Since he is not a pitcher and he's a shortstop, it was worth at least trying to rehabilitate the shoulder. If he doesn't get any better in the next couple of weeks, we will go ahead and operate. |
The difference between the general manager and the coaching staff is they don't go to work 'til February, ... The general manager has to go to work right now. We'd like to let the new owner make as many of those major decisions as possible. |
The doctors gave us the go-ahead to sign the player. They understood that it was a four-year deal with significant money. We wanted clearance and to make sure there wasn't a health risk. I would not have done the deal if the doctors didn't clear it. |
The exhibition games with the Orioles, there will obviously be some guys we want to get out of the games early. So we'll definitely bring four to six [extra] players. |
The first thing I did when I came in last November was study all of the reports from all of our scouts, ... Dana, by far, stood out among everyone as a premier evaluator. He has a tremendous ability to evaluate amateurs, and a tremendous ability to evaluate pitchers in general. |
The player refused to take the field, which we believe is a violation of his contract. |
There has not been an agreement about if it will be a Major or Minor League deal, but both sides are working hard at trying to get an agreement that works for both parties. |
There is no truth that we are in trade discussions with Boston concerning Alfonso Soriano, Nick Johnson or Ryan Church. |
There was no incident at all. Zero, zero, zero, zero. |
There was no incident at all. Zero, zero, zero, zero. The attorney spoke on our behalf. We've denied the allegations. Never happened. Zero, zero. Where that comes from, I can't answer that. |
There's a risk when you make deals. When I made the Ken Griffey Jr. trade in Cincinnati everybody said, 'This is one of the best trades in baseball. Congratulations.' Then he was hurt for four years and it was a horrible trade. That's part of the game. Obviously, if we knew this trade was going to play out this way, we wouldn't have done it. |
There's just a difference of opinion. There's kind of an agreement to disagree on where he falls. |
This doesn't change our plans, not at all, ... You never get enough pitching. The only thing it changes is that now we know we have a fourth or fifth starter. |
This is a devastating blow to the team. Good teams overcome adversity. Players in the organization will get the first opportunity to replace him, although we will look outside [the organization]. |
This is not something I want dragging on once our pitchers and catchers report [one week from today]. I don't want any distractions. We're either going to be able to sign him before then, or we won't and we'll go forward. We're hoping Sammy considers signing with us. If he doesn't, then we'll turn the page and go forward. |