Monday, January 23, 2006
Press Conference Update
For those of you who missed the Castellini press conference, here are some highlights, aside from the things you can read in the newspaper, and the usual mumbo jumbo he said about what kind of guy an owner is looking to hire to put together a team.
when asked about the possibility of Lou Piniella becoming a candidate
"The primary idea for Lou [Piniella] was as a special advisor...it's just not going to happen this year."
when questioned on whether or not hiring someone before pitchers and catchers report is a priority
"Well we'd like to do that, but it's going to take three or four weeks of interviewing somewhere between six or eight candidates."
on who he has in mind as early candidates
"We'll have a list, and we'll send out invitations. Plus we'll have other people that are interested. We'll evaluate people that are interested, and probably have a short list and go from there. Am I at liberty to tell you who the list is, not quite."
on if there is a person in mind that fills all of his requirements
"Look none of us are perfect, so uh...nobody has all of these pre-requisites, to the Nth degree. And uh, well just gimme a pass on that one"
My early notions from this reaction, aside from his clear discomfort in front of media, not to mention his clear lack of real personality, is that this guy has no idea who he wants, or has one guy in mind and is not showing his cards. The answer to that last question I listed is very dubious, he was generally uncomfortable in answering most of the questions.
I'm not going to jump in as to whether or not to take anything from this as good or bad, but I would assume that having a general manager by the time pitchers and catchers report, would clearly be a good thing. Not having a long term guy in place to evaluate talent from the jump in your initial year as an owner is what's known in some circles as 'getting off on a bad foot'.
I would have much rather seen O'Brien fired through the media, with the first major press conference of his ownership coming with the hiring of a new GM.
