|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 7, 2009Ozzie GuillenINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Q. Do you think the team will be busy here? OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't know the team, maybe Kenny. But no, the team, they're having fun right there somewhere. I talked to Jerry, haven't talked to Kenny yet. Kenny, myself and our staff, we don't have to have meetings to know what we want, and what Kenny wants and what we should have. To me that's not the winter meetings for us. We show up here and talk to you guys. I don't think Kenny needs the winter meetings to make deals. We have a couple spaces to cover, yes. How many spaces we need, I don't know. You've got to sit down and talk to him about it. We're kind of excited about what we have. I think every year the biggest problem for any manager is your starting rotation, and we put a set in that. That's something that I love, coming here and talking for a fourth, fifth starter, third starter. Besides that, I think our infield is pretty set, our outfield is pretty set. We have a couple spaces to see the lead-off hitters out there. We can handle it. We've got another three months, two months before the season, and we can find the true one, then that's my job to put the guy there we think is going to be the best for the job. Q. Kenny said the other day when we talked to him who's your lead-off hitter, he said that's up to Ozzie to make the lineup. Right now in your eyes who's your lead-off hitter? OZZIE GUILLEN: I think the one typical lead-off hitter has got to be Gordon. Gordon, I think he takes a lot of pitches, he knows what he's doing there, he's not going to panic, can run a little bit. I don't think he's going to steal bases like the way we want to, but I always say, lead-off hitter, I don't care how many bases you can steal, you've got to be on base. I'd rather have a guy get on base to have somebody steal 100 bases. Right now that's the guy I have in mind. Like I say, last year, I think our lead-off hitter was Weiss opening day. I mean, that's why I get used to -- as soon as we say play ball, I know I'm going to have somebody, but right now I'm happy it's Gordon. Q. Do you have a team right now that you could say is on paper the best team in the division? OZZIE GUILLEN: On paper I've got the best five starters. That's it. The best team, I don't know, because we have a pretty good team, I think. They just have to finish up and win it. I think we can take a little bit advantage of Detroit because I think we play with more fears when we're facing Polanco. A lot of people talk about Cabrera and Magglio and Inge, and to me Polanco, he's hurt our ballclub a lot. Right now we look pretty good. We're waiting to see September where we are, but right now in the paper all five starters are pretty solid. If something happened to one of those guys, we've got a couple backups we've never had. Now we do. I think our Minor League system is doing a tremendous job to move those guys in the system. Last year I was sitting here and I didn't know who was my fourth and my fifth starter, and I don't know who was the guy going to be the middle reliever. Now I have a pretty good idea where we are, and I think Kenny and Rick did a tremendous job. Q. You were talking about five starters in your rotation. You've got Peavy, Buehrle, Jenks, Floyd. Is your fifth starter set or who are the candidates for the fifth starter? OZZIE GUILLEN: It should be Freddy Garcia. It's not going to be, but it should. Q. Are there any other candidates? OZZIE GUILLEN: I think Hudson is a candidate. He did a tremendous job to do it. I think the way I look at it, Freddy, he's doing a tremendous job. Freddy has to stay in shape and stay strong, because he's not what the last coach is going to be. Before he was a tremendous pitcher, and now what we're doing right now, he knows every winter he's got to work hard because the problems he had in the past. Q. How do you envision the role of Omar Vizquel on the team this year? OZZIE GUILLEN: He's not going to be a coach. (Laughter). A lot of people go, oh, this guy is going to help you guys a lot. We not hire him as a coach. We got him because I think this guy can help us on the field -- last year if you talked to me about Vizquel last year, I was a little worried or concerned because he never played third place, never played second base in his career. He did it last year, and we feel a little comfortable with helping Gordon, Ramirez and Teahen. If something happens to those guys we have a guy that can cover that area. Like I say, if those kids want to know how to play we should go to him and ask questions and be friends with him. I don't expect to come here and say, well, catch up like this and like that. No, that's Joey Cora's job. Right now I think we have a better bench than we had last year. Q. Bobby Jenks saved a lot of games and has been very successful for you. Are you hoping that he's back, and if by chance he's not, can Matt Thornton do the job? OZZIE GUILLEN: Up to right now Bobby Jenks is in our ballclub. Matt Thornton, yes, he can. A lot of people don't believe that, but I truly believe, yes, he can be a closer. I want to make it clear about Bobby, I said that a couple weeks ago, three weeks ago. When you have a body like Bobby, when you no pitch for one week, everybody thinks it's because you're big. I don't want to say the name fat, but when you're good, nobody is looking at that. When you have struggles over the years, that's not Bobby, that's everybody else. I've got a knee injury. After that I played another seven years, and every time I went to sign my contract, everybody would go, you've got a knee injury, you've got an arm problem. That's going to be there forever. One thing about it, we have to let people know how we feel, different ways, wrong thing or the right thing, but everybody knows we love this kid. We went through a lot of things with Bobby behind the scenes, and he knows how much we support him, he knows how much we like him. West got to take care of himself. Well, he should know, because he's got a chance to make another $30, $40 million in his career, but you no take care of yourself, you're going to be tough. Q. Did the organization think at the end of the year that his injury was due to his weight? OZZIE GUILLEN: No, the injury was calf. No, not really. But we've got to make sure we keep him where he should be. Make sure we've got to keep him in the spot we can use him now. His injury was part of the game. I'm not talking about the organization; I'm talking about me. I don't know if the organization feels different. Me, no, he just got injured. Q. Have you spoken to him? OZZIE GUILLEN: When the game is over, I didn't talk to anyone. I talked to J.D. a couple times, but I've seen my players in Spring Training. I got enough from them from long summers. I don't want to talk to them. Q. How does your outfield shape up at this point? Are you set in left with Quentin, because aren't there questions with center field and right, how you're going to play that? OZZIE GUILLEN: Center field is going to be Rios. Right field is going to be Carlos Quentin so far. Q. In right field? OZZIE GUILLEN: That's his natural position. That's what I think. He grew up playing right field. He couldn't play right field for the White Sox because of J.D. But we've got right field and left field. He can play whatever he wants, wherever he feels more comfortable. And we're waiting to see. We signed Potts and we sign Pozzani. We have Andruw Jones. He told me he wants to play every day. I said, well, you play every day if you hit. I don't see any manager bench people when they're hitting. If you're hitting, you're playing. Q. So he could play left field? OZZIE GUILLEN: He doesn't have any choice. I think right now Rios is a better center fielder than Andruw Jones. Ten years ago, Andruw Jones was the best center fielder in earth. Q. So right now, Jones, Rios, Quentin possibly? OZZIE GUILLEN: Kotsay. We've got Kotsay around. You have to talk to Joe. He knows everyone we have. But yeah, nothing happening with -- Q. With Kotsay in several positions? OZZIE GUILLEN: He saved me. That's the only guy I told my life, I told Kenny can we sign this kid back. Q. Can he play all three positions? OZZIE GUILLEN: As DH he can play all three, outfield, Eric pinch-hit, he can play first base, he can help me a lot. Q. How are you going to do your DH this year? OZZIE GUILLEN: That will be easy. That's easy. I've got a lot of guys there. If Omar is not playing one day, we need a lead off guy, he's there. Kotsay is there, Konerko is there, Andruw is there. That's the dicey part about it. Right now what I have. I don't know what Kenny has in mind. Q. It'll be nice to rotate them? OZZIE GUILLEN: It's easier when you have a guy -- if you don't have a true DH and you cannot play all the positions. I play with three guys in the past that's all they can do is DH, and they play great for us, Frank and Jim Thome, very, very well, but when you make the lineup and you can rotate people, I think it's easy for any manager. I was talking about Jim Leyland about that situation, and I think from the manager's point it's easier when you have a guy you don't have to use as a DH. Q. If you knew Matsui could still play the outfield, would you be interested in him? OZZIE GUILLEN: You've got to talk to Kenny about him. Q. Do you like his talent? OZZIE GUILLEN: I like what I see in the World Series, yeah. I like what I see in the World Series. That guy, you've got to play the outfield for a little while. How much he can play the outfield? He played the outfield before, he played good, have a great career. Everybody knows he's a great RBI man, and like I said, I want to make it clear, I never tell Kenny who to sign and who to release -- well, a couple guys to release, I don't want them around here. Kenny knows what we want, Kenny knows what we need. I told Kenny one time, hey, can we keep this guy. It was Kotsay. I say, I don't want this guy on the club, yes, a few times, but I never told him who to not and who not to sign. Q. How good can Jake Peavy be now that he's healthy? OZZIE GUILLEN: One thing about Jake, you're going to make Danks and Gavin Floyd a lot better, plus you have Buehrle and Freddy making those two kids to get better. You've got to help Hudson and he's got to help the ball club. Every time Peavy pitched in the season last year, I think our ball club was there hungry. I don't know why, because of the way he is. The way he pitched on the mound, the way he goes about his business. But you know me, it's heavy-duty. We count on those five guys very well, and Spring Training, he looked real well, to me he's another pitcher. Q. Assuming your pitching is good this year -- OZZIE GUILLEN: On paper, yes. Q. Assuming you pitch well that's going to help you? OZZIE GUILLEN: We're going to win. Q. What else about the team that you'd like to see improve -- OZZIE GUILLEN: Defense. Last year we was very, very, very bad defensively. Very bad. I always preach pitching and defense win baseball games. It gives you a better chance. When you have good defense your pitching staff is going to be better, and last year our pitching staff was good, but our defense don't help them to be better. Our defense was very, very bad. Q. How are you improved defensively? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, we got a third baseman. Last year between the two third basemen making a lot of errors, you know who they are, I think being in the season Ramirez struggled at the plate and on the field. That's one of the reasons why I think Vizquel is going to help him a little bit. But now we've got Gordon playing center field -- Rios, Ramirez, Teahen, I think our defense improved a lot. Q. How often do you think you're going to get Omar into the starting lineup in a week or two-week period? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, American League is kind of hard, especially early in the season, because those guys are fresh. But I think Omar -- I don't like to sit people for weeks, and people cover me or whatever, watching the White Sox, they know I let the bench play more often. I think I will -- I told Omar, he will play a lot of games, just be ready to play. Q. Kenny told us he looks at Jordan Danks the same way he looked at Gordon this time last year. Can you see Jordan Danks being on your club at some point and how can he help you? OZZIE GUILLEN: He can help. I've got a couple reports he's a great outfielder. He's ready to play in the Big Leagues, I don't know, because I never seen this kid play. I never did. I think Kenny got better report than me about him. As if Kenny say he can help us, I believe that, because he's got a better look and a better opinion that I have. Q. If Kenny said to you we can either get a speed player to replace 25 steals you lost or we can get a left-handed bat with some pop to replace Thome, which one would you choose? OZZIE GUILLEN: It's pretty hard because I love speed. I do love speed, and Kenny loves power, too. That's kind of in between. Because I love speed, I pick the speed guy myself. That's it, not because -- but I look in the lineup, there's two guys going to be very important to this ballclub next year, very important, Carlos Quentin and Rios. If those two guys play the way they should be playing, I think this ballclub will have a good offense. Q. Rios came over, didn't get into a groove. Was it a mechanical thing, a mental thing? OZZIE GUILLEN: Everything. First of all, when we got that trade, Rios -- I talked to Rios and said, you're not going to carry the load, you're going to help this team to win. Another thing about it, he was in a tough situation because I've got to rotate the outfield, and he was playing right field, center field. It no was easy for him. Playing in Chicago when you're in the Pennant race, it's kind of tough. He played all his life for a single organization. Now he was traded to Chicago. I think it put a lot of pressure on himself. He struggled to me more mentally because he tried to do too much. I think having him in Spring Training from the beginning, see how we work, see how we do stuff, he's going to relax a little bit more. Q. How will you use Tyler Flowers? Is he the backup or will he play every day? OZZIE GUILLEN: Personally, I think this kid will be the future, he'll be our catcher. I think if you bring him and just play him once a week, I think we're wasting his time. That's my opinion. I think we should give him -- I don't think we have any problem with him because last year he handled it real well. He liked to ask a lot of questions. He saw him with Cooper every day asking about the pitching staff. But I think this kid should be in development if were going to play him more than once a week. Q. Do you think you will? OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't want to jinx it, but I've got one of the best catchers in the game, whether you believe it or not, but this kid playing baseball, never been on the DL. Shows up to play every day. R. J. Never needs a day off. Every time I give him a day off, he doesn't like it. That's why it's kind of tough for me -- the way he plays for him it's tough to put him on the bench. Q. Talk about Michero? OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't think Michero is ready right now. We should give him another year in the Minor Leagues, and right now the position he should be playing, they're all there. I think this kid, he played pretty good this year, but I think one year back there is not going to kill him. Q. In terms of getting something done here, what are your expectations? OZZIE GUILLEN: By the team? Q. Correct. OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't think we need a winter meeting to set this ballclub. We know what we want. I wish every general manager would be like Kenny. He's not afraid to make a move. Kenny makes the move, goes out there, and maybe it's not working. Right now we're looking for a couple things. I know we're not going to get it before we leave. I just come here to talk to you guys. I don't get involved with that. I come here to hang around the lobby, talk to you guys, and stay away from my wife. Q. What are your thoughts on replay? Do you think baseball should expand it? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, that's hard, because you've got to trust the umpires. They're going to make mistakes. If they do that, they're going to save me a lot of money because every time I go out, it costs me $500 to $1,000 to argue. I turn on the TV, and I was right. You know me, I think I have too much problems myself to worry about what they're doing with the umpires. They do it, good. They don't, we've got to move on. Q. Where is your confidence right now going into the season? OZZIE GUILLEN: Big time. I think this guy is going to show up and have a better year. He was troubled last year a lot and we know it. I say that. I said if Lambert doesn't pitch good, we're not going to win. That's exactly what happened. I think he's a big, big part of this ballclub. I know he's always worked hard. There's no doubt. He's trying out there, and you know it was a pretty tough season for himself. But he's got to step it up, and then he's better. Q. What about Floyd and Danks? They're obviously still growing. They had a lot of career highs in various categories last year. How can each of those guys improve next year? OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, I don't think we expect anything better than what they did in the past. Stay the same. I think Danks should have a better record than he showed. I think Danks should have had a better record. He pitched well, but we blew the games. We no hit when he was pitching. I don't worry about them. I think if those two kids stay healthy, we'll be fine. Q. Are you worried about Rios? You said he'd be really important and you hope the full year will settle down -- OZZIE GUILLEN: Do I worry about it? I worry about all my players. If they don't play good, then I'm not doing my job. There's a lot of people that think -- those guys, when you bring those guys up, you've got the expectations pretty high. We keep those expectations at the same level. No, we keep those guys at the same level of expectation, and I expect him to be better. I don't think he's going to be worse than what he was. That's pretty hard to do. Q. But if he's close to what he was, then that's not what you guys -- OZZIE GUILLEN: I told Rios, I said, get on base twice in the game and give me two bases. We don't need no 40 home runs from you. We want it, but I'd rather you get on base and steal bases and make this game a little bit better than worry about home runs and changing your game. I might bat him second. I might, just to make sure his game changes a little bit. Q. Do you think he was trying to hit the homers instead of to do the other stuff? OZZIE GUILLEN: He's a mechanic was bad. I cannot put a finger on what he was doing wrong. Everything for him was wrong, even when he hit the ball right. When you're struggling, and you hit the ball right on the bottom and you're out. You dig yourself in a hole. Q. (Inaudible) try to meet with Carlos and go down and meet with Rios. OZZIE GUILLEN: I've got to talked to Will if he's okay after the meeting with Carlos. I think Walker has got a lot of -- he's pretty good. When you want to meet with Carlos, you'd better bring your A game, because he's not an easy guy. He's not an easy guy to understand. I think Carlos, if we continue to play another week or two weeks into the season, the way it finished, Carlos finished up pretty strong. With Rios, no, I think they came back to him and tried to fix some stuff. It's one thing, you fix it, keep it fixed. Don't change anything. But if you start changing arch and do different things, you're not going to do anything good. Thin you're just wasting time. Q. What did you think of Hideki Matsui's World Series performance? OZZIE GUILLEN: He hit Girardi proud. It was unbelievable. This guy stepped up when they needed it, when they needed it the most. It's not because of the World Series nobody would be talking about him right now. He says I've got another good year, but I think the World Series will help him a lot to be a free agent. He was pretty impressed. Q. Is he the kind of player you'd be interested in managing? OZZIE GUILLEN: I don't mind. I manage two Japanese players and it's fun. The only thing I've got 20 Japanese guys around all the time. I've got all the media around. But I love it because all of a sudden when you get fired from the United States, you might have a chance to manage in Japan, you never know. Q. Would you have room as a DH? OZZIE GUILLEN: We've got room for a lot of people. You know, Andruw, we need one more guy that could be him, but he'd have to show us he can play the outfield, too. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|