General observations from Epstein
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The general manager was sitting in the Red Sox dugout yesterday morning, which has seldom been a part of his routine this spring.
This being the last day of camp before the Sox departed Florida for two exhibition games in Philadelphia this weekend, it was a pretty good indication that Theo Epstein was willing to answer questions about the ball club. He expressed support for rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia, downplayed concerns about Jason Varitek's bat, extolled the depth of the Sox bullpen down to the young arms in Pawtucket, and indicated his satisfaction with the progress made in assimilating the team's Japanese pitchers.
"I think the thing I liked best about the club was that there were no real egos on display, as much as any camp I've been around," Epstein said yesterday before the Sox and Devil Rays played to a 3-all, nine-inning tie in City of Palms Park. "Guys had a real team feel from Day One. They put winning as a top priority, which allowed everyone to get their work in. It seems like as cohesive a unit as you can have when you've got 55 guys running around camp. That should bode well for our chances of coming together as a 25-man unit quickly.
"That, and our relative health, which is always the most important thing in spring."
There would be no predictions. "Ask me in six months," he said.
And he flashed some humor, when asked if he had any idea how many interviews he'd done for Japanese television this spring.
"If you let me go upstairs, I can tell you almost exactly, because I've got a bottle of sake for every one. Count the bottles of sake."
But mostly, he addressed some of the primary questions surrounding the club, which finished the Grapefruit League portion of its exhibition season at 13-12-4, four wins better than last season's 9-20-1. The last time the club had more than 13 wins in spring was the Series-winning year of '04 (17).
On the starting rotation:
"It's got as high a ceiling as any we've had. We got it going pretty good toward the end of 2004. Those guys [Pedro Martínez, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo] made all their starts. Often times you look up at the end of the year, and the team that won the pennant is the team that had its rotation make the most starts and stay the healthiest, the top five guys. If they take the ball, not miss starts, that's a good sign. That's an important factor for us and our competitors as well."
On the bullpen:
"It's always wait and see with every team in the bullpen. I think we have some veteran talent in the big leagues right now, guys with good makeup, and I think we have the best depth we've had in Triple A in a long time. Considering we usually use 20 pitchers to get through the season, I think we're built better for the long haul and the attrition that is apparent in the American League East pitching."
On the assimilation of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima:
"I think both pitchers deserve a lot of credit for their great attitudes toward integrating themselves into the clubhouse and the major leagues. The rest of our players deserve a great deal of credit for taking something that could have been a distraction and turning it into a positive. A lot of people in the organization went out of their way to make this work, including the specific support staff for these players."
On newcomers Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew:
"They fit right into the clubhouse, and showed what they can do from a talent standpoint. We haven't had any problems. It almost seems like both guys have been here for awhile. That's always a good sign."
On Varitek's lack of hitting this spring:
"Obviously, you'd love to have a big spring from all your players. But if you look back at his history [since 2003], I think he hit over .250 maybe once. He hit around .200 or below most of the time. I remember in 2003, he had a feeble spring from an offensive standpoint, but in his first game, first at-bat, he put a great swing on a ball from Joe Kennedy, lined it off the wall, and got locked in."
On Matsuzaka's performance:
"I think he showed the ability to battle effectively without his best command and without his best stuff, and I think that's an important characteristic for a great pitcher to have. I liked how he and [Varitek] really seemed to work hard on their communication."
On Pedroia:
"I think for him, the lights are going to go on one day where he can relax and be himself. I think you saw last year a guy who was pressing, trying to do too much, which is pretty typical of young players. That sometimes carries over to the second year. Usually there's a big hit or a defensive play or just a deep breath that helps a guy relax and be himself. I think we've seen some signs of that this spring."
