Kevin Towers Name Quotations

Mike Piazza is one of the greatest-hitting catchers in the history of baseball and has his name written all over the major league record books. This is an exciting addition to our club and we are thrilled to see him add to those numbers while wearing a Padres uniform.

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.

Any time you lose exclusivity on a player, there's always that chance you'll lose him. But he's a guy who loves this organization and means so much to the city. As he's often said, he's one of the few guys who plays for the name on the front of his jersey, not the one on the back.

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.

He pitches for the name on the front of the jersey and not on the back. And you don't see that too often.