It took a lot for him to pick up the phone, unsolicited. That was probably not an easy phone call for Ken, by himself, without his agent. ... When he picked up the phone, that spoke volumes about his interest in coming back.

At this point, both sides have agreed to pursue other options. We were just too far apart. I don't think we were ever going to be able to bridge the gap. ... When you're so far apart, there's no sense going through the exercise.

It was Ken, ... He called. I think it was probably not an easy phone call for him to make.

Certainly, you're not going to able to go and pull a Mark Mulder out of your hat somewhere,

Who knows how the rest of baseball views you? ... I can go home and sleep and know that we used tremendous character to get through this season.

Almost like a car salesman, if a guy walks onto the lot and a salesman qualifies him on how he is dressed he may miss out on a hell of a sale, we try to open our mind and say it's not about perception or what you think you see,