FORT MYERS, Fla. — His first question, when he received the call from agent Scott Boras, was, “What about Mike?’’
The Red Sox had called Boras about Adrian Beltre this offseason, inquiring about signing the free agent third baseman, and Boras was passing along the interest. But Mike Lowell was already in Boston, established as the third baseman even with the hip and thumb injuries he sustained over the past few seasons.
Beltre didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to react.
“I know Mike is good,’’ said Beltre. “I know what type of guy, what type of player he is. I ain’t any better than Mike Lowell, I know that.’’
There were assurances that Lowell wasn’t going to be the starter in Boston, whether or not Beltre signed. Beltre was told that he would play every day — that Lowell was not an option.
He accepted the assurances, and agreed to a risky one-year contract that can turn into two if he fails to recover from a poor 2009 season and can make him a free agent after the season if he returns to form.
He signed, then made a phone call. Beltre reached out to Phillies left fielder Raul Ibanez, a former teammate of Beltre’s in Seattle and a workout partner and close friend of Lowell’s in Miami. Beltre wanted to know how to handle the situation. He wanted to do right by the man he would replace.
“I talked to [Ibanez] and said I was thinking about calling Mike before,’’ Beltre said. “He said, ‘Don’t. Just talk to him when you’re in spring training. Mike’s a great dude, and he’ll understand.’ ’’
Ibanez nodded yesterday when asked about the offseason call. He acknowledged the difficulty of the situation, of the new player coming in to take the old player’s job.
“Those are things that you can’t control,’’ Ibanez said. “You can’t look to the left or to the right or behind you. You can only look at what’s right in front of you and control what’s right in front of you.
“I’m sure that both of those guys are going to handle that situation accordingly and only focus on what they can control. They don’t control the situation.’’
Contrast in styles
Their stories are intertwined, the new third baseman and the old. Their lockers are close together. They take ground balls one after the other, inhabiting a spot big enough for only one. A situation that could have bred distrust and strife in a clubhouse has not, from all evidence, though it is clear that, on many days, Lowell would rather be just about anywhere else.
Perhaps that’s because they are, as Ibanez calls them, “two of the best people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.’’