Ben Cherington Quotes (19 Quotes)

It's a challenge because we all love winning. We're trying to find the balance between doing something that will make us happy today but could hurt us in the future. It's not necessarily true that making a move to help the team this season won't benefit us later.

Personally, it's been a distraction. It's been an interesting couple months. We've been short staffed, we've all been wearing a lot of different hats and there's a lot of gray area that we've never had in the past. Of course it's hard to focus on our farm

He was one of the youngest starting pitchers in the International League last year. He had some really, really good starts, and some mediocre ones. But for the overall numbers for a kid that young in Triple-A, it was a pretty good year.

That's up to Theo and Tito. It's hard for me to say after only seeing him in one outing. Obviously he has ability and there's a reason why he's here. There's a reason why he had the kind of success in college. There's a reason we made the level of commitment that we made to him. He's going to be a good major-league pitcher. When that happens, I honestly don't know.

For Murphy and Moss, there is no specific adjustment that we are looking for. More ABs against good competition will hasten their development. For Delgado, this is an opportunity to have him pitch in a more controlled environment than he would with a team in Venezuela, and gets him under our supervision.

Last year's team was a pretty young team. There were guys who got to Double-A for the first time and they held their own. We may feel, by the end of March, they could benefit from a little more time in Double-A.

We have to remember that this guy was pitching against Boston College and West Virginia this year, not Oakland and the Yankees.

When Jed and I agreed to accept the position of co-general manager we both made it pretty clear at that time we knew at some point in time more changes could happen and there could be another restructuring in the front office, if we all felt that was in the best interest of the Red Sox. That would mean Theo's return. So we see this as a successful outcome. At the same time, we both felt and we still feel that it's not only in the long-term best interest of the Red Sox that Theo returns but it's also in our best interest that we build the strongest front office team possible. We benefit from that, too.

He's a big, strong, athletic kid. He's got a good fastball with excellent movement and good sink. He's got a major-league slider. Obviously, the stuff is there and the ability is there. He needs to pitch a little bit more and get consistent outings.

He'll go into spring training as the closer and he'll have every opportunity to be the closer for 2006.

He was our hottest pitcher and we had a real need. We thought it was the best thing we could do for the major-league team.

There seems to be this predestined path that he's going to be in the major leagues soon. It's like anything else it is up to opportunity and his performance. He's only had 10 pro outings, and that's really not a good sample size for us to say 'Yeah, he's the guy.' But, maybe he'll prove that he is.

It became clear that his bat was not going to progress to the point where it would take him to the big leagues. We talked about the notion of putting him on the mound for a long time. Ultimately, we were waiting for him to really want to do it.

We had an opportunity to add a high-end premium arm to the system. We felt he was close enough to the big leagues to warrant that type of contract. We were well aware of what type of commitment it would take before we took him.

It's hard because the New York Yankees have double the money we do so it's a challenge to use our farm system even more. Everyone focuses on Major League moves because that's what people watch, but they don't realize it all stems from the Minors.

The word prospect means absolutely nothing to us. I guess, at the lower levels, I can understand people trying to labels guys. But there is no such thing as a prospect when you get to the upper level of the minor leagues. You either play well or you don't. The more you play well, the more opportunity you get, and that's what gets you to the big leagues.

The day that Jed and I were announced as co-general managers, I made it clear that I would welcome the opportunity to work with Theo again. That day will come early next week, and I am looking forward to it.

David had a strong finish to 2005 and made a good impression in big-league camp. We simply believe that there are still things for him to accomplish at the Double-A level. . . . He's got a very bright future.

We made it clear at that time, as Larry said, that we hoped that it would leave the light on for Theo to return. The word 'momentum' has been used by Larry and Theo, and that's a good word. It continued after that news conference and the fact that he is returning is a successful outcome for all of us.