Pedro and 'Tek - Exactly what are they doing?
We haven't heard much from Pedro Martinez and Jason Varitek recently. What does Ben Cherington have them doing? |
Contributing Writer
Familiar faces often frequent the Red Sox clubhouse. They tend to join in some pregame ceremony and then head up to a suite where they are later shown on the video board.
When Boston General Manager Ben Cherington hired Jason Varitek and Pedro Maritnez to be his special assistants this offseason, many in Red Sox Nation thought it was for the best. We saw the owners and front office trying to make a connection to the players with a go-between type person. They also made a connection to the hearts of current Red Sox Nation members, as ‘Tek and Pedro were the soul of our first championship in 2004.
We saw them all spring in Ft. Meyers. They were on the fields throwing, catching, giving tips to young players. They were interviewed multiple times on their thoughts of the 2012 disaster, the hiring of John Farrell, the shipment of big contracts and signings of players who would change the clubhouse culture.
It seemed as if it were a PR move to put their faces in front of the cameras. But that begs the question: Where are they now?
Aside from Pedro making an appearance at Triple-A Pawtucket in late April, and one from Varitek in May at Gwinnett (Ga.) for a PawSox game, there hasn’t been much from the former battery mates.
With the Sox in a skid (5-9 in May), is now the time to bring them back to the forefront? Or is it too early?
One of my colleagues thinks it would be bad PR by the Red Sox to bring them out this soon. My colleague is a firm believer that if the two players are keeping it hush-hush in the minors and just working with a young player, that’s not news. In fact, it’s a good thing because they are doing exactly what they were brought in to do. He says they would be stepping on some of the toes of the coaching staff if Cherington brought one of them up to work with a current major league player. He also hopes it wouldn’t be smart to, and I quote, “parade these guys around as part of some feel-good dog and pony show.”
Another colleague has a different view. Based on the Sox bringing those two in when things were bad to rebrand the team, and given Boston’s recent slide, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to try to create some momentum moving forward, right? I mean, after all, people for a day could quit talking about how bad the Red Sox are playing and focus on how good of a job Pedro is doing with the PawSox rotation or how much of an impact Varitek is having on a guy like Ryan Lavarnway who was just called up to replace David Ross (7-day concussion DL).
More so than those two stances, how come we haven’t heard much more from these two special assistants? I know I would like to hear what they are doing. Is Pedro helping Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster prepare for the big time? Is Varitek working with Lavarnway and Christian Vazquez learn how to handle pitching staffs and batters tendencies? Why exactly are they doing? Did they get hired to come in for spring training and then take a few months off and that’s what the Red Sox are paying them for?
What do you think? We’d like to hear from our RedSoxLifers on this one. Let us know by commenting below, or tweet us @RedSoxLife or @thebenwhitehead.
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