Pedroia insists he's Red Sox' leader

Leadership crisis? What leadership crisis?

That was Dustin Pedroia’s message Friday afternoon, as the Red Sox continued to be dogged by follow-up questions to a month-old incident between David Price and broadcaster Dennis Eckersley.

In the wake of details of that showdown, it’s been suggested that the issue is evidence of a leadership vacuum.  Pedroia, easily the longest-tenured Red Sox player, took exception to that narrative.

“[People say] ‘Oh, [they] don’t have a leader,'" said Pedroia. “I’m standing right here. I’ve been here for a long time. We’re in first place. So, that’s it.

"Write what you guys want. Here I am. You don’t see anybody else standing up doing this, do you? Nope. Fact. There’s your source. From the mouth.’’

Pedroia was also agitated by media reports that indicated that he was applauding Price’s verbal takedown of Eckersley.

“It bothers you when stuff’s not true,’’ said Pedroia. “Obviously, I’ll do anything for my teammates. But we’re moving past this. We’ve moved past this. This was a month ago. We all love each other. We’re in here together.’'

Pedroia added that he had spoken to Price “one-on-one” following the altercation, and indicated he had reminded Price of the team’s guidelines.

“In this clubhouse, we have two rules, basically,’’ said Pedroia. “It’s pretty easy – be on time and be professional. After that incident, we talked about it and that’s it. We’ve kind of moved on from that. I’m sure he’s going to have a conversation with Eck; he hasn’t seen him since that. All the other stuff is a distraction. We’re trying to play baseball and win ballgames.

“It’s kind of an argument between two guys, two grown men. [Price] is passionate about what he does and he’s emotional. So, that’s it.’’

Asked if Price owed Eckersley an apology, Pedroia said: “I don’t know. They’re going to have a conversation. We’re grown men here. I’m not disciplining my six-year old son. These are people who really care about what they do. That’s it. They’ll have a conversation when they see each other. David’s a man. He’s going to do it face-to-face.

“He’s not going to do it over the phone, or [by] text message. When he sees him, they’ll have a conversation. … David’s waiting for the opportunity to see him face-to-face and talk to him. I’m not a referee, OK? When he has the opportunity, he will talk to him.’’