Youkilis arrives to camp early

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- In case you thought Boston's Mr. Intensity was going to start getting comfortable with that four-year security blanket he signed with the Red Sox last month, Kevin Youkilis instantly disproved that by being the first member of manager Terry Francona's starting nine to arrive at Spring Training.

Though pitchers and catchers aren't even scheduled to report until Thursday and position players have an arrival date of four days later, Youkilis was out there working up a sweat at the team's sun-splashed Minor League complex on Tuesday afternoon.

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Sure, Youkilis could have waited a few more days. But why bother? The man who finished third behind teammate Dustin Pedroia and Minnesota's Justin Morneau in last year's American League Most Valuable Player Award voting is ready for his fourth season as the Red Sox's starting first baseman.

"I'm definitely excited about the 2009 season," Youkilis said. "I'm excited about just going out there with some new teammates and just trying to accomplish what we've been trying to accomplish here for years, and have accomplished, and get to the postseason and try to get to the World Series. A lot of times it [seems] very far in the future, but a lot of that stuff starts with hard work in Spring Training."

Forty-eight hours in advance of reporting date, the fields were packed with veterans and prospects getting their work in. Newcomers Rocco Baldelli, Brad Penny, John Smoltz and Takashi Saito were going through the paces, as were front-line starting pitchers Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

Yes, baseball is back, though an off-field story has dominated the headlines in recent days. Like everyone else, Youkilis was intently following the situation regarding Alex Rodriguez. Though the Red Sox and Yankees are always rivals, Youkilis expressed empathy for Rodriguez, who publicly confirmed the Sports Illustrated report that stated he tested positive for steroids in 2003.

"It's one of those things in baseball," Youkilis said. "It's an unfortunate thing to hear that. But it's also a good thing that he came out and admitted it. It's tough. I think athletes are always put on a pedestal that are higher than a lot of people in society, and sometimes it's hard to go out there and admit to something in your past. There's a lot of people in this world that have done something wrong. Myself, I've done things wrong, [but] not in that nature. It's tough. It's tough for people in general and in life to admit to some of the things they've done wrong."

Youkilis found it curious that A-Rod was the only one of the 104 players who tested positive in the supposedly-anonymous tests to have his name aired in public.

"It was very surprising to see that these names that weren't supposed to be given out were given out," Youkilis said. "And the timing, it seemed very strange to me. I don't know if somebody had it in for him. It seems to me just to take one name out of that group is a little odd to me. If he was named with 10 other players, would that have been fair? I don't know. If they had listed all 104? You never wish it got out, but it is what it is, and it took a lot of guts to get up there and say what he had to say and admit to it. Some guys can't admit to that. I give him credit for that."

As a player who devotes much of his time off the field to community service, Youkilis hopes that fans don't cast too wide a net on the heels of the A-Rod story.

"It's definitely going to be tough," Youkilis said. "I think a lot of the fans are going to think that all baseball players do that stuff, and that's definitely not the case. Myself, I've never done anything like that in my life, and I plan on never doing it. I've had a lot of success in life just going about it the right way and doing the right things with the protein shakes and all the other stuff that's legal. I want the fans to really know that not everyone does it. It's a small percentage, and definitely baseball has cleaned up a lot in the past years."

Just as he was with the A-Rod issue, Youkilis was expansive on several issues regarding the Red Sox and himself.

He is optimistic about his team's chances of making another October run.

"I think with some of the new additions, we have some great pitching, and as long as we can stay healthy, I think we can get to the ALCS and hopefully try to win that and get to the World Series," Youkilis said.

Coming off a career year, Youkilis will leave it up to the prognosticators to try to figure out if he can again belt 29 homers and drive in 115 runs as he did in 2008.

"I throw the season's stats away and all that stuff and just worry about getting myself ready to play a full season," said Youkilis. "I'm not the type of guy that really looks to have 'X' numbers. I don't set equations with numbers I want to have. I just go out there every day and try to play as hard as I can. If I go out there and stay healthy and play to the best of my ability, I know I can have a good year."

As for the Boston bats, Youkilis thinks they will muster enough firepower despite going into a Spring Training without future Hall of Famer Manny Ramirez's bat for the first time since 2000.

"The one thing I always say about baseball and all other sports is that one player can't win a championship," Youkilis said. "You have to go all the way down the 40-man roster to win a championship. It's definitely going to be different in the lineup without Manny Ramirez. He's probably one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all-time. There's no player in this locker room that has the talent that Manny has hitting-wise, and I don't think Boston will realize what kind of talent they saw ... some do realize that he was one of the greatest hitters of our time."

But the way Youkilis looks at it, the Red Sox have a meaty middle that includes David Ortiz, Jason Bay and J.D. Drew.

"We have four guys that can go 20-plus home runs," Youkilis said. "I think it's kind of a problem for [Francona] to know where to hit these guys."