It's my job, it's my role, it's my mission, it's my dream to have everyone who has Michigan ties - whether you went to college in Michigan, whether you grew up in Michigan, if you've ever heard of the state of Michigan - to do what you can to influence the students of the Detroit metropolitan area.

I've been really vocal about my disappointment about how the WNBA athletes get treated like second-class citizens in relations to the NBA when they're a subsidiary.

A lot of guys are starting to get away from trying to jerk these heavy weights and throw all these heavy weights around.

Really being able to harness my mental approach has kind of taken me to the next level, and obviously maturing as a player and a teammate and as a person. Those are things that are necessary to achieve success in this game. There's no other way around it.

Sports psychology or mental training has been viewed as a weakness, and I think that's a pretty silly way to look at it.

Everybody here has the ability to throw a fastball down and away or throw a breaking ball in the dirt for a swing and a miss. But are we able to stay in that moment and understand what we're trying to accomplish and see it in our mind before we execute and then make the pitch?

I feel, that I'm only going to get better.

As you get a little older, you understand what you need to do to be good, regardless of who likes it or doesn't like it. It's my career. And at the end of the day, it's going to be how I think I can do it best.

I know the Cubs don't typically do six- or seven-year deals, but I think there are obviously times when there should be exceptions. I think I've done pretty well here.

Look at all of the pitchers getting six- and seven-year deals at 30, 31, and 32. You see what's going on and the money that's out there. You'd be a fool not to try to benefit from that, or at least try to get what you feel you're worth.

The back hair doesn't get all that long; it's just really thick. So if I don't keep it shaved once a week, it's a problem, and it could take two hours. And my wife's got to do it, so it's her problem. I told her we just need to buy a laser hair removal machine because it would take three or four years and probably 50 sessions to get rid of it.

I consider myself a really good racquetball player. I'm sure that I would get waxed by some actually good racquetball players, but I consider myself a pretty versatile athlete.

You want to be the team that is on the field when the last out is made on the winning side. That's obviously the holy grail in the game that I play, and that's what every player strives for.

We know St. Louis is a great club. They have been for a long time.

I've been through a lot in my career, and the failure that I've gone through makes me really appreciate the moments of success much more.

It's one thing to have a scouting report and not be able to execute it, and it's completely different if you're able to kind of work your way through that report, attack guys certain ways, use different sequences, and be effective with them.

Everyone wants to have a career year, but if I stick to what I'm doing, I like my chances. I'll be fine.

You can struggle for a little while. It's going to happen. If a guy hits .200 for a while, it doesn't mean he's a .200 hitter.

How many people can do what I do, anyways? A handful of guys?

People have confidence in you. It's easy to have confidence in somebody that's going out there every night and giving the team a chance to win.

I wouldn't change anything I went through for the world, because it got me here.

I had teammates like Chris Davis. Manny Machado was really young and such a good kid. Seeing his development, it's ridiculous. He's going to get bigger. He's going to get stronger. He's going to get even better.

It's just a continuous process, trying to work through it, trying find that comfort zone and go from there. That's kind of where I'm at. I feel pretty good about where I'm at.

Sometimes, when I break my hands, I kind of go too far behind my body, and what that will do, wherever my right arm's going to go, my left arm's going to go.