Delcarmen’s act of regional disloyalty was consummated last week when he arrived here and put on a pair of white pinstriped pants and a midnight blue hat with an interlocking NY. After 28 years of loyalty, and 10 years of service, to the Boston Red Sox, Delcarmen had joined the so-called evil empire.
It is not exactly the
sale of Babe Ruth. But born and raised in Boston
“All of my buddies
were like, ‘I can’t believe you are going to the Yankees,’ ” said
Delcarmen, a 30-year-old right-hander. “But at the same time, they are really
happy for me. By now, they know it’s a business. They know I have the
opportunity to come over here and maybe even get the chance to pitch against Boston
On Jan. 31, the
Yankees, a team Delcarmen had been brought up to hate, signed him in hopes of
adding depth for their bullpen. Two weeks later, he was wearing their uniform.
“The first couple of
days were a little strange,” he said Monday. “But you adjust. My father already
took down all of his Red Sox stuff at his house and put up all Yankees stuff.”
Delcarmen, who did not
pitch in the majors last season, may have to wait to face his former, beloved
team. The Yankees have a couple of spots open in the bullpen, but Delcarmen,
who sat out the end of last season
because of elbow soreness, is more likely headed to Class AAA before possibly
becoming another Yankee with a New England background.
“Tanyon Sturtze was from
Boston with an accent and everything,” Yankees General Manager Brian
Cashman said. “Johnny Damon was as Red Sox as they come when we got him, and
Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs, too. If he can help us, I don’t really care where
he’s from.”
But it is not just
that Delcarmen pitched six seasons in Boston Boston
He grew up in Hyde
Park, just seven miles south of Fenway
Park , as a typical Boston West Roxbury
High School Boston
Delcarmen was so
focused on playing for Boston
In 2000, Delcarmen
took his Boston-ness to another level when the Red Sox
selected him in the second round with the 62nd overall pick, making
him the first player from Boston
He made his Red Sox debut in
July 2005, pitched in the 2007 World Series, and did the one thing
any Red Sox player is asked to do. He performed well against the Yankees,
holding them to a 2.20 earned run average and a .238 batting average in 30
appearances against them — all in relief — over the next six years.
But Delcarmen learned
about the business side of baseball when he was traded to the Colorado Rockies
on Aug. 31, 2010, for a minor league pitcher. Over the next year and a half, he
was signed and released by Seattle and Texas
When his elbow flared
up last summer, Delcarmen went back to his home in East
Bridgewater , Mass. , south of Boston
“I still keep in touch
with some of the guys like Pap and Bard,” he said, referring to the former Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon and the current Boston
“Whether all of that
is true or not, I was in that clubhouse for five years, and guys have different
routines, different stuff. But if they had won two more games, none of that
would have come out.”
Delcarmen, whose
father, Manny Sr., was an infielder in the Philadelphia Phillies organization
from 1974 to 1978, said that his elbow was now healthy and that he was back to
throwing 96 miles per hour, lending new optimism to the season, and the hope of
pitching on the other side of the rivalry.
“I’m still trying to
get it in my head that I’m even in this uniform,” he said. “But I’m really
hoping it happens here because where else would I rather be to face Boston
