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Transcript:
Detroit Tigers, first baseman Prince Fielder announce nine-year deal
http://0rz.tw/zpBla
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 4:15 PM
Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 8:51 PM
問答全紀錄
The Detroit Tigers officially announced the signing of first baseman Prince
Fielder on Thursday.
Here's a transcript of that press conference -- which featured Fielder,
Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, team president Dave Dombrowski, manager Jim Leyland
and agent Scott Boras -- beginning with Fielder's opening statement at
Comerica Park:
Fielder: First of all, I want to thank my wife. My lovely wife. She means the
world to me and she's kept me on track to get here today. I want to say thank
to you to Mr. Ilitch and the Ilitch family.
This is awesome. I don't really know what to say. I'm excited. This is kind
of a dream come true. I want to thank Scott. This is my man, right here. I
messed up his hair earlier. I said when I was 18 whenever we got to this day
I was going to mess his hair up. It does get messed up.
I'm just excited to be here. I can't wait to get it going.
Q: When you put that Olde English D on, what does that mean to you, coming
full circle?
Fielder: It's awesome. I don't know what to say. I just never thought this
could happen. It's an awesome moment. I'm glad I get to be here with my
family and one of my sons up here. This is a real special day.
Q: Mike, can you tell us please how this amazing and rather startling deal
all came about?
Ilitch: Well, it came about when Martinez got injured and we sat down, Dave
and I and some of the other key people in the organization about how we're
going to handle this.
And, I got a little dizzy. Because this person would move here, and this
person would move there and we got Raburn here, to fill in for this one, that
one ... and I got thinking, they're all going to have pressure on them to be
able to match that .320 batting average, 100 RBIs and they're going to feel
pressure filling that slot. I don't want to run into that.
I was telling Dave I'd feel a lot better if we could just totally solve it.
When (Martinez) gets back, I think we'll have a very, very explosive team.
I always wanted Prince. We just missed him by one in the draft. Milwaukee
picked him just before us. I had talked to Dave about it, but it didn't
happen. It's always been on my mind over the years. Of course I've followed
him very closely.
What he did in Milwaukee was unbelievable. I went to Dave and I said "I think
we should go after Prince. Let's make an effort and see if we can get him."
After that, it's a long story.
Q: Did anybody tell you were crazy to commit $214 million? Did you have any
pause at all about the commitment required to get Prince Fielder?
Ilitch: Well, I've made a few moves in sports. I've got a couple guys, in a
smaller sport, on nine-year deals. I've got (Johan) Franzen and (Henrik)
Zetterberg. And that's working out beautiful.
I know this is a lot more money, but I go by my instincts, like everybody
else does in business. My instincts told me that this is going to work out
fine. I'm not going to worry about it.
I know what Prince can do. He'll give 120 percent and that's all you can ask.
I feel very confident that things will work out. I don't have any concerns.
I'm not nervous about it. I know there's probably something wrong with me
there.
It's a green light.
Q: Would you expect to play first base? And when you went into first base,
were you determined to be a first baseman and not a designated hitter?
Fielder: That's what I was before I went into free agency, so obviously
that's what I had in mind.
Q: When did you realize there was going to be a fit?
Boras: We were talking with (vice president) John Westhoff regarding Max
Scherzer. John, in his own way, he teases me a bit. He goes "would Prince
Fielder be interested in a one-year deal?" I said "He would. For nine years."
He laughed, and we kind of went around.
When Dave and John called me on the phone the next day, I realized they
wanted to know more about the process. And that's really how it began.
Q: How do you feel about the fans' reactions to the announcement?
Fielder: I'm excited. I'm glad people were excited for me to come here. It
means a lot. When come somewhere, especially with this kind of deal, you want
to be welcomed. Just happy that people want me to be here.
Dombrowski: It's extremely exciting. We get our ticket sales from Lakeland on
a daily basis. The next morning (after Tuesday), between 3:15 and the end of
that day we sold five times as many tickets as we sell on a daily basis. The
same thing was true yesterday and we haven't even officially announced it.
Our ticket department was here until 8:15 Tuesday night.
We have great fans. We have tremendous fans. They love the Tigers. And they
love in particular a great club. We've got a good club and they you add
Prince to that and you can see why they're excited.
Q: Could you talk about the pleasure of penciling in Prince Fielder in your
lineup. The rumors are now that Miguel Cabrera would go to third. How
confident are you he can play that position?
Leyland: I'm not concerned at all. Mr Ilitch and Dave have given me a lot of
nice pieces to this puzzle. It's my job, along with the coaches, to figure
out how to put that puzzle all together. I don't think that's going to be an
issue whatsoever. It's a pretty nice problem to have.
Miguel Cabrera is going to play third base. Make that perfectly clear today.
I feel very comfortable with it. Right from the get go, we need to shoot
straight from the hip. He's not going to have the agility most likely that
Brandon Inge had. But you give up a little something, you get a whole lot in
return.
We're going back to old fashioned baseball. We've got big-time power on the
corners. Not only with Prince and Miguel, but potentially with Brennan Boesch
and Delmon Young. Putting the puzzle together is not going to be a problem.
Whenever you have great players, it's a real nice problem to have.
And everybody's already asked me all about the pressure. If you can't handle
it by the time you're 67, you don't belong in the business.
I did talk to Miguel and he's 100 percent on board. He feels real good about
it. He's going to shed a little bit of weight. I hope not too much. I think a
couple years ago he got a little too thin. He's going to take care of that.
I also have spoken to Brandon Inge, who I basically apologized to that this
go out on the airwaves obviously prior to us wanting it to and I'm sorry he
had to hear it. At that particular time, I was not at any liberty to discuss
this whatsoever. So I have talked with Brandon. He's not the happiest camper.
He certainly understands.
Q: Prince, talk about what it's going to be like having a player like Miguel
Cabrera batting before you or after you in the lineup.
Fielder: It's going to be awesome. My years in Milwaukee, I also had Ryan
Braun there as well. It's going to be awesome to have another MVP-type player
to play with. As well as the MVP and Cy Young. (laughs)
Q: There's a lot of rumors that maybe you wouldn't want to come back here
because of the issues with your father. Was there any of that at all?
Fielder: Money doesn't take care of that. As far as coming here, I'm just
excited to be here. I'm just looking forward to back where I grew up at. Like
they've already said, the fans are really excited.
I get to come back and play in front of the fans I kind of grew up with. Grew
up in front of, actually. It's cool.
Q: When you look at cavernous Comerica Park, does a player like have to
approach this field any differently? Do you adjust your swing to try to hit
more gaps as opposed to try to launch to an area where they might not go out?
Fielder: I'm not that good anyway, to pick where I want to launch at.
(laughs) I'm glad you think I am. You guys know me, I swing pretty hard. I'm
just trying to hit line drives. I think with my power, I don't have to try to
do anything different, just try to make solid contact.
Q: Can you speak to how important to winning and winning now is?
Dombrowski: We're trying to win right now. We tried to win last year. We were
close. I think we've reached a point now on a yearly basis we feel that way.
You look at our core group of players, there's a lot of guys on that field
right now that are quality players.
All you can do is take care of your business on a daily basis. Jim is very
good at that with our players. But our ultimate goal is to win a world
championship. You're always aware of the future. I don't mean to downplay the
future, because we've got some good young players that are going to be
contributors to the organization, but it's no secret we're trying to win a
world championship.
Q: What are you fondest memories from your first time in Detroit (ages 5-12)?
Fielder: Of course, coming here pretty much every day with my dad, taking
batting practice, just getting thrown in trash cans by Tony Phillips, Pete
Incaviglia. Tony giving me candy from the side because my dad said not to go
in there. There's a lot of good memories.
Hopefully I can give those to my two boys. Those memories have actually
helped me, especially in professional baseball seeing how all these guys I
thought were super heroes were just having fun. It helped me a lot and showed
me what I really wanted to do as far as a job. Nothing better.
I went to school here. I can't really remember the city that much. Once I get
here and start getting around, I'm sure it will all come back to me.
Q: Cabrera is being dislocated from a position where he was very comfortable
and playing very, very well. The Tigers are resolute about him being able to
make this transition to third base. If this doesn't work out, would you be
amenable at all to sharing time as a first baseman and DH?
Fielder: I'm a team guy. Whatever that time comes, if we have to make that
decision, I'm sure we'll talk about it and see what happens. As of right now,
I'm confident in Miguel doing a good job. That's where he started out, third
base.
I'm just here to win, and have a good time.
Q: How do you describe your demeanor on the field?
Fielder: Probably see the same things you've seen. I think I'm aggressive. I
think that's how you have to be when you play any sport. You want to be on
the attack. Just expected hard baseball and aggressiveness.
Q: What's your plan for the DH?
Leyland: We're going to have great versatility with it. You play a lot of
things by ear. During the course of the season, there are days when players
have a little nagging injury or you'd like to give them a little blow but you
still want their bat in the lineup.
We're going to have tremendous flexibility with this roster. It's going to be
a very fun roster to manage. I don't think the DH is any problem. I could
give you several different ways I could go today.
I've written down many, many lineups already. It's amazing, because in every
lineup I've written down so far, Cabrera and Fielder are in that lineup.
Q: Are people too worried about Miguel Cabrera playing third?
Leyland: I think so. This is what I believe I have in Miguel Cabrera: I think
I have tremendous set of hands that could actually play anywhere in the
infield and catch a ground ball. And I think I have one of the best arms in
baseball.
So what your concern is, because of the size of Miguel, is his athleticism
going to be as good coming on bunts. Is is range going to be as good as maybe
some of the better third basemen? That's probably not going to happen.
But I think when he gets himself at the weight he wants to be at, his first
step is very quick. I think his hands are absolutely tremendous. And I know
his throwing arm is one of the best in baseball. It's kind of gotten hidden
in the first base position. But it is a tremendous throwing arm.
Q: Talk about the big adjustments you'll have to make going from one league
to the other. Talk about the pressure trying to live up to the contract.
Fielder: As far the league, it's going to be an adjustment just because I
haven't seen all the pitchers in this league. It's still baseball in the end.
I'm confident about that part.
As far as the contract, as far as living up to it, I think like Mr. Ilitch
said I'm just going out there and playing hard. I think it's the main reason
why the Brewers wanted me here ... sorry, the Tigers ... wanted me here, and
I wanted to be here. Just that the see I play hard. And that's what I like
about their team. They play hard as well.
I think that's all I really can do as far as live up to a certain statistic
goal, that's out of my control.
Q: Are you satisfied with this club after the Fielder signing?
Dombrowski: I think we're pretty well set going in. You always can be better.
And that's my job. So you're always looking to get better. But you're trying
to do that with the parameters we currently have.
We've talked about adding a couple of veteran or non-roster pitchers to
compete for the fifth spot. Not guys on guaranteed contracts, nothing along
those lines. But somebody that if our youngsters aren't quite ready, and we
think that they are, but just in case they don't make it, we can lean on it.
Will it happen? I'm not sure.
I think positional player wise, we're pretty well set.
Q: Is there a weight clause in this contract? When did you have your first
conversation with Mike Ilitch?
Boras: First of all, there was never anything about Prince's conditioning
that was even questioned by anyone in this club at any time. I think that's
part of the fact the Tigers have done their due diligence in understand who
Prince Fielder is. It sounds like Mr. Ilitch was doing due diligence when
Prince was 5.
When players talk about Detroit Tigers, you're not talking about anything
that's other than a family business. And a family who has a goal that is a
baseball goal certainly but is also a community goal.
The teams just kept calling for Prince. There were a number of teams in this
process. Prince and Shanel redid their vows in early January and we really
couldn't begging this free agency until the 11th. We had a number of teams
waiting. Prince had to meet everyone involved.
Once John and I had a conversation, Dave and I had a conversation, Mr. I had
some discussions about his intent and what he felt this team was going to do.
Q: Do have any immediate sense of where Prince and Cabrera could hit in the
lineup?
Leyland: The plan right now is to have Jackson lead off, Boesch hit second,
Cabrera third, Prince fourth, Delmon fifth, Avila sixth, Peralta seventh,
Dirks/Thomas/Kelly eighth and Raburn ninth. Pretty hard to mess that one up.
Q: How urgently or desperately did you want this?
Ilitch: Wasn't a case of pressing. It was a case of doing our best effort to
get him. As far as Scott Boras, he knows this team better than I do. He knows
every player, what their averages are, where they're from, who leads the team
... he just knows everything about the Detroit Tigers. I was flabbergasted.
Q: In any of those lineups, did you have Brandon Inge catching, playing
shortstop, second base, anywhere he can be useful to this team?
Leyland: I did not have him at those positions. I did have him on a potential
DH day for somebody at third base.
The plan right now is not to defense for Miguel at third base late in the
game, as we speak today. We will monitor that. I don't think you defense for
those star players very often. But I did have Inge in the lineup at times at
third base.
(Inge) does have versatility. There could be a moment when we go that
direction. He can still be a valuable part of this club.
Q: Are you concerned about the lack of team speed?
Leyland: If they hit 'em where they're supposed to hit 'em, they can trot. So
I'm not as concerned about that as everybody else. We did want to address
that a little bit. I'd rather have a slow guy that can hit than a fast guy
that can't.
We're a doubles team. If you look at us last year, we hit it in the gaps and
we hit it over the fence. That's what we do. We're not a manufacture-type
team.
I think for any good manager, I think the key is you manage the players you
have. You manage those people to get the best out of them. The players' job
is not to adjust to the manager's style. It's the manager's job to adjust to
the players style.
Q: Prince, introduce your son and have him tell us how he feels about his new
jersey.
Fielder: You want to do that? You want to say your name? "Do I just say
Jaydn?" Yeah, I'm pretty sure they know your last name. "Hi, I'm Jaydn."
--
06 藍 1勝 1中繼 2救援點 ERA 1.64 11 局 7三振 3保送
07 鯨 7勝12敗 7中繼 4救援點 ERA 3.53 122.1局 125三振 42保送
08 鯨 5勝12敗 ERA 3.44 145.1局 132三振 35保送
09 雞 3勝 2中繼 1救援點 ERA 2.60 34.2局 32三振 9保送
虎 3中繼 ERA 2.61 31 局 21三振 12保送
10 虎 1敗 ERA 6.65 23 局 22三振 21保送
--
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