Ron Roenicke is a baseball lifer, and even as he approaches his 65 birthday in a little more than a month, he finds it hard to stay away from the game.
This spring, he was invited by Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to come to spring training as a consultant/instructor, working with players on the field. When minor league spring training began later, he was there for that, too. And now that the season is underway, Roenicke is at Dodger Stadium for most home games and has even taken some road trips Soon, he'll visit the Dodgers minor league affiliates and scout the organization's prospects.
But even from the West Coast and as busy as he's been with the Dodgers, Roenicke has been keeping track of the Red Sox -- the team for whom he served as manager in 2020 and as bench coach the previous two seasons before that.
"So far, I think they've played great,'' said Roenicke. "To be where they are, in what I think is a really tough division, battling at the top with Tampa, and coming off the season we had, and really, the year before, too, I think they're doing great.''
Roenicke remains in steady contact with Alex Cora, whom he served as a member of the coaching staff from 2018-2018 and then replaced after Cora mutually agreed to leave the Red Sox in January of 2020 and was subsequently suspended by MLB for the season.
"Probably once a week we connect, whether talking or texting,'' said Roenicke. "I haven't talked to him lately, but (the relationship) is always there. Sometimes we go a couple of weeks (without communicating), and then there's a text or phone call. So I stay in touch with him and sometimes the coaches, when something comes up, (I connect) with them a little bit. And then all the (players) -- when you're involved with them so much for the last three years, I don't want to all of a sudden not pay attention.
"And then you have the guys who've left -- I watch how Mitch (Moreland) is doing in Oakland, and Jackie (Bradley Jr.) in Milwaukee, (Andrew Benintendi) over in Kansas City. I'm watching them, too.''
Roenicke admits to being pleasantly surprised by the turnaround from going 24-36 in the pandemic-shortened season of 2020 to a 2021 team in a race for the American League's best record.
"Yeah, I would say so,'' he said. "With the pitching staff and some pieces there that Chaim (Bloom) has brought in, and some of the guys we had last year are doing great. The offense started off with some guys being really hot, with J.D. turning it around from last year to this year. It's not like it's a total surprise. But from where we were last year to where they are this year, that's outstanding.''
In his one year as manager of the Sox, Roenicke was dealt a bad hand. Chris Sale was lost for the year, David Price and Mookie Betts were dealt off in spring training, Eduardo Rodriguez missed the year with a combination of COVID-19 and myocarditis, and Martinez had his worst season in years. Occasionally, he admitted, he wonders how things might have gone differently for him had he had a healthier and more productive roster.
"No doubt, it was a disappointing season from the standpoint of where we were as a team,'' he said. "When we weren't playing well, it kind of got to the point where I felt it was survival -- getting through the pandemic and keeping everybody healthy, and trying to figure out, with the pitching staff, how to get through the season. And we had a couple of relievers (Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez) had some COVID issues and they didn't bounce back the way we wanted them to.
"I think anytime you have a disappointing season, you certainly look back and wish it had gone better.''
The biggest contrast has been the performance of the starting rotation. A year ago, Roenicke went through 16 starters in 60 games; through 75 games this season, the Sox had used their five pitchers to cover 73 starts.
"Sixteen starts in 60 games....that's way too many,'' lamented Roenicke. "But we had to do it. You have to find someone to replace what was lost. And sometimes you find a piece not just for last year, but for the future. For me, it was really fun to see guys like (Tanner) Houck and (Nick) Pivetta pitch that well. That part was nice, to see some young players get a chance and do well. (Bobby) Dalbec did well and (Christian) Arroyo got a shot, and he's helped them this year.
"So even though it was a tough year, it still gave some guys an opportunity to see where they were and how they might help this year and beyond.''
The least surprising aspect of the success enjoyed by the 2021 Red Sox is the role player by the role of Cora, whom Roenicke holds in great regard.
"He does a great job,'' said Roenicke. "He's a guy that's very intelligent baseball-wise and has a great feel. His communication skills are as good as it gets. With the combination of what I see and what I think a manager needs to be really good, Alex has it all. So for him to have success, that's not a surprise. There's no doubt that Alex coming back, with the relationship he had with guys and how they liked him and respect him, I would think it would be no problem at all for him to come back in and pick up where the relationships were before.''
More than once, Roenicke has found himself seeing some similarities between Cora and Roberts -- both are unfailingly positive and strong communicators.
And what it would be like, Roenicke was asked, if in October, baseball got a rematch of the 2018 World Series -- this time with Roenicke (and Betts, Price and Joe Kelly) having switched sides since the last time?
"That,'' said Roenicke with a chuckle, "would be something. I know how tough the divisions are for both teams. Hopefully, we can continue what we're doing here and we'll see where Boston ends up. But that would be great to see, if that happened, in the Series.''
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Christian Arroyo recalled a period last year when, for a period of a couple weeks, he felt very much alone - locked in a baseball purgatory, his career in limbo.
Arroyo was designated for assignment by the Cleveland Indians last summer and he spent the better part of the week, isolated in his apartment in Cleveland, close enough to Progressive Field that he could hear the Indians game unfolding. Eventually, he was claimed by the Red Sox, but upon arrival in Boston, had to go through quarantine protocol before he could be activated. So, again, he sat alone in a hotel room -- this one in Kenmore Square. Like the one in Cleveland, Arroyo was so close to a ballpark, he could hear it.
But it still seemed like a million miles away.
To deal with the uncertainty of where things were headed, Arroyo sought out the help of Red Sox mental skills coach Rey Fuentes.
"It was a tough year, 2020 -- not just for me, but for literally everybody,'' said Arroyo. "t was a humbling experience. I think a lot of people had to kind of dig deep and just adjust. For me, last year, just being the messed-up year that it was, handling adversity, I had never really paid much attention to mental skills. But when I got over here, started talking to Rey, I started realizing, 'This is really important. This is probably the most important thing I've learned.
"It's all about perspective. Everybody experiences things completely different from the way you do. Whenever I put (that element) into my game and made it part of my routine, it kind of helped relax me. I stopped having that feeling or urgency, where I always had to have positive results. It's a long season. It's about the process. So it's definitely helped me to stay even-keeled. The mental part of it has been huge for me.''
Arroyo will be the first to admit that his career hasn't unfolded as planned. Once a first-round pick of the San Francisco Giants, he was then traded to Tampa Bay, before being traded again to Cleveland, with then DFA'd him. The Red Sox are his fourth organization and though he's had some huge moments in the last month, he's yet to claim everyday player status. And as always, there are the injuries that have dogged Arroyo from the start of his pro career.
(Even this year, as he enjoys something of a breakout performance, Arroyo hasn't been able to avoid them. He's currently on the IL for the second time this season).
With the injuries come loss of playing time, and, over time, increasing doubt. But Arroyo does the best he can to maintain perspective.
Perhaps more than any other sport, baseball is a game dictated by failure. It may be a cliche, but it's undeniably true: even the best hitters fail seven out of 10 times. Acknowledging that failure is part of the landscape is the first step toward successfully dealing with it.
"One of the most important things I had to learn was, when it's going good, it's going good,'' he said. "But when it's going bad, you have to stay the same.''
To remind himself of that reality, Arroyo has adopted a phrase that is been more closely associated with a certain local football coach.
"My motto now is, 'It is what it is,' '' noted Arroyo. "You put a good swing on a ball but you made an out? It is what it is. You put a good swing on the ball and you got a hit? It is what it is. You move on to the next at-bat. I think you learn from experience and you learn from other people. The way our guys handle adversity is unparalleled.''
Whereas years ago, a short slump may have left him full of self-doubt, Arroyo has learned to judge his at-bats by less traditional methods. He's not consumed by hits or homers; the evaluation is more subtle.
"For me, I have a checklist of three things that I like to think of for every at-bat,'' he said. "When I go through it, it's 'Did you swing at a strike? Did you see the baseball? Did you stay within yourself?' If I go up there looking for a certain pitch and I put a good swing on it and I still make an out? That's still a win. In my mind, I'm 1-for-1. The box score may not say it, but it's how you evaluate yourself from at-bat to at-bat. It's about being honest with yourself and building on the process.''
By changing how he judges himself, Arroyo puts less pressure on himself. He's not a prisoner to his own constant self-assessments. A few hitless games in a row do not, as they might once have, result in a crisis of confidence.
"Changing that mindset and no longer having that urgency to have to have results, results, results,'' he said, "and focusing on the process is going to get where you want to go....that's kind of made the biggest difference for me.''