"I'm a whole new pitcher. I'm more comfortable with all of my pitches."

"Instead of being overwhelmed and thinking I have to make three perfect pitches to strike a guy out, I'm just making quality pitches."

"I try to listen to people, coaches and other pitchers, and see what they do and how they try to do it. Then I try to find a way that's comfortable for me."

"I wouldn't take anything away from Tampa Bay. We're in one of the toughest divisions there is."

"Just to be mentioned in the same sentence as Nolan Ryan is good enough for me. He was my idol growing up. He's the best pitcher in the game."

"Nobody taught me my slider. I mean, if you look at my grip, I don't think anyone has the same grip as I do. It's a separate grip. I hold it kind of weird and everything. When I started throwing it, I just wanted to start throwing something different and came up with that. I turned it a little bit."

"Now it seems like I'm actually thinking out there."

"This is a dream for me, it really is, to be the leader of a staff going into the season."

"Those two-strike, broken-bat singles you kind of get frustrated with. They kind of hit it off the end of the bat, and it just falls in. What are you going to do?"

"He competes out there." - Lou Piniella

"He has everything. The arm is there." - Art Howe

"He has an explosive fastball, a hard-breaking ball and we haven't figured him out very well yet." - Terry Francona

"He's disgustingly consistent." - Joe Madden

"He's got great stuff and he knows how to pitch. He's proved that already. He's as good as anyone in baseball." - Joe Girardi

"He's hard to compare to anyone else. He's young and I don't see a lot of left-handers as good as he is. He throws hard and he throws strikes. He's up there with the big guys. He's not afraid of anybody." - Julio Lugo

"He's unbelievable for his size. Someone described him as lightning in a bottle. That's pretty much what he is. I guess what I have seen is his ability to harness it. He attacks the strike zone." - Casey Fossum

"He throws that fastball away and then comes back with the slider, and that's what Randy Johnson did." - Wes Helms

"His fastball is his bread and butter." - Gary Sheffield

"I think he's the best pitcher in the AL East right now." - Johnny Gomes

"I'll tell you what, he can pitch, that kid. He's young and I'd love to have him. He's going to be a star for a long time." - Sam Perlozzo

"Scott Kazmir's big league debut was everything Mets fans had dreamed about since the day he was drafted…Of course, the fact that he was wearing a Tampa Bay Devil Rays jersey made it more of a nightmare." - Adam Rubin

"We envision Scott being here for a long time, and being a leader for a long time." - Andrew Friedman

"When a hard-throwing fastball pitcher throws his heater, the ball hits the catcher's glove with a leathery bang. When Scott Kazmir throws his fastball, the sound better approximates a sledgehammer pulverizing a cinder block." - Gersh Kuntzman