13 Quotes by Marc Gustafson

We want him to pitch in surroundings where he's comfortable and we can travel to see him pitch.

He has the mentality. He's been a closer his entire career, and nothing affects him a whole lot. But he's got good pitches. He's got the tools to make it happen and he's got the mentality that he fits in.

He looks good. He's changed his body. He's a baseball player, first and foremost. He's not too big; he's not too muscular.

He's a guy that had arm trouble early in his career, but he's recovered from that nicely. He throws 89-92 mph with downhill sink, attacks the zone and gets groundballs. He has a slider and changeup that he throws for a change of pace, but it's that fastball with the downhill plane that makes him successful.

For me, personally, he's always shown that he has the tools to catch, swing the bat and do a lot of good things. But the difference is his confidence.

He's a leader. He's not afraid to go out to the mound and talk to the pitcher, settle him down if needed. He has all the makings of the quarterback on the field, a leader on the field. At that position, it's important.

He's got big-time power and plays a good first-base.

He's got the makings, the talents, the tools of a big-league pitcher, and he's learning how to pitch. He's learning how to set hitters up. In the past, he might try to strike everybody out, because he's got such good stuff. We've got to teach him about pitching, and he's learning.

We've definitely re-established our philosophy. We're going to go with player development and scouting. And we're going to have to be totally overwhelmed (to make any trades). We're going to let players develop in their own time and go with the guys in our system. We saw last year how important it is to be patient and the best is yet to come.