Farrell believes translators are needed during mound visits

Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell stressed the importance a translator has played during his mound visits with non-English speaking players when asked by reporters Wednesday.

"Having been in that position, dealt with players that I only knew certain words, I think an interpreter is needed," Farrell said, according to Christopher Smith of Mass Live.

"Whether it was with Dice-K (Daisuke Matsuzaka) to Hideki Okajima to guys that were on our pitching staff, I would have liked to have had an interpreter go to the mound pre-2013. We were able to have the interpreter in bullpen sessions. So while trying to learn Japanese, which is a pretty tall challenge, you can learn single words. I found to learn single words or objects or numbers. But when you start talking concepts, let's face it: communication with players is priority No. 1. So to be clear, the interpreter is needed."

The question came in response to NESN analyst Jerry Remy stating during Tuesday's broadcast at Yankee Stadium that he did not believe a translator should be allowed to be used.

Remy's comments came about after a translator came out during a mound visit with New York Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka. Remy received enormous criticism for saying players should "learn baseball language."

NESN and Remy would later apologize.

"I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my comments during the telecast last night," Remy said.