Touching the bases

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.

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, the number of games that Oakland Athletics' pitcher Rich Harden started last season was incorrect in the baseball notes in the Feb. 25 Sports section. Harden started nine games last season.)