Red Sox News And Notes

Former Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice is approaching perhaps his best chance to gain induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame when the HOF votes are cast at the end of December.

This is the 14th time that Rice will be listed on the Major League Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, and he has only one more year of eligibility, following this year, on the ballot before he loses that portion of his eligibility.

Rice tailed off dramatically after the 1986 season, which hurt his overall totals, but the left fielder was a dominant offensive force in the late 1970s and early 1980s for the Sox and won the 1978 AL Most Valuable Player award.

—The Red Sox will be forced to pay a tax on their 2007 World Championship. The Sox were saddled with baseball's luxury tax for the fourth straight season and owe $6.06 million to the commissioner's office by the end of January. The Sox and the Yankees were the only two teams required to pay the competitive-balance tax this season.

—The Red Sox recently announced that Class AAA hitting coach Mark Budaska and pitching Mike Griffin will not return to the Pawtucket Red Sox next season. Budaska has been released from the organization while Griffin will become the pitching coach for the Class A Lancaster JetHawks. Former Class AA Portland Sea Dogs hitting coach Russ Morman will become the new PawSox hitting coach next season, and Rich Sauveur was named pitching coach.

—Former minor league outfield and baserunning coordinator Lou Frazier has left the Red Sox organization to fill a first base coaching vacancy with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Frazier, a former big leaguer, had spent the last four seasons in the Sox farm system after serving in 2003 as the hitting instructor for Class A Kinston in the Cleveland Indians organization.

—2B Dustin Pedroia, 1B Kevin Youkilis and OF Jacoby Ellsbury were all planning to tailor their own offseason workouts while spending time at the Athletes Performance Institute in Arizona this winter. Pedroia lost between 20 and 30 pounds during workouts at API last winter as he primed himself for his Rookie of the Year season, and Youkilis also put in a winter's worth of work at the Arizona facility before last year's breakout offensive season.


BY THE NUMBERS: $13.86 -- Number of dollars, in millions, that the Red Sox have spent in luxury-tax expenses over the last four seasons while capturing two World Series titles and advancing to the playoffs three times.


QUOTE TO NOTE: "I want [Roger Clemens] to clear his name because I want to believe that everything he's done has been because of the legendary work ethic and otherworldly skills he's always possessed. I want him to clear his name because I selfishly want to be able to say the greatest pitcher of all time had a major influence on me on and off the field." —Curt Schilling, talking about his hope that his idol and mentor, Roger Clemens, will clear his name of performance enhancing drug suspicions.