I remember my first bullpen session with him. He was throwing the ball all over, and afterward he asks me, 'So, what did you think of that?' And I told him, 'To be honest with you, I didn't think it was very good.' So he says, 'Hmmm,' and the next day he hits every target he threw at. Every one. The son of a gun was testing me. |
All I know is that he looks to me like a top-shelf closer. |
Both sides agreed to end their discussions without a resolution. |
Forget it. I'm an Atlanta Brave. I'm very pleased with what I got here. They were very fair. I'm pleased with everything. |
He had the greatest nickname of any pitcher -- 'The Chairman of the Board'. |
He is one of the smartest, most confident pitchers in the game. He has attitude. Call it mound presence. He knows he can stick it to you. |
He is so smart, he makes everything so simple. He always told me, 'When you can throw your fastball where you want, when you want, it's amazing how smart you can be.' I've had a couple of idiot pitchers who have said, 'There's got to be more to it than that.' He's the smartest pitcher I've ever seen. He's the greatest pitcher I've ever seen. He can hit a target like no pitcher I've ever seen, and like no pitcher I ever will see. |
He may be ready tomorrow; I'll have to ask him how he's feeling. |
He still has the full package. He has movement, he has change of speeds, change of directions. |
He wouldn't lay it out there. But he'd let them put something in play that he wouldn't let them put in play in a crucial situation. |
He's a solid guy, a solid pitcher. Just because he's soft-spoken doesn't mean there's not a lot of intensity there. |
He's got a lot of fight in him, |
Hudson was outstanding on short rest, one of the best games he's pitched all year. Good control. He was in total command. |
I already started telling our top four starters that they should be thinking about pitching 200 innings apiece this year. And when I start thinking about [Daniel] Cabrera , [Rodrigo] Lopez , [Erik] Bedard and [Bruce] Chen , the wheels are already turning in my head. Cabrera says he's ready to go tomorrow. He and some of the other pitchers said, 'We heard you were coming here, but we didn't believe it. |
I know he can manage in the big leagues and manage successfully, ... He handled the situation extremely well as far as I'm concerned. He did a hell of a job. |