Loretta: Ready for East Coast baseball

12/09/2005
There had been a lot of rumors flying around for the last three or four days and I'd been in contact with San Diego general manager Kevin Towers, so I had some idea that a trade involving me was a possibility. But I found out about the trade officially from Kevin on Thursday.
I have a lot of different thoughts and emotions about it. I make my home in San Diego and I've had a great time there. I had some of my best years in baseball there, making the playoffs for the first time in my career and having some personal success as well. I also felt comfortable in San Diego and I like the organization, so it's difficult to leave.
On the flip side, I'm very excited about going to Boston from a purely baseball and professional standpoint. Going to a team with that kind of history and that contends every year is very exciting. I'm also looking forward to experiencing East Coast baseball and that level of intensity.
Dave Roberts called me yesterday and told me that Boston is an amazing place to play and that I'm going to really enjoy playing there. In addition to being a teammate on the Padres last year, Dave is one of my neighbors in San Diego, so I suspect I'm going to lean on him in the coming weeks for some pointers about living and playing in Boston.
I spent about two-plus years in the American League early in my career before the Brewers switched over to the National League. Honestly, I probably prefer the National League game with the pitcher hitting and the additional strategy that entails. But there's some great things about playing in the AL, too.
I'll enjoy playing in Fenway Park again, too. We've been there as recently as 2004 with the Padres during Interleague Play. But I've always enjoyed playing in the older, historic parks like Fenway and Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium.
I look forward to the challenges and the opportunities that the trade will bring.
The Padres traded Mark Loretta to the Red Sox on Wednesday in exchange for catcher Doug Mirabelli. Loretta, who has a .301 batting average over 11 Major League seasons, had his best season with the Padres in 2004, when he batted .335 with 47 doubles, 16 homers, 76 RBIs and 108 runs scored.

Source: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/