Return engagement for Burks

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Naturally, Ellis Burks was stunned.

"Holy cow!" he said yesterday as he emerged for a news conference to discover a battery of 13 television cameras and a couple dozen reporters. "All this for me?"

Burks and the Red Sox have come a long way from the sleepy days in Winter Haven, which was the team's spring training site when it drafted Burks in the first round (20th overall) out of high school in Everman, Texas, in 1983.

"It's amazingly different," Burks said as he prepared to win a job as a part-time player.

At 39, Burks also is different. Over a career that began memorably with the Sox before stints with the White Sox, Rockies, Giants, and Indians, he has hit .292 with 351 homers and 1,205 RBIs. Not bad for a guy the Sox let go in 1992 out of concern over his durability. Now, he has designs on joining the 400-homer club and helping the Sox win their first World Series since 1918.

Though Burks is at peace with filling a limited role, he would relish a greater one.

"If they brought me in just to be an ambassador in the clubhouse, an occasional pinch hitter, or just a DH against lefties, that's fine," he said. "But if given the opportunity to play, of course I want to play every day. I'm on a wish list right now."

Manager Terry Francona said it was too soon to predict how much Burks will play. But Francona was all but certain the righthanded hitter will be a valuable weapon.

"I've seen him enough from the other side to almost hate him," Francona said. "He will be a productive bat. He's going to make some managers think twice about bringing a lefthander in."

Poking around

Beaming with joy, second baseman Pokey Reese arrived in camp more than two years after the Sox first acquired him from the Rockies for Scott Hatteberg. Reese lasted only two days before the Sox opted against tendering the two-time Gold Glover a contract in December 2002, making him a free agent.

"They say the best things come to those who wait," Reese said as he settled in at his locker near his new double play partner, Nomar Garciaparra. "Those two years are in the past. This is the future. It's a dream come true."

Reese kept his eye on Garciaparra during his two-year wait in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

"He tries to get to every ball, and that's just the way I play," Reese said. "We'll be good together."

Reese, who could be one of the best defensive second basemen in Sox history if he plays to his potential, plans to spend spring training learning to work with Garciaparra, the best shortstop he has played with since Cincinnati's Barry Larkin.

"I'll see where Nomar likes the ball, and I'll tell him wherever he wants to put the ball is fine with me," Reese said. "Just put it around the bag and I'll make the turn."

The biggest concern with Reese is expected to be his ability to get on base. He has mustered a career on-base percentage of only .310.

"I've got the sense they want me to bring my whole game," he said. "I'm going to have to hit and drive in runs, and I'm ready for that."

Pitching change?

As the team's prospective fifth starter, Byung Hyun Kim is scheduled to work the home opener against the Blue Jays April 9. But don't count on it. Rather than subject Kim to such pressure, the Sox are considering starting him in the fourth game of the season, April 8 in Baltimore, and having Tim Wakefield work the home opener . . . Francona said he expects to hear from Curt Schilling, the No. 2 starter, if the Sox exploit opportunities to give Pedro Martinez an extra day of rest, as they have in recent years. Schilling has said he expects to make 35 starts, which would leave little leeway for him to work on five days' rest rather than his preferred four. Martinez made 11 of his 29 starts last year on more than four days of rest. "I can see Schill being in my ear a lot," Francona said. "That wouldn't be new, but it should be kind of easy for me to say, 'Schill, look who's in front of you. We're not going to bounce him. We're not going to skip him so you can stay on your regular day.' " Schilling has indicated he would defer to Martinez, but on the condition Schilling gets 35 starts . . . Outfielder Gabe Kapler, who played third base in college, said he has welcomed working out at third and first to make himself more versatile. "Any way I can sneak my way into a lineup would obviously make me happy," he said . . . Of the 19 position players who were due in town yesterday, all but one -- Manny Ramirez -- were seen at the park. The Sox said Ramirez satisfied the rules by arriving in Fort Myers and they expect him to report today for the first full-squad workout. The lone absentee remains righthander Reynaldo Garcia, who is stuck in the Dominican Republic awaiting a visa . . . Johnny Damon turned heads by showing up with a thick beard and hair down to his shoulders. The question was, will he trim either before he dons his uniform today? Stay tuned.