I'd prefer he said something like "We wish Sammy the best, but we have a great group of guys. I have no doubt in our process, and I'm confident that the trade will pay dividends for both sides. We have a plan in place that I'm confident we will succeed with". We all hate canned answers, but sometimes they are the most appropriate. Personally, I think that McD's response did not come across as one of a confident leader. I didn't hate the Sammy trade at the time, but things like this make me question McD. Sometimes I worry that he's the next Josh McDaniels.