Kevin Towers Last 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.

He's a tremendous athlete -- we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Last year was his breakout year. He's had some success at the big-league level now -- and he's going to get better.

I saw no fall-off in Castilla last year. He did have some knee problems, but our reports are good. I think he'll play 120 to 130 games.

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 we know what intangibles that people with the last name of Hoffman bring to the ballpark. This guy knows the NL West very well. He's managed before. He's been a former player. He's driven, organized and has those 'Hoffman' intangibles that we look for.

We'd look at our schedule last year and pray our big games were on the road. This year it's the complete opposite. We actually love it here at home.

After what I went through with Arizona, the last four or five days, they were crazy with all the speculation out there. I don't think it was fair to this organization. One thing I want to make clear is that I wasn't throwing my name out there. It got to the point where it didn't stop.

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.