One of the areas (Freeman) has had to target and work hard to improve on are (pitches) tight on him and things spinning away from him. Obviously we'd like to get him on base and see if we can get him in motion a little bit.

Maybe we can give him some things to work on over the winter that will make him a little more fundamentally sound on offense.

We've seen him in a lot of different uniforms. You hope things work out for him.

We've all put a lot of work in this project. The organization has put a lot of work in. He's put a lot of work in. Coach (Davey) Collins has put a lot of work in. When you put that much work in you want to benefit from it when it clicks.

I'm going to give him some time to work out of it.

This will be a very exciting day for him. He's put in as much hard work into becoming a starting opening-day player as anybody that we've ever had. He's had 11 years in the minor leagues and to get this nod at this time in his career has to be very gratifying.

We're going to give him a little more time to work his way out of it. He's an important part of the lineup without Todd. . . . He's not trying to pull everything. He's conscious of going to the right side. When he gets hot, he can do major damage.

My favorite spot is the Maldives. Since I travel so much for work, I like to go to places that are very secluded and quiet.

I feel like, in general in my work life, my main goal has been to just be in a situation where I'm not bored with my job. That's been the entire principle. Got my wish.

Like any other creative person, I would make home videos, and I would make sketches with my friends, and I would make my own movies, so I have some love for the creative process.

Work is secondary - for me, what's important is having a close-knit family and having someone you can call family.

If you want to be at the highest level, then you have to really work hard every day.

People who don't fit the mold are treated differently than those who do.

I don't pay any attention to that -- it's spring training. He's just getting his work in.

I asked him how he felt. He said he felt great. I told him this was his last hitter, get this guy for me. And it didn't work out.

Nothing really official. But, we have plans in case it doesn't work out that way.

It's Spring Training, so you get your work in. But we're still continuing to work toward a certain style of solid play, how we go about our business. I want to see some of that, too. Spring Training isn't just about stats.

I told them we are here to work hard and get ready for a special season. Hopefully, we've moved up the ladder a little bit.

It?s kind of a double-edged sword. You definitely want to be aggressive. but if you take pitches then he gets strike one on you; then he can go to work on you.

The more work he gets, the better he'll be. His stuff is still good. He's able to make pitches. As long as we're doing well, I don't really see the need to waste a lot of energy talking about him. He's part of the team and the team is doing well.

Even if he comes back, he's going to have to work his way back in there. ... There's no rush. That's for sure.

We flip-flopped things this morning to get the pitching and hitting in before that. We're going to work on our fundamentals all spring, so we felt like that wasn't an urgency right now.

We want to just take him slow, that's all. Pedro does a lot of his work indoors anyway.

Pedro does a lot of his work indoors anyway. We wanted him to not pound as much early on in camp, but he's going to work into his routine and do what he needs to do.