It was a BLAST! but cold at first

I didn't record or take notes, but a couple of items from memory.

Hamilton had a bandage on his left middle finger which he was embarrassed to admit he injured playing catch (quick throws back and forth and he got his throwing hand in the way to quick and the ball apparently popped it pretty good). He said it would be back to normal in two weeks (before Spring Training). He's not a charismatic as I expected and seems genuinely humble. I asked him what he expects his biggest challenge to be in changing leagues and he said, "I have no idea." He just plans to keep doing the things he has always done: don't swing at stuff out of the zone, get ahead and make them throw something that he can drive. He said he was surprised he wasn't more injured last year. He spent a lot of time building his strength back up, but that took away from his flexibility which he think led to some of the injury problems. He has been doing Pilates 3 times a week in the offseason to get back the felxibility. When asked about goals, he said he thinks he can hit .290 to .310 with 30-40 home runs.

The Michael Young Q&A was packed as you might expect (SRO). The questions were pretty generic as a result. He all but admitted that the early season slump last year was a result of pressing (and Rudy pretty much said the same later on). He and his wife have moved to the Dallas area this offseason. He has used the offseason to spend time with his family and did some traveling. When asked about his power drop, Young said its something he will continue to work on, but he will always be a line drive hitter with some pop rather than a power hitter. He says the trade off for him would be hitting .240 and the inference was that he could contribute more to the team offensively by being a guy that gets 200 hits every year. One other note from the Q&A was from Chuck Morgan who was leading it. Morgan looked around the room and said, well there's no media here so I guess I can say that I've talked to Tom Hicks who has gone to the commissioner to see about getting the All-Star game here again. With Young there, he added something along the lines of it would be nice to see [Young] as the starting shortstop at [his] home park for the 2015 All-star game.

Washington and Levine had a relatively small turnout which surprised me. Levine talked about rebuilding being a 5 step process with spending big in free agency as the last step and that when they were there Mr. Hicks would be ready to spend, but that they would probably never be among the top 5 in payroll again. In regards to trading Teixeira, he said that they were trying to accelerate the steps in the rebuilding a little bit and was proud that the farm system which was considered to be in the bottom 5 last year was considered to be in the top 5 this year and added that in both cases the truth was probably somewhere in the middle, but that they had made big strides. Washington said the defense will be better this year no less than 10 times. He believes in throwing the ball and catching the ball and that the offense will take care of itself. He said he tells his players that if they can get him to the 7th inning with a lead, then it is his game from that point on.

Yes, I sat through the wives Q&A also. Jim Sundberg's wife Janet talked about how Billy Martin was their first manager and how psychotic he was. He would signal signs from the bench and when they didn't work he would blame Sundberg for calling them. Ian Kinsler's wife Tess mentioned that they had been dating since they were 16. She talked about how close she had become with wives/girlfriends of players because no one else understands the life. Jarrod's wife Ashley talked about how they had been told that they would be in Mississippi all season then ended up moving 4 times. They have daughter that looked to be between 12 and 18 months and she said that have a new baby at home (I think she said a couple of weeks old but I could be wrong). It did not come up in the Q&A but for those that don't know, Ashley is several years older than Jarrod (I think 13 year older) and was a high school teacher where he went to high school (although they have said they did not date until after he graduated). She also played college volleyball if I remember right. She looks great, but she definitely looks 30-something compared to Jarrod who still looks like a teenager in the face.

Rudy Jaramillo was the last session. He talked about how his style is to adjust to the hitter and learn what makes their swing work then explain it to them so they can repeat it. Often, he has to get them to trust their own mechanics and to stick with it in a slump rather than making tweaks. He talked about one player that was different was Michael Young and they changed lots of things after his first year as Michael was not satisfied with the results he was getting (and look at the results of those changes). I asked him if Ron Washington and his philosophies being different from past managers meant that [Rudy] had to make adjustments in his approach with hitters last year. He said no, that it's not Ron's philosophy or Buck's philosophy it's just baseball philosophy and nothing had changed in how he teaches or approaches hitters. Someone asked him about bunting and he said, "That's not my job," and explained that Pettis coached bunting and that he was always on him to get them better to at bunting to keep the defenses honest.