Daniel Nava

Against Yankees’ right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, switch-hitting Daniel Nava will get the start at designated hitter and hit second.

Monday’s No. 2 hitter for the Red Sox, Shane Victorino has been moved to the seventh spot, in front of Jackie Bradley and Jose Iglesias. Also of note, Dustin Pedroia — who is hitting .429 lifetime against Kuroda — is in the lineup despite seemingly injuring his hand during a head-first slide Monday.

The following is the Red Sox’ lineup with Clay Buchholz on the mound for the visitors:

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Daniel Nava DH

Dustin Pedroia 2B

Mike Napoli 1B

Jarrod Saltalamacchia C

Will Middlebrooks 3B

Shane Victorino RF

Jackie Bradley LF

Jose Iglesias SS

The following is the Yankees’ lineup:

Brett Gardner CF

Ichiro Suzuki RF

Robinson Cano 2B

Kevin Youkilis 3B

Travis Hafner DH

Vernon Wells LF

Lyle Overbay 1B

Eduardo Nunez SS

Chris Stewart C

For all the matchups, click here.

For more Red Sox news, go to the team page at weei.com/redsox.

Mike Carp appeared in a Red Sox uniform for the first time Friday. (Mike Petraglia/WEEI.com)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In the middle of his physical Friday morning at JetBlue Park, Mike Carp spoke about what it would mean to actually make the Red Sox’ 25-man roster to open the season, one year after a shoulder injury he suffered in the MLB opener in Japan.

Carp dove for a fly ball in left field and injured his right shoulder in the opener against Oakland at the Tokyo Dome.

“You have 55,000 people over in Japan. I’m not coming out of that game,” Carp said Friday morning. “It’s the first game of the season. I’ve waited my whole life to make an opening day roster.”

He spent two stints on the disabled list trying to heal it while also battling a groin injury. One year after hitting .276 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs in 79 games for the Mariners in 2011, he fell to .213 in 59 games with just five home runs.

Now, following this week’s trade that sent him to Boston for a player to be named, he is competing for a big league roster spot on the Red Sox.

“I had a lot of expectations coming into last year,” Carp said. “Had a big 2011, finally getting an opportunity to play. Just one of those tough luck plays. It’s opening night. You can’t really write a better story than getting hurt opening night I guess. I think it’s going to make mentally tough and definitely kept me hungry for this year. I’m excited to be healthy for a full season.

(Click here to listen to Mike Carp talk Friday morning about joining the Red Sox.)

“[Healing the shoulder] took some time because it was a pretty significant injury but towards the end of the season, that second stint on the DL really helped. We went through the whole rehab process and have been feeling normal ever since. Nothing crazy, just had to wait for it to heal. Just banged up more than anything. No surgery or anything like that.

“I’m excited to be healthy. Going to out and perform the best I can and we’ll see what happens at the end of spring.”

Carp said he spent the last two weeks staying in shape and trying to be ready for whatever deal might come after being designated for assignment. He was traded to Boston and immediately placed on Boston’s 40-man roster since he has no options remaining.

“Just hanging out and kind of limbo and don’t want to do too much,” Carp said. “Obviously, stay in shape, doing light baseball stuff but didn’t want to go too crazy out there. Heard some rumors. To put on a Red Sox uniform is definitely going to mean a lot.”

The 26-year-old Carp is convinced that Boston is a good fit for him.

“Rebuilding, getting back at it, and winning ballclub,” Carp said. “We’re here to win. It’s not like the Mariners how you start from the bottom and try to work our way up. I’m excited to help out any way I can, play first, left, DH maybe. Get some opportunities and hopefully, take advantage of them.”

He knows he’s been brought in to compete with 36-year-old Lyle Overbay and Daniel Nava as a left-handed batting first base/outfield option.
Read the rest of this entry »

FORT MYERS, Fla. — For years, Phil Niekro gave advice to Tim Wakefield when the Red Sox pitcher was, at times, trying to find consistency on the mound.

It appears the time has come for Wakefield to return the favor and he’s only too glad to do so.

John Farrell said Saturday that he spoke at length with Wakefield on Friday and that the retired knuckleball pitcher will come to camp next week and advise promising knuckleballer Steven Wright.

“It’s such a unique pitch and it’s going to be unique to the individual as well,” Farrell said. “Actually, Wake and I had a pretty lengthy conversation [Friday] and he’ll be in camp here in about another week to work with Steven directly so, understanding what worked well for Wake is not to say the same it’s going to be the same exact checkpoints for Steven. That’s such a fraternity, a tight-knit fraternity, the knuckleball pitcher. I think to have Wake as a resource and have him in here, he’s more than willing to share some of his thoughts and talk about it.”

Farrell made it clear that he is not putting the cart ahead of the horse when it comes to projecting where and when Wright might be able to help in the organization.

Acquired from Cleveland at the trade deadline last year, Wright made a total of 30 starts for Double-A Akron, Double-A Portland, Triple-A Pawtucket and Escogido in the Dominican Winter League, accumulating a 10-8 record and 2.53 ERA while punching out 7.3 and walking 4.0 batters per nine innings.

As WEEI.com’s Alex Speier pointed out, the right-hander was drafted by the Indians out of the University of Hawaii in 2006 as a pitcher with good command of a low-90s fastball and a good slider that he could throw for strikes. Farrell first got a look at him while farm director with the Indians.

“I think it’s a little premature to begin to talk about Steven, just not knowing him all that well,” Farrell said Saturday. “It’s going to take a few outings to get a better understanding of what works well for him.”

Other notes from Saturday:

On the first day of live BP: “I thought it was a good work day overall, particularly pitchers making their next step, seeing hitters in the box. We came out healthy out of today so it was a good day.” Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury batted against Koji Uehara while David Ortitz and Jonny Gomes batted against Junichi Tazawa. It was while Tazawa was facing Gomes, that the Red Sox had their first scare of camp as Tazawa drilled Gomes in the back with a fastball, causing Gomes to turn to catcher David Ross and shout, “Old Ironsides,” an apparent reference to brushing off the ball. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Nava

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Daniel Nava has been in the Red Sox system since 2008. That’s long enough to know that the more versatile you are, the more valuable you are to an organization, especially when you’re fighting to stay in the big leagues.

So, when it was suggested that he take some grounders at first base during the early stages of spring training, he wasn’t about to turn his nose at the thought.

“I haven’t played there in pro ball,” Nava said Friday. “I played there back in college. There’s a lot to learn. So I got some good guys throwing me some stuff. But you can’t fake live reps. So that’s the next thing hopefully that goes well too. But the same thing, it’s new. So I’m just trying to go one day at a time.

“From what I’ve been told it’s just something that [the Sox are] interested in. They said you got a shot and it can help the team out.”

Nava knows he has shown the organization he is willing to work hard on his defense in the outfield. Will that translate to the infield?

“Yeah, I think it does,” he said, “because at least they know compared to where I came in 2010 to last year defensively, they’re like, ‘Hey, there’s hope that he actually can maybe block a ball or keep a ball in front of him.’ And obviously that helps when you’re in the organization, if I was new coming here, I think it would probably be less likely if that happened, I guess.”

Nava has been in Fort Myers since early February. Since then, he’s been working on his skills at first, hoping to prove to the Red Sox that he could be a viable back-up to the likes of Lyle Overbay, Mitch Maier, and Mauro Gomez, all of whom have big league experience at first base. That list doesn’t even include Mike Napoli, whose future at first – or anywhere – was still uncertain, with the Red Sox awaiting MRI results this week on his hips. Read the rest of this entry »

Carl Crawford hopes to get back into the swing in 2013 after Tommy John surgery. (AP)

Carl Crawford is set to undergo Tommy John surgery on his left elbow Thursday.

On Tuesday, Red Sox skipper Bobby Valentine said he feels very happy that Crawford got a chance to show his value to a fan base that has doubted his abilities ever since he signed his seven-year, $142 million deal before the 2011 season.

“We’ll miss Carl. I’m really happy Carl got the games in that he got in,” Valentine said of Crawford’s 31 games in 2012. “I’m really happy he had the success that he had. I think Carl now can feel that at least he showed the fans in at least a small way but in an everyday way that he’s a very good player. And I think he needed to do that.”

Crawford, indeed, showed he can still perform at a high level, batting .282 in those 31 games with three homers and 19 RBIs. His OBP was .306 and his slugging percentage was a respectable .479. Perhaps most impressive is the fact he scored 23 runs in his 31 games dating back to his first game back on July 16 against the White Sox.

Position players like Mike Aviles have said they could recover from Tommy John surgery in seven months but full strength really doesn’t start to come back until nine months out, which begs the question: Was coming back for a month to show fans he can still be a good player really worth it if it means missing part of 2013?

“I guess if that happens to be the case later,” Valentine said. “That wasn’t part of the plan. But if that’s what it is, yeah, it’s a good trade-off.”

Now, Valentine’s situation is back to exactly where it was when the season began – filling in left field without Carl Crawford.

“I guess I see it like when Carl was out prior,” Valentine said. “Luckily, Daniel Nava was just about finished with his rehab, we have Daniel, we have Scott Podsednik and they’ll do just fine. They’re good players.”

One source characterized chances of a deal involving Josh Beckett as less than 50-50 (AP)

With a bit more than 18 hours left until the trade deadline, here is where things stand with the Red Sox, based on conversations with multiple major league sources:

– A major league source disputed the notion that the Sox were actively shopping or looking to engage in an outright dump of Josh Beckett, in which the team would be willing to absorb the lion’s share of his contract. If the Sox were to move the right-hander, part of the reason would be financial relief from one of the team’s biggest long-term deals. That said, the team has engaged in conversations about the right-hander with other teams, discussing a variety of packages that might offer the framework for a potential deal.

For now, the source portrayed the Red Sox as being more likely to retain Beckett than to trade him, pegging the chances of a deal as less than 50 percent. There is considerable complexity related to a deal involving the pitcher, including: a) the player return for the pitcher; b) the amount of the remaining roughly $37 million on his deal that would be assumed by both teams in a deal; and c) Beckett’s right, as a player with 10 years of major league service and five with the same team, to veto a trade.

The source said that the Red Sox have not gotten to the stage in negotiations with other teams at which they would have asked Beckett about his willingness to waive his 10/5 right to veto a deal.

WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reported earlier on Monday that the Braves and Rangers are not in on the pitcher right now.

– The team is not discussing Jon Lester with other teams. Read the rest of this entry »

Bobby Valentine (AP)

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine discussed the implications of Kevin Youkilis‘ departure on his appearance on Dennis & Callahan on Wednesday morning. To listen to the interview, visit the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page.

“My job, I think it’s the same but probably with less moving parts,” Valentine said. “There’s one less moving part, or maybe even four less moving parts depending on how many people were affected by the challenge to get everyone as much playing time as possible so that they can stay sharp and help the team win.”

Valentine did not say if the change will affect clubhouse atmosphere because he wasn’t sure if it impacted the atmosphere in the first place. The move will affect Adrian Gonzalez, a first baseman who has spent playing time in the outfield because of Youkilis’ appearances in the lineup.

“Adrian Gonzalez is going ot have a super year for us when it’s all said and done because he’s a super player. Regardless of what glove he has on I think he’s going to wind up being a terrific player,” Valentine said. “That being said, I did say that he probably won’t play the outfield until the World Series so he taped up his outfield his glove and wrote on it, ‘To be opened at the World Series.’ He’s not planning on going back there anytime soon.”

There are still some looming moving parts the Red Sox will have to deal with when players return like Carl Crawford return from injuries. Valentine said he hasn’t decided if Crawford will resume his starting position in place of Daniel Nava in left field when he is finished rehabbing.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I have all  expectations for Carl when he plays, when he returns,” Valentine said. “That’s just a question of when he returns.”

Boston’s skipper said the Red Sox will most likely use a six-man rotation for the next week, as Josh Beckett is set to return from the DL on Saturday night.

“[We will] just keep everybody in the rotation, keep the guys who’ve been there from the start of the season [and give them] just a litle break before their last start before the all-star break,” Valentine said. Read the rest of this entry »