Bob Schaefer's First Comments

I was in the dugout on Thursday when interim manager Bob Schaefer addressed the Kansas City media for the first time. Here's a little of what he said:

"Tony Pena did a lot for this organization that the average person doesn't know about…Tony was a father to some of these guys, a big brother to a lot of these guys. That's what the game is all about. It's about people and Tony did a great job. A lot of young rookies broke in that couldn't have broken in with too many managers. I'm going to miss Tony. He was a great friend. We had a lot of fun together. We won a lot of games together. Hopefully we can continue from here and see what happens."

In the press conference, Allard said that he would consider you as a possible successor. Do you want this job?

Well, that's nice. I mean, I don't know. I'm not going to apply for anything…I appreciate Allard saying that, but again I'm not trying out for the job. I'm doing what I think is best for the organization. What's best for the players. And if it's not me, whoever it is, hopefully we can make some progress…

How do you prepare for the balancing act when you reach a point where you're losing so many games that it harms development?

"Well, everybody wants to win. But you can't win at the expense of development...I think what we're doing here is the right way. We're going to scruff a little bit and play some bad games. But I see some improvement. Our job as the manager and coaches is to encourage these kids. The toughest thing for a young player is to lose his confidence real quickly. You lose your confidence quickly, you start pressing and doing things that don't feel natural…"