Bill Bavasi Quotations

We're real excited about this. This is a big change in a real important position on our club. We're going from a position of weakness behind the plate to one of strength.

Would you blame him if he had interest in Felix Hernandez? I'm a guy who worked my tail off to get Carlos Delgado.

We were impressed that a young kid could make the jump from high-A to competing at the big-league level in Colorado. This was an opportunity for us to continue to build our inventory of young, major league-level pitching prospects.

We'll seek to pursue Ryan, but with a different financial approach. But you seldom see a guy say, 'Yeah, I'll come right back.' Yet, he likes it here, so we'll see.

We'll see if we can fine-tune it. Those are important spots, but we have no major trades (in the works).

We did not ever get to the point where we had to discuss that. From our point of view, it was important to get it done now to stay away from that question.

We really felt we had to get a better pitcher into our rotation, along with making our pitchers a little better. This is the first step toward that.

This provides us with a great opportunity to play in front of our fans in the Northwest before we begin the regular season.

Carl Everett is a clutch-hitting run producer with power. He's not afraid to compete and play hard between the white lines. ... When you talk to people in clubhouses who have played with this guy, you hear great things.

From our point of view, the issue isn't just a player did this. It's their reaction, and what they did leading up to it and how they handled it afterward.

He helps us in a variety of roles, including the ability to steal a base and play almost any position on the field.

We've gone through growing pains with young players this year, ... but that's part of developing young players ... We like our young players.

He's got the chance to end up being a real good center fielder. He needs work on balls over his head, but what new outfielder doesn't? He's got a plus arm, he's a bright kid and he's got a good approach.

He's going to provide good offense for us out of that slot.

There are so few real good left-handed or switch-hitters that can operate in the middle of a lineup and be as consistent as Raul. We're thrilled.

Kevin and Fernando are both veteran major league players that we can bring to camp for some extra depth on our team. They have both had health challenges but, if healthy, they will be valuable players for our younger guys to compete against and learn from.

Look at the market. Look at what the market was doing. If we lost him, we'd be going out looking for somebody like him and paying more.

Matt is a solid left-handed hitter and base stealer who will provide us with depth and flexibility. He can help us in a variety of roles, including the ability to play all three outfield positions.

That's the ups and downs of a closer, especially one who works with command more than power.

We have other holes to fill on this team. We didn't want to add to them.

We couldn't give up what offense we had, and Richie was a big part of what we had as it was. And we feel Adrian will hit.

We could have gone with a safer choice, but we felt that Jesse had the highest ceiling. Our philosophy in making trades last year was to take the gamble and go for the players we felt had the most upside.

We can be working on a trade beyond opening day. It's not something we need to have done by that date.

To be around YB, you'd think he's led the most charmed life. Without having walked a mile in his shoes, I'm afraid that, no matter what I say, I may shortchange the hardship he's gone through to get to this point. His perseverance is remarkable.

To be around YB, you'd think he's led the most charmed life, ... Without having walked a mile in his shoes, I'm afraid that, no matter what I say, I may shortchange the hardship he's gone through to get to this point. His perseverance is remarkable.

We're excited to sign Kenji and believe that this signing is one more step in our transition, ... As soon as he steps on the field, he makes our major-league roster better, and that's what we needed as we headed into this off-season.

We're out there looking. There is nothing serious in the works at this time.

We believe he is already among the top-tier starters in the game, and poised to join a truly elite group. He has electric stuff.

When somebody first brings the name up, there are a lot of reservations. As with every player you look into everything very closely, and we're satisfied its a one-time deal.

There is a lot of interest in Reed from other clubs, including us.

This was a pretty high priority for us in the off-season. The signing for us is terrific because there's so few real quality left or switch-hitters that can operate in the middle of the lineup and be as consistent as Raul. We wanted to lock him up.

We wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the Mateo family. The thoughts and prayers of the entire Seattle organization are with Julio and his family as they deal with this tragic accident.

We wish to extend our deepest sympathy to the Mateo family.

We felt good about his season and we feel good about him as a person. The one voice you hear in there now is his. It would be nice if we could clone his approach and give it to other guys. So that was important to us.

At the start of this off-season, our goals were to acquire a high-quality starting pitcher, add offense, re-sign Jamie Moyer and, ideally, upgrade our catching. Today's announcement marks the final, and perhaps most important, in that off-season list of goals.

And we had no surplus, no one in development, to come along if we had created holes. Serious trade possibilities for pitching did not avail themselves, and we did not shop those guys.

I sense things are close one way or the other. We'll know if we're in or out in a relatively short time.

These are requests he's made, so he's way ahead of me on a lot of these things.

Right now, this doesn't threaten anybody. This doesn't threaten Lawton at all; he's an important guy on our club.

This does not signal the end for Michael.

A lot of good hitters became good hitters when they were with him.

There's always a risk in a multiyear, high-dollar contract.

It's a good deal for both sides. Willie has a chance to help us in a lot of different positions, starting and coming off the bench. He got quite a bit of security for a guy that hasn't necessarily completely established himself as an everyday player.

It probably does signal the idea that a young player on this club doesn't have a birthright to a spot on the club.

Everyone has natural feelings. Given the circumstances as he presents them ... sure. But again, we support the testing program and really that's where it starts and ends for us.

It was not an optimum year for it. The free-agent pool was not deep where we needed it. But it was good at the very top and we do feel we siphoned off some of that when we signed Jarrod.

Nothing is official yet. We feel good that common sense will prevail.

So far, so good. I bet he is very happy, too.

So far, he's every bit the player we thought we were getting.

The language barrier, as we're finding out, was way overblown. I think he was the only one who was freaked about it. But by and large, there won't be any communication problems.

In order to make deals you have to create some excess. Some guys have options, some don't.

He's tough in our ballpark. He knows the AL West. He has great makeup. And the transition should be fairly smooth.

He's looking good on the side. I think for most everybody here, the issue is keeping him healthy and getting him a chance to show what he can do.

If he has interest in playing for us next season, we will have interest in him.

I don't think there's extra pressure. I know that it's natural for people who haven't been in this game and who haven't worked in this game to think about it and ask the question.

Although he may not be terribly comfortable speaking English yet, he is understanding it well. He's a baseball rat.

The market is what it is. We knew what the brackets were, up and down, and we slipped him in.