have you learned about David Wright that maybe you didn't know before?
DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, I knew he was a fine individual just from talking to him on the phone. And, you know, he's a little quiet, like I thought he would be, a little quiet. But he's certainly got a lot of ability, handles himself well.

Q. Talk about Jeter, the leadership qualities, being around him. Can you see why people always talk about the intangibles that he has and whatnot?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I've seen all those intangibles first-hand. There's a lot of teams against him. I know what he brings to the table, you know, on and off the field and in the clubhouse. But that's -- you know, any time you got basically the best player out there of every club, you are going to have a lot of that, you know. I think what you've seen here is just guys getting to know each other, getting comfortable. I think that's, you know, the most important thing on any ball club.
But this is a group that gets along pretty good together.

Q. (Indiscernible) over the years about the Jeffrey Maier home run?
DAVEY JOHNSON: I don't even want to bring it up. I haven't even brought it up, you know. Thought about it a number of times when I look at him (laughter).

Q. What about Braun? I mean, here is a guy, because of the market he plays in, could potentially be the best player the general public doesn't know that much about. What do you see in him?
DAVEY JOHNSON: He's another one, kind of like David Wright, very quiet and unassuming, great talent. I only said a few words to him today, I said, You've got nine tomorrow.
I said, You got nine tomorrow.
He said, Fine.

Q. Would you agree with that assessment that he might be the most overlooked really good player in baseball right now?
DAVEY JOHNSON: Well, you know, maybe in the media and the fans, but certainly not for baseball people. You know, I mean, he's certainly well thought of among the baseball community, in uniform, maybe not publically because of major market, but that happens a lot of times, with a lot of players.
But they certainly gained a lot of respect from their peers, and he's one of them.

Q. You talked yesterday about you may do some light things today, running, did he do any swings at all off the tee, like that?
DAVEY JOHNSON: Chipper?

Q. Yeah.
DAVEY JOHNSON: Actually, I encouraged him not to do anything. I know he would -- like anybody else, he would have liked to hit, but, you know, we felt like just take a day off, and then we'll have a workout Friday. And if everything's good to go, I'll find a spot for him.
I think chipper knows that. But he's a gamer. He wants to be in there. The trainers are sitting on him, too. Not only myself, but the trainers too.

Q. He is a guy you have to sit on, I guess?
DAVEY JOHNSON: Yeah. So we're kind of saying You're going to get five days; that's it. You can workout Friday.
Hopefully, he can swing the bat, do a little running, throwing, but I'll DH him Friday, if -- I mean, Saturday, if he's able to go.

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