Hendry on the deal
By Vine Line
On being given leeway to make trades: “[The media] asked me in spring training would we be able to make any deals in July, and the word from above has never been that we won’t be able to contend.”
On the CC Sabathia deal maybe pushing the Cubs’ hand: “No, not at all. I really felt like maybe by Friday [the Sabathia deal] might have been done….I knew Rich [Harden] was going to make his start Sunday no matter what, and I knew at the same time that my chats with Mark Shapiro were that he felt like, if he liked the deal that he got, he was going to try to do it before CC turned up again. And really it had nothing to do with ours.”
On how long he had been working on the deal: “I’d say at least three weeks. And realistically not knowing that he would be available for sure. He was out there spinning some gems with real hard stuff, and here are the Oakland A’s just a few games out of both the division and the Wild Card.”
On dealing with Billy Beane: “He’s really on top of his profession, honest, not afraid to trade talent for talent, not trying to beat anybody up….He gets talent, he gives talent. I don’t want to win deals. I want everyone to be happy. We get what we want, and we win. And in this case, I’ll be rooting like heck for the guys we traded. You certainly click with certain people in this industry. I think the first trade I made with him as an assistant GM was when we got Mark Bellhorn from him. That was one of the first few that Andy [MacPhail] let me do. Last year with Kendall, a few calls, 15 minutes.”
On moving forward from here: “It doesn’t mean you’re going to do more business, but we’re going to continue to try to get better. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can make deals.”
On knowing who else may be in on a deal: “I never ask, even if it’s Sabathia. You just try to get yourself in there and do the best you can. You can waste a lot of time asking who else is involved and thinking you gotta beat so and so because, I know you [reporters] all find this hard to believe, but a lot of stuff that is written is never really true [laughs].”
