His priority was to get this straightened out. He's gone through two-thirds of that phase; now his next priority is playing on the field. |
Honestly, every time I pencil his name in there and he comes up in the rotation I'm counting on a good game. Whether I get it or I don't, I have that high hope. |
I actually thought he was safe whether he dropped the ball or not. |
I always felt in due time I would be rewarded. I totally believe this was the time it was supposed to be. |
I called him in the next day. I told him, 'This is really difficult. Let's think about what we're doing, let's get healthy and go from there. |
I didn't see any problems. ... I didn't see any hesitation on his part. |
I don't know how we can do without him. He's certainly one of the leaders of the ball club, a catalyst as a hitter and a great defensive player. He's hard to replace. |
I don't think he's done a whole lot, so we will take it a day at a time. We'll see what he looks like tomorrow. He might take a couple of days. |
I had a very good conversation with him probably 10 days ago, shortly after I got the job here. I asked him to curtail some stuff and to carry himself well around the ball club, and he said no problem, and quite honestly he was a gem of a guy on the airplanes and everything since then. So I'm a little surprised. |
I have a lot to prove. I'm not afraid of that challenge. |
I haven't heard anything. I think what you start to do is reading into things you shouldn't. Maybe they're working on the GM situation too. Maybe there's other people out there. Maybe everyone is calling now. |
I haven't talked to anybody. We have a unique situation where everyone is out of a contract at the end of the year, so it's not surprising he hasn't done anything with me because he's got general managers to take care of, too. It complicates the situation, to say the least. |
I just came out of the clubhouse and he was standing there. He says, 'You going out in the field?' I said yeah, and he said, 'I'm going to walk out and say hi to some of the guys. |
I just think he needs some help. I don't know if it's alcohol or what it is, he obviously just needs some help, period. |
I just think it's a failure to get one guy hot. You got nine guys in the lineup. You don't expect nine guys to scuffle. Someone is going to pay for it sooner or later. But that doesn't make me feel good at all. Sooner or later they're going to get their hits. We need them to do it sooner than later. Time is creeping up on us. |