“As long as it's done in the next three weeks, even month, you'll be fine. If it were to drag on, and now you lose this offseason, then it would be an issue. But baseball's aware of that. They're not going to let that happen.”
“At a certain point, we have to walk the talk. How many meetings can you have? This isn't a corporation. This is baseball. I want to see the talking on the field.”
“He's not a player I'd like to have to compete on the free agent market for, because he's so special. So I think this is a deal that needed to be done. I don't think it could have waited.”
“Brian continues to be one of the best defensive catchers in the game, shutting the running game down. Offensively, his on-base percentage and slugging percentage continue to improve every single year. His strikeouts continue to be reduced every year.”
“You have to look at it from a global perspective. As we advance baseball in other countries and some day end up with a real World Series, this is a great step in that direction. Hopefully it's a great step long-term from a revenue perspective for our industry.”
“The first thing I did when I came in last November was study all of the reports from all of our scouts, ... Dana, by far, stood out among everyone as a premier evaluator. He has a tremendous ability to evaluate amateurs, and a tremendous ability to evaluate pitchers in general.”
“I felt it was very important that this franchise retain him and not lose him. I spoke very strongly on his behalf. For the new owner's sake, Dana was an important asset that they needed. With the approval of the Commissioner's office, we agreed to terms with Dana.”
