Burrell Wrap

Lancaster

Friedman

"Pat addresses our need for a right-handed bat. He solidifies the middle of our already-potent lineup, adding power and balance to it. As we went through it, we weren’t just singularly focused on a right-handed hitter, but it certainly is an advantage for us in terms of the way our lineup stacks up currently. We feel like any time you can add a hitter like that to the middle of our lineup, we’re a much-improved team today than we were at the end of last season."

"Obviously we’ve had a lot of conversations over the last couple of months, and for us it was about trying to find that optimal time, and that optimal time has to line up with the player’s as well. As we were going through it, we felt like it was important for us to end up with one of our top guys and not end up in a situation where when the music stopped we were looking at the sixth or seventh guy on the list."

"This signing is a major commitment of our resources and it will dramatically hinder our flexibility going forward. That said, we’re going to continue to monitor what’s going on and try to figure out if there’s the right fit. Maybe it’s moving a piece in an area where we may have some depth to address other areas. For now, it’s just about getting creative and seeing if there’s ways that we can continue to improve the team, but it will certainly take some creativity."

A.k.a if we do something else Bradford or somebody else will have to be moves. If not, expect the only other moves to be NRI"s

Burrell

"The makeup of the team, how close they got last year to winning the whole thing, and the youth that makes up the majority of this team – I think this team’s going to be competitive for a long time."

"I’m here to help," he said. "Anything and everything I can do to help this team win, I’ll do. I played every day for a number of years in Philadelphia and this is a team made up of a very good core of young everyday players. If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll certainly do everything I can."

"I don’t think this is the offseason a lot of people expected. I feel very fortunate to have accepted the deal and be done with it and now I can look forward to getting ready to play."