Oct. 1 -- GILLICK SPEAKS

Before today's game, Pat Gillick addressed the newspaper reporters who cover the Phillies. Here's a transcript of what he had to say, including an extremely cryptic series of answers about Charlie Manuel's job status.

Check Monday's News Journal for more details.

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Q: How should this team be looked at? A team that had a run or one that had it and didn’t get there?
A: I think it should be looked at as a team that let it all hang out. They did the very best they could and came up a game or two short. As far as their dedication, aggressiveness, and passion on the field. I think, as I said, let it all hang out. Unfortunately, some people [Padres, Dodgers] played a little better than we did.

Q: You couldn’t have expected this when you made the trades. You were looking to the future and all of a sudden you were in it. You must be proud, with what the team showed.
A: I was thinking about it the other day. It was sort of, we made some moves that we thought would be further down the line, would prove out to be the direction we should go because, again, it takes time for young pitching to come forward. At that time, we had [Cole] Hamels and [Scott] Mathieson, and you didn't know what they were going to do. You're going to have ups and downs with young people. We gave some opportunities to people and they went out and played. I sort of think about like a movie. You have high-budget movies that don't do well, and you have low-budget movies that once in a while hit the jackpot. Fargo was a low-budget movie that kind of hit the jackpot. We were the low-budget movie that almost got there. There was an opportunity for [Shane] Victorino to play more. [Abraham] Nunez to get in there. Matt Smith is guy we can look at for the future. There's a lot of positive things, even though we came up short.

Q: What kind of movie are you going to be next year? You said 2008 when you were at the podium was the year to shoot for?
A: It's all about pitching and how much pitching you have. I mentioned this before, We got consistent pitching in the last couple of months, and anytime you get that and it keeps you in the game, it gives your offense an opportunity to win. It all comes down to pitching and defense and as we know defense is pitching, but that’s what it will come down too. When we don’t score and we think we should score, like in that game in Washington the other night, you think you should score more but that’s going to happen. Overall, we score enough runs it's just keeping the opposition from scoring more than us.

Q: At the deadline you changed the chemistry by getting rid of some of the old contracts. How much more do you need to do before this is exactly where you want it?
A: I don't know how you put a percentage on energy. The one thing that I will say is got rid of a heck of a player in Bobby [Abreu]. A real professional guy that was around here for a while. He went over to New York and played exceptionally well. One thing I think it did change on the club was a little bit of the leadership role as well as the energy level. I think we took our energy up a bit. I think we might have taken a step back in overall talent, but I think how you measure energy - our energy level day in and day out is better. I think that's important when you play a schedule like that to have a high energy level day in and day out.

Q: Do you still have work to do as far as getting this team to where you want it?
A: You never really get 'em like you want 'em. There's always an area you need to improve on. And that area you may want to even improve on more. You'd like to get the best players possible at every position. But we have to keep improving and we have to add some more dimension. We don't steal a lot of bases. We don’t have a lot of guys that steal, We have some guys with speed, but don't steal a lot. We have to increase our arsenal. We have to take it to the other club a little with our guys that can run. Jimmy [Rollins] and Victorino, people like that.

Q: What’s your take on Pat Burrell and this season and his future with the ball club?
A: When it gets down to it he's probably going to be pretty close to 30 [home runs] and 100 [RBIs]. He’s what, 29 with 95 or 96, I don’t know. Overall through the entire season he’s been good, but he's gone through a few dry spells, and I don't think he's been as consistent as you'd like him to be. But you look at his overall numbers, and I think his overall numbers are pretty darn good, but there are just times when Pat, I think, didn't hit the way that he was capable of. I don't know why, but he didn't. But looking at the numbers overall, I think he had a good power season.

Q: Do you think in your experience in baseball needed a change of scenery and is he one of them?
A: Pat Burrell is with us. He's got two more years. He's a power hitter. We'd like to get him back on a day-to-day, consistent basis. You don't find guys with that type of power, those run-producers. Hopefully, he can find a key and turn his season around.

Q: Will you be given the money to go out and get like a [Aramis] Ramirez or an impact guy at say third base?
A: Let me put it this way, we’ll have the money to go out and get somebody. I'm not sure what that position might be. It could be a another position other than third base.

Q: Does that mean you’ll sign at least one player to a big-dollar contract?
A: Let me say this, if we think it's a wise expenditure, we'll make it. If we think it's an unwise expenditure, we're not going to spend it just to spend high dollar. We're going to do what we think makes sense for us for '07 and past '07.

Q: How important is it to find a guy to hit behind Ryan Howard?
A: I think it's important to get somebody who can protect him on a consistent basis. You never know, you might change your batting order around and provide that protection. But if you get another player, insert another player the lineup that consistently can be someone for the opposition to worry about, that can be pretty important.

Q: Do you think to some degree, Burrell’s troubles are related to his foot injury and that he could go to the AL and be a DH?
A: I keep asking [trainer Jeff] Cooper and Pat, and I don’t believe his foot is an issue now. I don’t think it’s an issue.

Q: In the off season last year the priority was pitching. Has that changed or going forward is that still your top priority?
A: Pitching is till the top priority, but you guys are smart enough to know there aren’t a lot of A-list pitchers out there. Your priority may be pitching, but as I say, you have few guys. I don’t want to say their names because they’re still under contract, but there ain’t a long list out there. Your priority may be pitching, but you might have to settle for something else.

Q: What kind of assessment would you give yourself?
A: I give you a Joe Girardi answer, you guys do the assessing.

Q: How would you assess the coaching staff?
A: I think overall, they’ve done a good job. They’ve been very upbeat and supportive of the players. I think there has been some improvement, and sometimes improvement takes a long time to come around. But there has been improvement.

Q: Will Charlie be back next year?
A: Charlie is under contract through 2007.

Q: Does that mean he’s guaranteed to come back?
A: He has a guaranteed contract through 2007. Right.

Q: You said you had to re-evaluate guys all the time. Is there a process you need to go through or have you already made your decision?
A: I said he’s under contract, and if he’s under contract it sounds like maybe a decision has been made. I can’t really comment any more than that.

Q: He was under contract before you got here.
A: Yeah. And when I came here I could have made a change if I wanted to, and I decided not to make the change. He’s under contract and he’s our manager.

Q: Has he done a good job?
A: I think overall that Charlie has done a very good job. One of the things that I think is very, very important is he keeps the players in the right frame of mind day-in and day-out. I think that’s very important. I think he keeps the players in a great frame of mind.

Q: It sounds like you're stopping just short of saying he’ll be there on April 3. Is there a reason for that, is he under evaluation?
A: I can’t say there’s any reason for that. As I say all of us, no matter what our contract status is, mine or anybody else, we’re all under evaluation. Right now, he’s our manager.

Q: Will there be any changes to the coaching staff?
A: I can’t say right now.

Q: There are fans that wanted Jim Leyland and now they see him in the playoffs, what can you say to Philly fans to get them behind Charlie?
A: There was a guy that said, a manager of the Dodgers, that no matter what decision you make 1/3 will be with you, 1/3 will be against you and the other 1/3 won’t give a damn. It doesn’t matter who the manager is, there will always be people that say you should have done this or done that. That’s the great thing about baseball.

Q: If pitching is the most important thing, you have two guys that are lefties and free agents, how do you rank your pitching those guys?
A: I think [Jamie] Moyer did a good job when he came over here and did what he was supposed to do. I think Randy [Wolf's] arm is healthy, and he’s still basically at the tail end of spring training right now. If you look at how pitchers progress in spring training, maybe he’s in the first two weeks of the season. I think he‘s throwing very well right now. He’s definitely proved he’s healthy and that he’s made a recovery from the surgery.

Q: You said last year you didn’t like long-term contracts. Do you still feel that way?
A: I’m not a fan of them but that’s not to say, we won’t give them. If you ask me if I’m a fan of a player or another, I might be a fan but I might have to do something. You have to go where the competition is. You have too many long term contracts, too many no trades, they lead to problems and you have to maintain flexibility.

Q: You said it would be doubtful to contend for a playoff spot next year. Has you opinion changed.
A: It depends on the pitching. As somebody brought up, we have two free agents and it just depends how our pitching staff goes.

Q: Will you bring back the pitching staff as it is?
A: Well, it’s probably a better rotation than we open the season with in 2006. It’s a more consistent rotation. You're talking about one guy 4-something years old. There not in a category where you would think there would be a problem with Myers or Hamels.

Q: Where would you rank a set-up guy on your list of priorities?
A: It’s on the list. I wouldn’t rank the list.