Mike Elias

They don't have one set way of doing things.

And that's the way I see this is, you know, myself and the coaching staff are going to really hone in on our players' strengths.

And yes, we're going to help them develop their weaknesses, but we just want to bring out their players' strengths and let it shine.

You know, it happens fairly quickly in my experience.

You know, you go into a process for a high-level position like a major league manager, you are by nature going to get encountered with a candidate pool that's extremely impressive across the board and just people that come in different shapes and sizes and profiles, so to speak, but everyone is really highly qualified or they wouldn't have –

made it into a process like that.

So you meet a lot of impressive people.

But sitting down with Craig and hearing the feedback that we got from the many other people that interviewed him, it was clear that this was just a really good fit all around, like I said, the places he's worked.

the kind of philosophies that he's developed.

I think his personality and personal style will be a really good fit for what our group needs, but also in this town and in this market.

So just an all-around fit, and I was very struck by him once we got done spending the first day with him.

But we continue to spend many more days and weeks completing the process, but also doing a lot of background work, which was also very helpful for his case.

He said sizes too, so probably on the short side of the candidate pool.

Thanks, Mike.

Jake Rowe with MLB.com.

Craig, you said you agree with Mike that you think this team can bounce back next year.

What would you just like about this team on paper, the roster, and why do you feel like this team could bounce back next year?

The talent just jumps right out you.

I mean, even playing them this year, like yeah, it was a down year, a lot of injuries, but the talent up and down the roster is impressive.

And when you have a group of young players that get to the big leagues and have success, like in 23, and they have a rough 25, like it's really tough to curate that adversity for young players to go through.