Lovullo working on ‘hectic' task of preparing spring training

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As the bench coach for new Red Sox manager John Farrell, it falls on Torey Lovullo to do most of the planning for the daily spring training activities. That includes breaking the position players into hitting groups and the pitchers into their own groups. It also means devising a nearly minute-by-minute daily schedule for the hitters, pitchers, and coaches assigned to each group.

The job can be sufficiently daunting on its own. But considering that seven of the eight coaches are new or returning to the team this seasonwith only three of the eight in the Sox organization last season -- and fully one-quarter of the players on the 40-man roster new to the organization, the task can be even more challenging. Add to that a colossus of a training facility that will be in just its second season this spring, and the job becomes even more complicated.

Especially for a first-time bench coach.

Its definitely picking up now that the new year has turned, Lovullo said Friday. Everything is quickly moving towards day one of spring training. Specifically, in my position Im trying to gather as much information and requests to put together the spring training schedule. That goes from hitting groups, pitching groups and the organization of it. So thats part of my plan.

But its all very typical of what were trying to get to. The leadership has put a lot of great ideas out there and weve watched them take place in putting together this team. So its been a collective effort to make nothing but good things happen for the future.

Still, it takes a lot of work.

Its been pretty hectic at times, Lovullo said. But understanding that were trying to put together a new schedule, put together some new formulas for these players to understand, its really Johns concepts and how John wants to get a lot of key points across to the players. so well try to structure our groups and structure out day around Johns requests.

But from Jan. 1 to now its been moving pretty quickly in that area, trying to get everybodys requests down on paper and then work it out on the schedule. Ive always admired the people that have put together a spring training schedule. I have to move forward and make those days runs smoothly. Now that its upon me I understand its very challenging but exciting at the same time.

Lovullo, talking by phone from his home in California, had just returned from three days of organizational meetings in Boston with almost every member of the front office and major and minor league coaching staffs. It was just the third time in the last 10 years the Sox have held these kinds of meetings. Considering the turnover the organization has undergone since its disastrous 2012 season, meetings like these help to get everyone on the same page.

Johns really good at that, said Lovullo. Definitely one of his gifts is the communication aspect of it and putting it all together and being able to ask any question you feel like you need to ask, setting aside your ego for the good of the team. I think John has really set that tone for the staff. He got us all in one area and said, Look, this is what I want. These are the things that Im getting to. I want to make sure that we have a little bit of a structure in place and once we do we should be able to plug it into the schedule as we need to.

Like Farrell, Lovullo is returning to the Sox organization after two years in Toronto, where he was Farrells first base coach. Prior to that he managed Triple-A Pawtucket in 2010, giving him some familiarity with the organization, its personnel, and practices.

But, JetBlue Park, the teams spring training facility which opened last season, is new to Lovullo. Only first base coach Arnie Beyeler, assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez, and bullpen coach Gary Tuck were with the Sox when the facilitywith a major league field, six practice fields, and other training facilities -- opened last year.

The coaching staff has gotten together at the park several times this offseason. Lovullo walked from field to field so he could mark the time he could expect players to need as they rotate fields during their workouts this spring.

We sure did he said. Its a pretty big place. That is an insane place, but its great. Even as Im putting the schedule together theres never, ever a hiccup for me finding a place to do something. There are times if we needed a fresh field, if the infielders want to take ground balls on a fresh field, we might have to put them on field one or two, so we can put them on a golf cart and run them out there.

That was probably day one of my understanding of what happens and what takes place as far as how the flow goes and the rhythm of the day. Instead of just running guys all over the place, you want to make sure that theres, from one field to the next, I got a mental picture of what to do and the best way to get that flow going.

And also being able to sit down and talk to John and pitching coach Juan Nieves and relying heavily on Arnie Beyeler. Hes been probably the most helpful as far as how things ran last year and Vic Rodriguez. Those two guys were a part of last years spring training. Its pretty exciting to sit down and talk to them. I got to see and get a feel for the facility. And this past week when we were in Boston I was able to sit down with these guys and figure it all out face to face.

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