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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 5, 2006Phil GarnerORLANDO, FLORIDA Q. So you got here last night? PHIL GARNER: Yes. Q. Before you leave here, what would you like to see happen if you had one wish? PHIL GARNER: Sign a major pitcher. Q. Sign a major pitcher? PHIL GARNER: Yeah. Q. Sign or trade for? PHIL GARNER: Or trade or whatever, but have a major pitcher that we could sit behind Roy. And if there's another possible way to do something with the pitching staff, we could do it. Like to have a left-hander, but if we don't accomplish that, I think we have plenty of good choices with our ballclub. To do that would be a plus for us. And I mean, there's other possibilities that we've discussed some things, but for me that would be those -- that is the most important. Q. You are talking about a left-handed reliever? PHIL GARNER: Yes. Q. Does it surprise you what the going rate is? PHIL GARNER: It has absolutely shocked me. And I did say over the years, I have generally predicted where the market was gonna go, it just is a, you know, sitting around the table and talking, I think these guys are going to go higher than most people think and all that, and the only one I got right so far this year was Soriano. I thought he was going to get a contract like Beltran, I just didn't expect it to be one more year. So, we've got that one right, but I've been absolutely stunned at the amount of money that, you know, specialty players are getting, fitting a role. A lot of dollars. Q. You didn't get Carlos Lee right? PHIL GARNER: No I missed him a little bit but I figured, he's, you know, if you figure Soriano going to get big dollars, you figure Carlos Lee is going to tag along. Q. You see that in similar players? PHIL GARNER: Well, I see -- in some ways, power and RBIs, yes, although I think Soriano will prove to be a little more powerful than Carlos Lee but, you know, Soriano runs better and does like to steal bases, all that kind of stuff, so that's where there's a little bit of difference, but Carlos Lee fits quite nicely right where we need him to fit. We needed a guy that was willing and able to hit in the middle and wanted to be a run producer for us, and I think Soriano seems to like to hit other places in the lineup. So, Carlos Lee is a really good fit for us. Q. Is he your cleanup hitter? PHIL GARNER: If we start tomorrow, he sure is. Q. Phil, how do you perceive the Pettitte-Clemens situation and keeping them from doing things for you guys this year? PHIL GARNER: Well, the real problem is if you, you know, I think we've all liked to have Pettitte come back, but if there is some hesitation on his part or if we're not sure then we have to -- if there's an opportunity to strike for somebody that's capable of doing what he can do, if he is pretty close when they might have to -- we are going to have to weigh that. So, that is the biggest concern. Clemens for me is an all-together different scenario and story. That's more of, I think, a draining kind of relationship and to me, I hope that's not part of our equation. If Clemens happens, I hope he is in addition to whatever it is we are allowed to work with right now. And I thought last year's scenario with Clemens was good for both sides. Good for him and I think with he will play half the year. So which means his decision is critical now. Q. Do you have a gut feeling about Pettitte? PHIL GARNER: I certainly am entertained by my biased feel he wants to be in Houston, he needs to be in Houston and we want him to be in Houston and his family is dying for him to be in Houston. His kids are pining every day at school, wondering, oh, Daddy, please don't go anywhere else, stay in Houston. I could hear it all over the city. Q. So that's hoping that he doesn't go to New York then? PHIL GARNER: Well, or wherever. I don't know. New York has been one thing that has been talked about. But, you know, he's a Houston guy, I think he has had a good relationship in Houston and he's got to make the choice where to play, I sure hope it is to Houston. Q. Have you talked to either one of those guys today? PHIL GARNER: I have not talked to Rocket, but I've talked to Andy. Q. Any kind of feeling from him? PHIL GARNER: Andy? Q. Yeah. Did you get any kind of indication? PHIL GARNER: Well, the first few times I talked to him, he wasn't sure if he was going to play. They said he was going to make the decision later. Most recent conversation I had with him, he was, should I say it, you know, more than leaning, he's really considering coming back to play. I guess he hasn't made a definitive decision, that, yes, I'm definitely going to come back to play but it was more like, well, I'm getting interested in -- very seriously interested in doing that. Q. When you were a player, after the season was over and you had some downtime, when did you start getting that itch to sort of get back on the field? And the reason I'm asking is that this is a player here who, he didn't get that itch like after a month or so? PHIL GARNER: Every player would be different, I was about two weeks. Q. Doesn't surprise me. PHIL GARNER: I would have to say as I got older, you know it takes longer, you know, your body's beat up a little bit, and it does take longer. So, you know, it got to the point where it was after Christmas, that was a good line for me. So first of the year would come along and I'd start to train again. But for ten years of my career, it was two weeks. But I would be ready to go, but I think that probably is going to be a little bit different for Andy. I think that he will find that he may not be as enthusiastic October 30th or November 15th as he was three or four years ago, but that doesn't mean he still didn't want to play because, you know, the way people stay conditioned these days, getting ready, taking the month of December off and even into January off is fine. And spring training and these guys don't get out of shape, most of them don't get overweight, they may not do as much training but they don't get overweight so they have got to come to spring training, lose a bunch of weight and recondition again. So you can go into January and begin your training process and be fine and I actually think that you've got guys that overtrain today more than perhaps undertrain. Q. Excuse me, this conversation with Andy, did that make you optimistic about the chances of landing him, considering your previous conversations with him? PHIL GARNER: Um, I felt more optimistic that he was going to come back to play. I never get too -- I guess, I'm a little bit of a pessimist on the side of the signings; I try not to get too overly optimistic until we actually get them. And to say that, meaning the other side, he was discouraged by him not signing. I'm going to be neutral with that and try to do everything that I can do to try to convince Andy. Q. When was the last time you talked with him? PHIL GARNER: Last week. Q. What would your pitcher staff look like today without Andy and then with Andy, obviously? PHIL GARNER: Well, Andy would be the second starter, behind Roy. Without him, I don't know. That would be up for grabs. Q. How do you feel about the young guys? I mean, can you talk about some of your young guys? PHIL GARNER: Well, I like, as you know, and this is in no particular order, I think I wouldn't want to slight anybody right now, given the full complement of spring training before we make this decision, so this is not in any particular order, I like Hirsh, we got much more comfortable with him and I thought he looked better each time he pitched. You know, won 19 ballgames for us in the last two years. And I like the left-hander in the lineup -- you know in the rotation, so, I like Wandy Rodriguez. And Fernando Nieve has shown some bulldog attitude, and of all the guys that when you go to the mound, you try to take the ball from, he is like the one guy that looks like he wants to beat you up. He does not want to come out of the ballgame, I like that, so I like his attitude. I like Matt Albers, I think he is raw but the advantage I see from him is he misses low with everything. I mean, people talk about pitching down and they really don't do it. My viewpoint and where I stand in the dugout in Houston, I can tell when balls are above the knees or below the knees that is just about eye level for him. And with all the guys in the whole league and then Matt Albers' short amount of time, he threw the ball down more than anybody in the league. When he missed, he was below the strike zone, not up. So, I'm encouraged by that, you know, but he is still raw. He's got a lot to learn. Q. What about Buchholz? PHIL GARNER: Taylor Buchholz is another guy, as far as pure stuff is concerned, probably be ranked number one on just pure stuff. I think Taylor realizes how good his stuff is. There's no limit on how good he could be. So, I feel like we've got plenty of good possibilities in that group. You know, I love Gutierrez and he is a kid that pitched pretty good last year; see how he comes along in spring training. He could be somewhere in the mix. And then of course Sampson who we saw briefly last year and Borkowski both did a very good job for us. Q. How political is this second base situation for you? PHIL GARNER: Not political at all. Craig Biggio is the second baseman. He is on his way to 3,000 hits, he is on his way to the Hall of Fame and nothing is going to stop that. Q. Chris Burke's obviously a good player. PHIL GARNER: Burke is a good player but Craig Biggio earned the right to get to 3,000 and whatever happened after that. That is not political. Q. It is not? PHIL GARNER: It is absolutely what he deserves. Q. Any talk about Tejada coming to Houston? PHIL GARNER: I am not aware of any conversations about Tejada, and we talked about Baltimore in our meetings last night and a little bit this morning and Tejada was never mentioned. Q. Phil, you mentioned Biggio and 3,000 hits. Obviously, that's a tremendous milestone. Is it even more special, for want of a better way to phrase it, in lite of the fact that home runs have been more frequent in recent years for small ballparks, substances, whatever? PHIL GARNER: Well, maybe so but I mean to me, 3,000 is something that is a personal goal that if you could achieve it, I think it's remarkable, I think it's an automatic entry into the Hall of Fame. Aside from the fact that Biggio's been a Houston Astro from start to finish, hopefully to finish, you know, and not to suggest that his career is over now but through the 3,000 and beyond and I think that all of that speaks very well of our organization. It is difficult today to keep a player for 20-something years in today's environment. It speaks well for the city, for Biggio and his -- and Patty, his wife and his commitment to our city and our team, but it also speaks well for our team and our owner and our city's commitment to him, too. So, I think it's a good story, it's a feel-good story. Q. Phil, given your team is challenged in scoring runs in the past, how much does getting Carlos Lee swing the balance of power within the division? PHIL GARNER: Well, I don't know if it swings the balance of power, you know. The Cubs have been pretty active and I think Milwaukee continues to improve. Just because they got a lot of young players and I think they are going to be a little bit better. Cincinnati improved last year. So I don't know if the balance of power has shifted any more necessarily in our favor. I think we're gonna continue to remain competitive in our division. I think Carlos Lee has helped us, his addition has helped us immensely in terms of our offense. I think he will make a lot of other people better. I think he will take some pressure off of some guys and I think you will see him play better. He will obviously produce in the middle of the lineup, you've seen what he can do. I like the basics of our ballclub right now. I think it's important that we add another pitcher and I think that's going to be a critical issue and move for us. Q. Do you see a problem in Carlos staying active as a left fielder for six years? PHIL GARNER: Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, one of our physicians that gave him a physical does not think he is overweight, he is just a big man, and people suggested that and I think that's a guy with a lot of pride and I think you will see him play with a little bit of intent on proving people wrong about that. I never felt like that was an issue with him. As a matter of fact, before all this, signing him, what I told our people was the best play a left fielder made against us last year was Carlos Lee, and he did it in our ballpark with runners in first and second. Milwaukee put down a bunt and the pitcher threw the ball away at third base and Carlos Lee was standing about 30 feet behind third. I mean, he had hustled all the way over, stopped a play, we didn't score a run out of that inning, it was bases loaded, nobody out and the only reason we didn't was he hustled to back it up, and I think it was a pop out, a pop up and a double play ball that got them out of the inning after that. So really a heads-up play. I think he will do fine and I do not think that his size is an issue. Q. Are there other starting pitchers you are talking to besides the number two spot? PHIL GARNER: Um, yes, I think there will be some discussions in these meetings with teams about pitching. We intend to do that. Q. Free agents, too, or just trades? PHIL GARNER: Um, I think Tim Purpura is talking to a lot of people and I'm sure -- I will let him decide if he wants to mention what names he will talk to, but he is talking to a lot of people. Q. With you guys making the World Series two years ago and Cardinals winning last year and the Cubs spending money, this division looks to be really competitive. PHIL GARNER: I think it is as competitive as you get. Well, you know, you talk about 83 wins in our division, is that what it was? Q. Yeah. PHIL GARNER: 83 wins last year, didn't exactly knock you down but maybe it is because the division was really competitive, we were beating everybody, maybe that's what it was. But our division was wounded going down to the last month of the season last year and the Cardinals were hurting, and we played better but we just didn't, you know, get it over the top. But I think our division has a chance of improving considerably next year. I think, as I was saying, Milwaukee continues to improve because there's another years of experience on some of their young players. Cincinnati seems to be following, making a lot of moves now, like they did last year and they played better. Pittsburgh's got a lot of younger players, I don't think they can win the division but I think they can be tough. And St. Louis is probably not done. Q. Yeah, the Cubs though really kind of changed it -- PHIL GARNER: The Cubs added a couple of pitchers. They are going to be real tough. They are a club that can really -- probably going to put a lot of numbers on the board and -- as they have been able to do the last year, they have had a healthy Lee to start the season and I mean for me, he's a really good player and I think that's the reason they went in the tank last year is Ramirez had a hard time when it all fell on his shoulders. And so I think that they will bounce back and have a good offensive year. Good pitching is going to be the question. Q. Phil, do you enter spring with Lidge as your closer or is that -- PHIL GARNER: Yes. Q And how much of what happened last year can that make him better? Do you think he made adjustments then? PHIL GARNER: I think he made a whole bunch of adjustments last year and in the process of making him a lot better. Q. Burke can play different positions, center, right. What are your positions for the right fielder? PHIL GARNER: Well, right field, I think -- if we started tomorrow, you got to look at Luke Scott and possibly Jason Lane. Jason Lane has dropped about 20 pounds since the season is over and he has's been in the cage four or five days a week since the season was over and he looks really great. I think, you know, you let those two shoot it out there a little bit. Chris Burke has got to be playing a little bit in center field, a little bit on right field, second base and get an opportunity to play a lot. Hopefully all different positions. Lance would be probably sitting solid at first base. Morgan's at third base. Lamb would also be trying to get in once in a while, possibly at third base. Biggio starts at second. Q. How do you feel about -- PHIL GARNER: Carlos in left field. What did I say? Q. Third base. PHIL GARNER: Well, Morgan at third base. Q. How do you feel about the possibility of the Russpirator not returning to the bullpen? PHIL GARNER: I think Russ has done a tremendous job for us. I think last year, the consideration of looking at our bullpen at this point forward, looking at a lot of kids, we need somebody in that bullpen that's going to get abuse, and by that I mean they are going to have to pitch multiple innings, multiple days and I -- that is going to be the job description and that poor kid's going to have a hard time. When you're looking at at least three kids in the lineup or in the rotation perhaps right now, you got to have somebody in the bullpen that eats some innings and Russ has been at, you know, when he's pitched at his best, he has been a one-inning guy and pitched one inning often, he has been very good in that role, very good in a leadership role of the bullpen. He think he has helped the maturation process for Lidge for Wheeler and for Qualls and a lot of our younger players, but we have to really consider what it looks like, the way the whole staff's going to be right now, we got to really look at the possibilities of adding somebody that can throw multiple innings for us. Q. Is that because of the over-40 group also or mainly because of the younger pitchers? PHIL GARNER: Mainly because of the younger pitchers, but let's face it, if Rocket comes back, he is not an eight- or nine-inning pitcher anymore. So even if you bring Rocket back and he is not one of the young pitchers, he is still not a complete-game pitcher. So there runs a chance that you've got three days in a row that you are not going to get past the sixth inning. Q. Phil, with Hickey going to Tampa Bay, what can those guys expect in terms of coaching style and philosophy? PHIL GARNER: Hickey's very honest with you. He's candid. He's a good worker. He assimilates data real well and comes to good conclusions, so they'll get good information from him and he'll be a hard worker. He will outwork a lot of the players. They will have to step it up. Q. Why didn't it work out with him? PHIL GARNER: It just didn't. And I'm glad that he got the job with Tampa Bay. I think he will do a very good job over there. Q. Clemens is a unique situation but when you bring a guy in, how do you weigh the production you expect to get versus kind of some other concessions that you might have to make as far as, you know, starting the season late, not making road trips that kind of thing? PHIL GARNER: Well, first off, Rocket's special. So when you have a special guy like that, it's extremely special. You're willing to do special things. And the original freedom clause, if you will, that was given to him was something that's worked fine. I don't think it's been an issue with our ballclub and with our ownership. They were willing to do that to get him out of retirement. He's pitched beautifully. He's one of the, you know, greatest pitchers of all time. It's fun to watch him pitch. So all those other things are not an issue. And coming back in half a season last year, I thought worked well for him and worked well for us some, I don't view that as a negative. It's unusual and it's different. You can't do it with more than one guy and you certainly wouldn't want to do it all the time, but in this case, I think it works well. Q. And I assume you would be more than willing to make concessions like that for a guy like him as opposed to concessions to make in attitude. PHIL GARNER: Yeah, nobody offered me that kind of deal. You are right. Yeah, it was time to go. Here's the door. But in Clemens' case, all those things are very positive. He has been a positive force on our team. Q. But if the concessions were more attitude or there was a questionable character, a different guy, I'm not talking about Clemens, shall -- PHIL GARNER: Wouldn't be in the mix. You wouldn't do it. Q. You had said this would only work for Clemens? PHIL GARNER: A Clemens. Yeah. So the next guy that wants a freedom clause, I will say just as soon as you finish getting your seventh Cy Young and you're considered one of the best or maybe the best, certainly the best right-hander in the last 20 years and maybe the best right-handed pitcher of all time, we will put you in that category and let you have a freedom clause. The next guy that can come up and tell me that, we will do it. Q. How do you explain the fact that the Central Division teams were 100 games under .500 on the road last year? PHIL GARNER: I don't know, certainly the American League teams beat up on our Central Division and I don't understand that, whether we just didn't match up well -- I know we did not seem to match up well with the teams and we didn't play well against them. So, we played a little better against Texas but we didn't play well against the white Sox, didn't play well against Detroit. And so I have no explanation for that. They accomplished it. Q. Phil, Cubs just hired Ryne Sandberg as a class A manager. Does he know what's ahead of him? It's a little different than playing, isn't it? PHIL GARNER: It is. Q. Did you find it -- I mean, was it an adjustment for you? PHIL GARNER: Well, I tell you what the adjustment was, because I had always taught, even when I was a player, I had spent time in the winter teaching, I had tried to coach younger players. As I got older in the big leagues, I sort felt like a mentor to some guys. So it was a process of trying to get through to guys that you develop all along. Teaching is different than playing and saying, just watch me, you know? You're not a very good teacher if you grab the bat and say, "watch me take this batting practice." Now, guys can learn from good hitters like that but when you become a coach, you have to learn how to verbalize it and get it across and have players understand it. And that has to be a -- you have to bridge the gap of nonplayer anymore, and that's the part that was the big adjustment for me. Because I was in San Francisco and players were coming to me and talking to me about a lot of things and they are retired, and I was disappointed and shocked by it, you know, they just didn't come to all of a sudden now what's viewed as management. And I was -- a little bit hurt by it, a little bit disappointed by it and learned that was the natural order of things, and there's a certain amount of separation that has to occur within the process of learning how to be a good teacher, and bridging that gap is the difficult process for a lot of players. I typically I have found that it is difficult for extremely talented players because they've never -- they've never tried to learn to verbalize what they feel. That doesn't mean that they don't become great coaches but I think that's why your lesser-talented players sometimes become your better coaches because they have had to learn how to talk it and get different ideas from different people. Q. Ted Williams wasn't a very good manager. PHIL GARNER: Yeah. Yeah. You know, but still, it's, you know, it's not an insurmountable task, it is just difficult to learn. Q. You know him, he's played anyhow? PHIL GARNER: And everybody has different personalities, you know, Tommy Lasorda is very successful at his bombastic and certainly easy-going manner and all that but if he tries to be Tommy Lasorda, he is not going to make it. He will do just fine, being himself and learn how to communicate. Q. So you're not going to come back now? PHIL GARNER: That is my left arm. So, I'm okay, yeah. No, I'm not coming back. I think I've given up on that idea. Yeah. Q. Batting practice with your right hand? PHIL GARNER: Yeah, I'm gonna have to have another batting practice pitcher. Q. As you've become more experienced as a manager what kind of things have you been able to learn or how are you better as a manager now than you were when you first started? PHIL GARNER: Well, I'm probably a little more patient and I'm probably a little less patient. I'm more patient, I think, with some things but one of the things I said when I left Milwaukee is I felt like I stayed with some guys a little too long and I thought maybe they should have made decisions a little quicker, but I stayed with them in hopes that they were gonna get better. If your objective is to win today, you have to make quicker decisions, so I probably changed in that regard. I am also, perhaps a little bit too much over the years and particularly the last couple of years, I'm coming to the opinion there's a lot of flaws in the game and that doesn't keep you from winning, you know, I look at teams that win and maybe they're not the best defensive teams. They may not have the best overall offense but they are finding other ingredients that typically comes from pitching. And so you've got to learn how to timely hit and you've got to learn to pitch. I have changed on that because I've always wanted everybody to be perfect in all aspects. I've sort of taught to that level and tried to manage that level and saying that may not necessarily make it. Q. What do we take from last season when in fact, a team with 83 victories in the regular season wins the World Series? PHIL GARNER: I think that's the nature of our -- the structure of the game that teams can get hot in the playoffs can win. And that's what you can do, that's why pitching is so critical overall. And also I kind of saw it coming the last two starts I think that Weaver made, I saw a different guy and he got through that first game in the playoffs and I thought there were a couple of swings, at-bats in there where a pitch went his way that could have been called a ball that was called a strike, not that they were bad calls just on any other day, they might be called balls. Instead of going 3-1, it's 2-2 and I saw a bunch of swings and I saw his confidence build and, bam, all of a sudden, there he goes the other way, might have been a different series for the Cardinals. Their bullpen got confident and once that happens, who -- I didn't see anybody predict Yadier Molina was going to win a ballgame with a home run a couple of times and drive in the runs with doubles. And that's why it's terribly unpredictable, that is why it is very exciting and why I don't bet on them. You are not allowed to, but I don't know, you know, it's just totally unpredictable. I mean who would have seen that there are so many exciting things that are unusual things this year that were just totally unpredictable. Q. Phil, you talked about Craig Biggio getting 3,000 hits, and going to the Hall of Fame that number is considered the most automatic entrance. Do you think as the years moving forward, 500 home runs will be viewed differently or how do you think it will be viewed? PHIL GARNER: No, I still think if you got 500 home runs, that is a ticket to the Hall, too perhaps, I don't know. I see the vivid debate going on with McGwire, but take away the other issues, you get 500 home runs, probably ought to be in the Hall of Fame. Q. What are your thoughts on Mark McGwire and all this? PHIL GARNER: Well, I think if you're going to apply -- I would hope that all of the writers and I think we all -- I think the baseball Hall of Fame is the most difficult one to get into and I think that's why there is so much integrity about being a baseball Hall of Famer. I don't think that, you know, a popular player in an era gets into the Hall of Fame, I think you are truly one of the greatest players in your era if you are in the baseball Hall of Fame and keep it that way. The other side determining, feel like McGwire is guilty without have gone through any sort of trials or process or anything else, then we are going to have to apply it across the board and that's going to have to apply to pitchers, going to have to apply to position players of all sorts and I don't -- I wouldn't presume to be smart enough to figure out what that standard is going to be. You guys would have a difficult process. But to be fair to McGwire and everybody else coming up here the next few years, one sort of way to judge on that standard, but to say because he didn't testify in front of Congress or didn't testify to the point we would like him to, therefore, we think he is guilty and, therefore, should be off, to me that is not a good enough standard. End of FastScripts |
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