February 11, 2008

The Week in Quotes

February 11-17

by Alex Carnevale

WE CAN ONLY HOPE HE SENDS CHRIS TILLMAN A VALENTINE

"We had to do some hard thinking before we made this trade. My background is in player development. I fall in love with these guys. In this trade, I wanted to make this a one-team market. I wanted it so that Baltimore either kept him or moved him to us."
--Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi

"The Orioles are going to get a good return on their investment. But we won 88 games last year. If you win 88 games without making a bold move, there's a real good chance you're going to go backward."
--Bavasi

"No, I don't care whether it's No. 1, No. 2, or No. 5, as long as I don't get skipped."
--new Mariners lefty Erik Bedard, on his place in the M's rotation.

"Felix is the No. 1 starter here. I just want to come here and pitch and win. The group of starters we've got here is really something. It's a good group."
--Bedard

"If they offer, I'll be glad to listen," he said. "I know they don't have to do anything yet. Is it important? Yes and no. They don't have to, but if they would, that would be great."
--Bedard, on the possibility of a long-term contract offer from Seattle

"The devil is always in the details."
--Bavasi (John Hickey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

DON'T GO CHASING WATERFALLS, PLEASE STICK TO THE RIVERS AND THE LAKES THAT YOU'RE USED TO

"We agreed to three names fairly quickly. But getting the fourth and fifth out of him was like getting water out of a stone."
--Orioles president Andy MacPhail

"I know it seems like a long time coming, but these are high-stakes deals. And we are getting one hell of a player."
--Bavasi

"We traded one of the game's best young left-handed pitchers, but in exchange we think we improved the long-term outlook for the Baltimore Orioles. There aren't too many five-for-one trades anymore. We are delighted to have all five in the system."
--MacPhail

"When I first got there it was fun, because we were signing a lot of guys and were looking forward to competing with Boston and New York. It all went downhill from there."
--Bedard

"I made an inquiry early with Erik's representatives. They were polite, but I certainly got the sense that their preference at the current time was to take it on a short-term basis."
--MacPhail (FoxSports)

ANATOMY OF A STEAL

"He told me that Jose Reyes would have gotten this deal done right away."
--Mets general manager Omar Minaya, on his talks with Twins general manager Bill Smith.

"I don't know what transpired between Bill Smith and the Yankees…I felt all along if we were around this deal, we had a chance to get him."
--Minaya

"There was a point in time in which I thought he would not be traded until July 31^st."
--Minaya

"Once we decided to trade for him…Omar set it up very well, be patient, this will get back to us…once we pulled the trigger to give up that last kid, Guerra, we knew that we had to get him signed."
--Jeff Wilpon (Mike and the Mad Dog, WFAN.com)

MUST BE THE VITAMIN WATER

"It was like right away. I'm barely on the team and he's already reaching out. Shows what kind of guy he is."
--new Mets catcher Brian Schneider, on David Wright.

"Am I a salty veteran? Absolutely not."
--Wright, on being friendly.

"The biggest common denominator among guys who I've played with who I respect is that they do everything correctly. It takes a little something special, and not everyone can handle that role. David goes about his business and doesn't let things go astray. That's the biggest part about being a team leader."
--Schneider

"That rubbed off. I've tried to emulate Glavine's professionalism and the way he carries himself. John Franco's leadership, the way he could get everyone on the same page. The one thing that all these guys had in common was that they had the ability to bring together people from different backgrounds and languages."
--Wright (Ben Shpigel, New York Times)

GOOD NEWS FOR CLAY BUCHHOLZ FANTASY OWNERS, BAD NEWS FOR THE RED SOX

"If [the Sox' plan] was successful, I think it would be the greatest thing known to man. But, unfortunately, that's not the case. That's like wishing for the best-case scenario. Wishing isn't going to make it happen."
--Curt Schilling's doctor, Delaware physician Craig Morgan, on the Red Sox's plan of rest and rehabilitation, rather than surgery, for Schilling's injured right shoulder.

"Within a week or two of the cortisone shot, [if] he's unable to exercise due to pain, then it's over."
--Morgan

"This is not just soreness, but big-time pain. It's very painful, and it's irreversible. There's a fragmenting and tearing of the tendon in three stages."
--Morgan

"Given the urgency with which they talked about the cortisone shot Wednesday night, that struck me as odd."
--Morgan, on the team's anti-surgery stance on the injury.

"The diagnosis is not the issue. The disagreement is in the course of treatment."
--Morgan

"The crux of the matter is that the Red Sox feel strongly that [with] surgery of any kind, Curt will miss the whole year to recover. I disagree. We are diametrically opposed."
--Morgan (Gordon Edes, Boston Globe)

READ THE TEA LEAVES: BONDS IS THE ROYALS' NEW DH

"That allows some time for people to talk behind my back ... I like to have people talk behind my back, because it happens anyhow."
--new Royals manager Trey Hillman, on taking some brief time away from Royals camp before players have to report.

"He's full of energy, full of excitement. He's good, it sounds like he's going to be very intense, but very productive, and I definitely believe we've got the right man."
--catcher John Buck, on Hillman

"We have to pay attention to all the details, and even though it's an invite-only and it's early, it needs to be a detailed camp and we need to emphasize that word to the players. I emphasized fun. I want to hear laughter, but I want it to be laughter in between concentration on work. I want us to enjoy our time at the field but I want us to enjoy it because we're doing it the right way."
--Hillman, on having the grounds crew mop up the dew on players' uniforms.

"He's not going to do stupid stuff. He's not going to try to make guys do stuff that they're not strong in doing."
--Dave Owen, Hillman's bench coach

"The style I want is to be exciting. I don't want it to be predictable. I told Barney [hitting coach Mike Barnett] that I hoped people would say after playing us a couple of times: 'We don't know what the heck they're going to do.'"
--Hillman

"I am totally accountable for massaging the atmosphere. It's a long season, but it's a lot shorter if you're winning, it's a lot shorter if there's joy, it's a lot shorter if guys really want to be there and really want to play for their teammates and for the fan base."
--Hillman (Dick Kaegel, MLB.com)

HOLD ONTO YOUR PECOTA PROJECTIONS, MANNY'S A MONSTER

"Manny being Manny--I know what that means now. He's an intense workout partner. I think people perceive him the wrong way sometimes, because this guy really loves the game. He loves everything that goes along with it. He's working out hard and he's going to be ready to play this season, for sure."
--Twins infielder Nick Punto, on working out with Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez this offseason.

"I was pleasantly surprised how good of an athlete he is. I've talked to other coaches that have worked with him in the past, and they've all said he's a great guy, he works really hard, and he's a great athlete, but until you've seen it, you always reserve judgment. He has been nothing but great to work with, phenomenal to work with."
-Darryl Eto, Ramirez's trainer.

"He wears the baggy uniform all the time and it doesn't appear that he looks like he's in very good shape, but he is in fact very muscular, very powerful, and actually very fast."
--Eto (Stan Grossfeld, Boston Globe)

THE REST

"I wouldn't say that I'm a drill sergeant. I would say, though, that there's an expectation to do the right things the right way. And I think that should be a characteristic of every human."
--Yankees manager Joe Girardi (Jack Curry, New York Times)

"It's not conditioning. It's just a pattern of bad luck for him. Hopefully, that will change and he can go the full year healthy and be dominant like everybody knows he can be. Talk to anybody in the National League, and they don't like facing Ben Sheets."
--Ned Yost, Brewers manager, on Ben Sheets (Tom Haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

"Now I don't have to worry if something happens, if I get hurt. I have security. I'll be honest with you, I know this hasn't happened before, and I'm really happy they made me the first one."
--Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, on a long-term deal to avoid arbitration that he reached with the team this week. (Don Amore, Hartford Courant)

"Perjury is perjury. You get a couple counts of perjury and knock it down, OK. What is [McNamee] facing? It's distribution, possession, lying to the government. Brian is looking at a lot more time than anyone else. Weigh what he is looking at and what Clemens is. That is the way I look at it."
--former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski (Mike Fish, ESPN.com)

"In April, when everybody was crushing me, there were people who still believed in me, and that's what made it special. He just said he loved the way I played, the way I take everything personal. He said he wasn't the most talented guy when he played--I got the whole high school story--but he said he really appreciates the way I play."
--Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, on a fan who supported him through the tough times. (Gordon Edes, Boston Globe)

"God, can you please heal my daddy's head?"
--Bradley Koskie, seven years old, on his father Corey Koskie's problems with concussions. (Jerry Crasnick, ESPN.com)

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Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus.