John Gibbons: Winter Meetings Transcript Pt.2

Part II of IV

Q. Is there somebody you would look to, righty, lefty, or is that something that will just play out?

John Gibbons: It will go with the first couple of weeks. I haven't really looked at the schedule that close. We've got some options. We definitely feel good about our rotation now that we've added Burnett. It's one of our strengths.

Q. Ted Lilly had a difficult year from the beginning of the season on. Talk about what you're looking from him coming into this season.

John Gibbons: We need a big year out of Ted. What did he win last year, nine, ten games? It was a really frustrating year for him and he missed, time sporadically throughout the year. He got off to a bad start being hurt in Spring Training. So he needs to show up at Spring Training ready to go, injury free and get off to a good start. Ted is a good pitcher. There's no question about it. I think the whole key for him is that he needs to be injury-free early on so you can come at it full strength. This will be his free agent year, too. He's got something to prove from that end. So we're hoping this is his best year ever.

Q. What stands out about your pitching staff. It seems almost every single guy has seen some kind of adversity early in his career. As a guy who yourself had adversity in your early years with the Mets, how did that help the staff mature as the season goes on?

John Gibbons: Very few guys in baseball take the game by storm and never struggle. There's only a handful of those guys. Everybody has their ups and downs. Halladay like you said, struggled early on and we built and rebuilt himself and came back. I don’t know enough about A.J. I don't know all the ups and downs. He's got one of the best arms in baseball and we hope he puts it all together with us. Chacin, this year, he's was a little rocky. He kind of disappeared for a while. They've all been through their tough times.

Q. How can A.J. and Doc compliment each other, and make each other better?

John Gibbons: Halladay brings out the best in guys. He's not a loud guy, but he's a quiet guy, though he does a lot of talking with fellow pitchers and has some great things to say to them. He actually came up during the first visit with Burnett and he showed him around Toronto. I think that was one of the big selling points to get Burnett to Toronto. I'm sure there's not a harder worker in the game. The guy leads by example. Burnett will see that.

Q. That can be really beneficial to A.J. Is he set to be the big guy?

John Gibbons: It's still Halladay's team. He's still the main guy. He has earned that. He's a fixture in Toronto and it will be good competition. We hope they'll compete against each other.

Q. Since you're a lot smarter now --

John Gibbons: That's still debatable.

Q. Which team would you rate that has one of the best starting rotations?

John Gibbons: We've got to be right there. The Yankees are still tough with Johnson. Then you have the Red Sox with Schilling, Beckett, and those guys. You can't argue those two but I think we stack right up there with those guys. That's just speaking from our division there. The White Sox are pretty darn tough. I think we feel strong top to bottom now by adding Burnett.

Q. Burnett is coming in with the big contract, but he also has Halladay as the clear No. 1 guy and gets to be slotted behind him. Is that something that you believe could help him?

John Gibbons: I don't know. The season works in different ways with the off days. Usually those top guys end up facing the top guys one time or another. I don't think it takes any pressure off with the nice contract he got, but he has got one of the best arms in baseball. On any given night he can shut you out. I just think he'll fit in perfect. He's going to follow Halladay. I think Halladay will help get the best out of him.

Part III of IV will be coming up on Thursday