Mark Shapiro Quotations

We are looking forward to him again filling a crucial role in our bullpen.

We're interested and we're waiting for a proposal from Major League Baseball. It's not going to generate the kind of excitement that World Cup soccer does, given the history and the equity just isn't there yet. But at least for this country, anything with the America's pastime and the American flag is sure to be a winning combination.

When you trade for a guy, you don't know his mental approach and the kind of teammate he is. That was probably the most encouraging thing, in addition to his physical tools. He fits in well with our team and our clubhouse.

We're not going to reach an agreement on a multi-year deal with Cliff. We'll look at it again next year. It will be more clear what his arbitration value will be. We couldn't reach a value on that right now.

We're so careful in our risk assessments that we may have a better chance of keeping our players on the field. And risk-assessment tools have absolutely gotten better.

We lack upper-level, left-handed relief depth. (Heredia) could be a Major League alternative for us this year.

Worry and bullpen are always in the same sentence for me. He'll be a welcome sight for us up here at this point.

We're still engaged in conversations with a few clubs. By the end of the week, we should have some resolution to that.

We want our players to be aware of the short and long-term dangers of these substances. Until Rafael decides how he will address this finding, we will have no further comment on the situation.

We want him to throw quality strikes, not just hard strikes. He's going to be a contributor for us this year. Maybe not from day one, but at some point this season he'll be a factor for us.

We want him to pitch every five days.

We were at the tail-end of a championship run. Instead of letting that run naturally just play out and transpire, we abruptly traded good players and artificially created an upper-level in our farm system.

We want to set the roster as early as we can. This year, the decisions are so few.

There are some subtle things to work on to become more consistent offensively and defensively, but nothing drastic. He's ready or close to ready. His time is coming very soon.

We're actually in discussions with two other players. We still have three weeks to work on that.

Yes, it is tiny. Can we survive injuries like the larger market teams? No, we can't. But if you're a competitive person, you have to believe you can win to do this job.

The expectations for our team have been higher every year. Our players are ready for it. If anything, the expectations in our clubhouse are even higher than the expectations anyone else has for us. That's what you live for. You want expectations to be high like they are now.

There are two relationships that are crucial to success. One is the GM-owner, and the other is the GM-manager. If there's not alignment in vision in where you're trying to go between either of those two relationships, then what happens is wasted energy, frankly.

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

Let's get it on. We think we're pretty good. They are the best. Let's measure ourselves against the best right off the bat.

Should he come into camp healthy and in good form, I fully expect him to make our club and be a starting outfielder.

Most players were claimed on waivers, so there was a very small pool of players available,

One third of this season's goal is to be more competitive. Two thirds is to evaluate and develop.

Obviously, this is a unique and significant commitment on behalf of ownership. Grady is one of our more unique guys. The level of commitment is distinct on both sides.

Right now, he'd be the favorite for that job. He's done that job before. Defensively, he can play all three positions. His professionalism and intensity fit the makeup and personality of our team.

I would have preferred to sign another impact bat to add to this team somewhere. Sometimes we're forced to be creative in the way we look at things.

If we didn't have a third baseman, we could go with him, but he needs time at Triple-A to finish himself off.

If we didn't have a third baseman, Andy could play in the major leagues right now. Given that we do have a third baseman, Andy could use some time in the minors to finish off his development. Defensively, he's major-league ready right now. Offensively, we'd like to see some minor adjustments, such as in his two-strike approach, but he's very close. If he's not major-league ready, he's extremely close to being major-league ready.

I got the opportunity to call two flips. The White Sox called the other and all three times it came up heads for us.

If we can't get something done by the end of spring training, we'll stop. We will not negotiate during the season.

I have mixed feelings. Charlie is a guy across the board that everybody here cares about deeply. But we're also excited about the opportunity he's gotten.

I feel good about our 25-man roster. And also about the next 10, which is also important.

I feel ownership will allow us to make a very competitive offer, ... Will we pay more and offer more years than we're comfortable with? Yes.

Fred and the crew have set the Monday night standard. We want to build on it and at the end of the day have a grand celebration.

Franklin's had an unbelievable winter. He's cut down on his strikeouts. He's got to stay healthy and develop a two-strike approach. The guy's an exciting young player, but there's still some question as to what he'd be up here.

From a level of mental toughness and competitiveness, he has kind of reframed the standard for all of us in this organization. He made a big impact on our young starting pitchers.

I don't think he showed us the true Jason Dubois when we got him. I'd like to think this is the real guy, but the truth is he's probably somewhere in between.

Given the steady decline in hoops ratings and the doubling of our football inventory with the Western Athletic and Atlantic Coast Conferences, this was no longer in line with our strategy.

If it doesn't rise we've got a concern. But that concern is not in the short term.

If we are done, I feel good about what we've done.

He was unhappy with his role on 'College GameDay,' ... He felt that he was playing second fiddle.

He doesn't have a spot, but he definitely can win a spot.

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

What makes poker work on television are the personalities, the players, their idiosyncrasies, their conversations, their body language, their humor. And darts has many of the same built-in factors. So we're gonna roll the dice.

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.

We're obviously not playing the kind of baseball we're capable of playing right now. But we've got 142 games to go. We're still .500 (10-10). It could be worse, but I think it will get better.

We've done what we had to do, but we didn't necessarily make some of the improvements that I wanted to make.

When I pull back and think about it, there's some accomplishment. But there's no sense of satisfaction.

He's a cornerstone guy. He's come a long way, defensively. From a leadership standpoint, he's a guy that's come light years and keeps coming every day. We're ecstatic about who he is and how he plays.

He's a good fit for us as a person and a player. His style is different from everyone else in our rotation.

He's a little more experienced than Jose Hernandez was, having played in the American League. I just feel good about him in that role.

He's definitely played the game the way we want it played. He has the power, size and athleticism combo to be a corner outfielder at the Major League level. His approach fits with our approach, and he's a local kid. It's a pretty good match. But he's still got to go to the next level, which he really hasn't been to yet.

He's definitely an option. This is the best he's pitched in his career with us.

He's done the job before, he's versatile and he can play all three positions. His make-up fits the character of our team.

His options situation is not going to be an overriding factor. His long-term ability to help the team will be a bigger factor.

His talent is obvious. But right now we want to get him comfortable in our organization. We don't want him to feel like he has to have a day like that (4-for-4 day vs. Toronto) in order to impress us.

He was everything we had hoped to see. The things you don't know when you make a trade ? the mental approach, whether he will be a good teammate, were the most encouraging things, in addition to his physical tools.

He's played very sporadically. He's a guy that we have liked for two years now and have made multiple attempts trying to acquire him.

He's played very sporadically, ... He's a guy that we have liked for two years now and have made multiple attempts trying to acquire him.

He wants to be here and wants to be a part of it. He wants so badly to be a big part of our future, as well as our present. If he can do what he did in the second half over the course of a whole year, he'll be more than enough.

He was basically everything we had hoped and expected to see.

He didn't blink and how he handled that move mentally drove our confidence in making this offer.

He'll be in the middle and hopefully we'll let him work his way toward the back.

He'll be a good major league player. It's just that the time frame didn't align with how this team has matured.

I wouldn't say I'm surprised by Cliff's development, but I am a little surprised by the pace of it. He's an extremely competitive guy. He's made a ton of adjustments since last season, but I don't think anyone could have anticipated (that he'd get this good, this fast).

I think it had a big impact. Bigger than any of us realized, including him.

I think youth is not a panacea. In Eric's case, he had an understanding of what we're tying to do. He has good communication skills, an ability to understand and identify problems, an ability to teach and develop. Finally, he has a thirst and desire to not only manage, but to be part of a leadership team to help turn things around.

I think it was a real shortsighted thing on the part of the legislature.

I think there's been a general skepticism in the game, a lot of people inside and outside of Cleveland waiting for us to collapse. It's been so hard for people to believe. But if we're still standing by the last weekend, either race, it doesn't matter.

Jason is a hard-nosed, tough player that compliments our lineup extremely well. He has always been a tough out while recording a high on-base percentage and has the ability to play all three outfield positions well.

Jhonny's a guy that we expected to have a good year,

Particularly down in the zone. But it was a great camp by him. He left here knowing he'll be back to help us.

Part of what makes Peralta even more valuable to us is the fact that he plays up the middle.

Paul had an average fastball and average curve. He was going to pitch in the major leagues, but there was nothing that would particularly distinguish him from lots of other guys.

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.

Our margins need to be better. Bottom line. Now that we're aiming for the families, we should be dipping into a whole other pool that we've never seen before.

Our original plan in the off-season was to slate the No. 5 spot in the rotation for a younger player (Jason Davis or Fausto Carmona) and to spend money to upgrade elsewhere. When we were unable to get some other things done, we saw an opportunity to improve the team by signing Jason. The young guys still could end up playing a role for us in 2006.

Our No. 1 priority now is a closer.

Listen, Neil, I'll tell you a film I want to make. I'd make a film on Frank Deford. I'd make that in a minute and I'd let you produce it.

It doesn't spit out players to pick, ... It's a framework for decision-making. It's all the information everybody else has -- maybe some different information -- but allows us to assemble and organize it in a way that we can make decisions a little more quickly.

I think if you look what he's done over the last two seasons, he's been one of the most dominant bullpen pitchers in the American League.

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.

It hasn't been very hard at this point. But from this point forward, almost all (of the cuts) are going to be hard. If not, we're in trouble.

I think they recognized that not only were the very good last year, but they were also very fortunate, and they addressed it. They didn't bring the same team back.

I think this industry got drunk on roller coasters. Big roller coasters simply do not get the return on investments that they used to.

That was a heck of a time to go on vacation.

Mike Hargrove is and always will be a Cleveland Indian. In addition to being a link to our championship past, his professionalism, baseball knowledge and experience will make him a valuable contributor to the next era of championship-caliber baseball for the Cleveland Indians.

Will all those lead to us getting a deal done? I don't know.

You just hope to get back to that level and get in. These guys don't need to focus on getting better.

We were looking for a bigger playing field. Folks expected to walk into clients without investing lots of money, but the so-called 'low-hanging fruit' wasn't there.

We can't worry about the other teams. I still think we have one of the three or four best lineups in the American League.

We had nobody hitting for six to eight weeks, ... but Eric maintained a very consistent, strong approach. He never gets too up or too down.

We had intended to put a young player in the rotation and sign elsewhere. But we made this signing, and it gives us an area of great depth.

We had a lot of quality, substantive conversations that I hope demonstrated to Cliff that he is a core part of this team. But a value we both felt good about was not one we could reach right now.

We're used to playing close games against them. We just need to do a better job of finishing them off.

We know this commitment will not change that.

The problem with ESPN2 is it doesn't have a signature event after the live events are over.

We'll get value for what Brandon is now. Not for what he might become.

You do everything you can to discipline yourself not to evaluate.