Wells weighs in on Boston

The always provocative David Wells pulled few punches in describing his two seasons in Boston while sitting at his corner locker in the San Diego Padres spring training clubhouse last week in Peoria, Ariz.

"Loved that team," said Wells. "Those guys were phenomenal. I had a lot of fun at the ballpark.

"Outside the ballpark, it was hard. You can't go anywhere, especially if you're not pitching well. You get the business from [fans]. You can't enjoy your family time. Your alone time is gone because you're subject to photographs nonstop. It was the worst. You go to a mall with your kids and you have people always wanting to take pictures. They should call it 'Picturetown' not 'Beantown.'

"Listen, I know the people are Red Sox-friendly. They love the Red Sox. I understand that. They have to understand that when we're not at the ballpark, we're not subject to autographs and pictures and we need to be able to enjoy ourselves. I don't think they see that and don't get it."

New York, where Wells spent four seasons, "is a cakewalk compared to Boston," he said. "But you know what? Boston is a great town. When I was playing against them, it was great coming in. Great stuff in that town. Great restaurants and nightlife. Historical stuff.

"But you have to be able to deal with it. That's why Manny [Ramírez] is always a little loopy -- because he can't do stuff. If you want to be subject to that kind of stuff, God bless you. But as you get older, you want to relax."

What particularly upset Wells in Boston was the obscenity-laced heckling he -- and his family -- would be subject to when leaving the park.

"Once I heard that, with my family there, I just shut everybody down," he said. "I ignored everybody. To me, fans aren't going to make or break me. If they overstep the boundaries, then we're going to have a situation. They can say all they want about me and it's not going to reflect on the field how I do. It never has."

Wells is part of a talented Padres pitching staff that includes starters Greg Maddux, Jake Peavy, and Chris Young, and a deep bullpen. He says he feels as healthy as he's been in a few years, and he decided very early in the offseason that he was going to return for another year.

"What else am I going to do?" he said. "All of my friends work for a living. There's nobody to hang out with."

Getting back to the Red Sox, Wells said he enjoyed Terry Francona and Theo Epstein but he didn't care for Larry Lucchino.

"Tito is awesome," Wells said. "I wish a lot of managers were like him. He lets you go out and play. Just don't embarrass the team and be accountable. He messed with all the guys. He made you feel welcome and at home at the ballpark. That's what players like to see.

"I've been on both sides. I've been in very strict clubhouses and laidback ones. Bruce Bochy and Tito are very similar. We're grown men. We don't need to be baby-sat. Some do, yeah, but not the entire 25-man roster. Theo was different, but he was cool as can be. He's one of the best GMs I've ever met because he was honest with you."

Wells's problem with Lucchino stems from controversial comments he made about Bud Selig that got him fined.

"Lucchino is the only one I didn't really dig," said Wells. "He's got a great family and I met his kids. But in my situation -- about Bud Selig and the things that I said about Bud . . .

"Because they're good friends, he thought he had to step in and smooth it over. I said, 'No, you're overstepping your bounds.' I say what I want to say when I want to say it. I'm accountable for it, and if I have to pay the fine or suspensions, that's my problem. Don't try to solve both sides. I had a situation with him and I didn't like it. I wouldn't be rude to him, but he rubbed me the wrong way."

The Sox player he most respected was Jason Varitek.

"Jason, he's the kind of guy who wears the 'C' for a reason. He's the backbone of that franchise. He simplifies things and makes your job easier."

Wells said he never put any pressure on Epstein to deal him last August, but he does admit to steering Epstein toward a deal with the Padres.

"He gave me my choice of which teams he was going to trade me to. He was leaning toward one [St. Louis] and I was leaning toward another. I just said if I'm going to do this deal, I'd rather go home so my wife doesn't have to fly all over the damn place.

"I really appreciated his honesty. I could have gone to St. Louis and got a ring, but who would have known at the time? It's a more personal thing.

"You threaten, 'I won't go,' because that's what they do to us. At the end of the day, I would have gone because I'm not going to give up the opportunity to make some money."

A few questions for Ichiro Suzuki (through interpreter Ken Barron):

Do you like Boston, and would you consider coming as a free agent? IS: (Laughter.) "I said all I'm going to say about free agency in my first press conference for the rest of this year."

You had lunch with Daisuke Matsuzaka before spring training; can you comment on what type of advice you might have given him?

IS: "That conversation was confidential and probably nothing that you all would be interested in. Dice-K and I have gone out to get something to eat many times during our private time even back when we both played in Japan. How often? It's not like we're dating and I'm keeping a journal. We hadn't seen each other for a while and we're both going to be in the United States. I just thought it was a good idea for us to go out and get something to eat."

Did it take place in Japan or in the United States? IS: (Laughter.) "There's no way we could have done it in America. When you think about when I got here [to Mariners camp] and when he got here, it wouldn't have been feasible for it to have been here."

What's the biggest challenge Dice-K faces? IS: "I love freshly cooked rice. For me, finding that was the biggest challenge. I'm not sure what it will be for him."

How about communicating with his pitching coach and manager? IS: "If Matsuzaka was a pitching coach going to the Boston Red Sox, it might be tough because he'd be the one who would have to deliver the message to the player. Being the player and receiving the message isn't as hard."

How about the challenge of facing great hitters every game as opposed to Japan, where he'd face a few good hitters? IS: "That's what he wants. He looks forward to that."

Have you thought about the first at-bat against Matsuzaka during the first week of the season and what that will mean to Japanese fans? IS: "It's something to look forward to and something the both of us want to give to the Japanese fans. But we both can't think about that right now. We need to prepare to be at that place so that we can put on a good show for them."

By all accounts, everyone liked Joel Pineiro in Seattle, but everyone we talked to agreed he's had a few dreadful seasons, which makes it difficult to project him as a closer.

"I couldn't tell you about Pineiro being a closer because I've never seen him in that role," said Mariners pitching coach Rafael Chaves . "I thought he did a better job when he started pitching out of the bullpen. I thought he was a little bit more effective. He started to throw the ball with a little bit more zip on it. His pitches looked a little more crisp. He was fresher, stronger, so he was able to put a little bit more on the ball."

Chaves thought the biggest thing he did for Pineiro was drop his arm slot to give hitters a different look. "It was a low slot but he was able to get the arm out quicker," Chaves said.

"Listen, Joel had a tough season. I would never say it was because of lack of effort or lack of desire. He had some mechanical problems that were forcing him to elevate in the strike zone. He was really erratic from start to start. He was pitching up in the zone quite a bit and he was exposing his pitches from trying to throw from such a high arm slot that was giving the hitters a better view of the baseball."

Does he have the mental makeup to be a closer?

"I don't think there's a player alive who wouldn't be motivated to save a game," Chaves said. "Once we dropped his arm slot when he made not-so-good pitches, I thought Joel was more deceptive and getting away with more mistakes. That's the one thing I liked about his arm slot is that he didn't have to be so perfect to still have success."

Touching the notes

Apropos of nothing: 1. An American League manager, fascinated by the Manny Ramírez stories coming out of Fort Myers, asked me in Arizona last week, "Has anyone in that organization ever sat with him, man-to-man, looked him in the eye, and told him to knock it off?" Don't know. 2. It's amazing how hard Barry Bonds hits a baseball in batting practice. 3. Bob Stanley was in Giants camp working with young pitchers. His prize pupil to date: Matt Cain. 4. Best phrase: Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he wants Alfonso Soriano to "buggy-whip" the ball. 5. With pitching so hard to find, why is lefty Mark Redman unsigned?

Todd Helton would still love to play for the Red Sox. According to a source familiar with the Rockies situation, the team would love to see the Red Sox rekindle talks for a deal that makes sense for both sides. Would Ramírez be a part of it, as he was when the deal was discussed in November? Probably not. But the Rockies love their young hitters, would like to make a move on Yankees righthander Carl Pavano, and need to dump some of Helton's salary. "I think the Red Sox want to see Helton in spring training to make sure he's all right from his [stomach problems] last year and to make sure his back is OK," said the source. "Helton in that lineup makes them unbelievable."

Soriano's mentoring of Cubs center field prospect Felix Pie reminds us of David Ortiz and Wily Mo Peña. "I owe him so much," said Pie. "He's spent so much time talking to me about the game and how to act and approach it. He's been so good to me." Here's the one rub: Piniella has penciled in Soriano as his center fielder for now. "It would be hard for me to sit and watch," Pie said. It will be harder if he goes back to Triple A, though. "I feel I'm ready to play in the big leagues," he said.

Cubs lefty Ted Lilly says he doesn't feel as though he dominated the Red Sox, but he sure did pitch a few gems against them. "I'm like .500 against them," Lilly said. "I will say I got up for pitching against the Red Sox more than any other team. There was a rivalry there, especially when I pitched for Toronto. Those games were really amped up, which is why I'm looking forward to the Cubs-Cardinals." Lilly also looks forward to playing for the fiery Piniella. "Lou's a guy who wants to win," said Lilly. "He's a winner, period. And this team has a chance to win big. Lou hates to lose and we all know that."

Mariners bench coach John McLaren, for one, is sick of the Alex Rodriguez bashing. "To this day, I use him as an example to young players as the hardest-working player I ever coached," said McLaren. "Alex was a guy who gets it. He's so respectful of the game and the people in it. There isn't a day he doesn't give you everything he has on the baseball field. I remember about the time he was hitting 40-plus homers, he asked me about Rico Petrocelli because he wanted to know everything about him. I gave him all the info I had and the next day he had the PR department pull up info on Rico because he wanted to know about the shortstop who had hit 40 homers. You don't see that too often. If Alex is guilty of anything, it's putting too much on himself. Trying too hard."

With third baseman Dallas McPherson recovering from back surgery and Orlando Cabrera signed through 2008 to play shortstop, the Angels did the inevitable last week and decided to try shortstop prospect Brandon Wood at third base. A first-round pick in 2003, Wood hit 57 homers in 2005 between the California League and the Arizona Fall League and whacked 25 in Double A last season. At 6 feet 3 inches, 200 pounds, he was always projected to move over, especially with the organization's Minor League Player of the Year, Sean Rodriguez, being a shortstop.

Ichiro Suzuki told me the one thing he'd really like to do before his career is over is pitch, and not to show off some trick pitch like a knuckleball, but to show off his heater. "You don't know how good my arm is," he said.

If the A's are going to make up for the loss of Barry Zito, Rich Harden has to stay healthy and be the No. 1 guy. Injuries limited him to three regular-season starts last season, but he's made adjustments. The changeup is his key pitch, but it's also the pitch that strained his elbow ligaments last year. "I have to stay behind the ball and not lock my arm," he said. "I have to learn to control my arm a little better. Sometimes my changeup cuts and sometimes it fades -- and if it fades too far, I'm overextending. If I stay behind it, I get that nice drop. So I have to be a lot more conscious of what my arm is doing." A's general manager Billy Beane summed up Harden's value: "Last year, with Barry, we got along without Rich. I'm not sure we could do that this year."

How things have changed in Texas. From the micro-managing of Buck Showalter to the loosey-goosey approach of Ron Washington, who has vowed to give players their space in the clubhouse. "It is their clubhouse," he said, "and I want them to do what they want to do as long as the police or the fire department doesn't show up. If they want to dance on top of tables, I'm fine with that."

Nick Cafardo's e-mail address is cafardo@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.