The Week in Quotes: May 9-15

YOU SHUSH BRIAN AT YOUR OWN PERIL

"I don't know why he made a statement during the game, in the middle of the game. I don't understand that. That's the way he works now."
-Yankees designated hitter Jorge Posada on Brian Cashman's comments after he asked out of Saturday night's game against the Red Sox.

"This conversation didn't take place three or four hours before the game. That's part of the issue. I have to go make changes. I have to tell people that they're in the lineup. It's final preparation for a game. We have to get lineup cards out. It was a late conversation."
-Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

"There is no injury. Obviously I've talked to Jorgie. I'm not going to comment on my conversations with Jorgie on it. That's the only thing I've got to tell you."
-Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

"I told him I couldn't play today. I needed time first to clear my head. That was it. I had stiffened up a little bit. I had taken some ground balls at first base."
–Posada.

"They're doing him wrong. Know why? Because that guy, he's legendary right there in the organization. And, dude, DHing sucks. DHing, it's not easy. From what I heard, they told him from the very beginning, he's not even going to catch bullpens. That, straight up, starts messing with your head. You're going tell me Posada can't catch a game out there? Come on, man. I guarantee you, they throw him out there once in a while, mentally, it's going to help him out. Because he's just not thinking about hitting. He's a DH. When you just think about hitting and you're not hitting, it sucks. It sucks."
-Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz.

JUNE 6: SAVE THE DATE

"I didn't see it. I heard it. I couldn't tell you how far it went. One of our pitchers thinks it went about 500 feet."
-Gardner Edgerton High baseball coach Jerald Van Rheen on a home run by high school player Bubba Starling. (Nick Piecoro, Arizona Republic)

"There's the possibility that it could be the last time that I pitch on this diamond. But it's going to be a heavy weekend for everybody, knowing that it's Senior Day on Sunday and the last time those seniors, for sure, are going to play on this field. So just going in with the same mentality—we're going in and try to win a game on Friday night and I guess after that we'll try to figure it out."
-Kentucky starter Alex Meyer before his Friday win against Georgia in which he threw 120 pitches. (Mark Maloney, Lexington Herald-Leader)

"He came to our camp as a 15-year-old or 16-year-old and might've been 5-foot-4 and 160 pounds soaking wet. He had a big swing for a little body. We put a little note next to his name—'NP,' for not a prospect. We were real geniuses."
-University of Connecticut coach Jim Penders on outfield prospect George Springer. (Spencer Fordin, MLB.com)

"Slotting will never work because the men who are trained to evaluate this game—it handcuffs them. It also does not recognize the revenue increases that change annually in the game. It also does not recognize the potential for a decline in revenue. The fact that there's flexibility for the experts to manage this—that's the best thing that can happen."
-agent Scott Boras on teams exceeding the major-league recommendations for contracts. (Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports)

THE WORSE HE GETS, THE BETTER HE FEELS

"I don't know what the hell happened tonight. I threw the ball way better than I did the last start. I don't know."
-Red Sox starter John Lackey, after he allowed 17 earned runs in his last two starts.

"I've never seen him this focused, this determined. He wanted it. Every inning, he was talking to me, he was feeling good. The last few innings, things happened. I don't think it got to him. He's the same every time. He's passionate, he wants to get everybody out. When somebody walks, he's pissed, when he gives up a hit, he's pissed, same with everyone else."
-Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia on Lackey's performance.

"Everything went wrong that could go wrong. That's pretty much the story of the whole damn year."
–Lackey. (Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe)

ALEX ANTHOPOULOS HAS BUT ONE SADNESS

"If people want to say different things, say I have a big lower half, don't hit enough home runs to be a first baseman, whatever it might be, at the end of the day, I believe in myself and I believe I can help us win."
-Astros first baseman Brett Wallace on his hot start to 2011.

"People have always wanted to question whether I would hit home runs, drive the ball in the gaps. In the minor leagues, I always hit for pretty good power. It's one of the last things to come."
–Wallace.

"I do believe I can hit with power, drive in runs, hit home runs. Right now, the best thing for me to do is hit the ball consistently and let myself grow into that. The more at-bats I get, the more comfortable I get, the better understanding I have of the pitchers I'm facing and the situations I'm in, I think it'll come from there."
–Wallace. (Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com)

THEY CAN'T ALL BE BRETT WALLACE

"I told him, 'As athletic as you are, you can't think you're going to make every play. If you backhand a ball in the hole and the guy runs less than 4.0 to first, eat it. A double-play situation when the ball is not hit hard, just get one.' His mentality is that he wants to turn every double play. That's how you get a lot of errors. I'm not saying he's not thinking. He's just being too aggressive on every play. He's a good kid. He's going to be a good shortstop."
-former shortstop Larry Bowa on Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond's struggles this year. (Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com)

"One of the comments was that people thought Pedro hitting seventh is not getting pitches to hit. Pitchers are absolutely going right after him without hesitation. One of the biggest fallacies, at least in my experience I've heard in the game, is that 'he has no protection around him.' There might be a handful of hitters in the game that actually get pitched around. Watching the teams I've been on, we've never talked about pitching around so-and-so. Bonds, yes. Pujols, yes. You might have a series where 'this guy won't beat us.' If he's hitting seventh, it's not going to be that guy."
-Pirates manager Clint Hurdle on third baseman Pedro Alvarez' .200/.270/.278 start to 2011. (J.R. Radcliffe, MLB.com)

"We made it very clear to every player we signed that we're hoping to look internally first to make our team better. Those three players are in Triple-A. Montgomery and Duffy figure to stay in Triple-A. We want to give them more experience there. With pitchers, if you think they're ready, give them another month. We don't like to send pitchers down. Pitchers are different than hitters. Pitchers are more fragile. You want to make sure these pitchers are ready."
-Royals general manager Dayton Moore on his approach to promoting players. (MurrayChass.com)

WHAT IS A SIGNED JEFF FRANCOEUR JERSEY REALLY WORTH, THOUGH?

"The defendant had a dream job that any Mets fan would die for—and he blew it. His greed is alleged to have gotten the better of him."
-Queens district attorney Richard Brown on former Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels' indictment in Queens Supreme Court.

"He has been a confidant of the players and a confidant to the organization. We are frankly after reviewing the indictment shocked at the nature of these allegations. The property that Mr. Samuels is alleged to have taken was his, authorized by the Mets to have it."
-Samuels' attorney Michael Bachner.

"This is a case of the equipment manager leading the National League in steals."
-New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly. (Lolita Lopez, Boston Herald)

THE REST

"There's more people wanting autographs. There's more people sticking around the hotels. An 18-year-old kid, and I want to protect him from some of the craziness and some of the hype. He's here to play baseball. He can be a fan favorite. I love the fact that he stops and signs autographs, but once he leaves this field and heads to the hotel he should have a little peace."
-Hagerstown Suns hitting coach Marlon Anderson on how Bryce Harper has handled himself while with the team. (Michael McGarry, Press of Atlantic City)

"I was the biggest skeptic of all. When they told me about this, I don't mind doing this case, I don't mind helping him, but don't expect this fella to go back to playing ball. He's 36, 37 years old, elbow and a shoulder injury, in a pitcher? Let's be realistic here."
-orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joseph Purita on the stem cell procedure he performed on Yankees starter Bartolo Colon. (Daniel Barbarisi, The Wall Street Journal)

"Let's just say that people in Tampa know if you're a first-round pick, and that even at 19 I could get into any bar I wanted to and not have to pay for anything."
-Yankees minor-league outfielder Slade Heathcott. (Gene Sapakoff, Charleston Post and Courier)

"Obviously, most of the guys profiling to come over here are guys that are going to hit a lot of home runs, but I don't have to hit as many as maybe other gaijin. They expected me to be the player that they thought I was capable of being in all the facets of the game: play good defense, run the bases, hit for average and hit some home runs along the way, too. That was a different style of player than they probably tried to go get in the past."
-Hanshin Tigers outfielder Matt Murton on his success in Japan. (Brad Lefton, The New York Times)

"When I left the organization they were in good shape. It was a team on the verge of being good, no bad contracts. If you could script an ending it would be hard to write a better one."
-Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers on returning to Petco Park this week. (Steve Gilbert, MLB.com)

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Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus.