Boston Red Sox pitcher Alfredo Aceves has a reputation for having somewhat of a whacky personality. Last season, the team suspended him for three games after he threw a fit when then-manager Bobby Valentine opted not to use him in the closer’s role of a 4-3 game. At the time, it would have been easy to toss the incident under the umbrella of Valentine not having control over his team. Now, it looks like it may not be that simple.
On Sunday, Aceves reportedly acted like a child during his live batting practice session at Red Sox spring training. Rather than throwing close to full speed like pitchers are supposed to during a live BP session, the right-hander was simply lobbing the ball toward home plate.
“Alfredo, are you OK?” Boston manager John Farrell yelled out, according to ESPNBoston.com.
Aceves nodded and said that he was fine, and Red Sox pitching coach Juan Nieves later walked out to the mound and had a conversation with him in Spanish. After that, Aceves began throwing the way he should be. Farrell had a talk with him after the workout.
“The one thing I’ll say about that is, he didn’t go through the drill as intended and we’ve addressed it,” Farrell explained. “His session on the mound didn’t go as intended. He’s healthy. It’s been addressed.”
When asked about the incident by reporters, Aceves simply said that it was a team matter. ESPNBoston.com’s Joe McDonald reported that Aceves was apparently upset because he was scheduled to throw at 10:45 a.m., but John Lackey filled that time slot instead.
“There are 25 individuals on this team, but there are certain things that are going to be accepted and I think those are normal in any kind of clubhouse, or team setting,” Farrell said. “If someone strays out of that, that’s our job, or my job, to make it clear on what’s expected.”
Farrell has no intention of letting things get out of hand in Boston the way Valentine did, but Aceves’ antics remind us that not everything that happened last year was Bobby V.’s fault. He may still be taking the blame for a lot of it, but some players are just immature and difficult to work with.
