Werner reports he's optimistic
LOS ANGELES -- Tom Werner was the only representative of Red Sox ownership at the All-Star Game in Houston. He put on a reporter's cap for a day and interviewed Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz for the Sox' flagship, NESN. He'll be at the next four games in Anaheim and he speaks for the entire Nation when he assesses the measure of success (and failure) in this go-for-broke season, which resumes tonight against the Angels:
"I would be very distressed, given the talent that we have, if we didn't make the playoffs," Werner said near his West Coast office. "And I think the players feel the same way. I'm looking forward to a couple of great months."
Hardly stop-the-presses stuff, but it's important that ownership reflect the feeling of the fans. All members of the Nation will be crushed if the Red Sox don't make it back to the October tournament. The owners are no exception.
Werner chose not to address the flurry of trade rumors involving Nomar Garciaparra and Randy Johnson, but one comes away with the impression that the Sox boss doesn't think anything major is going to happen.
In a lengthy interview on the eve of the second half, Werner addressed a number of subjects, including Boston's chronically unhappy shortstop.
"Nobody is harder on himself than Nomar," said Werner. "I think he's going to have a great second half and contribute enormously. John [Henry] and I acknowledged that we understand his feelings were hurt by the offseason discussions and I think that's understandable, but hopefully we've put that behind us. We've talked to him and I think he understands that that's in the past. To one degree or another, all baseball players know that they're the center of a lot of publicity. We had those discussions and they ended up not leading anywhere."
Any big deal in the works now?
"We don't want to make any change for change's sake, but we are certainly open to improving the club to be ready for September and October," said Werner. "If we made a deal it would only be to strengthen our position for the next two months, but we don't want to do something stupid. We don't want to make a Larry Andersen trade . . . You'd like to have conversations between general managers stay private because they are often just exploratory. My own feeling is that most of these conversations go nowhere, and I think we're pretty confident that our team is going to have a strong second half."
Werner is enjoying his position as one of the Sox owners. He talks with Henry and Larry Lucchino (who will be in Anaheim and Seattle) three or four times each day. He spends two to three weeks of each month in Boston when the Sox are in season. He was on hand for the recent 5-1 homestand (his away from Fenway highlight was a canoeing trip on the Charles with Katie Couric) and will be back at Fenway for next weekend's Yankee series and the Democratic National Convention.
Werner has ticket requests from several US senators for the upcoming Yankee series and said that some of the Democrats will be taking batting practice at Fenway while the Sox are on the road in Baltimore. The Sox are hoping to have Bill Russell throw out the first pitch before the Sox-Yankees Sunday night game on ESPN.
As for the first half, Werner said, "I think we certainly lost a lot of close games that a bounce or two could have improved our position versus the Yankees by three or four games. I'm glad we had such a good week before the All-Star Game because it showed that we certainly have the potential to run off seven or eight victories in a row. I would hope we not only make the wild card, but could still be close to the Yankees on Labor Day. We certainly have the capability to win the division and win the American League.
"Professionals live with pressure. Everyone feels we have the potential to win a World Series this year. It's obviously difficult to go all the way because there's so many good teams, but we're set up to win and we'll deal with next year after the season is over."
Fresh off his annual midseason trip to the Dominican that called for him to blow off the final three games of the first half, Pedro Martinez should be plenty rested when he finally takes the mound in Anaheim tomorrow night. The extra rest takes him out of next weekend's series with the Yankees, but Werner said he didn't have a problem with deployment of the erstwhile ace.
"I think Pedro is on pace to pitch 230 innings this year and I think he's helped by having the rest of eight or nine days between starts," said Werner, referring to Martinez's extended all-star break. "As for the Yankees, it's not about one start, it's making sure that Pedro is as strong in September and October as he can be."
Werner won't be going back to New York for any games.
"New York has a lot of unpleasent memories," he said. "If we win, I'm happy, but if we lose and I'm not there at least I don't have to listen to 55,000 fans cheering against the Red Sox. We take these losses and wins very personally. It's very emotional. Sometimes it's better to be at a bar with some friends than with a lot of screaming Yankee fans.
"I watched the 13-inning Yankee game in Los Angeles. I started watching in a bar and then I came home and watched the end . . . I believe Nomar when he said he was uncomfortable and didn't want to put himself in a position where the injury was going to keep him out of the lineup longer. And I subscribe to the fact that one game doesn't matter. I have a long view of these streaks."
As for the struggling Derek Lowe, another free-agent-to-be, Werner said, "Derek is very hard on himself. I'm sure he'd be the first to say that his performance the first half was personally disappointing, but we've all seen signs of him coming out of it. I talked to him myself after his last start and we're all feeling that he's going to have a strong second half.
"I interviewed our three All-Stars in Houston for NESN. My interview with David was interrupted by Manny coming over and hugging me. Manny and I talked about lots of things, we talked about NATO, we talked about the war in Iraq . . . But seriously, I told him he's been such a pleasure to watch this year. He's really been committed. Manny's got potential to win the triple crown this year."
The new owners have been reluctant to admit that they are never leaving old Fenway, but Werner went so far as to say, "Obviously, our emotional attachment to Fenway Park is apparent. There may be a time in the future when we decide that we might look for other alternatives, but our focus is to improve the quality and experience for this year and next year. My assumption is that sometime in the next six months we'll have better sense of exactly how we're going to move to the next, bigger phase of what to do with the ballpark, but emotionally we're committed to staying."
What about Red Sox ballplayers being interviewed in mid-game on NESN recently? And players being miked during games? Some of the purists have a problem with this, but Werner (ever the TV guy) said, "We live in a world in which NASCAR racers 30 seconds before they put their lives on the line and jump into a car going at very fast speeds are perfectly comfortable talking to reporters. I don't think it hurts the game. I think it's been kind of fun because fans get a sense of being close to the action."
There'll be more of the above before Werner and friends are through. Don't be surprised if someday there's a Sox Fox-like reality series in which wannabe ballplayers can compete for a chance to play a spring training game with the Red Sox.
In the interest of disclosure, we remind you again that the
Say this much for him: Werner may have run the Padres into the ground and the book hasn't yet been written on his impact with the Red Sox, but at least he's not Jeremy Jacobs nor Thanksdad Gaston. The guy is a serious Red Sox fan. He's already ordered his own Grady Little bobble-arm doll from the Brockton Rox.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is dshaughnessy@globe.com.
