Gene Orza
Gene Orza
The Major League Baseball Players Associationis the union of professional major-league baseball players...
consequences contract full hope player says tournament understanding
Every player has a right to play or not to play. You only hope the player who says no has a full understanding of the tournament and the consequences of his nonparticipation, especially when it's a player who wouldn't be here and who wouldn't have the new contract he has but for the association.
degree fellow fun measured mistake players success telling tournament
The success of the tournament can be measured by one thing and one thing principally. And that is to the degree players come out of it telling their fellow players that it was a lot of fun and they made a mistake by not playing.
given next people time tournament tribute
There was a time when people were saying, 'Will there be a next time?' Now it's a given. That's a tribute to the tournament and how it has been conducted. It is now a given there will be a tournament in 2009.
against david exciting fun pitching tournament uniform watching
This tournament is going to be a whole lot of fun. It's going to be fun watching Johan Santana in that uniform pitching against David Ortiz in his uniform. It's just going to be that kind of exciting event.
believe create injuries otherwise spring tournament training
We don't believe the tournament will create more injuries than spring training otherwise would.
believe create greater injuries itself number spring tournament training
We don't believe the tournament is going to create any greater number of injuries than spring training itself would.
addition course decides great late players reasons ruled spoken talent tournament ultimately yesterday
There are a lot of other great players in the tournament of course in addition to Manny, which is one of the reasons Manny would probably want to play, with the talent at that level. But I haven't spoken with Manny himself, and, in fact, I think I spoke to one of his representatives as late as yesterday and he hasn't ruled out playing. What he decides is really ultimately going to be up to him though.
coming guess measured next players questions success telling time tournament
I think the success of this first tournament will be measured by one thing--that's players coming out telling other players they should have played, that it was fun. My guess is that next time we will not have all the same questions we've had this time.
addition cut decent enormous known positive represents stride success tournament work
We've long known we have our work cut out for us in Europe, but this tournament represents a decent positive stride in Europe, in addition to the enormous success it has been elsewhere.
absence experience grow heart players pressure spot talking themselves
In my experience with talking to players who have opted out of the tournament, it's not pressure from the club, it's the pressure they themselves feel. Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but it may not get you a spot on the roster.
camp coming eligible love march obviously people represent spoken team
I have not spoken with Manny himself, but I have spoken with people who represent him. Coming to camp on March 1 does not bode well for Manny to be able to play. But Manny is eligible and obviously the Dominican team would love to have Manny play.
sold tickets winter
That's as many tickets that have been sold for the Winter Olympics.
address announce attempt baseball channels concerns continue cuba decision deny effort team unless until within work
We are very disappointed with the government's decision to deny the participation of a team from Cuba in the World Baseball Classic. We will continue to work within appropriate channels in an attempt to address the government's concerns and will not announce a replacement unless and until that effort fails.
basic became believe clock consider continuing difficult event faces indeed matter problem proposal reasonable run stopped view
We have a clock. We're not going to play this event without umpires. And I believe that the basic problem the WUA faces in our continuing discussions with them is that that clock may have stopped before they became more reasonable in their demands. And so my own view of the matter is that while we are still having discussions with them, it is going to be very, very difficult for them to now make a reasonable proposal that we can consider because the clock not only has been running, but the clock may have indeed run its course.