Jim Bowden Quotations

Brian is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball and we're glad to be able to keep him in Washington for at least the next four years. It is the goal of any organization to sign, develop and then retain their own homegrown players, and this is what we've accomplished with Brian's contract.

Brandon Watson gave all of us the impression he would help us more out of the gate than Church would. We didn't want Church to sit on the bench. He's got too much talent.

Brian continues to be one of the best defensive catchers in the game, shutting the running game down. Offensively, his on-base percentage and slugging percentage continue to improve every single year. His strikeouts continue to be reduced every year.

There's a risk when you make deals. When I made the Ken Griffey Jr. trade in Cincinnati everybody said, 'This is one of the best trades in baseball. Congratulations.' Then he was hurt for four years and it was a horrible trade. That's part of the game. Obviously, if we knew this trade was going to play out this way, we wouldn't have done it.

I don't talk about contract negotiations through the media. I didn't do that with Nick Johnson or Brian Schneider.

If they're going to pay $450 million for the team, ... they should have a voice in those decisions.

There's just a difference of opinion. There's kind of an agreement to disagree on where he falls.

I just don't want to be embarrassed. That's all I ask.

He always has had a live arm. We thought he would really help us down the stretch when we started getting injuries. We thought we were close to a deal.

This spring training has been the most bizarre spring training I've ever been a part of in my career. I've never been a part of anything like this. It's been the most un-fun, and to me, it's been one nightmare after another. It's like I'm working for the fire department, just putting out fires every day. It hasn't been fun.