BACKING AWAY
"There’s no doubt in my mind that relocation is coming. It’s just a question
of when. I’ve always said that we need to solve the basic problems, and when
we solve the basic problems we can then turn our attention to relocation."
—Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball
"I’d have to say that given the demographics of the area, and the number of
people who want it, I would say it’s the prime candidate."
–Selig, on the possibility of Washington, D.C. getting a team
"The game should be going through the roof publicity-wise. Owners have
killed season-ticket sales for some franchises."
—Curt Schilling, Diamondbacks pitcher, on MLB’s off-season contraction
attempts
"Our view is that players aren’t luxuries. That’s a difficult issue for us
to contend with."
—Donald Fehr, head of the Players Association, on the owners’ proposed
luxury tax on payrolls
BRIEF EXCITEMENT
"We’ve been looking for a hitter of this caliber for quite some time. We’ve
been talking periodically with the Dodgers about Gary for the past year and
were delighted we were able to get it done."
—John Schuerholz, Braves general manager, on trading for outfielder
Gary Sheffield
"We didn’t get rid of Gary Sheffield. We made the trade because we felt it
made a lot of sense for us."
—Dan Evans, Dodgers general manager
"It’s like he stabbed me in the back. He said, ‘We made a trade today and we
got Sheffield.’ I was like, ‘Wow! Cool. Improve the team. That’s awesome.’
Then he said, ‘You were involved in the trade.’ And I said, ‘You gotta be
kidding me.’
—Brian Jordan, Dodgers outfielder, on hearing the news from Schuerholz
"I’m still really just shocked. There’s no loyalty in business. There’s a
way to do things, and a way not to do things. To find out like that? My
agent didn’t even know. It’s a stab in the back but another lesson to learn.
They put me on a mission."
–Jordan
"That’s one of the difficult parts of this job. When you have a deal you
think is the right deal for your club and you have to tell good people like
Brian Jordan they’re being traded, it’s difficult."
–Schuerholz
SLOW TWO WEEKS
"I told him we have 40 men on the roster, we’ve got young players and we
can’t deprive them. He understands that."
—Syd Thrift, Orioles vice president of baseball operations, on why his
team turned down outfielder Rickey Henderson
"We moved some strikeouts in the deal and added a couple of players who
don’t strike out. This gives our offense a different dimension. We’re
trading a home-run dimension in exchange for hitters who don’t strike out."
—Dean Taylor, Brewers general manager
"Obviously we’ve lost some home runs in this deal. But if you looked at this
ballclub last year, home runs were not an issue. What we lacked was speed and
contact hitters."
–Taylor
"I think I’ll be able to play at this level for a while. How many years, I
don’t know. I can’t say I’m going to drive in 140 or 150 runs every year. I
don’t think anybody in the world can say that. But I think I can maintain
this level."
—Bret Boone, Mariners infielder, after signing a three-year, $25-million
contract
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