Rick Kranitz Quotations

Right from Day One, he was always a great competitor. He always knew what he wanted to do. You knew right away he was going to be something special.

He is a bulldog. He is a three-pitch guy, and what impresses me is his ability to work both sides of the plate.

His usage probably wasn't as consistent as he would have liked it to be. We got him for his stuff. I think he's a nice Major League pitcher.

It got to point to where I felt like it was such a great organization and we had a lot of pitchers come through. That's what you're looking for as pitching guy is people to work with. We sent a lot of guys to the big leagues.

We have to throw them on a regular basis. If they are not in the game, it has to be in the bullpen. We have to stay sharp that way. I don't like to let guys go more than two days without doing at least something off the mound. We have to keep them sharp that way.

You look to get value, but we got some awfully nice arms in that deal.

We'll see how it ends up. Right now, it's just getting guys their work. Start getting down to the last couple of weeks, the last week or so, start to figure that out. There's a lot of guys vying for jobs. We'll see exactly where he fits in when the time comes.

Deception is huge in this game. As a hitter, the first thing you want to do is pick up the ball. If you can't pick up the ball, that means the ball is getting on you quicker. It doesn't matter about velocity at that point.

In the past, when he hasn't gotten work, he's had problems. We will make sure that he gets plenty of it to keep him sharp.