Kevin Pillar

Obviously he's getting his chance to go out there and perform.

Is any of this a conversation if Eric Lauer goes out there and pitches well?

Absolutely not.

The fact that he hasn't really pitched up to his ability of what we saw him do last year is why they led to them potentially using an opener during his start.

Would it have been better for him to not come out to the media and say it and make an excuse for why he didn't pitch well or why he's frustrated about an opener?

All those conversations should be done behind closed doors.

are players human beings and do they have emotions and do they get caught up?

I'm as guilty as everyone else to speaking to the media about things that were bothering me when I probably should have just walked into the manager's office and had those conversations.

We live and learn from those things, but I think

What this organization has built in terms of their culture and their chemistry, it's a non-issue.

I think, you know, John and Eric Lauer probably sat down behind closed doors, aired it out.

John probably said a lot of the same things that I'm telling you right now to Eric's face.

Like, if you were pitching better, we wouldn't have had an opener.

So just pitch better, you won't have an opener, right?

But I don't think it's a big deal.

There are some interesting decisions coming down the pipeline, you know, as guys get healthy, too, you know.

So, you know, if I'm Eric Lauer right now and I'm always pro player, I want them to be able to speak their mind and say what they want to do and do what they want to do.

But this is a good time to kind of, you know, bite your tongue a little bit and just go out and perform well.

Oh, man, I was a rule follower.

I didn't get fined that much, right?