Daily Red Sox Links: Josh Johnson, Jon Lester, Bud Selig

On a happy Wednesday morning in Red Sox Nation, may I present your daily links!

• In a strange deadline due to the ambiguous position the Red Sox hold in the standings, as well as the rule changes brought about by the new CBA, Boston finds themselves in an interesting position. They have too much talent to completely punt this season, but they also don't have enough to sell the farm in an attempt to win the World Series. Alex Speier believes they should be trying to improve their team for 2013 and beyond by July 31st. (Alex Speier; WEEI.com)
• Another strategy that a certain sect of Red Sox fans are in favor of is ridding the team of the struggling Jon Lester. However, as Brian MacPherson points out, Lester's contract is a lot better served for a team like Boston than most of the league. (Brian MacPherson; Providence Journal)
• The Red Sox have started this tough nine game stretch of the season with a win and a loss, refleting the way this season has gone. As Alex Convery pointed out the other day, this stretch will dictate how the team views itself going forward in 2012. (Alex Convery; Fire Brand of the AL)
• Instant replay is possibly the number one issue that baseball fans have with their favorite league. Wendy Thurm did a great job showing the stupidity of Bud Selig's latest response to this issue. (Wendy Thurm; Fangraphs)

• In a fascinating study, Scott Spratt wrote a phenomenal piece on how fastball velocity has or hasn't coincided with the declining offensive environment over the past few years. (Scott Spratt; Hardball Times)
• The mainstream Boston sports media gets a lot of backlash over it's reporting, and this article is a reason why. This season has obviously been a struggle and things have gone wrong at seemingly the worst times. However, "reporting" like this solves nothing and doesn't give any insight to the curious reader. On top of that, the way he approaches the second wild-card is beyond over-the-top. (Ron Borges; Boston Herald)
• After linking you to that last article, I feel a little bad. To make it up, I present you this wonderful and humorous piece about an English major embracing the mathematical, or nerd, side of baseball. (Tim Baffoe; Baseball Prospectus)
• As mentioned above, the new CBA has changed the trade deadline pretty substantially. Dan Szymborski was nice enough to point out a few teams who would be better served by not buying despite the allure brought on by the newly added wild card. (Dan Szymborski; ESPN.com) ($$$$)