Brad Arnsberg Quotations

He's had little flashes where he looks like a big-league pitcher again. But he knows his command is not where he wants it to be.

He's coming along slowly. Tomorrow is the first day he is actually going to stretch it out.

He looked really good. As of right now, we're counting on him to make the start.

He's already telling me how much more comfortable he feels.

He's a lot more conventional and a lot prettier to watch and he's really digging what we're trying.

(Hitters) know when guys are really cheesing it up there in the 98s, 97s, they know that, so they know how to get it ready a little bit earlier where they're cheating on fastballs.

He's a veteran arm guy. We're not dealing with an arm like we are with A.J. We're dealing with a knee and, as long as this thing doesn't bite on him again, I think we're hopefully pretty clear.

He's been very good. He slips down every once in a while, but last year, we'd see it once every four or five pitches. Now, we're seeing it once every 30 or 40 pitches. That's good.

Hopefully, this thing subsides and he's going to be able to toe that slab here before the year is over, but we have no projected date for him, ... There's no way he's going to be able to take the ball in Anaheim.

He was outstanding. We're hoping for a rehab start next Tuesday or Wednesday. Today he looked good, threw all his pitches (about 65), looked strong.

He wanted to pitch Sunday, but we had to slow him down a bit.

He didn't feel anything at all. Nothing. That's what he told me and that's encouraging.

The only thing that bothered him a little bit is when they had him skip, just to put all the weight on it. That didn't go as well as he was hoping, but everything else was right up to par. ... As he said, 'When am I ever going to skip on the baseball field?'

Janssen has a little bit more velocity and sharper stuff right now. Banks is very usable, this kid is going to be a decent big-league pitcher.

We have to let him make the calls from now on. It's up to him to accelerate his rate. We want it done right the first time.

To be able to say: 'Oh yeah, we knew this year was going to come,' I don't think anybody would go on-line and say that. He just continues to gain steam and he just gets better and better almost every outing. It really has been a pleasure to watch.

The real test will be when we get him on the mound -- and then after his mound exposure, we'll let him field some ground balls, ... We'll let him field bunts down both lines and we'll let him cover first base. ... He's got to be able to get around at least well enough to be able to do those things that are required out of every Major League pitcher.

We're not in the dumps. It's frustrating Roy will miss a start, exciting A.J. is on the mend.

We're hoping to go five innings, and 15-pitch innings to get him up to 75 pitches,

We've been talking about making an adjustment. We went to dinner a couple of nights and he wanted to work on it right then. He didn't want to wait. I was walking off the field and he decided he wanted to implement what we were talking about doing. Did it surprise me? Maybe a little, because I didn't expect it this early. Am I pleased about it? One hundred per cent.

We didn't mix the split in, we're going to wait a couple of outings and let him air out before mixing in the split in outing three or four. We're guarding it with kid gloves right now.

There's no use having him throw unless he's close. And if that means early September, it's early September.

There's not any spots open in that bullpen, but he's got to understand what an integral part of this program he is. I've said to other guys, 'You're ready for the big leagues, but the big leagues aren't ready for you.' Hopefully he finds himself in that spot.

Sooner or later, he has got to make the calls.

It was better than the last one. He spotted the ball exceptionally well and kept the ball down, throwing all of his pitches.

It regressed a little the last two days from when it was real good.

Once he does start airing it out a little bit he needs down time in between. Sometimes it's a longer road than anybody wants it to be.

Once he learns to pitch the lower half of the zone with greater consistency, he's going to be a 17-20 game winner.

I love it. I don't think he cares for it a whole lot, though. On that day, he said, 'I've pitched in front of 50,000 people before, but I've never been more nervous than I was that day I threw the bullpen.' He focused pretty good today. I've seen when there's been three times as many kids back there.

I'm leaving Brandon alone this spring. He may have been mesmerized because he had such an up-and-down, mostly down, season at the big-league level last year.

I'm very happy with the way he looked. He used all his pitches, which we were excited about, and he had good command from the start. It's a positive sign that dispels any concerns we may have had.

I'm anxious to go out there and see him compete again. To see him get back out there against a Major League club is going to be fun to see. I think he's excited. We're all excited.

His confidence level is getting better and better, and that's a huge part of being a pitcher. I've seen guys with below-average stuff that actually go out there and look like they have above-average stuff because their confidence level tells them that. That's something that Brandon never really had last year.

He threw very well, much better than I expected. He had good velocity, his slider was tight and he was able to throw to both halves of the plate.

He threw everything. The ball came out of his hand free and easy.

He threw 55 pitches over 12 minutes. He threw all his pitches at 80 percent.

He threw 55 pitches at about 80%, including his breaking ball. We hope to give him three innings Saturday.

He thought he might have felt whatever in the first inning and then in the second inning it just didn't come around.

If I had that answer he wouldn't go out there and do that, I wish I knew,

I asked him where he got to and he said probably 80 per cent. Just seeing him actually on a mound again (after three days of throwing off flat ground) was kind of fun.

You can speculate all you want but we just don't know.

You've got to guard him with kid gloves. We did that the first time and felt good.

The cold has never entered my mind. Ideally, you would like it 80 degrees and sunny out, but you're not going to get that. Obviously, that day would be somewhat of a concern, but is it a concern right now? Not really.