FORT MYERS, Fla. – It takes a different kind of team to make the Odyssean journey to the World Series, especially in Boston.
Pedro Martinez knows, because he was on such a squad himself. The 2004 Red Sox were a team powered by intangibles. They were loaded with talent, of course, but there was so much more to it than that. That self-proclaimed ‘Band of Idiots’ had something that, try as front offices might, can’t be facilitated or forced. A team either has ‘it’ or it doesn’t.
Martinez feels this team might have ‘it.’ At the very least, he believes they can go far this year because they’re now well-stocked on one of the most important intangibles of all: that winning feeling. The Red Sox brought in several World Series champions – including starting pitcher Walker Buehler, reliever Aroldis Chapman, and infielder Alex Bregman – to complement and guide their young, inexperienced homegrown core.
“These guys are going to take a lot of pressure off,” Martinez told the Herald. “Because (Rafael) Devers was the only one that understands how to be a champion. And with Bregman now, and Buehler, they are going to talk to those guys about what it’s like to be a champion. And I think they need it. They might hear it from me, but they’re gonna (be like) ‘That’s been a long time.’
“Breggy and Buehler can tell everybody, ‘Hey listen, when we get to that place, this is what we need to do. I will get it done. And we all need to be this way and that way,’ and it’s gonna click.”
And of course, Buehler and Bregman have also proven themselves on the field when the microscope is at the highest magnification. Bregman has 99 career postseason games under his belt, and has played in each of the last eight postseasons, tied for the longest active streak in the majors.
Much to the delight of Martinez and every other Red Sox fan, Buehler had a Chris Sale-esque performance against the Yankees last fall, clinching the Dodgers’ championship with a closer cameo on enemy turf. But Buehler first caught the Hall of Famer’s eye in 2018, when he was a Dodgers rookie shutting out the Sox for seven innings in Game 3 of the World Series.
“You didn’t know what you were gonna find, and look what you found,” Martinez said. “That’s when I started falling in love with his game, because I saw this kid just going at everybody. That kind of demeanor, you don’t teach.”
“Guys that can really slow down the game when the situation comes. David (Ortiz) was one of those guys that was perfect in the clutch. Manny was one of those guys that could just –” he began imitating Ramirez’s movements, “– keep it low-key.”
Gathering the requisite ingredients was only the first step in the recipe for October baseball, though. Step No. 2, Martinez believes, is Bregman and Devers playing together.
“I think Bregman is going to be a great help to Devers,” Martinez said. “I think once they start mingling in the same game together they’re going to really help each other out.”
Leaving the positional details up to Red Sox leadership, Martinez focused on what Bregman and Devers can do for one another and the team as a whole.
“Devers, he’s the longest tenured and the champ, the only champ, but they both know how to win,” he said. “And I think Bregman brings so much experience, but about Fenway, Devers can be the X-factor for Bregman: how to position himself, how to be here, how to be there. It doesn’t matter what kind of position he might play, but I think both of them, putting those brains together and that experience together, is going to be really interesting.”
“Plus the bats, lefty-righty, that’s gonna be great. I don’t think Carita is gonna be there by himself,” Martinez said, referring to Devers by his nickname, which means ‘baby/little face’ in Spanish. “No, he’s going to have some support. And I think the rest of the guys on the team are capable of doing anything.”
Martinez arrived in camp on Monday and was immediately impressed with Bregman, who wanted to pick his brain right away.
“I just said hi,” Martinez said, “and the first thing he did was (say), ‘We were just talking about you.’ Him and Tek.”
Bregman explained that he’d sought out coach Jason Varitek, Martinez’s close friend and longtime catcher, to discuss an at-bat from his Sox debut the day before. Specifically, a pitch he fouled high over the Fisk Pole in the corner of the JetBlue Park’s Green Monster replica.
“He was like, ‘Pedro, when (a hitter) pulled a ball foul out of the stadium, what would you do?’ I said, ‘Depends. If I miss my pitch, I’d go right back to it and try to execute it, but I must execute it.’ And they started laughing,” he said. “I guess Tek told him (I’d say) the same thing, because Tek later on goes, ‘I told you he would say, ‘I missed it by a little bit, let me get it up there where I need to get it.’”
A veteran who still wants to dissect pitches from a spring training at-bat that culminated in a double high off the Monster and completed a 3-for-3 day is exactly what the Red Sox need, Martinez said. It reminded him of another Red Sox superstar.
“Bregman is one of those guys, like Mookie (Betts), full of questions, wanting to learn,” Martinez said. “He doesn’t settle. Doesn’t settle (for) just being good. He wants to be great.”
Just then, Bregman happened to walk by.
“There we go,” Martinez exclaimed, as Bregman came over to greet him. “We were just talking about you.”
“We were talking about (you) in game-planning,” Bregman explained.
“And I showed up,” said Martinez, finishing Bregman’s sentence. “And now, we’re talking about that, and you showed up. Boy, oh boy, God bless you.”