While the Boston Red Sox were enjoying a day off in the cold New England weather on Monday, the baseball operations people were busy trying to restock the minor league system.
The Red Sox held three picks on the first night of the 2012 MLB Draft and used them to draft three college players. They used their first pick to draft SS Deven Marrero, then took LHP Brian Johnson with their next pick. Their final pick of the night was RHP Pat Light. You can read more about them by clicking the link above.
The Red Sox will enter tonight’s three-game set with the Baltimore Orioles trailing them by two games for second place in the AL East. The Orioles are just a game back of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place. The local nine is tied in last place with the Toronto Blue Jays and both are 1.5 games behind the New York Yankees.
As you can see the AL East is up for grabs right now.
Right now, the Red Sox need to continue to get great starting pitching as well as the help the bullpen has been providing. For the most part lately, the offense has been outstanding and if that continues, the Red Sox will be in good shape.
Obviously something needs to be done with Daniel Bard after his sucktastic performance on Sunday. Whether it be banishment back to the bullpen, a start skipped or a trip to the minor leagues to work on his mechanics, they need to figure things out quickly with Bard.
A trip to the minors might not happen right away with their being really no one to replace him in the rotation.
Daisuke Matsuzaka isn’t quite ready yet in his second rehab assignment and the minor league pitching depth took a hit yesterday when Ross Ohlendorf was signed by the San Diego Padres to a major league contract. Ohlendorf had been 4-3 with a 4.61 ERA in 10 starts for the PawSox.
The Red Sox will also have to deal with interleague play starting up on Friday night. After these three games with the O’s, the next 15 games they’ll play will be against the NL. Fortunately, only six of those 15 games will be in NL parks meaning that Bobby Valentine will only have to figure out what to do with David Ortiz for six games.
We’ll be back later with today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let’s take at look at the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Stepping up behind the plate [Boston Globe]
Shortstop Marrero top pick [Boston Globe]
Charles Steinberg is the maestro of Red Sox magic [Boston Globe]
Bard no big deal [Boston Herald]
Sox pick another Arizona State shortstop [Boston Herald]
Two styles of skippers [Boston Herald]
DL decision due for Sox [Boston Herald]
Source: Pedroia will return to lineup Tuesday [Rob Bradford – WEEI.com]
Red Sox happy with first three picks in MLB Draft [CSN New England]
Assessing first three draft picks by Sox [ESPN Boston]
Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, scouting director Amiel Sawdaye break down draftees [Full Count]
Bobby Valentine Knows Importance of Breaking Bad Habits Early [NESN.com]
A year later, Barnes proving Sox right [RedSox.com]
Papelbon compensation nets two pitchers [RedSox.com]
‘Devils up the middle’ : Sox first-rounder Deven Marrero hopes for fast track to play with Dustin Pedroia [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
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photo credit: Reuters Pictures
