Buck Showalter Quotations

We struggled. A lot of people struggle in Boston.

Tomorrow will be a good test for him. Fielding, he has no problems. He has been doing that for a while.

We're going to let Rudy decide the way he wants to handle this. We'll be there for him. He's a strong man.

Years ago, that's how it was done. Guys came up as relievers and worked their way into being starters. C.J. has had his challenges as a starter, but I'd like to test drive that again before the end of the season.

We're going to compete and try to win while at the same time prepare ourselves for the future.

We're just looking for quality pitchers, whether it's a left-hander or right-hander. Good left-handers play well in our park, but good right-handers do, too.

We're fortunate to get somebody of his background this late in the spring.

We're real happy with Kevin this spring. He's healthy, feels good, all his pitches are there, he hasn't missed a beat. We like what he's done in his career and he has continued on that path.

With these new facilities, the key is how they look after three or four years. This place gets better every year. With their input and ours, we tweak things every year. It makes it easy to get 'B' games. People love coming here and playing 'B' games because we have the best 'B' game facility in baseball.

We're still talking about what we should do at this point, but I can tell you every possible option has been considered. We've talked about using a four-man rotation. I wouldn't rule out anything.

We've waited as long as we can wait. Mark wants to be there ... it's very frustrating to the club it hasn't improved more.

When you say 'ever' in our game, that gets your attention. That's remarkable. When everybody is counting on you and watching you to produce and you still do it, that's impressive.

When you say 'ever' in our game, that better get your attention.

We want him to keep pitching well, maybe work on his breaking ball. It just doesn't fit for us right now, but it will again.

We want him to back off a little, take a deep breath and make a contribution in another role.

There are different hurdles a pitcher has to clear on the way to establishing himself, ... This is a good stat for him to add to his resume.

We decided not to use him and be on the safe side.

We tried everything. They had two groundballs that found holes and Cabrera centered a ball. It was a good win for them and a tough loss for us.

We ran into a great pitcher today. But to get to where we need to go, we've got to figure out a way to beat those guys.

We're grinding like heck, ... to get a chance to roll the dice in August and September.

One of the things I love about Mark, Mark attacks his weaknesses. He turned himself into a Gold Glove first baseman. A lot of people would have used the position change as an excuse. He's very driven, a self-starter.

If we have to, we'll sit down and talk about it and see what's best for everybody. We're not at that point yet.

I'd like to stay away from it. If it continues to be a problem, though, it's something we'll have to look at.

I'd like to see him get back down there and get on the horse.

I'd be happy if someone said he could come back by May 1. The trouble is, there is nothing in baseball to compare this injury to.

I am real proud of where we are as an organization compared to where we were.

I feel confident we'll be able to serve our needs with what we have here. It's just a matter of sorting it all out. We've assembled some good candidates.

I can tell you what we're looking at right now on February 20-whatever, but that will change. There's a long way to go.

Frankly, I'm concerned about it but we're going to let the doctor look at it and see if there's anything there. I don't know how much was the (cold) weather and how much was something else.

From a pitching standpoint, I'd like to see him get down there and get back on the horse, see him getting the ball. It's been unlike any year he has ever had in professional baseball. He's had to make a lot of decisions.

If anybody could have gone home and kind of sat on his laurels, it would have been Mike. I told Mike, 'You're being awful picky, but it is deeply appreciated.' Mike's a good shortstop, but he wants to be the best.

If that goes well, we're probably going to take the wraps off and let him throw the breaking ball, which is the last step.

He was cruising along and pitching really well. He just made some mistakes with pitches and the hitters hit them.

He was up with some pitches. He had been throwing quality strikes down. He was coming off some good outings. With young pitchers, the more you get out there, the better your track record.

He's coming from probably the most hitter-friendly park outside of Colorado, so this is an upgrade.

He's come on here lately and he's getting closer to being in a position of showing us what he is capable of. We would have liked to see him be a little further along when he got here, but he is in the process of catching up.

He's a young pitcher. He's going to have hiccups, but stuff-wise he has been very impressive. He's going to give up some hits here. I bet he walks somebody and I bet he strikes somebody out.

He held his stuff. His last two outings he had had his best fastball.

He has said he's comfortable being a reliever. I've told him he may want to rethink that.

He had a little swelling starting there and that was a concern, but there wasn't anything he could say to stay in. We'll monitor him real closely, but I think we may have gotten real lucky. It gives you a reminder of what it takes to go out there. You're so close, and balls are flying off the bat.

He had a good night's sleep last night, unlike everybody else. He made a lot of friends tonight with teammates, getting them on and off the field.

He had a blister that was heating up in the sixth inning. Hopefully, he'll get to the point where he can go another inning, but between the blister and his pitch count, we wanted to be careful.

He got us on and off the field tonight. He made a lot of friends out there with his teammates tonight. He's got some good things going his way. I hope tonight is the start of it.

He got some good counts, but just couldn't finish. This isn't where he's going to be.

He got his work in and his pitch count up. He moved along the process of building arm strength.

He got a second wind when we put up that five-spot. That challenged him to get back on the horse a little bit and he did.

He feels good. He had good arm action, good stuff.

He gives himself a chance to be as good as he's capable of being. He has a lot of energy and a lot of passion. I think someone said a lot of the scouts were talking about him being a surprise or something, just because you don't get him at 3.8 seconds down the line and he hasn't hit 45 home runs and appeared on all the Baseball America lists. ... He's a baseball player. He brings a lot of intangibles.

He looked good, but we're not breaking the gun out on him yet. We're going to have him start again on Monday in a 'B' game. He'll throw 60 pitches.

He'll get to full throttle. He's close, it's just the everyday pounding. As long as he's not experiencing any discomfort or setbacks, we'll take it day-by-day.

He needs to stay mentally strong. Kevin has driven in some big runs but he lets some situations get away that he needs to pick up. He's had some physical challenges but he stayed on the field.

Going in, that may be the thought. But we want to see, with the experience he had last year, how he's grown from that.

He's as good as I've had. He's a special competitor. His substance is his style, his style isn't his substance. He's a guy that everybody asks about. They want to know if he's as good as he seems to be. He's better.

He's got great stuff. How do you verbalize the presence, the moxie, the body language? He's got all of that.

He's been such a consistent hitter throughout his career. He can take a mulligan, but he doesn't.

He's a treasure. Every day that passes, we realize how much we miss him.

He's a treasure. Every day that passes, we all realize how lucky we are to have him. Rudy hasn't changed one bit throughout this process. He's an amazing man, very strong.

He's got some anxiety I'm sure, first game. I think he'll get better. He knows he has to be better. Hopefully, he'll get this one behind him and get his feet on the ground.

His velocity was down yesterday, but he didn't tell us anything was wrong until this morning, when he reported elbow soreness. Don't count Josh out yet. Hopefully, in a few days he'll be back with the club and this will all be over.

His velocity was down, and it wasn't worth the risk.

He's a tough competitor and doesn't back off.

He's a special young man. He's sharp and has great people skills. He's a quick learner. J.D. will make the decisions, and most of the time he's been right.

He's capable of doing the job. It's a matter of when, not if.

He's been walking around all morning with his chest puffed out. Good for him.

He was pretty impressive out there. Good arm strength. Good stuff.

He's perfect to go. He's fine physically to go.

He could catch in an emergency now, but we'll rest him,

He can step back now and take the season as a whole and say 'This worked and this didn't'. This game is about wins, and he showed this year an ability to win at the major league level.

He can play right field and at the level it needs to be played.

He can use a couple of days -- today and tomorrow -- to clear his head.

He comes in knowing people like him and he has something to offer. I haven't seen this look in his eye before, he feels like he belongs here.

He likes the relief role. Maybe he thinks he has a better chance of making the team that way, but he might want to think about that a little deeper.

He knows there's some things he still needs to work on.

Hank put on a clinic at third base. We don't win that game if Hank doesn't have that day today. He made four or five plays that were as good as a third baseman can make.

We are going to need to get it straightened out if we are going to get where we want to go this season. If it's not something we can figure out, then we will have to come up with a solution.

Kevin had a great spring. He started off slow, having a nagging injury, but he is starting to swing the bat well. He is seeing the ball well and centers the ball so well. Kevin is so strong that the ball has a lot of carry. He can just power the ball out of here.

Kenny was pitching well until he got hit by that line drive and he battled his way through five innings.

Kenny was effective. They've seen Kenny so much. They hit some good pitches for hits. He bent, but he didn't break.

Kevin made good pitches when he had to, but it took a lot out of him. It was a tribute to him that he was able to get through it for five innings and give us a chance there.

Knuckleball guys are going to have their ups and downs. This was a down for R.A., who's had some good ones for us. We'll sit down and talk about it.

Knowing Kam, I don't think there will be anything. He's still mad about coming out of the game.

I wouldn't put any limits on him. He can be a difference maker defensively, one of those guys who turns hits into outs.

I would say there were some unknowns about him. I've been pleased with the progress he's made.

Kam was outstanding. He gave us a great chance to win, but he ran into Beckett. Two big body, quality starters, and obviously Beckett was at the top of his game.

Kam made a lot of friends tonight with his teammates, getting them on and off the field. That's always good, especially after a late-night arrival.

Joaquin was outstanding. His background is that he struggles from the fourth through the sixth. It's been a challenge, but today he was outstanding,

It certainly wasn't a thing of beauty. But the conditions were tough and both teams used a lot of young players.

It is something that we've dealt with and I think he's dealt with it real well, all things considered, and it's time to move on and get the focus back on getting people out.

I think we've gone over and beyond the line of caution on our part. I think Chris certainly feels that way.

I think what he's doing is showing everybody what (the A's) lost last year, ... It's always good to see good professional people like (Ellis) come back. We need guys like him.

It happens. You make some mistakes to really good hitters, and they are going to take advantage of it. I thought (Padilla) was really good right up to that point.

I think we're in pretty good shape catching-wise in the organization. Sandy has done as good or better than we could have hoped for. Rod is having a solid year. It creates a lot of good options for us.

I want to use the heat to our advantage.

I think there's more there. All you have to do is watch batting practice. He makes the ball go. He's strong. He's a pretty strong man.

J.D. is very adamant about getting this guy back to where he was.

Last season he had a lot of swelling, but there isn't any of that this time. We're going to have to see the medical reports and then figure out where we go from there.

I saw our right fielder felt like he caught the ball and so did our infielders.

Our guys had a lot of fun tonight. I thought we got good at-bats and Gary (Matthews) had a big one for us.

Padilla has been very fluid with his motion, free and easy. He's had a pretty good face since he's been here. He knows some people in the organization and he likes the place and the weather. He has had a smile on his face, which is not always the case with him.

(Rogers) pitched well. Really well. Him and (Minnesota starter Brad) Radke are both veteran pitchers and they went out there in the heat and did well.