"Don Cooper is an incredible person. He's not only a great pitching coach, but he's a great human being and a great friend."

"I'm Cuban and I always will be."

"I'm never going to be able to come back. I'll get shot if I go back."

"It's amazing how everything here seems like it's in abundance. In Cuba, there is a shortage of everything."

"I went out and focused on the job tonight. The past games are in the past, so I left them there. I went out, tried to stay ahead of batters and on top of them, which is why I got the results that I did." - On pitching outing on April 28, 2004

"My confidence is sky-high right now."

"Pitching in the Olympic Games, Pan Am Games and Central American games prepared me to pitch at the big-league level."

"Sometimes I just stand on the beach and look at the water, and Cuba feels so close it's unbelievable."

"The day I pitch, I feel confident I can stop the other team."

"When the season is finished, you see how all the Venezuelans, the Puerto Ricans, the Dominicans all go home. We don't."

"Contreras has the best arm on this team. He just has to trust his arm and not worry about anything else." - Ozzie Guillen

"He's become the pitcher everyone thought he could be." - Theo Epstein

"He's been a rock." - Don Cooper

"His stuff is as good or better as anyone's in the game." - Aaron Rowand

"I am very proud of my son. I will miss him, and he will miss me." - Modesta Contreras

"I thought always he would be a good baseball player, but I never thought he'd go so far." - Florentino Contreras

"I've never seen a better splitter." - A.J. Pierzynski

"Those pinstripes are pretty heavy. If you make a mistake once, they don't forgive you." - Ozzie Guillen

"What Jose brings to the table is first the power stuff-he can throw 95 and reach back for more-plus the hard splitter." - Kenny Williams

"When you leave Cuba like we left, you know you cannot go back. You do not know if you will ever see your family again. That is real, real tough." - Orlando Hernandez