28 Quotes by Ben Cherington

Last year's team was a pretty young team. There were guys who got to Double-A for the first time and they held their own. We may feel, by the end of March, they could benefit from a little more time in Double-A.

More than anything, I think he wants to stay in the Northeast, with his family living in Westchester County (N.Y.).

Personally, it's been a distraction. It's been an interesting couple months. We've been short staffed, we've all been wearing a lot of different hats and there's a lot of gray area that we've never had in the past. Of course it's hard to focus on our farm system through that.

I don't think it was much of challenge. When Jed and I were asked to take on that role, we both knew this was an arrangement we were going to try and we were going to see how it works. We were going to do that because we felt that was the best solution for the Red Sox.

He was a shortstop in high school and for whatever reason got into the lineup at Stanford first as a second baseman. He could always go back there, but we feel he has a chance to play short and he really wanted to do it.

He'll go into spring training as the closer and he'll have every opportunity to be the closer for 2006.

We've been trying to build a deeper bullpen. One that is more versatile, one that allows our manager and our staff a little more flexibility.

He's a big, strong, athletic kid. He's got a good fastball with excellent movement and good sink. He's got a major-league slider. Obviously, the stuff is there and the ability is there. He needs to pitch a little bit more and get consistent outings.

He's got on-base skills and the ability to be a plus defensive center fielder.