Don Cooper Quotes (56 Quotes)


    Even if you've had just five days off, with that crowd and a game of that magnitude, you're going to have a lot of energy. You have to harness it, and if you bring that energy to the glove, you have a chance to bring something really special to it.

    I'm aware of it. What do I think Flattering, interesting, ... George Steinbrenner and the Yankees there's no more winning organization.

    He's had some lumps, and recent health issues, but the guy can pitch, and if we can hang on, the postseason is a place where he can perform.

    I think the attitude he now brings into this season is because he knows what he's got. He's a very confident guy, and he believes in that stuff, the way he should.

    First of all, passing judgment on the guy, that's kind of strong. (The starting staff all) showed us what they can do. We know what they're capable of doing. Heck, they're capable of winning a World Championship.


    He talked the team's executives into letting him try to pitch out of the bullpen at year's end and then found himself on the playoff roster in place of young Brandon McCarthy, who pitched well the last month of the regular season after being called up in late August. We took some heat for putting El Duque on the roster, but we had to go with our heads and not our heart, ... He told us he could do it. I don't know how old he is but he's got the mind and the body of a 25-year-old. He's been through this stuff before. He's been in big situations before. But I don't think he's ever been in stuff like this before.

    I think that game might have permanently etched Buehrle's name in White Sox history and maybe even begun a legacy type of thing. It couldn't have happened at a better time or a bigger moment.

    His confidence is where it needs to be.

    You knew who was the boss. That's a refreshing thing now. Here in Chicago, the inmates don't run the asylum. They're held accountable. They know what the rules are.

    As time goes, I think that is going to loom bigger and bigger not only in playoff history, but in White Sox history.

    I don't know, nor do I really care, about what went on in New York with Jose. I think Contreras' future is ahead of him.

    Mac needs to come into spring ready to get a lot of innings. I'm not going to say he's our long guy or our seventh-inning guy or a spot starter, but he is a reliever right now until further notice.

    I sit back and wait for Kenny to do stuff, and I know he will be doing things, and I've never been disappointed. We've made great moves to make our team stronger and created chances for young guys to prove themselves. That sort of thing always seems to be true of the best teams.

    My perception was that he was a great physical specimen, and what a worker. He didn't have as much confidence in himself as he should, wasn't as aggressive as he should be, and we began a process - and it was a process - of getting him to believe in himself.

    Hey, everything is up for grabs. Nobody is jumping up, so we will look in-house here, down below.

    It would be a lot better for the staff and our coaches to know that he is more available. There were times last year when we didn't want to use him, and certainly there were times where he was ready and we didn't use him. We need him ready to go.

    What I know about him is that he has a good power arm. Obviously, he has struggled with his command from time to time and been erratic from time to time.

    What it means to me when he says that is, OK, we might have to get out a little earlier and do a little more inside. Come out here a little bit earlier. Make sure we get enough throwing in, long toss, and then get on the mound and get a good workout. Break a sweat before we leave.

    Good pitchers, after a tough outing, bounce back. Real good pitchers don't let too many poor games get in there.

    We haven't utilized it yet, because we just don't have the personnel right now. We play our six most talented people. Most of the elite teams are using them, because it gives a smaller player who has good defensive skills an opportunity to play the back row more often than just three rotations.

    He's a good, quality guy, and we have to get him back to when he was at his best, which looks like when he was with Montreal. It's nice to have that sort of quality you can count on. Every time we ran out one of our six starters last year, we felt like we had a chance to win. There's no change at all with this group.

    He's the only guy in baseball who has been through the things Jose's been through, who can relate to him. Jose has a great support system here. He's exorcized a lot of demons - beating Boston, beating the Yankees, pitching well in the postseason. I don't know if it was impatience or what it was in New York, I'm just glad we got him.

    My job is basically to coach the people who are there. Everyone in baseball knows, though, that Vazquez is a high-quality pitcher.

    He's an interesting character. There are days when A.J. has that look, and you know that no matter what you have to say, he's going to say the opposite.

    Trust me, this is a problem we love having.

    He told me that he really felt the pressure pitching in New York and trying to live up to all the money,

    They went through the last two years something I wouldn't wish on anybody because of all their physical problems, ... That's an amazing job Mel did. Maybe the only job in baseball as complicated as managing the Yankees is being pitching coach for the Yankees.

    Basically, we had to remake him. We worked on his delivery to speed him up and get him to hold runners better. He was also tipping his pitches. But most of all we needed to instill confidence in him.

    I bet if you asked McCarthy about pitching in the bullpen, developing, getting his feet wet and learning a new tool to make himself an asset to the organization and to benefit himself, or whether he wants to go to Triple-A and pitch, you know the answer.

    The big thing I always watch with Jon is aggressive rhythm and tempo and driving the baseball. If you're not coming at a hitter with the first three pitches to dictate the count, what are you doing You're either gonna suffer a slow death, or maybe you'll survive. You're not looking for either one of those outcomes. You're looking to dominate. So let's go. Let's get after them.

    He's got toughness, heart and he's pretty calm. He's been in some pretty big moments for a 24-year-old guy coming up from Double-A. And he's really handled it.

    A lot of people had us dead before the division race was over. But our players didn't buy into that.

    Every individual has been attended to. But you can't simulate what it's like unless you pump 50,000 people into the stands.

    If you're a weak mental guy, it can get to you. Whether you have two minutes rest or two weeks rest, you're going to have energy. Control that energy, bring your stuff to the glove and I guarantee we'll have a real good chance of getting people out.

    I always expect good performances out of our starters, want them to go deep and believe in them -- but what they did is way above and beyond my expectations and those of a lot of other people.

    Again, I'm concerned about a lot of things, being the pitching coach. Freddy being good wasn't one of them. I know Freddy is good. We all know what he could do. My main concern was the other day when he looked for that fastball, it wasn't there. But you know what Maybe it just wasn't time.

    Any time a pitching staff does well, I think the first thing you've got to look at is the defense and right along with that you've got to look at the catching. The catcher holds the brain. He's the guy that everybody is looking at to be the leader and take control of the game and keep that pace going. With A.J. and Widger, I haven't felt as comfortable with two catchers in the four years I've been here as I do with these guys. They remember the game plan and they carry it out. That's one of the reasons why we've had the kind of pitching staff we've had this year.

    I don't foresee him here anytime before the All-Star break. If he could get better and give us a half like he did last year n the second half (in 2006) instead of the first half.

    This is still the guy who won the fourth game of the World Series for us. I'm not going to draw conclusions from one day.

    It's almost going to be like Opening Day. They're physically going to be strong, and they'll have to control the adrenaline, like Garland did Friday night. They're going to have to deal with it.

    I don't think anybody could tell you, 'Yeah we were expecting three CGs against a club like that.' It's pretty amazing. I don't know, maybe I should stop being amazed by these guys.

    It's his first full season in the big leagues, so he has a challenge ahead of him. The challenge is to harness those four great pitches he has. If he can throw to the glove this year, it's game over.

    I don't care what he uses, as long as at the end of the night we've got six, seven, eight innings out of his butt with a chance to win the game. We've been picking it up as a staff. It would be great to get another little shot in the arm where, 'Hey, Garland is getting it going boys. Here's another guy on board.

    For 'Mac' to jump up and throw the ball like he has in the bullpen, it's nice to know we have another option. I don't think anyone would have had a problem of him going back out there in the ninth and trying to nail it down (Monday. It's a good thing. It's a good problem to have. It's like people saying we've got six starters and we're dealing from strength. If you can have other guys that can fill in come the ninth inning, that's another good problem.

    Once the cloud lifted when we clinched, that black cloud of doom - hey, you know what, we've seen the white light,

    All of our guys have the ability if they are behind in the counts to go soft,

    I didn't ask him about the back. But I'm not going to ask him about it anymore. If he's able to go Sunday (his next scheduled appearance), he'll be there. I don't think he felt great because of some of the movements he was making in the dugout, but it's going to be Can he manage the pain.

    The level of competition in Cuba isn't the same as it is in the major leagues. It's about Triple-A. Contreras went (to New York) and was expected to win right away and that wasn't realistic.

    But for what we accomplished one through 11 (on the pitching staff), they went beyond the call. We got 99 wins in the regular season, plus the AL Division Series and four complete games in the ALCS. I know we'll give it all our best in the World Series.

    It's flattering, but right now to me it's all words. I've been here 19 years. My loyalty, my focus, my passion is here.


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