Red Sox pitchers will miss Wallace's guidance

Associated Press

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	Associated Press Photo Boston Red Sox bullpen coach Al Nipper will be the team's interim pitching coach in Dave Wallace's absence.
	Associated Press Photo Boston pitching coach Dave Wallace, left, won't be working with Curt Schilling and the rest of the pitching staff any time soon after undergoing emergency surgery for an infection in his hip.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Dave Wallace would watch quietly in spring training as his pitchers warmed up, then would make a suggestion or perhaps say nothing if it wasn't necessary. The Boston Red Sox are expected to miss that gentle guidance for at least several months while their pitching coach recovers from right hip surgery after he developed an infection.

Wallace, 58, was in stable condition after the operation Thursday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Al Nipper, the team's bullpen coach, is filling in.

"He put together a good situation and had a good program in place, so I'm just trying to carry it out," said Nipper, who pitched for Boston from 1983 through 1987. "I'm just keeping the seat warm right now for him."

Wallace developed the hip infection about three weeks ago during his drive south for the start of spring training. The infection was related to a hip replacement he had about 10 years ago.

He became pitching coach on June 9, 2003, when his predecessor left for medical reasons. Tony Cloninger stepped aside while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer and now is a minor league player development consultant for the Red Sox.

On Feb. 18, General Manager Theo Epstein said Wallace "was doing extremely well, getting stronger" and had three more weeks of treatment with antibiotics. Since then, his condition was deemed severe enough to require surgery.

"I wouldn't expect him to be back before the All-Star break," right-hander Bronson Arroyo said Friday. "The infection he's got is pretty tough to get rid of, and because he already had one replacement there's no blood flow in that area so it's hard to knock it out.

"So it's going to be basically take the hip out, knock out the infection, put a new one back in. That's a lot of trauma on the body."

Right-hander Matt Clement said Manager Terry Francona informed the team early in spring training that Wallace would miss time.

"We're going to miss him, but I think Nip's definitely capable of doing the job," Clement said. "All of us will be fine, but we'll also be excited to get him back and have both their minds working."

With many veteran pitchers, Wallace's approach seems well-suited to the team.

"It's nice to have that familiarity, knowing how you should be looking and how you should be throwing the ball," Arroyo said. "I personally enjoy a pitching coach who's very laid back, very hands off for the most part, unless you have a problem."

Wallace has spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, starting in 1981 as a coach at Single-A Vero Beach. He was the Dodgers interim general manager in 2001 after spending three years in the New York Mets front office. His last job before joining Boston was senior vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers.

Jon Papelbon, who pitched 17 games as a Red Sox rookie last year, said Wallace "taught me to go out there and be myself (and) don't go out there and try to be a 10-year veteran."

Spring training is just two weeks old and "I miss him already," Francona said. "He's a good friend of mine."

NOTES: Francona said Papelbon will start next Thursday night's exhibition opener against Minnesota, with Curt Schilling pitching Friday afternoon against Boston College and Clement working Friday night against Northeastern. ... Left-hander David Wells, recovering from knee surgery, played long toss Friday and "did very well," Francona said.

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