Boston Herald

Kiké: Clubhouse culture needed change

Hernández recruiting players who will help chemistry

- By Gabrielle Starr gstarr@bostonhera­ld.com

It’s been a busy offseason for Kiké Hernández.

The Red Sox super-utility player has been everywhere and done everything. In addition to training for his third season in Boston, he’s preparing to represent Puerto Rico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic in March. In January, he made a memorable appearance as the sideline reporter at the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway, and spent Winter Weekend hanging out with Sox fans in Springfiel­d.

Most notably, Hernández chose to spend his offseason recruiting for the home team. In part because of his efforts, his longtime Dodgers teammates, Kenley Jansen and Justin Turner, signed with the Sox. Jansen signed for two years, $32 million; Turner agreed to a one-year, $15 million guaranteed contract with a player option for a second season.

Appearing on Jomboy Media’s ‘The Chris Rose Rotation’ podcast this week, Hernández told Rose that he spent “about a month” texting and calling Turner every day to convince him to sign with the Sox. Jansen was an easier sell, “with JT it was way harder,” he said.

At Winter Weekend, Hernández said he “fought to have (Turner) on this team.”

Why? It’s deeper than a desire to reunite with a longtime teammate (they overlapped from 201520). Hernández told Rose, “(Turner’s) a guy that’s going to help turn around that clubhouse, man. …We’re going to look a lot different this year and we need it. I felt that we needed some guys that were not just good on the field but had the ability to change the culture in the clubhouse. And I know for a fact that’s a guy that can do that.”

This is the second offseason in a row that Hernández has helped reel in veteran talent; the 31-year-old super-utility player helped the Sox sign Trevor Story last March. But the second half of the ’22 season saw an unhappy clubhouse, with players publicly voicing disappoint­ment and questionin­g the direction of the team. Now, they have a chance to foster a new clubhouse culture, with Hernández laying the groundwork early.

When he signed a oneyear, $10 million extension in early September, Hernández told reporters, “Chaim Bloom) knows that the most important thing for me is not just the opportunit­y to play every day, but how much it means for me to play every day for a winning team. I’m not going to say he promised me — but he promised me that we’re going to be way better next year.”

Later that week, the chief baseball officer pumped the brakes a bit on WEEI 93.7, telling The Greg Hill show that Hernández “was paraphrasi­ng a little … there’s only so much we control.”

What’s followed has been a chaotic offseason full of stunning highs (Rafael Devers’ extension) and abysslike lows (several key players departing in free agency, Story’s surgery). Some of those changes directly impact Hernández, who originally signed to play second base in 2021, but ended up playing mostly center field. He signed his extension to keep playing center, but will be moving to shortstop while Story recovers.

Now, Matt Barnes, Xander Bogaerts, Nathan Eovaldi, and JD Martinez are gone, and the 2023 roster is shaping up to look more like the 2019 Dodgers — the last year Hernández, Turner, Jansen, and Alex Verdugo were all in Los Angeles — than any Sox team in recent memory. Chris Martin, whom the Sox signed to a two-year, $17.5 million deal, spent the second half of last season in LA, too. Other newcomers include Masataka Yoshida, Corey Kluber, Joely Rodriguez, Adalberto

Mondesí, and Richard Bleier, while Devers, Chris Sale, and Ryan Brasier are the only remaining members of the 2018 championsh­ip team.

Throughout the turnover, Hernández has stepped into a leadership role in a big way. At Winter Weekend, he told reporters, “I understand the responsibi­lity that falls on my shoulders … I like to lead by example, but this year, I might need to be more vocal, but I’m all for it … I don’t like the term ‘captains,’ but the leadership role is one that I’m gonna embrace.”

 ?? NANCY LANE — BOSTON HERALD ?? Boston Red Sox’s Kiké Hernández reacts after his solo home run during the fifth inning of Game 3 of the ALDS at Fenway Park on Oct. 10, 2021 in Boston.
NANCY LANE — BOSTON HERALD Boston Red Sox’s Kiké Hernández reacts after his solo home run during the fifth inning of Game 3 of the ALDS at Fenway Park on Oct. 10, 2021 in Boston.

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