It's what we needed to do. It's important to get off to a god start.

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He has filled out the paperwork that he does want to play. I'm sure the Dodgers have some concerns about that. Naturally, we're hoping that he's healthy and that he wants to play. And if that's the case, that's great. We would definitely welcome him on the staff.

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It will be fun to oppose Buck. I feel there's probably more pressure on him than there is me, because the United States are expected to win and win the whole thing. We're just the sleepers and hopefully we'll go in and quietly beat them.

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Not really. Managers have tendencies, but you basically have to look at your personnel, what they're capable of doing or not doing and play the game by the book, what you would expect out of each individual, not so much out of their manager.

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If he feels he can play then that's great. If he can't, then hopefully he'll be a part of this team in some capacity.

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I spoke to him last summer and he was optimistic. Since that time, there's been things that have been written and the organization has said they don't want him to play.

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I'm going to have to talk to Greg (Hamilton, Canada's G.M.) and we'll have to come up with some other options for that third catcher. But whoever we come up with, the fact is they were all lower on the depth chart than Russ.

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It took us by surprise when Martin pulled himself out of it. I can see his point of view. As a young player, your ultimate goal is to play in the big leagues. He feels he has that chance. It caught us off guard, but I can understand that.

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We're all left-handed. There's nothing we can do about it and that's all we have. It is what is.

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