You sweat out the free agent thing in November then you make the trades in December. Then you struggle to sign the guys left in January and in February I get down to sewing all the new numbers on the uniforms.
The rules are changed now, there's not any way to build a team today. It's just how much money you want to spend. You could be the world champions and somebody else makes a key acquisition or two and you're through.
Some people asked me if I would be interested in managing the A's. I said a definite no thank you. At night, that place is a graveyard with lights.
The only thing bad about winning the pennant is that you have to manage the All-Star Game the next year. I'd rather go fishing for three days