Daily Red Sox Links: David Ortiz, Henry Owens, Felix Doubront

Three out of four ain't bad.

Many of us are down on Josh Beckett. But, really, he's not that bad. In fact, if you look at it objectively, he's kinda good. Could he be better? Sure could, but he's really not the worst. In fact, he's so not-the-worst that Grant Brisbee doesn't think the Red Sox should trade him. Crazy right?! (Grant Brisbee; Baseball Nation)

This isn't directly about the Red Sox but it might give you some insight into what it is exactly that a GM goes through this time of year. The excellent Dan Evans, who has recently joined Baseball Prospectus, recounts his personal experiences as a GM and member of different front offices. A very insightful (and free!) piece. (Dan Evans; Baseball Prospectus)

The Red Sox do have some guys in the minors with value if they decided to go that route including Henry Owens who just might be the best pitcher in Boston's entire minor league system. (Alex Speier; WEEI.com)

The Sox aren't exactly on a roll, but they did win two in Yankee Stadium and followed it up with a convincing thumping of the Tigers last night. That's good. What isn't good: since the big man went down, they haven't been getting much from their DH spot. It hasn't been a huge problem, but the longer it goes on the more production the Sox aren't getting. David Ortiz is due to come off the DL tomorrow but now it seems that may not happen. Uh oh? (Tim Britton; The Providence Journal)

Sometimes we as fans forget that baseball is really really hard. Fortunately Curtis Granderson thought he'd take a moment out of the 10th inning a few nights ago to remind us. (Matt Kory; Baseball Prospectus (free))

Just last year we were talking about the Phillies having the best starting rotation ever in the history of baseball. Have they been overtaken already? (Jonah Keri; Grantland)

Felix Doubront didn't exactly dominate the Yankees, but he was certainly effective. There was a plan and Doubront worked at executing it. What was that plan? Four seam fastball. (Yes, there's more to it than that. Read the article.) (Brian MacPherson; The Providence Journal)

The Red Sox have had their share of lousy out-of-the-blue random injuries this season. They've also had a few of the garden variety muscle pulls and such. What they haven't had is a broken hand due to to a good old fashioned tantrum. Until now. (Joe McDonald; ESPN Boston)

I think this article over-sells White Sox GM Kenny Williams a bit, but he has been successful to a certain extent with this strategy. (Dave Cameron; Fan Graphs)

Finally, think this is bad, Red Sox fans? Well it could always be worse. For example, you could be a Twins fan. (The Common Man; The Platoon Advantage)