Felix Doubront

Most of the curiosity surrounding the Red Sox rotation this offseason has focused on which high-end pitchers the team might pursue (whether trading for someone like Gio Gonzalez, Matt Garza or Gavin Floyd or a free-agent such as Hiroki Kuroda or Roy Oswalt) or the two pitchers (Daniel Bard, Alfredo Aceves) who were key bullpen contributors for the Sox last year but who will be stretched out as starters in spring training.

However, the Sox’ efforts this offseason stretch well beyond just the top five starters whom they will feature, at least on paper, at the start of the season. Teams typically need at least seven or eight quality starters to make it through the shifting fortunes of the season and to withstand injuries and performances that fall short of expectations.

Last year, the Sox used 10 starters. They’re not alone. In the last 10 seasons, the Sox have averaged 10.2 starters per year. Since 2005, about 61 percent of teams in baseball have required 10 or more starters to make it through a year (led by a 2006 Royals team that used a shocking 17 starters in their season).

That being the case, the Sox are looking not just at high-end options (such as the free agent and trade candidates listed above), but also depth options that will give the team some stability when injuries inevitably enter the picture.

As the team continues that undertaking, here is a look at pitchers who are currently viewed as depth options in the organization:

GIVENS — the three starters who are certain (barring injury) to enter the year in the rotation, and require little explanation:

Josh Beckett (13-7, 2.89 ERA, 193 IP)
Jon Lester (15-9, 3.47, 191 2/3 IP)
Clay Buchholz (6-3, 3.48, 82 2/3 IP)

BUBBLE — entering spring training, the pitchers who are currently slated to compete for starting jobs:

Alfredo Aceves (10-2, 2.61, 114 IP in the majors): Aceves made four big league starts and two more in the minors. He has a four-pitch mix that suggests the stuff to be a starter, although he was also a remarkably impactful reliever given his unique ability to work several innings at a time.

Daniel Bard (2-9, 3.33, 73 IP): Bard hasn’t started a game since 2007, but his three-pitch fastball/slider/changeup mix makes him the highest-ceiling Sox pitcher in just about any role in which he pitches. That said, there is a great unknown about managing the sort of innings bump that he’d face. Read the rest of this entry »

Francisco Cordero (AP)

When the pistol fired on the free-agent shopping season, it was the market for closer’s that got off to the earliest jump. Jonathan Papelbon became the first prominent game-ender to move, signing a four-year, $50 million with the Phillies, and since his contract, Joe Nathan got $14.5 million over two years from the Rangers,  Heath Bell (3 years, $27 million) has signed as a free agent, Matt Capps got $4.75 million for one more year with the Twins and the Mets signed both Frank Francisco (two years, $12 million) and Jon Rauch (one year, $3.5 million). Meanwhile, there were three notable trades involving late-innings relievers, with Huston Street being sent by the Rockies to the Padres, Sergio Santos going from the White Sox to the Blue Jays and Mark Melancon heading from Houston to the Red Sox.

All of that movement has significantly narrowed the field of potential destinations for those remaining on the market. That undoubtedly has been the case for Francisco Cordero, the most established closer on the free-agent market this offseason.

At season’s end, Cordero — who had a 2.45 ERA and 37 saves for the Reds in 2011, in a year when his strikeout rate fell to a career-low 5.4 per nine innings — received contact from eight to 10 teams, according to his agent, Bean Stringfellow. Since then, that number has been whittled to four.

The Red Sox, according to multiple industry sources, have shown interest in the 36-year-old closer. The Angels and another team have also been in dialogue with the pitcher, as have the Reds, who have said on multiple occasions that they were interested in bringing back the pitcher who averaged 71 appearances per year for them over the course of the four-year, $45 million deal that ran from 2008-11. Read the rest of this entry »

When Theo Epstein resigned from his post as general manager of the Red Sox to become president of baseball operations with the Cubs, it was with an understanding that there would be no raid on his former Sox baseball operations staff. Epstein could hire one Sox employee, and it could not be one of the top-level employees in the department.

And so, according to multiple industry sources, the Cubs ended up hiring Red Sox area scout Matt Dorey, who had been an evaluator in Louisiana and Texas in the last two years after having started for the club as a Northwest area scout in 2007, when current Cubs assistant GM Jason McLeod was the Red Sox director of amateur scouting. Dorey will be promoted to the position of national crosschecker with the Cubs.

Dorey was considered one of the top evaluators for the Sox, something reflected both in the key region that he was assigned to cover and in the fact that he was credited with signing several top Sox picks in recent years. Among the players credited to Dorey were right-hander Anthony Ranaudo (sandwich pick, 2010), third baseman Garin Cecchini (2010 fourth round), outfielder Kendrick Perkins (2010 sixth round) and Lucas LeBlanc (2010 11th round), a group in which the Sox invested nearly $5 million in one draft.

Dorey is the second prominent Sox amateur scout to be hired away in recent days. Danny Haas, who had been the Sox’ East Coast crosschecker, was hired last week as an Orioles national crosschecker.

The Cubs have also hired former Red Sox pro scout Kyle Evans, but that was not a violation of the agreement given that Evans already was leaving the Sox. And Epstein and the Cubs may also try to hire former Red Sox VP of international scouting and player personnel Craig Shipley, who has parted ways with the Sox after having been replaced last month as the Sox’ director of international scouting. Shipley was one of the first front office hires by Epstein when he became Sox GM in 2002.

The Red Sox released the following press release announcing the sale of spring training tickets starting on Saturday, Dec. 17:

The Boston Red Sox today announced that tickets for the 2012 Spring Training season at JetBlue Park at Fenway South, the team’s new 106-acre Spring Training and Player Development Complex in Lee County, Florida, go on sale Saturday, December 17 at 10:00 a.m.

Ticket prices at JetBlue Park range from $5 to $46 for the 2012 season. Fans can purchase tickets at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, FL, online at redsox.com, and by phone at 888-REDSOX6. Fans who require ADA accessible seating may also call 877-REDSOX9. Hearing impaired fans may call the Red Sox TTY line at (617) 226-6644.

This will be the team’s first Spring Training season at the new Fenway South facility, which will provide a single, state-of-the-art, year-round site where both Major and Minor League teams will train together. JetBlue Park, the ballpark that sits within the Fenway South complex, features the identical seating bowl geometry and playing field dimensions as Fenway Park, and will also include improved amenities such as new food and beverage options, an HD video board and interactive family areas. Read the rest of this entry »

Joe Saunders (AP)

Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, in an appearance on “Inside Pitch” on the SiriusXM MLB Network Radio, discussed his efforts to build depth in his pitching staff while dealing with what he characterized as less payroll flexibility than the team had in other recent seasons. As the Sox explore both free agent and trade options, Cherington acknowledged that the Sox have been in contact with a pair of free agents, starter Joe Saunders and closer Ryan Madson.

“We’ve had conversations with the agents for both guys as well as several other free agent options. We’ll continue dialogue,” said Cherington. “We don’t have as much room in our payroll as we’ve had in previous years, but we’re trying to figure out ways to improve our pitching staff. Maybe we have to be a little more creative this winter in doing that than in some other winters, but we’re not ruling out anything. We’ll certainly continue dialogue with a handful of free agents and then obviously also the trade front.”

Cherington added that the team recognizes the need to build significant starting depth. It’s efforts this offseason are focused in that direction, rather than on top-of-the-rotation options.

“We’re still focused on adding to the pitching staff, looking at free agent options and looking at trade options in order to do that,” said Cherington. “We feel pretty good about where we are at the top of our rotation. We’re looking to build depth and quality depth. When you look back at 2011, that’s really where our problem ended up being. We just ran out of depth. We were running into situations late in the season where we were just hoping to get into the fifth inning with a starter, and that makes it hard to win. We placed so much of a burden on the bullpen. So that’s really been our focus of this offseason.” Read the rest of this entry »

Astros manager Brad Mills says that Jed Lowrie will receive a 'clean slate' in Houston. (AP)

Astros manager Brad Mills is familiar with the rigors of the American League East from his six years as Red Sox bench coach. It is a division where the back-end bullpen options are not merely passable arms. Instead, it requires dominant stuff to handle the late-game responsibilities against the most ferocious ensemble of lineups of any division.

Mills is also familiar with reliever Mark Melancon, whom his club dealt to the Red Sox on Wednesday in exchange for both infielder Jed Lowrie and right-hander Kyle Weiland. Melancon emerged as the Astros closer in 2011, when Brandon Lyon went down with an injury early in the season. Melancon thrived in the role, recording 20 saves and posting a 2.78 ERA while pitching 74 1/3 innings in 71 appearances.

Given the perspective borne of his time with both the Astros and Red Sox, Mills suggested that he believes Melancon has the talent to succeed as a closer for the Red Sox.

“I’m not going to sit here and say he’s going to dominate when he hasn’t been there, but he has the stuff to do it. He’s going to come in there, in that situation, and give it everything he can to do it,” Mills said by phone on Wednesday. “Once he sees that his stuff can play, and it is good enough to do it, once he sees it, then he’ll take the ball and run with it.” Read the rest of this entry »

According to a major league source, the Red Sox have signed infielder Nick Punto to a two-year, $3 million deal. Multiple reports add that Punto can make an additional $500,000 in incentives.

Punto, 34, represents an above-average defensive third baseman and shortstop who will give the Sox a strong glove either for the late innings or in case shortstop Marco Scutaro or third baseman Kevin Youkilis is injured. In 68 games last year with the championship Cardinals, Punto hit .278 with a .388 OBP, .421 slugging mark and .809 OPS, all career bests. However, in his career, he is a more modest .249/.325/.327/.652 hitter in parts of 11 seasons with the Phillies, Twins and Cardinals who has never hit more than four homers in a season.

While Punto’s defense was the primary asset that led the Sox to sign him (once they dealt infielder Jed Lowrie to the Astros in the Mark Melancon deal), he is also regarded as a strong veteran clubhouse presence, and one who will be comfortable in his backup role. Undoubtedly, the Sox would have preferred a one-year deal for a utility player, but the market escalated early for players in such roles this offseason, with two-year deals going to players such as John McDonald, Willie Bloomquist, Jamey Carroll, Clint Barmes, Laynce Nix and Jerry Hairston.

That, in turn, set the bar at two years for Punto (who played on a one-year, $750,000 deal last year), who will help the Sox address some of the concerns that existed about their left-side infield defense — concerns that became pronounced in September, when Kevin Youkilis was limited significantly by his sports hernia and hip issues and Lowrie and Mike Aviles both struggled in his place.

Among the many factors that led to the team’s collapse in the final month, one of the most overlooked was their brutal defense. In September, the team gave up a .343 batting average on balls in play, tied for the worst mark in the American League that month and 45 points worse than the team’s season-long BABIP of .288. The team’s 13 unearned runs in September were second most in the American League.