Brian Butterfield Quotations

One of the things that we're hoping for is that they have some success out of the chute. Whenever a young player has some success in a certain phase of the game it kind of becomes contagious. Then they play with a little more confidence.

His overall game has jumped to another level. He will probably factor into the big-league level at some point this year.

It ain't even close, and if he doesn't, it goes to show you that other people around the league haven't had enough opportunities to see us play. I think he impacts games defensively for us more than any other player in baseball affects the game at their respective positions.

I thought that we played, after the first couple nights, I thought that we made great plays up the middle -- great plays. We've played consistently and they were aware of everything that was going on.

I think our turf takes some adjusting just because sometimes the ball will hit and it'll go East or West. Sometimes it'll hit and stick and sometimes it'll hit and accelerate on the next hop. It's very unpredictable. I think we play on one of the more difficult surfaces in the American League.

That was a tremendous play. Troy has been solid at third base.

We didn't stretch him out too far. Every time I stretched him out a little bit further than his comfort zone, you could see there was a little bit of a limp. ... We're still a ways away, just because of the nature of the position where you stop and start so much.

While he was with us, he was swinging the bat real well. The thing that stood out for me is the improvement he's made defensively. He's throwing better and he's taking better routes in the outfield defensively.

Every time that I stretched him out a little further than his comfort zone you could see a little more of a limp. He's a little tentative right now, but so far so good.

Ankles and hamstrings, for me, are very tough to gauge. I think he's a day-to-day thing. As he can tolerate more stuff, the stronger his ankle will get and the quicker he'll be back.

They all really feed off each other. Johnny has been around the block, and they're able to watch him from close up. Johnny, besides being a very good fielder, is very sound fundamentally. So they're able to emulate him and follow things that he does. I've been pleased that they've been down here and are working their tails off.

I've spoken to Shea a few times this winter. His attitude is tremendously upbeat. He has spent a lot of time talking about the things we need to do as a team to get better. The things that he can do to help not only (John Gibbons), but me as an infield instructor with the young guys. Every conversation that we've had, I've hung up the phone and gone, 'All right, Shea is one-year comfortable in the organization. Now he's ready to take more of a controlled leadership.' He's not worried about being relegated to a secondary role. He's excited about what he can do to make us better.

That's what we talked about in the dugout. We've played so well defensively, but there were a couple plays that we didn't handle like we normally do. But you know what was nice? We came back and swung the bats. A couple of those innings were just a thing of beauty. Line drive after line drive. Not all was lost, even though we kicked it around a little bit.

They sincerely like each other and learn from each other. I think they like the challenge of being in the middle of things and being a part of what we're doing.

It's the best staff I've been around. Sometimes the X's and O's are overrated, but the people -- that's what counts. We have top-quality people in that coaching room, and it all starts with the manager. I think every one of the coaches wants to go right through a wall for him. He treats you fairly, he treats you great, and it rubs off on all the other coaches that are here.

That's another thing, too. I think a lot of it is just being tentative, not wanting to put too much weight on it. You know your body. You know what you can and can't do, and I don't think he wants to have any type of setback.

I don't know how often it happens. But I hate to see, at any time during the season, where we give away an out or fail to make a play that we assumed everybody knew what they were doing.