I talked to a few of them. They didn't want to get involved and try to sway my decision. What they've said is they wanted me to do what was best for me and not to worry about anything else. |
I think he's gotten better and better. I think he's aware of it. He is under a microscope at this level. He's worked at it. I hope the energy is still there ? I don't want him to lose the energy. He needs to channel it enough that the concentration stays in getting hitters out during games. |
I think once he's off the mound a few times and faces some hitters and doesn't have setbacks, we'll have a better timetable. In my mind, I figured we weren't going to start the season with him. I've thought that all winter. |
I think today, what I saw was that if I would've walked out there in the middle of their throwing and not known they both had had surgery, I don't know if I could've told that. That's a good sign. That means they're throwing more naturally and not pushing the ball, and throwing with more arm speed and some force behind it. |
I think we're going to a pretty extensive throwing program Friday and see how he reacts on Saturday, and go from there. There's a good chance he'll get on the mound Sunday, but if he feels real good, we might venture that on Friday. But we'll see. |
I think what was fast was the amount he threw off flat ground and how much better he felt. |
I thought, overall, the angle he threw with the stuff he had was better [on Thursday] than the first two times. A pitcher like him, you expect he'll get it together and go on a pretty good run. |
I took the job four years ago with winning in mind, and we haven't accomplished that. |
I went back and forth in my mind a lot, |
I'll look at scheduling him out to the second time around in the rotation and get him on his terms to set him up to open the second game [of the regular season]. |
I'll pretty much go through what the doctors say and try to get him through the first three or four times throwing and then decide where he is, how much of a setback two (missed) weeks has been as far as arm strength, stamina and things like that. Try to build him up without taxing him too much. |
I'm going to wait and see what we're dealing with first and try to figure out what we have to do and go from there. Everybody knows what he means to the team. We'll have to wait and see. |
If a guy hits it hard, he's probably going to throw the next one harder. He's a competitor. I've got to make sure he's ready to do that. |
If he pulls something, even though it's not the spot where we're concentrating on, it could set him back too far. We probably did the right thing. |
In my mind I figured we weren't going to start the season. I thought that all winter. Shoulders are a little different and you'd better be careful with it. Because setbacks can be long term and cost you long chunks of times. That's what we are trying to avoid. |