Todd Claus Quotations

Absolutely, we'll be competitive. You'll be saying a lot of the same things you could say about last year's team -- they're prepared, professional, and they come to compete every day.

Playing .500 for the first week of the season on the road. I think we can take a lot of positives out of that. I think our team chemistry is really good. We have a lot of energy.

I was pleased with his mound presence. I think he felt in command the whole time. The box score was not indicative of that, but he didn't give up a run.

Prospect is just that -- it's a word. It has no meaning whatsoever to me. It's my job to build a cohesive unit and get the most out of each and every player.

He's a good bunter and (David) Murphy's a good runner. They had a chance to get him. That's a tough play for him to flip the ball with the glove.

I don't think anyone questions his future. This is just a process we feel, as an organization, he needs to go through before he's ready to contribute at the level he's capable of.

I think we've gotten to the point where we're going to have competition in the organization.

He's got a great arm. I've said several times that it doesn't take a scout or a baseball enthusiast to figure out that he's pretty good. I think he still has some things he needs to work on to master his craft, but he has two above-average major-league pitches right now. He just needs some fine-tuning.

It?s almost like in extended spring training right now. Guys are trying to find their identity and most guys are trying too hard at this point. There are going to be some mistakes, but I like the way we came out and swung the bats.