There are just some things that make me smile when I read them… like when a player says the right things, not because he thinks he should but because he actually believes what he’s saying. To wit, Mike Lowell:

“I’m getting ready for a season,” he said. “I think I’m pretty intelligent in the sense that there’s no real playing time for me here, basically, barring a major injury, and I’m not really in the business of hoping someone gets hurt just so I get at-bats. For me, I feel like I’m more prepared and ready for a full season than I was last year, so why shouldn’t I play more than I did last year? Whether it’s here or somewhere else, I can’t control that.

“I have to separate two things. There’s the baseball aspect of it and the real-life aspect of it. I’m very comfortable where I am in my real life. I feel like I’m in a tremendously privileged situation. No one needs to feel sorry for me in life. Is my baseball situation not ideal? Yeah, it’s not ideal, and I don’t want to diminish the baseball fact, but you never know what can happen.”

Yet another reason Mike Lowell is universally respected around the game.