March 28, 2011

The Week in Quotes

3/21-3/27

by Alex Carnevale

HE ALMOST OVERDOSED SUGARCOATING THE TRUTH

"I'm like, if you have to say something, be straight. He has to learn he's in the big leagues now, know what I mean? There's no kids around here anymore. The way he laid it out, I don't know what he was trying to do. He said, 'Man you've been throwing good, you can pitch, blah, blah, blah.' He said, 'What if you go to Triple-A and throw some games to continue building and continue getting better?' I told him I don't need to go there, I'm ready to go, I feel good, I'm ready to pitch."
–Former Cubs starter Carlos Silva on hearing he was not going to make the Cubs from pitching coach Mark Riggins.

"Obviously we're dealing with a man at this stage of his career who's not willing to face the facts. What he's done for the last few years in his career, except for a two-month period, is way below major-league standards. And he seems to have the continual problem blaming everybody but himself."
–Cubs general manager Jim Hendry on Silva's departure from the team.

"Don't say people are competing for a spot, because it wasn't true. They already had their rotation done."
–Silva.

"I was really disappointed when I heard. First of all, he's dead f---ing wrong, OK, about my pitching coach. And I have no f---ing time for that. Respect is a two-way street. I don't want to hear anything about respect. If you ain't giving it, you ain't getting it."
–Cubs manager Mike Quade. (Carrie Muskat, MLB.com)

IT'S A GOOD THING BUCK DIDN'T GO AFTER LARRY LUCCHINO

"I got asked that the other day and I hadn't seen it. I got it third-hand and I kind of joked about it a little bit. Then I read it and actually I was kind of aggravated a little bit. I don't think that's anybody's place. That's my boss. I was actually kind of aggravated a little bit. It's not the end of the world, but I thought he shouldn't have done it."
–Red Sox manager Terry Francona on comments Buck Showalter made to Men's Journal.

"We don't talk a whole lot about the division here. It is what is. You're not competing to be competitive. You're competing to try to win it all. It's right there in front of us. The only thing that's probably not real fair, is that we're all competing for one thing thing alike in the American League and that's the wild card. Yet we play completely different competition."
–Orioles manager Buck Showalter on his approach to the division.

"You gotta keep a grip on reality and know who you are. I chuckle when I hear a football coach say, 'We weren't ready to play this week.' Try playing over 200 games counting spring training. There are no Cinderellas in our sport. Your strengths and weaknesses will show up."
–Showalter. (WFAN.com)

THE CUTTING EDGE

"He's under the gun. He's probably pressing to make the club. He knows what the parameters are, but he made a pretty nice play to his backhand. He booted another one, but I'm not going to go out on a limb one way or another. I'm going to sit on the fence. I haven't seen enough of him to really give you an honest opinion."
–Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin on Luis Castillo.

"I knew because I saw Wilk when they cut him. And I was like, 'Well, if they cut Wilk, I've made the team, because they only cut one person.' And then, when we went to stretch, the pitching coach said he wants to talk to me. And then he told me, 'How do you feel now?' I said, 'Good.'"
–Tigers reliever Brayan Villarreal on knowing he made the team after seeing Adam Wilk get cut.

"When he got traded, I know there's more space now. That makes me feel good. I don't want him to leave, but now there's three spots."
–Yankees starter Ivan Nova on Sergio Mitre getting traded to the Brewers. (Chad Jennings, LoHud Yankees Blog)

THAT BRAD LIDGE-ESQUE MENTALITY

"Consistency. Guys are more comfortable when they're slotted into a role. It's preparation. You know when your time is coming. When you're grabbing at straws, guys are a little leery about what's going on. You like to have that back end set up."
–Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee on the team's hole at closer after an injury to Brad Lidge.

"It's important to know your role, and to have an idea when that phone rings, to know that 99 percent of the time, when that phone rings, that's going to be your name called at that time. So that is a pretty big deal. I think the coaching staff and the players are in agreement. That's why it was so important for Gardy last year to announce that [Jon] Rauch was going to break camp. It kind of gives everybody a little sense of where they're going to be."
–Twins reliever Joe Nathan on whom the Twins will use as their closer.

"Good closers have no memory. You talk about a short memory. They have no memory. What happened today is gone with a good closer. Yesterday doesn't even exist. Good closers don't remember a whole lot."
–Dubee.

"The baseball world is not separated from the real world, so feelings and stuff like that do get involved. At the same time, we're grown men and you have to put feelings aside. We're a group of 25 working collectively. We have to find a way to put emotions and feelings aside and work together in one direction. From what I've seen from winning teams, there's no selfishness. There can't be."
–Twins reliever Matt Capps. (John Shipley, Pioneer Press)

THE REST

"Even without Kendrys, our lineup is better. Hopefully, we will move forward and build on that... For our offense to improve, it has to come from guys able to play having better seasons."
–Angels manager Mike Scioscia on his team's offense going into the season. (Quinn Roberts, MLB.com)

"I've known Joe Girardi since he first put on a Yankees uniform. Was I asking him to do it for old-time sake? Yeah, maybe. But why not promote the game of baseball? Is Joe Girardi now bigger than the game? This is a disgrace that the Yankees manager who now, all of a sudden, is bigger than God, can't talk baseball with a host who has been on for 30 years—20 in New York—for five lousy minutes when the only other thing he had to do was sit around picking his nose."
–Sirius broadcaster Chris Russo, after Yankees manager Joe Girardi flaked on an interview he'd scheduled with him. (Bob Raissman, New York Daily News)

"I think everybody thought we had a term sheet, and we had an agreement in place down to a gnat's eyelash, and we didn't... Again, as I say, Adrian is pretty cut and dry and you can go through a list of 10, 20 things and he'll tell you, 'That's important, that's not, that's not, that's not, that's not, that is, that is,' and he'll take the lead from that point on."
–Adrian Gonzalez's agent, John Boggs, on negotiating a long-term contract with the Red Sox. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

"It created a situation that fans, media, other people within the organization were almost taking sides when it never should have been that way. We both want the same thing, which is for the Rangers to win. Through that process, I think Michael took a lot of shots that from our perspective weren't necessary. There were questions about him that were really a result of decisions we had made. I feel very good about decisions we made as an organization. We like the way the club sets up, but hate the way it played out, especially with some of the borderline personal shots that Michael took. I take my share of the responsibility for that."
–Rangers general manager Jon Daniels on his meeting this week with Michael Young. (Richard Durrett, ESPN.com)

"After taking a year off, he came in and gave it a good shot. We just felt in the end he wasn't going to be able to break with the 12. He certainly had an outstanding career. We felt it was a good, sound idea. I'm glad we did it."
–Hendry on the retirement of Braden Looper. (Yahoo! Sports)

"He thought the price was too low and was not happy."
–Barry Bonds' former business manager, Steve Hoskins, recalling Bonds' reaction to news that he had negotiated a price of $100 per autographed baseball in court. (Lester Munson, ESPN.com)

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Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus.