Youkilis on A-Rod, offense
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- While the media contingent is no longer at those picnic benches at the player development complex -- mostly since we were (nicely) kicked off the property after Kevin Youkilis spoke -- we're here to bring you the latest from the third-place finisher in the American League MVP vote.
Youkilis arrived at the complex at about 8:50 this morning ready to hit. After spending about a half hour in the clubhouse, he took off onto one of the fields complaining (in a good-natured way) that he was late. We declined to remind him that, in fact, he's about a week early. The position players aren't expected to be in Fort Myers until Monday, and not on the field until a week from tomorrow. I'm guessing that a 25-minute delay this morning probably wasn't going to hurt him.
He was on the field until noon working up a sweat, including a solo stint with strength trainer Dave Page. He then addressed both the Alex Rodriguez situation and the potential abilities of the Red Sox offense, among other topics.
"It's an unfortunate thing to hear that," Youkilis said, when asked if he had watched the interview on ESPN with Rodriguez. "It's also a good thing that he came out and admitted it.
"Sometimes it's hard to go out there and admit to something in your past. There's a lot of people in this world who have done something wrong. Myself, I've done things wrong -- not in that nature. But it's tough. I think it's tough for people in general in life to admit to some of the things they've done wrong."
Youkilis added that he hoped that fans wouldn't assume that all players are on performance-enhancing drugs, given the recent revelations. He said, "I've never done anything like that in my life and I plan on never doing it. ... I want the fans really to know that not everyone does it."
Beyond that, Youkilis called the situation both unfair and strange, since the names of the players who had tested positive were supposed to be anonymous: "I don't know if somebody had in it for him," he said. "It seems like just to take one name out of that group is a little odd."
But it wasn't all about the Yankee.
Youkilis also addressed an offense that has given some people pause. Without Manny Ramirez or Mark Teixeira, it is possible that the offense won't produce quite as many runs as it has in the past, leading to a greater reliance on its pitching staff.
"The one thing I always say about baseball and all other sports is one player can't win a championship," Youkilis said. "You've seen over the years it's not even the 25-man roster, you've got to go all the way into the 40-man roster to win a championship. It's definitely going to be different in the lineup without Manny Ramirez. He's definitely probably one of the greatest righthanded hitters of all time, and there's no player in this locker room that has the talent that Manny has, hitting-wise.
"I think the biggest thing is we have a lot of depth still. We have four guys that can go 20-plus home runs."
He added that part of the problem for him as a power hitter is hitting in Fenway Park. If he could hit at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, he joked, he could hit 60 every year.
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More than 4 people that can hit 20+ homeruns
Youk, Ortiz, Drew, Bay, and Mikey if he's healthy
The offense will be fine
Amalie,
I hate to pick on you, but come on! The lead paragraph, the do-or-die, make-or-break paragraph that is supposed to entice the reader to continue with the article ---and you use it to talk about how you used to be on a picnic bench, but now you're no longer on the picnic bench? Wow, I'm hooked!
No wonder newspapers are dying. It's not about you, kid.
IS YOUK ON THE 102 LIST?
Youk = Tons of Class
Arod could learn a lesson here.
And I wonder if Joba might consider this before tossing another 98 MPH at Youks head.
Four guys who can go 20 plus hr? Five by my count: Youkilis, Ortiz, Bay, Lowell, and Drew. And who knows about the Might Mite?
>There's a lot of people in this world who have done something wrong. Myself, I've done things wrong
oh oh, i hope that doesn't mean roids
Youk naturally has more testosterone than A-Roid can ever shoot in his carefully tanned and waxed butt!
Only 4 guys with 20+ HR power, Youk? I count Pedroia, Youk, Papi, Bay, Drew and Lowell as all potential 20+ guys. The only one who hasn't done it before is Peedie, and he was a mere 3 long balls shy last year, despite a slow start.
Youk wishes he could be as good as A-Rod..what a kiss you know what. A-Rod is such a man and Youk is such a little dork.
Youk is right. It takes 40+ to make a team. It's the team hat wins.
Did anyone ask him why he's such a boob?
YOUK: MVP AL 2009!
Mark it on your calendar!
Hey mike guns,
You are reading boston.com. A website. Not a newspaper. Extra Bases is a blog. Not a newspaper. I am fully aware of the relationship between the Globe and boston.com, and I am somewhat certain that Extra Bases doesn't make it into the Globe.
idiot.
Forget about these isolated incidents. Major League Baseball is a fraud and money is at the root of the rot. Players juice themselves to make exorbitant amounts of money and then are protected by the union, while the commissioner's office and the owners turn a blind eye, knowing that the fans are amoral and willing to be complicit in the fraud themselves by forking over their hard-earned money to watch a bunch of phonies play a game. If you want to bring Baseball to its knees, get a life and play in your own game.
Hey Dave --
MLB is not a fraud -- You sound like you still haven't gotten over not being good enough to make a Little League team -- Get over it! I LOVE BASEBALL as millions of people do. Go complain somewhere else... or get back on your meds. As for soxfan4eva's comments about Youk -- you must be a Yankee fan -- How can you knock this guy? You're no Red Sox fan as far as I'm concerned...
Mike Guns leave Amalie alone. This is a blog not an article and her entry was a perfect fit. Blogs are meant for minutae and if you don't like reading about mindless but fun details that blogs offer don't read extra bases. Just stick to the proper and old styles on the main page.
M Guns point well taken- Obtuse self absorbtion on the "reporter's" part.
Amalie..
Thanks for the article. I think the bloggers that criticize you are just jealous that you have their dream job of writing about the Sox and talking to the Sox and being around the Sox... Thanks again for the article and once again showing us how much of a class act Youk is.
what is becomeing increasingly apparent about this whole sickening mess is just how much collusion there was between the players, the union, the commisioner & the owners to keep the the full extent of the problem from becoming public. Just the fact that the names were supposed to be held confidential.....why? If someone is breaking the rules, cheating & taking part in illegal activities, why should that be kept confidential??? The players just don't get it, they seem more concerned that one of their own was exposed. Just for once I wish some of these people would look at it from the typical fan's perspective. What a freakin rip off mlb is!
Mike Guns,
It's a blog. Get a clue.
I don't know why so many people panic about the offense. Even with significant missed time from Ortiz, Lowell and Drew combined with the loss of Manny 2/3 of the way through, the Sox had the second highest runs produced per game (Behind Texas) in the entire AL. Pure home run power doesn't win games, A 1-6 of Pedroia, Youk, Ortiz, Drew, Lowell and Bay is more than capable of stringing together hits and slugging just enough to bring in plenty of runs.
Let's not forget, Manny and Ortiz only combined for 55 home runs in 2007 (One more than the entire home run total of first round eliminated A-Rod), when they went on to win it all, compared to the 89 they hit in 2006 failing to reach the playoffs. Rounded play wins games, not two players hitting a bunch of home runs.
Mike and Ed; It's a blog.
A blog is an online personal diary-style entry that can contain news, personal commentary, or just about anything that the blog writer wishes to include-- in this case within the general theme of this individual's experience as a reporter assigned to the Red Sox beat in the off-season.
There is no reason to read this blog if you demand or expect anything more.
I thought this was an interesting "entry". It was not an article in the Globe. It was a follow-up to her earlier entry where she was out side the facility at the picnic bench.
Coverage like this makes me more interested in what is going on "behind the scene". Good work Amalie.
The IQ of the posters here has to be around seven, combined. I agree that the Sox have five people that can come up with 20 on paper. J.D. Drew....I wouldn't count on anything from him.
Mike Guns & Ed Hill,
The beginning of the blog picks up where the last post leaves off. If you didn't want the minutiae then I'd suggest skipping the unedited blog posts and sit tight by waiting for tomorrow morning's articles in the Globe. I bet there will even be one on Youk. Sure, we expect immediate gratification in today's 24-hour news cycle - but you honestly expect the reporters to take on the added burden of blog posts and make them worthy of entry into "Best American Sports Writing?"
And newspapers are dying because you refuse to buy a paper, instead preferring to get your news from informal blogs, which you then proceed to gripe about.
Amalie is my imaginary internet wife basically.
I pay better attention to her words than my own wife.
If polygamy was legal I would add her on my 40 man roster.. of wives.
Mike Guns can go to Guantanamo.
"I have never done steriods" -2007. "I did something in 2001-3, not sure what it was but thought it was OK" - yesterday. A ROID is an idiot thank God he is a Yankee.
I have to agree that first paragraph doesn't make a whole lot of sense and is pretty irrelevant - what benches? who cares? Get to the story.
As a Yankee fan my entire life, I have to admit it is truly a sad day in YankeeLand. The ARod roid situation is not only mind boggling but an embarrassment to baseball and the NYY. I'm not too sure I want to hear the remainder of the names on the list. Is anybody clean out there????????
But the main reason I had signed on to this blog was to commend Kevin Youklas. I read the comments that he had made regarding ARod and I have to admit that he is a CLASS ACT. REALLY. He could have really taken some shots at Rodriguez and the others and he chose to keep is short and sweet and to the point. My hats off to Kevin and The Red Sox Nation as a whole.
Good luck this season.
By the way, if I had a choice of the player I wanted to bat with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth and down by one run - DAVID ORTIZ without a doubt.
I have to agree with Dave and angryandy, much of our professional sport is a pretty mindless, morally absent playing field, that consistently sends the message that unsporting behavior is appropriate. But the reality is, if you don't like it you do have the option not to support it. Unfortunately, the fact that there is still such a huge paying fan base out there for so many world wide sports, seems to point to the fact that the fans either lack the desire or the education to find this problematic for society as a whole. There is a better way, but probably one that doesn't mesh well with the dollar.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
The mistake made was not that players used steroids (because steroids were not banned when they did so), but that so many of them lied about using them. Now, instead of merely blowing over as baseball's error, that time as well as the players of that era will always have a black mark associated with their deeds, good or bad. This is a case where the players are responsible for a problem baseball doesn't need.
"Without Manny Ramirez or Mark Teixeira, it is possible that the offense won't produce quite as many runs as it has in the past"
Man I follow the Sox every day and I can't remember them ever having Manny and Tex in the line-up together! The Sox will miss Manny's bat but how can we miss one we never had? Give it up Boston writers & bloggers please. We are all sick of seeing his name mentioned in a Red Sox article!
As for Youk .... nothing but class baby!!!!
Youk has been and always will be a class act. He was gentleman enough in his comments about A-Rod to NOT tear him down. I have followed Youk since he was in the minors and I think his classy style is a good example a lot of players and media can learn from. I'm not suprised about A-Rod, he's a legend in his own mind and thinks everyone worships him. He can't hold a match to the player that Youk is.
I'm thinking Mike Guns got kicked out of the journalism department at the local Community Colelge for fabricating a story about his own manhood. Clearly he has issues with a woman reporting on sports.... besides, anyone who would name themselves "mike guns" is clearly compensating for something.....I bet he drives a really big truck too.
"The mistake made was not that players used steroids (because steroids were not banned when they did so), but that so many of them lied about using them."
Jun. 7, 1991 – Commissioner Fay Vincent Issues Memo Regarding Steroid Use
After the U.S. Congress raises penalties for steroid possession, Commissioner Fay Vincent sends a memo to each team indicating that steroids would be added to Major League Baseball’s banned list. The memo stated: "The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited ... This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs ... including steroids." The seven-page document didn't include a testing plan -- that had to be bargained with the union -- but it did outline treatment and penalties.
I won't pile on the Amalie-critics, but I'll throw my voice in support of Ms. Benjamin. You're a fine Sox counterpart to Mike Reiss, who I think has the absolute best sports blog on the Net. Two thumbs up, Amalie. I look forward to reading your news and notes throughout Spring Training.
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