Red Sox News & Links: The Shohei Ohtani Sweepstakes Kicks Off

Triston Casas has officially been named one of three finalists for the American League Rookie of the Year Award. “Finalist” isn’t really the right word for this — the voting has concluded and a winner has already been determined, so all it really means is that Casas finished in amongst the top three vote-getters. But still, it’s nice to see him get a little extra national recognition, even though Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles is the heavy favorite to walk away with the prize. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

A heart-of-the-order consisting of Casas, Rafael Devers, and Shoehei Ohtani might be the very best in all of baseball (albeit, arguably too left-handed). And, once again, Ohtani has been linked to the Red Sox. This time it’s USA Today saying that Ohtani will “heavily consider” the Sox. (Bob Nightengale, USA Today). This comes on the heels of an ESPN report last week which claimed that Ohtani “has long been intrigued by Boston.” (Alden Gonzalez, ESPN). In case you’re wondering whether any of this means anything, it doesn’t. But still, make it happen, Brez.

One team that hasn’t been mentioned much in the Ohtani sweepstakes is the Miami Marlins, and one man who won’t be running the Marlins after Kim Ng’s departure is Chaim Bloom. The Marlins reportedly wanted to interview Bloom, and some considered him a heavy favorite for the job, but Bloom isn’t interested right now. (Sean McAdam, MassLive)

Rory McIlroy and three other guys I’ve never heard of but knew were golfers based on their names alone (Adam Scott, Tyrrell Hatton, and Keegan Bradley) were at Fenway Park yesterday. They’re the members of John Henry’s new golf team, Boston Common Golf, which will apparently compete in a new virtual golf league. I don’t know what that means, but there you go. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)