I'll never say a bad word about the Astros.

To me, I just play baseball, whether I have the contract or not.

You have to go up there, and it's you vs. the pitcher. No one's there to help you. That's how I go about it.

Whoever's hitting in front of you or behind you is going to determine how you get pitched, but there's nothing you can do.

That's the hardest play in baseball, is a line drive right at you.

Sometimes you just need a spark, and then boom, boom, boom, now the bats come alive.

People are always asking if I was mad at Houston. Honestly, I'm not. The truth of the matter is that when I was there, I didn't perform and they actually did me a favor by cutting me loose. They could have really held me there, not let me leave, bury me in Triple-A, put me behind some prospects and I would never even play.

Obviously, I'm sad to leave Houston. I love the fans and players and everyone here.

Let's say I have a new respect for guys who come off the bench every day. That's not easy to do.

Control what I can control. Study the pitchers, work hard, put the work in. That's all I can control.

It's fun coming to the ballpark when you're winning.

I've lost a lot. I'm tired of it. It's not fun.

I want to be on a team that's got a chance. That's what's fun. That's what you play the game for.

We're all not going to agree on the same things, but that's what makes this country so great.

I stand by the Constitution and I stand by the Second Amendment and it's something that I take pride in. It's something that I'll back up.

I love my country. I love this country.

I grew up in Miami watching baseball down there, so you could see it from one extreme to the next. It was like, 'Well, this is what baseball is about.'

I told Pedro this story: I used to wear a freakin' Pedro Martinez jersey because it had 'Martinez' on the back.

Everyone's path is their own.

My whole life, I've felt like I've always had to prove myself. It's never been easy, as easy as others who are in my position have had it.

I'm a very analytical guy, I like to study my swing, I like to study what my back foot is doing, my elbow, whatever it might be, and there's a lot of guys nowadays that are like that. That's the trend of the game, that's the way the game has gone.

You can't say it's good when guys out there are signing minor league deals and they would be big league players on 80 percent of the teams, but why would a team sign a player when you can pay dirt, and they're not going to win anyway?

Losing is incentivized now. You have 80 percent of the teams trying to lose.

There aren't too many Mookie Betts, Mike Trouts or Bryce Harpers out there to be grabbed. Those players only come around once every 10 years.