As first impressions go, Hanley Ramirez didn't make much of one Monday during infield drills at the Red Sox' spring-training complex at Fort Myers, Fla.
The shortstop-turned-left fielder-turned-first baseman hardly broke a sweat as he smiled his way through the workout, drawing the ire -- good-natured though it may have been -- of Dustin Pedroia, and the concern of our Baseball Show crew.
"It didn't look like he was taking it seriously," said Comcast SportsNet's Mike Giardi.
"It wasn't intense, but for most guys the pace was there," Giardi also said. "They were moving along pretty quickly. And there's Hanley. He did everything with a smile on his face but my goodness, man, put your back into it . . . "
"You watch everybody work, and then you watch Hanley."
Giardi reported that Pedroia expressed his displeasure . . . albeit in a (semi-)joking way.
"Hanley was like, 'Throw it to my chest,' and [Pedroia said], 'Actually, that would have been to your chest if you bent your knees like you're supposed to,' " Giardi related. "There was another one where [Pedroia] said, 'You better be ready. Otherwise, you're going to be like my 6-year-old. You're going to have no teeth because the ball's going to hit you in the mouth.' "
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Sean McAdam warned about making too many assumptions based on this one day's effort.
"I would caution against making too much of it prematurely," he said. "Ultimately, the test is game conditions and situations."
But then he concluded:
"Not the best start."