Willie Randolph Guys Quotations

All the guys came through big-time. We put the pieces of our puzzle together over the winter and solidified our lineup. They are the ingredients we hope will take us to the next level.

He is part of the team and he's going to be a part of the team. We'll get him going. He's going to be fine. We feel real good about him, even though he's one of the guys on the team that's maybe struggling a little bit right now. We'll just continue to give him the ball when we can, and I think before too long he'll start to feel good about himself.

We could look at guys we might normally not see much of in spring training, and this could pay off later in the season if we need to bring somebody up.

You guys must not have much to talk about.

No, not necessarily. You might look at our rotation and say he's pretty much in there, but I'm never going to say that because you don't know. We have three or four guys in the back of the depth chart that might step up and knock my socks off. He has to compete.

This is something we're doing because we want to get guys out here, see what we have, get acquainted, all that stuff. ... It's nice to kind of get an idea of what you'd like things to look like.

I have no control over what people do. It's unfortunate for them, but we have a drug policy and you have to adhere to that. If guys want to take on that, it's on them. I'm concerned about what happens on the big-league level. We have a policy in place and everyone understands that. That's the law.

You kind of flinch a little bit, when you see can see that both of them have a bead on it. When the guys start laying out a little bit, leaning toward the ball, that's when you assume that maybe something nasty could happen. Very scary.

That was something that I usually like to do periodically, but today was a perfect time to do it. I always like to let guys know where I'm coming from and what I expect. It worked out good, because if we were on the field, we probably wouldn't have had it.

Carlos can hit anywhere. He's one of those guys who can adapt to any situation, I believe.

Some guys take a little longer to exhale. It's a natural thing, a human thing. I think that most of the guys I've seen in the league, as time goes on they get more and more comfortable. I hope that's the case with him.

It's nice to talk about where guys are going to finish and what guys are going to do, but to me until you knock off the big boys I think it's fair to say they are the favorites. I feel good about our chances, obviously, and preach to our players constantly about winning. But you've still got to do it first.

They know their bodies better than anybody. When they are ready to play they'll tell me. . . . There's no reason to push them. We're going good and this gives some of the other guys a chance to play.

They might be one-batter guys or two. Got to see what they look like.

It boils down to how the guys play for you. That's the most important thing for me. I've done a good job getting my team ready to play every day. That is, as a manager, all you can do. The other stuff you can poke holes in. The main thing is I've learned a lot about the game.

It's always nice to get the guys out there moving around. You sit back and watch guys throw on the side, but the only way you can get a good feel is to get into game action.

There are other guys who might be in front of him, anyway.

It's important for me to see how guys react in certain spots, ... Not just putting them there, but how they deal with the situation. Sometimes, you can tell a lot from things like that.

They're trying to find a rhythm and everything, so guys like that, you just let them do their thing.

They're the division champions. Those are the guys we've got to go through to be where we want to be. We feel good going into the series. We want to feel good going out.

A lot of guys could have said I'll take the surgery and take their time coming back. But he got back out there because he felt a responsibility to this team and I applaud him for that.

Not all guys deal with injuries the same way. Some guys can play with injuries, some guys can't. I'm not saying he can't. But hamstrings are a different kind of injury. Like I've said before, hamstrings are a funny kind of injury.

Those are the guys we have to go through to be where we want to be. We're looking forward to that challenge.

Keep it going, I love it. The guys were having fun tonight and obviously everyone was making a contribution. That's what you need to do the job on the road and hopefully we can get something special going.

I'm not playing any string out, I'm not looking to reevaluate right now, we're playing guys I think can help us win games, and we need as many as we can,

I don't like to have those guys sit too long,

I'm not going to focus on anybody. I'm just going to rotate guys in there.

I told the guys in the bullpen they're going to get used.

Anytime you go deep on a pitcher in early BP like this, you've got to tip your hat to them, because those guys are way ahead of us.

It was good to see him relax a little bit and get going. Obviously, spring training is not the best barometer for how you base these guys but, you know, he was 0-for-20 or whatever and he had a couple knocks so that's why you don't put a lot of emphasis on games like this because you can turn it around in one day.

We've got three or four guys on the depth chart who might step up and knock my socks off.

We had to. You have guys that tweak a hamstring and walk off the field. But any time you've got to be helped off the field, you're not going to be making your next start. There's no reason to take a chance on hurting him and pushing that. That to me was no question. There's no way in the world he's going to be able to go in time.

I feel real good about the shape most of the guys are in. I'm excited.

You go through the first loop and you make a few adjustments so it's accommodating in some ways to players and getting their work in. Last year I wanted to set the tone with a hard workout and get guys' attention, and get guys working and to understand that's what we're here for.

This was the perfect time to do it. I always like to let the guys know where I'm coming from. We talked hitting, we talked defense. It's something I don't think we do enough of in baseball.

Just because that last four or five guys don't look too promising, anything can happen.

For a kid getting his first taste, he's handled himself pretty well. Ideally, those are the guys that may come quick.

The thing I liked about today more than anything was we picked each other up. I really thought the pitchers did a nice job of picking guys up and we had to scratch for some runs, but the bottom line is that Billy came in and closed it on a great throw by Carlos.

I've talked to my guys about it. All teams, when they go through a growing process, these things happen before you get to a certain level. I told them to make sure they don't like the taste they have in their mouth. It's going to be a good learning experience for them.

We have 25 games left, and we have to go for it, ... I want to make sure that my next five guys know what they need to do and know that they're going to pitch and they can get themselves ready for the ballgame. This gives them a better chance to just lock in.

Overall I was pleased with the spring. All the guys who played in the World Baseball Classic came back healthy. We're ready to go.