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NL DIVISION SERIES: CUBS v BRAVESSeptember 30, 2003Bobby CoxATLANTA, GEORGIA: Game One THE MODERATOR: We're ready to get started here in the interview room now. What we would like to do is direct all the questions to one and then the questions to the other instead of bouncing back and forth between the two of them. So, start with questions for Bobby Cox. Q. Bobby, you have had a long respect for the Cubs from back in the middle of the season with the pitching they're getting what is your feeling about them now? BOBBY COX: I thought they were really a good team last year and they had to gel and come together with a guy like Dusty it certainly didn't hurt. He's done a great job. When you build an organization like they have, with that type of pitching, you're going to go along ways. They should be contenders a long way down the road if they can hang on. That's the way we started here. If I had to start an organization from the ground up, I certainly would start it that way. They've helped themselves out by getting players down the stretch to improve some spots, and they were able to accomplish that. Q. With the number of free agents you have and the payroll situation, do you feel this is, in any way, a last hurrah for the brave? BOBBY COX: I don't think so. They have been saying that for two years now, and guys like Ortiz, and the likes of them we have been able to come right back. We were able to do what we did. Q. Can you talk about the roster situation and the decisions you made of who's on and who's not on? BOBBY COX: It's the toughest part of it really. They were tough decisions. Blanco was hard to leave off. He's been here all year. He's a very good catcher and the plusses on Johnny Estrada were that he is a switch hitter. We felt like he would be a good guy off the bench, and the other one I think was Shane Reynolds. Right now we don't need five starters for the first round. We may add him for the next round. Certainly for the World Series, we would add a fifth guy and we would knock off a position player or a pitcher to accommodate that. Q. What did you think you were getting when you got Mike Hampton based upon his previous performances in Colorado? BOBBY COX: Just what the Cardinals thought when they got Darrel out of Colorado. We felt exactly the same thing about Mike as the Cardinals did about Darrel Kyle. Q. How fair is a five-game series in the first round and would you rather have a seven-game series? BOBBY COX: I've always been an advocate of seven series. You play almost 200 games leading up to this series counting Spring Training. I just always felt that it used to be best two out of three years ago, and they figured out that wasn't very good either and now it's gone to at least five, so I would prefer seven, but it stretches it out probably too much. They would have to cut probably some of the schedule. Q. With Fick having done some catching, did that help make that decision easier? BOBBY COX: Having Robert Fick as your third catcher which he has caught in a lot, it does add into it. End of FastScripts... |
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