Feb. 12 -- GILLICK SPEAKS

BY SCOTT LAUBER

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Kind of a slow day here at the Carpenter Complex. A few more players trickled in (saw Carlos Ruiz, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin; still no sign of Adam Eaton, the (unwanted) $24.5 Million Man) and Chase Utley took a few "dry swings" (no pitching) in the batting cage. Otherwise, pretty quiet.

But after sitting in on organizational meetings for most of the day, Pat Gillick (remember him?) took some time to talk to the beat writers. Turns out, he'll be in Florida until the end of spring training, and afterward, he'll be doing some amateur scouting for the Phillies, a return to his roots from his early years as an executive. He had a few other interesting things to report. Here's the rundown, and we'll expand on this in The News Journal tomorrow:

--Asked if, after last year's arbitration hearing, he thought the Phillies would be able to work out a multi-year contract with Ryan Howard: "I would've been pessimistic. I think three weeks ago Ruben [Amaro] was optimistic he could do something. He had a good feeling about it. I'm happy about it. I think we're all happy. The club's happy. Naturally, the player should be happy. I'm just glad. It's something that, really, [arbitration] was needless. I don't think the player needed it. I don't think the club needed it. I think it was good that we could have a meeting of the minds."

--Gillick said the Phillies "tried during the [2008] season to really bring Pat [Burrell] back. But I think they had a little more grandeur than we did. We would've brought Pat back, but I think their expectation level was a little higher than what they ended up doing with Tampa Bay [two years, $8 million]. We had some conversation with them during the season, and based on that conversation and what their expectation level was, I don't think Ruben would make an offer. We were in different areas. They were looking for a longer deal than we wanted to do. The length was more the problem."

--Gillick advocated signing Raul Ibanez. "He fits in our clubhouse. He's a very positive guy. He's going to hit probably in our ballpark with more power than he hit in Seattle. He fundamentally is a very sound player that makes very few mistakes. And he's a hard worker, maybe to the point that he wants to be a perfectionist. He brings a very positive approach to the clubhouse. He's a good hitter. He hits well against left-handed pitching. The tough left-handers are going to get the guys out anyway. Hamels is going to get right- or left-handers out. It doesn't matter. I think the average to a little above-average left-handers, Raul will handle them.

--On whether the Phillies may have overpaid for Ibanez (three years, $31.5 million), given the one-year, $6 million deal that Bobby Abreu just signed with the Angels: "The Cubs were after [Ibanez] pretty thick. Lou [Piniella] and he had a good relationship, so I think Lou was plugging pretty hard for him. I don't think [the Phillies could've waited]. The Cubs were searching for left-hand hitting. My opinion is I would prefer Ibanez to Milton Bradley, just from an injury standpoint. Milton Bradley to me is an American League player, a DH/part-time outfielder. He's not a day-in, day-out player in the National League."

--On whether he'd ever be interested in being a GM somewhere: "You know the old statement, 'Never say never.' You don't know. I think I'd rather do it if something popped up with the president of the baseball side and have a GM working under me. Something like that, when you get to this point, I think. I wouldn't ever say never."

--Given the economic climate in the country, I asked if he thought the Phillies could've increased payroll by $30 million if they hadn't won the World Series. "Probably not," he said. "I think what's happening, and there's been some inference from the Players' Association about it, everybody's scared to death of the economy. That's just a fact of life. I think people in the sports business have to be concerned about the discretionary money that's going to be spent. People are concerned about paying their mortgage or credit cards, so probably the guy who went to 10 games will only go to six or seven this year. Other than a couple of clubs, I've heard there's been a decline in season tickets. It doesn't seem like the government knows where this is going. This is a crisis, a new situation, for everybody, so I think people are a little apprehensive for the moment."

--He celebrated retirement by taking a European vacation (his first in a long time)with his wife. They went to Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris. I asked him if he knows what to do on vacation. "I just follow my wife," he said with a laugh.