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At age 31, Gabe Kapler is calling it quits as a player but will manage the Red Sox' Single A affiliate Greenville Drive. (FILE/BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF) |
Kapler opts for retirement
Retirement at age 31? Of course, Gabe Kapler said, he expects he'll feel the urge to play when he shows up in Fort Myers next spring.
"I think the likelihood will be there for several years to come, when I say to myself, 'I can still be playing baseball,' " Kapler said. "But I don't think there will be that moment where I regret this decision.
"I feel confident that at the end of the day I'm going to look myself in the mirror and say, 'I made the right choice here,' because it's not about me but about the lives I have the opportunity to impact."
The decision Kapler made, which was announced in conjunction with his decision to retire, was to accept a job with the Red Sox as manager of the Single A Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League. Three years ago, Kapler made a memorable debut with the Sox -- 7 hits in 9 at-bats against the Marlins, including 2 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs, and 7 RBIs in Fenway Park -- and endeared himself to Sox fans with his passion, energy, and status in the clubhouse as a great teammate.
Now, after earning admiration for his comeback last season from Achilles' tendon surgery, Kapler is embarking on the next stage of his career in a world far removed from big-league glamour and money.
Many former players have balked at going back to the lower minors. Kapler said he couldn't be happier.
"Do you know me to be a guy scared of that kind of thing?" he said.
He remembers players telling him they wouldn't go back to the minors.
"I thought to myself, 'Why not?' " he said. "You have to prepare to be good at something. Essentially, it's going back to school. You're going to learn how to manage.
"I see the minor leagues not only as a place where I can learn and develop, but I'm going to be rewarded emotionally and spiritually. To have an extreme impact on somebody's life can be much more powerful than hitting a home run." He finishes his major league career with a .270 average, 64 homers, and 302 RBIs in 850 games with Detroit, Texas, Colorado, and Boston.
Owner goes to bat
Sox owner John W. Henry, in the midst of a conversation about Daisuke Matsuzaka late Monday night, was asked how he felt about the Sox not trading Manny Ramírez last week."It's a sense of relief for me," said Henry. "I want to see him in that 4-spot."
Henry did not rule out the possibility Ramírez could yet be traded, but if the man with the deepest pockets doesn't want to trade him, you have to think it's not happening.
But what about Manny's oft-repeated desire to be traded?
"He hasn't told me that," Henry said. "We have a very good relationship."
That hasn't always been the case. Henry was on the receiving end when Ramírez raged about "white devils" trying to trade him to Texas in the aborted Alex Rodriguez deal.
