The Boston Red Sox have signed 61-year old Bobby Valentine to be the new manager of the team. He last managed in the majors way back in 2002 with the New York Mets. Valentine has a 1,117-1,072 (51%) record in his first 15 years as a major league manager. He got his Mets to the World Series in 2000, but they were popped 4-1 by the Yankees. He is 13-11 (54.2%) in the post-season in his career as a manager. I think this was a good hire for the Red Sox as they are built to win now. With that in mind, I think a veteran manager like Valentine was the way to go.

The Red Sox have signed 24-year old righty reliever/starter Will Inman to a minor league deal. Inman pitched in 42 games (17 starts) in AAA-ball for the Padres last year and he was 5-11 with a 6.15 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP. He has now pitched in 173 games (136 starts) in his first seven years in the minors and he is 47-45 with 1 save, a 3.76 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. The Padres hope that a change of scenery will get Inman back on the right path.

The Red Sox have signed 27-year old lefty reliever Justin Thomas to a minor league deal. Thomas pitched in 63 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the Pirates last year and he was 8-2 with 3 saves, a 3.89 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He last pitched in the majors back in 2010 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Thomas has pitched in 20 games (0 starts) in his first two years in the majors and he is 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA and a 2.18 WHIP. He will be a longshot to win a job in the pen next spring.

The Red Sox have signed 26-year old righty reliever Chorye Spoone to a minor league deal. Spoone pitched in 31 games (19 starts) last year in AA+AAA-ball for the Baltimore Orioles and he was 7-6 with 1 save, a 4.50 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. He has now pitched in 141 games (115 starts) in his first 7 years in the minors and he is 36-41 with 1 save, a 4.14 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. Spoone is nothing more than an organizational depth kind of reliever for the Red Sox.

28-year old lefty swinging CF Jacoby Ellsbury finished 2nd in the voting for the A.L. MVP Award. Ellsbury played in 158 games for the Red Sox in 2011 and he was 212 of 660 (.321 avg, .928 OPS) with 119 runs scored, 32 homers, 105 RBIs and 39 stolen bases. He has now played in 507 games in his first five years with the Red Sox and he is 611 of 2,032 (.301 avg, .807 OPS) with 341 runs scored, 52 homers, 325 RBIs and 175 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if the power was a mirage in 2011, but no one questions his ability as he easily could have been the MVP this year.