On sharing his faith with his team, whether it's done on a large scale or individually:
"That's something that I believe is done through relationships, and I explain to the guys where I stand in regards to faith, but it's never gonna be something that I shove down their throats. I just know through a long season, we are together more than we're together with our families, so the opportunities to talk about life are always going to be there. So, I find it one of the most rewarding things that I do is to be able to be trusted with some of the stuff that they go through, and see if I can help them in whatever season of life that they're in."
On managers who share his faith:
"We have some other managers in the league that are men of Christian faith, and we challenge each other, but we get across from the field, we want to beat each other as bad as we can possibly beat each other, and that's part of something - maybe - that's overlooked as Christian men, that we need to go out and fight and go out with a fire, and whatever we do, searching for excellence. But there are some other guys that encourage me and some guys who are constantly sending emails and sending different challenges out to other managers in the league."
"We meet each other quite a few times during the year, and so we'll meet many hours before the game and catch up and talk, and give each other a book or something that we've been reading, or email something to each other on something that made a big impact, on not just about how we go about leading our team, but how we live our lives and how we love, serve and challenge people in a way to maximize the platform that we have."
On free agent talk and suggestions he's received from fans:
"I hope our fans understand that we do the best that we can, and we have some tough decisions out there. We have a couple of guys in particular with Jason Heyward and John Lackey, and guys who have been who in a short amount of time have made a big impact, and guys that we try to keep around as much as we can. But there's things that play into it that either allow it or don't, and it gets pretty complex at times. But we try to be very dependable, very reliable with our mission, and the mission is to put a great product on the field and to bring in the kind of people that can continue to push our organization forward, and also financially responsible. That get's pretty confusing when you start talking about the contracts that are out there these days, but we don't shy away from making investments to try and make this club better."
On conversations with Genergal Manager John Mozeliak and others during the winter:
"(During) winter meetings, we'll be together every day. Up until that point, often. Every couple of days, we'll check in, and he is constantly keeping me involved with some of the discussions that are going on, and at times I'll be talking with certain players, certain free agents, and just giving them the lay of the land, trying to give them as honest of a landscape that we have and how I could see them fitting in, and see if it's the right fit. If it's not, we don't want a guy here, so we try to show them, tell them what it is that we believe in and how our club likes to compete, and what we think we do well, and see if they can jump in and be a part of that."
On the free agent market, particularly Orioles first baseman Chris Davis:
"Yeah, I like home runs and he hits a lot of them. There's quite a few players out there that could be a good fit. But, we've been fortunate, we have a strong system and we've been able to bring up some kids up that maybe noone's ever heard of and they jump onto the scene and they've been able to contribute in a big way. So we're not gonna shy away from continuing to give those young players an opportunity, but there is an opportunity to bring in somebody from the outside, it's something that we're also not very shy to jump into and see if it, once again, is a good fit."
On TV money allowing better parity in baseball:
"I think there's a good parity already. I think that they've done a nice job. I think Commissioner (Bud) Selig did a great job in his tenure, and now Commissioner (Rob) Manfred is doing the same thing - trying to figure out ways to let the small markets and the middle-size markets keep up with some of the others, but you know, there's still teams that are spending and not afraid to pay the tax on top of it, but it all comes down to what kind of team you put on the field. I think this year was another great example of that. A market like Kansas City - two years in a row - has figured out a way to go out there with not the largest payroll, but the way they compete, and the way they use their young players, and the young talents coming in and figuring out a way not just to do their part, but shine, and do things very impressively."
On the current discussion regarding extending protective netting beyond its current area to protect more fans:
"I tell people all the time, we love it when our fans show up to the game, and we get to interact with them a little bit, but it scares me to death when I see kids in those first few rows. I know that's something that we as either current professional athletes or former professional athletes: we have trouble getting out of the way of some of the balls. I think there's a very good initiative in place right now that's trying to at least protect some of the fans a little bit better. I know most people love those seats for the idea of a foul ball, but we're also trying to protect our fans, and so I think there's quite a few ideas on how to try and make that happen."
