Red Sox, MLB resolve dispute over coaches' pay after team takes stand
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Boston Red Sox ended a threatened boycott Wednesday of their final spring training game in Florida, resolving a dispute over paying coaches and staff for the season-opening trip to Japan.
The game against the Toronto Blue Jays started an hour late when the team voted unanimously not to play or go to Tokyo after learning coaches and staff would not get a $40,000 appearance fee for the Japan trip. Players said they believed that fee was part of the deal.
"Everyone connected with the trip will be fairly compensated," baseball spokesman Rich Levin said.
Team spokesman John Blake would not say how the dispute was resolved.
"We're going to Japan," he said.
Earlier, catcher Jason Varitek said the team would not take the field or go to Japan until Major League Baseball agreed to pay the coaches and staff.
Varitek said players thought it was necessary to take a stand on behalf of the coaches and staff.
Donald Fehr, the executive director of the baseball players union, talks with Mike Tiroco about the Red Sox players' actions on behalf of their coaches and Barry Bonds. Listen Insider
"They're the basis of what takes care of us," he said.
Manager Terry Francona and his players were upset after learning staff members were not going to get a $40,000 stipend. The Boston Herald reported players insisted part of their agreement to make the trip included the fee -- for them and the coaches.
"We're so united. And I don't mean just the players," Francona said in a dugout interview with ESPN during Wednesday's game. "I mean the staff, the trainers and our players showed that and that's what this was about. It wasn't about being greedy. It was about trying to be unified."
Kevin Youkilis, the Red Sox player representative, said the agreement still needs to be put in writing and the compensation for coaches and staff "is not the greatest thing that we wanted for them, but it's good."
He stressed that the players felt strongly about not going to Japan without a resolution.
"The club's working on stuff and trying to get money where it needs to get," he said. "It was definitely an experience of a lifetime and it ended in a good way."
Terry Francona, seen here Wednesday with Sean Casey (left) and Jason Varitek, found himself in the middle of a dispute between the Red Sox and MLB over stipends for coaches for Boston's trip to Japan.
The World Series champions are scheduled to begin their season against the Oakland Athletics on March 25 and 26 in Tokyo. The trip also includes preseason games against Japanese teams and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Boston's final spring training game in Florida, against the Blue Jays, began Wednesday about an hour after it was scheduled to start.
Unsure if the game would get in, the Red Sox sent scheduled starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, to pitch against Minnesota's Triple-A affiliate and started David Aardsma in his place. Matsuzaka is scheduled to be the Opening Day starter in Tokyo on March 25 against Oakland.
Before the game, the Red Sox clubhouse was closed to reporters because of the bonus dispute.
"We had an agreement," Curt Schilling, one of a handful of Red Sox players who talked with Major League Baseball on ground rules for the trip, told ESPN's Claire Smith.
"Some of the promises have already been taken away, now this," Schilling said. "As far as the players are concerned, [withholding the coaches' bonuses] can't happen."
''When we voted to go to Japan, that was not a unanimous vote,'' third baseman Mike Lowell told The Boston Globe, "but we did what our team wanted us to do for Major League Baseball. They promised us the moon and the stars, and then when we committed, they started pulling back. It's not just the coaches, it's the staff, the trainers, a lot of people are affected by this.
"I'm so super proud of this team," Lowell said, according to The Globe. "When we put it to a vote it was unanimous. We're all in agreement that we're not going to put up with this.''
That the players would consider such action "is really appreciated, to say the least," Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan told ESPN. "It means as much as the money itself.
"While we're very fortunate, a lot of people don't realize what we do. It's nice to get recognition from the players."
At Oakland's spring-training site in Phoenix, the Athletics didn't take batting practice before their game against the Los Angeles Angels. Players met in the clubhouse while several got in contact with Red Sox players and the union.
A's player representative Huston Street emerged from the meeting and said the exhibition game would be played and Oakland players would make the trip.
"You have to stay firm in your belief, and I believe we've done that. Results have happened. That's why we're taking the field now. We wouldn't be taking the field now if we didn't firmly believe that the right thing was going to get done," he said. "The right thing is going to get done. We're going to play in Japan, and it's going to be an incredible series that everybody has been looking forward to."
A Boston player contacted Oakland pitcher Alan Embree on Wednesday morning.
"I think we'll get together and talk about it. I was under the impression that everybody was taken care of," Embree said. "I don't care how they split it up, who's at fault, they just need to fix it."
He said a Boston player contacted him Wednesday morning. Oakland players planned to meet to discuss the situation before their exhibition game against a Chicago Cubs' split squad.
"For those guys to take that stance -- they're veterans. They feel strongly about it, and they brought it to the attention of higher-ups," Embree said. "We have to fix it one way or the other. ... Coaches deserved compensation. They're going over there, too, and every little bit counts."
For the Red Sox, it was a dramatic end to a quiet Florida spring training.
"I did not have an off day yesterday. I had the phone glued to my ear because I was promised some answers, and I haven't even received a phone call," Francona said. "So I'm a little bit stuck. What I want to do this morning is get excited to play a baseball game and what I ended up doing is apologizing to the coaches and being humiliated."
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