He throws strikes, he's not afraid. He doesn't pitch away from the bat. He knows how to pitch. He has three good pitches. He's still trying to get a feel of his breaking ball some. He's been impressive. It's the first time I've seen him and I like what I see.

I don't really spend a lot of time thinking back, but it means a lot that my son is here to see this. He never saw me play and is starting to ask about my career.

He's the guy who's doing it the most correctly. That's why he has Gold Gloves. To me, and he may not like it, but I point to him all the time as the way to be. It's not his personality to accept that, but I single him out, which I don't do that often. I say, 'Hey, this is how you want to go about your business. This is how you want to perform. This is how you want to work on fielding, hitting, bunting, everything.

I'll think about it when the time comes. My thing is if I can keep it simple, don't distract my team, and if the team wins, everything else takes care of itself.

If you know Carlos, when was the last time you saw Carlos take it easy? This is something out of our hands. The main thing we want to do is make sure he's in the best shape. After he leaves here, he's out of our domain and control except for reports.

That's a good time to talk to people. They're usually loose.

It's not about Kerry as much as it is about us. It's about where we are realistically and where he is now and to find out, when that time comes, the severity of whatever is in there. If it's nothing, we're pleased. If it's something, then we'll take care of it and give him ample time to rehab so he can start the season on time next year.

This is judgement time for who is going to be here and who's going to be playing next year, too,

This is judgment time for who's going to be playing next year too. You're not only playing for now. You're playing for 2006 as well.

I try to have businesslike camps all the time with mixing in some fun in there with a little laughter in the workplace at the same time.

It's better now than later. He's been working out real hard on his lower half all winter, so fortunately this is the time of year when he shouldn't be set back too far.

That's the best he's looked so far this spring. It's the right time for him to get it together.

It's the first time I've seen four solo homers in the first four innings.

It's not over with yet. You don't know if somebody is going to offer Sammy a job here soon or what is going to happen. But Sammy has been one of the great players of the game for a long time and a guy who meant a lot to Chicago and a lot to the game. . . . I just hope he gets a job somewhere.

A lot of it depends on the strength of your starting pitching. If your starting pitching is good, you won't need 12 too much. Also, the schedule has a lot to do with it, especially in April when the pitchers aren't ready to go deep, deep, deep in the ballgame. You don't even know at that time if you'll need five starters. You might only need four. You hate to lose that guy's endurance by not pitching. It'll work itself out by the time we get ready to leave.

Right now, we're very satisfied with where he is. If something was to happen with his knee, this was prime time to have it happen.

Sometimes he has great command of the strike zone, and the next time ... It's a matter of being more consistent. He is throwing the ball good.

Sometimes when you're 40 years old, it taps you on the shoulder and it's time to get out.

I've seen some greats leave the game. You never want to see them leave and you'd rather see them leave on their terms and leave on top. It's not over with yet. You don't know if somebody is going to offer Sammy a job here soon or what is going to happen. But Sammy has been one of the great players of the game for a long time and a guy who meant a lot to Chicago and a lot to the game. ... I just hope he gets a job somewhere.

To me, and he may not like it, but I point to him all the time as the way to be. It's not his personality to accept that, but I single him out, which I don't do that often. I say, 'Hey, this is how you want to go about your business. This is how you want to perform. This is how you want to work on fielding, hitting, bunting, everything.

We had a hard time holding up our end of the bargain.

Todd did a good job playing first base in Spring Training. He likes playing first base. He'll play first most of the time and second base some of the time.

Every time I think about giving him a day off, he hits two home runs. Maybe I'll start thinking about that off day for him.

Every time I think about giving him an off-day, he hits two or three home runs. Maybe I'll start thinking about that off-day. You don't want to give him time off against the Cardinals.