Manny Franco, I mean, Ramirez

Manny being Manny. Yes, the left fielder was his typical entertaining self in an interview session with the media that he initiated himself this morning. Manny sat down on a bench outside the clubhouse and discussed a bunch of issues, and reiterated that he wants to stay in Boston for as long as possible.

Later in the day, general manager Theo Epstein held court regarding Ramirez and a variety of other issues:

On Manny: “It’s great that Manny is here, in camp, on time. he’s obviously put a lot of hard work into getting ready for the season. We’re focused on 2008. Obviously Manny’s contract provides for the first of his options to be decided upon at the end of the year. There’s a time for that, but it’s certainly after the season. We’re looking forward to Manny continuing to work hard and have a great year.”

Manny pulling a Julio Franco? “I wouldn’t put anything past Manny. He’s certainly in great enough shape where he can play at a high level for a long time. When something like that is built into a contract, it makes sense just to be patient and wait for just the appropriate time to deal with it. That’s well in the future. Right now, we’re just focused on him having a great year.”

Manny’s year last year, “I think he produced at an elite level, to say the least, when it mattered most. We certainly wouldn’t do it over. He and David were a force to be reckoned with in the middle of our order when the games mattered most. That’s what I look back and think about with his work.”

Manny in better shape. “He looks good and is hopefully primed to have a big year.”

Better shape? “Manny always works hard. He doesn’t get the credit that he deserves for being one of our hardest workers. This year, that took a little bit of a different form. He was obviously out in
Arizona at API. I haven’t even seen him in uniform yet, so it’s too early to tell. But he’s going to be prepared when the bell rings.”

Curt’s early rehab, “It’s the very earliest stages of his rehab. But he’s showing up every day at six and attempting to put the work in. I think he’s mentally in a place where he knows he’s got to work hard and be patient in order to get back to a position where he can contribute.”

 Five outfielders? “It’s too early to get into roster discussions. We don’t know what the makeup of the 25-man roster is going to be. You start speculating at this time of spring, you end up having to go hunt for 25 healthy guys at the end of March. We’re just going to see what we have and make the best decisions for the club at the appropriate time.”

On Coco ’s comments from yesterday. “I think Coco was actually really calm and deliberate about what he said. We’ve been in communication about it. I think the way it was reported or the way it was reported in the interview that came out with all you guys around skipped a step, and that step is that, as Tito said, Coco’s the incumbent and Coco played great defense last year and was a huge part in our run prevention. We allowed the fewest runs in all of baseball. he was a huge part on a club that won 96 games so he’s got an opportunity to keep his job and go out and make an impact for this club again as an everyday player. it’s premature to speculate about the next step because we haven’t even begun Spring Training. We’ll see how things look down the road.”

Dice-K increasing his workload in Spring Training? “Yeah, John Farrell works with the pitchers on a daily basis to make sure they’re ready to go for the start of the season and prepared for what will hopefully be a seven-month season once again. Suffice it to say, he’s not going to let any of the pitchers do anything that would do more harm than good. We certainly trust him to monitor Dice-K’s workload, as well the workload of any of the other pitchers here in camp.”

Manny being on time, “Yeah, we’ve always had decent communication with him about when he’s coming in. There always seems to be something that comes up that prevents him from being here on time. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s nice to see him. He’s ready to go and on time with the rest of his teammates and that sends a great message.”

Manny Motivated? “I think he’s motivated every year. He cares about winning and he has a lot of pride in his own performance, putting up numbers. He’s one of our hardest workers. I think he’s always motivated.”

More on Manny, “The contract provides an option at the end of this year and dictates the time-table for when the club has to make that obligation. That’s just something that has to be dealt with at the appropriate time. That’s an issue for after the season. Right now, he’s preparing to have a big year and we’re preparing for the same.”

David Ortiz’s knee,  “I think the surgery was needed and appears to have been successful. He’s pretty close to 100 percent. He feels a lot of pain relief, which is good. We’re going to be smart about it but I don’t think it’s a critical issue that we have to monitor on a daily basis. He’s going to let us know how he feels and Tito will be smart about how he uses him. Our hope is that it will be a non-issue this season.”

On Dan Kolb, “We had room for a couple of more non-roster invitees and there were a few guys who were throwing for scouts and he was one of them so we went and saw him. He’s looking to bounce back in his career and get back to a point where he can pitch effectively at the big league level. Those non-roster invitees are basically no-risk, potential reward situations for the club. He fits into that boat. He’s a hard worker, he’s a pro. If he can get back to the level he was at a few years ago, he can help us at some point this season.”

Time-frame on knowing if Schill has bounced back from the cortisone shot? “It’s a real rehab process. We’re counting on at least six to eight weeks of strengthening before we see where we are.”

“He’s doing the rehab and our guys will monitor it every step of the way but we’re in the real preliminary phase of this thing. It’s way too early to give you guys any feedback on how it’s going, other than, it’s going.”

Mike Lowell said you had him at hello. “Yeah, well (as he smiles), that’s why we barely moved from our initial offer.”

Will Wake negotiate a clause in his contract to bring Mirabelli back every year? “Cash caught him pretty well last year. Wake’s a little bit less needy than people think. He goes out there and he’s not a freak because of the knuckleball. He’s a pitcher. He’s a member of this pitching staff just like anyone else. He isn’t really that high maintenance.”

Ian.