John Smoltz

MLB Network analyst John Smoltz weighed in on the Josh Beckett golf controversy during a Wednesday appearance on the Mut & Merloni show. To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page.

Smoltz acknowledged that Beckett “could have handled it a little bit better,” but he said Beckett’s golf excursion is being overblown in Red Sox Nation.

“We make way too much of things that have absolutely nothing to do with execution on the field,” Smoltz said, adding: “A golf swing and throwing a baseball is not even remotely close. I will give you this: A back or a lat can come into play, but unless you’re a violent golfer or a terrible golfer, it really has nothing to do with Josh’s inability to throw strikes or where he wants to. He proved it the next start. He made the changes.”

Smoltz, who pitched 21 major league seasons, mostly with the Braves, spent a chunk of the 2009 season with the Red Sox. He said he knows first-hand from that experience that the Sox starters are putting in the effort.

“To be honest with you, I talked to [Beckett] and [Jon] Lester about toning it down a little bit. Those guys worked like animals,” he said. “I’d never seen guys work as hard as they did in between starts. I played a long time, and I was always priding myself on the way that I worked, but those guys put me to shame.

“I know they were younger, and certainly that trend can not continue. But I think from what goes on in a clubhouse and what goes on on a field, sometimes we translate it into, ‘What could it be? Why is his head not right? Why is it this?’ There’s a lot of things that I think each player, if they had a chance to do it all over again, might answer questions differently or not have a certain attitude of disdain. I think taking better ownership and taking more direct hits sometimes is not fun, but you’ve just got to deal with it.

“From a standpoint of these guys and going to spring training, look, I went 21 years with the Atlanta Braves. I never did half of the stuff I did when I was with the Boston Red Sox in spring training, and the way they went after it. I mean, it was incredibly tough.”

Smoltz said he has confidence the Red Sox will turn things around, but he cautions that it will take patience.

“Time is not on Boston’s side, for obvious reasons,” he said. “People want that team to rebound from last year and be the team everyone thinks they’re capable of being, and I think they will. But time, it’s just not something that people are very patient with. And you’re seeing this very streaky team. And now the rotation is coming around. It’s going to be OK. I just know people don’t feel that way given the fact that it happened in September and it’s really carried over to this year.”

Bobby Valentine (AP)

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine won’t have a shortage of topics to discuss when he joins WEEI’s The Big Show for his weekly Wednesday appearance at 2:35 p.m.

With closer Andrew Bailey set to undergo surgery on his injured thumb and miss the first 3-4 months of the season, Valentine has to do some juggling as the Sox prepare to open the season Thursday against the Tigers in Detroit.

Valentine has come under fire from ESPN analyst Curt Schilling in the past week, with Schilling saying that some players have already grown tired of Valentine frequently speaking his mind to the media.

The new Sox manager apparently wasn’t affected by the criticism of his constant media presence, as it was revealed Wednesday that he has signed with ESPN Radio in New York to do a weekly segment with Yankees television voice Michael Kay. That’s also scheduled to start Wednesday.

Mel Parnell is the winningest left-hander in Red Sox history.

Mel Parnell, who won more games than any left-hander in Red Sox history, died Tuesday in his native New Orleans after a battle with cancer, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. He was 89.

Parnell, who was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997, pitched in Boston from 1947-56, recording a 123-75 career record with a 3.50 ERA. He trails only Cy Young, Roger Clemens and Tim Wakefield on the team’s wins list.

Parnell’s best season was 1949, when he went 25-7 with a 2.77 ERA. He was the starting pitcher in the All-Star Game that year, one of two All-Star appearances in his career. His other highlight was throwing a no-hitter on July 14, 1956, against the White Sox at Fenway Park.

Parnell battled injuries in the latter part of his career, leading to his early retirement. He then served as a Sox minor league manager and scout, and he was a Red Sox broadcaster on radio and television broadcasts from 1965-68.

The Red Sox did not miss many details when it came to constructing the team’s new spring training home, JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla. One thing they overlooked, however, was obtaining the Internet domain name jetbluepark.com.

Fort Myers resident Eric Engelman purchased the domain name for $8 last March after learning of the new facility’s name.

“I just thought it would be fun to have,” Engleman told The News-Press.

Engelman, 30, is a Cubs fan, but he decided to play a joke and have the site link to the Yankees home page. That got the attention of the Red Sox.

“Have him call me,” executive vice president and chief operating officer Sam Kennedy told the Florida paper. “We can make a deal. Or maybe we can make a deal.”

Manny Ramirez might get another shot in the majors. (AP)

A’s assistant general manager David Forst, during a Q&A with fans at a team event Sunday in Oakland, said the team would consider signing Manny Ramirez.

“We’re open to it,” said Forst, backing up a comment from owner Lew Wolff last week. “We do have other things going on, and we expect other additions between now and Opening Day. We have never been in a situation where we had too many good players.”

Ramirez, who started last season with the Rays but abruptly retired after failing a drug test, must serve a 50-game suspension for his second violation of baseball’s policy on banned substances before he can suit up.

The former Red Sox slugger would turn 40 on or about the day he would be eligible to play.

“I think at this point it’s probably still speculation,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said, adding: “There’s probably some momentum to it, but certainly not anything that I’m in position right now to comment on.”

Right-handed pitcher Kevin Millwood agreed to a minor league deal with the Mariners, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported Sunday night.

Millwood signed with the Red Sox last May and pitched in Pawtucket until asking for and receiving his release on Aug. 7. He then signed with the Rockies and pitched in nine games, going 4-3 with a 3.98 ERA.

A 15-year veteran, Millwood has a 163-140 career record with a 4.10 ERA.

Millwood is reunited with managed Eric Wedge and pitching coach Carl Willis, who coached Millwood with the Indians.

Carlos Pena

Carlos Pena reportedly has agreed to a one-year deal to return to Tampa, where he played from 2007-10 before signing a one-year deal with the Cubs last season. ESPN reports the deal is worth $7.25 million.

Earlier in the day, Yahoo! Sports baseball writer Tim Brown tweeted: Tampa Bay Rays are in pretty deep on Carlos Pena. Would be a great fit, of course.

Pena, who grew up in Haverhill and attended Northeastern University, has played 11 major league seasons with six teams — including an 18-game stint with the Red Sox at the end of the 2006 season. In 1,226 career games, he’s hit .239 with a .352 on-base percentage and .486 slugging mark. He has 258 home runs and 730 RBIs.

His best season came in 2007 with the Rays, when he hit .282/.411/.627 with 46 home runs and 121 RBIs.

Last year in Chicago, Pena hit .225/.357/.462 with 28 home runs and 80 RBIs.