We were being turned down by backup catchers and backup infielders. |
We were born with baseball in our blood. It's more than just a sport. It's a passion. It's an opera. It's just a way of being. It's almost like breathing. |
We'll let his performance dictate all that. I think we'll probably have to pull him back a little bit at first. A lot of young guys want to get right after it ... We're not in the business of rushing young pitchers. |
We'll see what kind of shape he's in. There is no specific number of days. |
We're excited about the players we're going to have down there. It should be exciting. It's definitely a younger team than we had last year. At the same time, you never know what to expect from young players. |
We're going to give him an opportunity. But like anything else, there comes a time when he has to perform. |
We're happy with some of the work we've done. There's still a lot of work to be done. I think we're a better team today than we were at the end of the year with Billy, Delgado, Paul and our bench. |
We're hoping a change of scenery can help. It could give him a fresh start. |
We're leaving it to the player. He wants to make sure he's 100 percent before he's ready to go. |
We're still in February. We still have so much time to go. If we were to be in a stage like this at the middle of March, it would be a different story. I'm not concerned. He can pitch with this. He pitched with it last year and went through some pain. What we want to do is be able to correct it. |
We're trying different things. It's not going to be just one shoe, there's going to be different shoes coming in. It's in the experimental stage now. |
When all is said and done with Beltran, we're being conservative. It's April. We want to have him for four or five months. Fortunately, we're off to a good start, so that allows us to be conservative. |
When it's all said and done, I thought they were all pretty close. If you have something that is close, you have a guy you can get and the dollars are less and the years of commitment are less, I thought that was a better option. |
When the B.J. Ryan thing came down and the fifth year was given, I knew that the teams that lost on B.J. were going to be in on Wagner, and that was exactly what happened. I felt that, look, let's try to get this done sooner rather than later. |
Willie, ... you told me to take care of you. So I'm taking care of you. Don't forget that. |