He wants to pursue offers in Japan, so we went ahead and gave him his release.

It's a fairly extensive restructuring. I don't go into the reasons, but you can infer why.

I think a $70 million payroll can be more than competitive, which is indicative of what happened last year. If you are in the $70 (million) to $80 million range, you can do it the right way, with a combination of veteran players and using players from within. But your scouting and player development are critical in doing it.

The last thing my client wants to do is persuade this court to release him and then blow the whole thing off.

You'll never find what you aren't looking for.

I don't know if too many guys really understand it. The two guys ahead of him obviously managed for a long time, so it's a nice milestone. Hopefully he can manage five or six more years and get to be second. I don't think anybody's going to catch Connie Mack.