It's important to them. They are the cornerstones of this franchise. |
It's in recognition of a tremendous performance by him and our team. It shows we have a great confidence in Phil. |
It's just a matter of, does he want to do it at that point of his life, and that point of his career? Certainly, he's the guy that's been a big part of the organization for a number of years. From my point of view, I'd love to have him back, if that's of interest to him. |
It's kind of an oddity, obviously. It's part of the whole process and nothing nobody is going to get too upset about. He's playing for his country, but we know his heart lies with us. |
It's kind of something we just have to live with, |
It's nice to not have to worry about that spot. Catching is the hardest thing to find quality. You look at clubs tying up their catchers -- the Reds with [Jason] LaRue, us with Ausmus -- clubs are trying to hold onto those guys. They're quality guys and they're dependable. |
It's not his arm, it's not his elbow. It's nothing that should keep him out for an extended period of time. It doesn't appear to be a [disabled list] situation. |
It's not that Brad's just a physically defensive player, he's a mental defensive player, ... He's the guy who takes the scouting report and summarizes it for the pitcher and is able to put it into meaningful words that they can out there and hopefully be successful. He brings so much more to the table than just his physical ability behind the plate. |
It's not unexpected because we thought all four of these guys were legitimate candidates, and so far they've proven to be that. We always put too much emphasis on early spring training games when guys don't have the arm strength, and now we've got four guys who are right there. It's always nice in this game to have some depth and have some pitching. |
It's not very different from what we faced in the past. It's the same situation we were in last year, where we were uncertain as to when we would get an answer. We're still in the same situation, so it's something that we've just recently learned, and it's something that we're going to have to meet and discuss and decide how we proceed to build our club. |
It's really just to evaluate where he's at. Dr. Andrews may give us some ideas, some other things [Bagwell] could be doing to continue the process. |
It's something we wanted him to do. With rehabilitation (following his elbow surgery in August, 2004), he had thrown for about a year and a half straight. I think he's champing at the bit to go now, but I think the rest will be to his advantage. |
It's the same situation we were in last year where we were uncertain as to when we would get an answer. It puts us at somewhat of a disadvantage to build our club. |
Jason is a guy with a lot of talent, and I always believed in his talent, |
Last year obviously our pitching wasn't as strong, particularly when we came back to St. Louis, ... And so I think that certainly the tenor and the mood is very positive at this point. |