Kevin Towers Good Quotations

Ned deserves a lot of credit for what they've done in San Francisco the last 10 years, reinventing their club the way they do and always staying in the top two or three in the division. I know he's very good at negotiating contracts, has a good rapport with agents and is media-savvy.

Let's relax, have a good time and prove that we're better than people think. We play to our competition. All year long, we've done that. The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals, if we're fortunate enough to get there, I don't think they're going to take us lightly.

Khalil is an exciting, popular player. We think he's going to have a real good year, offensively and defensively.

Certainly it was a blow. He had had such a good spring. He's a key cog to this whole club.

But we thought we needed to change there. We felt these were areas where we were not good at and needed to improve. We struggled in some decisions at the third-base coaching spot and in base-running (Lopes' responsibility).

I still think everybody in the division has a chance to win it, with maybe Colorado the exception because they're looking to rebuild. The Dodgers are hanging around, the Diamondbacks are a good team and I'm so used to the Giants winning 90 or more games I can't picture them ever being out of it. I fully expect the race to come down to the last month.

I think the biggest reason we won last year was our bullpen. I don't think there's ever an excuse for not putting together a good bullpen.

I think after going through that process and coming back and having a chance to kind of reflect on a lot of the positives, I came to the realization that I had it pretty good in San Diego. This was the organization that drafted me, made me scouting director and the GM at a very young age, an organization that has stuck with me through some very difficult times.

We need to find out who the real Tim Stauffer is ---- the guy we called up in May and the guy who threw that shutout, or the guy who struggled a good part of the year.

The way you get a good non-roster player for less than a million dollars is after a bad season. It's a no-lose situation for us. If he makes the club, we got a solid veteran guy and a bargain price. If he doesn't, it won't cost us a dime.

The best thing is, we're going to go in and face good competition. That's when we're at our best. This is a team that plays to the level of its competition. It's been like that all year.

Once I was able to get a pitcher who was more affordable and who we liked as good or better, the deal happened rather quickly.

I just didn't think Olivo would be available. I thought Borders might be a guy they would talk about. But they said Borders was doing a good job of helping their young pitching. They said they would talk about Olivo. I was somewhat surprised, but I figured I might do my due diligence and find out why this guy might be available.

I really think the Devil Rays rushed him to the big leagues, and that set him back. He's a power pitcher with a great change-up. ... He has a world of potential, but we need to be patient with him. If we do this right, he could be a really good pitcher for us.

They were positioned in the right place, ... The ball Loretta hit was a good pitch that he hit hard down the line and Nunez happened to be in the right spot. Sanders happened to be in the right spot on (Dave) Roberts' ball. It was almost the identical ball that Edmonds hit and we couldn't get to.

They were positioned in the right place. The ball Loretta hit was a good pitch that he hit hard down the line and Nunez happened to be in the right spot. Sanders happened to be in the right spot on (Dave) Roberts' ball. It was almost the identical ball that Edmonds hit and we couldn't get to.

A good defense can shave a team's ERA. We think we've helped ourselves quite a bit defensively.

We have added some great character guys, something we really lacked. We had some shared leadership last year at times from (Dave) Roberts, (Mark) Loretta and others, but it was something we really lacked. I have heard nothing but good things about Mike Cameron; he's a good guy to have in the locker room.

It's good for our players, too. I think it's important to be able to give back to some of these kid that are less privileged. I think it's a gut check for them to realize how fortunate they are and what they have and be able to bond and get to meet some of the kids in San Diego who aren't quite so lucky.