Mark Shapiro Year Quotations

Last year was a breakout year for him in terms of command. Hopefully he can help us during the year at some point.

He made great progress from a year ago in approach and plate discipline. The quality of his at-bats were significantly better.

There is a feeling of compassion for what Bob went through. Nobody wants to feel like they are not the number one choice. But it's not because we didn't like Bob. It was because we had the chance to get a multiple year guy. Bob was always an alternative for us, and one we feel good about.

Our offense got going after he moved to third. We moved him from ninth to eighth to sixth to third, which is a rough responsibility for a player in his first year in the big leagues, and he hasn't blinked.

I think he's made great progress from a year ago in his approach and plate discipline. The quality of his at-bats was significantly better. He's a guy that's coming. He needs to finish off some things offensively, but he's coming.

I think he should get it (the Manager of the Year Award). The reason our team was able to withstand the adversity we had earlier this season was his belief in the team. That belief, when a lot of critics were doubting him, his consistency from day to day, and his communication skills, all of that is a big reason why we are where we are.

At some point this year he's going to help us in the bullpen. He's come a long way in the last year and had a good training camp. He just needs to work on commanding his fastball better.

Every time we go through something, it's a young team and we're going through it for the first time, ... Last year, it was contending late in the season, in August and September. This year ... coming out of spring training, it was the first time anybody was looking at us.

This is a pivotal year for him. We hope this is a year where his career takes off. We've seen him for spurts as long as a half-season and as short as a month to be a prototypical corner bat. But his inconsistencies have to steady.

This is a crucial year for him. He has to produce the way he's capable of producing.

This guy had an absolutely dominant year at Buffalo last year. He's come in here and showed he aggressively wants to compete for that job, which is great. We didn't take him lightly. This guy's year last year was a special one.

It might be an easier deal to do next year because we'll have a clearer sense what the value is heading into the first year of arbitration.

He absolutely had a dominant year at Buffalo last year. And he's come in here and shown that he aggressively wants to compete for this job. We don't take lightly that year he had at Buffalo.