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MLB EXPANSION DRAFTNovember 18, 1997Joe Garagiola, Jr.PHOENIX, ARIZONA Q. Give us your thoughts after the first round, how it went for you guys? JOE GARAGIOLA: Well, probably to no one's surprise, we are pleased with the results. We pretty much filled out the infield with Diaz and Fabregas at catcher was a very nice pick for us. Garcia was somebody that we followed for a long time. Mel, certainly knew him well from his Dodger days. And the fact that he's from Hermisillo is a pretty nice benefit. The rest ‑‑ the pitchers we got, Ben Ford was somebody that our guys knew from the Yankee days. Boyd, we have seen out here in the fall League, and he's been dominating. Brede is a nice outfielder, and Batista was a nice pick at the end of the round to give us some flexibility in the infield. Just up and down the picks. We think we got the pitchers we wanted. Catching was a key position, we filled that and a couple of nice position players in Diaz and Batista. Q. Were you planning to go that heavy on arms on the first round, was that the plan all along? JOE GARAGIOLA: I think it was. I think as we looked at the board, we saw that there was some good pitching there, some good young arms, but they certainly would be gone after the first round. Teams were going to try to get some of these guys through and then pull them back. And we knew or we pretty much felt, we would have one shot at these guys and it would be at the first round. Q. Would you comment on your reason for your No. 1 choice? JOE GARAGIOLA: Those were ‑‑ well, the three pitchers that we had at the top of our board were Saunders, Anderson and Suppan. So after Saunders was gone, those were the next two pitchers, and you can't pass on those. Q. Was there any surprise on your part that Anderson was not taken with the first pick? JOE GARAGIOLA: Well, I don't know, I think that as we tried to scope the thing out, we attached some significance to the Saunders, Marlins, Rothschild connection, but there might be a logic to that, but we would not have been surprised really if any of those three had been taken with the first pick. Q. I know you don't want to give away your gameplan, or what you might want to do, will there be more news regarding Gabe Alvarez as the third baseman later tonight? JOE GARAGIOLA: I think it depends on what we will be able to do in the next couple of rounds, but there's a possibility of that. Q. Joe, in picking Fabregas, obviously you felt he was the best catcher ‑‑ did you feel he was the best catcher or was it a matter of other factors such as age and salary with somebody else? JOE GARAGIOLA: Principally was that we thought he was the best available catcher. We were somewhat surprised when we saw that he was available. Q. What do your scouts tell you about Fabregas's handling of pitchers? It seems like he gives you experience for your young staff? JOE GARAGIOLA: Well, I think that's right, sort of not knowing what the staff would look like, but assuming, and we can see now a little bit of it, it is going to be a younger staff. He kind of fits that young veteran/catcher mode. And our guys just liked his all‑around game. As we looked at catching, that was a position where we thought you wouldn't get a lot of opportunities to take some big hits, and so to be able to go on him, that's why we took him where we would. Q. Based on what happened in the first round, is dealing for Matt Williams in any possible deal dead? JOE GARAGIOLA: The question is, is any possible deal dead. I would say the answer to that is, no. Q. Can you talk more about Brian Anderson and some of the things that you liked? JOE GARAGIOLA: I think we liked the fact that he's left‑handed, we liked the fact that he's ‑‑ at a very early age been through the fire, now he's pitched in the biggest kinds of games you can pitch in the Big Leagues, and if there's a direct correlation, but this is somebody who at a young age we don't think will be overawed next year when he's in our ballpark pitching in front of 48,000 people. Q. What's the mood been like in the Diamondbacks' war room so far? JOE GARAGIOLA: I think we're all in a good mood, happy with the picks, anxious to see the pull backs, and get to the second round. End of FastScripts |
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