Hot Stove Lunch: Red Sox relievers may not be as "extra'' special and more

This is a daily BSJ off-season feature that will arrive in time for your lunch, Monday-Friday.

A spin around the leagues with the latest news, notes, and rumors around Major League Baseball

RED SOX

There's an expectation that, even without any additions to their lineup, the Red Sox offense will be better in 2018 than it was in 2017. I think that's a reasonable thought, since it's quite likely that Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers -- to name two -- will perform better than they did a year ago.

But not every aspect of the club will naturally improve. In fact, it's reasonable to expect that some will trend in the other direction.

Take the bullpen, an area where performance naturally ebbs and flows. As this piece on OverTheMonster.com notes, it's not likely that the bullpen will duplicate its work in extra-inning games last season, when the Sox went 15-3 in 18 tries. As the piece notes, Boston's ERA in extra-inning games was a miniscule 1.25. Is that likely to be matched again? Doubtful.

Sure, some young relievers (Austin Maddox, for one) could see improvement. And the team will benefit from a full season from Carson Smith and a return to health by Tyler Thornburg. But overall, the bullpen probably won't be as good as it was last season. And, in the event that the team again plays 18 games that go to extra-innings, it's highly unlikely that the bullpen will pitch well enough for the team to again win 83 percent of those games again.

AL EAST

If the Yankees want to make payroll room for free agent Yu Darvish, John Harper has the solution.

A look at what the Orioles might be asking for from Arizona in a trade involving Manny Machado.

The Blue Jays are following the lead of other teams and extending the protective netting at Rogers Centre.

AL CENTRAL

Terry Pluto writes that the Indians will survive the loss of Jay Bruce.

Former Red Sox reliever Addison Reed signed a two-year deal with the Twins.

A look at Dustin Fowler's lawsuit against the White Sox.

AL WEST

The Athletic talks with new Angels infielder Ian Kinsler

Lefty A.J. Puk is once again the A's best prospect.

After obtaining Gerrit Cole, the Astros bullpen will also get a boost

NL 

The Pirates didn't do as well as they could have with the Cole deal.

TAKE I MAY REGRET IN A MONTH

On this, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it's a good time to examine Major League Baseball's minority outreach program. MLB has done much to improve its off-field hiring practices to involve more minority candidates and its support of RBI Programs -- which introduces the game in urban areas  -- is also worthy of praise.

But one thing remains troubling. Last season, about 7.7 percent of players were African-American, a shockingly low figure. As recently as the 1970s, meanwhile, that figure was over 25 percent.

There are a myriad of reasons for this drop-off, led by the reduced number of baseball scholarships at the college level. But one thing is clear: more needs to be done to attract players -- and fans -- of color.