Ron Gardenhire Season Quotations

He's going to be out a good amount of time. I'm not going to say he's going to be out for the rest of the season because Torii bounces back pretty good. But you add it all up, and it's close.

You like to give them a month into the season to see what happens.

To me, starting the season with people less than 100 percent is very, very scary. I'm not talking about a little bit of a sore shoulder or something you play through, but I'm talking about muscle pulls and those types of things. Those come back and all of a sudden you're out.

There's concern with everybody. What if one of your pitchers ends up in the bullpen? How is he going to be ready for the season without getting innings?

I'm not going to expect too much of him. We want to take it nice and slow and not put too much pressure on him. I do believe he's going to help our team sometime this year, even if he starts the season in the minors.

I'm sure hoping it's not going to be like that all year. That would be a tough thing to have to deal with. That's why you take precautions now in Spring Training, so once you start season everyone is healthy.

But if guys aren't even close, you've got to start looking at maybe making changes. You definitely like to give them at least a month into the season and see where we're at.

He told me they didn't play him at all in a position in Spring Training, and then they get to the season and half way through they start him in the outfield. We just need to get him out there so he can see balls off bats and try to get him acclimated.

He's not only a powerful hitter, he's a quality person. We know what he can do, and if we need him this season we won't hesitate to call him up.