My job, when it comes to free agency, trades, is not to pick players, but support the personnel department and the coaching staff. We have to have the financial resources to make things happen and that's my job.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
To be candid with you, free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports, I don't believe that.
I believe a lot of players that start to think about money - 'Oh my goodness; I'm up for a new contract' - they don't have a great season because they're thinking about all these different things. Do your business on the field, and everything takes care of itself.
While I sign off on trades or free agents, I've rarely overruled my basketball people's decisions. But I'm not shy about steering the discussion or pushing deeper if something doesn't make sense to me.
Today, free agency takes away a lot of your heroes, they go somewhere else. Some of them don't but a lot of them do-take the higher offer to go somewhere else. And, it turns the fans off because they get attached to the players.
Coaches coach guys on the field. I get to spend time with practice squad receivers and tight ends or a young center who's always inactive on Sundays... I feel really good about having an impact on those guys and their careers.
Free agency screws everybody's allegiances up. Whether it be football, baseball, hockey, basketball, whatever it may be. It's really hard.
You can have great players, but if they don't want to be coached, what are you going to do?
I want to be on a successful team, and I know that paying one or two or three players premium hurts your chances of being able to bring in extra talent.
I've got to play free agency out, and I've got to look at all of my options.
I am dead set against free agency. It can ruin baseball.