Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, in an appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show, said that the Red Sox have talked at various points with outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury about the possibility of something other than a one-year deal. However, each time, the team and player elected to agree to a one-year contract that avoided an arbitration hearing but that kept Ellsbury moving on a path towards free agency after the 2013 season. And now, in a season where Ellsbury has shown some recently promising offensive signs but has mostly struggled en route to a .249/.318/.340 line, Cherington suggested that the Sox expect that the team will not engage in contract talks with the 29-year-old until after the season.

“Because Ellsbury has gone through arbitration the last three years, there’s been an opportunity to talk to [agent Scott Boras] and Jacoby each of those years in the winter before spring training or early in spring training about his status. And each of those years we’ve signed a one-year deal and settled his arb case before it went to a hearing.
But during those talks, you talk about a lot of things. You talk about other options, other contract options, other sorts of scenarios,” said Cherington. “We’ve had those conversations. It’s just, in this case, we agreed before the season that we would defer it until the end of the season. That’s our expectation right now. You never say never. Things can change. But our expectation is we pick up the conversation after the season.”

Cherington also discussed the decision to trade Justin Masterson to the Indians in 2009, along with prospects Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price, for catcher Victor Martinez. Though Masterson is 7-2 with a 2.83 ERA this year and has been one of the top starters in the AL, Cherington said that he would have made the same deal that his predecessor, GM Theo Epstein, did. Still, he acknowledged that the team didn’t anticipate quite what Masterson would become as a starter.

“We didn’t see him performing quite like this as a starter. We thought, at the time, he would be a good major league starter or a really good reliever, and he’s probably exceeded that in a starting role,” said Cherington. “I don’t think we should be too surprised by it, though. This is a pretty impressive young man. Masterson, going back to the draft, he stood out in the draft as the top makeup on the board that year. Even though he does it in sort of an unconventional way, it’s a combination of his physical size, strength and stuff with his drive and makeup to succeed that separated him. We were able to get him at a spot in the draft — a lot of good work by Dan Matson, one of our scouts that year to get him — but fast-forward, and if I’m in Theo’s shoes at the time, I would have done the same thing. The deal made a lot of sense at the time. We were trying to get into the playoffs, and Victor Martinez certainly helped to get us into the playoffs. We needed that bat in the middle of the lineup at a key position. He helped us for the time he was here. But not surprised at all that Justin is having success, but yeah, he’s probably exceeded our expectations.”

More to come . . .

Salty spoke with Joe Castiglione & Dave O'Brien after he helped his team to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox tonight. The Red Sox return to Fenway after going 6-3 on the road trip.

[0:00:41] ... you know I've been feeling good with my arm as far as arm strength so I just try to put as much facts that are inflicted and not worry about where it's going. They seem to struggle there is temple is quite the same thing they seem to get into a groove is that accurate. Yeah you know I think he was -- worried about that run -- a little bit I guess after scoring two runs union put zero so. You know he was doing the best he did know and -- -- extra runs. You might put a little too much worry on. You know working out and you know of going some strong force. This road trip this is impressive stuff anytime of the year you can go six and three over nine games. But closed the gap to ...
[0:02:08] ... yet okay Jarrod Saltalamacchia apparently OK after getting it with a zone foul ball -- earlier as the Red Sox when -- 626 in three on the trip. -- ...

For most of Wednesday night, the Red Sox offense was utterly subdued by White Sox pitching. Yet even before Boston broke out its lumber and blew open the game in the final two innings, the offensive shortcomings proved irrelevant thanks to the (once-again) masterful work of Clay Buchholz, who dominated in Boston’s 6-2 road win at U.S. Cellular Field.

David Ortiz drove in a pair of Red Sox runs with a bloop single in the first inning, and that was all Buchholz (7-0) needed as he only allowed one run and five hits with four strikeouts and three walks over seven innings pitched (113 pitches). He didn’t have his best stuff, working through some jams and holding White Sox hitters 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Buchholz earned his first decision in his last four starts, as he had been stuck at six wins since May 1. The 28-year-old is now tied with Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish and Indians pitcher Justin Masterson for second in the American League in wins, and leads the league with a 1.73 ERA.

The start has been spectacular but not fluky. Over the last full calendar year, dating to last May 22, Buchholz has a 2.84 ERA (tied with Felix Hernandez for the second best among AL starters, minimum 162 innings). Since the start of last year, he has 20 starts of at least seven innings permitting two or fewer runs, tied for the third most in the AL during the span.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

-  The Red Sox got things started on the right foot when Ortiz drove in two runs on a softly hit single to left field in the first inning. The hit followed a double off the wall from Dustin Pedroia that left him and Jonny Gomes in scoring position. Ortiz — who went 2-for-4 — has cooled off a bit since his scorching hot start to the season, but he has still been hitting well as of late. In his last 10 games, Ortiz is batting .375/.432/.600 with 14 RBI.

– With Napoli on first and Daniel Nava at the plate in the first inning, Ortiz surprised everyone by stealing third base. Ortiz did not score on the play, but it was unexpected considering that it was the 12th stolen base of the slugger’s career — his first since June 21, 2011 — and marked the first time he’d ever stolen third in his long career.

– Jacoby Ellsbury matched a season-high by reaching base four times, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. It was his first multi-hit game since May 4. That both of his hits were singles did continue a pattern, as each of the leadoff hitter’s last seven hits has been for one base. His last extra-base knock came on May 11. Obviously, offense from Ellsbury represents something that the Sox crave. Entering the game, he’d been hitting .151 with a .262 OBP from the top of the order in his last 13 games.

– First baseman Mike Napoli was signed in no small part because he coupled tremendous raw power with an ability to get on base at an impressive clip due to his affinity for walks. But while the former had been amply evident at stages of the season, the latter had been surprisingly absent. That, however, is now changing. Napoli went 1-for-2 with three walks on Wednesday, and in his last six contests, he now has nine walks en route to a .278/.519/.278 line.

– White Sox runners had no luck trying to steal against Jarrod Saltalamacchia, as he threw out both Alejandro De Aza and Alex Rios each attempting to take second base. The 28-year-old had been 1-for-19 trying to throw out runners this season before Wednesday, but was 2-for-2 on the night.

– Koji Uehara had a dominant eighth inning, punching out a pair while retiring the side in order on nine pitches.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

– Red Sox hitters did not have much trouble with Santiago in the first inning, but after a coaching visit to the mound five batters into the game their bats went cold. After the mound visit, Hector Santiago struck out nine batters while only allowing one hit — a single that snuck underneath shortstop Alexei Ramirez’s glove. Boston did its damage early, but if not for another strong performance, the team could have been in considerable danger of a sweep.

– The only White Sox run could have been prevented had Stephen Drew made a good throw to Pedroia on a Ramirez ground ball with runners on first and second. Had Drew’s throw not been too high, Pedroia would not have had to jump for the ball and he could have turned an inning-ending double play. Instead, Ramirez reached safely at first and Tyler Flowers made it to third base, where he scored from on a single by Rios.

Drew was not charged with an error on the play and Buchholz limited the damage by striking out Adam Dunn to end the inning, but the White Sox could have been held scoreless if not for the failed double play.

– Andrew Bailey, in his first appearance since coming off the DL, permitted a monstrous homer to Paul Konerko in the ninth inning in a non-save situation. Still, he struck out 11 and threw 9 of 11 pitches for strikes in his first appearance since April 28.

CHICAGO – Coming off a one-hit, one-walk performance Tuesday night, Jacoby Ellsbury remains atop the Red Sox’ lineup with the Red Sox going up against lefty Hector Santiago. (Santiago is filling in for Chris Sale, who was scratched due to shoulder tendonitis.)

Shane Victorino is out of the lineup for a second straight game, still battling a hamstring issue suffered in the sixth inning Monday.