Sparky Lyle Quotations

We feel that we are in pretty good shape heading into spring training. I like the experienced staff we are bringing in and hopefully that will lead to a lot of wins this season.

There are two things going on. Do we have the money to sign another player? That's probably something we'll talk about tonight, but we can't go into the season without a shortstop.

I don't know who is going to lead off -- whoever can run the best. Maybe George. He can take pitches and he makes contact.

I can't see us trying to steal a base in a 0-0 game until the late innings. We'll have to see how that one plays out.

He's great defensively, and I'm sure he can hit a little bit.

He's definitely got the tools. He's accurate and he could hit with any of the big hitters on the tour.

He's going to play the rest of the way out.

He was safe, no if ands or butts about it. That was one of the worst calls of the year. That wasn't even a contest. It changes the whole thing.

Jeff has been a big part of our success the past three years. He's been one of the top offensive threats each year and he continues to be the best third baseman this league has seen.

Larry has the experience we are looking for at first base. He's a veteran who was just recently in Triple-A, and we feel he'll do well in our league.

We had a lot of success last season with guys that came with major-league experience. I'm glad to see that we're going to have about five pitchers with big-league time with us to start the year.

When you sign some new guys, you are selling them on the league. Joe Klein has been very good about it. Sometimes he has apologized, and sometimes he has said deal with it. Moaning about it just made everyone else think bad about it.

When George found out about it, it was church.

We always try to get some new players because they bring a freshness. But we're not going to not take somebody (back) if the new guy isn't that good.

We feel that Fernando and Travis are going to give us a lot of depth at the catching position. Fernando ... was one of our strengths in the playoffs, and we're glad to have him back.

Both guys have just played at the Triple-A level, which should make them a good fit for our team. Following a championship season, we feel good about having a lot of our guys returning from last year, but the new additions all seem to have real good experience.

Billy actually passed the pitcher but I thought that the pitcher got the corner of the bag and Billy got the middle. It was close.

Down the road, with our depth, how can you rest guys? I hope we can make adjustments, because the only way we're going to change the team is to upgrade.

The thing is you (pitchers) can't be messing around with the guys in the front of the order. Eventually, it will catch up with you. They could be the best at those positions (in the batting order) in the league.

That's how you get to learn pitchers, and he is adapting to that very well. Brett is very astute at what he's doing. He's taking it seriously and getting a good read.

You're always happy when you can get a Triple-A or big-league pitcher because most, as a whole, know what they are doing. Finding a way to win a game or go five innings when you don't have your best stuff is what pitching is all about.

They threw the ball well. Pitching, for being the first time out, was pretty good on both sides.

There's been good pitching, but the hitters' hands are cold and they are just trying to keep them warm.

The best part of it was we shut their offense down. I knew we had the pitching to do what we've got to do and what we can do.

Sylvester was very good. He threw the ball hard.

It's very hard to repeat because your team gets dismantled every year. The biggest thing for us last year was winning the first-half title, and that will be our goal again.

I knew this guy was a bona fide closer, but to see him go out and throw, he is very very good. A lot of times you don't know about these guys until you see them a couple times, but he is very legitimate. He goes about his work seriously but still has a good time.

I really don't know why. I know one thing: My guys go out there and play hard for me. That is such a confidence booster for me.

He arrived here and said he was ready to throw, and he was not kidding around. The way he is throwing now, I can't see us having him for the whole year.