I was able to catch Julio for a few minutes in the Mets locker room before the game today and ask him some questions. At one point he caught me probing at the wrong question and called me on it a bit, but he did it in a cheerful way. He's an extremely gracious individual and stopped where he was going to stay and talk with me. From my observations of him in the locker room I can tell that he is more than just a player, but also a mentor to many of the players, especially Latino players, on the Mets.

Martin Gandy: So, a year on now after leaving the Braves. How does it feel being a Met verses being a Brave? What are the differences in the two teams?

Julio Franco: Well, not really to say it's different, every team is different. Every team has one goal, to win the World Series. I think we did a pretty good job in Atlanta. I came here and it's also the same goal, to win the World Series. Every team's got that in common in this stage in spring training, to have the ultimate goal which is reach the World Series. And you know, that's the difference, in the horse race you don't want to be left behind, you don't want to be too in front, you want to be in the pack, still competing. Because then everybody has a chance. Look what happened to St. Louis last year because they were in the pack. It's great what we did last year, being the team in the front, but we don't finish in the front.

MG: Being in the front this year, you're the front runners for the division.

JF: Well I don't see it that way. I see it, our goal is not who's going to catch us, our goal is to real the ultimate goal, which is grab that trophy and show it to the world, and that's the winning attitude. That's what this team wants. I'm sure that they think we have unfinished business we need to accomplish.

MG: Do you consider yourself sort of a player/coach here on this team?

JF: No, I consider myself a player.

MG: Player first.

JF: Of course.

MG: You know Rickey Henderson showed up today and he's about the same age as you.

JF: Well let's not talk about age. How old are you?

MG: 31

JF: Can you play baseball?

MG: I cannot.

JF: See that's the difference.

MG: Age doesn't matter, right?

JF: No, as long as you have the ability to play this game. That's all that matters. I believe that God has given me that ability. Some people are 20 and they're good lawyers, some are 40 and not good lawyers.

MG: When do you think you're going to make the transition to being a coach, perhaps, is that something you want to do eventually?

JF: Of course, when God tells me this is it. And don't ask me when God's going to tell me that's it. I think a good sign is when the body says, "no more." Well, you're a writer, but if your body doesn't allow you to come here and do the things you need to do, it doesn't matter if you want to do it, you can't do it. That's the sign I'm waiting for when my body says, "you know what, I think this is it." And when that comes, believe me, I'll be grateful because it's been a great ride. I enjoyed it.

MG: Are you going to be able to help a guy like [Jorge] Sosa. You played with Sosa in Atlanta in 05.

JF: I think that I can help anybody if I can find out what he's doing wrong. What we're all here for is to help each other, not only me helping him, he can also help me.

MG: But you're one of the guys that knew him back on the Braves too.

JF: Yes, yes, Sosa's a great guy. He had a bad year, everyone is entitled to do that. He can regroup. He's got a good arm. He's got a good pitching coach here. He listens and we have a good ball club, I think we're going to score a lot of runs. If he can give five, six, seven strong innings, he's got a pretty good chance to be successful.

MG: Thank you very much for your time.

**********

I'll post my interview with Tom Glavine tomorrow, as that will be another travel day for me. I may even try to post the audio file of the interview as it seems pretty clean without too much background noise. It's another short little interview like this one with Julio, and I try to work in as much Braves related content as I can. My interview with Rickey Henderson will be up tonight over at Baseball Digest Daily, it's a long interview; I'll post a link when it goes up.