Spring training quotes; A-Z

Spring training is full of a lot of meaningless statements about and from players, one here and there that matters, and an occasional amusing one.  Here's a little game - see if you can match each of the following quotations (A-Z) with its subject (no repeats).  I'll post the answers Sunday night.

A) "I think he's got a great opportunity for that to happen, because he commands the baseball, he commands the fastball," Willis said. "You're looking at a guy who can change speeds and change planes with the curveball as well. It kind of gives him a couple options of ways to go. He can go in and out and up and down and change speeds. He's a guy who, if you give a game plan to him, he can get to two strikes and have different options as to what he's going to do, whereas some guys only have one option."

-Scott Lewis

B) "I think he’s shown himself better out there than most expected"

-Ryan Garko

C) "It's one of those things that, to me, there's no added pressure, other than how I want to see myself perform," [redacted] said. "I try to go out and compete every day against myself."

-Matt Laporta

D) "There's truly a lag effect, particularly for guys who carry the burden," general manager Mark Shapiro said. "His load and his burden was tremendous. I've got to believe that has something to do with it."

-Rafael Betancourt

E) "Any time I go to a position, I believe I'm the best person at that position," [redacted] said. "It's not cockiness. It's a confidence I have to have."

-Chris Gimenez

F) "He's a big, strong kid," Willis said. "He just has to be careful. He has to watch it, because if it gets away from him, he could get behind the eight ball really quick."

-Fausto Carmona

G) "I'm trying to do too much," [redacted] said. "I'm raising the ball. I'm trying to impress these guys. I talked to my wife about it Tuesday night, and she told me to just relax and pitch the way I did last year."

-Ed Mujica

H) "We were hoping to find what his envelope of function is and how much volume he can handle. A normal Spring Training volume is too much for him.”

-Adam Miller

I) "People are looking in their programs to find out who I am”

-Mark DeRosa

J) "He was very consistent," manager Eric Wedge said. "He did a very good job for us. He's very focused and seems to have a good idea of what he needs to do on the mound."

-Anthony Reyes

K) "I have to discipline myself to make sure we take care of him," Wedge said. "…He has a different body type, he's lanky, he's loose."

-Rafael Perez

L) "My hands might just not be big enough."

-Jeremy Sowers

M) "The last thing we want, and the last thing he should even think about, is feeling the pressure of the world," manager Eric Wedge said. "That's just silly. We don't need him to be great.”

-Travis Hafner

N) “There's a reason he's a leader and plays with the passion he does, because he brings it to the field every night. How he does it is a mystery, but I've never been around a guy who wanted to play so much and wanted to win so much."

-Victor Martinez

O) "He's still working to be more consistent at the big league level, offensively."

-Andy Marte

P) "He had a lot of raw power, but he didn't sell out his ability to hit the other way," Mirabelli said. "People see the raw power, but they don't give him enough credit for his approach as a hitter."

R) "He took a little off that one," pitching coach Carl Willis joked.

-Shin Soo Choo

S) "When you're dealing with a body that has always given up on you," [redacted] said, "it's tough to stay on top of your game."

-Carl Pavano

T) "I was just goofing around with my coach, pretty much," [redacted] recalled. "He's like, 'You can't do this.' I said I could. He said, 'If you can do this, you'll be a closer.' So I said, 'All right.'"

-Joe Smith

U) "He's a bad guy to bet against," Shapiro said. "I wouldn't bet against that guy."

-Aaron Laffey

V) "Usually, you have an idea of just how good somebody can be," Wedge said, "but I just don't know with [redacted]. It's a great compliment to him. Anybody who attacks himself and the game the way he does, as mature and smart and tough as he is, there's just so many intangibles with an unlimited amount of ability. That's what makes a great player."

-Grady Sizemore

W) "I've got to have that mind-set that I'll be playing out there [regularly]," [redacted] said. "I have to work at it and go about it the right way."

-Jamey Carroll

X) "He's had this in multiple Spring Trainings. It's absolutely nothing to be concerned about," Wedge said.

-Kerry Wood

Y) "That will come. I want him to stay with what he's doing right now. He's in a BP group with some big boppers, but I tell him, 'You can't worry about what they're doing.'"

-Michael Brantley

Z) "I did not puke."

-Cliff Lee