Enjoy!
Tim Wakefield
On retiring: "I've been so blessed to have been able to wear this uniform and be part of this historic franchise for as long as I have and I've enjoyed many successes along the way. But when it came down to it, I had to take a hard look at what was best for me, my family and the Red Sox. You are the greatest fans in the world. I have enjoyed every minute of every game I've played for you. I am eternally grateful for the love and respect that you've shown me over the years and I will hold every one of those memories close to my heart."
Andrew Bailey
On entrance music: "I like to feed off the crowd, the adrenaline. If I get to choose, it'll be something rock. Maybe I'll throw a little Boston twist in there with Aerosmith or something. Maybe Godsmack."
On being a closer: "My goal is to have [the media] ask the guy who follows me those questions. 'How are you going to replace Bailey?' That's kind of my goal. If I stick with that, I'll be all right. I'm a closer at heart and love late-inning pressure. I have that mentality of being aggressive, I live and die with [the idea] that strike one is the best pitch in baseball."
Jon Lester
On being a leader: "I want to try to [be a leader]. It's something the guys in my age group have never really had to do because we've been around guys like Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek and had veteran guys who have been around a long time. We’ve just sat back and let them do their thing and kind of followed them. It's time for us, and me, to step up and start to try and feel comfortable in that situation and do the best I can in there."
On repairing relationships with fans: "I don't blame them for being mad. We stunk. I stunk. I take complete responsibility for that. With that being said, we’ve all learned from it. We've all moved on. I’m sure that’s going to be a big theme in spring training for a lot of guys. I think a lot of them think that we don't care and we're just a bunch of babies and whatever. We do care. We want to win, and we want to get back to the playoffs and hopefully bring a World Series back to this town again and show the fans that we are a very good team."
Josh Beckett
On last September: "The bottom line is my last two starts, they just weren't that good. I'm not saying we didn't make mistakes because we made mistakes in the clubhouse, but the biggest mistakes I made was not pitching well vs. Baltimore. I was prepared to pitch every time I went out there. I just didn't execute pitches when I needed to. I think that we had lapses in judgment. I had lapses in judgment. I can't speak for everybody else. I want to keep it at that."
On Red Sox fans: "We need to earn that trust back. I think they are the best fans in baseball. There's some good and bad, but they're the best fans. We definitely have to win their trust back, and the only way to do that is to go about our business as we did in previous years and win ballgames. I think that's the best thing."
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
On this season: "I'm looking forward to taking more of a leader's role to get us where we need to be. It’s not one person on this team that’s going to make us get where we need to be. It's going to be a team effort, and I'm happy to be part of that. When I mean leader, I'm not going to have a 'C' on my chest. I'm not going to tell people what to do. I'm going to go about my business the right way — kind of lead by example. Get to know the pitchers a little more and try to find out what we can do."
Bobby Valentine
On a fresh start in 2012: "When you're talking with this group that will be here, the 63 guys that will be in uniform, I'd hate to paint all of them with the same brush. Many of them weren't here. Many of them have no reason to feel that they need to erase anything of their past. For everyone in this camp, this is 2012. This is the year that could be the most special year of their life. That is definitely a message I want them to understand, regardless of what happened last year, whether they were in Korea or Boston or the National League West. I want them to think this is a special year."
On spring training: "Spring training for me is simply the foundation that you are going to build as you move forward. Players need confidence, coaches need confidence, mangers need confidence in each other and the way you build confidence is through repetition. Confidence can be a replacement for courage because when you are playing in front of 50,000 people on national TV and the bases are loaded and you are on the mound or at the plate or there is a line drive in the gap, you'll need to have the courage to do what you think you need to do. I think that right here [in spring training] is where that courage needs to build."
On Daisuke Matsuzaka: "His arm feels good. He thinks his mechanics are away off. He's healthy and he's on that recovery pace that all rehab guys are on. He's on a very good pace. I don't think he'll pitch in spring training."
On filling out the roster: "You rely on your evaluators and make sure you're not fooled by results. Because we have a lot of very talented people in uniform and out of uniform who are going to be watching these guys day in and day out, we'll make a pretty good guess. You've got to understand what you're looking at, and then hope that the bright lights don’t change anything."
Carl Crawford
On his wrist injury: "It's been better. I really don't know when it will be all the way healthy, but it definitely feels better than what it was and I'll continue to build up the strength. Bobby [Valentine] saw me throwing, he didn't even know I could throw. I'm not going to rush it. I'm only going to do what feels good. I definitely want to be back on the field as soon as possible, so I got to make sure I do the right things. In my mind the odds are good. I definitely don't want to miss any games. My goal is to make it for Opening Day."
On last season and moving forward: "Last year was one of the toughest things I had to go through. For whatever reason, I struggled. It was really hard to deal with. I had a lot of time to think and make corrections and I think it'll be better. I watched tape, worked with the hitting coach more. Just try to clear your head and put last season behind. That was bad. The main thing was to let that go and try to start over and do what you normally did."
On Bobby Valentine: "Upbeat guy. Real smart guy. Actually looking forward to learning as much as I can from him. He's been very positive and talks about stuff we can and can't do. I'm looking for Bobby to have a real good impact on us."
Kevin Youkilis
On being one of two guys on this year's roster from 2004 team: "There are only two of us left. It's crazy, I don't know if that makes us seem older and how time flies. It's definitely kind of weird. That's the game of baseball, guys keep coming and going. David [Ortiz] and I have definitely gotten a lot closer over the years. It's one of those things where we sit there and [say], 'Man, I can't believe we're the only ones left here.' But I guess we have to keep that torch going for as many years as we can."
On his future with the team: "My whole job is to win ballgames. I know if I'm out there starting every day and we win a World Series, there's a good chance I might come back. That's my whole goal. I know if we win and we win a World Series, it's going to be hard for them not to bring me back. I'm going to make it as hard on them as possible not to bring me back."
Cody Ross
On playing for the Sox: "I felt it was a great fit. I had quite a few options, but at the end of the day, this was the best situation for me, and I felt this team was on the right track trying to get on that next level and winning championships. I talked to a few guys before about it, and everyone was down about last year, but I'm looking forward to this year and looking to repeat what they've done in the past."
Daniel Bard
On moving to the rotation: "It's a change of scenery. If I do the same thing I did the last three years out in the bullpen — and it worked out to almost three times as many innings — it's a no-brainer. It's going to help the team more. For me, it's a new challenge and I'm excited about it. It's a great opportunity for me and it's something I asked for. They've been very receptive — and this was before [Jonathan Papelbon] had even left. I brought it up to the team and they were very receptive. I think it was really set in stone when Bobby was hired. Our first conversation, he was like, 'What do you want to do?' I said, 'I want to start or close and I think I can do either one really well, so whichever one helps the team.' Turns out, they think starting is the way to go."
On adjustments in new position: "The big adjustment will be learning how to really pick apart a scouting report and talking to the advance scouts and working with the catchers a little more. Out of the bullpen, it was, when in doubt, I'd go with my strength. [Forget about] the report. 'Throw a good fastball, a good slider.' Now it's going to be about, 'OK, I'm still pitching to my strengths,' but I think you're going to see more changeups, more sinkers. I'm still going to try to go out, get outs and pitch to my strengths, but you'll see more of my four pitches, I think."
Dustin Pedroia
On last season and fresh start: "It was tough. I was playing every game and I don't know what goes on. You would ask the guys, some of the stuff that they were saying — I mean, come on. It's over now. It's done with. 2011 is over. It sucked how it ended, but we're all excited about this year. I want everyone to show up ready for work, have fun and win games. That's it. We're a family. There shouldn't be one person whether in the media or fans that should come in between any of us. And it's not going to happen anymore."
On Terry Francona: "That's the only thing I've known. But things change. It's tough to see [Francona] go, especially the way it ended for him last year. He'll always be a close friend of mine. Whatever he chooses to do forward, I'm pulling for him."
David Ortiz
On Dustin Pedroia: "In the offseason, I talked to Pedey pretty much every day, because at one point, I kind of missed him. When you're not listening to him talking all that [trash] … you kind of get used to it for nine months, so for three months, it's kind of weird. I always texted him and called him, and he always has something to say. It's great to have Pedey around and get to the point where you can hear what he has to say. Pedey always gets me in the mood. He always gets me going one way or the other."
On his leadership last season: "When I talk to any of the guys on the team, I don't want to sound like I’m their dad. I make sure that they understand that it's a friend, a brother, another player talking to them. That's why my communication with a lot of them is easy. I have a good relationship with everybody. It's not my job to walk on anyone. I'm just an employee, just like anyone else. I'm not a babysitter or anything like that. I'm talking to another man just like me. There's a difference between being a team leader and being a babysitter. Everybody has an idea about what they are here for. We're the ones who know how our clubhouse runs. I'm one of the older guys here on the team. I know there's a lot of people watching me, watching what I do. That puts me in a situation where I have to try and do things — not perfectly, because I'm not perfect — but pretty close."
On his earrings: "They told me not to wear my earrings in front of the judge. I was like, 'Did I kill someone or something? What did I do that I'm not allowed to wear them in front of a judge?' They were like you don't want to have that much bling bling, this and that, start on the wrong foot. What? I sleep with them on!"
On playing for the Sox: "I'm happy. I'm happy with my contract. I'm happy with being here. I take a lot of pride for the fans here. What motivates me to play the game, to do my thing out there, is when you walk out there and have all those people cheering for you. That has no price, to be honest with you. When I'm walking to the plate at Fenway and I hear all these fans, it puts me in the mood. I don't know how to explain it. It releases a lot of good things in myself. I'm used to that."
I hope you enjoyed the quotes, and for more Red Sox information and updates, be sure to follow me on Twitter at @JennyDellNESN.
