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August 5, 2013 The Week in QuotesJuly 29-August 4SEVERAL TEAMS STAND PAT AS QUIET TRADE DEADLINE PASSES “There were some general managers that thought they could remind us that we'd lost 20 years in a row. That we might have overlooked that. 'You might really want to rethink how much you want to spend on a certain player, certain bats.' There were some comments made about how important it was for us to do something properly because of the position we're in.” “It was a very shallow market to begin with, not only the offensive market but the pitching market was arguably one of the shallowest I've seen in 20 years in the game.” “No question, we forced the issue. I made offers that made me incredibly uncomfortable. But I did so with the idea of wanting to help this club. I was willing to do something stupid -- but not insane.” “I think you look at it from the vein that you're going to gamble. And point being, we had a safety net. The safety net is the existing players that are out there. That's why you don't have to be insane.” “There was not a lot out there that appealed to us. You saw the offensive players that were moved ... I don't know if there was one. That's indicative of the market and the general landscape of the game. We explored some deals and exchanged some names. It wasn't for a lack of interest or a lack of effort. It was more of a lack of supply and depth. We went into it open to upgrading the club, and we're maintaining that. We'll still look to upgrade in August.” “We're painfully right in the middle. We're happy with our core group of players, excited about some of the things we've seen on the mound and knowing that we're healthy as a group of position players, we're happy. And some of the younger guys are settling in. When you look at all that, we're certainly not in a position to sell. At the same point, we can't legitimately say right now we're a probable playoff team. That's the next level for us to get to. Being in a situation where you're mortgaging your future to potentially get into the playoffs is not the most prudent course of action.” “I think in different times — two, three, maybe even four years ago — that’s a different situation because you’re trying to build an organization. I think we have built a pretty good organization; I think we have a really good, young big-league club right now. You see that right in front of your eyes. I think (trading a veteran) would have been devastating to some of the guys in this clubhouse. I think it would have been the wrong message to send. And so, you just stay the course and watch this club play for the next couple of months.” “We've made it clear over the last couple of years that how we perform in the second half was important to us as an organization. So players contributing to that performance in the second half had a certain value to us, both short-term this season and getting into longer-term. And if the market didn't reflect that value to us, we wouldn't make a deal. I think based on the fact that we did not make a trade, suffice it to say that the market didn't reflect that value.” “From our standpoint, we weren't prepared to make a move just to make a move. Nor were we prepared to make a move that would have perhaps significant short-term impact on the Major League team, and possibly only modest impact on the organization long-term.” “I don't see it as a missed opportunity. How many actual trades were made [so far] for people to really improve their club? It is difficult to make a trade. Teams covet, very, very strongly, their players, particularly their young players because they know how volatile the free agent market is; they know how expensive it can be. And so we're one of those clubs. I didn't feel like it was the right time to move any of those players because we need to keep them for Philadelphia at some point.” “We can add to them. We need their production. It's the reason why they are big-salaried players. We need their production. When they are paid big money, you'd like them to produce. Whether they can do that at the same level as we anticipated, that remains to be seen.” ONE WALK-OFF SNOWBALLS INTO ANOTHER FOR RANGERS “For us right now, it's awesome. We needed that type of win. Hopefully this carries over and we start building a little snowball and turn it into something big.” “The biggest moment I’ve had in my whole career. Last night, I had a dream like that, and it came true tonight. Because of the game that happened with Soto, I dreamed about it.” “When we’re at our best, this is what you get. Not three walk-off home runs, but different people getting it done. That’s what we need in our lineup – different people getting it done.” “These kinds of wins give you energy. If these can’t give you a boost, what will? To come out and do it three nights in a row, especially after a tough series in Cleveland and just a bad start to the second half, hopefully gives us that energy and everything that we need to move forward.” “It kind of [stinks] for the other team because they don't want to get tied in the ninth against us right now. That's a good sign.” “I was so positive today that we were going to win the game, but it's so frustrating how things are going lately. Everything is going wrong. Not just me, everybody. I don't know, man. This is the most frustrating moment in my career. I've never gone through this, I don't know what to do, and I'm just going to keep fighting. I won't give up.” PEAVY, IGLESIAS FIT INTO NEW CLUBHOUSES “There will be nobody in Boston media-wise, fan-wise, any guys I play with who expect any more out of me than I expect out of myself. That's just a product of how I was raised, and I expect a lot out of myself in life period. I'm excited there's a lot of expectations around the Boston Red Sox, and I hope to be a contributing factor and I expect that.” “For him to be so humble in his approach, not saying, ‘Hey, this is how we do things here.’ Him saying, ‘Hey, what do you need to win tonight? What do you need me to do?’ I think that epitomizes the attitude that the rest of the guys have in that clubhouse and what makes this group special.” “It’s a breath of fresh air. It’s raw competitive spirit and it’s new to us. Guys take note of it and they appreciate just his 100 percent competitive spirit.” “You can see that he's a grinder. He's going to fight those at-bats. Those at-bats are precious for him. He gave Boston good at-bats all the time against us. That's one thing I was impressed about him. He fought tooth and nail up there when he was at the plate.” “A different style of player. I’ll have to adjust to his style of play a little bit. I’m really looking forward to watching this kid play … Today was one of the first days when I did feel pretty old.”
THE REST “That was the best feeling of my life. I was just trying to put the ball in play. Hitting in front of [Mike] Trout is the best spot in the world to hit. I knew I was going to get some pitches to hit, especially early, and got one up and just swung.” “He's always had great stuff, but in the past you would get one or two pitches to hit and you would capitalize. He doesn't walk guys like he used to and his stuff is as good, if not the best, in the game.” “Try to ambush him early [in the count], but that's dangerous, because if you don't get on base, his pitch count is down, and he goes deep into the game. That's why I like [the Mets'] Matt Harvey, a power pitcher that throws strikes and can pitch deep in a game. For me, that's a true ace, who gives the bullpen a day off.” “That we didn’t trade for anybody and that we still don’t know what is going to happen with Nelson [Cruz], I feel like if I push myself and endure a little discomfort, I can get out there and try to do something to help this team win. I’ve made up my mind to try and play. This team needs a bat and I’m gonna do my dangdest to make that happen.” “If I had to draw an analogy, he reminds me a little bit of a left-handed Brad Ziegler. Somebody that will take the ball each and every night, tough angle, as is Ziegler with the right-handers. Resilient, bounces back, you can probably pitch him in back-to-back-to-back nights, good breaking ball, good fastball. I think somebody that [manager Kirk Gibson] will have a lot of confidence in to get big outs late in the game.” —Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers on reliever Joe Thatcher, who the club acquired from the Padres along with a minor league pitcher and Comp B pick in the 2014 draft for Ian Kennedy at the trade deadline. (Steve Gilbert, MLB.com) “These rib cage [injuries], they're something new in the game over the last five, 10 years [and] they seem to pop up three or four or five times a year on teams. Obviously the one thing that's changed since I started playing is the weights and the muscles and all that, and the thing that people are starting to talk about now is maybe the guys swing too much. Because ... everybody's taking so many swings in the course of the day that the body doesn't recover. But I mean, these are all theories.” “They told me that they didn’t want to sign guys to long-term deals, and then they gave [Shane] Victorino a three-year deal, and then [Mike] Napoli a three-year deal or four-year deal, whatever it was [later shortened to a one-year deal after health issues popped up]. So, basically they lied to my face. At that point, I kind of got a bad taste in my mouth and wanted to move on, and that was it.” “I always look at the record, of course. But I think we look at where we're headed and the improvement. Are guys getting better and are guys gaining experience? Are they learning? When we watch these guys, what's the vision for the future with these guys? And I think we all realize that it's going to be fun and it's going to be bright.” “I don't suspect it'll be awkward. Most of the guys know him as a teammate and have laughed a lot with Alex and been around Alex a lot. I think it'll be business as usual. I'm sure there will be more media there obviously tomorrow, but I think that's more for Alex to deal with than the rest of the guys. I don't think it'll be a big deal.” “You give something to get something. I'm sure there have been balls hit that would have been outs that have gone to where we would have been at [if we hadn't adjusted]. We just try to do, with all our advance information, we try to get to where we think they're most likely to hit their grounders.”
Andrew Koo is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @akoo
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