Wells Criticizes Rodriguez

After switching sides and joining the Boston Red Sox, David Wells quickly had some choice words for the New York Yankees.

Wells reported to spring training Thursday, saying Alex Rodriguez “has to earn it” and saying he didn’t get along with Yankee Manager Joe Torre.

Wells, who helped New York win two American League pennants and one World Series, wasn’t pleased with some of Rodriguez’s remarks when he was traded to the Yankees.

“I remember reading the press conference or something when he went there,” Wells said. “He said: ‘When we.’ He said a ‘we’ in his comment about like he’s won like three or four rings with them and he hadn’t, and that kind of disturbed me.

“He shouldn’t put himself in that category. You’ve got to earn it. It’s like he’s been there the whole time.”

As for Torre and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, Wells remembered difficult times.

“I’ve never had a good relationship with Joe,” he said. “We’ve had a few run-ins and Mel Stottlemyre as well, and Mel’s probably the best pitching coach I probably ever had. But just when you have run-ins like that, it just leaves a sour taste, and who needs it? I can understand their point, and, hopefully, they can understand mine. But like I said, there’s no hard feelings, one way or another.”

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Mike Greenwell was runner-up in the American League most-valuable-player voting in 1988 and wants everyone to know why that happened: Jose Canseco, who won the award, cheated.

In his book released this week, Canseco discussed his steroid use and accused other players of using the illegal substance. His tainted success, Greenwell said, deprived other players of recognition and honors.

Greenwell spent his career as a Red Sox outfielder from 1985 through 1996 and batted .303. He was teammates with Canseco for his last two seasons.

“I would have never said a word, but now that Jose’s admitted he was using steroids during the time he beat me [for] the MVP, then I have a problem with that because, obviously, I wasn’t playing on an even playing field,” Greenwell said.

Greenwell said that “halfway through my career I considered using steroids.” Later, he may have had a chance to get help from Canseco when they were teammates.

“One day he hits a mammoth home run at Fenway Park and I said to him, ‘Jose, I’d do anything to have your power. It’s unbelievable,’ ” Greenwell said. “I actually got up and got a drink of Gatorade and sat back down and gave him a minute to think and he said, ‘Well, why don’t you come on down to Miami and I can give you the power.’

“Whether he was serious or not, I don’t know, and my comment back to that was, ‘I’m too old for that stuff.’ ”

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Minor league hitters will have to keep one foot in the batter’s box during an at-bat under an experiment to find ways to speed up games.

An umpire can award a strike or strikes against a batter for intentionally leaving the box to delay play, Major League Baseball said in a news release. If successful in the minors, the rule might be applied to the major leagues in coming seasons.

Batters can leave the box under eight conditions, such as if they are bunting, forced out by a pitch or swing, during a timeout or if the pitcher leaves the mound after getting the ball.

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Umpires have ratified the five-year contract their union agreed to in December, the commissioner’s office said.

The contract calls for 5% annual increases, with this year’s salary scale ranging from $87,859 to $357,530.

The deal also resolves the grievance over management’s use of a computer evaluation system and calls for owners to bring back three of the 22 umpires who lost their jobs in a 1999 labor dispute, raising the total of rehired umpires to 11.

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The Seattle Mariners acquired the rights to Mexican right-hander Jorge Campillo, who was 5-5 with a 5.38 earned-run average in 17 games with Mexico City last season.... Left-hander John Parrish and the Baltimore Orioles agreed to a one-year, $615,000 contract. Parrish was 6-3 with a 3.46 ERA in 56 games last year.... The Yankees agreed on a minor league deal with pitcher Ramiro Mendoza, who was 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA with Boston last season.... Outfielder Darren Bragg signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians.