David Stearns

Sometimes that's not realistic.

And off-seasons are really long and it can be tough at times in November when we're all really excited to get going and standing here at the GM meetings, wherever the GM meetings happen to be that particular year.

But a lot of signings occur in January, February and March.

And off-seasons now go into spring training.

And we have to recognize that, be patient and let the off-season play out.

How much does Pete's defense affect how you view his value?

I'm sorry?

How much does Pete's defense affect how you view his value?

I think all parts of player contribution inform how we view the player.

For a position player, that certainly is going to include offense and what they do in the box, and also what they do defensively.

It also includes what they mean to us off the field, what they mean to us in the clubhouse, what they mean to us in the community.

All of that gets factored in with every player, and Pete's no different.

I think we have internal options.

We have younger players who could deserve some more opportunity.

We have players we can move around positionally, and we would probably also explore what is available outside there, but I think all that's very premature.

We'll see how the offseason progresses and go from there.

I think part of improving our defense in particular is having some of our players who were with us last year play better defense.

That is going to be essential.

I've talked to some of our players about this already.

This is going to be an emphasis of ours throughout the offseason, into spring training, into the season.