The Red Sox have signed 35-year old righty swinging catcher Mike Rivera to a minor league deal. Rivera played in 1 game for the Brewers last year and he was 2 for 6 (.333 avg, .667 OPS). He has now played in 189 games in his first 9 years in the majors and he is 131 of 548 (.239 avg, .674 OPS) with 51 runs scored, 13 homers, 69 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Rivera will help the Red Sox depth wise in the minors at catcher.

The Boston Red Sox have sent 27-year old struggling righty reliever Mark Melancon to AAA-ball. He pitched in 4 games (0 starts) so far this year and he was 0-2 with a 49.50 ERA and a 6.00 WHIP. Melancon gave up 10 hits (5 of them were homers), 11 runs (all earned) and he walked 2 batters in only 2 innings of work! The Red Sox had hoped the Melancon was going to be their set-up man for closer Andrew Bailey, so the bullpen is in shambles now. The Red Sox have called up 25-year old righty reliever/starter Junichi Tazawa to replace Melancon in the bullpen. Tazawa has pitched in 4 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the Red Sox this year and he is 0-0 with 1 save, a 0.00 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He has pitched in 9 games (4 starts) in his first two years with the Red Sox and he is 2-3 with a 7.31 ERA and a 1.98 WHIP. Tazawa can’t be any worse than Melancon, but that’s not saying much.

23-year old righty swinging 3B Will Middlebrooks came into this season as the Red Sox’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America and he’s showing why so far this year in AAA-ball. Middlebrooks has played in 12 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 16 for 48 (.333 avg, .930 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 3 homers, 10 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 404 games in his first five years in the minors and he is 413 of 1,505 (.274 avg, .776 OPS) with 213 runs scored, 46 homers, 252 RBIs and 34 stolen bases. It’s kind of interesting that Red Sox’ manager Bobby Valentine has started calling out Kevin Youkilis with Middlebrooks starting the 2012 season so hot in AAA. This situation will bear watching in 2012.

The Red Sox have designated 25-year old righty swinging catcher Luis Exposito for assignment. Exposito played in 3 games in AAA-ball for the Red Sox this year and he was 2 for 10 (.200 avg, .673 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 RBI. He has played in 486 games in his 7 years in the minors for the Red Sox and he is 495 for 1,848 (.268 avg, .744 OPS) with 227 runs scored, 50 homers, 281 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. I think the Red Sox will get to keep Exposito, as I think he will clear waivers. The Red Sox needed Esposito’s roster spot for infielder Nate Spears who has been called up to the show to help off the bench.

UPDATE: (4/17/2012) - The Red Sox have lost Luis Exposito on waivers to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Red Sox are going to be without starting CF Jacoby Ellsbury for at least the next six to eight weeks after he dislocated his right shoulder yesterday while sliding into 2B as Rays’ SS Reid Brignac fell on him. Hopefully he won’t need surgery to repair his shoulder, or he could miss the rest of the 2012 season. Ellsbury has played in 7 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 5 for 26 (.192 avg, .569 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 0 homers and 3 RBIs. Cody Ross will likely take over in CF until Ellsbury returns to action. Ellsbury’s injury likely puts Darnell McDonald into the starting lineup until Carl Crawford is ready to come off the D.L. McDonald has played in 6 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 2 for 12 (.167 avg, .583 OPS) with 5 runs scored and 1 stolen base. He should do a decent job, but the Red Sox are going to miss Ellsbury big time, especially his bat at the top of the lineup. The Red Sox have recalled 23-year old righty swinging rookie Che-Hsuan Lin for his first taste of the majors. He played in 6 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he was 3 for 20 (.150 avg, .611 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 homer, 1 RBI and 1 stolen base. Lin will serve as the Red Sox’ #4 outfielder going forward.