Barry Chin/Globe Staff



COMMENTARY

It was only a little more than a month ago that Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino showed up at spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., and announced that he had no intentions of being a bench player, even on a team that figured to have free agent acquisition Hanley Ramirez, Cuban sensation Rusney Castillo, and heralded youngster Mookie Betts starting in a crowded outfield.

Ive been around this game long enough, Victorino said. I dont have to sit here and talk about and focus on the things like Do I have to prove myself? Yeah, I mean, I have to prove that Im healthy. I dont have to prove anything else in regards to the game of baseball. I think more importantly, I have to prove that Im healthy, which is the biggest thing and my biggest concern and everybodys concern coming off major back surgery.

Well, here we are just 11 days from Opening Day in Philadelphia, and Victorino, who missed most of 2014 with a back injury, hasnt proven a damned thing.

Thats one reason why the outfielders recent comments to the Philadelphia Daily News about trading young talent in order to acquire lefty Cole Hamels stood out to some baseball observers. As noticed by The Sports Hubs Tony Massarotti, Victorino may have been talking about Betts, a name floated in the ongoing rumors of talks with the Phillies. The 22-year-old just so happens to be raking the ball this spring (batting .471, 1.324 OPS) while Victorino is hitting only .158.

I never mentioned anybodys name, Victorino said Thursday via the Globes Alex Speier in an apparent attempt to diffuse a situation that was never really all that volatile to begin with. Thats the thing that frustrates me more than anything. Its individuals who sit behind the mic, who take a story and they make it into a big fish rather than keeping it a little fish. All I said was, Hey, if we can get Cole Hamels and its giving up two or three guys, Im all for it. I never said anybodys name. I never said an individuals name. And you guys are quick to the assumption that I was trying to call out my teammate or trying to get him shipped away. Thats the last thing this guy is trying to do. If theres one person thats an advocate of the individual who was named in that article, Mookie Betts, its me. I dont have any fear or feel like theres any competition that Ive got to get him shipped out of here. No. Thats the part where individuals put words in your mouth.

In case youve forgotten  and its been so long since youve seen the man play, who can blame you?  Victorino was a pretty productive player in 2013, when he hit .294 with 15 home runs after signing a three-year, $39 million contract. Year Two was a disaster, as Victorino managed to play in only 30 games, and was forced to watch the last-place Red Sox unload most of its veterans in a youth movement.

That movement included the outfield, where Betts, who lit up Double-A, Triple-A, and the majors last season, figured to take Victorinos spot in 2015, a theory the kid has done little to disprove during his torrid stretch in the Grapefruit League.

But Victorino is probably holding manager John Farrell to his word when he said last month that Vic is his starting right fielder as long as hes healthy.

He doesnt appear to be healthy, as Farrell has noted recently. And he sure doesnt seem to be in line to be the Red Sox starting right fielder.

This incident isnt quite at the level of Kevin Millar telling the world hed prefer to have Alex Rodriguez play shortstop for the Red Sox over Nomar Garciaparra back in 2003, only to watch an offseason deal with the Texas Rangers fall apart, only to have Millar find himself playing with Garciaparra again, for another few months anyway.

But if it wasnt Betts, Victorino was throwing somebody under the bus, or at least putting him on notice with the way he seemingly disregarded prospect players with all the admiration of an empty soda cup.

Being in Philly and seeing all these trades happen, situations where all those guys that were shipped away, I can name you maybe two or three of them out of the dozen  15 guys that were considered untouchable prospects with the Phillies, guys we didnt want to give up  turn out to be individuals that didnt prosper into the players we got, he said. And the guys we got in return were great players.

Theres a lot of truth to what Victorino is selling, but heres the thing: Hes now on a team bursting with youth from a lot more corners than the veteran team he joined only two years ago. Betts, Christian Vazquez, and Xander Bogaerts are key components now, and in the case of Betts, direct competitors for playing time. In some respects, the guys hes talking about shipping out are now his teammates.

I said if you can give up two or three prospects  it could be anybody; it could be a second- or third-tier guy  the situation Ive been in my whole career, Ive watched that, situations where people were prospects or situations where people were the guy, and they gave up this piece, Victorino said. I can talk about the Cliff Lee trade. I can talk about the Roy Halladay trade. I can talk about the Brad Lidge trade. I can talk about the Hunter Pence trade.

Gee. Guys like Henry Owens and Blake Swihart must feel they can ask Victorino for any kind of advice, huh?

There doesnt seem to be any easy solution to the Victorino logjam. Hes due $13 million this season, and nobody is going to trade for that kind of commitment without knowing if hes healthy enough to play. And they probably wont find out if hes healthy enough to play from the Red Sox, who are already trying to find ways to hide his inefficiencies. Farrell said Victorino wont necessarily start the season on the DL, but one has to figure theres no room for him in the staring lineup in less than two weeks.

Which will make him a bench player.

I have no intentions of being a bench player. I have no intentions of doing that, Victorino said last month.

Guess what. Victorino may very well be in a bench role to start this season, despite his public reluctance to succumb to such a role. Gee, it sure seems like a stretch that hed want someone like Betts out of the way.