Wells agrees: Boston, you're my home

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Boston's Animal House has found its Bluto. The Red Sox reached agreement Saturday with volatile left-hander David Wells to bolster the rotation and join the frat house full of "idiots" who rebelled against baseball tradition and won the team's first World Series title since 1918.

Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein said the team won't comment on any deals until the players pass their physicals.

But a baseball source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 41-year-old Wells will get $8 million guaranteed over two years with incentives that could bring it up to $18 million.

Wells will get a $3 million signing bonus and a salary of $2.5 million a year. In addition he would earn $200,000 per start from 11-20 and $300,000 per start from 21-30.

Red Sox Manager Terry Francona declined comment on Wells, but said he wasn't worried about having too many characters on the team.

"Last year we had a lot of strong personalities but they didn't really go their own (way). They just came together," Francona said at baseball's winter meetings. "I guess that's what you want."

Wells had said he wanted to return to his hometown Padres, but with a guaranteed contract instead of one loaded with incentives like the deal he signed as a free agent last winter.

He earned $1.25 million in base pay and another $4.75 million in incentives by making 31 starts; he could have made $1 million more if he hadn't missed three weeks after a fluke household injury.

Wells was 12-8 with a 3.73 ERA last season.

A fan of Babe Ruth who wore one of the Bambino's caps while pitching for the New York Yankees, Wells brings to Boston a colorful past that sometimes has rubbed management and teammates the wrong way.

He has been suspended for fighting, fined for comments in a book and injured his wrist when he fell off a bar stool at home.

"It just adds to the rivalry," Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said.

But Boston hopes he will fit right in with the self-proclaimed idiots like Johnny Damon and Trot Nixon, who wore their hair long and their hats dirty while ending the franchise's 86-year title drought.

The Red Sox won an unprecedented eight consecutive games after spotting New York a three-game lead in the AL Championship Series.

"We have kind of a loose, crazy clubhouse, but I think it all comes with winning," Francona said. "When we started to play better, it was funny, the hair all of a sudden became fashionable. Every team is different.

"This team took on a personality and because we started winning the second half of the season, we really caught on and gained confidence and played with confidence. But you can't force that. You can't make it happen. It just kind of has to happen on its own."

Asked Friday if he was concerned that Wells' carousing might upset the chemistry in the Boston clubhouse, Epstein said sarcastically, "No, we don't have any guys like that."

With Boston closing in on a deal to re-sign Pedro Martinez, Wells would be the No. 3 pitcher on an aging staff that will try to repeat as world champion. If Martinez returns, the rotation will have an average age of 36 when the 2005 World Series is over.

Boston also pursued free agent Carl Pavano, who was 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA for Florida last season. He chose instead to go to the Yankees.

The Red Sox aren't expected to re-sign Derek Lowe, a former 20-game winner who struggled last year before pitching in the clinching games of all three playoff rounds.

Wells missed three starts in late May and early June after tripping over a bar stool at home, knocking a bottle of wine onto the floor and landing on it and a glass he was holding. He severed a tendon in his right wrist, requiring surgery, and cut his left palm.

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