McLaren Firing Press Conference

Note: This isn't a full transcript--I just jotted down the quotes that answered the questions.

On why: "John worked extremely hard, but our team continued to underperform compared to our expectations of them. With 90 games left on our schedule, we owe it to ourselves and our fans to do everything we can to win as many games as possible. At the same time, as we move towards the trade deadline and decisions have to be made on the futures of the players on our ballclub, I wanted to see if a different voice could make a difference in their performance."

On new captain of the Titanic manager Jim Riggleman: "Jim is an experienced baseball man with broad experience as both a Major League manager and coach. He is intimately familiar with our club and I believe he will do a fine job."

"On a personal level, this is a very difficult decision to make. I felt this was the right thing to do for the ballclub and for the organization. This club was underperforming, we hadn't shown any improvement, in fact we were regressing.

John did everything he could. There's 90 games left in the season, we felt we owed it to our fans and ourselves to win as many games as possible.

To give the players a chance to improve themselves, we felt a different voice was needed, to give us a better chance to evaluate the players."

Riggleman isn't at the press conference.

What different style?
"I think everybody's got a different style."

What did McLaren do wrong?
"To second-guess what John was or wasn't doesn't serve any purpose."

How did McLaren take the news?
"John took it hard...but he also took it very professionally."

Did you and Bill Bavasi talk about firing McLaren?
"Blah blah...Yes."

Do you think McLaren's biggest problem was the roster?
"We think the players have underperformed."

Will there be any roster moves between now and the trading deadline?
"There certainly could be more roster moves -- I don't think we have the truest estimate of what these players can do. We can get a better idea of what we have befor e we make any drastic decisions."

Do you think the players are being held accountable?
"They are accountable every day."

What about Lee Elia?
"Lee Elia will take over as the bench coach. He will supervise the hitting program. Our new hitting coach is Jose Castro." Note: Jose Castro was previously the M's minor league hitting coordinator.

What's Riggleman's future?
"Jim will be the manager until the end of the season."

What have the last 72 hours been like for you?
"Lotta work, not much sleep. Lotta help from people in the office. But it's a challenge that we're up for. We've accomplished some things that we needed to accomplish, and we're working on some other things."

Will Ichiro stay in rightfield?
"Yes."

Will a manager not be hired until a new GM is in place? (Question to Chuck Armstrong.)
"Yes, that's fair to say."