Rangers GM Jon Daniels has built a World Series-caliber team for the second straight year. (AP)

Long gone are the days when Jon Daniels received vexed looks by those who could not believe that he was old enough to be a major league general manager.

Daniels is still the youngest GM in the majors at 34, but he has spent six years in charge of building the Rangers’ organization, and in 2011, for the second straight year, he has steered Texas into the World Series. A combination of tremendously talented homegrown players, savvy trades and occasional dips into free agency have cemented the perception that the Rangers under Daniels have become one of the best organizations in the game.

For that reason, it is fascinating to consider his baseball roots — both where he did and did not get his start.

Daniels went to Cornell and received his degree in Applied Economics and Management. Out of college, he lived in the Boston area while working for Allied Domecq, a company that was dealing with the branding of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins. The undertaking was uninteresting, and so, following the path of college friend A.J. Preller (now the Rangers Senior Director of Player Personnel, who was then an intern with the Phillies), Daniels decided in 2001 to seek an internship in a baseball front office.

He lived in Boston, and so the first place to interview was obvious enough. Daniels submitted his resume to the Red Sox. At that time, the Sox were in the early stages of creating a baseball operations internship program, a task that had been entrusted to then-baseball operations assistant Ben Cherington by then-GM Dan Duquette as a means of injecting young talent into the team’s front office structure. Read the rest of this entry »

Padres All-Star closer Heath Bell said he would not be surprised if he was traded before the July 31 deadline, and said he’d be willing to work as a setup man for a contending team.

“If you’ve got a closer and want me to be the eighth-inning guy, I’ll be the eighth-inning guy,” Bell said. “If the other guy is better than me, we’re going to have a heck of a bullpen.”

Bell, a free agent at the end of the season, has 73 saves in 77 chance since 2010. Gerry Fraley of The Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers could be potential buyers, as they have no consistent relief pitching besides closer Neftali Feliz.

John Lackey

John Lackey and Clayton Richard will take the mound in Wednesday’s series finale between the Red Sox and Padres in a matchup of two pitchers who have had their fair share of struggles this season. While Richard has been more effective statistically, a severe shortage of San Diego run support gives the win-loss edge to Lackey, who’s made some major improvements since his elbow injury.

Lackey (5-5, 7.02 ERA) has shown new life since his return from the DL, recording convincing wins in each of his last three starts. The Red Sox offense provided an average of 10.6 runs in those three games, but Lackey never gave up more than four.

The right-hander struck out eight over six innings in a win against the Blue Jays on June 11, and most recently he went eight innings while surrendering four runs and striking out five against the Brewers. Before being sent to the DL after a 9-3 loss on May 11, Lackey was 2-5 with an 8.01 ERA. Since returning on June 5, he’s 3-0 with an ERA of 5.03.

Lackey doesn’t have much experience against the National League, although he’s seen plenty of Jason Bartlett from his days in Tampa Bay, and Orlando Hudson from his time in Toronto and Minnesota. In 26 career plate appearances, Bartlett is hitting .320 with a double, three triples, and an RBI. Hudson is batting .261 with a triple and three RBI. Lackey has dominated Ryan Ludwick in just six plate appearances, holding him hitless and striking him out three times.

In terms of ERA, Richard (2-9, 4.35 ERA) has pitched consistently better than Lackey this season, but a lack of run support has deflated his record tremendously. In Richard’s nine losses, the Padres have averaged 2.3 runs. The offense provided more than enough run support in his two wins, scoring eight runs on May 16, and 11 runs back on April 2.

The Padres have lost in Richard’s last six starts, although the left-hander has posted a respectable 4.18 ERA this month. However, he was knocked around by the Twins in his last outing, surrendering six runs on 10 hits through five innings. Richard’s current numbers don’t justify his performance in 2010, when he finished 14-9 with a 3.75 ERA.

As for his experience against Boston, the three-year pro hasn’t faced a current Red Sox hitter more than seven times. Mike Cameron leads the way with seven plate appearances, going 2-for-6 with a walk, a double, and a home run. Marco Scutaro has had the most success in just six plate appearances with two walks, two hits, and a home run.

Read the rest of this entry »

First baseman Anthony Rizzo, one of three top prospects whom the Red Sox traded to the Padres in exchange for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, was reassigned by San Diego to minor league camp after a very impressive performance as a non-roster invitee to big league camp. In 20 plate appearances, Rizzo was 8-for-18 (.444) with a .500 OBP, a homer and three doubles (.778 slugging) as well as a couple of stolen bases.

“He came in as advertised, on the baseball field and as far as his makeup and work ethic,” Padres manager Bud Black told MLB.com.

As a 20-year-old in Hi-A and Double-A last year, Rizzo hit .260/.334/.480/.814 while leading the organization with 25 homers and driving in 102 runs.But with the Sox acquiring a first baseman whom they expect to keep for years in Gonzalez, Rizzo was an obvious trade chip to use given that he would most likely be blocked at his position.

Casey Kelly (AP)

When the Red Sox made the dramatic decision to conclude a blockbuster trade with the Padres for superstar first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, they were never under any illusions that they were pulling the wool over the Padres’ eyes. To the contrary, the Sox recognized that in order to acquire the three-time All-Star, they would have to part with some of the most talented prospects in their system.

“We always try to stay away from our core group of prospects [in trades]. The only time we’ve included them in deals has been when there’s an obvious, impact player coming back that fits a clear need for the foreseeable future. The only two times that I think we’ve done that were in the original [Josh] Beckett trade (in which the Sox dealt Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez] and this one with Adrian,” Sox Assistant GM Ben Cherington said recently. “You can’t do that type of thing all the time, partly because you don’t have the minor league talent to do that all the time, partly because those opportunities just don’t come around all the time.”

The potential cost in prospects gained further definition on Monday, when Baseball America released its rankings of the Padres’ top prospects. Right-hander Casey Kelly and first baseman Anthony Rizzo — two of the three prospects dealt by the Red Sox to San Diego in exchange for Gonzalez — were named the top two prospects in the Padres farm system by Baseball America. Outfielder Reymond Fuentes, the third prospect in the deal, was named San Diego’s No. 4 overall prospect.

Kelly was ranked as the Sox’ top prospect by Baseball America, while Rizzo was ranked No. 3 and Fuentes No. 6. The publication suggested that Kelly will reach Triple-A Tucson this year, with a big league ETA of 2012, while Rizzo is expected to spend most of this year in Triple-A while positioning himself to compete for the job of Padres’ starting first baseman by early 2012. Fuentes, 20, is viewed as more raw than his counterparts (whereas Kelly spent all of 2010 in Double-A Portland and Rizzo spent most of the season at that level, Fuentes remained in Single-A Greenville all year), but he is described as being more advanced than Jacoby Ellsbury at a similar stage of his career.

For a more detailed look at the three prospects who netted the Sox Gonzalez, click here.

ORLANDO — The Red Sox completed a deal with the San Diego Padres to acquire three-time All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. The finalized deal was first reported by Jon Heyman of SI.com (via twitter).

The deal will send three top Sox prospects — pitcher Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and center fielder Reymond Fuentes — to the Padres in exchange for the 28-year-old slugger. San Diego will also receive a player to be named. (For more on the prospects, click here.)

After the Sox and Padres agreed to the deal, Major League Baseball granted Boston a window to negotiate through Sunday at 2 p.m. with Gonzalez, who passed a physical (which included an exam of his surgically repaired right shoulder) on Saturday. The two sides negotiated right up through that deadline, and did not have a resolution at 2 p.m.

Gonzalez is under contract for the 2011 season for a bargain $6.2 million option on the four-year deal he signed prior to the 2007 season, but in order to part with such a strong prospect package, the Sox wanted to ensure that they could have Gonzalez’ services for more than one year.

While the Sox and Gonzalez have not announced an extension, the two sides have at least achieved an understanding of a framework for a multi-year deal that will make Gonzalez one of the highest paid players in the game. Heyman reported that Gonzalez will receive a seven-year extension for roughly $23 million per year (roughly the average annual value of Mark Teixeira’s eight-year, $180 million deal with the Yankees.

The Sox stand to benefit from a luxury tax standpoint if they complete a long-term deal but do not announce it until after the start of the 2011 season. (For more on that, click here.)

After the season, Gonzalez’ agent, John Boggs, said that his client was in line for a contract similar to the eight-year, $180 million deal that Mark Teixeira has with the Yankees, the eight-year, $184 million deal between Joe Mauer and the Twins and the five-year, $125 deal that Ryan Howard struck with the Phillies.

That assessment was based on the fact that Gonzalez represents one of the top sluggers in the game and, moreover, one who is in his prime. He has hit 30 or more homers in each of the last four seasons, hitting .284/.377/.517/.894 in that time while averaging 34 homers and 105 RBI per season, despite playing in a park that kills fly balls. He leads the majors in road homers since the start of 2007, having hit 90 outside of Petco Park. For that reason, many talent evaluators believe that he could see his production take off in Boston. Moreover, the two-time Gold Glover is viewed as an elite defender, making him one of the top all-around players in the game.

The Sox had long sought Gonzalez, exploring possible deals for him at least since the middle of the 2009 season. On Sunday, the longstanding interest in acquiring him appears finally to have come to fruition.

The Sox had to pay a steep price, parting with their best pitching and power hitting prospects as well as a player whose defense alone could make him a major league starting center fielder. But they landed a player who could become a lineup cornerstone for years to come.

The deal is expected to be announced on Monday.

According to multiple major league sources, the Padres never contacted the Red Sox to discuss the availability of outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. In fact, according to one of those sources, no team contacted the Sox about Ellsbury, nor would the Sox have considered a deal for the 26-year-old barring what was characterized as a massive return.

Ellsbury, after playing three rehab games in the Gulf Coast League this week, played in his first rehab contest with Triple-A Pawtucket on Saturday. He went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles while playing center field. Ellsbury has played in just nine games this year, but is nearing a return to the Red Sox in his recovery from the broken ribs endured earlier this year.

“I can’t give you an exact timetable [for his return],” said GM Theo Epstein. “We want to make sure he’s ready to hit. Last time he came back, I think it took him a little while to get going with the bat and get his timing down. As much as we need him back here, we don’t want to rush him back here before he’s ready to hit. We’re going to be aggressive with it, day to day depending on how he feels and how ready he looks to come up and compete.”