Jed Hoyer Good Quotations

We've got some options. We're making a lot of phone calls. We're working towards it. We have a list of guys we're going after. We're going after them hard. We're very confident we'll have a very good center fielder in 2006.

He knows, like Manny (Ramirez), we're trying to deal him, but there have been no threats made to us about spring training. He's been pretty good on the phone, understanding our situation. He won 15 games and is a very good pitcher, so we need to get a very good deal for him. Generally, the conversations we've had with him have been very positive. He understands that we need to get fair value for him in the market.

We have made a good faith effort to meet his request. We've done that. We've talked to a number of teams and obviously we haven't done a deal that's worked for us. But I know that he is happy that we've done that.

Tito talked to him in the last day or so. He was excited to go. He's ready for Spring Training. He feels good and we think he'll definitely bounce back.

We got some pieces to fill but we're working hard to do that. I think generally we feel really good about where we are. We've added depth in places where we hadn't had depth. The pitching and defense is very good right now. I think we're adding a couple more pieces on the team. I think if we do that, we'll be in great shape.

I think he understands he is a very good pitcher and we need to get fair value for him in the market. If we can do that, we'll move him to a West Coast team. He hasn't been impolite with us. He hasn't been too demanding.

I think Manny knows that we have made a good faith effort to meet his ... request.

We've inquired with teams about other center fielders. We would be irresponsible not to. We're confident that we can work it out and we're going to have a good center fielder.

I think the biggest thing is the pitching. I think last year we gave up too many runs. Our run prevention wasn't good enough. I think that's something we focused on. In addition to Beckett, there was strengthening in the bullpen. We need to get better at preventing runs. We led the Major Leagues in runs the last three years. We know we can score runs. The biggest question is preventing runs. That's what we're working on. We're still going to score runs. We're confident with that.

We've added depth in places where we hadn't had depth. The pitching and defense is very good right now.

We have a lot of confidence in Cora. Tito loves him and he's such a smart player. This guy's had a good on-base percentage several years with the Dodgers.