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Red Sox Notes: Sandberg, Pitching, Youkilis

While the Red Sox and Cubs are still trying to figure out a compensation package for Theo Epstein, here are a few more items from Fenway Park....

• The Red Sox and Cubs could cross paths again over Ryne Sandberg's managerial services, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Epstein tried to hire Sandberg to manage Boston's Triple-A affiliate last year and Cubs owner Tom Ricketts is looking to mend fences with Sandberg after he was passed over for Mike Quade as Chicago's manager last year.  "If Epstein hires a manager without major-league experience, he probably would have little choice but to go with Sandberg," Rosenthal writes, since if another rookie manager got the job, it "could alienate Sandberg from his former team for good."
• WEEI's Alex Speier looks at Boston's options for upgrading its troubled rotation, saying that the Red Sox will probably shy away from big free agent pitchers in the wake of John Lackey's struggles.  Options like calling up a minor league arm or putting Alfredo Aceves into the rotation also wouldn't provide automatic stability.  
• Speier also lists a few trade candidates like Gavin Floyd and Wandy Rodriguez are mentioned but, "according to multiple industry sources, the number and quality of available starters is expected to be so limited that those clubs that are in position to part with a potential rotation member are expected to ask for a prospect ransom that may be out of proportion with the value of the pitchers."
• Before Billy Beane passed on becoming the new Red Sox GM in the 2002-03 offseason, Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald writes that Kevin Youkilis would've been part of the compensation package that Boston would have sent to Oakland in exchange for Beane's services.
• Of all the players who had just signed a major free agent contract, Carl Crawford may have had the worst opening season of his deal, writes Justin Havens for ESPN Boston.  Crawford's deal is compared to Carlos Beltran's contract with the Mets, and Havens notes that while Beltran struggled in his first year (2005) in New York, Beltran had a fantastic 2006 season.

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