Read: Brian Schneider on MetsBlog
…i had the chance to meet Mets C Brian Schneider and speak 
with him for roughly three minutes yesterday while at the SNY studios…
…he seems to be a very nice guy…he comes off as being confident, polite and very comfortable and i don’t get the sense he’ll be intimidated by the New York media, because he was very direct, patient, well spoken and looked every one in the eye when asked a question…
…by the way, according to my notes, he has talked with Rick Peterson by phone, and he is being sent video of the team’s pitchers and every hitter in the NL East to help prepare for the coming season…this was interesting to hear, as i didn’t realize this sort of thing occurred during the off-season…
…lastly, i talked with his wife, jordan, for a few minutes, who is very sweet and seemingly quite excited to be in New York – and though they’re keeping their house down south, they are looking for a home either in Manhattan or in Connecticut like so many of his teammates…for what it’s worth, she prefers the city…
…by the way, i still have a hard time accepting that i am roughly the same age as these guys…for whatever reason, every time i meet a player, i expect him to be significantly older than me…or, i have yet to accept my age…it’s one of the two…
…at any rate, here is a written transcript of my quick conversation with schneider, followed by a few of his responses after questioning was opened to other writers…
Matthew Cerrone:
Last year, towards the end of the season, there was a debate here in New York over whether or not Jose Reyes irritated other teams because of his top-step celebrations, and dancing, which extended to Lastings Milledge, and others, as well. Does that sort of stuff annoy other teams?
Brian Schneider:
No. Each player has their own personality. If you know Jose, which we do, that’s his personality, he’s a guy who shows a lot of emotion on the ball field. You kind of look past it. Different guys do different things. It’s one of those things, it didn’t affect our team at all.
Matthew Cerrone:
People wanted to think it gave you guys extra motivation to beat the Mets, but, to me, I can’t imagine you ever need ‘extra motivation’ to win a baseball game, at least I hope you don’t.
Brian Schneider:
No, you don’t need any motivation when you’re out there. You don’t look for motivation, you just have it in you. It didn’t affect us, we’d go out there to win and prove we were a good ball club, that’s it.
Matthew Cerrone:
Right, so, you’re there, and you’re watching the Mets, who were in first in place in your division at the time, and do you notice them falling apart? As a rival team, are you rooting for them to blow it? Or, do you guys just focus on what you need to do?
Brian Schneider:
No, not rooting for it, but you definitely pay attention to it. At the same time, we were looking at people that they were playing because we didn’t want to finish in last place. So, when they were playing the Marlins we wanted to the Mets to win.
Matthew Cerrone:
Can you give me a sense of how you prepare for a game with that day’s pitcher?
Brian Schneider:
A lot of these guys use video these days, everything is so advanced. You guy go against a guy who’s coming in to a series that’s been hot and figure out some of his hits and what he’s done, and, at the same time, you go to the pitchers for the last time they faced this team for their history against this guy. So, there’s a lot of things that go in to it. I’m always the first guy on the field, then after a while you hit the video and so some homework and then I’ll meet with the pitcher that night to see how he wants to do it, because Mike Pelfrey will want to approach it different than John Maine, and we’ll figure out what worked for them in the past and and go from there.
Matthew Cerrone:
You mention Pelfrey, of him and Phil Humber, looking from the outside in having been with another team, what did y you think of them?
Brian Schneider:
I had a chance to face them, and it’s gonna be fun to catch these guys. They both have great arms and very, very promising futures. I look forward to helping them so they can help us.
…after speaking with me, he did a quick photo shoot with his new jersey, then talked with a handful of local reporters and television stations…here are a few noteworthy responses…
Schneider, regarding steroids and the Mitchell Report…
“I think it was good as far as it coming out. The drug-test program that’s in place now, it’s done its job. I think the numbers will continue to go down. Senator Mitchell even said that the numbers are going down, so I think it’s getting better…As far as the guys that were mentioned, they’re grown men, and if they did do it, they have to deal with the consequences.”
Schneider, on being a defensive catcher, more than a hitter, and if fans will need to time to accept him because of it…
“I think sometimes people don’t realize how important defense for a catcher is, and keeping guys out of scoring position, keeping that pitcher in for an extra inning or two and getting them over the hump – and I feel like I bring that to a team…I’ve known Omar for a while now and I think he understands how much passion I have and how much I love controlling a pitching staff and taking care of them and helping get them through a game and controlling the running game. I love throwing guys out and take a lot of pride in the that aspect of the game.”
Schneider, on throwing out runners who are not named Reyes…
“It’s great, I told Omar, kidded around with him right away, I said at least I don’t have to worry about trying to throw him out anymore. Really, it’s two or three guys. David is such a smart runner. He had a lot of success in situations running in the right counts last year, and then there’s Beltran.”
Schneider, on working with his new pitching staff…
“They have a good mix here of experience and promising young guys…I’m going to get tape of all the starters so I can get something on paper…I’m not going to come over here and try to change anybody. If there are some things that I saw or that some of the guys saw, yeah, we’ll definitely address that.”
