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MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 6, 2005

Grady Little

DALLAS, TEXAS

NED COLLETTI: I'm pleased to introduce Grady Little as the new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the finest managers and gentlemen in the game today. The past few weeks I've spoken with many different managers, general managers, team executives, coaches, players, and I've heard from everyone that he's an ideal man to lead this club.
Grady and I met today with Frank McCourt. He, too, is thrilled to welcome Grady to the team and believes like I do that he will take this ballclub to great hates heights. Met with many excellent candidates. If I could compile a staff with Grady's help of the people I spoke to in this process, it would be one great staff. Grady has the highest winning percentage of any Major League manager in the last 20 years. For building a club for the long haul and the future, we also want to win now and Grady Little has the skills and experience to lead this team right out of the gate. Thank you, Grady little.
GRADY LITTLE: Thank you very much. I had a few notes drawn together briefly here this afternoon but then a lot of them got shot all to pieces when Tommy Lasorda walked into the room up there a while ago. I might change my mind a little bit. But first of all, I would like to thank the people with the Boston Red Sox for giving me my first opportunity at a chance of a lifetime. Then I would like to thank Andy MacPhail, Jim Hendry, and the Chicago Cubs organization for the last two years, what a pleasure that was to be working with baseball people like that.
And that brings us to today when I welcome my second chance at the opportunity of a lifetime, and that's taking on the challenge of managing the Los Angeles Dodgers. To put it in Tommy's words, he said I'd been in the big leagues before, but now I'm in the majors. For this opportunity I want to thank the McCourt family, Ned Colletti, and the Dodger organization. That's about all I have to say. I'm looking forward to this opportunity.

Q. With what you went through in Boston, what-have-you, were you confident you would get another managerial chance, and how happy are you to get another chance to be a Major League manager?
GRADY LITTLE: I tell you what, there's no way I can put into words how happy I am to get this opportunity with this franchise. I had confidence in what I did with that ballclub in Boston, but at the same time, you never know what lies in your future. The opportunity is here now, and you can bet your blood I'm going to make the most of it.

Q. As Ned mentioned, the winning percentage is great, you've won more than 90 games both years in the Red Sox, but fair or unfair, people remember the last game that you managed; how did you wrestle with that over the last couple of years and is that something as you move forward you'll be able to put in the past and not have to answer questions about it?
GRADY LITTLE: You know, that was in the past the day after the season was over as far as I'm concerned. But I was confident in the job that we did during my tenure there in Boston. We know where that organization was when we got there. We knew where it was when we left. And that's just the way that is.
We feel confident in our own abilities. I don't know what else to tell you.

Q. Ned, now being in the organization for a few weeks and going through this search, what do you think are the biggest challenges ahead to bring the Dodgers back to the organization I know you want it to be?
NED COLLETTI: Barry's question is what are the challenges ahead, if I may shorten it. (Laughter.)
Well, first of all, getting a manager was certainly a huge priority for us and we're confident we've selected the right man in doing that. That's where it's going to start. We've got a blend of a decent veteran nucleus that needs to be upgraded slightly and we also have a flock of young kids that are on the verge of being big league players, whether it's another year or two or three.
With that said, we probably need to find ourselves another outfielder and maybe some help at first base, third base, another starting pitcher, lefty in the bullpen. Other than that, I think we're pretty well set. (Laughter.)

Q. Had Grady been on your radar before this? Were you aware of his accomplishments?
GRADY LITTLE: Well, when you watch as many games as we all watch and you watch both leagues, you have a feel for who is who and who can handle the situation and who can manage a winning team. And when I was presented with this job and with this opportunity and I knew I had to find a manager, he was somebody I thought about right from the start. We went through an exhaustive search. We probably between the Dodgers first search and this search which ends today, we probably talked about, listened to, asked about 23, 25 different people.
So it's not -- with a lot of due diligence that we come to this today, but the candidates that I interviewed were terrific. There was another two or three that I did not interview that I didn't have a chance to interview that were also of the same level. But I've watched Grady for a long time. I know how he operates a team. I know the respect he gets from his players. I actually had a couple -- I called one of his former players and actually had another one call me, and in this day and age when a player is willing to talk about a manager and endorse a manager and the team has been successful, I think that speaks volumes.

Q. Obviously it's late in the winter, how quickly do you want to get a staff assembled and what's going to be your time frame?
GRADY LITTLE: Well, that's something that Ned and I will work together on. We'll start on that right away.
I feel like we have a long time. The last job I took on, we had two weeks before Opening Day and we were able to get it done, so I think that we'll sit down and talk about the people that we have in mind and we'll come down a very good step.

Q. With the perspective of two years looking back, do you feel like some of the criticism leveled at you in Boston after Game 7 with Pedro, was it hurtful or unwarranted?
GRADY LITTLE: No, it wasn't hurtful. I've got a certain easy way to keep things in the right perspective. I've never had a problem with that.
Unwarranted, I don't know. It's New England and it's Boston. All they want to do is win and that's all we were trying to do.

Q. Can you talk about your strengths as a manager and how you fit in with a team that is young?
GRADY LITTLE: I always feel that one of my strengths has been communicating, not only with the players but anyone that I'm around, and I think that that goes a long way in my successes.
I think one of the main reasons that I'm able to communicate is because I'm talking so slow, it's real easy for someone to follow. They don't miss anything.

Q. This one's for you, Tommy. You're the glue that brings this whole organization back together for so many years, what advice do you have for Grady and Ned as they move forward into this new era?
TOMMY LASORDA: The thing that I would like for them to know, they are joining in my opinion the greatest organization in baseball. I wish Grady a whole lot of good luck and success. I know and I feel he's going to do a good job and lead us to where we belong.
And for Ned, guys say, "Well, you're happy because he's Italian." That's a lie. I'm not happy because he's Italian; I'm happy because I'm Italian. (Laughter.)
Q. Question for Grady, just regarding back to Game 7 again, so many people rehashed that decision so many times, I just wonder, did you rehash it at all, or just you made the decision, you made what you thought was the right call at the time and you moved on; while others rehashed, did you?
GRADY LITTLE: That's one of many, many decisions that I made during my time there in Boston. I got a bad result right there that day and history speaks for itself. What else am I going to say.

Q. Have you had a chance to look over this club and this roster and personnel and assessed what you see there?
GRADY LITTLE: I have had a chance to look at it but during the last five or six days, things have been happening awfully quick, and I would be -- I would probably be unfair if I started speaking with solid facts to you right now.
But I assume that there will be some wee hours of the morning being spent in my learning about it and how I can make it better.

Q. Ned, could you talk about the final, whether it was one, or several hundred reasons why you chose Grady over the other candidates that were down to the last few? Was there something that stood out?
NED COLLETTI: He's been a student of the game since he was a player. I don't want to speak for Grady, but I can probably say this because he told me this; he wasn't a very good player. (Laughter.)
So to be successful, he's had to pay attention every day and he's learned a lot. He's been with some great organizations, including the Atlanta organization, for a long time; through the Minor League system which we all know is one of the most steadiest successful franchises in our time; that was important, that he had a knack for winning; that he had a knack for developing; that he knew the road it took; his managerial career, while two years was certainly something that was filled with pressure in a high-profile place, with a high-profile team with great stakes every day, and I think he did great in those situations.
The people I talked to in and around the game who had witnessed the Red Sox years with Grady and also his years in development before that, his years as a big league coach, gave me a lot of confidence in who he is and what he's about, and what the future holds.

End of FastScripts...

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