Red Sox News & Links: Jim Rice wants the kids off his lawn

News and notes from around Red Sox Nation

Happy All-Star Game Day! Unfortunately, there won’t be a lot of Sox action tonight, as neither Alex Bregman and Garrett Crochet are expected to play. Bregman, in fact, is still sort of in rehab mode, and will not yet be ready to play every day when the season resumes this weekend. (Peter Abraham, Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

This is Garrett Crochet’s second All-Star Game in as many years. But while his career felt unsettled last year at this time, this year he’s much more comfortable — though he’s still getting used to being recognized around town so much. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Jim Rice made the All-Star team eight times in his career, so he probably got pretty comfortable with that environment. He also seems to be getting pretty comfortable with the new stage he’s entering as a crotchety old “back in my day” old ballplayer. In a lengthy piece that compared Rice and Fred Lynn’s magical Gold Dust Twins rookie year to the Big Three’s debut this year, Rice said “[t]he Big 3 is not anything like us. Don’t compare them with us. You look at opposing teams that we played, (they) were much better than what you see now. The pitching was much better than what you see now. You had a 4-man rotation. You don’t have an 8-man, 9-man rotation. You don’t have that. You had a stacked bullpen when we played. You don’t have that. So you can’t compare us with them.” (Chris Mason, MassLive)

Did the Red Sox draft their next class of special rookies yesterday? It’s impossible to tell at this point, but one evaluator tabbed them as one of the Day 1 winners. (Jim Bowden, The Athletic)

But for all of the talk about the future that comes with the draft, let’s not lose sight on the here and now, because the 2025 Red Sox are currently better than ever. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)

And they could get even better at the deadline, especially if they land someone like Joe Ryan. Here’s how he’s dealing with the rumors: