After another mediocre outing, Red Sox hurler Byung-Hyun Kim finally meets with reporters, saying he wants to make amends through his performance.

01:00 AM EST on Monday, March 28, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Silent for the entire spring both with his teammates and the media, pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim spoke to reporters yesterday, insisting that his top priority is to regain his old form on the mound. Doing so, Kim said, will help repair whatever issues exist with the rest of the Red Sox and Red Sox fans.

Minutes after a tough inning that saw him face five hitters -- hitting one and allowing hits to two others -- Kim agreed to speak with reporters, with the aid of fellow Korean Chang-Ho Lee, the team's assistant trainer, serving as interpreter.

As the spring winds down, the Sox have been furiously trying to find a taker for Kim and his $6-million salary, but have met with little success. Yesterday might not help their cause much. Although Kim's velocity was a tad better -- with his fastball sometimes reaching 87-88 -- the results weren't.

"I feel better than last year," Kim said. "I hope to help out the team more this year. This is my fourth outing this spring and I notice more improvement each time out."

Other than one strong start in late April against Tampa Bay in which he pitched five shutout innings, Kim's season was nearly a total washout. Two starts later, he was removed from the starting rotation because of ineffectiveness. He spent a good portion of the year in Pawtucket, where he was just 2-6 with a 5.34 E.R.A., mostly in relief.

His fastball lost its life and Kim seemed to be suffering some sort of personal angst. The Sox allowed him to return to Korea in midseason for a thorough examination and some alternative therapies, but when he returned, the results weren't much better.

"Last year, I had a tough year," Kim said, "and I wasn't able to help out the team. This year, I'm coming in without any pride, like a new player. I want to do anything I can to help the team."

Kim attributed his poor season to the off-season following 2003 when he "lost my rhythm pitching," a problem he attributed to some different training methods that backfired.

"I picked up some bad habits from trying some new techniques," he said. "But I'm switching back (to my old methods). I don't really want to talk about (the changes) in detail."

For their part, the Red Sox have made numerous attempts to curtail his penchant for overtraining, believing that he sometimes pushes himself to the point of exhaustion, resulting in lost velocity.

Kim said yesterday that the focus on his velocity has been misplaced.

"The key is getting guys out," he said.

But Kim's troubles haven't been limited to the mound. He appears isolated from the rest of his teammates, many of whom resent his distance and his seeming disinterest in integrating with the team.

"Right now," explained Kim, "it's very difficult to approach other players because I haven't been able to perform and help the team. I have to get myself right, now."

Kim said he used to watch American TV in an attempt to expand his English vocabulary. But more recently, he's more fully focused on his baseball work.

"I want to get back to pitching the way I was (two years ago)," he said. "That's my No. 1 goal."

He said yesterday that he was 70 percent toward that goal, but couldn't project when he would fully recapture his old effectiveness.

"That's something you can't put an estimate on," he said.

He's familiar with the trade talk that surrounds him, and was particularly attuned to it last winter.

"That's nothing I can control," he said. "If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't."

With only Anastacio Martinez left in camp as a threat to loosen his tenuous grasp on his role as the 11th pitcher on the staff, Kim most likely will open the season with the Sox -- assuming they don't deal him first.

But when Curt Schilling is activated in the middle of April, Kim will have to go elsewhere to make room. Kim has enough service time to refuse another assignment to the minor leagues, but wouldn't disclosed what he would do in that instance.

"That's something I need to discuss with (Terry) Francona, Theo (Epstein) and my agent," he said. "I haven't thought about it."