Dusty Baker Sure Quotations

We're going to give him as much playing time as possible this week, so we can make up our mind. I'm sure when you get to this point in your career you consider all the possibilities, and I'm sure he's doing some evaluation of his own abilities. So, yeah, these are important days for him.

No. 1, you have to make sure he's OK so this thing doesn't linger all year long. Fortunately for us, he did get some at-bats during the World Baseball Classic and the fact that he did pretty well shows he's not that far off. He saw better quality pitching in that than he would down here. It was to his advantage and ours that he did play.

I would say he's not where he was last year at this time, yet. Sometimes you have to hit with your mind. I'm sure he can do it.

I got no one to root for. I sure as heck ain't rooting for the White Sox or Cardinals.

I'd like to get it done, most definitely. I'm sure he'd like to get it done. We'd like to keep him here, and he'd like to stay here. They're not called negotiations because people agree right off the bat. Sometimes these things take a little time.

Carlos was awesome last night. It seemed like he was having fun and it seemed like the team was having fun. I'm sure he's glad he went.

Carlos was awesome. It seemed like he was having fun, his team was having fun. I'm sure he's glad he went. It's huge. It's probably bigger than the Sox-Cubs rivalries.

He went that long on a team that's not playing well without being re-signed. I'm sure it came through his mind. Whenever anybody gets fired, it's tough.

His velocity appears to be up, his location was good. I'm sure he's not happy about not covering first base. He's been working on it, and we've been making him very conscious of it, but the way he falls off, I don't know, it just looks like he has a lapse or something. Other than that, he threw the ball good.

He likes doing that. He's actually been pretty good at it. Right now, we're using him like that. I'm not sure if that's how he'll pitch. We're trying to get guys innings.

You know it's there, but you don't really see it. Guys don't discuss it or talk about it much. It's something you have little control over. I'm sure some guys are conscious of it and aware of it, but until it happens, you can't do anything about it.

You still play hard, which is the only way he knows how to play. But you just make sure you play smart along with it.

It was supposed to be a promotional thing, but it's hard to be out there and be good at it and not do something. It's too late now, but I'm sure they won't have any other promotions.

It was a tough decision for him. I'm sure his country would love to have him. We both would love to have him. He's a heck of a player. He wrestled with this for a while. You want to represent your country but, at the same time, you want to make sure you're healthy for the season, too.

It's the same with pitching. You talk to Greg Maddux and I'm sure he has a game plan, but he also sometimes can feel when a guy is looking inside or if a guy is looking for something else or it depends on which pitch he takes and how he takes it. Some guys get it early, some guys get it late, some guys never get it.

I've got to talk to him first. I'm sure he wants to get back to .500.

It's very encouraging. I'm sure he'll probably have a headache.

I'm sure there is no miracle drug that's going to make it go away right away.

I'm sure he'd like to end the year pitching, knowing Woody. If we can get him in there, we'll try to do that.

I'm sure something will work out for him. I certainly don't think he's through. Injuries have hurt him the last couple of years. I'm hoping he gets a job.

I mean the guy, he's progressing like we said. Mark's going good. I asked him. I get tired of asking how he's doing, actually. And I'm sure he's tired of answering the questions himself.

If you know Carlos, when was the last time you saw Carlos take it easy? This is something out of our hands. The main thing we want to do is make sure he's in the best shape. After he leaves here, he's out of our domain and control except for reports.

He's working his butt off trying to get back. He always works. He's trying to get back and help us. I'm sure it's eating him up not to be out there.

You've got to make sure he's OK so this thing doesn't linger all year long. You saw the difference some last year in the second half after he hurt it.