New Phillies ace Roy Halladay "politely" declined comment, saying the Phillies asked him to address all reporters at once after his workout on Friday. Greg Casterioto, the Phillies director of baseball communications (I never heard of him), did the splainin':
"The first week of spring training, we try to make the best use of everyone's time, and many times that means doing a media group session," Casterioto said.
Casterioto, who also scheduled the availability of pitchers Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge for later this week, noted that the team had used this strategy many times in the past. Former Phils Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu were among the players who waited until a structured session to speak with reporters.
After the initial availability, Halladay, Hamels, and Lidge will be free to participate in as many one-on-one interviews as they choose, Casterioto said.
The Red Sox Daisuke Matsuzaka, meanwhile, wouldn't talk to American reporters, but told Japanese scribes that he has a sore back. That left Theo Epstein to explain that Dice-K's injury is not serious:
"I'm not a doctor and I don't want to get ahead of this thing, but if it's a real mild strain like we think it is, then he'll be able to have a normal spring training but be delayed a bit at the start of camp. I don't want to put a number of days behind that he will be, but he'll be a little bit behind because while all of our guys are long tossing and throwing pens now, he's not going to do that.
"At this point as we look at it, we think he'll be able to have a normal, if delayed, spring training."
The return of the Diceman isn't starting off too well.
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