Q&A: Chip Hale, Arizona Diamondbacks Manager

Chip Hale replaced Kirk Gibson as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month. What approach will he bring to a franchise coming off a 98-loss season? Based on a conversation with Hale, it will be one closely entwined with that of Arizona’s new leadership up top. Dave Stewart is now the general manager and DeJon Watson is the vice president of baseball operations. Tony LaRussa was named chief baseball officer this past summer.

Hale’s voice will be heard. The 49-year-old has strong opinions about how the game should be played. He also has a lot of experience. He was Bob Melvin’s bench coach in Oakland the past two seasons and before that he was a third base coach for four years, two each with the Mets and Diamondbacks. From 2000-2006, he was a minor-league manager in the Arizona system. An infielder in his playing days, Hale spent parts of seven big-league seasons with the Twins and Dodgers after being drafted out the University of Arizona.

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Hale on his early influences: “I played throughout the minor leagues with the Twins and made it to the big leagues with them. That culture was about hard work and playing nine innings. It kind of filtered down from Tom Kelly and the things he preached. You saw that all the way down through the minor league instructors.

“I also had an opportunity to play a little bit in Triple-A with the Dodgers and Cardinals organizations at the end of my career. The Cardinals were much like the Twins and George Kissel had a big say in how they ran things. Tony (LaRussa) was the manager at the time, but George — he’s passed away now — had gone way back to Red Schoendienst. I think most successful organizations get guys through their system, and make them better, with hard work and by stressing fundamentals.”

On creating a winning culture: “We have to create our own culture, what Tony and Dave Stewart and Derrick Hall and myself, and our coaching staff, want. I’ve known Kirk (Gibson) since my earlier time with Arizona and he was making these guys accountable. Obviously, they had a poor year last year, but I know I’m walking into a situation where guys have been treated like men.

“We have to get to the point where these guys have that accountability and some pride, and challenge each other a little bit. We need to recreate a winning culture. You know, it goes quickly. We see teams winning their division and then all of a sudden they fall on a couple of hard years. It’s just the cycle of baseball. We have to recreate and let (the players) know that if you keep playing hard, and play all nine innings and respect the game, good things can happen.”

On letting his players play: “I’ve been blessed to be with Bob Melvin and with Terry Collins who both (had managed previously). Through those guys I really learned a lot about (not being too intense and over-demanding). That’s a mistake many first-time managers make, but at some point you have to step back and let the players play. We prepare them – we do everything we can to get them ready mentally and physically – but if you don’t let them go, you’re not letting their true ability come out. I think that will be a challenge, because it’s hard not to get frustrated when things don’t go perfectly. But you have to realize these are human beings.”

On being situationally sound: “You have to be able to manage with what you have. That being said, I want a team that is situationally sound. I want everybody to be able to do the small things. They have to be able to put a bunt down, because in this day and age, think about all these shifts guys are playing on them. Even your big hitters have got to drop one down every now and again to keep teams out of the shift. Late in a game maybe, down by three or four runs, they’re playing this huge shift, so why not just put one down and get on and start a big rally?

“Little things are going to be more important in the game now, because you have to counter all of these defensive things teams are doing to you. It’s gotten really specialized with all the different metrics and spray charts everybody is going with now. I think hit-and-running, bunting… you should be able to do those things up and down your lineup. And pitchers, especially in the National League, have to be able to handle a bat.”

On staying ahead of the curve and willingness to accept criticism: “You see something new every year and we’d like to be on the cutting edge. As an organization, we’re not going to be able to spend like some of the teams in the league, so we have to think out of the box a little bit. I think that’s important and Tony LaRussa has always felt that way. He was hitting the pitcher eighth, so he’s willing to listen and try different things. Would I (hit the pitcher eighth)? You know, it’s an interesting concept and there might be times where it’s something we do.

“I’ve gotten heat about things in different places, whether it was from people up above me or from the media. You know what? In this game, if you’re afraid to take some heat, then you probably shouldn’t get into this side of the business. Especially to manage. You have to be accountable for what you do, but you also have to trust your instincts. Your gut is going to be prepared by all the preparation you do, looking at numbers and charts and graphs, and everything you can to make yourself more educated.”

On bullpens and leverage: “That’s an interesting subject, On paper – if you look at that as sort of a fantasy type of angle – you can do that. The problem is, these are human beings and they get conditioned to pitch at certain times in the game. They’re used to it and it’s really hard to find somebody to pitch the ninth. You see guys who look so good in the seventh, or even the eighth, then all of a sudden you turn to the ninth and it’s a different ballgame. So, when you find that guy who can pitch those last innings, it’s tough to move him out of there.

“But listen, maybe it’s the sixth inning with the bases loaded and you need a guy to get you out of it, to preserve a win. My opinion is we could have a bullpen where everybody has pitchability. Lefties and righties have roles, but they all should have the ability to pitch. Sometimes you see staffs where certain guys only pitch when you’re losing or when you’re winning. If we can develop a pitching staff where we’re confident – and they’re confident – they could pitch at any time, I’d really like to see that.

“With a reliever, it can be ‘hey, listen, we may use you earlier than you’ve been used to, or later than you’ve been used, but it’s going to be against hitters where we feel you have a lot of chance for success in that situation.’ You can get that uptick in their performance. You have to try to find match-ups, whether it’s pitchers or hitters, where you match up well.”

On getting to know his players: “I’ve tried to call everybody and I’ve gotten a hold of a lot of them. I’ve left a few messages. A few numbers weren’t working. I’ve tried to introduce myself and get a nice feel for a group of guys who are excited and hungry to win. But I obviously need to lay eyes on them. I’m going to look at as many games as I can on video, but its just video.

“Right now I’m out here watching the [Arizona] Fall League BP and that’s what I enjoy. That’s where I get to see how guys work and how they swing – how short is their swing, how long is their swing. Those are important things you have to have your eyes on. I’ll learn a lot in spring training.

“(The front office) has been unbelievable talking to me about things we need, and about going over the roster with every coach. They’ve involved us in everything. They value my opinion; they value the opinions of the guys who’ve had eyes on guys. It’s pretty cool to be in something where, when it comes down to the bottom line, Dave, Tony and DeJon Watson are going to do what’s best for the organization, what’s best for the team. We’re going to manage the group we end up with and we’re going to win with the group we end up with. That’s our job and we’re going to find a way to do it.”

On his Oakland experience: “You learn everywhere you go and (in Oakland) it was from Bob Melvin, from Billy Beane, from David Forst and Farhan Zaidi to Dan Feinstein and the minor-league people. You learn different things and you have to take everything into account in your decision-making. If you don’t, it’s just like going to college and getting a masters or a PHD and not using what those people taught you.

“You can look at this season and it’s almost a microcosm of different things — how we started hot and we went a little bit cold. We made some personnel changes in the middle and at the time they looked like great moves for us. Sometimes those things didn’t work out as well as they could, but we were in a spot to win, so it’s hard for me to say they didn’t work because yeah, maybe we didn’t maintain the torrid pace we were on, but we did make it to the dance. We did have an opportunity to move on, so I can’t say getting Jon Lester, or getting Jeff Samardzija, or getting Jason Hammel were mistakes, because in the end I don’t think we would have made it without those guys.”

On being hired to manage the Diamondbacks: “The one thing I’d like to stress is when you interview for managing jobs — I did it in Seattle, I did it in New York, I did it here – you know, it’s a great experience. People say, ‘well, did you do better in this interview?’ But I think what ends up happening, and why you get hired, is you finally find the fit. This is just a beautiful fit for me and for this group of front office people. I’m very excited about it.”