Boston Names Coaches. The Red Sox have announced most of their coaching staff. Brad Mills, who went to college with manager Terry Francona and worked with him in Montreal and Philadelphia, will be the bench coach. Lynn Jones will coach first base; no third base coach has been named. Hitting coach Ron Jackson, pitching coach Dave Wallace and bullpen coach Euclides Rojas all return from 2003. ... Former 3B coach Mike Cubbage is miffed over how he was let go. Boo f'ing hoo. After last summer's 25-8 rout of the Marlins, Cubbage admitted he had sent guys home knowing they would mostly likely be thrown out. "It's a fine line. Guys want to score for the hitter. I kind of regret sending Walker. But it was a chance for outs, and they were having a hard time getting outs." Good f'ing riddance.

Boston opens its season on Sunday April 4 at Baltimore. The game had been scheduled for April 5, but ESPN wanted the game for its first Sunday night telecast. ... Analyzing the Hitters in the Class of 2004 HoF voting. ... Rob Neyer asks: "When you're analyzing player performance, is quality of competition important?" Discuss. ... Phil Orr asks: "Do pitchers really get worse in the playoffs amongst better offenses?" ... Joe Morgan and Those Who Followed.

Japan Times: "Tokyo native Juri Morioka worked for 15 months as an administrative assistant with MLB at its head office in New York. She has filed a $3.4 million lawsuit in federal court against MLB ... [Morioka] detailed an incredible pattern of abuse by her supervisor, an atmosphere in the MLB International Department that she claims was overtly racist against Asians, and says that when she confronted top management with the allegations, she was fired and the whole case was covered up. Even more provocative, are the people Morioka claims participated in the coverup. A MLB senior vice president, the head of human resources and the executive vice president of labor relations."

Fat Billy from Ohio will decide by next week whether he will go back on his word (say it ain't so!) regarding retirement and sign a one-year deal with Houston. The TCM met with Astros owner Drayton McLane on December 23. ... I wonder how the Gerbil bounces on the Tampa turf.