Red Sox Notebook: Ron Roenicke readies his message

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The first full-squad workout will take place Monday for the Red Sox and, as tradition calls for, the manager will address the entire organization.

Ordinarily, that would be rather mundane. But given the circumstances of the last month and the fact that this will be Ron Roenicke's inaugural address to the Sox, Monday won't be just any old speech.

"I've thought about it a little bit,'' said Roenicke, who was named interim manager last week. "To be honest, I've been so busy. I haven't had time to think about it like I usually would. I know when I was in Milwaukee, I knew exactly what I was going to say and had plenty of time to prepare for it. Yeah, I've thought about it a little bit, but not like I would have liked to.

"There's some things that I think I should address, about some of the craziness that has happened. I need to address that.''



Included in the "craziness'' -- the dismissal of former manager Alex Cora, the week-long, drawn out drama that ended with Mookie Betts and David Price traded to the L.A. Dodgers, and MLB's ongoing investigation of sign-stealing during the 2018 season.

Roenicke believes such speeches can help define goals for spring training and the rest of the season.

"I think it's important the first day, to kind of set the tone of what you expect,'' he said, "and maybe what can get us to the point where we need to be. I think it's important. Things are a little bit different this year, so the message may be a little bit different. Or it could be exactly the same thing. Ideally, you kind of want it the same way because you want these guys' mindsets to be the same and not worried about all the stuff that's happened outside of what we do on the field.''

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Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the investigation of the 2018 Red Sox sign-stealing at a media event in Jupiter, Fla. Sunday.

"We always want the investigations to go as quickly as possible,'' said Manfred. "Never, however, at the expense of making sure that we have pursued every possible lead and done everything we can possibly do to get the facts right. There have been a couple of developments in the Boston thing that have slowed us down -- people who had to be re-interviewed as the result of things.

"I'm still thinking the end of the (following) week, we should be done and should have a decision out. Not this week, but the next one.''

Manfred added that MLB is currently negotiating with the MLB Players Association to make changes for the 2020 season concerning access to the video replay room, which the Sox were alleged to have used in 2018 to help steal signs.

"I do expect that we will, for 2020, have really serious restrictions on player personnel access to video in-game,'' he said. "I think it's really important for us to send a message to our fans that not only did we investigate and punish, but we altered our policies in a way to make sure it doesn't happen again.''

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Xander Bogaerts is currently slowed by a sore left ankle. He experienced some tenderness in the ankle during recent workouts in his native Aruba, and the Sox will be careful with him for the next few days. It's not expected to linger.

Bogaerts was sad to see Betts traded. The two were close - born less than a week apart -- and played together for a number of seasons in Boston.

"I saw him make his debut, so you obviously think you're going to stick together as a team,'' said Bogaerts. "We knew tough decisions were going to come at a certain point. It's hard to keep everyone you have on this team...Obviously, I wish him nothing but the best. One of the best teammates I've had and one of the best young players we had wear the Red Sox uniform.

"He's someone we're going to miss a lot. It's not easy to replace somebody like that on and off the field.''

Bogaerts said it's inaccurate to suggest that Betts didn't enjoy playing in Boston.

"The one thing I know about him is that he loved being here,'' Bogaerts said. "He enjoyed playing with us. I can't really say that he didn't want to be here. I think that's a little unfair. He enjoyed his time here and never showed me anything he didn't like about being here.''

So, could Bogaerts help convince Betts to come back in free agency next winter?

"We'll see how that goes,'' said a smiling Bogaerts. "He knows what he means to us and we'll cross that bridge when we get there.''

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Two position players will not be present for the first workout. Rafael Devers is back in the Dominican Republic with his girlfriend, who just gave birth to the couple's second daughter. And outfielder Cesar Puello will be delayed a few days by a visa issue in the D.R.