Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

If you would like to listen to any of the Red Sox minor league affiliates’ games, MILB.com offers them for free.

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Pawtucket Red Sox

The Pawtucket Red Sox will open up the 2010 season on Thursday night when they’ll host Rochester in a four-game set.

Torey Luvullo’s head stays in the game [Boston Herald]

Ben Mondor and PawSox still giving the fans what they want at McCoy Stadium [Providence Journal]

New PawSox team, new manager looking for a turnaround [Providence Journal]

Pawtucket 2010 Roster

Pawtucket Red Sox stats

International League standings

Pawtucket Red Sox website

Portland Sea Dogs:

The Portland Sea Dogs will open up on Thursday, April 8th against the Reading Phillies in Reading, PA.

Working his way back, a pitch at a time [Portland Press Herald]

Central Maine Sports Blog has some interviews from the SeaDogs media day [CMSB]

Portland 2010 Roster

Portland Sea Dogs stats

Eastern League Standings

Portland Sea Dogs website

Salem Red Sox:

The Salem Red Sox will open the 2010 season on Thursday night against the Potomac Nationals in Woodbridge, VA.

Salem features veterans, youth [The Roanoke Times]

Salem 2010 Roster

Salem Red Sox stats

Carolina League standings

Salem Red Sox official blog

Salem Red Sox website

Greenville Drive:

The Greenville Drive kick off the 2010 season at home against the Delmarva Shorebirds in a 4-game set that begins on Thursday, April 8th.

Greenville 2010 Roster

Greenvillle Drive stats

South Atlantic League standings

Greenville Drive website

Lowell Spinners:

The Lowell Spinners will begin their season in late June after the MLB Draft.

Lowell Spinners 2009 Roster

Lowell Spinners stats

NY-Penn League Standings

Lowell Spinners Blog

Spinners website

Gulf Coast League Red Sox

The GCL Red Sox will begin their season in late June after the MLB Draft.

GCL Red Sox 2009 Roster

GCL Red Sox 2009 stats

Gulf Coast League Final 2009 Standings

Gulf Coast Red Sox website

Fifth Annual Minor League Doubleheader will feature Single-A Salem Red Sox and Single-A Lowell Spinners who will play regular season games at Fenway Park with family-friendly ticket prices

BOSTON, MA – The Boston Red Sox announced details today for the fifth annual Futures at Fenway presented by Comcast minor league doubleheader that is scheduled for Saturday, July 10 at Fenway Park. Similar to the four previous events, family-friendly ticket and concession prices along with kid-friendly activities will highlight this day of minor league fun at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark. The games in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 were played in front of capacity crowds eager to see the Red Sox stars of tomorrow.

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On Thursday afternoon, Keith Law of Scouts, Inc. released his annual Top 100 Minor League Prospects and on this list we find seven Boston Red Sox farmhands.

They are Casey Kelly (18th), Ryan Westmoreland (32nd), Anthony Rizzo (53nd), Lars Anderson (56th), Ryan Kalish (86th), Jose Iglesias (91st) and Junichi Tazawa (98th).

Here’s what he had to say about each one.

No. 18 – Casey Kelly (SP):

Note the absence of “SS” from his position — although Kelly was a good defensive shortstop, he was raw enough at the plate that it didn’t make sense for him to continue to hit when he’s so polished on the mound and could knock on the big league door in 2010 or 2011 as a pitcher. Kelly’s defining attribute as a pitcher is his command, which was unusually good for a high school pitcher (in Sarasota, Fla.) and hasn’t regressed at all since he got into pro ball. He has a chance for three average or better pitches, with a solid-average fastball already, a curveball that frequently flashes plus with good depth and tight rotation, and an above-average changeup with good arm speed and some fade. As you might expect from a former middle infielder, Kelly is a great athlete who fields his position well and repeats his delivery, contributing to that above-average command. He probably will add a little velocity as he goes, but his ability to locate his fastball and chance for two above-average to plus secondary pitches make him a top-flight pitching prospect even without the big fastball.

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MLB.com released it’s Top 50 Minor League Prospects on Wednesday night and we find three members of the Boston Red Sox farm system in the top 50.

They are Ryan Westmoreland (27th), Casey Kelly (28th) and Jose Iglesias (45th). To see the entire list, head over to MLB.com but for now here’s some video about the three Red Sox farmhands.

[flash http://ianbethune.com/prospects.flv w=510 h=287]

Red Sox trio makes Top 50 prospects [RedSox.com]

Here’s a press release from the Boston Red Sox concerning an extension of their player development contract with the Lowell Spinners.

BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox and Lowell (MA) Spinners today announced the extension of their Player Development Contract (PDC) for an additional two years. The extension keeps the Red Sox New York-Penn League Short-Season Single-A affiliate in Lowell through the 2012 season.

Red Sox Director of Player Development Mike Hazen and Lowell Owner Drew Weber made the announcement.

“We are thrilled to continue our relationship with the Lowell Spinners for another two seasons,” said Hazen. “Many of our young players have their first experiences in professional baseball in Lowell, and we believe that the Spinners organization, led by owner Drew Weber and vice president/general manager Tim Bawmann, creates the ideal environment for them to thrive. We look forward to working with the Lowell Spinners for many years to come.”

The Red Sox originally entered into an agreement with the Spinners when the franchise moved from Elmira, New York to Lowell prior to the 1996 season. The PDC was last extended with a two-year extension through 2010 in June 2008.

In 1998, the team moved to the new Edward LeLacheur Park, where the Spinners have had 381 consecutive standing room only sellouts, a streak dating back to August 2, 1999.

Lowell is one of Boston’s six minor league affiliates, joining Triple-A Pawtucket (International League), Double-A Portland (Eastern League), Single-A Salem (Carolina League), Single-A Greenville (South Atlantic League), and Rookie Gulf Coast Red Sox (Gulf Coast League).

Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis was presented with the Dick Berardino Lowell Spinners Alumni Award tonight at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. The award is given annually to a Lowell Spinners alumnus who has displayed tremendous coachability, dedication, a passionate work ethic, determination and the heart to make it to the Major League level. Youkilis began his professional career in Lowell in 2001, reaching base in 57 of his 59 appearances (.317, 58-for-183, 70 walks) and leading the league in runs scored (52) and walks.

BOSTON, MA — The Boston Red Sox today announced the 2010 field staffs for each of their six minor league teams.

The announcement of managers, coaches and trainers was made by Director of Player Development Mike Hazen.

The Red Sox have hired three new individuals for assignments in the 2010 field staff alignment: as previously announced, Torey Lovullo will manage Triple-A Pawtucket and Gerald Perry will be the PawSox hitting coach, and George Lombard will serve as hitting coach at Single-A Lowell.

BOSTON RED SOX 2010 MINOR LEAGUE FIELD STAFFS

Pawtucket (Triple-A, International League)

• Manager: Torey Lovullo — Joins the Red Sox system after serving at the helm of the Cleveland Indians Triple-A club for the last four seasons. He managed in the Indians organization for eight seasons overall since 2002, compiling a 595-531 record (.528), after joining Cleveland in 2001 as a minor league roving coordinator. Lovullo played 303 games over parts of eight Major League seasons with the Tigers (1988-89), Yankees (1991), Angels (1993), Mariners (1994), Athletics (1996), Indians (1998) and Phillies (1999).
• Pitching Coach: Rich Sauveur
• Hitting Coach: Gerald Perry — Was the Chicago Cubs hitting coach for parts of the last three seasons from 2007-June 2009. He has also served as the Major League hitting coach for the Mariners (2000-02), Pirates (2003-05) and Athletics (2006). Perry previously spent three seasons in the Boston organization as a minor league hitting coach with Single-A Michigan (1997) and Triple-A Pawtucket (1998) and was the club’s minor league hitting coordinator in 1999. He played in 1,193 career Major League games over parts of 13 seasons with the Braves (1983-89), Royals (1990) and Cardinals (1991-95).
• Trainer: Jon Jochim — Will be in his eighth season in the Boston organization and first with Pawtucket.

Portland (Double-A, Eastern League)

• Manager: Arnie Beyeler
• Pitching Coach: Bob Kipper — Moves to Portland after serving in the same capacity with Single-A Greenville for the 2008-09 seasons. He was previously Portland’s pitching coach in 2003-04.
• Hitting Coach: Dave Joppie
• Trainer: Paul Buchheit — Enters his first season in Portland and sixth overall in the Red Sox system. He spent the 2009 campaign as trainer for Single-A Salem.

Salem (Single-A, Carolina League)

• Manager: Kevin Boles — Moves to Salem after two season at the helm for Single-A Greenville in 2008-09.
• Pitching Coach: Dick Such
• Hitting Coach: Carlos Febles
• Trainer: Brandon Henry — Joins Salem after serving as trainer for Single-A Greenville in 2009.

Greenville (Single-A, South Atlantic League)

• Manager: Billy McMillon — Will make his managerial debut after serving as Greenville’s hitting coach in 2008-09.
• Pitching Coach: Kevin Walker — Moves to Greenville after serving as Single-A Lowell’s pitching coach in 2009.
• Hitting Coach: Luis Lopez — Enters his first season with Greenville after spending the 2008-09 campaigns in the same capacity with Lowell.
• Trainer: TBA

Lowell (Single-A, New York-Penn League)

• Manager: Bruce Crabbe — Returns to manage the Spinners (also 2006) after serving as Boston’s infield coordinator from 2007-09.
• Pitching Coach: TBA
• Hitting Coach: George Lombard — Will be making his professional coaching debut in 2010. A former outfielder, he played parts of six Major League seasons and batted .220 (77-for-350) with eight home runs over 144 games with the Braves (1998-2000), Tigers (2002), Devil Rays (2003) and Nationals (2006).
• Trainer: David Herrera

Gulf Coast (Rookie, Gulf Coast League)

• Manager: Dave Tomlin
• Pitching Coach: Walter Miranda
• Hitting Coach: U.L. Washington

Here are the top 11 prospects for the Boston Red Sox according to Baseball Prospectus. You can head over to Baseball Prospectus to read more about them.

Five-Star Prospects
1. Ryan Westmoreland, CF
2. Casey Kelly RHP/SS
Four-Star Prospects
3. Josh Reddick, OF
4. Ryan Kalish, OF
Three-Star Prospects
5. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
6. Jose Iglesias, SS
7. Junichi Tazawa, RHP
8. Michael Bowden, RHP
9. Lars Anderson, 1B
10. Reymond Fuentes, CF
11. Derrik Gibson, 2B/SS

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

Continue reading →

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

Continue reading →

Destination Red Sox Nation is our look at how the minor league teams of the Boston Red Sox fare each night. Game story and box score links as well as links to team rosters, team stats and league standings are after the jump.

Continue reading →