The Week in Quotes: June 26-July 2

MR. BOWDEN STAYS IN WASHINGTON

“Jim is very smart. By smart, I mean analytical. I love that. I also think he’s very resourceful… And right now, as we’re building this–needing to speed the process up as quickly as we can, needing to shave any unnecessary steps–I need someone resourceful. I think Jim is really good at that.”
–Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten, upon retaining GM Jim Bowden’s services in a reported multi-year deal (The Washington Post).

“It’s a great opportunity. I think every GM dreams about being a GM of a big-market club, being able to work for first-class ownership and being able to work for a president that knows how to win.”
— Jim Bowden, of the job he already had.

“We’ll make decisions that are in the best interest, long-range, for this franchise.”
–Bowden, on Frank Robinson’s future with the team.

“Yeah, I’d have retired. Don’t give me any ideas.”
–Manager Frank Robinson, after being asked if he would have done anything differently this season.

CLUTCH AND CLUTCHER

“If the game is 9-2, he might make it 9-4. If the game is 7-1, he might make it 9-1. But when it is 2-2 late in the ballgame and I need a base hit to score a run, the numbers show he has not been getting it done.”
–former OF and YES analyst David Justice about Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez, on the Yankees postgame show. Rodriguez hit a walk-off against the Braves in the 12th inning on Wednesday.

“The one guy you need more than any of them, just because of his sheer talent and ability to carry a ballclub on his back, is not answering the bell and that is what is so frustrating to the fans. And I’m sure it is frustrating to him.”
–Justice

“Everyone says he is going to come around, but if he comes around in two weeks, where will the Yankees be between now and two weeks?”
–Justice

“It was verbatim what they wanted him to say.”
— a source inside the YES Network (New York Daily News)

“They [Michael Kay, Jim Kaat, Al Leiter] could not believe this. They were all still steamed when they came back to the Stadium Wednesday morning.”
–presumably the same source

“This is the same thing George used to do, but simply done differently. Any number of people could have been involved in this, but everyone seems to agree David Justice didn’t do this on his own.”
–Deep Source. A-Rod hit .213/.346/.348 in the month of June.

RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL RIGHTHANDER

“I wish [Red Sox owner John Henry] was here right now, so I could look at him and say that I got the four years.”

—Pedro Martinez, in his first return to Fenway Park since signing with the New York Mets last off-season.

“I wish [Larry Lucchino] was right here. I could tell him again, like I did then when I tilted my glasses down, and tell him that I got four years and he goes, ‘No, bullshit,’ I told him I got four years, after that they were leaving for the Winter Meetings, so now you know how much time they had to work it out. I remember John Henry saying, ‘I don’t care how many years you got. Just get it done.’ Those were his exact words.”
–Martinez

“I didn’t feel like I was one of those players that needs to be begging for one year to play somewhere. That’s exactly what I told them and it was true. I told them that somebody would believe I had three more years under my belt…Too bad it wasn’t the Red Sox, until the last month. Then I had the three years.”
–Martinez

“The Red Sox would have negotiated with me in a different way if they didn’t know I was so passionate about staying here. I should have said, ‘If you guys don’t treat me well, I’m going to leave.’ They probably would’ve made the right move and we would have worked it out, but I was too open in saying, ‘I want to stay in Boston,’ and that didn’t work.”
–Martinez

WHEN MARIANO MET OZZIE

“Think before you talk, or you can really hurt yourself and hurt a lot of other people…He’s opened so many doors to Latino coaches. Now he’s in a position where people are listening to him. But he’s throwing everything away by the way he’s behaving.”

—Mariano Duncan, Los Angeles Dodgers first base coach, on Ozzie Guillen (Los Angeles Times).

“He embarrassed every Latino player, coach and front-office person. Ozzie is a hero in his country and a hero in my country. We are here in America, where you can speak freely. But you don’t say everything that comes to your mind. He has to learn to slow down a little bit. You have to learn how to close your mouth.”
–Duncan. Duncan is from the San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

“Mariano Duncan never will be a big-league manager and not because I ruined it for him, because if Mariano Duncan thinks being a manager is making out the lineup and changing pitchers, he is real wrong.”
—Ozzie Guillen

HE ALSO DOES BAR MITZVAHS

“Jose Canseco will have a dual role with the Surf Dawgs as he will become an every day Designated Hitter for the team, and will showcase his knuckleball as a member of the team’s pitching staff.”
— official press release of the Golden Baseball League.

“I’m excited to have Jose on the team, for both his playing abilities and for his veteran leadership. We can use his offensive power to get us into the playoffs to defend our title, and I’m very interested in seeing him pitch to see if he can help us there as well.”
–San Diego Surf Dawgs Manager Terry Kennedy, on Canseco’s tangible intangibles.

“Hello, Jose Canseco. I have lost my cell phone. If you can, please leave a number when you call. Thank you.”
–currently the voicemail message on Jose Canseco‘s cell phone.

IS ALL THE EGG OFF MY FACE YET?

“First, while I dispute that the facts are as alleged, I recognize that my behavior was inappropriate and for that I apologize. Second, I recognize that the incident created an embarrassing situation for many people, including my wife and family, my teammates, the Phillies organization, and fans, and I am very sorry for that.”
–Phillies starter Brett Myers, in a statement released to the media announcing an indefinite leave of absence from his team.

“The decision to allow Brett to pitch was wrong. And the reason I believe it was wrong was that an unintended message was sent that we are somehow indifferent to the matter of spousal abuse.
—David Montgomery, president of the Philadelphia Phillies (Philadelphia Daily News)

“The mistake we made was dwelling on the incident instead of the message sent by letting Brett start… It created in the minds of others that there was a condoning of what took place.”
–Montgomery

“Generally, were there mistakes made? Any time you have an issue like this in which a decision has to be made as quickly as this one, and with as many parties as were involved–the agent, the lawyer, court system, the Phillies, Brett, Kim–with that many parties involved in a decision of this magnitude… were mistakes made in that entire group? In my opinion, yes.”
—Scott Palmer, Phillies’ public-affairs “specialist,” spreading the blame out as evenly as possible (Philadelphia Inquirer)

“If we knew as much at the beginning, we certainly would have recommended he not pitch. Once we understood the magnitude, we did everything we could to address the matter and help Brett put his life back in order.”
–Palmer

“We were forced to make a very serious decision in a limited amount of time without as many facts that came out 48 hours later. We had to take into account a number of things, including Brett’s wishes.”
–Palmer

THE REST

“We are all Met fans right now.”
—Joe Torre, on the Mets-Red Sox series that took place at Fenway Park this week (New York Post)

“You don’t ever want to get released or designated. But who knows? Maybe this will be the best thing for me. Maybe I was the reason why we were losing games. I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out here in the next couple of days. Hopefully, somebody else will want me, I’ll get picked up by someone else and go try it somewhere else.

–Pirates reliever Ryan Vogelsong on being DFAed (MLB.com)

“It is a little humbling knowing a couple of years ago you were pitching in front of 50,000 people and now you’re taking your kids to Sun Splash.”

—Mike Trombley, who pitched from 1992 to 2002, mostly for the Minnesota Twins (The News-Press)

“What Joe Mauer’s doing is sick. He’s 23 years old. What’s he going to do when he gets man muscles?”
— Torii Hunter. After 71 games, his girly-man teammate was hitting .392/.458/.537. (Deadspin.com)

“That’s gotta be the equivalent of giving birth out of your ankle.”

—Jay Witasick, Oakland Athletics pitcher, after undergoing the first of three scheduled shockwave therapy sessions (MLB.com)

Alex Carnevale is an editorial assistant at Baseball Prospectus. He can be reached by clicking here.