Joe Maddon Quotes (227 Quotes)

To come off this road trip 3-3 is very nice. We've had some obstacles to overcome, and our guys have responded really well like I thought they would.

I think he can be a stabilizer. He can spearhead the leadership in that regard, in the whole group becoming inning eaters.

(Being) .500 is a nice thing, but it's still being mediocre. We've got to get beyond that.

He just did not get the ball where he wanted to. They're swinging the bats well. It was only 5-2 when we took him out at that time. So I still thought we had a pretty good chance, had we been able to hold that deficit, because our team can score some runs. That was the unfortunate part. They all of a sudden got a touchdown and a field goal, which made it much more difficult.

And Ryan Franklin, (who beat the Angels on Tuesday), he has our number historically. This fellow just pitches well against us for whatever reason, and he did it again tonight.

He can spearhead the leadership in that regard. That's what we're looking for and I really think our guys are capable. They're strong, they're young, they have good deliveries. They should be able to get to that point. It's all about pitch count and not giving up too much early in the game.

You need it in a sense, and it's just good for morale, by the guys seeing that one guy can turn the whole thing around in nine innings, basically - which is what he did. I do like the idea of complete games. That's a momentum-builder for him - personally and in his career - and for us.

We just want to avoid the same kind of early rush back like we did the first time. He's going to tell you it's great. He's going to tell you he wants to play, and that's all good -- it's great to hear that. But we don't want to have him have another setback.

There's no way he will be ready to pitch by Opening Day. He's a very important person to our organization. We want to take our time with him. It's something we're going to be very careful with.

Seth didn't make his pitches at all. He couldn't put it where he wanted. He's got a lot to learn about pitching yet.

The biggest thing not to do is make snap decisions based on what guys do in spring training.

I don't know that. I have to see the games. And I rely a lot on what people have told me, too. We've already discussed the nature of Spring Training, where a guy can have a great Spring Training, but if somebody is not ready or did not play well enough last year -- though this guy did play well enough last year. So I'm going to rely on other information on this one, too.

I don't know how it will all fit together, but Damon Hollins is a winner. I love the way he plays. He makes a great impression and he brings great chemistry to the clubhouse.

I was really happy with the first day. The players, I thought, responded really well.

I was in the company of royalty.

What I'm trying to convince them is, you're not trying to beat the Yankees or the Red Sox or the Blue Jays, you're trying to beat the game of baseball through execution. When you play the game properly, it really should not matter what name is on the front or back of the shirt. And when you can reduce it to that mentally, I think you have a better chance of repeating the proper things over and over again.

He's given us an attitude. He's a blue-collar baseball player, a guy who wants to win.

My biggest concern going into this season is that we won't surprise anyone the element of surprise is gone. Everyone knows the Rays are a very good offensive team.

They made great impressions. Obviously, they are very gifted. We have so many young players here. I was really impressed with all of them. They are a great group of athletes.

Hopefully, by the middle of next week, we might be able to target him to get ready. Today was the first day he played in an extended spring game. I think he'll go Tuesday, Wednesday then have Thursday off. Friday again. Then we want to try to elevate him beyond extended spring.

You could see the look in his face - he's better. We'll try to get him active as soon as we can. But he is feeling better. I can tell just through conversation.

We have had injuries, but when we sent Upton down, we sent him down there for a specific reason. That goal has not been accomplished yet, so I don't think it's wise to do that right now personally.

This guy has been swinging at strikes and taking balls. That's been the most impressive thing he's done at the plate. The obvious thing was the home run, but he moves really well in the outfield.

This is about him, it's not about us. I mean, it will be about us as he becomes better. But he needs to become a better shortstop first, and he knows that. I don't think like two more weeks of Spring Training and one game is a whole lot of difference. I'd rather just stick with our game plan, really.

You hear conjecture about a whole bunch of different things and you never know what to believe, ... They know we're busy right now. That's fine.

The last several years it crossed my mind with him. He's on the level with a Barry Bonds as far as his hitting ability. He's just so hard to pitch to. There really are no holes. He covers everything. We're just going to keep trying. We play them 19 games. We've got to try something.

I had heard about this man's spirit and how much he enjoys playing the game, and that's obvious when you're around him. I think he has great leadership qualities. He has the respect of his teammates. He made a great first impression on me.

I almost ran into him when I was heading out the door (of the clubhouse) before the game and he was coming in. He just did a great job. When I walked out there and gave him the ball, he just had a great look about him.

I just love the way he is. People respond positively to him. You always respond positively to that kind of enthusiasm. He's got a joy for life, not just a joy for baseball.

I like it. I like when pitchers throw long toss. I'm sure it's been part of his routine for a long time. It's impressive to see.

I thought he was very good. Again, putting together a lot of different things. And again, if you see our pitchers now, they're pitching. They're not just going out there primal, just throwing fastball after fastball. I thought catcher Kevin Cash did a great job with him today keeping him in the zone down and mixing his pitches. I thought Kevin was very creative in a good way.

It's really an interesting group. They're very athletic. They played so well in the second half. You know, they're scary to play against. If these guys get hot and you're in the other dugout, you don't want to play these guys, and I hope to continue that.

Everybody knows the Rays are a very good offensive team so the meetings prior to that series are going to be pretty advanced, the advanced scouting is going to pick up. We're not going to ambush anybody like the second half of last season. We may have to adapt. We have to be aware of adapting to what they're doing to us.

I think they talk about that in the military, that when things are going wrong time slows down and you agonize over every moment,

He's very impressive. He knows how to command his fastball, change speeds and he's got a nice mound presence about him. I've really enjoyed him so far, he's solid. Really solid.

Any time somebody throws a bat at an umpire, that surprises me. That's not acceptable at any level. That's just not the right thing to do. It's a surprise and it's very unfortunate.

His day shall come, and it should come for a long time.

You get a guy who might be totally bitten all of a sudden, the guy who's known him the last 15 years might say something, he might say something you've also been saying for the last 14 days, but this validation, this reinforcement all of a sudden makes it OK. I'm OK with that. The egos aren't that big. If somebody can give us some good information, let's go with that.

We've been struggling through this whole thing. When one person's missing, everybody starts picking everybody else's stuff up. It's good to have him back and I'm very happy for him personally, too. It's his night.

There's some competition out there, absolutely. We've got to see how it all shakes down toward the end, and I'm not prepared to make any kind of overt statements right now. But there's competition there.

We want him to work on command of his fastball.

That's part of how this team's going to be set up. How often he can play and how often he needs a day off can impact a decision.

He's got to be there. He's fine. We'll wait until today to see how everything washes out, but he looked really good Sunday. That might have been our best pitching performance of the spring right there.

I have nothing to draw on. To me, this is normal.

I have no qualms about him whatsoever. This guy is going to be one of the best pitchers in the American League within the next three years. I think the world of him. That stuff just happens.

The most difficult pitch for a young catcher to catch is the glove-hand side pitch. You have a tendency to want to turn your glove the wrong way, and that's when you break your thumb or at least bruise it.

He's throwing the ball well. There's been no negative impact. No setbacks. There's no pain. I think he's fine. But we still have to monitor it. We're not just going to throw him out there. We want to stick to the plan. Once we get to the season we'll determine how many days in a row he can play and when he needs a day off.

Where I come from, I'm used to this stuff. This is normal. I guess I don't get the whole thing sometimes. This is great. This is how it should be.

Honestly, I thought this infield played a little bit bouncy. There were some bad hops.

I don't look at it and say you should be happy being 2-4 with all these injuries. I'm not. I think we can win even when we're hurt, if we play the game properly.