Ankles and hamstrings, for me, are very tough to gauge. I think he's a day-to-day thing. As he can tolerate more stuff, the stronger his ankle will get and the quicker he'll be back. |
Every time that I stretched him out a little further than his comfort zone you could see a little more of a limp. He's a little tentative right now, but so far so good. |
His overall game has jumped to another level. He will probably factor into the big-league level at some point this year. |
I don't know how often it happens. But I hate to see, at any time during the season, where we give away an out or fail to make a play that we assumed everybody knew what they were doing. |
I think he impacts games defensively, for us, more than any other player in baseball affects the game at their respective position. |
I think our turf takes some adjusting just because sometimes the ball will hit and it'll go East or West. Sometimes it'll hit and stick and sometimes it'll hit and accelerate on the next hop. It's very unpredictable. I think we play on one of the more difficult surfaces in the American League. |
I thought that we played, after the first couple nights, I thought that we made great plays up the middle -- great plays. We've played consistently and they were aware of everything that was going on. |
I've spoken to Shea a few times this winter. His attitude is tremendously upbeat. He has spent a lot of time talking about the things we need to do as a team to get better. The things that he can do to help not only (John Gibbons), but me as an infield instructor with the young guys. Every conversation that we've had, I've hung up the phone and gone, 'All right, Shea is one-year comfortable in the organization. Now he's ready to take more of a controlled leadership.' He's not worried about being relegated to a secondary role. He's excited about what he can do to make us better. |
It ain't even close, and if he doesn't, it goes to show you that other people around the league haven't had enough opportunities to see us play. I think he impacts games defensively for us more than any other player in baseball affects the game at their respective positions. |
It's completely different [than shortstop]. Your back is to the runner, and the footwork is almost the exact opposite. |
It's going to take a lot of repetition, to the point where he is confident and he has had enough of that repetition that he can [play second base] in his sleep. By the time we break camp, he will have had enough, and he'll be sick and tired of me. |
It's the best staff I've been around. Sometimes the X's and O's are overrated, but the people -- that's what counts. We have top-quality people in that coaching room, and it all starts with the manager. I think every one of the coaches wants to go right through a wall for him. He treats you fairly, he treats you great, and it rubs off on all the other coaches that are here. |
Just a great response. [There was] no play at first base and he looked back-door -- and we had [Freire] back-door. Russ is one of the guys that I've been real proud of, because very seldom does he get caught off-guard. He's able to think a play ahead and then another play ahead. |
One of the things that we're hoping for is that they have some success out of the chute. Whenever a young player has some success in a certain phase of the game it kind of becomes contagious. Then they play with a little more confidence. |
That was a tremendous play. Troy has been solid at third base. |