Joe Maddon

So all those things actually, to me, I'm really surprised more people don't do it, and I'm seeing now that more people are actually trying to do different things.

How about shifts?

There's another one.

Well, with us, we have a percentage that we go by when it reaches a certain level.

We feel as though it's safe to shift.

I guess that's the best way to put it.

And beyond all that, I mean, there's times when guys will hit the ball contrary to where you're playing, but that doesn't mean all of a sudden you blow up that thought process and move back because it happens one out of a hundred times.

And furthermore, I want certain hitters to try to do that.

When Jose Bautista wants to hit a ground ball to the right side for a base hit, I'll take it as an example.

I think there's a lot of

mental strategy involved.

It's really hard to evaluate or determine exactly how much it is, but there is that element also where when you cause the other player to do something he doesn't necessarily want to do, and I think that in some ways is a success.

Quite frankly, you're right.

You know, it really doesn't matter what a talk radio person might think or somebody in a newspaper or anybody outside the organization.

What matters is the people within the organization, the support of their ownership in front office matters, and then beyond that, that your players buy in.

And when it comes to the player buy in, that has to be discussed in advance because when you're trying to do some things that are a little bit different, you just don't want to spring it on them at the last moment.

A lot of the stuff that we do, I will talk to the players in advance of that moment, and our coaches do a great job of the prep work, too.

But at the end of the day, for an organization to be deterred by outside voices or noise based on it goes against their internal philosophies, I think that's kind of the organization making a mistake right there.

I try to avoid it in a sense by being proactive and staying ahead of it.

I mean, you always want to stay ahead of your potential problems.