Steve Phillips

I think really even everybody.

Some are more formal than others.

But I think with Vladdy, it would be worth the conversation.

Say, hey, how are you feeling?

Where are you?

What can we do for you?

We know who you are as a player, but you're not doing it now.

What can we do for you?

And have that kind of a conversation.

And I think just doing that with a general manager gives it a sense of importance, I think, for the player to know, like, listen, the guy in charge is sitting me down right now.

But you also know this.

The thing about baseball is when you're not playing well, nobody can be harder on you than yourself, right?

And so there's never a point where you say, look, get going.

We need you going here.

You need to start picking up.

You can't do that.

You've got to say, what can we do for you to help you?

Because if you put more pressure on the player, you're going to compound the problem.

Trying harder in baseball as a hitter gets you in more trouble.

You've got to relax more and actually be intense without being tense.