You have to take care of the seconds. The minutes, the hours, and the days will take care of themselves.
— Dave Martinez
When things go bad, the best thing to do is keep working and keep coaching.
I prepared myself for years to be where I'm at now, and I try to focus on the here and now.
I've seen teammates who wanted to choke each other.
Sometimes you need to have a tough conversation or face a tough situation, and take it head on.
The one thing I've known and I've learned from the best managers, it's to stay positive.
When you feel like you're going to have a low-scoring game, why not have one of your better hitters have a chance? All of a sudden you're in the ninth inning and you have one of your best hitters on deck that doesn't get up. I always think about that.
I can remember having meetings with my coaches when things were going bad. I told them, ‘Hey, we've got to be positive. This is the time we need to step up. You've got to make sure they know everything is going to be okay. Keep teaching. Once they see you are down, you lose them and that can't happen.'
The biggest thing I tell the boys is control the heartbeat. It's hard to do, but we've gotta be able to control the heartbeat in big moments because it goes really quick. So just stay in that moment and focus on the moment, don't get ahead of yourselves, and just play the game that we've been playing all year.
At 21, I'm too young to be considered just a defensive outfielder.
Early in my career when I was with Montreal, we had a lot of good outfielders like Otis Nixon, myself, Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker. We all did the platooning thing, although each one of us could have played every day. We got everybody in the lineup, and everybody got to play.
In my career, I finished in second place six times. I played on teams that were in it to the very end. It's frustrating.
I enjoy my job. And I love the city of Chicago, and this organization - it gave me the start to my whole career.
When I look back, I think I just never got the opportunity to play every day.
I've done everything I could as a bench coach. I'm ready to manage.
I realized that I still had a lot to offer the game. My knowledge could maybe help younger guys. I enjoyed being around the clubhouse, on the field.
In the heat of the moment things get blown out of hand.
You have to stay in the moment. Stay focused. Know what you're going to do.
We have to stick together. That is what makes good teams.
It wasn't until Joe Maddon called me in 2006 when I thought about pursuing a coaching career.
In my first press conference I said, ‘I'm here to win.' If you don't think that way, or any player thinks that way, why are you playing the game?
Building relationships. Communicating. Trust. Those are three things I've kind of instilled myself with.
Umpires are supposed to be non-confrontational - they're supposed to uphold the peace on the baseball field.
I don't care what a guy can't do. Tell me what a guy can do and let's make the best of that. If we can do that, all the perceived things he can't do seem to go away.
The one thing I always hear from the players is they say, ‘You never change… no matter what happens, you have conversations with us, you are always positive.' They appreciate that.
The object is to win as many games possible.
Through process and preparation and going through all of the interviews, I've learned a lot about myself and my skills.
When I was with the Giants, I played for Dusty Baker, and I love Dusty to death. I think he's a great manager and great person, but he platooned me. His reasoning was to get everybody in the lineup. It wasn't that I couldn't play every day.
You know, for me, you don't chase wins.
I can play with pain. It doesn't bother me.
I was thinking it would be nice if I woke up and could play like Roberto Clemente.
My job is to be the bench coach with the Rays and help this team succeed. If another opportunity arises, I'd welcome the opportunity.
Everyone keeps telling me how young I am, but if the right opportunity comes up, I'm ready to manage.
I'm never going to criticize any umpires or anything, because they're a big part of the game.
My dad was big about talking about baseball and Latin players.
I utilize my coaches. I value their opinions on a lot of things.
When a guy 275 pounds snaps, look out.
I love conversations, about anything.
Let them know that we care, even when they have a bad game and not a good game, let them know that we always care about them. You'll get the most out of every player.
My kids would watch from the window and wave to me during batting practice.
It's all about communication, culture and competing every day.
I've had many managers, and learned a lot from them, the good ones always stayed even-keeled, never rode the waves.
I always was the quiet type, never said that much.
I had some pretty good teachers. I learned how to play the game the right way.
Yeah, I grew a goatee, and the next year, everybody had them.
I like to hit with men in scoring position.
I never took things for granted. I always told myself to keep working hard, come to the ballpark ready to play, and one day I'll get a chance to play.
I'm about as honest as I can get.
When you go up there in the batter's box, you're engaged to hit. It's the same thing with baserunning.
There's a lot of good Latin personnel out in baseball, coaching, in the front office, and it's nice to be recognized. But I really believe I'm here because of my merit, not because of any race or anything like that.
