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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 6, 2010Brad MillsLAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA Q. How are you recuperating, first of all? BRAD MILLS: It's been slow. I think after any surgery you have, it's going to be slow. But this one is coming back and after the first two weeks, if I would have had a knife, I might have cut my whole leg off, but it's feeling good and starting to come around. Q. So many new managers, and someone that just went through that for the first time, any advice you would give or things that you learned from that first experience? BRAD MILLS: Wow, advice. I don't know if going through one year is worthy of being given any type of advice. Q. But even just the things that you didn't expect from that first year of being -- BRAD MILLS: Well, first of all, I think the adjustments that I was able to make or had needed to make from becoming a bench coach so long into managing, was made years by the players that we had, the coaching staff that we have and just outstanding people, and just the Houston organization was outstanding. That helped the whole transition; the players playing like they did, the coaching staff being just right on task at what they were trying to get accomplished. All of those things together really helped any adjustments I needed to make. Q. Now that you guys have Barmes, what is the No. 1 thing you would like to get done, player-personnel wise adding a piece for next year? BRAD MILLS: I think we want to get better. There's no doubt, at whatever. Whatever it's going to take, I think that Ed has always been open to anybody that has ideas of how we can get better, but you look at our club and with what C.J. has done at third base and Jason Castro, what he's done behind the plate, and getting Barmes and the year that Keppinger had. He did a great job for us. And of course Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence, you can't say enough about those guys and of course our pitching did an absolutely outstanding job. There's a lot of good pieces already in place now, and Barmes is one of those guys to add. So I think just staying open to what might make us better is what we are doing more than anything else. Just staying open to see what's going to work. Q. How do you view the first base situation between Carlos and Brett? Seems like it's Brett's job but Carlos will be there in the ready if he can't do it. BRAD MILLS: Yeah, that's probably a pretty good way to say it, but at the same time, here in December, to say that this guy is going to be at this position and this guy is going to be at that position, where we might have a few question marks might be a little bit difficult. And whether we are going to say, Carlos is going to play first base or Brett is going to play base or whatever; let's let these guys go play a little bit, and let's continue to work both places for Carlos and Brett to be ready. He's already in Houston working out, getting ready. He's hitting and lifting weights and so forth. We keep an open mind to those guys, that's going to kind of help us as we go into Spring Training. Q. How do you think Lance's knee surgery affected his play last season? BRAD MILLS: Well, there's no doubt, and that's a real good question, only because when he got to New York and they talked to him; because we had talked to him about it, that he was using so much upper body when he was hitting. So saying that, I thought it had quite a bit to do with it. Great guy, we want the best for Lance and everything else and he gave this organization so much, and it was tough to see him go. It was nice to get the guys back that we got for him but at the same time it was tough to see him go. Now he's healthy and I guess he's working out pretty well, it's be interesting to see how he kind of transitions. I haven't seen him play the outfield -- I know he lobbied hard for it last year. He lobbied hard to go out there and move Carlos to first base. But we felt -- it's hard because he's such a good first baseman. He's a well-above-average first baseman and it's tough to take a guy that's going to handle the ball almost on every play and shift him to a long ways away from the ball. So that was real tough to do. Q. Are the knees a concern? BRAD MILLS: No, they really weren't. That wasn't the issue then, because like I said, he really -- the knee really didn't become an issue until a week or two into Spring Training. Q. Do you think that would have prohibited him from playing in the outfield at all last year? BRAD MILLS: It would have when he hurt it but it wasn't going into Spring Training because he wasn't hurt at that time. Q. Last year it was you and this year, John Farrell leaves the Red Sox clubhouse to manage. What is it about that environment that creates future managers? BRAD MILLS: Well, No. 1, it's got to be Terry. He does such a good job of including his coaching staff and including the bench coach and pitching coach in every decision of how he goes about things, and he communicates so well with the coaches. That would probably be the first thought. The second thing is, what an environment to go to work in every day and see the pressure that the manager is under, and because Terry is so open with the rest of his coaches, you are able to kind of get a sense of what he's going through in that environment. And then of course, add to that, the type of player that it takes to play there; the type of player that does well there, and you see that and how you work with players. So all of those things together really kind of make it a good place to learn. Q. What was it like to watch Terry from afar this year, and everything you had to juggle this past year? BRAD MILLS: You know, it because pretty interesting. We talked quite often, and just seeing the things that he was going through with all of the injuries they were having and the troubles they were having, and there's no doubt about it, you know, because that's where I was for six years, you'll wake up in the morning and that's one of the first scores you look at, to see how they did. And then you read about the game, and I might text him and kind of give him a little jab here and there. But it was -- there's no doubt that you're really aware of what's going on. Q. Did you talk similarly or in less specifics with you not being there -- he has talked about how the Ortiz thing was really hard for him. Did he bounce that off you the way he might have in the past or did he steer clear of it? BRAD MILLS: Well, he didn't bounce it off me the way he did in the past because I wasn't with him. But we might share some things that we are going through at the time. And things that he is going through, he might say it specifically, and then ask how I was doing and things that were going on, because he might read in the paper about some things that were happening to us, and on the trade deadline, wanted to talk about a few things. Q. Last year at the meetings, you were active. What are your expectations in terms of this year? BRAD MILLS: Well, I think kind of going back to what Brian asked, we are going to be as active as we can be to try to improve our club. So we want to get better but at the same time, we don't want to tear down exactly what got us better. So it's going to be interesting to see what pieces are out there that fit into how we can get better. Q. With your young pitching, could you envision augmenting the staff with a Brett Myers-type like guy? BRAD MILLS: Well, you know, any time that you can -- you mention Brett Myers, man, the year he had with us is pretty special. You say, put another guy in there like Brett Myers, holy smokes, that's pretty special. There's not a whole lot of guys out there available like that. But Brett is a special guy, and anything that we can go to get better, we'll do. Q. I know that during the season, you were very conversational with your players. Does that extend to the off-season when you call guys up to have those chats in the off-season? BRAD MILLS: Yeah, you know, not on a daily basis, for sure. And there's been a lot of guys that I've talked to. There's been a few guys that I have not been able to get in touch with and I have left messages for and whatever. Fantasy fastball is always a good way to get on them a little bit or something. No, I call them and see how they are doing. Q. Going back to first base, Carlos Lee, pretty pleased with the way he looked at first base? He's gotten more and more reps since September. Did you guys give him any specific instruction in the off-season? BRAD MILLS: There's no doubt, I have wanted him to make sure he keeps his mind open, but he doesn't come to spring training saying that, hey, I'm just a left fielder or I'm just a first baseman. He just can't be a first baseman. He has to go in the outfield and get his work in. Because Brett Wallace is going to be a good Major League player, and we saw that at times last year. And like I said, the at-bats that he was able to get, I think were extremely crucial in his development; if he's with this ballclub now and he's ready to be a Major League first baseman, he can step in and do the job. But if he doesn't and he has to go back to AAA for a very short time or whatever, it will be in a situation to where he knows exactly what it's going to take for him to be a solid Major League player. Q. How comfortable would you be with giving Fernando more of a role with the departure of a couple lefty relievers? BRAD MILLS: Well, the way he ended the season, and I think that probably the way that we used him and the roles that we used him nearly the end of the season really show that we have a lot of confidence in him. And he showed that, he was absolutely very special in the role that he did become, being a left-handed specialist. Plus, he could go a couple more innings for us. So we are very confident and comfortable with giving him that little bit more time to do that. Q. The hot finish you had, do you guys have maybe expectations or something that you have to build on, based on the way you finished the end of the season? BRAD MILLS: There's no doubt that that's something to build on. But the thing is that these guys are able to see that they could have success. These guys see that they can have fun, they can win, and the way they play the game. That's what's big. When you have to look way back to your Minor League days or college days or high school days or whatever to when you had success, there's a long ways back. But now these guys are able to play together, do such a great job and then they were able to now look back and just a few months prior -- they played so well together and they won Major League games and did extremely well. That's what is huge. Q. Do you see yourself as being a better team than what your record would indicate, being the way you finished the season? BRAD MILLS: I don't know about that, but I know that it sure gives a lot of confidence moving forward to what we are going to want to get accomplished moving forward and so on. Q. What do you think the biggest challenge will be for Castro? Probably be your Opening Day catcher, but he struggled offensively last year. What would you like to see him doing to stay in the lineup? BRAD MILLS: I mentioned Brett Wallace, the at-bats he was able to get and I think they were crucial, and the same thing with Jason, the at-bats that he was able to get last year can do nothing but help him moving forward to get better. He knows he has to make some adjustments. He worked on making some adjustments last year. Some adjustments worked. Some didn't. And so that experience moving forward are going to be a situation to where now he has something to fall back and some reference as well. Q. Can you talk about Kovacevic (ph) could be an internal candidate, is that something he would be willing to do or able to do? BRAD MILLS: There's no doubt the skill set is there for him to do it. Here is a guy that can run, can throw, he can hit and hit for power at the Minor League level. And there's times that he has some real good at-bats for us at the Major League level this year. It would have been nice to have been able to get him more at-bats last year like a Wallace, like a Castro, but we were not able to do that. So we know the skill set is there, and we hope that it continues to grow and continues to get better, like we think it can. Because the ability that he has is pretty nice, pretty special. Q. Jordan Lyles, fifth starter, competition; what's your experience been with him? Have you gotten to see much of him at all like in spring training? BRAD MILLS: I really have not had an opportunity to see very much of him. But I've read all of the reports and listened to what a lot of people have seen. And they think that there's no doubt that he has an opportunity to fit into that mix that were going to have in that fifth starter position. But at the same time, I don't want to just anoint him as our fifth starter. I mean, here the guy has not had a chance to do it against Major League competitions yet, so we'll get an opportunity to maybe see moving forward to see where we are at and to see. But to say that he's not going to have an opportunity, that's completely false. Because here is a guy that has had the success that he has, he has the mound presence, the demeanor to handle that, and let's see what he can do in spring training and against some Major League hitters. Q. Do you feel like mound demeanor and presence is something that guys either have or don't, and is something that can be developed? BRAD MILLS: It can be developed and some guys it can't be. But there's some guys that can can't be developed. A guy like Jordan Lyles, from what I understand, and from what I've read and from what I've heard, those are two big things that he already has; the command that he has of his pitches, you put all of these things together, here is a very useful individual that has the opportunity to help us out in the extremely near future. Q. Was it a good phone call to get from Ed that he was going back? BRAD MILLS: Yes, what he did for us last year as a fifth starter, you can't say enough about him. But now putting that aside, the ability that he has to not only start but to throw it long out of the bullpen, throw a little out of the bullpen and his arm is such that he can even come back and give you a couple of innings at the end of the game if he has to throw long the day before. So it's a situation that he's a valuable guy to have in your pitching staff because he can fit into so many different types of roles. And that was a very good phone call to get, that he re-signed. Q. Do you anticipate Barmes anticipated primarily shortstop. Is that the way that you anticipate? BRAD MILLS: Again, we use so many guys at shortstop last year, to just -- he's such a valuable player, and such a good player, and a guy that we want on the field. If he fits there, that's where he's going to be. If he and Kepp are whatever are going to do some things at second base, we'll see. But there's no doubt that he's got some value with us, and hopefully he'll fit in and there's no reason to think that he wasn't, whether it's shortstop or whatever. Q. So he'll play somewhere, just a matter of -- BRAD MILLS: Of how it fits. How it comes together. And in December to say that he's going to be our shortstop or our second baseman after the year Kepplinger had, that's not fair. We'll just see what happens. Q. Knowing Lance like you do, and what the Cardinals lineup is, what do you think he adds to that? BRAD MILLS: Well, Lance is a professional hitter. I mean, you just look at his history and the things that he's done in his career, pretty special, and I mean, that's -- he's a professional hitter. Q. Your thoughts on -- BRAD MILLS: I think there's a few other lineups we are going to have to worry about before we face them, so we'll just have to wait and see how that all fits together and so forth. Q. Is it a big deal for a team when they see a guy who they knew was a big part of their team playing for somebody that you faced a lot? BRAD MILLS: There's no doubt that here is a guy that was in the same clubhouse with you and listened to you talk and you gave a lot of yourself to him and he gave a lot of himself to the organization and so forth. So in saying that, yeah, there's some things on the other side. But there's no ill will, and you really can't wish the best for him because you know, he's on the other side now. So you hope he does well, but at the same time, you still want to beat him. Q. Where you were ranked offensively last year -- with Lance -- BRAD MILLS: Well, that's not an earth-shattering answer, because if you look at his history and what he's able to do, and then he wasn't able to do it last year, and a lot of it, he wasn't able to respond or come back well from that knee problem. So that was all an issue. End of FastScripts |
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