Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Financial incentive for Aceves
By Doug Mittler
Red Sox reliever Alfredo Aceves spent a good portion of the 2012 season butting heads with manager Bobby Valentine, and he didn’t exactly impress new skipper John Farrell during a workout Sunday, as Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston.com explains.
During a workout on one of the practice fields, Aceves was supposed to throw live batting practice, except that his tosses were so lifeless that Farrell approached the right-hander to ask if everything was OK. "His session on the mound didn't go as intended. He's healthy. It's been addressed," Farrell said.
Aceves is a durable reliever who appeared in 69 games last season, but there already is talk in Boston whether Sunday’s antics were another sign that the righthander must go. Farrell is preaching a “team concept” in Boston, and Aceves already is testing the patience of the new manager.
Alex Speier of WEEI.com discusses the club’s options with Aceves, such as trying to trade him or even releasing him solely for bad behavior, a move that would undoubtedly draw a grievance from the Players' Association.
Rick Doyle of NESN.com says Aceves is still too valuable to consider cutting ties.
Our Buster Olney has more on why Aceves has an incentive to be a model citizen:
Buster Olney
Will Aceves stay in Boston?" If the Red Sox opt to cut Alfredo Aceves in light of his recent antics, they would only have to pay him 1/6 of his $2.65 million salary if they make that move by March 13, and 1/4 if they do it by March 27, because Aceves's deal is non-guaranteed. And if Boston cuts him, it's hard to imagine he'd get anything close to that $2.65 million so late in the offseason, which means that Aceves has financial incentive to stand in line. Some rival officials say privately they wouldn't consider Aceves, given his recent history of incidents with his managers."
