Mike Arbuckle Quotes (15 Quotes)

We definitely wanted him to pitch better (and make the big club. To be honest, he pitched his way out of the picture. His velocity was so-so and it looked like he was pitching away from the bat.

If his ability is what we think it is, the opportunity will be here, sooner rather than later. Realistically, you can't put a timetable, because he's missed nearly two years of productive development time. He's got to perform at Triple-A over a stretch of time, and his actions over that stretch will show us when he has to be in Philadelphia.

In Steve's former position, he was involved more in the business aspect of our Minor Leagues. Now, he will assume the day-to-day duties.

Because of the time he's missed, we wanted to accelerate him, and felt the best way to do that was to put him against more experienced Triple-A hitters. We've never had a question about ability or command it's just been health.

The main thing is he's been able to answer the bell. His fastball is up to 93 miles per hour. The Class AAA innings and production at that level are what we're looking for.

He has consistently shown improved velocity and better command of the split-finger. His velocity is in the low 90s. It's getting back to where it needs to be.

Any kid who's competitive like Cole is, thinks he should be here yesterday. If there's a blessing out of him starting slow out of the chute this year, this may be it because in big-league camp, no matter what we told him, he was going to show up he should open in Philadelphia. He's beginning to understand that he can't worry about tomorrow. He's got to take it game-by-game, and the results will speak for themselves. If his ability is what we think it is, the opportunity will be here, sooner rather than later.

It has nothing to do with ability. Because of weather and bus rides, we thought it made sense to start him in warm weather and where there are very limited bus rides. We don't anticipate him being there a long time.

He needs three pitches. At times, we've seen a Major League breaking ball, but it's hard to develop a third pitch in that role. He's a three-pitch guy.

He's another guy in the picture who's a candidate if we need a pitcher.

We don't anticipate Cole being there a real long time.

Any kid who's a competitor like Cole thinks he should be here the majors yesterday. I told him not to worry about what other people are doing. Just do your job, and if your ability is what we think it is, the opportunity will be there, and probably sooner rather than later.

He's ready for a challenge to get out to a different environment, with more people in the park, with better caliber of players that he'll face. He's ready to do those things. In his mind, he was ready a few months ago, but we thought it made more sense to wait.

We need to get some looks at him and make a decision. This will give us a better reading. We want to get him ready to go, because we believe he can help us at the Major League level. He understands that's the circumstance.

I'm very happy for Gavin, because I know what he's capable of being. I always felt he was going to get back on track. We just needed to have patience.