Joe Girardi Quotes (229 Quotes)

create runs when we need to. We will look to expose weaknesses of other clubs. There are a lot of clubs that don't have the ability to hold runners on. I'm not going to sit back and wait for runs to be driven in. If we can create runs, we're going to do it.

I think you'll see a lot more intensity in this camp.

I don't think Hanley lacks confidence. I think Hanley is not surprised that he made that play last night. Now, he might have surprised some of his teammates who haven't seen him play on a daily basis. But I don't think Hanley is surprised he made that play. He went a long ways over. I'm not surprised at what he does.

I talk to Joe on a pretty regular basis. I talk to him about situations and advice. I'm anxious to see him. He's always been good to me as a player, as a coach. He gave me a ton of responsibilities last year. He's someone you can model yourself after, not only as a manager, but as a person.

If they truly in their heart want to represent their country they should because that's special. If it was something that was every year ... but you never know when you're going to get a chance again. I would never tell a player not to play or you lessen your chance to make this club. It's not going to lessen your chance. All it is, it's going to take us a little longer to get to know them.

Jeffrey and Larry will do what they can to give me the best product on the field, ... They want to win, they want championships. And that's what I'm all about.

I was with him 10 of my first 11 years (as a manager or coach) and it was great, ... I'd want him around if I would be there.

It's tough to ask a guy to catch 120 games a year when he's never done it before. We believe he'll be more productive if he doesn't catch six days a week.... We want to make sure he's productive the whole year.

I like his approach to the plate. It's conducive to a number two.

I love his dog. He's got enough dogs. We told him anytime he wants to give us his dog.

I don't see any loss as respectable. We had our chances to win and we didn't get it done.

In his first start, and what he's been through this spring, I didn't feel it was in his best interest to go back out there.

Some people always say (managing the Yankees) is an easy job because of all the players you're given. But that's not an easy job, because you're managing personalities, the press ... there's a lot to manage there and Joe's really good at it.

Patterson lived on the outside corner and came in when he had to. He didn't give our guys much to hit.

You can look at it a couple of ways. Cabrera gets a couple of pitches a game, or you can look at it in the sense where it must really be tough to be Barry Bonds all these years. Bonds gets no pitches. Do you want to look at it as half-full or half-empty

You have two young men that haven't played at this level and they're being asked to do a lot. Center field is an important position. We'll try to figure out which one is going to be our starter of the future and get them both at-bats.

I kicked it around in my head. It's basically just been a thought in my head. I haven't spoken to him about it.

The bullpen guys are going to have to grow up just like the starters, just like our shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, right, center and left fielders probably. It's OK. Just because a guy is young doesn't mean he can't play. It just means that no one in the public besides maybe farm directors and the press know who they are. They can still play. There's a reason that they are top prospects.

Those positions are wide open. We have a veteran in Reese and two young kids. To me, this camp is great because guys will have to push themselves.

There is a fine line between being able to control your body and having all that energy. He's learning how to do it. He wants to get a hit so bad that he will do anything it takes. If you told him to stand on his head, he would try it. Sometimes you try to make up for two weeks in one day. It doesn't work that way. You're anxious to get a hit. You're in a hurry to get a hit.

We gave Eric several days in a row, and now we're giving Reggie a bunch of days in a row. We've got to get one of our center fielders going. When you're young, this can be a tough game to get it going. The danger is you don't have anything to fall back on at this level. I always say you find out what a guy's made of when he struggles.

You go from being excited to panicking a little bit when a guy slides into him. Your emotions can get a little wavy. For me, being a baseball player, it's just exciting to watch what kids can do. When you think about it, he probably should be a junior in college.

He's not here, we can't put him in the picture right now.

He knows how to pitch. He has the ability to change speeds with all his pitches and locate. He just needs a little more seasoning. Obviously, he was part of a big trade, and the organization has a lot of faith in him. He's a young man, and we just feel he needs a little bit more experience.

A big part of my job is making sure that these guys understand that they belong in the big leagues and they can do it.

Miguel played a few days in a row. Josh is going to play a few days in a row. We'll eventually work up to three days in a row. It's hard because we have two catchers that need to play. We'll start stretching them out the last couple of weeks.

I believe that I'm ready to manage. I believe I was born to manage.

If, in their hearts, they want to represent their country, I would never tell a player not to play.

He told me he's changed a lot. He used to yell and scream a lot. I think a lot of times when you yell and scream you appear to be out of control. He said that I'm going to have to learn how to handle difficult situations and be patient at times. It's already been tested in spring training.

It looked bad at first. I was real nervous. I think the whole organization got real nervous when we saw that. But I think we were all a little bit happier when he got up.

That is a concern to me. We've organizationally talked among ourselves to protect these young pitchers. That's a luxury we have -- a lot of young pitchers. I'm going to do everything I can to protect the young pitchers. They have a future with this organization.

I actually thought Vargas was better tonight. He was down in the zone. He just threw a lot of pitches. I thought he was more effective tonight than in his last start.

Great hitters are able to do that. They're still going to drive in 120 runs. You're not going to walk a guy 700 times. That would be a record.

They do it as long as they can throw. Tom Lasorda Los Angeles Dodgers did it for years. When you throw batting practice you can see things better.

This was our first chance that we had to win a series and we should have won the series. And the way you make the playoffs is by winning series. You don't give series away.

We're a ways away with him. My concern with him was he already played catch and didn't tell us.

Since high school I've wanted to do this. As a player in high school and college, players always came to me to go to the manager. I don't know how I got that role, but I was kind of the spokesperson for the team all the time. I enjoyed it. I enjoy the competition, and I love studying the game. I think that's why I was born to manage.

I thought he threw better than the score indicated. We didn't make some plays behind him and that's going to happen. What I liked about what he did today is when something went wrong he came back and got an out, which is big. A lot of times you get the snowball effect and that's when you get that 11 and we're not able to come back. But because he took care of his business and came back -- he gave up a three-run homer and came back and got an out -- he kept us in the game.

He's in a little bit different boat than all of the other pitchers here, but we've said all along we're not going to rush any of our pitchers. We're not going to abuse them.

I think he'll play catch up most of spring training just because of the time he's missed. He's going to play catch up the whole year really ... but that's OK. A lot of great pitchers have had to do it.

He's a talented young man. You know what, he's going to make some mistakes.

They're making it tough. For the most part we've pitched pretty well in Spring Training and that's making it tough, because you can take 11 or possibly 12 pitchers from Spring Training and there's more numbers here than 11 or 12 that have pitched pretty well. So we have some tough decisions to make. So, in another two weeks and three days, we'll see what happens.

He's one of those guys fighting for one of those spots. His demeanor on the mound is very good. He never seems to be out of control. Sometimes that is good for young players.

I thought it would be great to have a couple of pitching coaches on the staff.

I probably won't make any judgments until the third week in March.

When you're talking about a team, it's not always what role you're best suited for, it's what's going to help the club. Clubs need flexibility.

It's not as quickly as we would have liked, but you have to remain patient and make sure he's healthy before we send him back out there. I know it's not as quick as he would like. He's a little miserable. The leg didn't respond the way he wanted it to.

I know that Jeffrey and Larry will do the best they can to get me the best product on the field. We're not exactly sure what the team is going to be, but I know they're going to give me a winner.

Everything we heard about him, he's a complete player. There wasn't really anything he couldn't do. He's done a lot of great things in camp. But so did Robert. Robert did a lot of great things. It was really hard sending Robert down today.

It's a huge opportunity for him. He hasn't been healthy the last couple of years in Chicago and it hurt him.