Here is some Boston Red Sox news out of spring training from Sunday.

In a television interview with Dan Roche of WBZ-TV, Julian Tavarez stated that Manny Ramirez will not be reporting to camp until March 1st so that he can be with his ailing mother. A couple of days ago, Manny’s agent had said that his client had planned to report to camp on time with the position players on the 21st.

A bunch of the Red Sox pitchers threw in the bullpen on Sunday and the popping noise that was heard was Daisuke Matsuzaka popping the glove of Jason Varitek. Manager Terry Francona told pitching coach John Farrell to have the guys not throw as hard because he was afraid they were ahead of where they should be. When asked about his velocity, Matsuzaka said he was only throwing 60-70% of what he normally would. I have been around baseball for a long time, and when someone is popping the glove, they are throwing cheddar. So if he is saying that he was only throwing 60-70%, does that mean his fastball is over 100 mph. I’d have to think he was throwing in the high 80’s to get the glove to pop. Either that or Varitek had something in his glove to make the sound. If I were a betting man, I’d go with he was throwing in the high 80’s.

Varitek met with the media on Sunday. He spoke with Matsuzaka about anything he would need from Varitek. Things like having the glove out at a certain time, getting lower, moving off the plate. Basically what he emphasised with Matsuzaka is that communication is the key even if they had to use the interpreter for now. He was asked about the differences between catching Nomo and Matsuzaka. Basically what he said was that the two had different pitching styles. He said he only caught Dice-K’s fastball. To listen to the interview, press play below.

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Varitek Interview
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Speaking of Matsuzaka, pitching coach John Farrell stated that Dice-K will make his spring debut in the annual exhibition game versus the Boston College Eagles on March 2. His next spring training start would come on March 6th against the Florida Marlins. Barring any injuries to Matsuzaka and how the rotation pans out, Matsuzaka will be on a schedule to start the third game of the season against the Kansas City Royals on April 5th. His first Fenway start would be April 11th against the Seattle Mariners and fellow countryman, Ichiro. First off, I find it really strange for him to be pitching 4 days apart so I’d have to think what was said about going against the Marlins was a mistake. But who knows. Because they are only throwing a limited number of pitches, it could make sense. Who knows? As long as he stays healthy, who cares when he throws. What sucks to me is that I will be attending opening day at Fenway on April 10th and will have missed him by one day. According to how the rotation is going to go, I will probably get to see Josh Beckett pitch. Much better then the years past when I have gone to Sox games as the last 4 starters I saw were John Burkett, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo, and David Wells. Yes I know thats a big span of years but with my back being bad the last 2 and half years, I haven’t been able to attend many games.

Continue reading after the jump.

Schilling also met with the media today and as usual when you stick a microphone in front of him, he just keeps talking. Here are a few quotes from Schilling:

“I felt good,” Schilling said after throwing his first bullpen session of camp. “It was a little different weather than we’re used to down here. But you get the kinks out the first day, see everybody. It was fun.”

When asked about what he said to Matsuzaka, this is what he had to say:

“We talked, we just talked,” said Schilling. “Those are the times — on the bus and on the planes — where there isn’t a lot going on that you start to get to know each other. Those are the times that we have fun together. And there’s a language barrier there that I hope I can overcome enough to make him and [Hideki Okajima] comfortable enough to mix it up with the guys, because this is a fun group of guys.”

When talking about the adjustments that needed to be made with the arrival of Matsuzaka:

“All of the championship teams I’ve been on, you generally get through the season with no less than four guys who take the post every fifth day,” he said. “But we’ve got some different factors here with Dice-K coming in from a six-man rotation and we’ve got some guys, Wakefield and I, who I’m sure they’ll probably give that off-day, extra day to early on. I think it’ll be a strength if we can stay healthy.”

When asked about his contract status for next season:

“We’ll see,” Schilling said. “We’re talking right now and we’ll continue to talk.”

Schilling also said he is learning some “conversational Japanese” right now and at one point came over while Matsuzaka was addressing the Japanese media. When he told the Japanese media what he said to Matsuzaka upon introduction, the Japanese media gave him a standing ovation nice applause. All I can say is I hope that the Red Sox smarten up and sign Schilling to an extension. He is invaluable member of the Red Sox and his leadership is instrumental to the success of the Red Sox. Of course him staying healthy is too. To listen to the interview press play below.

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Schilling Interview
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Well if you wanted to know who else was next to Varitek in the spring training locker room, its none other than former New Haven Raven and potential closer, Joel Piñero. Piñero made the adjustment to the bullpen last year after get shellacked for almost half the season in Seattle last year. Piñero said that he plans to go balls to the wall when it comes to pitching out the bullpen and that he has added some new pitches. He throws four pitches right now, fastball, changeup, sinker, and a slidepiece(slider). So by my odds of deduction, it could be the gyroball or a knuckleball that he has added. In all seriousness, he has probably added a curveball, a cutter or a splitter. Having seen Piñero pitch in the minors and a few times when he was healthy, if he can regain his form that he before he injured his elbow in 2004, we could have another Papelbon on our hands. If that’s the case, just stay healthy Joel.

I am sorry for pulling a Schilling here and going on and on talking about spring training. But I am excited. Baseball is in the air (actually cold windchills of -9 to 1 will be in the air on Monday). Baseball in the air means only one thing, spring is almost upon us. Only 9 more days until the first exhibition game for the Red Sox against the Minnesota Twinkies on February 28th.

Information from the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Redsox.com was used.

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