“BRIAN, YOU’LL ALWAYS BE MY FIRST FIELDING COACH. BUT I’M IN LOVE WITH A MAN NAMED BELL.”
“Then I got traded to Arizona and all of a sudden, (and) now I’m with Jay Bell. He would keep telling me the same things Brian Butterfield was telling me and adding some things about his way, so now I’m feeling more comfortable playing second base.”
–Snakes second baseman Orlando Hudson, on his latest Gold Glove. (Arizona Republic)
“I hope to cut that down by eight to ten next year. I can think of ten of those 13 right now that were just a lack of concentration. The ball would go into my glove and I got kind of lackadaisical.”
–Hudson, on the errors he committed this year.
“Oh man, defense. It does feel good when you hit one now and then, though. I hope to hit a couple more next year.”
–Hudson, on which side of the game he prefers. He raked 15 homers this year in his best-ever season at the plate (.287/.354/.454).
THAT IS NO CONSOLATION TO YOUR FANTASY OWNERS THERE CHAVY
“I knew I could impact the game defensively. I knew I had to because offensively I was not able to produce.”
—Oakland Athletics third baseman
“This was the best year I’ve played defensively. That’s why I felt comfortable.”
–Eric Chavez
MANNY AND LOWELL FOR A-ROD-TOO SOON?
“He’s been on the block for, what, five years? My answer is it’s highly unlikely he’ll be dealt, but what we’ll see in the weeks ahead is how motivated is he to get out of Boston and how motivated the Red Sox are to make it happen. Did he ask for a trade? And if he did, has he changed his mind yet?”
–AL exec, on Manny Ramirez‘s future with the Red Sox organization. (Boston Herald)
“Don’t get me wrong. Everybody wants his bat. But now he’s getting up there in age, he’s breaking down, the money, the attitude. In the NL, he’s an adventure defensively.”
–NL exec
“It takes a special team. The Red Sox have been that. They’re really perfect for Manny because they have been able to tolerate everything that comes with it, and he’s been phenomenal for them.”
–NL exec
MAYBE THEY SHOULD TRADE FOR PROSPECTS-THAT WORKED OUT SO WELL LAST OFFSEASON
“It sounds complicated. The Red Sox would have to have another big hitter in place in order to entertain it. They would never get full value, so they’d have to consider it a salary dump and use the money in other areas or get pitching or prospects in return.”
–NL GM
“A huge problem is the contract. Even though there’s a couple of years left, the money is huge. The Red Sox would probably have to eat some.”
–NL GM
OUR PHILANTHROPY REALLY SHOWED HIM
“They said they could no longer participate. I was shocked. This is an organization that is supposedly trying to rebuild things with the community and helping out with charities, and they backed out. That’s pretty sad.”
—Toby Hall, on the Devil Rays pulling out of sponsoring his event after he dissed the organization. (Tampa Tribune)
“We made the decision that instead of writing a check to Toby Hall’s event, we would contribute directly to the charities. We wanted to provide the financial assistance that we would have through sponsoring the lane.”
–Rays president Matt Silverman
“I still live here and want to do something to help the community. Hopefully this gets bigger and bigger every year.”
–Former Devil Rays catcher Toby Hall
HEY, IF HEATH SHULER CAN RUN FOR CONGRESS…THE MONEY WOULD BE THE SAME
“I’m biased, because I think the world of him, but he’s the perfect guy to do it. He’s excited about baseball. He loves to give back. He’s such a great communicator. They’re going to walk away thinking, ‘Wow, what a special guy. That’s what major-league baseball players are like.’ “
—Curtis Granderson‘s agent, Matt Brown, on his client’s international tour. (Detroit Free Press)
“And I don’t have to pay for it.”
–Granderson, on his trip. Granderson was paid $335,000 in 2006.
IN CASE YOU FORGOT, ROBBIE ALOMAR SPIT ON THIS GUY
“Not at all. There was nothing going on on the field.”
–umpire John Hirschbeck, on the Kenny Rogers‘ incident in the World Series.
An umpire normally doesn’t go out and inspect the pitcher unless he is asked to by the opposing manager.”
–Hirschbeck
“I’m not sure.”
–Hirschbeck, on whether umps can just go out to mound themselves.
“Umpires can initiate an inspection if they have good reason to believe there is something going on.”
—Mike Port, Major League Baseball’s vice president in charge of umpires
WHY DO I FEEL LIKE ONE OF LA RUSSA’S ANIMAL RESCUE BUDDIES IS GOING TO CUT OFF HIRSHBECK’S FINGER NOW
“He said, ‘We think he’s got something on his hand.” I said: ‘You guys have to formally ask us to look at it. We’re not going to go out there and start searching the guy.’ But Tony never asked us.”
–Hirschbeck
“We don’t go looking for those things. They have to ask us.”
–Hirschbeck
“That’s where you check. They can’t say, ‘We think he has something somewhere,’ and we go out and look at his glove, his shirt, his pockets.”
–Hirschbeck
HE MIGHT AS WELL BE TALKING ABOUT STEROIDS
“I’ve talked to all the umpires about it. They know what they’re supposed to do. I don’t have a complaint. Tony La Russa is not a shrinking violet. He can be very confrontational. I thought he handled it well. I’m satisfied that the situation was handled properly.”
–Commissioner Bud Selig, seeing, hearing, and speaking no evil.
THEN AGAIN WE ALSO PANNED THE STEVE FINLEY ACQUISITION, AND LOOK HOW WELL HE TURNED OUT
“When Brian signed him to that contract, I wondered, ‘How long will he last?’… well, it turned out to be a great signing because it seems he’s gotten better.”
—San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers, on Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel (Sacramento Bee)
“Everyone talks about his glove, but the guy can hit, too–he puts the ball in play.”
–Towers
OFFSEASON OF A THOUSAND SURPRISES
“It was a surprise to me. I was literally shocked.”
–Towers, on finding out that his club’s pitching coach, Darren Balsley, had retained an agent, Geoff Metzger. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
“When I returned the phone call, I just basically said, ‘I don’t deal with agents with my employees. We won’t be talking anymore.'”
–Towers
“The bottom line is I just don’t feel comfortable negotiating at times. I don’t want to negotiate on my own, and that’s strictly it.”
–Padres pitching coach Darren Balsley
IN THIS CASE, NOT THAT LUCKY
“I was completely taken by surprise. I don’t want to retire. I’m getting older, but I’m not getting old. I like the game. I’ve stuck to it for 41 years. I’ve been lucky through the years.”
–former Nationals assistant general manager Tony Siegle, the last holdover from the Expos’ organization. (MLB.com)
“You’re here as long as I’m here.”
–Nationals GM Jim Bowden to Siegle, according to Siegle. That was before Bowden called him last Tuesday to say that the Nationals were not renewing his contract.
“I talked to a club already and I have a chance of going there, but until it happens I don’t count that chicken.”
–Siegle
“I’ll be looking forward to the future. I have mixed emotions and I don’t know why I was let go. We’ve been through an awful lot.”
–Siegle
“Thank God I have friends in the business.”
–Siegle
IT’S A WILD WORLD
“I don’t want to gloat about someone being arrested, but it seems like the [business of representing] Cuban defectors has turned into a smuggling business.”
–agent Jim Kehoskie, on Gustavo “Gus” Dominguez, a Beverly Hills-based agent, “who has represented dozens of Cuban defectors and other major league players, (and) is accused of hiring four men to use a speedboat to carry 19 Cubans to Florida in 2004, five of whom were talented baseball players.” (The Miami Herald)
“Although this case involves a Beverly Hills sports agent and talented baseball players, it is remarkably similar to the human smuggling operations.”
—Julie Myers, Assistant Secretary of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
WE’RE ALSO NOT RULING OUT SHANGHAI, HONG KONG, OR IRELAND, BECAUSE WE’VE HEARD THERE’S A POT OF GOLD THERE
“We’ve been candid with teams about where we would want to go, or more importantly where we would not want to go. And you’ve probably seen the response to that.”
—Scott Boras, agent of Japanese hurler Daisuke Matsuzaka
“There are a lot of holes in the system, so some teams can cheat. That’s not a fair system. If you have a good connection to the team, you can do anything you want to. Also, the Japanese player cannot choose the team.”
–journalist Gaku Tashiro
“Two things there. The money is ridiculous and Scott Boras represents him.”
–an AL GM who declined to bid on Matsuzaka
“Nomo was a very unique situation, and back then we were all learning about the cultural differences and problems with communication. I think since then teams are better able to deal with it, but for the pitcher himself, there’s still a very tough process in being assimilated into a new culture, a new language, and a new way of doing things.”
–former Red Sox pitching coach Dave Wallace
ASK HIM ANYTHING ABOUT AMERICAN IDOL…
“Doesn’t that sound like fun. Joint action is theoretically [good] but what does that mean? In American baseball, if the runner and the ball arrive at the base at the same time, the tie goes to the fielder. Who breaks a tie if there is a disagreement over policy between the SEC and FSA?”
–Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank
THE REST
“We looked ahead to this year’s free agent market when we made those moves, and we’re looking ahead to next year’s already. We knew what was going or not going to be available, so maybe we paid a little more, but I think what we did is we established that Toronto is a good place to play baseball, and by finishing second in a tough division, we established ourselves as a team that’s going to contend. I think it’s really going to help us moving forward.”
—Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, on this year’s free agent market (Boston Globe)
“He was night and day. That is just an amazing difference.”
–an NL scout, on Mets pitcher Guillermo Mota, who was suspended for 50 games because he tested positive for steroids. Mota’s ERA went from 6.21 to 1.00 when he was traded to the Mets by the Indians. (Chicago Tribune)
“The technology now is just amazing. From a kid who grew up in the ’40s listing to the St. Louis Cardinals radio broadcasts from Harry Caray on an old Philco, all I can say is, I’m just glad I lived this long. I go to the games and stay about five innings, then retire to my loft library at home about five miles away from the field, and finish off the game listening to the broadcast on the computer while following every pitch on MLB.com.”
—Dave Rolf, director of communications for Hawaii Winter Baseball.
“[They] made stupid changes that didn’t make sense… That’s why the manager isn’t there anymore.”
–Pitcher Francisco Cordero, on his former team, the Rangers.
“I feel like I have an idea about what we can do to keep the A’s from beating us so much.”
–new Rangers manager Ron Washington (The Newberg Report)
“He was an extraordinarily generous person, especially with children, also with his co-workers.”
–from the text of Harold Reynolds‘ wrongful termination lawsuit against ESPN. (The Smoking Gun)
Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus. You can reach Alex by clicking here.
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