Garin Cecchini delivered a walkoff double on Wednesday (Darrell Snow / Greenville Drive)

In all likelihood, Gavin Cecchini will not be a member of the Red Sox. The highly regarded shortstop is a near lock to be off the board by the time the Red Sox have a chance to make their first first-round selection at No. 24 overall.

Of course, the fact that the Red Sox have another Cecchini — third baseman Garin Cecchini — in their system required a special confluence of circumstances. Garin Cecchini entered 2010 as one of the most highly regarded amateur prospects around. On a Team USA squad in 2009 that featured Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, there was a case to be made that Cecchini outperformed both, going 8-for-24 while leading the team in OBP (.529) and slugging (.708).

But he blew out his ACL before his senior year, and so with medical questions surrounding a player who was content to go to college at LSU if his first-round price tag wasn’t met, he slipped in the draft. He was there for the taking in the fourth round, and the Sox were thrilled to get an extremely advanced high school hitter with a significant offensive ceiling.

Cecchini has been slowed by injuries — because of the ACL repair, he was unable to play in games after the Sox signed him for a $1.31 million bonus in 2010, and last year, after a strong showing at Lowell, his season ended after just a month when he suffered a hairline fracture after being drilled on the wrist by a fastball — but when on the field, he has looked like everything that the Sox thought they were getting.

On Wednesday, he delivered a two-run, walkoff double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, turning a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 victory. It was Cecchini’s second hit of the game, giving him six multi-hit games in his last nine contests, a stretch in which he is hitting .385/.442/.641/1.083. For the year, Cecchini is now hitting .301/.367/.434/.800. Cecchini’s numbers against right-handers are particularly impressive this year, as he’s hitting .344/.402/.527/.929 against them, with 14 of his 15 extra-base hits coming against righties. In his last 27 games, Cecchini is hitting .349/.408/.495/.904, looking very much like the advanced player who was named the second best prospect in the New York-Penn League last summer.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: 5-4 WIN AT DURHAM (RAYS)

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– Kevin Youkilis, serving as the designated hitter in the first game of his rehab assignment, drew a six-pitch walk, fouled off a pair of 2-2 pitches before flying to deep right in his second plate appearance and then doubled off the glove of the Durham third baseman to finish his day 1-for-2 with a double and walk in his three plate appearances. Youkilis is slated to be back in the PawSox lineup while playing third base on Thursday, a game in which Daisuke Matsuzaka will be on the hill. Read the rest of this entry »

Lars Anderson had a big day against left-handed pitchers. (AP)

The members of the Triple-A Pawtucket lineup had an interesting barometer of sorts in the form of a 240-game winner.

Left-hander Andy Pettitte was on the hill for Scranton Wilkes-Barre on Sunday, and while it would be a mistake to read too much into one outing as the 39-year-old continues to work his way back into big league shape, it was notable to see what the PawSox did against him. Pettitte allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits in five innings. While Pettitte told reporters that his command wasn’t as sharp as it needs to be and that he’s having a difficult time maintaining the necessary start-to-start focus in the minor league setting, from the vantage point of members of the PawSox lineup, there is also something to be said for enjoying success against one of the best pitchers of the last baseball generation.

Lars Anderson, Jose Iglesias and Ryan Lavarnway all had notable performances for the PawSox, while further down, left-handers Drake Britton and Henry Owens both had, in their own ways, dominant performances, and in Greenville, outfielder Keury De La Cruz continued one of the most interesting performances by a relatively unheralded Sox prospect at the start of this season.

TRIPLE-A PAWTUCKET RED SOX: 7-5 WIN AT SCRANTON WILKES-BARRE (YANKEES)

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– Jose Iglesias very well may be amidst the best offensive stretch of his career. He doesn’t need to hit for power to be a very good major league shortstop. He simply needs to spray line drives around the field, deliver the occasional double, take the occasional walk and get on base at a respectable rate. Right now, he’s doing that.

On Sunday, Iglesias had his fifth straight multi-hit game, getting a single (a comebacker) and a walk before flying out to right in three plate appearances against Andy Pettitte, and later adding a single on a line drive to right. In his last five games, Iglesias is now 10-for-18 (.556) with a double, a triple and three walks. He is reaching base at a .619 clip in that span. In the process, he’s elevated his average (.253) and OBP (.330) to roughly league average numbers in the Triple-A International League, where the average batting average is .250 and OBP is .330. His power (.293) remains deficient (league average is .379), but the Red Sox would gladly take a shortstop with average on-base skills, below-average power and outrageous, game-changing defensive skills.

Prior to this stretch, Iglesias had never before had multiple hits in more than three straight games (a stretch that came in May 2011 in Pawtucket). Right now, his results suggest someone who is developing an approach at the plate that has him closer than ever to being ready to break through into the major leagues. There is more development in front of him, of course, and there is benefit to having the shortstop further solidify the offensive gains that he’s making. And the likelihood is that even with the progress he’s shown, there will be a transitional period of struggle whenever Iglesias does reach the big leagues.

That said, for perhaps the first time in his Triple-A career, Iglesias has been performing at a level that suggests that he is not overmatched by the advanced pitching that he is facing and, on the contrary, that he is capable of being on the other side of the development curve, even against a pitcher of considerable profile such as Pettitte.

– Lars Anderson also had a strong day against Pettitte and fellow left-hander Juan Cedeno. He collected two hits in as many plate appearances against Pettitte (a single to right, a double to center) and later added a double to left against Cedeno. That performance made Anderson’s season against southpaws look dramatically different. He is now hitting .292/.379/.375/.754 against lefties, and the doubles were his first two extra-base hits in 29 plate appearances against lefties.

Anderson has had two doubles in each of the last two games, going 5-for-10 and improving his season-long totals to .274/.353/.438/.791. Though he has just one homer so far this year, he does have 10 extra-base hits in 19 games. Read the rest of this entry »

Red Sox GM Ben Cherington (AP)

Red Sox GM Ben Cherington joined the WEEI broadcast of Saturday’s game at JetBlue Park between the Sox and Orioles to discuss a number of topics. Among them, he touched on the state of the competition for the spots at the back of the Red Sox rotation; the outlook for a number of players returning from injury, including Carl Crawford, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Rich Hill; and his evolving relationship with manager Bobby Valentine.

In examining the composition of his club, Cherington suggested that while a great deal of attention will be placed on the team’s Opening Day roster, the more significant matter facing the Sox is how they are constructed to handle the longer haul of the season given the inevitability of frequent roster changes.

“So much is made of the Opening Day roster, for good reason,” said Cherington. “You certainly want to go into the season feeling good about the 25-man roster, but it changes so quickly once you get into April that what we’re looking to do mostly is put together the best team and best depth we can for six months and not get too narrowly focused on April 5th.”

Speaking specifically of the team’s pitching depth, Cherington suggested that the team has been pleased by the early signs from the six pitchers competing for two starting spots at the back of the rotation (Daniel Bard, Alfredo Aceves, Vicente Padilla, Felix Doubront, Andrew Miller, Aaron Cook) as well as the pitchers beyond that group. He cited right-handers Doug Mathis, Justin Germano and Clayton Mortensen, along with rehabbing pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Rich Hill, in discussing how the team appears to be situated for the longer haul of the season.

“The pitching staff on Opening Day, it’s very unlikely to look the same two weeks later, three weeks later, six weeks later certainly,” said Cherington. “We feel like we have some good depth there, guys capable of getting major league hitters out.”

Highlights of the interview are below. To hear Cherington’s complete on-air segment, click here. Read the rest of this entry »

Carl Crawford has been all but ruled out for Opening Day (Mike Petraglia, WEEI.com)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — There are generally positive signs for the Red Sox with regards to the health of some of their players who have been dealing with injuries in spring training.

Carl Crawford resumed a throwing program after resting his surgically repaired wrist for a couple days. Andrew Bailey threw live batting practice and is now slated to appear in his first game of the spring on Monday, the same day in which Ross Ohlendorf is expected to make his first Grapefruit League appearance and one day after Aaron Cook will make his first appearance of the spring. Andrew Miller, who had some discomfort just above his left elbow, is now considered fine and will start throwing on Saturday.

Overall, by and large, the Sox are seeing positive signs in terms of their player health. But that doesn’t mean that they expect to have all of those players available for Opening Day. Indeed, in some cases, the team is trying to remove April 5 as a consideration for some of those players — perhaps most notably, Crawford — as they progress in their recoveries. Read the rest of this entry »

Rich Harden

Like everyone else, Rich Harden thought he was coming to Boston. Word had filtered out on the night of July 30 while the A’s were playing Cleveland, and he was already starting to receive goodbyes and text messages. A little while later, he wasn’t.

“It was pretty crazy,” Harden said before the A’s took on the Red Sox on Friday night. “I came [into the clubhouse] during the game to do some stuff and I’ve got everybody telling me I’ve been traded and shaking my hand. It was strange.”

But Harden talked to Oakland GM Billy Beane, who told him that nothing was done yet, and in fact, it wasn’t. The Red Sox were reportedly concerned enough about Harden’s medical reports to have second thoughts and so the deal that would have sent him to Boston in exchange for minor league first baseman Lars Anderson and a player to be named later was off the table.

Harden said it was unfortunate that things got out before the deal was done, but that he had no hard feelings toward the Red Sox.

“Not at all,” he said. “It’s part of the game.”

Nor would it stop him form considering Boston as a potential free agent destination after the season. Harden also understands that teams will always have questions about his medical history after 10 separate trips to the disabled list during his nine-year career.

“That’s something that’s always been an issue and I think it always will be,” Harden said. “That question is always going to come up and all I can do is go out there and try to pitch well every time out and prepare myself.”

He did allow, however, that the thought of pitching for Boston was intriguing.

“If it did go through it would have been exciting to pitch over here on a team such as the Red Sox,” he said. “But I’m still happy where I’m at, pitching for the A’s.”

Since returning from the DL on July 1 with a strained back muscle, Harden has made all 10 of his starts with a 4.55 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings pitched. He’s had moments of brilliance, like when he struck out 11 and held the Blue Jays to two hits over seven shutout innings. He’s also had a few clunkers, like his Friday outing against the Yankees when he was touched for six runs in 4 1/3 innings.

An inevitable comparison will be made between Harden’s late-season performance and that of Erik Bedard, whom the Sox acquired after the Harden deal fell through. In four starts for Boston, Bedard is 0-2 with a 4.09 ERA, but he’s also struck out 21 batters in 22 innings and walked only five. Harden has made five starts since the trade went through and has a 4.81 ERA in 28 innings, while recording 36 strikeouts.

According to a scout who’s been following the A’s, Harden has been starting games slowly with a fastball in the mid- to high-80s — raising initial questions about how healthy he is — only to dial up to mid-90s velocity by around his 20th pitch. The scout added that Harden has been leaning heavily on an excellent split-fingered fastball that has been a legitimate swing-and-miss pitch.

We’ll never know, of course, how Harden would have done in Boston, but it seems clear that the process — while unusual — didn’t leave him with any ill will.

Lars Anderson

For a brief spell on Saturday night, Lars Anderson thought that a remarkable opportunity had opened up for him. The Red Sox and A’s had agreed to a deal (pending a review of medicals and a physical) that would send pitcher Rich Harden to the Red Sox in exchange for the Triple-A first baseman as well as a player to be named. Anderson was pulled in the seventh inning of Pawtucket’s game on Saturday night, and became aware that he was penciled in for a trip to the Bay Area from which he hails.

For the 23-year-old, the prospect was understandably tantalizing. There is no clear path to the majors for him in Boston, given that Adrian Gonzalez will be handling first base for the Sox through 2018. Oakland would have represented not only a big league opportunity, but also a chance to go home, since Anderson grew up in Sacramento (home of the A’s Triple-A affiliate) while rooting for the A’s. With his father, George Anderson, in Pawtucket on Saturday, Lars Anderson told the Providence Journal that there was enthusiasm for the idea of the change.

“There’s more of an opportunity to be in the big leagues there than here obviously at my position,” Anderson said of Oakland. “It was an exciting personal prospect for my own career. Like I said, it’s all fantasy. … Probably got too far ahead of myself as far as the daydreaming goes. It was crazy.”

Rich Harden

CHICAGO — For much of Saturday evening, it seemed appropriate to start penciling Rich Harden into the Red Sox rotation. Numerous outlets, including WEEI.com, characterized the deal sending Rich Harden to the Red Sox for first base prospect Lars Anderson and a player to be named as all but done pending a physical.

However, late on Saturday night, the situation shifted abruptly.

Harden told reporters in Oakland that he was informed by A’s GM Billy Beane that a deal would not be made, and that Harden will make his next scheduled start for the A’s on Tuesday. A major league source confirmed that assessment, and it now appears unlikely that Harden will be shipping up to Boston. Indeed, the major league source suggested that the Sox are “not counting on” the deal getting done at all.

A review of medicals after an agreement on the parameters of the deal, according to a baseball source, led to uncertainty about what kind of contribution the Red Sox could expect from Harden down the stretch, and whether he would be able to make enough starts to justify the trade. Harden, who has been on the disabled list 10 times in his career — including for the first three months of this year due to a muscle strain under his right arm — is 2-1 with a 4.30 ERA in five starts this year.