Derrek Lee Quotes (48 Quotes)


    From here, you just try to get to .500, I guess. And if we get to .500, you kind of go from there. Right now, you need to look at the small picture instead of the big picture. Take it a day at a time and get some wins.

    I was really nervous. You don't want things out of your control.

    It's easy to take a team like South Africa lightly because we didn't know anything about them. But we didn't and we played well today.

    I said, 'If we get here, I sign the deal -- simple as that. Jim and I have a pretty good relationship where we can talk. We talked a couple of times here at the end. He knew where I was coming from, and that helped smooth things out.

    I heard that they would talk in the spring, but that's about it. I think my future is here. I like it here. I want to win here. I see myself being here, but a lot of it is out of my control. If it works out, great, but it's out of my control.


    I'm telling you, it was horrible. I told my agent if we lose, I'm moving out of the country.

    Now that I'm here, it's going to be weird to leave the team. But it's a great opportunity.

    Today I felt proud. I felt like the whole country was watching.

    I can't say I normally get that one. It was a tough hop, hit-or-miss. I got my glove on it, but it didn't stay.

    I don't see why not. At minimum, you're going to play four, five innings per game, so you're going to get your two or three at-bats. It's pretty much the same thing you do here. Work out in the morning and get your at-bats during the game.

    It's a nice number. I'm just looking forward to being healthy and going for 300.

    He's a blue-collar guy who works hard, plays hard. And he's an exciting guy to watch with his speed and the style he plays.

    I don't think you ever envision a contract like this. You are just kind of playing the game. You see guys signing these contracts, but you don't really see yourself signing that contract. It's a great day for myself and my family.

    It's been tough. We didn't fulfill our expectations, so it will make for a long winter.

    We didn't play well here last year. We played well on the road (41-40) last season, but we didn't play well here and it hurt us. We have to establish a home-field advantage because we do have one.

    Every time the other team has made a mistake, we've taken advantage of it. And, fortunately, we haven't made very many mistakes.

    He's going to pitch till he's 50. I don't understand it. He needs to sign with someone quick. The way he looked today, I've got a feeling he's going to sign with somebody.

    I think tonight or tomorrow morning will be it. I just don't want to continue to worry about it and talk about it.

    I think he's the best, period, in center field. Defense gets overlooked. But some days, even if you aren't going good offensively, you can bring good defense and help your team.

    You're still playing baseball. It's not like you're playing golf or something like that. You are playing on a competitive basis and whenever you get that adrenaline going early, it could help.

    I'm just proud to be a part of this team and this organization.

    Same way as I always do. I put pressure on myself to perform the best way I can every day. I take it as a challenge to go out there and perform at my highest level. You don't worry about outside influences.

    We'll see tomorrow (Wednesday). The Cubs don't want me to play, but if I feel like I can play, I'm going to play. I'm not going to be stupid about it, but if I feel like I'm not hurting anything, I'm going to play.

    You kind of look at the market and see where players comparable to you are. And you find a number you think is fair for you. I told my agent this number pretty much from the very beginning. I said it's as simple as that, we get here and I sign the deal. It's a simple as that.

    It was a comparable thing to the World Series for me. I had to calm myself down so I didn't miss a base going around.

    We didn't play well here last year, and it hurt us. We need to establish a home-field advantage.

    We just want to win as many games as we can and finish strong. I don't care who's in the playoffs. If we're not in the playoffs, it doesn't make any difference.

    I don't think balls are going to be flying into the street like they were the last couple years, but it looks good.

    I don't think it's so much the number of at-bats as how you are feeling in spring. Sometimes you feel good in 10 sometimes it takes 60.

    It's nice to get it over and put it behind me. Now I can focus on baseball and winning games.

    We've got to perform. All the pressure's on us. We're expected to win this thing.

    Right now we need to look at the small picture instead of the big picture. Just try to get to .500, I guess, and go from there.

    With the wind like that, you never know if a ball is going to go out. It barely got out.

    When that ball got out, it was like, man, such a proud feeling. When you hit one in the season, it's like, OK, you did your job. This was more like hitting a ball for your whole country.

    I feel like I've improved every year. I've worked on some things. I understand the reasons I do certain things. So I feel like I can have another great season.

    We have the team. We're balanced and athletic. Our bench is great, and our bullpen depth is better. We just need to worry about each day and go from there. We need our pitchers healthy, and this spring looks good as far as health.

    I was shocked he threw it that well that far. I figured he would try to throw it to the cutoff man. But I think he knew the wind was behind him and he tried to use it to his advantage.

    He definitely lost his focus today. After he got it back, he shut them down.

    We're playing for our country, so it's going to be a lot of pride. The intensity is going to be high. I'm excited. It's going to be fun.

    I think most players are involved in the negotiations, to some extent. Jim and I have a pretty good relationship where we can talk. I think that helped things. We talked a couple of times here at the end. He knew where I was coming from and I knew where he was coming from.

    As of right now, I haven't talked about it. If it comes up, yeah, I think it needs to be done before the season. I don't really want that burden of thought. I want to concentrate on the game.

    I felt like I wasn't being aggressive. I was taking the wrong approach. I was being passive. ... The first two games, I was taking pitches down the middle, which I hadn't gotten in a while.

    I said Saturday was the deadline, because I really want to focus on baseball. Hopefully they can close the gap and finish it off and do the little stuff. Sounds like they're close, but if there is a gap ...

    As soon as I heard we might be able to get him, I told him to keep in touch. This morning he called me and he said, 'Yeah, it happened. It's true.' Chicago is going to fall in love with this guy. He is the hardest-working guy I have ever seen. He'll play 162 games unless he breaks a limb. He is going to bring energy to our team. He's just the type of guy that we have needed. He is going to set the table offensively.

    Each loss makes it tougher. But we're not out of it.

    If it doesn't get done, we'll move on. I'm always optimistic, so hopefully it works out. I just don't want to worry about it or talk about it. That's the only reason for the deadline. Either way, I'm fine. I'll continue to play and focus on winning baseball games.

    I think there's still racism, not only in baseball, but everywhere. I think it gets better, but it's not going to go away. Racism will always be there. The quicker you realize that, the better off you'll be.

    Except for a few pitches, he pitched great. We really wanted to give him the win. It was a gutsy performance by him. We couldn't get enough runs for him and it's a little frustrating.


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