28 Quotes by Ben Cherington

We may see some of the same faces back this season.

He was our hottest pitcher and we had a real need. We thought it was the best thing we could do for the major-league team.

He was one of the youngest starting pitchers in the International League last year. He had some really, really good starts, and some mediocre ones. But for the overall numbers for a kid that young in Triple-A, it was a pretty good year.

It became clear that his bat was not going to progress to the point where it would take him to the big leagues. We talked about the notion of putting him on the mound for a long time. Ultimately, we were waiting for him to really want to do it.

That's up to Theo and Tito. It's hard for me to say after only seeing him in one outing. Obviously he has ability and there's a reason why he's here. There's a reason why he had the kind of success in college. There's a reason we made the level of commitment that we made to him. He's going to be a good major-league pitcher. When that happens, I honestly don't know.

We continue to talk to him in an effort to try to appease some of his concerns.

We have to remember that this guy was pitching against Boston College and West Virginia this year, not Oakland and the Yankees.

We had an opportunity to add a high-end premium arm to the system. We felt he was close enough to the big leagues to warrant that type of contract. We were well aware of what type of commitment it would take before we took him.

The day that Jed and I were announced as co-general managers, I made it clear that I would welcome the opportunity to work with Theo again. That day will come early next week, and I am looking forward to it.