Red Sox Links: Marcelo Mayer To Portland!

As if summer in Portland couldn’t get any better. A pint of Allagash . . . the brown butter lobster roll at Eventide . . . ferry rides out to Peaks Island. And now. . . Marcelo Mayer! The Red Sox top prospect and a guy who is damn near the number one prospect in all of baseball is officially one step closer to the big leagues. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

So what does this mean in terms of his arrival in Boston? There are a ton of different questions he has to answer on the field first. But in looking at players that are similar in pedigree — e.g. recent high school hitters drafted in the first round — we can point to next summer and start getting excited. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)

Speaking of great shortstops, remember ARod? Doug Mientkiewicz does, and he says he’s. . . going to “die a lonely man.” Damn, dude. I mean, you might be right, but, damn. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

Marcelo Mayer isn’t the only shortstop in Portland we should be paying attention to. Yu Chang is down there (up there?) on his rehab assignment, but it’s not going well. He’s taken a pause from game action due to lingering pain. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

So neither Mayer, nor Yu Chang will be helping the Sox struggling bats any time soon. But all things considered Alex Cora is fine with the 4-5 road trip. (Gio Rivera, NESN)

Frankly, New England won't be paying much attention to the Red Sox today, anyway. The Celtics are playing one of the biggest games in the history of their big game-laden franchise. And if anyone talks about the Sox tonight, it’ll be about the 2004 version. Will they be in attendance at the Garden? (Adam London, NESN)