Fox26 talked to Berkman yesterday, who is preparing to be a free agent for the first time in his career:
On returning to Houston:
"I'm not closing the door to that. No matter what happens I will always consider myself a Houston Astro. I feel a tremendous allegiance to the team, to the city, to the fans. I'm a Houston Astro plain and simple, regardless of what happens going forward...
...The coaching staff is second to none. The future of the organization going forward, they have the right people in place, and it's just a matter if they see a guy such as myself as part of that plan coming out of the transition phase getting it back into being competitive like we were '04 and '05."
On what happens, if that doesn't happen:
"I definitely would like to be in the National League...It's a better game. It's crisper. I just like the way the game is played. That's one thing I would like...
...It's hard for me to say what I will and won't do because I don't know how much leverage I've got. I don't think I will know until we start fielding calls. If I'm getting one call from Kansas city, or some place like that, saying hey you can come here to try and resurrect your career, I'm probably not interested, but who knows."
There's just no way to know right now what kind of interest the Astros might have in Berkman, but at least it's something to talk about.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
