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| Wednesday, February 21 | |||||
| Ramirez moving from right to left | |||||
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Manny Ramirez will get plenty of chances
to hit the ball over the Green Monster at Fenway Park and to field
balls off it, too.
Boston manager Jimy Williams said Wednesday he's switching his
likely cleanup hitter from right field to left, a position he never
played in his 967 games in seven-plus seasons with Cleveland.
The move adds another to Boston's long line of great hitting
left fielders: Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice.
Mike Greenwell and Troy O'Leary have been solid hitters there
since.
Williams announced the move on the first day of full-team
workouts to eliminate uncertainty and give Ramirez time to get used
to the position. The real test will come when he actually gets in
front of The Wall.
"You don't learn it until you play it," Williams said. "It's
what you call on-the-job-training."
Right field is far more spacious in Fenway, but left fielders
must learn to play the caroms off the 37-foot high wall.
"I don't know what to expect," Ramirez said. "He thinks I'm
going to help the team in left. It's no problem. I'm just going to
go and try my best."
The move was expected after Ramirez, who led the AL in assists
in 1996 but is a mediocre fielder, signed an $160 million,
eight-year contract with Boston. He hit .351 with 38 homers in just
118 games last year.
His addition gave the Red Sox outfield depth. O'Leary, the
regular left fielder the last three seasons, appeared to be most
affected.
He's earning $4.6 million this season. Right fielder Trot Nixon,
who hasn't signed this year, made $270,000 in 2000.
O'Leary will work out in both left and right, where Nixon got
most of the playing time last season but could relinquish some.
Boston also has defensive specialist Darren Lewis, who can play all
three outfield positions.
"It's a domino effect. I'm the odd man out," O'Leary said. "I
like the team here, but if my time's up I can always move on, just
like anybody else."
O'Leary was the right fielder in Williams' first season as Red
Sox manager in 1997, then moved to left in 1998.
"Troy O'Leary has been an extremely important part of this
team. He's played extremely well in right field in Fenway,"
Williams said. "Are there going to be trades made? I don't know."
Nixon, 26, played all his 115 games last year in right field and
seemed less upset than O'Leary, 31.
"It doesn't bother me one bit," Nixon said. "I've been
through enough spring trainings where I wasn't playing at all, and
I knew I wasn't going to make the team."
Boston has six players for three outfield positions and
designated hitter. Ramirez and center fielder Carl Everett figure
to be everyday players. That leaves Nixon, O'Leary, Lewis and Dante
Bichette for two spots.
Bichette was Boston's designated hitter after being obtained
from Cincinnati last Aug. 31 and was asked by Williams on Wednesday
to work out at first base, where incumbent Brian Daubach is back.
"I knew this the day we got Manny," Bichette said. "I knew
there was a good chance this would happen."
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