Daily Red Sox Links: Torii Hunter, Cliff Lee, Jacoby Ellsbury

The Red Sox, as they say, are "in" on Torii Hunter. Though so is half the league. (ESPN Boston [no writer listed])

Russell Carleton, in a free piece you really should read, discusses and dispels some myths about the mental states of both of the top free agents on this year's market, Zack Greinke and Alexander* Josh Hamilton. (Russell Carleton; Baseball Prospectus)

*I really typed that. I'm tired.

The 2013 Boston Red Sox are as clean a slate as any Red Sox team has been in a long, long time. That means that, with the combination of available money and the talent in their minor league system, they can go in almost any direction. With that in mind, here are five players the Red Sox should consider attempting to acquire according to... (Gordon Edes; ESPN Boston)

The excellent Grant Brisbee talks about the Mets trading their ace, R.A. Dickey. (Grant Brisbee; Baseball Nation)

The fine folks at Sox Prospects just wrapped up their countdown of the top 40 Red Sox prospects with the anti-climax that is the number one ranking of Xander Bogaerts. 2013 will be a huge year for Bogaerts' development and our biggest clue yet as to what kind of player he can become. (Will Woodward; Sox Prospects)

Will Leitch on his kids and their sports fandom. (Will Leitch; Sports on Earth)

Jacoby Ellsbury is in an odd situation. Mike Axisa argues that it's one with three possible outcomes. Though you could kind of argue that for any player. (Mike Axisa; Fan Graphs)

All that flexibility is a pretty great thing, but sometimes the prudent thing isn't to rush into anything. Sometimes the best thing to do is display some patience. There is a longer term objective to consider and you don't want to hinder the long-term outlook of the franchise by making ill-advised signings now. (Brian MacPherson; The Providence Journal)