During the March 4th Yankees/Astros game Cecil Cooper really opened up and shed some light on his offensive strategy for the team and specific players heading into 2008. A must read for Astros fans and fantasy players.

I tried to go back and record the audio from the interview but MLB.TV is deleting spring training games from their archives a day after play.

Interview Highlights:

First off, this wasn’t a typical managerial interview. We the listener actually were privy to some real answers, not the typical “I think the club will be good this year.” Cecil discussed the different mind-set that he’ll us with the club this year. Taking over at mid-season in 2007, he said that he really couldn’t implement strategy the way he would like. This year from spring its his club. And he wants to run. A lot. He did hint that Bourn will be given days off due to his overall lack of MLB playing time. He raved about Matsui’s professional approach and stated that the big three in Berkman, Tejeda, and Lee may not have set positions in the lineup, that they will flip from 3 – 5 on occasions depending on who has the hot hand.

He also stated that he may give Berkman the green light to steal, and that he’d expect players such as Pence to be more aggressive. Matsui & Bourn will defiantly be given the green light, as Cecil said “That’s what they do, why take it away from them?” He even hinted at Towles getting to run and brought up his minor league stolen base numbers (13 in 2006 & 14 in 2007) to support this.

The gist of this interview is that the Astros are running, running, running. Take this into account as a fan of the NL Central and as a fantasy player.