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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 6, 2010Ozzie GuillenLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA Q. You guys sign Konerko yet? OZZIE GUILLEN: I just got here. I mean, I think everybody knows in Chicago and White Sox fans that they're talking, they're trying. Like I say, it's the type of thing that you do to look great, if you don't, you're going to face people talking and making comments and why not. But that's why I say -- I keep saying the last thing I want to do in my life is be the GM. Because that decision you're going to make there, sometimes you have to think with your brains, not with your heart. Sometimes when you think with your heart, you make a lot of mistakes. We're all waiting, everybody in Chicago, myself, everybody, players, front office, fans, we want it. Then a lot of things go a different way. I don't know if it's my money, I don't know if it's about years, exactly I don't know the details. But they're talking to him. Hopefully, hopefully, they make the decision -- he make the decision, they make the decision right away. And we set the thing up and see what happens. Q. Have you spoken to Paul since the end of the season? OZZIE GUILLEN: I didn't talk to anyone. I just talked to A.J. a couple of days ago. And I know, I mean, two years with you again? Why did they do it to me? (Laughing). That's the only player I talked to. Besides that, all you guys know when the season's over, I try to stay away from the game the most I can and that. Everybody out there, all the team, PK know, PK knows we want it. Came and talked to you guys about it. Jerry talked to you guys about it or mentioned that he wanted to do it. I think the direction we take is a good one. I mean, it surprised me when Kenny would go out there aggressive and making the deals and think about the ballclub in a very, very pleasant way. Because I thought we were going to go a different direction. My way, you know, look around, and we're now and home and that's why I don't want to be an owner, I don't want to be a GM. I don't know which direction they'll go. Now in Chicago, people should be excited about the ballclub we're going to have. Q. If Konerko signs, there may not be a lot of money for a bullpen. Are you comfortable with that? OZZIE GUILLEN: We talk about it, and I think the guys that we have in our rotation, they give off better quality innings this year than they did last year. You know what I mean? I expect them to do that. I expect all the starting pitchers go have a better year and go deeper. You're always going to find somebody in the bullpen to help. But with the lineup we're going to have, if everybody stays healthy, I think we're going to have a good lineup. I mean, the question is always asked. My biggest concern or my biggest thing is to try to keep Carlos Quentin healthy and get there and get the at-bats he wants to be, and try to keep him in the lineup. Because, like I say, we've got those guys in the lineup most of the time and it can be a very dangerous offensive team. Q. Who would be your closer as you sit here right now? OZZIE GUILLEN: To me, it's got to be between Matt Thornton and Sale. That's the two guys I think I'm shooting for. You know, Matt -- I think Thornton's got experience, say, oh, he's got the stuff. Last year at the end of the season, Sale was -- the guy that was doing a pretty good job. But those are the two guys I look for. Maybe something drastic change, we're going to put Sale in the starting rotation, then things change. But right now the way things are going right now it's Sale and Thornton are the two guys I have in mind to do it. Q. What are your thoughts on Jayson Werth's contract? OZZIE GUILLEN: If I was his agent or his wife, that would be nice (laughing). That's very nice. I mean, I think this guy -- I don't follow the National League that much, but I looked at his numbers yesterday, pretty good positioning. I think I like players that are good athletes. He's a great athlete. He's a great outfielder, he runs the base well. He's got home runs. One thing about it, he's taking his own lead. You don't have to start over and find the lead and how it's going to be. And God bless him. Those kids didn't have any problem going to college, making a lot of money. Q. If Konerko comes back, what would your lineup be? How would you do it? Where would you bat Dunn? OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't know. I don't know. I want to hit Rios in the middle, either one behind him. Because I know I'll try to put a little bit of speed between those two guys. But I might hit Dunn third, PK four, and put Rios third. It depends. I mean, right now I've got to wait to see how they do in spring training. But I think third and fourth, those two guys. I want to get Dunn more at-bats. I want him to hit in the first inning, so that's why I think third hitter. Especially, we've got one Juan, Gordon, lefty, righty, lefty, that helps with PK behind and then Rios right after. Q. You still feel like even if you have Dunn and Konerko, who are RBI guys with not much speed, do you still like the overall athleticism you have on this team with Rios, Beckham, Pierre, Ramirez, that kind of thing? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, we've got a hole, I don't know. We've got the kid at third base, Mo, he's a pretty good athlete. He can run the base. I'm talking about speed. I don't talk about Juan Pierre, 60 stolen bases. I want the guys to run around and make things happen. You know what I mean? We cannot wait. I just talked to Don, I said, listen, I'm going to tell you the same stuff I'm going to tell everyone. You're not coming here to save the White Sox; you're coming here to help us to get what we want to get. A lot of guys when they're making money, oh, he's a free agent. Believe me. I told Don, I said, they love you right now, but you know you haven't had your first strikeout yet, and you haven't missed a ball at first base yet. In Chicago, it's not an easy place to play. In Chicago, I say the city's very nice. But in the city, they know who you are and what you do. He's a big boy; he can't hide it. And they're going to let you know how good you are or they you're going to let you know how bad you are right away. I told the people, don't worry about it, he's just coming here to help us, not to push any of the spotlight like I'm the savior. Q. The Tigers adding Victor Martinez? OZZIE GUILLEN: Why? Why a Venezuelan guy doesn't want to play for me (laughing)? Q. And also Benoit in the bullpen. How do you see the Tigers now? OZZIE GUILLEN: You know what, every year I don't look at this division any easier. I don't see any difference this year than it was in the past. I like the Tigers last year because they had a lot of better offenses in the outfield. They played a lot better. And obviously, you have Victor in very good protection to Miguel. Well, I've got to tell Victor right now, the way we play against -- the way we pitch against Miguel, we're going to continue to pitch against Miguel. But that's a good ballclub, and it's always going to be. In this league, in our division, you know, clubs are getting better and better, and I think that's the reason Kenny went after -- right now went after a couple free agents and go after good players to compete. Q. If you got Konerko back, would you consider yourself the favorite in the division? OZZIE GUILLEN: No. No, because I believe in pitching, and I believe that we pitch better. Right now the way we pitched last year, it's hard for me to say that. The year before in spring training I was very excited because of the rotation we have. We didn't pitch that well, and Peavy, he got hurt. Now the rotation for us is pretty, pretty excited. We're going to have a good ballclub, yes, because I think the players that we have and having Dunn in the middle of the lineup, that will help. In the meanwhile, it's not about those two guys. It's about 25, maybe 32, 30, to put it together. Who won the World Series last year or this year? The people -- nobody even thought about they're going to be there. That's the message to baseball. You do not need to be big boys up there to win it. You just have a good team, everything clicks for you, play good at the right time and that's it. I think everything starts about injuries. You stay healthy, you're going to have a chance to win. Q. It seems there are so many offensive players that have moved this year, Adrian Gonzalez going to Boston. Seems teams are focused so much on offense this off-season? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, it's not that much pitching out there. When you talk about one pitcher, two pitchers as a league -- Q. Pavano maybe? OZZIE GUILLEN: Yeah, Pavano, don't get me wrong, but he's my boy. I coached him a few years. But the only guy out there is the big named guys. Offensively, you've got Ferg, you've got Crawford, you've got Dunn. There are a lot more offensive guys in the market is the pitchers. That's why I think guys go after those guys a little bit more. Believe me, to me -- I don't know, I'm not Terry Francona. The way there were injuries last year, they went in looking for something to protect those things. I think this kid, he would be an outstanding player playing in Fenway because he can hit the ball all over the place. But that's the reason we talk about offense, because there's not much pitching out there. Q. Going back to the bullpen, you don't think you need a Peutz type of guy, a 7th, 8th inning type of guy? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, you cut it down from Thornton, Sale. You know me, I hope Santos got the same kind of year he had last year. You hope that because you don't know. Then you come down and I expect my starting rotation will go the distance, I mean, seven or eight, not every day, but at least -- we've got times last year, last time I started was Pena, he was in my starting rotation. He was pitching every other day six, seven innings. But if we get one, great. If we don't, I think we've got people out there, hopefully, can go out and compete and do the job. Q. Well, you'd have Pena again? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, that's going to be the guy for six, seven innings. But it's not going to be the guy six, seven, every day. Four, five, six; four, five, six, our starting rotation has to step it up and pitch better, I guess. Q. What do you do until Peavy gets back? OZZIE GUILLEN: That's a question -- that's the thing I have to see what we have for spring training. You know, I don't know exactly if we're going to put Sale there, or we're going to put Pena, are we going to give one of the kids a shot? Are we going to make another move to get another one? It's still plenty of time to make that decision and decide what we're going to do. Q. If Paul doesn't come back, would you have another captain on the team this year? OZZIE GUILLEN: No, that's it. Nobody earned that. To be the captain of the White Sox -- and I am the manager, that's a pretty tough one, because you've got to earn it. First of all, not because what you do on the field, it's what you do with your teammates. The respect you've got in the clubhouse, the presence in the lineup. There are so many things combined to be the captain of any ballclub. Look at the ballclubs that have captains. I don't know, Derrick Lee, Jeter, the catcher from Boston, Varitek. Those are legit, legit people. Besides on the field. That's why whoever is named captain by any team they should be proud because that's not an easy thing to do. Q. The season starting now, do you see Sale more in the bullpen or starting now if you had to look at it? OZZIE GUILLEN: I'm not a scout. A lot of people say, well, he started in the past. I said, where? College. That's a little bit different between college and the big leagues. But I think this kid has the tools. And I think he wants to be a starter, yes. I think right now we're going to wait and see. But right now I see him in the bullpen. Can he start? Yes. Are we going to take that chance? I don't know. We've got to wait to see how things set up in spring training and see what we have. Q. Do you want to keep him in one job for the season where you don't maybe have him start for a month and go to the bullpen? OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't know what the situation's going to be. I want to keep him just think about one thing, but if that's the thing that it's going to be, we have to deal with it. Q. What is the best guess on when Peavy's going to come back? OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't know. I expect -- as a manager, I want him in spring training. That's my goal. But one thing about it, we're not going to rush him. We're not going to tell him to hurry up. He's going to take his time. When he's out there, he's out there for good. But I don't know anything about the trainers, or the maybe the trainers don't want to call me or I don't want to call the trainers, because we talk a lot during the season (laughing). But in the meanwhile, we don't have any table set for him what date he should be. I expect him to be there in April, but if he's not, we're going to give him a lot of time to come back. Q. A lot of times in that closer's role, you like somebody who has got some experience, been through some ups and downs in baseball. What kind of issue would it be to make Sale the closer and a guy this young who hasn't gone through a lot? OZZIE GUILLEN: Since I'm managing this ballclub, I've got Bobby Jencks closing as a baby. I've got Shingo Takatsu, who never closed a game in the United States, I'm not afraid. And I think this kid showed me -- to be a closer, I think you have to have one pitch to strike people out. I don't care if it's a changeup, slider, fastball, whatever it is. And I think Sale got one. He's got three. He got changeup, slider, and good fastball to be a closer, and throw strikes. He does all that stuff. I don't think this kid's scared. I don't think he's the type of guy -- to be a closer, you have to forget what happened the night before. If you save, you get paid to save the games. If you blow the game, you have to be prepared the next day to pitch the game. That is the mentality you have to have. And I think this kid will be fine with that. Q. Ozzie, I don't know to what extent you can talk about free agents, but what is your impression about Hideki Matsui? OZZIE GUILLEN: I told the Japanese media a moment ago last time we won the World Series, we had Japanese players (laughing). Q. So would you want to have another Japanese player on your team? Depending on what happens with Konerko, is this a thought? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, we never mentioned to it. I still wait a little bit about that conversation, because Kenny's the type of guy -- we're in Chicago. We're trying to keep quiet everything he does just in case. But I think we tried last year, and I think he had a good year. I think he's healthy. I think he can help anybody. He showed last year how much he can help. Q. Could you use another left-handed bat even with Don on board? OZZIE GUILLEN: I could use another left-handed at-bat, yes. But the thing is I've got a problem when I manage a Japanese player, because I've got to talk in English, Spanish and Japanese media, that's three people. I get myself in trouble a lot for that (laughing). Q. What is your relationship with Victor Martinez? How well do you know him? OZZIE GUILLEN: I know Victor very well. I think Victor is going to help those guys a lot on the field and off the field. I think Victor helps himself going to Boston because he was next to a couple of guys that have been in the World Series before. He grew up as a player. He's not a kid anymore. And I think he will help those guys on the field and off the field. You know, it's something he can help a lot, because he can catch and play first and DH. That's a good thing to have. Q. Did you try to recruit him at all or talk to him? OZZIE GUILLEN: I think they did. I think they did. Q. Did you? OZZIE GUILLEN: No, I never did because if that thing come out and say Ozzie was talking to Victor, I don't know collusion or tampering. A lot of people do that in baseball. They do that. You just don't get caught. But, no, I never did. I don't have the money. If I was with Kenny or Jerry, yes because I could convince them. But if I don't have the money, I can't convince anybody without money. But he'd like to play in Chicago. He told me in the past. He'd like to play in Chicago or not in Chicago (laughing). But I think they've got a pretty good ballclub. I think the White Sox offered, but I never talk to anybody about coming to my -- yes, I did, I'm sorry. I talked to Hunter and Lionel. Q. Freddy? OZZIE GUILLEN: No, I never talked to Freddy about coming to Chicago. I talked to Freddy don't sign with another team, sign with Chicago when he got hurt. They don't know you. We know you. He decided to sign with another ballclub and look at what happened. But I talked to Hunter about it, he want to talk to me. And I talked to Lionel because he wanted to talk to me when Kenny was talking to them. I never directly talked to them. Q. Could Freddy come back? OZZIE GUILLEN: Yeah, he's a free agent. The way Freddy pitched last year, it was the best pitcher I have or we have, you know what I mean? That's enough to say there to bring him back or not have any problem to sign with another ballclub. Could he come back? I don't know. That's up to what we have. Q. Well, if you need a fifth starter, but you may not need him for very long? OZZIE GUILLEN: That's what I said. Because Freddy cannot pitch out of the bullpen. I don't think he can. He would take too long to get warmed up and all this stuff. Q. So why are you leaving the winter meetings so early? OZZIE GUILLEN: Why? Because I hate to be in the winter meetings. Straight up. A lot of people here feel the same way, but they don't say it. You know what's impressive and I love that, that's why I married Bobby Cox, I love him. I just walked in and said you don't have enough of this (laughing)? But you know, that's the way the man is. Talking about winter meetings asking me about a job. I said I hope I can keep mine. They ask me about jobs, do you have a job. I'm thinking like you right now. Q. Are you going to Venezuela tonight? OZZIE GUILLEN: I'm going to Venezuela tonight because there are a lot of problems down there right now. My hometown is in bad shape and a lot of bad things happened down there. I don't want to say worse than 1999, because 1999 we had more dead people. But in the country, it's suffering more right now than it was in 1999. We've got more people, we've got houses, people all over the place. And unfortunately, we don't have insurance. That many people don't have insurance. We're going through tough times. I'll go there to see what I can do. Hopefully I can help a few. I'm already helping people. They're in my house. I've got like 30 or 40 people in my house living hopefully for the next few days. I'm going to find out to see how that goes. But I've got a lot of people asked me about what you should do? Well, I'll try to help. But I'm not the president, I'm not the governor, I'm not the mayor. You know what I mean? I don't have to deal with that. I can do whatever I can do. Hopefully what I do is good enough to help a few people. You can't help everybody. There are millions and millions of people. Millions. Maybe without houses and that lost everything. We have the same problem in Columbia. Hopefully, that thing will take care in the next few months. It's going to take a month or a year to recover from this one. Q. What do you think about Concepcion coming up a little bit short this morning? OZZIE GUILLEN: I was sad. I'm a big Concepcion fan. And I saw Tony Perez when he checked into the hotel. He gave me the news. But he gave me a good one, too. He said 50-50, he's got a good chance to be there next year. I hope. Because we need good news in Venezuela. You know what I mean? We have the thing. You know, we have great, great news this year in baseball. We've got Gonzalez, and Miguel Cabrera, and Felix. You know what I mean? We need some good things and they did it. I think the Venezuelan players did a good job to keep our country in the top and a positive thing. To us, before Vizquel, because I think Omar's going to be a Hall of Famer. He should be a Hall of Famer. I think one we're pushing the most is Davey, and hopefully he'll make it. Q. Speaking of Omar, what will be his role for you next year? OZZIE GUILLEN: I hope he doesn't have to play every day. If Omar plays every day, we're in trouble. Not because he couldn't play, because Omar did a tremendous job. He had a great, great year. Had a great year. But that's not his role. It was somebody else's role. And the role was like he was in spring training last year. Play a little bit of short, second and third, and play once in a while. But Vizquel, wow. I was pretty impressed. Very impressed what he did. Q. What impresses you the most about him? OZZIE GUILLEN: Health. You know what I mean? He stays healthy and plays the way he did. At the age of 49 (laughing). He's better than Charley Huff when he retired. That's not easy. You play him every day the way we did, he did an unbelievable job on the field and off the field. I think he helped Gordon, he helped Ramirez a little bit. I think he helped us a lot. Q. How does, if Konerko comes back, how does that impact Takatsu and his role on your team next year? OZZIE GUILLEN: I say last year -- we haven't talked to Viciedo yet as an organization. But I think we need another year in the minor leagues. That's my opinion. That's my opinion. And I hope Viciedo will come out of spring training and prove me wrong. I'd love that. I would love that. He's a good player, and he's there. I talked to him last year and we've had this kid very, very high and very, very good. I hope these players prove me wrong and come back and compete this year and hopefully prove me wrong. End of FastScripts |
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