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MLB WINTER MEETINGSDecember 8, 2009Brad MillsINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Q. Brad, what have you learned about since you took the job about being a first-year manager, what to look for, what to expect, what not to do; have you learned anything along those lines? BRAD MILLS: Well, I think you get into saying what not to do. I think you just kind of have to take that as you go and answer the questions and do the things that you need to do that day and at that time, instead of trying to bite off more than you can chew, so to speak, and get it taken care of one day at a time, or one issue at a time. Q. You're going into a ballclub that has some skills and some obvious positives, but there's work to do. What do you see as your first task? BRAD MILLS: There's no doubt there's a lot of talent. You look at the guys we are going to put on the field, the Lees, the Berkmans, Matsui, all these guys have a lot of talent. They are solid, Major League players, and have been. I've been able to talk to just about all of them, and it's trying to get that relationship with them that we are all on the same page and pulling in the same direction is probably the biggest thing. Q. Managers often reflect influences from someplace previously in their career. Who has influenced you as you now become the leader? BRAD MILLS: Well, more recently than anything else, it's been Terry. I mean, you look at the success that they have had in Boston. I'm going to reflect on a lot of things that went on there, there's no doubt. How we handle players and people, that's going to come with that, because that's the most recent experience. There are guys like Dick Williams, Felipe Alou, those types of guys are going to have influence in going about how I do things. Q. Since you've gotten the job, what have you learned about the team that you may not have known when you did get the job, either the players, the roster? BRAD MILLS: Well, I think when you start studying the organization, studying the ballclub that you're going to get, I think I've learned more about the guys that we have and the talent we have in the organization has probably been the biggest thing. We have a lot more talent in the organization I think in the way they have done things that is really exciting. I've learned more about the pitchers that we have got at the Major League level, or about ready to make an appearance on to the Major League scene. I think that's probably been the biggest thing. Q. Is there a style baseball fans can expect? BRAD MILLS: I hope it's a matter of the personnel. I don't want to put myself in a box and say we are going to do this and wait for a three-run homer with a guy that only does that every now and then. We are going to try to utilize everything that we have: the personnel that we have; the speed that we have; the aggressiveness that we have; and the skills that we have. Q. Talk about Jason Castro and his development for the team. BRAD MILLS: Jason is a solid talent. I had the pleasure of going out to Arizona and watching him for a couple of games out there, and that's the first time I had really had the opportunity to watch him. I was pleasantly thrilled to see what he has and what he's able to bring to the table. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in spring training and how much the experiences he had this last year, because he played a lot of baseball this past year. So it's going to be interesting to see how he's able to do things in spring training. Q. So you're going to give him every opportunity to take the job? BRAD MILLS: I think we are going to give him every opportunity to make the ballclub. I think we want to give him a chance and not push him to the point that we are going to hurt him or the organization or the ballclub. Q. Taking into account some of the position influx right now, coming in as a new manager, what do you think are the biggest need to upgrade right now on the roster? BRAD MILLS: That's one thing we have been talking about since I got here. What do we need? Tejada doesn't look like he's going to be back, but we'll leave that door open. You take his hits out of the lineup and the energy he bring to the ballpark, you take that out of the lineup, that's a big bite and a big hit. But at the same time, we are going to leave the door open, and maybe we can work something out there. I don't know. But you have to look at that. You have to look at maybe some guys in our rotation a little bit and bullpen. We will try to upgrade as much as we can in all areas. Q. Do you see Tejada coming back, or is that disregarded at this point? BRAD MILLS: I don't think I can say it's completely disregarded. I think Tommy Manzella is at a point where he has earned a chance to be able to get in there and play, and I think we need to afford him that opportunity to be able to do that and he'll see what happens from there. Q. Safe to say last year's rotation was somewhat influx. How do you view this year's rotation? BRAD MILLS: Well, I think I made mention early of the one thing, the arms that we have that are ready to step in somewhere near the Major League level, whether it's in the rotation or whether it's in the bullpen or whatever. I think any time that you have the opportunity to take a look at those arms, it's pretty cool. It makes it more exciting. Q. A lot has been said about how much responsibility you had under Francona. Do you anticipate on being more hands-on? BRAD MILLS: Al Pedrique, my bench coach, I have all the confidence in the world in him. Our relationship has taken off on the right foot, and I am excited about him having that responsibility and being with me. I think, as I said earlier, the six years I've been with Terry and those experiences, I think I'm more inclined to give him a lot of responsibility and just kind of watch how he does some of those things. But I have no qualms about him. He's going to be an absolutely outstanding bench coach, and a big support for me. Q. What are some of his good qualities? BRAD MILLS: His organization and his experience of being in the organization, being a Minor League coordinator, everything he's had to do in spring training. He's got experience with the Diamondbacks. I think he managed, what, the last 45 games or something like that one year with the Diamondbacks. I think all of these experiences are going to come in. But he has a good relationship with a lot of the players already and a lot of people in the organization. That's going to be big. Q. Terry has always had such great relations with his players. Is that something that you think will be a strong point for you, too? BRAD MILLS: It is definitely going to be one of the biggest things I'm going to bring with me from Terry, because of that relationship. Terry always has been able to -- he knows how to balance that, that relationship with the players. Plus, when you have to tell a guy sometimes something he doesn't want to hear, I think Terry does a good job of that balance. And that's a big thing, yes, that I want to bring with me. Q. There's a chance that you guys might not be able to sign another, at least front-line starter. Would you feel comfortable going into spring training with the guys you have so far? BRAD MILLS: I think there might be a chance that we do, too. I don't want to try to close the doors on everything. But at the same time, again, when we have the arms that we have -- we're looking at Felipe Paulino; you know, I saw Wilton Lopez in the Fall League throw the ball real well. Bazardo, these types of guys, to have maybe an opportunity to do some things. Because relatively, it's very few times that you go through a season where you don't go through 16, 18, 20, 25 pitchers in a season. I think, as I said earlier, the guys that we have ready to step in and maybe help out at the Major League level, that's kind of nice. Q. So have you been able to reach out to pretty much every one of the players now? I know you've been making calls and even meeting them, going to out to lunch, things like that. BRAD MILLS: Pretty much just about everybody. There's been a few guys in the other countries that I haven't been to, like Matsui. I've tried to get in touch with him, and I've talked to his interpreter quite a bit. But no, it's been good. The feedback that I've gotten and the excitement that I feel from the players are pretty good, and it's been real good. Q. How does your ballpark impact the way you plan to make up your club and the style of ball you're going to play? BRAD MILLS: Well, the style of ball we are going to play really is going to be predicated on the guys, with the personnel we have on the field. Because if we start, just like in Fenway with the Red Sox, if they try to do one thing one way with that ballpark, you know, you've got to play 80 games or 82 games or 81 games in another facility. Well, we have to do the same here, too. Q. What are some things you talk about, Roy Oswalt, a guy that declined the trade deadline. What are some things you talked about moving forward? BRAD MILLS: Well, the biggest thing was his health, and when I called and had a good talk with him, that's one thing that we talked about. We talked about how he was feeling. He said he was feeling great, and he said he was excited about getting going again. I think get him healthy is the biggest priority with him, and then let him pitch. He's a Major League pitcher and he's an outstanding Major League pitcher. Any time you can have a guy like that on your staff is pretty special. Q. Any concern going into the season right now of no closers? BRAD MILLS: Well, I think we are going to look at that. I think there's still some things down the road. We have a little time yet to try to put that together. We have to wait in spring training and see how everything unfolds. But no, those are all issues that we are going to look into. Q. Do you have a pet peeve? Is there one thing that drives you crazy, something you don't like to have to put up with, on the field, off the field? BRAD MILLS: You just want everybody pulling in the same direction. You want everybody in the clubhouse pulling in the same direction and working together for a common goal for the ballclub and for the organization. I think that's probably just about what everybody would say. But at the same time, that's probably the biggest issue, is that everybody enjoys being with each other and they enjoy working together and putting out that effort they need to put out. Q. That's pretty tough when you get that many different personalities that everybody enjoys being with each other all the time. BRAD MILLS: I tell you what, they don't have to like each other, but they do have to like playing with each other. That's the biggest thing. Q. When you talk to all of these guys, is there a common theme that you've had? I know Roy was pretty pleased with the way you approached him. Is there a common theme that you deliver? BRAD MILLS: What I just said: working together. We are trying to accomplish something, and we can with accomplish a lot more working together than we can individually. If we can get that across to what we are trying to accomplish, it's going to be a big, big asset for us. Q. Are you nervous? Eager? Excited? BRAD MILLS: I think I'm everything. I think all of those things you just said. I mean, there's a newness with being in a new position that I think the anticipation is going to be there. I think that a lot of eagerness to get going, especially after talking to some of the guys and some of the talent we have, you want to be eager to put your best foot forward and get going. There's all those things, really. Q. Even find yourself running through lineups in your mind at all? BRAD MILLS: Well, if I can put two or three names, two or three times in the lineup, then we can fill it out. But I don't think they are going to let me do that. No, we have played with some things, but I haven't done that much. We are just going to try to get the best players we can in those positions and go from there. Q. Guys like Berkman and Lee, have you asked their preference? BRAD MILLS: Not yet. We still have some time yet. And I've seen what they have done in their career, where they have had the best success in their career, and those are a lot of conversations that are going to be taken care of in spring training. We don't want to try to put all that together, and then all of a sudden the personnel changes. We'll just wait and see. Q. To assert to differing degrees, managers work with the front office, with roster construction, and how they are going to use data and what the lineup is going to look like; what are you finding in Houston compared to what you and Terry did with Theo? BRAD MILLS: It's pretty comparable I think, how they go about things and how they do things. A lot of the things that I have brought over -- and I asked, Hey, do we have the ability to do this? Do we have the ability to do that? How have you done that in the past, and how does that compare? We have sat down and we have done that and gone through those things. And so far, I can honestly say it's been pretty comparable. Q. Do you see yourself as bringing the Boston model to Houston in any way? BRAD MILLS: I don't know if I want to call it a Boston model, but I would be remiss if I wasn't going to bring a lot of the things, because of the success that we had in Boston and bring those to Houston and keep it going. I think a model is a bit too much, because you have different personnel, you're in a different league, things of that nature. But, yes, there's going to be quite a few things. And because that's the most recent experiences that I've had. Q. How concerned are you with the defense on the left side of the field? BRAD MILLS: Well, I think if Tommy Manzella is over at shortstop, he answers a lot of questions right there. You know, so right now, you put Keppinger there. He's a good glove. Blum has the ability to be a good third baseman. All of those things you mix-and-match. But the biggest question is Manzella, and he has not given us any reason to think that he's not going to be a solid shortstop at the Major League level. Q. Keppinger, throughout his career in the Minor Leagues, he would always overachieve. Scouts didn't love him, but he always got on base a lot and always hit. In the Major Leagues, when he's got a lot of at-bats, he's done the same. Do you see him, maybe looking at data, and using a player like him more than other managers maybe have? BRAD MILLS: Well, the thing that you just said about Kep, is that he seems to overachieve and do things. How great is it to have guys like that on your ballclub that want to put that foot forward like that and achieve like he does? I think, yeah, we have gone back and looked at things, and what he's been best at and what role he's been best in. We have looked at all of those things, and we are going to continue to look at those. But to say exactly what role and how he fits into the ballclub on, what, December 8, is a little difficult. Q. Past managers have given him a month, and he's hit .250 and OBP of 20. They think, He's not our man. But when he's had a full season -- it's like Pedroia. People were panicking early. BRAD MILLS: I know that Terry didn't panic. There's been a solid, you know, solid individual that overachieves, how nice is it to have a guy like that on the ballclub? And to answer your question how much playing time he's going to get, I think we are going to wait and see. There's issues, personnel issues, that are still going to be happening in the next couple of days here and then in the next couple of months. Q. Do you give Michael Bourn the green light to do the madness that he does on the base paths? BRAD MILLS: That, we are going to talk about a lot of that in spring training. What did he have, 61 or something last year? I mean, that's pretty special in itself. That tells me that he's not only going to have success doing it, but hopefully he knows when to run and the best times to run. You know, we will continually talk about that with him and get those things worked out with him as we go forward. But he's a talent, and what a treat to be able to write his name in the lineup every day. Q. So more of a control, just knowing when to make those? BRAD MILLS: A lot of it is going to be put on his shoulders, too, until he shows that he can't. Q. Is it also going to depend on who will be your No. 2 hitter, as well? BRAD MILLS: We'll see. He's probably going to get a lot of fastballs, that's for sure. Q. Matsui, he has been a struggle to get over injuries recently. BRAD MILLS: We are going to work with Kaz on that. We mentioned earlier on looking at how guys have had success in the past, and Kaz has had success in the past when maybe he has not been pushed to the extent that now he has -- his body will break down because of injuries. Keeping him healthy will definitely be a priority for us, because he's such a talent. We hope that by doing that, we will give him a chance to return back to having some great years that he had earlier. Q. You talk about excitement going into spring training. What about with Bo? He'll have his first legitimate shot out of coming out of spring training. BRAD MILLS: Well, that's exciting, not just because he's my son, but for anybody to be involved in doing that as a player. I think he's really looking forward to the opportunity that he's going to have this year, and he's getting ready. He's getting ready because of that opportunity, and you like to see guys hopefully take advantage of that. I can see his preparation, only because of who he is. Hopefully he will be ready. Q. Can you just characterize your expectations of what you could potentially get done here? BRAD MILLS: Well, the expectations, I'm very excited about the expectations simply because of the guys that we have, not only the pitchers, but the guys that we put on the field and in the lineup every day. They are solid Major League players. And when you put Wandy and Roy in that mix, that's exciting. Q. Can you speak to the expectations in terms of changing your ballclub while you're here in Indianapolis? BRAD MILLS: Well, we are looking at personnel, different options we might have and what we can plug in and what's available and we'll go from there. Q. Fair to say third base bat and bullpen are high on the priority list? BRAD MILLS: Yes, but there are other issues we want to look at but we don't want to put all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak. Q. How much does finance play a role? BRAD MILLS: Well, we want to maximize not only the talent that we get, but maximize the dollars that we get to be able to put to use. Q. Getting back to Bo, how valuable was that time at Fenway? How valuable was that time for him to be around a Big League team? BRAD MILLS: Well, his whole life, I mean, he was born the first year that I started coaching in professional baseball. So his whole life that he's gone through the Minor Leagues with me and also at the Major League level as a coach with me. I think all of those experiences have been good for him, how he handles himself, and say, Hey, watch this guy. Don't watch that guy, watch this guy. All of those types of things, those will all be good. Q. We talk about the flexibility from the dollars and cents standpoint. The Astros talked about cutting back from the financial standpoint. When you talk about plugging holes, is it more from inside the organization or outside the organization? BRAD MILLS: Well, again, we don't want to keyhole ourselves into one hole and say, Hey, we are going to plug outside. You mention third base. Well, Chris Johnson, he's had success at the Minor League level. I know he's playing well in Puerto Rico right now. Is this guy ready to step in and do a good job? We will have to wait and see. Those are all questions we are going to have a better chance of answering here in the next couple of months. Q. So offensively, you know, third base is a position, but what about the bench? What are the keys you're looking for? BRAD MILLS: I think everybody would like to have a right and left-handed hitter and utility infielder and utility outfielder and guy that can run. You throw your catcher in there, too. You can probably put a bench together the way you want. We are going to have Edwin Mason that's a talented player that might have the ability to play the outfield. Then I think he's going to be expanding a little bit his role, because he can play both the infield and outfield. Blum, Keppinger, all of those guys kind of fit into there, Quintero as a backup catcher. All of those guys, they are going to fit into a piece of the puzzle when we get to the final 25 guys and with he leave camp. Q. How strange will it be to go into a season without Tito? BRAD MILLS: It's going to be a little bit different. But at the same time, that's how we have done things for the last six years, and then the years in Philadelphia. I think just how we have done things, even though we might have done things together, I think we are going to be able to move forward without that, just doing things we have always done. Q. So the approach that you took in Boston, you are just going to transfer that? BRAD MILLS: I think so. That's how we know how to do things. And it's been successful. Boston has had that success the last six years. I would be remiss - I said that earlier - you can't shy away from that. You have to look at that and say, Hey, this was successful how we did things there, and just transfer it and move forward. Q. The big thing everybody said about Tito is the lines of communication was good between him and the players; what did you learn in that respect from him? BRAD MILLS: Just how he handles the players and the relationship that he's able to get to the guys. And then also, again, if he has to have discipline, he can do that, as well, and tell them something that they don't want to hear. That's tough sometimes. If you can keep that relationship plus have the ability to do that, to get the most out of the guys, that's pretty special. Q. It seemed like the Tito behind closed doors was different from the Tito in the media. BRAD MILLS: I think that's the way he wanted it to be. The reason is, he's trying to get the most out of the players. And once they had the confidence that he was going to work with them, special, and treat them special and treat them better than they have ever been treated before, it seemed to work. End of FastScripts |
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