Chuck LaMar Quotations

I wished he would have handled it a little bit differently. We probably could have handled it a little differently from our end, too. So we're going to call it a mistake on both sides. I don't want him to be looked at as some kind of troublemaker or some guy who is always going to pop off.

We thought he had had enough -- going from Double-A to Triple-A

He's going to be an All-Star. And his work ethic continues to improve. As Ozzie told him, the only thing that can keep B.J. Upton from being a tremendous player is B.J. Upton.

Having said that, we saw him play the latter part of August and thought he had had enough. He had already gone from Double-A to Triple-A and we thought it was time for him to go home and get ready to play winter ball if he wanted to, or if not, get ready for spring training.

I apologize to the ... fans for not producing the championship team that they deserve and take full responsibility for this organization's not achieving that goal.

It's the general manager's responsibility, no matter what the circumstances are, to make the product on the field a winner.

He cannot make 40 errors here. I think he is an improved shortstop over this time last year. He's ready to play offensively.

The only thing that keeps this organization from being recognized as one of the finest in baseball is wins and losses at the major league level.

He has the chance to become a tremendous major league player. The Devil Rays look forward to him joining what we think may be the best nucleus of young players in all of major league baseball.

I'm under no direction from ownership that I have to trade them whatsoever. That's not even a factor.