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March 19, 2008
By JOE McDONALD
and SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writers
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Red Sox players today voted unanimously in a closed-door meeting that they will not take the field today against the Toronto Blue Jays unless major league baseball agrees to compensate coaches for the coming trip to Japan. The game, the last before the team leaves on its season-opening trip to the Far East, is scheduled to be televised at noon on ESPN.
The controversy arose Tuesday morning when manager Terry Francona found out that the coaching staffs from both Boston and Oakland would not be paid the extra $40,000 that the players and managers will get for traveling to Japan.
There has been a lot of confusion between Major League Baseball and MLBPA in the last 24 hours, and Francona is still waiting for answers.
“I was promised some answers yesterday and I didn’t receive them,” said the manager. “We’re trying to get ready to play a game and I spent the morning apologizing to the coaches and being humiliated. The players are pretty adamant that something be done.
“This is a touchy situation for me,” added Francona. “It’s a big deal. I don’t appreciate that coaches are [viewed as] second-class citizens. That has never sat well with me. We’re over there representing Major League Baseball, and we’ve talked about doing it with class, but this is disheartening. This is hard to understand. We were told [they would be paid] and the players believed it to. I double-checked on this this winter. This isn’t something I take for granted.”
Blue Jays shortstop David Eckstein said his teammates would understand if the Red Sox did not take the field.
"They have to do what they have to do. They are one [united] team," Eckstein said.
Francona said he is embarrassed by the entire situation.
The Red Sox players are, too.
“I’ve seen a lot of stuff in this game, but this is unbelievable,” said Red Sox player rep Kevin Youkilis prior to the team meeting this morning. “It was brought to my attention (Tuesday) and it was something I thought would never even be a problem. To have this as a problem is embarrassing. For what these coaches do for baseball, I mean, the players play but in order to have order and run these teams, they put all the hardest work in. They deserve as much as much as the players. . . For them not to be getting paid for this trip is a disgrace. It’s a disgrace to the game.”
No matter if the issue is resolved before the team leaves this afternoon, Youkilis said the coaches will be taken care of internally by the players.
“But for Major League Baseball not to step up . . . this is unbelievable,” added Youkilis. “It’s wrong. We all get a per diem and all that, but I thought we were all under the same thing.”
Youkilis is also under the impression that when the Yankees and Rays made a similar trip to Japan to start the 2004 season, players voted on who would be compensated and he believes everyone was, including the coaching staffs.
“This time around it’s not like that,” he said. “We didn’t know that, so for us it’s very tough. We had meetings about going over there, and obviously [MLB] is not living up to their word. I don’t know who exactly is not living up to their words, but the players’ association can’t intervene in matters like this.”
The MLBPA does not represent coaches other than pensions and postseason compensation.
“This is a time where we wish we could help,” said Youkilis. “Tito is going to fight and battle and that’s his personality. And, he’s doing the right thing by fighting for his coaches. It’s ridiculous because these guys are the ones who make it happen and they need to reap the benefits. There is a lot of money to be made on this trip, in a lot of different aspects, so everyone who is involved should be handled in the proper way. Hopefully we can get this resolved.”
Youkilis talked to the players this morning. If MLB doesn’t settle the situation, then the players would take care of it in house.
“This isn’t a good thing,” he said. “We’re going to Japan and we don’t want to deal with all of this. We’ll make it work because we have great players.”
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 8:51 AM | Permalink
Hal Jacoby | March 19, 2008 11:54 AM link
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Great to play in Japan, etc. but that's the sports choice and opening day is opening day. They're paid salaries and transportation, and accomodations.... why is there further need for any stippends??