Ed Wade Quotations

We would sit there after games or the next day and talk about different situations, ... and at times we?d invariably get around to the criticism. Charlie would just laugh it off. His feeling was, ?I know what I?m doing and I?m not going to let it get to me.?

We knew what he was capable of doing at the big league level. He's still a developing player, and I feel in my heart that he benefitted from getting four at-bats a day in Scranton vs. being on the bench here at the beginning of the season.

We want our fans to be excited. We're giving them a lot of reason to be excited. But we clearly understand that you play the game on the field. That's what it's all about.

The price was very high, ... But to get a prime bullpen arm, you have to give up something.

The price was high, but to be able to get a proven bullpen arm who has pitched at a championship level, it was too good to pass up.

I can effectively do this job, and I have effectively done my job.

I believe that the fact that I became the lightning rod for criticism for the organization, with me being out of the picture so to speak, makes things easier in that respect, ... But I look at the last three years. The last time this franchise had 86 or more-wins three straight years was '78, '79 and '80. We didn't get to the postseason, but I'm walking away with pride in the effort I put into this job.

He?s had one of those years where he had some high spots and some low spots. There was talk of starting (Pedro) Liriano, but with his health issues (a stomach ailment that cost him nearly a month of action) he isn?t stretched out enough. It?s good that the game falls on Gavin?s day to pitch.

He said it bothered him a little bit in San Francisco and then he felt it in his next start. (Trainer Jeff Cooper) thinks he?ll be fine to pitch again this season, but we aren?t sure when.

I think the fans could see in his face and body language that he was bothered when things didn't go well. They appreciate work ethic and even empathize with him from time to time. But it's probably not a good thing to do it in back-to-back seasons.

I think that the past three and a half weeks, we showed a lot of character,

I think we need some space at this point,

I think there were probably points in time where a vote of confidence, if it was coming, would have come and didn't, ... I'm not naive. To say the least, I'm disappointed.

I think dignity is the right word. I think Charlie has enough self-confidence in how to coach and handle people, and the players took their cues from him.

It figures to be a slower-developing market just from the standpoint that if a player and his representatives feel that he's the key in the market, they're going to want to make sure the last dollar's on the table and that teams have exhausted other avenues to try to improve.

I think public perception is a big part when you talk about selling. In order to move things forward, if the decision was based on the performance of the club, obviously not getting into the postseason is a big role in that, but I also think the fact that I became a lightning rod for criticism for the organization, with me out of the picture, it makes things easier from that respect.

I think public perception is a big part when you talk about selling, ... In order to move things forward, if the decision was based on the performance of the club, obviously not getting into postseason is a big role in that, but I also think the fact that I became a lightning rod for criticism for the organization, with me out of the picture, it makes things easier from that respect.

I think public perception is a big part when you talk about selling,

That?s usually how it goes (at this time of year). I think a lot of deadlines have passed us by.

We need to take time before we get into a planning period and get into our discussion towards next season.

We didn't encourage clubs to get overly aggressive, because we knew what he meant to our club in the midst of a pennant race. Ryan's an extremely talented player and is going to be an outstanding every day player in the big leagues. Despite the fact that a lot of people thought we should have been more aggressive in sending him away, we're happy we didn't.

We'll get our guys together by the middle of the month. We're not doing an organizational meeting this year. We'll sit down and we'll discuss in advance of free agency to look at the whole thing and to get perspective of where our needs are and where the talent may be.

We believe Brett has a very bright future in the major leagues. We wanted to give him time to develop in AAA. We feel the opportunity is now and that he's prepared for it.

The expectation is that you need to make the playoffs, and we didn't live up to those expectations. I've seen it happen in other places. There's never a good time for something like this, but that's not my decision to make.

You have to recognize that the fans here are very supportive. I've been around long enough to understand the frustration level. I've obviously been here longer than some of our guys. They want it as much as the guys in the clubhouse want it.

Billy is a huge priority. We tried to broach that subject at the trading deadline. Obviously, we've tried several times at that point. Hopefully, we'll get that done.

Billy is a huge priority, ... We tried to broach that subject at the trading deadline. Obviously, we've tried several times at that point. Hopefully, we'll get that done.

Every club draws its own line in the sand.

There's no question that's ultimately how you're judged, by how you do in the season and how you do in the playoffs. By that measure, we didn't get there.

I understand the rights of people to have the ability to criticize what we do, ... At the same time, we have a lot of fans out there who were very supportive of what we've done here over the last eight years, particularly what we've done over the last couple of years to try to get to the finish line. And I also think it needs to be said that for eight years, I've been a doer, and not a critic. Because sometimes standing up and doing things is a lot easier that people standing on the sidelines and criticizing what you do.

I've talked to players before about - you can't turn this around. It has to be about the fans. People have a right to boo.

There were a lot of things out there that made me fairly certain that there would be rough spots. Still, to me, I thought some of the stuff was absolutely bizarre.

There's always an attraction for the marquee player. That's not going to change. A guy with the quality of Burnett there probably isn't a bad year to be A.J. Burnett.

I told our guys, there's still four months until Opening Day. We still have a third of the year. We still have time to see what develops.

It's something we'll have to address at some point,

It's been discussed at the general managers' meetings the last couple years,

It was kind of a split camp. And most of the recent conversations were limited almost exclusively to using it for fair or foul calls. It wasn't with the thought of creating a mechanism for managers to challenge calls like in football.

At the same time, I think it's human nature, over 162 games, every once in a while, a player will get upset, ... But it can't be about that.

At 11 this morning -- or 11:30, when my phone rang -- I was doing household chores and expected to come in and spend some time working on our plans for next year, and being here tomorrow morning first thing to do those things, ... My energy and dedication hasn't been thinking about my next job. I was trying to do this job the right way.

In all of the conversations that we've had with Billy, we've told him that we would like to have him back here and get that worked out,

I'm leaving a situation where, with a couple of changes during the off-season, this team should be in postseason play next year, ... It's a challenge for the next general manager.

I just talked to Rob and he said it bothered him a little bit in the start in San Francisco and then in his last start in New York. At that point he talked to (pitching coach Rich Dubee) about it. (Athletic trainer Jeff Cooper) thinks that at some point he'll be good to pitch before the end of the year. But he won't be ready for Sunday. According to (assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle) Sunday was Gavin's day to throw. He'll join the club (Saturday) and pitch on Sunday.

Certainly there were points of time when if a vote of confidence was coming, it would have come and didn't. So I'm not nave.