Captip to Street for the link to an interview with Ed Wade from Tuesday. Some nuggets (and this is all "sic"'ed:
On Dave Clark:
Dave did a fine job. I thought from standpoint of communication and fitting in with group, he did very good work for us. He's a solid candidate going forward.
How many candidates are there?:
I have 3 pages of names, we'll whittle it down to under 10. Guys don't eliminate themselves. Case of us doing our homework and looking at a body of work and to see if he fits the profile of our personalities here.
On Jason Castro:
Castro- would be great if he's ready for opening day we'll probably plan that he's not and be surprised if he is. There are guys knocking on the door that will get opportunities when they get to spring training to show they are ready to perform at this level right away.
On why Manzella/Johnson didn't get an extra-inning game's worth of ABs:
We have interest in Blum and Miggy about coming back, if we shoved them off to get kids a few at bats it sends the wrong message and doesn't pay proper respect. We're not going to make decisions on young guys based on Sept. It was good for them to soak in atmosphere and understanding what environment is all about.
What happens now?:
Get good and stay good. Scouting development has to prevail in process. Will there be rough spots? sure there will be. As we get away from '09 and focus on 2010, we'll work like crazy to get this club straightened out to get off to better start early in season and put pressure on . If we can get on to a good start, the momentum will build, put the pedal to metal and see what happens.
I don't know if Ed was texting his answers, or was all Cabrera-ed, but these were some good answers.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
