HHP: Buck at Calvert Hall Today

[hendu]

What a fun event...summary of what was said:
-Talked about the excitement of the Ravens
-Introduced Dean Albany, responsible for MD players, important to O's
-Steinbrenner never said hello or good-bye, asked Buck to go make an appearance, Buck prepared speech, turned out to be amway convention.
-Earl questioned him every now and again
-Talked about keeping game fun, players have a 15-20 minute attention span, likes to move from drill to drill in Spring Training
-Keith Mills asked if parents call about playing time, buck said an agent has
-I Asked Buck about Jurrjens, he said stop right there, he doesnt read the paper, said there will be competition and Tillman isn't going anywhere, might as well be a 4 yr contract, said he loves saying Jurrjens name, already has lefty in rotation with Chen, doesn't mean anything for Britton
-Another question about an ace, said only ten out there, said if u want one, gotta give up Bundy, Machado and Schoop
-Wada #2 or 3 starter
-Gausman could be just as good as Bundy, all gonna get a ton of innings during WBC, not gonna play any regulars till March
-Made joke about NFL measuring players socks
-Thanked the fans for getting them through August and September
-Parents always looking for shortcuts, make the sport fun, losing kids to other sports
-Made joke about his HS class size, he had to hustle to get prom date
-Machado already advanced when he got to majors, didn't have to teach him much
-Talked about how Josh Bell's clock never being right, his throws were always late or wild
-Praised JJ for Machado play against TB
-Mentioned being a Bama fan to a kid wearing a Longhorns sweatshirt
-Asked about losing to yanks, called yanks clubhouse a den of thieves, said I don't care, I don't like em
-They were frustrated, not mad about losing
-Didn't get to celebrate till Texas game
-Scratched his own head about Saunders starting, understood everyone else questioning him
-Dylan Bundy already limited in IPs in his career, not gonna do Strausburg with him, will have IPs to spare late in season
-Has good feeling about Reimold, Roberts
-Machado has chance to make team outta spring, drew a laugh
-4 picks in top 100, gonna add 4 quality players
-Dealing w/ critics part of the job
-Laughed about writers having to do a rewrite, loves when his ballclub comes back at the end of a game
-Jones asked a clubby to get some pizza in extra innings Seattle game and heat it in dryer, had pepperoni stuck to the dryer
-Loves reading players bios, where he learned about Davis being able to pitch, went back and forth w/ umpire about getting to DH and pitch Davis, told ump to get it right or he'd be embarrassed, didn't wanna pitch Matusz or it would have thrown off the whole rotation, asked Chris to go get glove, Davis got nervous, Valentine waited for buck
-Buck asked lady if she'd have voted for PED guys, wants fans to be able to have confidence that product legit, he was suspicious about bullpen guys being able to maintain velocity for 3 straight days
-Watching Buckle Up movie exhausting to him, felt like he just played a whole season
-Going to Toronto, had team meeting where team trusted him, told team he has to pay for kids tuition so get their act together
-Playoff shares went to everyone, from groundskeeper in Sarasota to coaches in rookie ball, Yankees don't do that
-Wouldn't have been able to keep Reynolds and arbitration eligible guys, woulda loved to have Mark return on their terms
-Talked about Earl's slump talks w players, Buck understands slumps
-Wouldn't vouch for Joe Schmoe, Hardy is good, Hardy wanted to make up not being at Fanfest
-One reason they called up Manny was to be around Hardy
-Buck needs us to hold O's to high standard, don't be satisfied
-Doesn't wanna bog down DH spot, thinks reimold will outperform people (meant Reynolds)
-Buck, Jonesy, Nick gonna put full court press on Wieters to extend

[kyleott]

Great stuff, thanks!

[scOtt]

Isn't Earl's funeral today? I'm surprised Buck isn't there.

[hendu]

He was going to cancel the appearance yesterday, but didn't want to disappoint anyone. He cut it a few minutes short, and he was heading straight for the airport.

My apologies for the poor punctuation etc. I did this on my phone. I'll clean it up when I get home.

[Can_of_corn]

Good stuff even if I did raise my eyebrows in skepticism at a few of them.

[Goober Noodles]

Great stuff!

My favorites:

-Asked about losing to yanks, called yanks clubhouse a den of thieves, said I don't care, I don't like em
-Jones asked a clubby to get some pizza in extra innings Seattle game and heat it in dryer, had pepperoni stuck to the dryer

[rochester]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

[luismatos4prez]

Awesome write-up! Thanks!

-Steinbrenner never said hello or good-bye, asked Buck to go make an appearance, Buck prepared speech, turned out to be amway convention.
-Buck asked lady if she'd have voted for PED guys, wants fans to be able to have confidence that product legit, he was suspicious about bullpen guys being able to maintain velocity for 3 straight days
-Going to Toronto, had team meeting where team trusted him, told team he has to pay for kids tuition so get their act together
-Wouldn't vouch for Joe Schmoe

These were the ones that confused me.

- What is he talking about with him and Steinbrenner? I didn't get that.
- Is he referring to guys who do that now or guys who did that at the turn of the century?
- This year? We got swept by Toronto with Arrieta Matusz and Hunter on the mound in May. Is that what he's talking about?
- Meaning Joe Saunders? Did it sound like he didn't want him back?

[hendu]

Awesome write-up! Thanks!



These were the ones that confused me.

- What is he talking about with him and Steinbrenner? I didn't get that.
- Is he referring to guys who do that now or guys who did that at the turn of the century?
- This year? We got swept by Toronto with Arrieta Matusz and Hunter on the mound in May. Is that what he's talking about?
- Meaning Joe Saunders? Did it sound like he didn't want him back?

-He was referring to his appearance today and the fact that they were opening the floor for questions. He was referring to not having enough material to fill the hour...unlike the time that he prepared a speech for Amway convention for attendees that probably didn't appreciate it.
-He was originally referring to Bonds, Biggio etc, but then he started talking about the purity of the game. When he was referring to relief pitchers, he was talking about the past. When the lady said that she wouldn't vote for them, Buck said, "OK, good, now to address your questions." Not sure if he meant, good I agree, or good, I see where you're going with this.
-Yes it was in reference to this year. A guy brought up the Sept. 6th game, and he asked Buck what his most memorable game of the 2012 season was. Buck struggled a bit, and then said he remembered moments. It didn't sound like he had a clear recollection of the situation. He said that he had two team meetings all year, and he doesn't yell when he goes into them. It sounded like it was just more of a bonding, we're in this thing together type thing.
-It was very evident that he loves JJ Hardy as we all know. He used the term "Joe Schmoe" twice, and no, not in reference to Saunders. I was going to ask him about Saunders during my question, but he literally talked for 3-5 minutes about not only my question, but all the others too. So, I felt guilty in possibly offering a second part of my question, plus I was the very first person to ask a question. Picture his post game pressers, where he goes into anecdotes and jokes with every single media member. That's exactly what this was like. It couldn't have been a better $20 well spent.

[Frobby]

The story about putting a pizza in the dryer is a classic. Only a baseball player would come up with that.

[epic]

This sounds awesome, thanks for sharing.

I especially like the last part you wrote. I'm slowly starting to think we might be able to lock up Wieters.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Thanks for the info. Lots of good stuff, but I found this one pretty interesting:

"woulda loved to have Mark return on their terms"

[hendu]

Thanks for the info. Lots of good stuff, but I found this one pretty interesting:

"woulda loved to have Mark return on their terms"

I was shocked that he was so forthcoming about that. He said that they spent $23 million on the arbitration guys, and he essentially stated that they couldn't afford to sign Reynolds at the amount which Cleveland paid. I guess that Reynolds wasn't the guy that Duq was talking about for which to take the payroll over $100M. He stated twice that Reimold was on his way to a big year in 2012, and that he's going to have a big year in 2013.

The funny thing is that the question was posed by a kid. The kid said, "You said that Mark Reynolds was the hardest working guy on the team". Buck responded, "First of all, I didn't say that, I would never say that one player is the best at this or that, I'm happy for Mark, and I'm excited to see him do good things in Cleveland."

He talked about keeping their own players. He said, "I don't want to sign somebody to a four year contract that costs us a pick, when we feel that what we already have is better".

[CA-ORIOLE]

I was shocked that he was so forthcoming about that. He said that they spent $23 million on the arbitration guys, and he essentially stated that they couldn't afford to sign Reynolds at the amount which Cleveland paid. I guess that Reynolds wasn't the guy that Duq was talking about for which to take the payroll over $100M. He stated twice that Reimold was on his way to a big year in 2012, and that he's going to have a big year in 2013.

The funny thing is that the question was posed by a kid. The kid said, "You said that Mark Reynolds was the hardest working guy on the team". Buck responded, "First of all, I didn't say that, I would never say that one player is the best at this or that, I'm happy for Mark, and I'm excited to see him do good things in Cleveland."

He talked about keeping their own players. He said, "I don't want to sign somebody to a four year contract that costs us a pick, when we feel that what we already have is better".

Yeah, it definitely provides a different perspective than we just blew him off and disrespected him. Thanks again for the effort in putting that OP together.

[hendu]

This sounds awesome, thanks for sharing.

I especially like the last part you wrote. I'm slowly starting to think we might be able to lock up Wieters.

Yes, the Wieters part gave me chills. After Buck left, Keith Mills said, "That's the Buck that you see when you're talking to him as a person or friend, not the one that you see in the media". As if to say, "You guys don't realize how lucky you were to be here". There were only 300-400 people there, a very surprising and intimate setting.