Dodgers President Stan Kasten yesterday sat for an interview with L.A. TIMES columnist T.J. Simers and said he views his role as "always trying to put the most positive spin I can on everything for my company and to motivate my staff and my team." Kasten: "You should always count on me accentuating the positive; you should always count on that. You should always count on me defending everything we do and every person who works for me and when we make mistakes I'll try to own up to it, but I'll always be accentuating the positive." Simers writes anyone who succeeded former Owner Frank McCourt "figured to be greeted like some sort of savior," but it "really hasn't worked out that way" for Guggenheim Baseball Management. After being "betrayed" by the McCourt regime, fans could be "waiting for the new management to prove itself." The ownership group claims the "future of the Dodgers rests with Kasten," so Simers inquired about why he left the Nationals in '10 after his contract expired. Kasten said, "When my obligation was over I chose to leave. It was for personal reasons." However, Simers pressed, noting, "Talk around baseball is Kasten was at odds with ownership." Kasten: "The reasons I left are personal and you will allow that I can keep them personal." He also said in the interview, "I have two rules for broadcasters and the media. These are my rules: If it's personal or not true, then I'm going to have a problem, OK? And there are issues I don't want to talk about and that's my right." Simers writes, "Maybe Kasten is an acquired taste. Maybe he will turn out to be what the Dodgers need to make an economic go of it after being left bankrupt. Maybe first impressions are not his strength. But right now, what a blowhard" (L.A. TIMES, 6/12).
