Mark Shapiro Quotations | Page 2

He'll be a good major league player. It's just that the time frame didn't align with how this team has matured.

Boston is positioned extremely well for the future. They have a good farm system with upper-level players and a depth of pitching talent. They've rebuilt the farm system from a dilapidated system to a productive one. If they take a small step backward this year, at some point they will go on a run that will be an impressive run. They're a short period away.

There wasn't anything I felt significantly improved the production we're getting at those positions with a player we could retain for multiple years. There weren't that many guys who were a fit, and we weren't able to get those guys for what we thought was a reasonable price.

There are some subtle things to work on to become more consistent offensively and defensively, but nothing drastic. He's ready or close to ready. His time is coming very soon.

From a level of mental toughness and competitiveness, he has kind of reframed the standard for all of us in this organization. He made a big impact on our young starting pitchers.

It hasn't been very hard at this point. But from this point forward, almost all (of the cuts) are going to be hard. If not, we're in trouble.

We worked on that organization from the get-go,

We won't stand in the way of either one getting major league jobs. But just because we've made these decisions, that's not to say that either one couldn't be playing in Cleveland at some point this year.

We won't know until Monday night, but it's a realistic expectation.

The talent is obviously there, but we want him to get comfortable so that he doesn't think that he has to have a day like that all the time to impress.