July 31, 2006

The Week in Quotes

July 24-31

by Alex Carnevale

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"There was a willingness to absorb the contract if the right players were involved."
--Yankees GM Brian Cashman on acquiring Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle from the Phillies for prospects (Baseball Tonight).

"I talked to the Boss so many times and I kept him abreast of every discussion we had all summer. This wasn't a one-time conversation."
--Cashman

"He responded, and gave his blessing."
--Cashman

"It's the Boss's willingness to allow this to happen and let us stay all the way to the end, to fight for it."
--Cashman

FIVE MORE WINS

"Realistically, it'll be a stretch to think we'll be there in '07."
--Phillies GM Pat Gillick (Philadelphia Inquirer)

"I've been through two organizations that rebuilt, and I always think that I am ideal for that."
--Phillies manager Charlie Manuel

"Charlie is under contract for '07, and at this point I see him fulfilling that."
--Gillick

"Free agency, amateur draft, international signings. Whatever we think is right."
--Gillick, on where he'll spend the money he saved on the Abreu deal.

"We wanted to get more financial flexibility, and now we have it."
--Gillick

"I think probably right now it's going to take longer than that. Realistically, I think it's going to take a little longer than that. We've got some younger people, specifically on the pitching staff, and with young people you have inconsistency. They need time to get their feet on the ground."
--Gillick, on whether the Phillies will contend next year.

"I think it's probably going to be a little slower. I don't want to mislead anyone. I think it's probably going to be a little slower."
--Gillick

"It used to be long-term. But I don't think, with free agency, that anything is what you would classify 'long-term.' I would say it's going to take another year, at least."
--Gillick, on his timetable for contending.

HE ALSO CALLED HIS MOM

"Do you think Scott Hatteberg is a good player?"
--Reds OF Adam Dunn, calling into Reds broadcaster Marty Brenneman's radio show during a rain delay in Milwaukee (Redleg Nation)

"I think he's overrated."
--Dunn

"Do you have your shirt on?"
--Dunn

YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION

"I can't believe I'm still here."
--Rays 3B B.J. Upton (USA Today).

"In the big leagues, you throw your uniform on the ground, and it's washed and hung up nicely in your locker. Here you do that, you come back the next day and find it still on the floor."
--Rays OF Elijah Dukes

"Those guys up there shower in Evian. Here, we use sewer water."
--Dukes

"I don't know what they're waiting for. They're what, 30 games out of first place? They think we're going to mess up their clubhouse chemistry. B.J. should be up there. What are they waiting for? They always have excuses."
--OF Delmon Young

"We've been in enough trouble as it is."
--Young, backing off his statements.

"It's pretty clear how they feel. I think it shows a lot of disrespect toward the game and the achievement of becoming a major-league player. The whole article is something we take great exception to."
--Devil Rays GM Andrew Friedman (Tampa Tribune)

"I don't know what qualifies people, at any age, to disrespect anybody in the manner that that article indicated to me. It speaks to disrespect, and it speaks to the sense of entitlement that the athletes seem to have today, and I totally disagree with."
--Rays manager Joe Maddon

"People that want to play here now or in the future, have to understand that."
--Maddon

"The development on that [character] end is equally important as the physical side. It's incumbent upon us to nurture that process. We bear some responsibility here, but at the same time, I think the subjects in the article do as well."
--Friedman

"Maybe that's how they think they're supposed to act. I don't know why, because I didn't set that kind of example, and other players around here haven't set that kind of example, so I don't know why they're acting like that."
--Rays left fielder Carl Crawford

"Actually, we get individual scrubs from the trainers. I go back there and I sit in a big Jacuzzi and [trainers Paul] Harker and Ronnie Porterfield give me a sponge bath."
--Rays IF Ty Wigginton

THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE IN TOUCH

"Many times I cried myself to sleep, because I was looking for a brother on the team, a mentor who could help me out, coming from another country, a different culture and all that. I didn't get that, because the clubhouse was very divided at the time, and I was in the middle of it."
--Salomon Torres, Pirates reliever, on his experience playing for the San Francisco Giants (San Francisco Chronicle).

"By far, that's the worst time I had in my career. It prompted my retirement. [Felipe Alou] didn't treat me the way I felt he should have been treating me. ... He never went straight to me and told me what was going on, and I resent him for that."
--Torres

"I don't want to relive what I went through, especially in '97 with the Expos with Felipe. I have the utmost respect for him, but if I stay away from him, it's better. I'm just looking for my future sanity."
--Torres

"I know he came over one day and told me he was going to retire so he could be more active in his religion. But if the only reason he doesn't like me is because I didn't handle him well, that's all right with me. He's not the only guy."
--Felipe Alou

HE'LL BE COUNTING ON THAT DEGREE REAL SOON

"Sometimes the coaches call me 'Harvard.' Or if they see me reading a book they'll say 'Quit studying and start hitting.'"
--Lance Salsgiver, outfielder for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, on his economics degree from Harvard (Salem Statesman-Journal)

"I'm hoping not to have to use that degree for a while. But it's definitely an ace in the back of my pocket. But at the same time, I want to work has hard as I can and take this is as far as I can."
--Salsgiver, who is hitting .094 in 16 games.

"I could be wearing a suit in some office right now."
--Salsgiver

"He doesn't have to worry about what he falls back on. For a lot of these guys, baseball is all they have."
--Salem-Keizer Volcanoes manager Steve Decker

"There are smarts and then there are baseball smarts. One doesn't have anything to do with the other. Dusty Baker once told me that the best hitters he's coached have either been really dumb or really smart."
--Decker

"He's a real good guy. He's just like everybody else on the team. You would never guess he went to Harvard. He's a good guy all around."
--Salem-Keizer OF Matt Weston

GREAT MOMENTS IN PLAY-BY-PLAY

"You can imagine how he feels, taking a header on the mound."
--Vin Scully, solo man for Fox Sports, on Mark Hendrickson's terrible fall after catching his cleat on the mound.

"And, by the way, this is the Triple Play Inning sponsored by Delta. If the Yankees turn a triple play in this inning, which is now impossible, Ida will win a TV…"
--John Sterling, the radio voice of the New York Yankees, during Wednesday's radio broadcast, after the Rangers made the first out of the inning.

"You cannot predict this game. It's impossible."
--Sterling, about 8,000 times, as concerned Tomas Perez's five-hit game against Randy Johnson on Saturday.

THE REST

"A symbol of all their wasted opportunity and flushed dreams, this next porcelain piece was installed prior to the '86 season, which will forever be synonymous with the name Buckner, and removed shortly before the Sox won the Title in 2004. Times weren't all bad though, this toilet did have the chance to catch for Roger Clemens, and was up close and very personal with the likes of Boggs, Ramirez, Damon, Dawson, and Pedro. Inside can be found a date of "1986", and the fixture measures 20"H x 26"L., overall EX+-EX-MT. Comes directly from the ballpark."
--Leland's entry for a Fenway Park toilet. Leland's is a sports memorabilia auction house.

"This is Alex's home. He's not going anywhere. It's just a created topic. That's all it is. It's not something being considered internally here. We are not moving him."
--Yankees GM Brian Cashman, on A-Rod trade rumors (The New York Times).

"They did already. What are they going to do, put me in a freezer? Pretty soon, they're going to have to clone me."
--Pedro Martinez, reacting to Steve Phillips saying that the Mets need to "protect" Pedro on Baseball Tonight (Star-Ledger).

"I have no clue as to why he was not elected. They are hoping in time there might be some reconsideration. I just hope he'll live long enough."
--former Negro Leagues star and Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, on why Buck O'Neil, who spoke at Cooperstown this weekend, is not in the Hall of Fame (USA Today).

"I'm not trying to leave from here. They're trying to make me leave. It's the team, not me. I don't have control of that. The manager and I don't know who, they want to take me out of here. But I don't want to push to get out of here because that's not what I'm thinking."
--Miguel Tejada, Orioles SS, on hearing trade rumors (Baltimore Sun).

"We'll see if I'm going to get an apartment or not. I'm just employee No. 26 right now."
--Dodgers C Toby Hall. Hall has been living in the Ritz-Carlton under the presumption that he would be traded before today's deadline (The Press-Enterprise).

Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus. He can be reached here.