FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -Kevin Youkilis finally has some job security after a frustrating minor league career – and no plans to let the big bucks soften his hard-nosed style.
Last year’s impressive statistics won’t go to his head. Neither will his third-place finish in the AL MVP voting. And he’s still willing to bat anywhere in the lineup, except leadoff.
While Manny Ramirez, the slugger he replaced as the Boston Red Sox cleanup hitter, remains unsigned after turning down the Los Angeles Dodgers’ $25 million, one-year offer, Youkilis is content with the $41 million, four-year deal he agreed to last month.
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He said he wouldn’t have minded if Boston had succeeded in its pursuit of first baseman Mark Teixeira, who ended up with the New York Yankees. Adding Teixeira would have sent Youkilis back to his original spot at third base.
“It didn’t matter to me,” said Youkilis, who won a Gold Glove at first in 2007. “I don’t worry about that stuff. Playing the field is playing the field.”
He is one of the first Boston position players to show up at spring training. The first full-squad workout isn’t until next Tuesday.
But hard work is what got him a full-time job in the majors in 2006.
In 2005, he had five stints with Boston and four with Triple-A Pawtucket. He also got some solid advice from a teammate, first baseman-outfielder Dave McCarty.
He told Youkilis that playing every day in the minors was more valuable than sitting on the bench in the majors.
“If I can teach anything to the young kids, it’s be patient. Good things will happen if you work hard, you don’t mope,” Youkilis said.
He said he made progress without using performance-enhancing drugs that are banned by baseball. He also said Alex Rodriguez was unfairly singled out from a group of 104 players who tested positive for such substances in 2003 with the understanding that the results would be confidential.
to just pinpoint one guy,” Youkilis said.
After a weekend Sports Illustrated report that he failed a drug test in 2003, Rodriguez told ESPN on Monday that he used banned substances while playing for the Texas Rangers from 2001-03.
“I don’t know if somebody had it in for him. I don’t know what, because it seems like just to take one name out of that whole group is a little odd to me,” Youkilis said. “It took a lot of guts for him to get up there and say what he had to say and admit to it.
“Some guys can’t admit to that and I give him credit for that and I think a lot of people will appreciate it more. I think with Andy Pettitte last year you never heard any talk after that, after he admitted to that.”
Youkilis said he’s never taken banned substances.
Even without Ramirez at spring training for the first time in nine years, the Red Sox have a potent lineup with MVP Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Jason Bay, J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell.
“One player can’t win a championship,” Youkilis said. “It’s definitely going to be different in the lineup without Manny Ramirez. He’s … probably one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time. There’s no player in this locker room that has the talent that Manny has, hitting-wise.
“The biggest thing is, we have a lot of depth.”
st twice last season with an injured left wrist that limited him to 23 homers and a .264 batting average.
“He’s going to be fine, I think,” Youkilis said. “It sounds as though a lot of people are down on David Ortiz. Maybe it’s a good thing. People doubted him and didn’t really know who he was when he first came up and had great success. … If he comes in and stays healthy, he’s going to prove to people that he’s Big Papi.”
Lowell also was hurt last year and underwent hip surgery Oct. 20.
“From what I hear from the trainers and the staff, he’s doing good and should be on schedule to be ready to go this season,” Youkilis said.
The Red Sox can use another comeback – from Jason Varitek.
After batting a career-low .220 in the final season of a four-year, $40 million contract, the 36-year-old catcher praised for his handling of pitchers re-signed for one year at $5 million with player and club options for 2010.
“We got a bargain on a great player,” Youkilis said.
Youkilis, just 29, might be a bargain, too.
“I throw the (2008) season stats and all the other stuff away,” Youkilis said, “and just go on and worry about getting myself ready to play a full season.
“I just go out there and play as hard as I can.”
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