Interview of 1st Place Griz Owner - Jack Howard

The Grundy County Times interview Griz owner, Jack Howard.

Times - to Mr. Howard, "You must be pretty happy, your team is in first place after Block 1, that is a first. What do you have to say to that?"

Howard - "We are thrilled. We are not surprised, at least not as surprised as the rest of the league and our fans. We knew we had a pretty good team after the draft - our field manager played four simulated seasons after the draft and we won 3 of four division titles. "

Times - "Well that is surprising. That being said, why would you trade a World Series Hero - Mike Lowell and so much pitching, if you think you could challenge for the division's top spot?"

Howard - "Well, ----------------------- this is a multi part answer.
1. We had a chance to get the best prospect in this year's draft, Alex Gordon. He had had a rough first mlb season and we had hoped he would some how float into the second round. He didn't. We did not choose him or Brian Braun with the 1st or 3rd overall picks because we had the dilemma of having two top 3B ahead of them on our roster, and our needs are OF and Pitching.

2. Trading Lowell was necessary to open up a spot to get Gordon. We did not want to trade Mike. He was a major part of an infield that gobbled up every X-chance and turned it into an out or double-play. He also was one of our top batters, hitting over .300 and driving in important runs. He will help his new team immediately, and his departure will hurt our chances, no doubt, but we could not pass on the chance to get Gordon.

3. Trading so much pitching was extremely difficult, our bullpen, which was huge and filled with quality relievers was in place to take over any rough outing of our not so sound starting rotation. However, that was part of the cost to get Gordon, and we could not refuse the offer.

Times - "if the future was now, for the first time in Griz history, why hurt it?"

Howard - "Again, we asked if Gordon could be worked into a trade and when we were given the chance, we could not resist.

After playing through the first Block, we saw that Pocono was the best managed team in the division. That will get them some important wins. We felt that they probably would beat us out in the long run this season, and while Lowell is awesome, we felt Gordon would be the teams next Lowell, and for years after Lowell retired. We feel Pocono might be reaching the end of its long heyday as our division leader, and we may be poised to step up in the future with Gordon.

We feel we can still compete with Gordon, and after VFS threw in the towel with their trades, we think we will make this a 2 team race. Red Robbbins (and probably the rest of the league) recognizes some of our many weaknesses and Gordon for Lowell actually is a way to make up for one of those weaknesses."

Times - "Are you saying - you expect to stay in contention for a division title?"

Howard - "Why not. Yeah we gave up a lot and our chances have been reduced, but we are still extremely deep. Our ballpark is tough to play in. We still have a stellar infield, and Cuddyer/Upton have been awesome in the OF. We are still looking for ways to improve the team. We play to win. We will see what happens as the season unfolds."

Times - "Did you just drop a hint that there are more trades to come?"

Howard - "I do not rule that out. Our GM has made a couple inquiries. We look to improve whenever we can."

Times - Thanks for your time. To our readers - watch for our Gordon article.