Dave Littlefield Quotes on Time (13 Quotes)

So far, it's not been good. He's part of that young group we have, and you've got to continue to watch how they perform. If it goes well, you give more opportunities. If it doesn't, over time, you've got to look at how many performances at a below-average rate he gets.

He showed some power at the lower minor league levels, but as we got to the time where we had to put him on our roster, he didn't hit many home runs, he showed no power and there were concerns about his defense. We tried him at different positions, but we thought of him more as an American League guy. We didn't see the power that came later. Obviously, we were wrong.

We understand that we have four pitchers in particular that are works in progress and trying to get established at the Major League level. As far as changing roles, there's a lot of different things we've got for options, but we're basically going to give them a little bit of time to see how things go.

We'll do nothing for the time being. We've faced a lot of left-handers early on. We'll give them more at-bats and see how things go.

Those are some challenges some young guys have to face, even guys as talented as he is. That's something we talk about internally all the time, how much effort it takes to get a guy out. Those 100 pitches in the major leagues are a heck of a lot tougher than those 100 pitches at the minor league level.

I don't think one win-total number defines the season but, at the same time, you want to make strides and improve the record. Getting by .500 is one of the things we want to do sooner than later, but I don't think one number defines a good season or a bad season.

The end game is not the whether he makes the team April 1. The end game is that we want this guy to have a long career for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We think he can do that. He just needs a little more time to keep building things up and getting sharper after missing the time he did.

Obviously, we've got limited time, and it takes timing to be major-league ready. You don't go from zero to 100.

It shows he's rusty and needs more time.

We still have him for an extended period of time, but we feel it makes sense to make him an offer. He's mature, he's intelligent, he's humble and he's courteous. He is a professional, and with that he gives you a feeling of trust as to how he will keep performing.

As we evaluated Shelton at that point in time we definitely liked his bat. But the thing we weren't confident about was his defense and where he was going to be able to play defensively.

At this point, he just isn't ready, performance-wise. He needs some time in the Minor Leagues to get things back together where he feels and we would feel he could compete at the Major League level.

To find shortstops who play defensively like he does ... there are very few guys out there who do. This is a player we wanted to have for a long time.