By Gregor Chisholm

On the deadline…

“For us not to do anything, most of us had some ideas that we were going to

improve this club a little bit. It’s unfortunate we didn’t. At the same time, we just have to do what we have to do to win games and try to find ways to get into the playoffs. Yes, it was frustrating but we have to play tonight and (inaubible)…”

Beside the big names, are missing out on Martin Prado and guys like that even more frustrating?

“I just think from an overall perspective of all these teams getting better, we know it’s going to be a tough time for us. One that isn’t impossible but we’re going to have to do everything right. Obviously, we value our prospects, we value our players, I’m sure the other teams do as well. Maybe they just value the player or the opportunity to get into the playoffs more. It takes something to get something and congratulations to those teams that got those guys.”

On this being first opportunity to contend…

“We’ve heard ’92, 93 and I think we’re tired of hearing it. We want to put our stamp on Toronto and across baseball. For me in my eight years here, I’ve never been this close, never had such an opportunity to make it into the playoffs and I think that’s where this excitement level for this trade deadline was. It’s finally our time, it’s finally beating down the door and we wanted to come on the scene as strong as we can. Like I said, it didn’t happen, we just have to regroup and go about our business again.”

On whether this impacts his pending free agency…

“I think the overall picture in baseball, it’s exciting for teams to go for it. I think there are certain GMs that go for it a lot, granted they have a lot of opportunities to go for it, but honestly, as far as free agency goes, I just want to make this year as great as possible and hopefully end it in

the World Series holding up the trophy. Worry about next season, next season.”

Given what was said in Spring Training about the money being there to upgrade, have they gone back on their word…

“Without picking up the phone and hearing the actual conversations, I guess we’ll never really know what goes on behind closed doors. Did I think we were going to do something? Yeah. Why did I think that? I don’t know. But I think that there’s definitely some other teams in our division that got better. The teams that are leading their divisions got a lot better and if we do get into the playoffs we’re going to have our work cut out for us with what those teams did. But Alex has a plan. We may not know what the actual plan is, we may never know, but I guess we have to just trust with him in place and trust the guys that we have in the locker room that we’re going to

get hot and make this as an exciting last two months as we can.”

More disappointing than any other deadline…

“Maybe more disappointing just because this is probably one of the first times we have been relevant. Other trade deadlines, it seems like people are kind of wondering if it’s going to be me, who’s it going to be going the other direction. But I think a lot of guys, there was some excitement in the clubhouse that something was going to (happen). Now we have to regroup and go out and have a good series against Houston.”

Mood in clubhouse…

“I think everyone is just kind of shocked with all the movement that happened and big names going in every direction. From Lester, to Price, to Lackey, to even the return that the Red Sox got. I’ve never seen anything like it, I can’t remember anything like it, that was as crazy as this was and kind of down to the wire as the deadline approached. Like I say, congrats to those

teams, they did good.”

How do you guard against letting it affect you guys…

“Hopefully it brings us together and we just have this, I don’t what to say what the heck attitude, but hey, we’ll just run with this underdog, everyone is kind of counting us out, type of attitude. Again, if we have a May like we had and it happens to be for these next two months and into the playoffs, I think we can beat anybody. I think our starting pitching has been doing well and when our offense hits, we’re as good as anybody. I guess that’s just what our rally cry is going to be.”

More frustrating that there weren’t even smaller fortifications made to build up depth knowing how things are behind the 25…

“Yeah. You don’t make a move just to make a move, if it’s not going to help your team at all, but at the same time, doing something even if it’s a small improvement, I think it gives the room some excitement that hey, they’ve got our backs, they’re trying hard, they’re doing everything possible to make this club better. To sit down and say which piece we need is not my job to do. We got Valencia, hopefully he does a great job for us and is a valuable asset to us down the road and I guess we’ll go from there.”

Are athletes able to put all of this aside when they go on the field or is there a need for trust with front office, etc…

“Well, no one in the front office has thrown a pitch. No one has hit a ball. We’re professionals and we get paid to play and we get paid to do our jobs every night. If we were looking for a move, or not looking for a move, we still have the players that we have in our locker room and they are very, very talented and we’re going to rally around each other and do it together and make the most of this thing. Not adding or adding, I don’t think changes that at all.”