LOSING THE WORLD SERIES NEVER FELT SO GOOD
“I’m just waiting for that moment when everything slows down and I can do something like that, and I’m going to have to be by myself. I can’t stop and really filter all this. I’m very grateful and all that, but I really haven’t sat back. And I’m so looking forward to spring training.”
–Rays manager Joe Maddon
“This the cherry on top. The whole season long. We were rooting for him. He made it. He did it, and now he brought it all back home. We’re so proud of him, it’s just been wonderful.”
–Carmine Parlatore, Joe Maddon’s sister
“We really thought we were going to win, we really did, even though it was kind of a difficult moment, difficult circumstances. We all figured we were going to figure it out somehow and pull it out somehow, we really did. And then it was over, and it was like, ‘You mean there’s no game tomorrow? Because we haven’t finished our business yet.'”
–Maddon (Bill Chastain, MLB.com)
HE DID IT FOR THE FANS
“I don’t think there’s any question that at the start of the season, everyone knew the Celtics and the Lakers were going to be the two to beat and they were going to contend. They’ve had a salary cap for years.”
-Super-agent Scott Boras, on why salary caps don’t create parity in sports.
“I think the second thing is that the fans, in much like going to the movies or such, that they have the opportunity to go to games because the pricing on the seats are so variable, and that we’re able to have 81 games and the ability to keep the fan base intact.”
–Boras
“The Yankees have their own economy and they have their own fan base. I think the people in New York are tremendously excited about what’s coming for the New York Yankees, and that’s really what their job is. They set up a plan and a system whereby they would only lose one draft pick and sign three major free agents this way, by calculating both their payroll deduction of $88 million and placing themselves in a marketplace where there were three extraordinary players to sign. I think it was an excellent strategic plan, and their budget will be arguably less than last year.”
–Boras (Darren Rovell, CNBC)
EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD
“I told him that I was very happy in Arizona, that I was very excited about the organization that the Diamondbacks had become, and that the only thing that would turn my head would be the possibility of returning to California, particularly Southern California.”
–Jeff Moorad, former CEO of the Snakes, and Padres owner-to-be.
“I think sports teams will be challenged going forward as all businesses will be in the short term, but I’m bullish on baseball, and I’m particularly bullish on baseball in Southern California. I think we’ve shown in Arizona there are ways to not only survive but win, even on a medium-sized market payroll.”
–Moorad
“Jeff believes in going after draft picks. You’ve got to remember: Jeff cut his teeth in the baseball business representing draft players.”
–Scott Boras
“Jeff has established himself through the years with us, and I think Major League Baseball, from discussions I’ve had with them directly, would be comfortable with him controlling an ownership group with another club.”
–Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick (Nick Piecoro, Arizona Republic)
REHAB IS SCREWING UP MY HUNTING SEASON TOO
“It’s not that long, 45 minutes or something like that, but it’s tedious, boring exercises where you kind of feel like you’re not getting anything done while you’re doing it. But in essence you are, because you’re strengthening muscles you probably never used before.”
–Rockies first baseman Todd Helton
“It’s killed a good hunting season, there’s no doubt about that. Basically, when you get up at 5:30 or whatever to go hunt, it’s hard to work out after that.”
–Helton
“The days you wake up and [think], ‘I don’t want to do this tedious BS,’ that’s the reason you do it. It’s something I’m going to have to do the rest of my playing career, maybe longer. But I’m willing to do it.”
–Helton (Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News)
PLUS, THEY’VE TOLD ME SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS NO PROBLEM HERE, SO I’M SET
“I said, man, I’ve got to work year-round, every day on this because there’s something new all the time. It really opened my eyes. With the network, it’s 24-hour baseball; if you want to see baseball, it’s there, you don’t have to worry that it won’t be there.”
-MLB Network host Harold Reynolds
“We own the network, so we can be there as long as we have to be. We can go a lot deeper than ‘Baseball Tonight’ did. If we want to get into something, there’s no rush to get out.”
–Reynolds
“Forty-five pages on the hit-and-run. No thank you.”
-WFAN radio personality Mike Francesa, on the burgeoning MLB Network.
THE REST
“I think the Yankees have really fallen into a trap of worrying about what the other people are doing, as compared to what’s most important to their team sometimes. I think the Red Sox over the course of the last eight years or so have really proven they can pass up on guys. It seems like their plan for the future is a little more in depth than the Yankees.”
-Free-agent catcher Doug Mirabelli (Mike Eckhert, Travis City Record-Eagle)
“The A’s were so smart grabbing Holliday even if they don’t keep him. Look at free-agent hitters for 2010, and Holliday is pretty much on an island by himself. The A’s have positioned themselves well.”
–Anonymous American League general manager
“I know this is the big one, but really, I don’t spend too much time thinking about it either way. I don’t talk about it too much, either. People ask me all the time, and I’d be thrilled to be inducted. It would be one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. People say I should get in this time because nobody who has reached that percentage hasn’t gotten in. But I could always be the first.”
-Baseball Hall of Fame candidate Jim Rice (Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe)
“I’m healthy and ready to go. I’m looking forward to putting last year out of my mind.”
–Gary Sheffield
“I am approaching this season as the last of my career. If I’m not satisfied with myself at the end of 2009, I will hang up my spikes. I’ve always wanted to go out on a positive note.”
-Hanwha Eagles’ pitcher Song Jin-woo, the Korean leader in wins. (JoongAng Daily)
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Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus.
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