Links 11-4-2010: Sox hire Young, re-up Ortiz and Atchison, acquire Dlugach, BA prospect rankings

The Sox announced the hiring of Curt Young as their new pitching coach. He’s had a lot of experience working with young pitchers in the Oakland system, and helped them to some good success, even at young ages. Let’s hope that he can work some magic with the veterans here as well. He’s a quality hire by all accounts, and the timing was perfect for us, having just lost John Farrell.

Well, it’s official. As expected, the Red Sox chose to exercise their one-year options on David Ortiz and Scott Atchison, but let utilityman Bill Hall and MI Felipe Lopez go to free agency. While it might be shrewd to save a few million by letting Big Papi go out on the market, it’s not worth saving those millions if he signs with a potential contender like Tampa Bay, who has been looking for a true DH for years. The Sox still have the option of extending him if they so choose later on in the offseason. Atchison is a solid back of the bullpen guy with minor league options, so he was a no-brainer. As for Hall and Lopez, the presence of a healthy Jed Lowrie (knock on wood) makes it unnecessary to pay them big money to back up Dustin Pedroia and Marco Scutaro.

Links 6-16-2010: Scutaro’s condition, Doubront debut, looking ahead, Lowell makes sense for Twins

Marco Scutaro was given a nerve root injection in his neck the other day to dull pain in his left arm. Turns out he’s been playing through a pinched nerve and herniated disc in his back all year. His numbers aren’t all that bad, in that light.

With two main starters out of the rotation, the Red Sox have chosen to give prospect Felix Doubront the ball Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Fenway. The 22-year old lefty, currently 2-1 with a 1.08 ERA at Pawtucket, will make his Major League debut against Manny Ramirez and friends. Best of luck, Doubie.

After all of the reasons for optimism I gave yesterday, Patrick Sullivan balances that out with some things that could turn sour for the Red Sox this year. David Golebiewski also throws some water on the idea that Clay Buchholz is having his breakout season.

Aaron Gleeman takes a detailed look at Mike Lowell and cautiously approves of him as a trade target. He suggests a prospect in their top 30 or so in return for Lowell.

Links 2-26-2010: Epstein interview, Pedey 5th?, draft picks, Papi’s pop

Theo Epstein did a pretty lengthy interview on WEEI recently, and it’s worth a read. He addresses the 2009 Red Sox defense and how the direction of this offseason came about. He touches on Mike Lowell, Mike Cameron, and Adrian Beltre. Interestingly, he notes that the Bill James Handbook doesn’t contain James’ “actual” projections. “They just slap his name on it” is the way he puts it. Epstein mentions some of the detail work that James’ team does for Boston, including regression to the mean, etc.

John Tomase writes that the Red Sox have considered moving Dustin Pedroia down to 5th in the order, though Pedey himself has not heard anything. I don’t know about “20-homer power” (Pedroia’s high was 17 in his MVP season), but the addition of Marco Scutaro does give the Sox another tough out and OBP guy who could fit well in the #2 slot. My guess is that if Jacoby Ellsbury falters out of the gate, you will see Scutaro-Pedroia atop this order, and they’ll work well together. Otherwise, Scutaro will hit near the tail of the order.

Links 12-17-2009: More Adrian talk, more on Lackey and Cameron, and more

Adrian Gonzalez thinks he will be traded to the Red Sox in the next ten days, claims Jorge Arangure of ESPN.com. Ken Rosenthal says that the Sox are “working hard” to land the first baseman, but the talks don’t seem to be going anywhere as of now. He suggests that Jed Hoyer wants a package including Clay Buchholz and one of Casey Kelly or Ryan Westmoreland back in any deal, and that latter demand has been a sticking point for Theo Epstein. John Tomase says that the rumors are way overblown at this point, and I think I agree that this deal may not happen until July.

Papi goes yard, Sox down Jays

The home run drought is over. Mercifully, it’s over. Maybe now David Ortiz can relax some and stop flailing at pitches out of the zone that he has no business flailing at. Maybe now he can stop overswinging and get back into his groove. Maybe now sports journalists like Jim Donaldson can stop the crazy talk about dropping Papi to 7th or trading for his replacement. With Kevin Youkilis and Daisuke Matsuzaka ready to return, this may signal a resurrection for the Sox, who have been uneven at times.