Kuzul

FORT MYERS, Fla. — David Price will be the third Opening Day starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in the past three seasons Tuesday in Cleveland.

Boston hopes Price will be the man for that job for the next seven years, and his biggest fan on the 2016 team may be one of his biggest former enemies, David Ortiz.

It turns out Ortiz also gave his blessing when the Red Sox asked him about pursuing the dominant lefty as a free agent. But the two new teammates once enjoyed a public and mutual professional scorn.

Their open acrimony surfaced during the 2013 American League Division Series. It intensified in May 2014, when Price plunked the Red Sox DH during their first matchup of the season.

Ortiz referred to their hostilities as “war” and called Price “a little b—h.” Price objected and said Ortiz “looks like he’s bigger than the game of baseball.”

That was then.

This is now.

Millions witnessed images of their bromantic clubhouse hug on Feb. 22, posted by the Red Sox on social media.

“With the hug, there was media everywhere. I mean, he wasn’t going to punch me or act mad,” said Price, who admitted he had been nervous about meeting Ortiz as a teammate.

But few outside of Price and Ortiz saw what truly made him feel like he was a friend and teammate of Ortiz, and by extension, a bona fide member of the Red Sox.

It was an unexpected but welcome text message.

“The biggest thing, and this is the first time I’ve said it, was probably a week or two after that hug. We had a day game. I’m home. It’s probably nine o’clock at night. David just sends me a text,” Price told Bleacher Report in an exclusive clubhouse interview.

“He’s asking me: ‘How are things going? Is there anything [I] can do to make it better?’ He wanted to know if there was anything he could do to make this process go more smoothly. That text he sent me that night, while he’s at home with the family. To do that, it was special.”

For Ortiz, the text message was a natural extension of him being the team’s in-house leader and a star in the final year of his career with dreams of one more World Series.

“There’s no way you can win by yourself. I can’t pitch. I have no clue about pitching,” Ortiz acknowledged with a laugh. “David is our ace. I want him to do well. I want him to feel comfortable.”

“I know how everything works around here. I wanted to make sure everything was going well with him at the time. And if there’s anything he would like to know, when it comes down to putting up with the media and the stuff around here, I wanted him to feel open to call me and ask me any type of questions. I’m wide open for it. I want him to be peaceful.”

As Big Papi knows all too well, finding that peace in a city like Boston is a different story.

“He’s a quiet guy. He’s not a guy who likes the attention much. Playing here, there’s no way you can stay away from it. So I wanted him to know that if he ever had any questions or problems, he could hit me up.”

Ortiz hasn’t been simply reacting to Price’s arrival with hugs and text messages during spring training; he was helping to facilitate his acquisition in the offseason.

“When you add someone like David to your starting rotation, you’re going to add a lot of W’s. The [Red Sox] organization let me know they were chasing him,” Ortiz said.

“They asked me, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, oh yeah, we need him.’ You saw how bad we struggled with pitching last year. And you know that making a move to sign a guy like Price is not an easy move to make. There’s a lot of money involved. Once something like that happens, you already know that you’re going to have an ace.”

Ortiz reassured what was once a “war” in 2014 is now nothing more than a one-off moment of the past.

“That incident happened between me and David one time. But I did my homework. I asked around about David. Everybody loves him. We got to know each other. He’s a super nice guy. You see everything he does. You look at his Twitter account. There’s no way you can have any issues with that guy.”

With Ortiz’s support both in the clubhouse and at the plate, all the 6’5″ Price must do now is justify his $217 million contract—the largest ever given to a pitcher.

Price was MLB‘s premier free-agent pitcher this offseason, going 18-5 with an AL-best 2.45 ERA in 220.1 innings for Detroit and Toronto in 2015. In December, he signed with Boston through 2022, though the deal includes an opt-out clause after the 2018 season.

The citizenry of Red Sox Nation watched the so-called “five aces” of Boston’s 2015 rotation transform into a house of cards last summer. Boston’s mudslide in the standings was triggered in large part by a mysterious elbow injury to Clay Buchholz that ended his season on July 10.

No one on the Red Sox payroll questions Price’s role as the team’s “ace” this season.

“Everything has been as advertised,” manager John Farrell said of Price. “He’s shown his leadership qualities and personality in the clubhouse. [At times this spring], his command was almost midseason form, as well as he was following the glove around the strike zone.”

“His willingness to take some young left-handed starters under his wing—Eduardo Rodriguez and Henry Owens particularly—to impart some of his experiences on them. David Price has been everything we have hoped for to date. David has been a very good presence in our clubhouse and a very good teammate.”

Dave Dombrowski, Boston’s president of baseball operations, acquired Price when he was the general manager in Detroit. Dombrowski knew the opportunity to bring him to Boston could not be missed, despite the historic price tag.

“He brings to your rotation and your club a big presence as the No. 1 guy. And he is legitimately that. No. 1 starters are not easy to find. He also brings the intangible aspects. The worth ethic. The leadership. He’s really the whole package. To have someone like that in the organization is a real plus.”

Price is also aware of any bullpen’s limitations, even with Boston’s addition of closer Craig Kimbrel and setup man Carson Smith (currently on the disabled list).

“I expect to go nine and get 27 outs every time I step on that mound,” he said. “I take a lot of pride to give those relievers that day off. I’d rather go eight and give up one run, than go six and give up none.”

One of Price’s former proteges, Toronto pitcher Marcus Stroman, said he’s “given about 30 million interviews” on Price this spring. But he is still quick to laud Price as both a huge role model and mentor.

“I try to take down how he went about his business on and off the field, and how he treated everyone. He’s a true leader. A true ace. I was just lucky to play with him as long as I did. He’s a friend that I’ll have forever.”

And Price is still dispensing advice to one-time Rays teammate Chris Archer.

Boston has seen many of its recent splurges in free agency backfire. Look no further than $90 million signing and current bench player Pablo Sandoval.

But Price is far more prepared for the best and worst of what Boston can offer, according to Dombrowski.

“If you’re going to invest those type of dollars, you want that player to bring everything to the table. I had the pleasure and fortune of being with him in Detroit. I thought he’d be able to handle the Boston spotlight. He can handle it. And he has no difficulty with the communications and intellectual aspect of it.”

So what is the difference between the David Price who closed out Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS against the Red Sox and the David Price now carrying the hopes of a beleaguered Boston fanbase?

After all, it’s been 14 whole months since the city’s last duck boat parade.

“I had two pitches then, a straight fastball and a slider. I didn’t have the fastball command that I needed. My velocity allowed me to get away with a few more mistakes. I threw a good amount of sliders that night. That was my best pitch coming out of college,” Price said.

“I probably threw two changeups in college [Vanderbilt], and maybe five before I got to the big leagues. I realized very quickly that it doesn’t matter how hard you throw at this level. You have to be able to locate and change speeds. I take pride in being able to make adjustments on the fly.”

Price began developing a changeup in 2009, and he picked up the one he uses today back in 2011 courtesy of then-teammate James Shields.

“It’s a feel pitch, but you have to have trust in it,” Price said. “You’ve got to throw it. You’ve got to take it to the game. I don’t care how good it is in the bullpen; you’re not going to have confidence in that pitch unless you go and throw it in a game.

“Where you get that first swing and miss, or that first ball off the end of the bat for a ground ball, that’s going to give you confidence to throw that first pitch in a big situation.”

Ortiz carries a .250 average with nine strikeouts and just two of his 503 career home runs in 54 plate appearances against Price. He cites Price’s “experience” as the biggest factor in his evolution as a pitcher.

“Here’s a guy with the same stuff. More experience. That’s dangerous,” Ortiz said. “Before, he would try to overpower [you]. Now, he uses his power when he wants. He can throw the ball wherever he wants.”

“You don’t need nothing else. You can be powerful and have three different pitches, but if you don’t throw the ball where you want it, that gets you in trouble. Now, he’s got both power and super-extraordinary control.”

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is fifth among active players with 58 at-bats (.276/.358/.431) against Price. None of those 58 were ever easy.

“Whenever you face him, you’ve got your hands full. He’s the kind of guy who will take the ball in a big game. He’s going to be extremely important to us.”

Price has pitched for three AL East champions and is 49-21 against division foes with a 3.15 ERA. He’s been even more effective in Fenway Park, going 6-1 with a 1.95 ERA in 11 career regular-season starts.

This familiarity with division and league opponents breeds both contempt and, eventually, respect. Big Papi may be the well-known feud, but this isn’t the first time Price has turned an enemy into a friend.

“I couldn’t stand Ian Kinsler. I told him that,” Price said. “Then I got to play with him [in Detroit]. Now, Ian’s in my top five of guys I’ve played with and enjoyed being around. Ian’s a really good dude.”

Ortiz has experienced the same change of heart many times before.

“When you haven’t played with someone, in between those two lines, they don’t have to look nice for me. They’re trying to get their job done. A lot of players judge other players on what they see without knowing the guy,” he said.

“I don’t like him for his body language, or whatever he does out there, but once I was in the room with him all the time, and I got to know the guy. I see the intensity in the guy. How he goes about his business. And then, boom, then you get to know the guy.”

Price also knows Boston and his contract will inevitably send a social media barrage his way, but he has scaled back on his interaction of late.

“One third of it’s going to be positive. One third of it will be negative and one third will be about fantasy baseball,” he said. “I don’t read a whole lot of tweets. I’ve gotten a lot more lately and a lot of the decisions I’ve made lately have gotten some people mad. But that’s part of it.”

Jared Carrabis, a Red Sox fan-turned-blogger for the past 10 years, was once an ardent “Twitter troll” of Price. Later, his digital courtship of Price earned Carrabis an infamous “bunk beds” mention during Price’s introductory press conference in Boston.

Carrabis’ reaction to Price coming to Boston was typical among diehard Red Sox fans.

“It felt like a concussion grenade went off when I saw the tweet. I remember my brain actually going numb and hearing that ringing sound in my ears that you get after leaving a concert. I think that was what it feels like to literally have your mind blown,” Carrabis said.

Price hopes to continue converting past haters by winning a World Series in Boston, or seven. He is resolute about ending his “winless as a starter in the postseason” drought this October. His regular season was delayed for a day by bad weather as Monday’s scheduled opener was postponed. 

“I know good things are going to come to me in October baseball. It just hasn’t happened…yet. I’ve thrown the ball well in some games. You’ve got to have some of those hard-hit balls at people. The balls you execute, and there’s weak contact, you’ve got to have that play made and not for that ball to fall into no-man’s land, or to be hit in just the right spot.”

“My time is coming. Is it frustrating? Absolutely. Winning in the playoffs is something I want to do. It’s something I’m capable of doing. Hopefully, this year, we can get going and start a streak on the right side.”

And Ortiz and the rest of Price’s new Red Sox teammates will be there to watch his back.

All quotes were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report unless otherwise specified.

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist who first covered the Red Sox in 1987. He Tweets at @RealOBF and @BillSperos.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Mark Appel knows all too well the answer to this baseball brainteaser: “Who was the lone player taken before 2015 National League Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant in the 2013 MLB draft?”

Appel was that No. 1 overall pick, chosen by his hometown Houston Astros out of Stanford. Thirty-three months after being selected ahead of Bryant and everyone else in that draft, he has yet to throw a major league pitch.

His stat page on Baseball-Reference.com reads like an atlas of minor league flyover country—Tri-City, Lancaster, Quad Cities, Salt River, Corpus Christi and Fresno.  

He has a 5.12 ERA in 253 minor league innings across four time zones.

All of it—the status and hype given to a top pick, the $6.35 million signing bonus, the pressure of being taken by the team you supported as a kid, the assumption of surefire stardom—has been equally a “blessing and a burden” for Appel. 

“Not many people can identify with you, especially when things don’t go well. It’s hard to describe what that feeling is like. You have these ridiculous expectations. And I don’t want my expectations dependent on what some team paid for me,” Appel told Bleacher Report.

“I look back and think, That was a dream. That didn‘t happen. It’s difficult to believe sometimes. You see how far you had to come just to get to that point, especially in times of struggle, and it shows how hard you can still go knowing you can accomplish your goals and dreams with hard work and effort.”

Appel was traded with four other pitchers (including Vincent Velasquez and Brett Oberholtzer) from Houston to Philadelphia for closer Ken Giles and shortstop Jonathan Arauz on December 12.

General manager Jeff Luhnow once called drafting and signing Appel “the most significant investment the Astros have made in their history in an amateur player” and added “we believe it’s going to be a long-term relationship.” 

Fast-forward to this offseason, and Luhnow was explaining his rationale in dealing Appel to the Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich. “When you draft a player high in the draft, you expect him to contribute in the big leagues, and he hasn’t done that yet because he hasn’t had a chance … There’s no question that he has value, otherwise we wouldn’t be acquiring Ken Giles in return for him.”

Any dream of Appel playing for his hometown team as its premier prospect had been—somewhat mercifully—extinguished with that deal. 

“It hurt being traded, for sure,” he said. “It felt like I let the Astros down and myself down. I had made so many friendships there, too. It was sad leaving some of those guys.”

It was the latest starting point in a pro baseball career that has been marked by anything but consistency. 

“I’ve experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” he said. “Are you kidding me? If you told me just a year after being the No. 1 pick overall, I’d be sitting in High-A in the California League with a 10.80 ERA halfway through the season, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

Appel‘s voice and demeanor lack any trace of anger. He is relaxed and resolute when discussing his past and future.

His selection came just one year after the Indianapolis Colts used the No. 1 overall NFL pick on fellow Stanford Cardinal Andrew Luck in 2012.

Appel shared a few physics classes with Luck on Stanford’s campus. They both get paid to throw objects right-handed to a teammate with accuracy.

That’s where their professional similarities end. Luck is already a star. Appel just wants to earn his shot.

He begins 2016 with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. At 6’5″ and 220 pounds, he has the physical tools to be fiercely dominant. His fastball tops out in the upper 90s, and he flashes a plus slider and a changeup. 

Dan Farnsworth of FanGraphs recently wrote of Appel: “The problem is a general lack of feel, consistency and true command that makes his fastball too straight and hittable, the shape and location of his slider too unreliable and his changeup too straight.”

In his first spring camp, Appel was recovering from an appendectomy. He threw just one inning. Last year, he was able to pitch routinely but was limited in building a pitch count. 

Since he arrived at Philadelphia Phillies camp six weeks ago, his focus has been on physical conditioning, pitching stamina, baseball intelligence and emotional calm.

His goal is to build up to “more of a normal pitch count” of at least 90 to 100. When he’s not pitching and working out, he’s at home playing the guitar (Christian and country music), or rewatching the entire series run of the The Office on Netflix.

“I feel really good this spring. I got good work in at the big league camp. Hopefully, I showed them a little of what’s to come,” Appel said.

While that may sound neither glamorous nor encouraging to Phillies fans, he finds a reliable pattern is what he’s always craved. Even when he didn’t realize it.

“It’s all about building that routine. We want to be able to take a running start when the season starts.”

Appel threw four innings with the big-league Phillies this spring (1 ER, 4 BBs, 3 Ks) before officially being designated to the minor league camp. An unsteady performance against the New York Yankees was countered with a solid outing in Fort Myers against the Minnesota Twins.

What is to come of Appel remains merely an educated guess, but the Phillies are in no hurry to find out.

Philadelphia pitching coach Bob McClure is a former major leaguer who played parts of 19 seasons with seven different teams. “The way he throws, it kind of reminds me of [Mark] Prior. I’m talking about the shape of his pitches. He’s a big kid. He’s a horse,” McClure said.

McClure doesn’t want Appel to be the next Mark Prior. He wants him to be the first Mark Appel.

“We want him to be himself. You’re a No. 1 pick out of Stanford. Just have fun and be you. There’s no rules,” McClure said. “When you try and put [pitchers] in a box, you stop creativity and stop growth. There are certain things pitchers get boxed up in. Finding who you are shouldn’t be one of them.”

With Houston, Appel said he found himself expending time and effort working on certain pitches and situations, rather than being allowed to improve his overall performance.

“For example, you might spend an entire bullpen session working on a changeup, or a situational pitch, or a certain grip, instead of just throwing a regular bullpen,” Appel said.

Finding a nuanced spot for Appel won’t be a problem with the Phillies. They lost 99 games last season and are a consensus pick to finish far behind the New York Mets and Washington Nationals in the NL East.

Where Appel may have once been hurried to reach the majors in Houston, the clock has slowed significantly in Philadelphia. He also no longer carries the burden of being his hometown team’s No. 1 overall pick.

“I saw some No. 1s in the minor leagues when I was in Kansas City. I’ve seen other teams with them. It’s a hard burden,” McClure said. “Not everyone can live with it and perform up to the expectations of everyone else. Now, I’ve never been a No. 1 pick, but the hardest part [for any pitcher] is trying not to live up to what everyone else thinks you should be. Forget what everyone else expects. It doesn’t matter. What do you see your progression being?”

The tumultuous nature of Appel’s journey to the majors has reinforced his Christian faith, which he shares openly whenever the opportunity arises, including daily on his Twitter feed.

“Christianity is my identity. I have learned the secret of being content in all situations. It’s not all about throwing strikes, or throwing 100 miles per hour, or hitting 500-foot home runs. It’s about being content in any and every circumstance,” he said.

“I learned through the lowest of lows that I wasn’t content. I don’t need a 2.00 ERA, and a 4-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. And I don’t need to be in the big leagues at 22 in order to be content.  As much as I love it, as much as I work hard at it, as much as I want to be successful at it, baseball is not my identity. I don’t ever want it to be my identity. There are too many highs and too many lows and it will tear me up.”

Appel knows that expressing his faith, especially on social media, leaves himself open to criticism and cynicism. He has also found it offers support to many. 

“A lot of people have a misconception of faith for a Christian athlete. Fans look at athletes who have been gifted by God, or worked very hard, guys like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. People think their sole purpose is to play baseball, and everything they do should be focused on baseball, or that their religion and faith should become a means for being better at baseball. That’s not right,” he said. 

The limits of Appel’s faith, patience and maturity reached zero hour on July 16, 2014. It was one day after his 23rd birthday. 

After being hammered for seven runs in less than two innings for Single-A Lancaster (Calif.), just a month-and-a-half after yielding 10 runs in 1.1 innings, Appel stormed into his team’s clubhouse.

Through tears of sadness and anger, he fired more than 50 baseballs into a three-quarter-inch particleboard wall next to his locker.

All the baseball doubts one could imagine flowed through him in a rage.

The wall was decimated. The experience was “therapeutic.”

If there would ever be a “bottom” in terms of his baseball career, he decided at that moment this would be it.

Appel faced a $500 fine, but he chose to repair the wall himself—with the caveat he would indeed pay the fine if the repair work wasn’t sufficient. The next day, after a couple of trips to Home Depot, he worked on the repair for about four hours.

He matched up the grains in the new high-grade oak plywood with those in the remaining walls and stained it all to near-perfection.

He likens the repaired wall to a healed soul.

“That was one moment that was so profound. It taught me a lot about my life. It was a turning point,” he said, of both the incident and sharing it on his blog. “I’m glad I did it. Players who are experiencing struggle tell me that they’ve read the blog and found it encouraging.”

McClure believes the final, finished version of Appel has yet to be created. “He’s got a lot of competitiveness in him that hasn’t gotten out yet because he was trying to please. He’ll evolve into whatever pitcher he can be. We just have to allow him to do it. We have to allow him room for failure, or to go backwards if necessary.”

And nearly three years after being drafted, he is finally at peace. 

“The Bible talks about working with all your heart for the Lord and not for men. If you’re working for the Lord every time you step on the field … I think the fans and the Phillies will be OK with the effort you give.”

Appel needed a fresh start. He can still become the star everyone thought he’d be. 

The only pitcher ever taken No. 1 overall not to make the big leagues was Yankees 1991 pick Brien Taylor, whose rotator cuff was destroyed in a barroom fight.

The Phillies hope to stop him from being the second.

All quotes were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report, unless otherwise specified. 

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist. He can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com. He tweets at @RealOBF and @BillSperos 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s Yoan Moncada’s turn.

After 90 minutes of fielding drills, the prospect one major league scout labeled “the closest thing to [Mike] Trout I’ve seen,” per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan, finally gets to take batting practice.

With a chiseled, 6’2″, 205-pound frame that Red Sox pitcher Joe Kelly likened to a “friggin’ inside linebacker,” Moncada divides his cuts evenly between the right and left side of the plate. It’s hard to see a weak side in his swing or when contact is made. The approach is a model of controlled anger. It is as fierce as it is fluid.

There are no BP home runs this day, but steady line drives to left, center and right from both sides of the plate give onlookers a taste of what they came to see.

Moncada departed from Cuba in 2014 and took a disjointed international journey, complete with secret workouts, before signing with the Red Sox 13 months ago.

“I’m not sure we’ve ever had someone quite like him physically in our system,” said general manager Mike Hazen, who has worked with the Red Sox since 2006. “Bo Jackson was a guy built that way. Of course, he played football, too. But no one we’ve had in our system.”

That physical talent and the baseball potential it carries pushed the Red Sox to sign Moncada for a record-shattering $31.5 million in March 2015. Due to the MLB luxury tax imposed on the deal for exceeding the allotted international signings bonus pool, however, his cost to the team was $63 million.

That was $63 million for a then 19-year-old who played 101 games of organized baseball in Cuba. All of it based on possibility. So what have the Red Sox gotten for so much of John Henry’s money?

If they’re right, they get a player whose potential appears limited only by how quickly he can reach the majors. If they’re wrong, they get another entry on a long list of multimillion-dollar busts.

On the No. 3 practice field behind JetBlue Park, Moncada cannot hide his mere 20 years, even behind designer sunglasses and a Red Sox helmet.

“He’s strong,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell. “Athletic. He’s a physically gifted player. A lot of people are excited to see him play in our uniform. He’s extremely talented for sure.

“Talented players are going to command large signing bonuses. Our ownership made a significant investment in him. I know the due diligence that [former GM Ben Cherington] and everyone in the international department did. They felt comfortable with that investment. We’re excited he’s in our organization.”

Moncada told Bleacher Report in remarks translated from Spanish that his goals for 2016 are simple. 

“Steal 100 bases and keep focused on reaching the big leagues.”

While he may not reach the big leagues this year, he swiped 49 bases on 52 attempts last season in 81 games at Low-A Greenville. He also hit. 310 with a .415 on-base percentage and 25 extra-base hits (16 doubles, two triples, seven homers) in his last 56 games (.278 overall with an .817 OPS).

Those numbers earned Moncada Minor League Player of the Year honors in the Red Sox organization.

But Moncada was not invited to the Red Sox’s major league camp this year, and he will likely start the season at High-A Salem (Virginia)—three levels shy of his MLB goal. 

As far as the Red Sox are concerned, he remains right on schedule.

“His expectations for how hard the game is, and the work that’s needed, mostly on the defensive side, we’ve seen that grow by leaps and bounds since last year,” Hazen said.

“The amount of time and energy he spends on his defense. We’re watching him grow up that way. It’s been really positive. He made a lot of strides on that in Greenville [South Carolina] last year from when he got there until the end. We believe he can be an offensive player. He can run. He’s a pretty dynamic player.”

‘Basic is important’

For 115 minutes on this sunny and windy March morning, Moncada labors on the basics of baseball.

Fielding. Throwing. Running. Hitting.

Rollers to second, baserunning situations, force-outs, double plays, man on first, man on second, man on third and fungoes fielded from his knees. Not everything was perfect. He overran second base once and the ball fell harmlessly into center field. A few other grounders were simply missed. He even changed gloves from white to black.

Coaches watch every move.

“Basic is important. Being able to do the fundamentals the right way is important for all our young players,” Hazen said. “He’s not any different. We do that with every one of our minor league players. The game is more challenging if you move up, but if you have a solid knowledge of the fundamentals, you’ll be that much more prepared.”

The feedback is constant—always in Spanish—and it modulates between encouraging and blunt in tone.

Moncada chats in Spanish with teammate Chris Marrero on and off the field. The two and their teammates share a makeshift steel bench in a dugout barely suitable for Little League.

When the day’s workout is finished, a group of seven or eight fans ask for and receive Moncada’s signature on various pieces of baseball swag.

“We’ll see you on the cover of Sports Illustrated some day,” one says.

There is a nod.

Two fans ask Moncada to pose for a photo.

He obliges.

But he doesn’t smile. He hasn’t smiled all day, so why start now?

He walks off the practice field alone, the last player to depart.

The journey from Cuba to the United States for Moncada wasn’t as simple as buying a plane ticket and leaving town. Moncada needed permission granted by his team in Cuba, the Cuban military and the Cuban baseball league. He received it and was given a passport. His first stop was Ecuador.

Part A-Rod, part Machado

It’s easy for the Red Sox and their fans to smile when pondering Moncada’s potential. Baseball America ranked him the No. 3 overall MLB prospect entering 2016.

The Boston Herald‘s Scott Lauber (now with ESPN) raved in January that Moncada could be the “best 20-year-old baseball player on the planet” and likened his appearance to a “combination of Alex Rodriguez (circa 1996) and Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado.”

Moncada turns 21 on May 27. If the plan holds, future stars will be compared to the “young Moncada.”

That type of anticipatory career success means little to new Red Sox minor league hitting coach Greg Norton. A former batting coach at Auburn, Norton spent parts of 13 seasons with six different major league teams. Like Moncada, Norton hit from both sides of the plate.

As a big league veteran-turned-coach, Norton said his focus when it comes to Moncada would be on what he sees and not what he’s heard.

“He’s an impressive player,” Norton said. “Built really well. Strong from both sides of the plate. Right now, I have to see him play.

“If you have talent, it’s not hard to get to the big leagues, it’s hard to stay. It’s about adjusting to other teams. As an ex-player, I’m mindful of too much information and I’m trying to observe.”

Norton said spring training does provide an adequate baseline to evaluate talent. “As a coach, I’m trying to build a relationship and establish trust by talking to them. What do you do that’s going well and not going well?”

A knee injury scuttled the Red Sox’s plans for Moncada to play winter ball in Puerto Rico. The bulk of his time during weekdays in the offseason was spent working on those fundamentals of hitting, fielding, running and throwing in Fort Myers.

‘He’s still just a kid’

David Hastings, a certified public accountant in Gulfport, Florida, is Moncada’s improbable agent.

During his first year in America, when he wasn’t playing baseball, Moncada lived in an apartment adjacent to Hastings’ home. Last year, he purchased a home on the same street, three houses down. Hastings’ wife, Jo, was born in Cuba and currently runs a restaurant in St. Petersburg.

The couple serves as surrogate parents for Moncada.

And, yes, Jo Hastings would swat Moncada with a pillow if he chose to sleep in too late or scold him if his room wasn’t kept clean.

“He’s still just a kid,” Hastings told Bleacher Report. “My wife really has taken to him as a son. It’s no-holds-barred. If she’s mad at him, she lets into him.

“She’s able to talk to him and his parents. Making sure his parents were comfortable with us helping him and treating him like a son, that was a huge part of the equation. Once the parents trusted her and me at the same time, it made the journey a lot more comfortable every day. Hearing the same things from my wife and his parents, and his parents telling him they are placing their trust in us, helps us in guiding him in his future.”

While any 20-year-old minor leaguer is trying to learn how to hit a curve or improve his flexibility when it comes to pivoting on a double play, Moncada also carries the extra burden of doing so in a country that bears virtually no resemblance to the one in which he which he was raised.

“We try to develop all our players and expose them to real-life scenarios. We’re college for a lot of these kids,” Hazen said. “We work really hard to try to present them with as many skills from a development perspective [as possible]. Whether it’s English as a second language. That’s something we work hard on. It’s important we take care of him. Not just the guy on the field, but the guy off the field.”

What has been Moncada’s biggest challenge?

“Learning English and being without my parents,” he told Bleacher Report.

Moncada hasn’t seen his parents since June 2014, but they speak on a regular basis. He sends his parents and younger sister money regularly, Jo Hastings said.

“He’s getting better with his English,” Jo said. “‘I’m hungry.’ He has that one down.”

If you want to know what Moncada is like away from the diamond, she offers this simple description: “He’s a 20-year-old kid, at home on the couch playing Playstation, snacking on a box of Twinkies.” 

‘Very, very, very nervous’

In many spring training camps, the presence of a $31.5 million minor leaguer from Cuba—who cost his team twice that much—toiling away on a practice field might be the source of never-ending angst, speculation, scrutiny and chatter.

But these are the Boston Red Sox, and they have no shortage of storylines on the 2016 marquee, from David Ortiz’s final season to David Price’s first season in Boston to the rebuilt bullpen to the team trying to shake off the stench of last-place finishes in the AL East three out of the past four seasons.

That has left Moncada virtually free to learn how to become a major leaguer with little distraction or fanfare—a critical advantage for a far-from-finished product.

Moncada made his MLB spring training debut on March 9, against Pittsburgh in Bradenton, Florida.

Though he told B/R he was happy to be facing big league competition, he also said he was “very, very, very, nervous” as the game began. “When I went up that to plate, it wasn’t real. I was thinking, ‘Wow, what have I gotten myself into?'”

Moncada was a bit more relaxed as the game progressed. He played six innings and went 0-for-2 with a walk.

“I was glad when it was over,” Moncada said. “When I got pulled out, I felt relief. It was like the most nerve-racking day of my life.”

His second game, against the Rays on Sunday, saw him get his first hit of the spring, but he also bungled what would have otherwise been a sure double-play grounder. It served as a reminder that he made 23 errors in just 71 games last season.

“Defensive side of things is a clear area of development for him,” Farrell told reporters after the Rays game. “I think to be in this setting, the speed of the game, this is helpful for him. There’s work to be done defensively.”

Moncada said he’s “most comfortable” at second base and told B/R his coaches haven’t discussed him playing another position—yet.

“The main thing I’m working on is movement from side to side,” he added Sunday through Red Sox translator Daveson Perez, per Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal.  

Meanwhile, Red Sox veteran incumbent second baseman Dustin Pedroia is under contract—complete with a no-trade clause—through 2021.

Pedroia doesn’t appear worried about Moncada or anyone else taking his roster spot, but he’s not ready to coast into 2016, either.

“You have to get better, no matter what level you’re at. Facts are facts. If he improves, he will be in the big leagues,” he told WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “Does [talk of Moncada playing second base] bother me? It’s an open competition. You think it’s my first picnic? You think I shy away from competition? No. Not at all. We all have to keep proving ourselves.”

Moncada, too, is very aware that he must prove himself on multiple levels of organized ball before challenging Pedroia or anyone else on the Red Sox’s 25-man roster.

“Stepping onto the field in Boston for the Red Sox. Everything I’m doing right now is to make sure that happens. And I can’t imagine what that will feel like,” Moncada told B/R.

The anti-Puig?

At first cynical glance, the geographic origins and physical stature along with the money and hyperbole showered upon Moncada trigger comparisons to another Cuban superstar—Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig.

Puig’s litany of clubhouse tiffs, tardiness, me-first antics and off-the-field woes led one ex-Dodgers teammate to tell B/R’s Scott Miller that Puig is “the worst person I’ve ever seen in this game.”

Moncada, at least thus far, has been the anti-Puig. He labored through a season in the minors with barely a ripple of news or notoriety.

“He’s continuing to mature as a human being and a baseball player,” David Hastings adds. “He’s still getting accustomed to a world he never grew up in. When you come from a country like Cuba and have nothing, and then all of a sudden you’re showered with millions of dollars and you can buy anything, it’s overwhelming.”

‘Take care of his business first’

Luis Tiant pitched for the Red Sox from 1971 to 1978 and won a pennant in 1975 during a career that spanned six teams and parts of 19 seasons.

Now 75, Tiant was born in Cuba and signed with the Cleveland Indians in 1961 prior to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion that sealed off Cuban-American relations. His introduction to America and pro baseball was a galaxy away from the welcome received by the likes of today’s Latin players—both in terms of finances and acceptance.

Despite the differences in era, the former Red Sox star has become an important source of wisdom for the team’s newest potential star.

“We’ve talked about what to do and what not to do,” Tiant said. “He’s not supposed to try and go crazy, or throw all his money away. I told him he has to take care of his business first.

“It’s hard for a young kid like that to get that kind of money. You can only tell him so much, since I never got that kind of money when I was his age. You can tell him what not to do: Don’t go out and get in trouble, get caught speeding, drinking, stuff like that. You have to behave.”

Tiant finally returned to Cuba in 2008 after 48 years away. He is scheduled to return to the island later this month as part of MLB’s exhibition series there. He believes the sacrifices he and other Latin ballplayers of the past made are not lost on Moncada.

“He’s a good kid. I like him,” Tiant said. “He shows me respect. He behaves properly. The family has taught him good manners. If he keeps it up, he’ll be fine.

“He respects [the older players], as do the other Cubans [Rusney Castillo and Yoenis Cespedes]. They’re not fresh. They call you ‘Senor Tiant’ or ‘Mr. Tiant.’ It makes you feel old. But it’s a good thing. When you respect people, you can go a long way. People want to be around you.”

All revved up

With his talent and salary, Moncada is not your typical minor leaguer. And one need not look any further than the parking lot to see that. It’s where the young star has started amassing a collection of cars that can simply be described as spectacular.

Moncada’s high-end collection consists of a Lamborghini and two BMWs from Alex Vega’s Auto Firm, a Miami-area garage that customizes cars for “more than 300” MLB ballplayers, according to Vega, including Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez of the Red Sox and Cespedes of the Mets. The combined cost of three vehicles and their modifications, according to Vega, is about $615,000.

“There’s also a competitive drive among players over their rides,” Vega said. “They love their cars. You’re on a team and everyone on that team can afford any car they want. Many of them want their car and want it different. They always try to outdo each other.”

Moncada’s affinity for expensive automobiles has drawn criticism on social media and among some in the baseball press. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wrote Sunday that Moncada “flaunting his expensive car collection in the parking lot of a Fort Myers hotel isn’t very becoming for a player who hasn’t played one inning in the major leagues.”

An understanding of Moncada’s background offers perspective when it comes to some of his four-wheeled purchases, Jo Hastings said. The first thing he bought once his bonus check cleared was a gold chain.

“He used to walk or hitchhike to his games in Cienfuegos on a dirt road,” Jo Hastings said. “He was paid $4 a month to play baseball in Cuba. He’s 20. He’s a multimillionaire now. I know if I was a 20-year-old millionaire, I would have parked myself at Fashion Week in Paris. I’m happy for him. I’m not going to criticize him for that. But a lot of people are riding his coat-tails. I love the kid like a son. I want him to be a Chris Archer. To be a humble kid on his time off and go to Africa and spend time with kids.”

As Moncada proudly proclaimed to Vega, “Boston is going to know my name.”

The Red Sox certainly hope so.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Jo Hastings translated Moncada’s remarks from Spanish to English to Bleacher Report for this story.

Bill Speros can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com. He tweets at @RealOBF.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

A whopping $217 million…for a freaking pitcher?!? Now I know I’ve seen it all.

After a half-century of baseball, blizzards, college students and traffic, my bucket list is nearly complete. I’ve even seen Pablo Sandoval leg out a triple.

Happy 50th birthday to me: I am Boston’s famed Citgo sign.

On this week in 1965, my then-neon red and blue hues first lit the sky above Kenmore Square. I have been a fixture for Red Sox fans, Bostonians and visitors from everywhere ever since.

My view from atop 660 Beacon St. is spectacular, even if my vantage point has not budged since Zoilo Versalles was American League MVP.

I was once a “Cities Services” sign. But the company’s name was changed to Citgo.

See It Go. Get it?

That was once considered wicked clever.

You have seen me on TV whenever the Boston Red Sox play at home and someone hits a fly ball or home run to left center. In person, I’m much prettier. 

A sparkling red triangle just behind the green Triangle. 

I am a beacon on Beacon Street. Find me when you’re headed to Fenway Park, and you’re never lost. I cannot, however, do anything about the traffic, that jerk who just cut you off on Commonwealth Avenue or those $50 parking spots.

The best things in life remain free, including my view of Fenway Park from behind and above the left-field wall. Watching the Red Sox, on the other hand, can be costly both emotionally and financially.

In 1966, box seats at Fenway Park were $3. Those same seats will be $145 in 2016.

They come complete with gluten-free beers.

For $9.

Hey, someone has to pick up the tab for David Price, who signed a seven-year, $217 million deal with the Red Sox earlier this month.

When I first peeked inside Fenway Park, the average MLB salary was $17,664. At 100 pitches per start over 35 starts per season, Price will be averaging $8,857.14 per pitch. 

This past season, the MLB average salary was over $4 million.

That’s a 226-fold increase. The Red Sox, meanwhile, have only folded maybe 25 or so times since. 

Things were bleak at first. During my rookie season of 1966, the Red Sox lost 90 games. That was a feat they would not match until 2012.

I’ve since illuminated both Yaz and Taz—also known as Carl Yastrzemski and Junichi Tazawa.

My arc of history begins when Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House. It continues with Jackie Bradley Junior in right. That’s LBJ to JBJ for those scoring at home. 

President Nixon came and went. As did Russ, Otis and Trot. The other John Kennedy played the infield during my childhood. Sam Kennedy reigns as team president as I enter my sixth decade.

I’ve studied the windups and deliveries of Lonborg, Looie, Rocket, Pedro, Schilling, Beckett, Lester, Lackey and Buchholz.

My all-time alphabetical scorecard begins with David Aardsma and ends with Bob Zupcic.

Epic choke jobs and crushing defeats scarred my childhood.

St. Louis and Cincinnati celebrated world championships on my watch. I never saw Tony Perez’s home run off Bill Lee come back to earth in 1975, either. By the age of 10, I had witnessed the Red Sox lose Game 7 of the World Series twice.

Too bad Bobby Orr and John Havlicek didn’t play baseball.

For an oil company’s neon sign, this kid had it rough.

I’ll always believe Carlton Fisk was waving at me in Game 6. Thankfully, all those fans were not giving me the finger whenever Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson or A-Rod came to the plate.

But none of those damn Yankees broke my circuits like that puny little Bucky F. Dent.

I was the last thing millions of fans watching on TV saw before his home run landed softly in the left-field screen back on Oct. 2, 1978. I was 12 at the time.

How could that have happened? It was supposed to be our year!  

The Red Sox won 99 regular-season games that season and missed the playoffs? The 2015 world champion Kansas City Royals only won 95! Life is never fair. The cynicism grew.  

Playoff sweeps followed live and in person at the hands of Carney Lansford and Dennis Eckersley’s Oakland A’s in 1988 and 1990. Both were jettisoned by Boston and eventually teamed up in Oakland.

Gory eventually evolved into glory. 

My midsummer’s night field of dreams came to life before the 1999 All-Star Game when Ted Williams made one final splendid appearance.

He was almost upstaged by Pedro Martinez, who struck out five of the six batters he faced. Down went Barry Larkin, Larry Walker and Sammy Sosa in the first inning. And Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell in the second. 

Impossible and improbable dreams also came true on my watch. Duck Boats rolled three times for the Red Sox. Gold bottles popped. Cigars ignited.

Thanks to the 2004 team winning Boston’s first baseball title in 86 years, fans could finally stop the nonsense about some stupid “curse” of a fat guy named Babe. 

And to do it by shattering the hopes and haunting the nightmares of every last Yankees fan in the country in the process? Hahahaha, freaking priceless!

I saw the game on TV through the windows of Kenmore Square, but witnessed the postgame celebration firsthand in the streets below. 

Talk about retribution; no one would believe it even if it were a movie—oh yeah, it became one. I was in it, too. And caught the world premiere live at Fenway Park. 

That euphoria was in large part due to David Ortiz, David Ortiz and David Ortiz.  

In 2013, the Red Sox won a World Series at home for the first time since 1918. It was their third title in 10 seasons. I beamed with pride. 

Overall, four pennants were clinched (1967, 1986, 2007, 2013) and one was lost (1999) within my field of vision.

Oh, and remember all that chicken and beer in 2011? The smell from that Popeyes in Kenmore Square is right under my nose.

Gross.

Fall classics. Classic falls. 

Fifty years of bleeping baseball in this bleeping city can drive you bleeping crazy.

The Boston Patriots, Boston College’s football team and the Boston Bruins have looked up to me at various times, as did Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Jay Z and J.T., the Police, and plenty of actual police.

Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could not see me, but I got to hear them, which is all that mattered.

The runners in 50 Boston Marathons have used me as a bellwether to mark the final mile (or so) of the race. 

An entire army of runners stopped at my feet when the Boston Marathon bombers struck in 2013. An entire city then stood still and vigilant for days. Six months later, millions filled the streets in celebration.  

As for me, I am double-sided and stand 60 feet tall and 60 feet wide. My caretakers tell me I’m the largest such sign in New England and somehow even energy efficient.  

There have been lots of stories written about me. Before I was three, I was even the subject of the short film called Go, Go, Citgo in 1968.

Stop laughing, did I mention it was 1968?

As if I’d visited far too many Irish pubs after a big Red Sox win, I blacked out from May 1979 until August 1983.  

Luckily for me, my 10 miles of neon had little to brighten when it came to the Red Sox at that time, anyway. I even missed a baseball strike in 1981.

Like anyone else who is 50 this year, I’ve had my share of health issues, including a minor fire in 2008 and renovations in 1983, 2004 and 2010.

But my future is bright. There are no plans to permanently turn me off or take me down. And I continue to inspire future generations of baseball fans. 

One of my many admirers is a five-year-old boy named Dash. He was born in New York, but now lives in Boston. His mom, Boston.Com writer Hilary Sargent, says she helped Dash create a Citgo sign project the day after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, before he ever saw the sign in person. 

“He had no idea this was a real sign until we moved back,” Sargent said. “He called all red triangles ‘Citgo signs.’ For his fifth birthday, I told him he could have any cake he wanted. He asked for a Citgo sign cake with his name on it. Despite spending his earliest years in enemy territory, he’s a proud Red Sox fan.”

Ahh, start ’em young. 

At 50, I remain an ionic, err iconic, landmark—at least until the next energy crisis or alien attack.

I cannot blow out my own candles on this landmark birthday, but I’ll take any #GiftOfSox being offered.

My baseball wish remains relatively modest: At least one more championship before I turn 51.

Bill Speros is a Bay State native and award-winning journalist. Like the Citgo sign, he, too, turned 50 this year. Follow him on Twitter @RealOBF. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Feliz cumpleanos, Big Papi.

Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz announced Wednesday he will retire after the 2016 season.

Wednesday is also his 40th birthday. Ortiz should be enshrined in Cooperstown by his 50th.

His only birthday baseball wish at this point would be a fourth championship in 2016.

Life’s tough, after all, when you’re chasing this guy:

Ortiz was about to blow out the candles on his pro career when the Red Sox signed him as a free agent in January 2003. He was the second choice, behind Jeremy Giambi, to be the team’s DH.

Piece of cake.

A month into the 2003 season, Ortiz became Boston’s starting designated hitter. It’s a position he’s held, barring injury and visits to National League ballparks, ever since.

Party time.

Ortiz whacked the game-winning home run in Boston’s memorable Game 4 American League Championship Series victory over New York in 2004, only to follow it with the game-winning single less than 24 hours later.

The Red Sox labored under curses real and imagined for 86 years before Ortiz’s heroics triggered an eight-day biblical flood of baseball good fortune for Boston.

During Boston’s 2007 title run, he quietly hit .370 with three home runs, 10 RBI and a 1.204 OPS in 14 postseason games.

With the Red Sox facing an 0-1 series deficit, his grand slam in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS erased a 5-1 deficit in the eighth inning. Ortiz batted .688 in the World Series that followed, all the while channeling his inner Bill Belichick in the Red Sox dugout during Game 4, with the score tied and Boston trailing in the series 2-1.

The Red Sox subsequently took the lead and would be riding duck boats six days later.

To baseball fans in Boston, and in his native Dominican Republic, Ortiz has become far more than someone who has 503 career home runs, three World Series rings and a smile that stretches from South Boston to Santo Domingo.

“He created a belief of eventual success, as opposed to an expectation of failure,” Red Sox fan Bob Falfa, 38, who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, said Tuesday. “Sad to see it’s closing time for Ortiz, but what a hell of a ride it’s been.”

The most passionate moment of Ortiz’s career in Boston had nothing to do with baseball.

It came at Fenway Park in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt on April 20, 2013 (warning: video contains NSFW language):

He angrily voiced the resilience of millions.

“This jersey that we are wearing today, it doesn’t say Red Sox. It says Boston. We want to thank you Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department for the great job that they did this past week. This is our f–king city, and nobody’s gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong. Thank you.”

Cue the riotous applause.

“People look at me differently because of what I do because I’m a baseball player. But I’m also a citizen,” Ortiz told Bleacher Report in a one-on-one interview the day before he hit his 500th career home run. “It struck all of us. In 2013, we all suffered, not just if you were a baseball player, basketball player or a football player. But as a citizen. We all struggled with that. I said what I felt.”

The feelings returned to many after the attacks in Paris last week.

“I don’t think it was fair. Especially in the marathon, where everybody was racing to try and raise money to fight disease,” Ortiz added. “There’s never a perfect time to do something like that. But the marathon? It was very frustrating. I said what I said as a citizen, as a member of the city of Boston, New England, who was affected by it.”

It was the moment when Boston forever became his (bleeping) city.

Actress Kerry O’Malley, now living in California, has sung the National Anthem before several Red Sox games and once performed Shakespeare at Fenway Park. She was born and raised in New England.

“Big Papi has given me and my family (including brother Mike O’Malley) the most joyous and thrilling moments I will never forget,” she told B/R on Tuesday. “He had lifted us up and delivered so many clutch moments it seems impossible they could all come from the same man. What a huge heart. I love him. This is our (bleeping) Papi!”

There are roughly 103,000 Dominicans in Massachusetts, according to ESPN.com’s Gordon Edes. In the Dominican Republic, Ortiz enjoys cult/national hero status. Officially licensed Red Sox merchandise is available for sale at stores in the nation’s capital.

Satellite-TV sports bars feature photos of Ortiz, most likely unlicensed. Spend a few hours walking through the historic district in Santo Domingo wearing any Red Sox garb. You will soon think your name is “Big Papi.”

“Children in the Dominican Republic learn how to play baseball before they are born,” Santo, a tour guide during a 2014 trip to the island nation, said. “There are three sports here: baseball, cock fighting and dominoes. Baseball is far and ahead No. 1. It is the best sport ever.”

Santo expressed enough knowledge and admiration of the Red Sox to earn a Boston hat as part of his tip.

“It has gotten to the point that Ortiz is more loved than Pedro Martinez. He has the same popularity as Pedro, and who knows, even more. He is like a Tom Brady, Larry Bird, Bobby Orr, for the Dominican community,” Nilson Pepen, host of a sports radio talk show, Conversando de Deportes, in Boston, told Edes.

Hitting 500 home runs once meant guaranteed admission to Cooperstown. That is no longer true since the arrival of baseball’s performance-enhancing drug era.

“Those are tough numbers,” Ortiz, who has hit 20 or more home runs 14 times and 30 or more homers nine times, said. “Not a lot of us get to play 14 seasons or more. Not a lot of us get to stay consistent.”

Ortiz isn’t shy about much, including his willingness to be a role model off the field or his desire to be happy and make others feel the same.

“Born in the Dominican, coming from where I come from, this is something you never dream of,” Ortiz said in his press conference after hitting his 500th home run Sept. 12.

“Every day I thank God for giving me the ability to play the game. I come from a place where people struggle, people who are poor. We want to open a lot doors for the young, talented players coming up. We want them to understand the importance of doing the right thing. I take a lot of pride in that. I never get tired of teaching young players how to do the right thing. Hopefully we’ll have more David Ortizs, more Pedro Martinezs, more Vladimir Guerreos coming up.”

Ortiz tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance in 2003, along with then-teammate Ramirez, during a pilot testing program. The results were supposed to be anonymous, but the New York Times reported them.

Ortiz remains adamant in his denial of knowingly using any banned substances. He told Bob Hohler of Boston Globe in March it would be “unfair” if anyone denied him a Hall of Fame vote because of the 2003 positive. “I was using what everybody was using at the time,” he added.

Ortiz has a simple response to critics who believe his accomplishments are illegitimate: Hitting isn’t as easy as it looks.

“This game is hard enough. Some people look at this game, and they think it’s easier than what it is,” Ortiz told B/R. “This game is not easy at all. This game burns your brain cells, even on your best day. Just for being consistent, and being able to perform at this level for years, I think that I deserve respect.”

He has no doubt earned it.

“We live in world where you’re not going to make everyone happy,” Ortiz added in September. “There’s a lot of things going on left and right. In my case, the people that know me, the people that are around me a lot, know that I’m simple. I’m very emotional. I don’t hold anything back. When I’m right, I’m right. When I’m wrong, I’m wrong and I’ll admit it,” Ortiz said after hitting No. 500. “I don’t judge anyone. I don’t expect anyone to judge me.”

Entrance into Cooperstown, however, requires judgment from hundreds of voters.

Ortiz plans to enjoy the time between his eventual retirement and his eligibility for the Hall of Fame.

“Once you’re done playing baseball, you have to wait another five years. Trust me, I’m going to party and have fun once I’m done with this. I’m not going to worry about the next five years.”

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist. He writes the “Obnoxious Boston Fan” column and tweets at @RealOBF.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

“I don’t believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I’ll drill him in the ass.” – Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox, 2001 

“Mystique and Aura” were appearing nightly in the Bronx during the 2001 World Series, but they missed the flight to Arizona.

The “Curse of the Bambino” enveloped the Boston Red Sox for 86 years until Boston was able to add Curt Schilling to a rotation that included Pedro Martinez. The Bambino has missed all three Red Sox duck boat parades since 2004.

The Chicago White Sox were damned to eternal baseball purgatory because of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, only to receive a reprieve in 2005.

It’s heretical to claim curses don’t exist in baseball, especially following the latest postseason demise of the Chicago Cubs. The team that last won a World Series in 1908 will have to wait another year following its 4-0 sweep by the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.

Cubs fans have another year to pick and choose from a banquet of curses, jinxes, hexes and other perilous quirks of fate that have once again allegedly stymied their team in the postseason.

There is a real-world reason why millions believe any curse would hold sway over their favorite teams or athletes. It’s called “confirmation bias.”

Clinically, confirmation bias is “the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations or a hypothesis in hand.”  In sportswriter English, it means we often only see facts that reinforce what we already want to believe.

Cubs fans have borne the “confirmation bias” gene like a blue and red badge of courage for at least 70 years.

Just ask Steve Bartman, if you can find him. 

Not to wreck a good tweet, but even the “Curse of the Billy Goat” really isn’t much of a curse. For starters, linking the fate of a farm animal in 1945 to the performance of a baseball team in 2015 smacks of 15th-century hokum. Billy Sianis, whose goat was purportedly denied entrance into Wrigley Field in 1945, lifted the curse before he died in 1970.

But even among curses, Sianis’ goat, Murphy, is old-school. It was forever supplanted by Bartman, who has certainly been cursed more than any curse west of Brookline.

In 2015, aggrieved Cubs fans immersed themselves in Back to the Future Part II nostalgia and hysteria. Somehow the movie, which predicted a Cubs “series sweep in five games,” was also responsible for the team’s demise against the Mets. 

And then there was the “Curse of Murphy.”

Who can argue with logic like that, especially when it comes to trying to figure out why the Cubs haven’t won a World Series since the (Teddy) Roosevelt administration. Daniel Murphy of the Mets homered in all four games against the Cubs and six straight overall in the postseason. 

Chicago’s tepid performance against New York was caused mainly by the Mets.

The Cubs weren’t cursed; they were crushed. 

The Cubs never led in the series, were outscored 21-8 and trailed in eight straight postseason games en route to being swept. Wednesday night in Game 4, the Cubs were down 4-0 before they came to bat.

Indeed, many of the Cubs were putrid at the plate during the NLCS. Anthony Rizzo, NL Rookie of the Year candidate Kris Bryant and Starlin Castro were a combined 8-for-44 in the NLCS. (Kyle Schwarber hit his fifth postseason home run in Game 3, becoming the Cubs all-time leader in that category.)

Neither Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein nor manager Joe Maddon appears ready to change course, however.

Epstein moved to Chicago after being exiled by the Red Sox following Boston’s calamitous 2011 season. Theo’s 2015 Cubs would have beaten his 2012 Cubs by 36 games in the standings.

This year’s Cubs team was arguably a year ahead of schedule despite Rizzo’s preseason call of playoff success in 2015. In January, Rizzo boldly predicted the Cubs would win the NL Central. They did not, but the Cubs did topple the division champion Cardinals in the divisional series.

That sort of “curse-inducing” overconfidence would have been feared once upon a time on Chicago’s North Side. No more, not with Maddon, a favorite for NL Manager of the Year, and Epstein in charge.

Epstein built these Cubs largely from scratch. None of Chicago’s top four starting pitchers—Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel—were with the team even three years ago. All had ERAs below 4.00 this year—at least in the regular season.

Arrieta, who turns 30 in March, threw 229.0 innings this season and put up Pedro-like numbers: 22-6, a 1.77 ERA, 236 strikeouts and a backbreaking 0.86 WHIP during the regular season. He was signed by the Cubs before 2015 to a one-year deal worth just $3.63 million. Arrieta is arbitration-eligible this season, but Epstein has a long history of signing players before ever getting that far.

The lineup assembled by Epstein carries tremendous potential. The average age of Chicago’s starting lineup Wednesday night—not counting 38-year-old catcher David Ross and 33-year-old starting pitcher Hammel—was just 24.3 years old.

Javier Baez and Schwarber are just 22, while Bryant and Jorge Soler are 23. Rizzo, who led the team in batting this season with 31 home runs, 101 RBI and an .889 OPS (.278/.387/.512), is an elder statesman at 26.

During Maddon’s first year in Chicago, the Cubs won 97 games, tying a post-World War II season high. Maddon guided the transformation of the once-laughable Tampa Bay Rays into eventual American League champions in 2008, beating Epstein’s Red Sox in the American League Championship Series that year in seven games. Maddon’s skillful guidance of the Rays’ lowly payroll and young talent produced playoff appearances in 2008, ’10, ’11 and ’13.

Thanks to the financial stability of Cubs ownership, the Ricketts family, Epstein will be able to pursue big-money free agents like David Price, Jordan Zimmermann and Chris Davis. This year’s team payroll was $133.2 million, just the 11th-highest in baseball.

Epstein was general manager of the Red Sox in 2004 when that team broke the Donald Trump of baseball curses.

He inherited a Red Sox team (via interim GM Mike Port) from Dan Duquette that included eventual 2004 World Series MVP Manny Ramirez, the aforementioned Martinez, Derek Lowe (who got the win in all three series-clinching games for Boston that postseason) and catcher Jason Varitek.

After the Red Sox’s historic collapse in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, Epstein spent that Thanksgiving at Schilling’s home in Arizona in a successful effort to lure him to Boston. The Red Sox also added closer Keith Foulke, who would get the save in Boston’s World Series-clinching victory.

This Cubs team is much more his. And it will win or lose on its own. No curses necessary.

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist. He wrote the ‘Obnoxious Boston Fan’ column for Boston.com from 2011-15. He can be reached on Twitter @RealOBF. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is a movie fanatic.

Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington, is his favorite movie of all time. Comedies are his first choice in genre. Among his comedy classics, remember he was born in 1990, are Ace Ventura and Major Payne. His favorite baseball movie is, no surprise, The Sandlot.

He’s yet to see all of the Godfather movies in chronological order.

Spoiler alert, Jackie, you can skip The Godfather Part III.

In the first five weeks after his latest call-up from Triple-A, Bradley was a “man on fire” at the plate. During a 31-game stretch starting Aug. 9, Bradley had the second-highest OPS in baseball (1.228 behind only David Ortiz’s 1.232). In that period, he led the majors with a .373 average and 14 doubles and was second in runs scored with 30.

He also had four triples, 25 extra-base hits, seven home runs and 11 walks.

On Aug. 15, the 25-year-old Bradley became the youngest player in MLB history to get two home runs, five extra-base hits, five runs and seven RBI in one game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN.com’s Buster Olney). It seems Bradley, whom the club has sent to Triple-A Pawtucket five times since his Opening Day 2013 debut for the Red Sox, may have finally earned a starring role in Boston.

“It’s about perseverance and believing in myself,” Bradley told Bleacher Report. Bradley credits an “easy-going, even-keel,” attitude and confidence that “never wavered” for his recent success. “I have a perspective on life the small things don’t really get to me. There’s more to life than baseball. This is what I do; it’s not who I am.”

Bradley’s “perseverance” and “even-keel” nature will be necessary to break his current 1-for-27 rut entering play Friday. He’s also struck out 15 times in eight games heading into this weekend’s series at Toronto. His average has fallen 44 points to .268 during that slide. 

The 2015 Red Sox: Director’s Cut Edition now airing each night usually features Rusney Castillo in left, Mookie Betts in center and Bradley in right. That also appears to be the set outfield moving forward into 2016, which is a far cry from the original 2015 Red Sox outfield of Hanley Ramirez in left, Shane Victorino in right and Betts in center. Injuries, trades, demotions and the disaster that was Ramirez in left field flipped Boston’s script. 

The Red Sox spent $72.5 million to sign Castillo after he fled Cuba, and they tried him at center and right field. Betts was once a middle infielder and played 230 games at second base in the minors. Bradley has been a stellar center fielder his entire career, going back to when he won Most Outstanding Player honors for the 2010 College World Series champion South Carolina Gamecocks.

Boston is partly wasting Bradley’s full defensive potential whenever he isn’t in center field. The massive amount of real estate in Fenway Park that constitutes center field runs from the out-of-town scoreboard part of Boston’s left field wall, back to the triangle’s apex 420 feet from home plate, over to the swath of grass in front of the home bullpen.

“Obviously, I’ve played center most of my life. I’ve been able to adjust to left field and right field,” he said.

But at the end of the day, his positional preference is simply “playing.”

It is that spacious center field at Fenway that has given Bradley a stage to excel. “It’s fun. There’s a lot a space out there.” No ball that stays in the ballpark is safe. “I like to think I can catch any ball until it gets by me.”

“He can navigate any of those three outfield spaces,” added interim Boston manager Torey Lovullo.

Bradley’s highlight reel of leather larceny this year includes this:

And this:

And this: 

Bradley was one of the top center field prospects in baseball when the Red Sox brought him up in early 2013 to fill in for an injured Jacoby Ellsbury. Inconsistency has marked his MLB career at the plate. He hit just .198/.265/.266 in 423 plate appearances in 2014.

The adjustments he made at the plate in the offseason, during his time the minors this spring and summer and since being called back up to Boston on July 29 after the team traded Victorino, have been small but effective.

Bradley moved to Florida this past offseason with his wife and focused on physical conditioning early in the offseason. He then began working with assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez, who tightened up Bradley’s swing and pushed his focus toward hitting line drives. “It was his idea,” Rodriguez told the Richmond Times-Dispatch‘s Eric Kolenich. 

Sustaining his recent hitting success will insure his most recent journey to Pawtucket will be his last.

“He’s got a lot of confidence. Got on a roll. He’s worked hard to get to that point. He’s been to the minor leagues to figure things out,” Lovullo said. “He’s made some subtle adjustments with [hitting coach] Chili Davis. He’s surveyed the strike zone. He’s able to take balls and swing at strikes with limited movements. There’s a direct path to the ball. And he’s able to survey the strike zone. Those are the key components.”

The 2015 Red Sox have been a big-money flop along the lines of Fantastic Four. The team’s poor performance led to president Larry Lucchino and general manager Ben Cherington being removed from power. The ace of “five aces” Clay Buchholz has been out since July 10 with an elbow injury. The calamity that is Boston’s bullpen has only been equaled by Ramirez’s antics in left field.

The Red Sox named Dave Dombrowski president of baseball operations on Aug. 18. Dombrowski has joined the Red Sox on their current road trip, complete with a large black satchel laden with notes, media guides and scouting reports. He calls Bradley “versatile.” Bradley has picked the perfect time to impress the new boss, even if it means making him a more valuable trade tool.

“Since I’ve been here he’s played All-Star caliber baseball,” Dombrowski said. “His defense catches your eye. Automatically, he’s an outstanding defensive outfielder. All the way around. He’s one of the best outfielders out there. He’s got a great throwing arm, has good instincts and gets a good jump.”

Bradley is the rare left-handed hitter who enjoys more success against lefties (.389 average as of Friday) than righties (.211). Much of the work of improving Bradley’s swing was completed before Dombrowski’s arrival, but he still sees on video a “significant difference” from earlier.

“He’s swung the bat well,” Dombrowski noted. “They’ve made adjustments with his toe touch. There’s a much smoother swing. The ball is jumping off the bat. He’s a much better all-around player.”

If that growth continues, Dombrowski may just have one of his franchise cornerstones for the next era of Red Sox baseball.

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist, He wrote the “Obnoxious Boston Fan” column for Boston.com from 2011 to 2015. He can be reached on Twitter @RealOBF. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There is nothing small about Big Papi.

The smile. The swing. The “bombs.” The strut. The stature. The numbers. The persona. The divide among fans and media over his legacy. 

They’re all bigger-than-big, even in an era of supersized everything.

Saturday, Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz became the 27th major league player to hit 500 career home runs by hitting his second home run of the game off Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore. The milestone came off a 2-2 curveball that landed in the right field bleachers. The crowd gave Ortiz a rousing ovation, and his teammates greeted him after he rounded the bases. The solo shot led off the fifth inning and gave Boston an 8-0 lead. 

The 500th-home run milestone highlights Ortiz’s incredible history of production. His 442 home runs in Boston place him third in franchise history behind Ted Williams, who hit all of his 521 homers for the Red Sox, and Carl Yastrzemski (452).  

Ortiz becomes the fourth player to hit his 500th home run as a member of the Red Sox, joining Williams, Jimmie Foxx and Manny Ramirez. Saturday marked the 50th multi-home run game of his career. 

For Big Papi, and Major League Baseball, 500 home runs is a big deal.

Before hitting his 500th home run, Ortiz spoke with Bleacher Report about his place in baseball history, his polarizing legacy and his Hall of Fame chances. 

Producing 3,000 career hits, 300 career wins or 500 home runs once meant guaranteed admission to Cooperstown.

After the arrival of baseball’s performance-enhancing drug era, though, that is no longer the case.

“Those are tough numbers,” said Ortiz, who has hit 20 or more home runs 14 times and 30 or more homers nine times. He recognized that even with those superlatives, he had not yet hit home run No. 500. “Not a lot of us get to play 14 seasons or more. Not a lot of us get to stay consistent. That’s the most important thing, staying consistent. Look at the history of the game. Not many guys hit 500 home runs. It’s crazy.”

Ortiz tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, along with then-teammate Ramirez, during a pilot testing program. The results were supposed to be anonymous, but the New York Times reported them.  

Ortiz, then and now, denies knowingly using any banned substances. He told Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe in March it would be “unfair” if anyone denied him a Hall of Fame vote because of the 2003 positive. “I was using what everybody was using at the time,” he added. 

This weekend, Ortiz continued to make the case that his on-field performance merits a Hall of Fame vote with his bat. His response to critics who believe his accomplishments are illegitimate is two-fold:

Focus on the positive. And baseball isn’t as easy as it looks.

“This game is hard enough. Some people look at this game, and they think it’s easier than what it is,” Ortiz said. “This game is not easy at all. This game burns your brain cells, even on your best day. Just for being consistent, and being able to perform at this level for years, I think that I deserve respect.

Ortiz turns 40 this November. In 273 at-bats from June 11 through Sept. 11, he offered a display of “old-man strength” at the plate. His batting rampage produced 26 home runs, 19 doubles, 70 RBI and a monstrous 1.062 OPS. 

“When the big man runs the court, you have to hand him the ball.” Red Sox interim manager and Boston Celtics aficionado-for-the-moment Torey Lovullo said after Ortiz was an unexpected insert into Saturday’s lineup. “The Chief [Robert Parish] didn’t run down the court not to dunk. D.J. [Dennis Johnson] had to give him the ball. You have to feed the Chief.” 

Indicative of the duplicitous nature of Ortiz’s legacy was the controversy that surrounded his absence from the Red Sox lineup on July 12 due to the flu, the last game before the All-Star break. Ortiz didn’t play in an 8-6 loss to the Yankees. Boston left 10 men on base that night and fell six-and-a-half games back with the loss. Boston would not score another run for a week.

“I was sick,” he said.

Nearly every discussion of his baseball legacy on talk radio, in social media or online triggers an immediate surge in the use of the words “steroids” and “cheater” among callers or commenters. It is an unwelcome but omnipresent part of his biography. In a first-person essay for the Players’ Tribune in March, Ortiz claims he’s been tested more than 80 times and never failed a single test.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he is clean, some say. Gordon Edes has covered Ortiz’s entire career in Boston, with both the Boston Globe and ESPN.

Edes wrote for ESPN.com in March: 

No one in 2015 — as Ortiz surely must understand — can offer passed drug tests as irrefutable proof of innocence, not when the two biggest drug cheats in sports, cyclist Lance Armstrong and Ortiz’s onetime close friend, Alex Rodriguez, used to make the same argument, in terms just as passionate as Ortiz, before they were exposed. 

Edes has a Hall of Fame vote and has voted for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire in the past. He said Saturday that Ortiz deserves his Hall of Fame vote when he appears on the ballot. 

When asked about his positive PED test, Ortiz chose to focus on the positive accomplishments of his career. “I like to have fun. Make people laugh. I’m not a negative. I don’t like criticism just for the sake of it. I choose to stay positive.”

Ortiz offered support of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady via Twitter after Brady’s four-game suspension was lifted in early September. Not surprisingly, Ortiz picks the Patriots to repeat. Both Ortiz and the Patriots are dogged by accusations of cheating their way to success.

In 2007, coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 for his role in Spygate. Last week, ESPN The Magazine‘s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham (via ESPN.com), as well as Greg Bishop, Michael Rosenberg and Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated, published stories detailing further allegations of wrongdoing by the team.

“It’s always going to be like that. You’re not always going to make everyone happy,” Ortiz said of the critics in both cases. “A lot of people who follow your career, and are on the positive side, that’s all you’ve got to care about.” 

Parts of Ortiz’s workout regimen were featured in the 2014 biopic David Ortiz: In The Moment.

“The workout I did 20 years ago, there’s a better way to do it 20 years later. Everything has changed,” he said. “Guys who got to the big leagues throwing a 92-, 93-mile-per-hour fastball, now they’re throwing harder. The game had gotten quicker through the years. I don’t do more than what I used, but I try to keep up. A lot of us can’t keep up with what we did when we were younger because your body can’t take it anymore.”

It was also “in the moment,” Ortiz dropped his televised atomic F-bomb (warning: link contains NSFW language) on April 20, 2013. It came at Fenway Park in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt. 

“People look at me differently because of what I do because I’m a baseball player. But I’m also a citizen,” Ortiz recalled. “It struck all of us. In 2013, we all suffered, not just if you were a baseball player, basketball player or a football player. But as a citizen. We all struggled with that. I said what I felt.

“I don’t think it was fair. Especially in the marathon, where everybody was racing to try and raise money to fight disease. There’s never a perfect time to do something like that. But the marathon? It was very frustrating. I said what I said as a citizen, as a member of the city of Boston, New England, who was affected by it.”

That moment, piled upon a litany of clutch postseason batting heroics, 400-plus career home runs with the Red Sox and the most recognizable smile in Boston sports history, has helped elevate Ortiz to a spot on the Red Sox Mt. Rushmore. 

The Red Sox signed Ortiz as a free agent before the 2003 season following his release by the Minnesota Twins. Ortiz boasts a .553 slugging percentage in 82 playoff games. Seven of his 17 postseason home runs have given Boston a lead.

Did we mention he has three World Series rings, plus some massive World Series MVP bling? 

As has been the norm at the original Fenway South for more than a decade, the crowds (14,796 Friday) at Tropicana Field this weekend were sprinkled with Red Sox hats and No. 34 jerseys. Saturday’s second home run, No. 500, set off a standing ovation that continued after he crossed the plate and hugged teammates. 

Heath Busa, 37, grew up in Massachusetts. Busa and his 11-year-old son Bryce, showed up at Tropicana Field on Friday wearing Red Sox attire and voicing hopes of seeing Ortiz hit No. 500. Heath Busa was unbending when it came to Ortiz’s entrance into Cooperstown.

“He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Absolutely,” said Busa, who now lives in Tampa. “For what he’s done for the city of Boston, the three world championships, being one of the most clutch hitters of all time. One positive in ’03 doesn’t tarnish his legacy.”

Bryce showed support for his favorite player in form of a shirt that read “Big Papi Owns Boston.” Bryce’s generation will likely have the final say on Oritz’s historic legacy. If it does, Ortiz’s legacy is secure.

“I like him mainly because he’s cool, and he hits tons of bombs,” Bryce said.

Ortiz is often the coolest person in the room, even a room as vast and cavernous as Tropicana Field. Ortiz walked onto the field two hours and eight minutes before Friday’s game as the Rays completed batting practice.

The spotlight quickly found him. Ortiz worked the scene smoother than Goodfellas‘ Henry Hill waltzing into the Copacabana. And he didn’t have to hand out $20s along the way. Ortiz hugged it out with former teammate Daniel Nava, chatted and glad-handed with members of the Rays, the Tropicana Field grounds crew and Boston fans screaming for his autograph.

The Red Sox team stretch began without him, but Ortiz quickly joined in with Hansel Ramirez. The middle son of Hanley Ramirez—a mini-me of his dad—was in a mini-Red Sox uniform wearing No. 13 and celebrating his eighth birthday. Ortiz’s stretch quickly devolved into a playful wrestling match with Hansel, the young boy’s howls of laughter echoing off the empty seats along the third base line.

“Watch out for that kid. He can rake,” Ortiz said. 

Ortiz’s focus remains that of a full-time player (87 percent of his career games as a DH) who plans to play in 2016. His 550th plate appearance this season boosts a 2016 contract guarantee to $14 million, per Ricky Doyle of NESN. 

His contract has a club option for 2017.

He doesn’t see himself becoming manager—“I’m good at talking”—but has, at times, taken an on-field leadership role.

Ortiz had his own Belichickian “Do Your Job” moment during Game 4 of the 2013 World Series. With Boston trailing 2-1 in the series and the game tied 1-1, TV cameras caught him yelling at a gathering of his teammates in the dugout.

“It was like 24 kindergarteners looking up at their teacher,” Jonny Gomes noted at the time (via Boston.com’s Obnoxious Boston Fan). That inning, Boston scored three runs and never trailed again in the series.

“[Terry] Francona, when he was my manager, he used to call me into his office. He told me, ‘I just want to remind you that there’s a lot of guys watching you. So I don’t want to forget that. I don’t want you to forget that that’s going on, even if you’re in your own planet,’” Ortiz recalled.

“That team, it wasn’t all about me,” said Ortiz, who hit .688 against the Cardinals. “We were underdogs who made it to the World Series. There were a whole bunch of young guys who didn’t have playoff experience. There was a little bit of pressure on those guys.

“Watching my teammates perform [at that time in Game 4] versus how we got there, there was a gap. When I hollered at them, I just reminded them of who they were, and why we got there. ‘Let’s go back and not try to overdo things.’ I guess that kind of clicked. After that, it was nonstop.”

Here’s a photo of Ortiz’s “tutorial session” with Hanley Ramirez:

Ortiz said he’s willing to resurrect that on-field leadership mode whenever he sees the need.

“We have meetings. We talk. Young guys want to know what you have to say about things,” he said. “Experience, sometimes, you need to put it in play. I’m pretty much on the bench watching everybody. There’s a lot of guys they get concerned about. That’s what experience is for. It’s going to come from the veteran players—guys who pretty much know everything about their teammates.”

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist and Bay State native. He wrote the “Obnoxious Boston Fan” column for Boston.com from 2011 to 2015. Follow him on Twitter @RealOBF.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com