Dave Duncan Needs Quotations

Looper is important to our bullpen. Can it be a good bullpen? Yes, if somebody else steps up if he isn't what we expect him to be right away. The key is getting him to do the things he needs to be doing.

Reyes needs to pitch innings. He needs to show us he can go out there consistently. Hopefully, he'll get 180 innings.

He needs to show he can pitch an entire season without being injured. Pitching 180 innings in the minor leagues is a steppingstone to pitching 200 in the major leagues.

He's just trying to do too much. Is it because he goes 4-5 (in his last nine starts before the game)? Somewhere in there you do something different, and if you get off your game it's easy to talk about and not easy to get back on it. He needs to get back on his game.

It looks to me like he's trying to be too fine. He's getting behind in the count too much. When he does know he has to throw a strike, it's in the top of the strike zone. He needs to be more aggressive early in the counts - not as concerned inside and outside as he is up and down ... mostly down. He can go to the corners when he controls the counts.

I don't think (Looper) is where he needs to be yet, and I don't think he thinks he's where he wants to be yet. I know he's not because we talked about it. It's a long season. I think it's more important we concentrate our efforts into getting him into some games and some situations where it's not critical. That way he can re-establish himself before we start putting him into difficult situations. He agreed with me.

He's not locating the ball where he needs to locate the ball.