Valentine sets new tempo at spring training

FORT MEYERS, Fla. (WHDH) -- At spring training, Red Sox players are learning that things will be much different under new manager Bobby Valentine.

Pitchers and catchers gathered around their new leader for the first time Tuesday, and quickly realized that, though Valentine may be old-school baseball, he’s no old timer. The Sox’ new manager is very hands-on, even playing long toss with Daisuke Matsuzaka, something Daisuke called an honor.

“I play catch with a lot of guys,” said Valentine. “I don’t think that’s anything special for Dice -- well, maybe it was special for him, but I didn’t do it because it was him, to be special.”

At age 62, Valentine is anything but slow; Sox pitchers and catchers found themselves in smaller groups than in previous years, and moving faster than ever, with Valentine right on their heels.

“He’s a different kind of guy,” Daniel Bard said. “I haven’t met a manager that thinks quite like him or interacts with his players quite like he does, but I like it. He knows everybody’s name here; it’s pretty unbelievable.”

For Bard, it’s not only a new manager and new spring training routine -- it’s a new role, as he moves from reliever to starter.

“We’ve had a chance to talk to Daniel a lot about this over the off season and then since we’ve been in Fort Meyers,” Sox General Manager Ben Cherington said. “He’s attacking this like he would anything, just a day at a time with a good focus.”

“It’s more just, believing in it yourself,” Bard said. “I spoke with Ben yesterday and he just said, ‘hey, we wouldn’t do this unless we really thought it was going to work,’ and I said I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t think it was going to work -- so, I’m all in.”

Bard isn’t the only one who’s all in; Josh Beckett and Jon Lester responded well to Valentine as well. In their smaller groups, Beckett and Lester have been first in line, hustling and leading by example.

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