Red Sox Links: Marcelo Mayer, Yankee Killer

Marcelo Mayer is a career .500 hitter against the Yankees. That doesn’t bode well for them going forward! (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

Chris Sale won’t be the Opening Day starter, because Alex Cora wants him to enjoy the day “as a regular ballplayer.” Ok, sure. I feel like that kind of makes Chris Sale sound like a 43-yeaer-old entering his last season, but no one really remembers who the Opening Day starter is, anyway. (Julian McWilliams, Boston Globe)

Huh, so Chris Sale and Richard Bleier were roommates in college? I did not know that . . . nor did I know that Sale once slept in a bathtub and it apparently was Bleier’s fault. (Keagan Stiefel, NESN.com)

Adam Duvall has been good in center field when he’s played there, but he hasn’t played there much. Anyone concerned about his ability to last out there? (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)

Justin Turner has yet to play a regular season game for the Boston Red Sox. But to some, he already looks like a clubhouse leader. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)

Taiwan, despite playing some inspired baseball in front of a raucous home crowd, will not be advancing past pool play in the World Baseball Classic, thanks to tiebreaker rules that had to separate 5 teams that all finished 2-2. But Yu Chang isn't coming home empty handed. After hitting two key home runs, he was named the pool MVP. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

And in Pool B, which concludes this morning, Masataka Yoshida is an MVP candidate as well. (Jesse Pantuosco, WEEI)

It sure seems like we’ll see Bryan Mata some time this season, but he’ll be starting the year in Worcester. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)