With the trade of Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney to Boston in exchange for Josh Reddick and a pair of minor leaguers, one of the questions A’s fans are asking is, “Who is Miles Head?” The short answer is that Head is a mid-level prospect who would have been ranked in the 15-20 range among Red Sox farmhands by most publications in the coming days. A more detailed description will tell you that…

…Miles Head can hit a baseball. The 20-year-old first baseman proved that last summer, bashing his way to one of the best seasons of anyone in the Red Sox system. Splitting the year between low-A Greenville and high-A Salem, he emerged as a legitimate prospect by hitting .299/.372/.515, with 37 doubles and 22 home runs.

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Mariano Rivera’s cutter is the most dominant pitch in the game today, if not one of the best ever. Baseball’s all-time saves leader has carved out a brilliant career with his signature offering, sawing off a lumberyard’s worth of bats along the way. Hitters know it’s coming, but rarely can they square it up.

When a pitcher possesses such a weapon, it is easy to assume that he can simply rear back and let it go. Unlike a Greg Maddux or a Mike Mussina, he doesn’t need to be a practitioner of the art of pitching. He just blows hitters away with pure stuff.

According to Rivera, it isn’t that simple.

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Bob Dylan wasn’t thinking of Justin Masterson when he wrote “When I Paint My Masterpiece” — the Indians right-hander wasn’t even born yet — but it’s fun to imagine. Dylan sings about how someday everything is going to be smooth like a rhapsody, and isn’t that how Masterson pitches? Or how he lives his life? To Masterson, the world is a rhapsody and that’s why he is one of baseball’s most engaging personalities.

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David Laurila: Is pitching fun?

Justin Masterson: Absolutely. I feel like it’s one of the most fun things, simply because, in one respect, it’s you out there by yourself. You’ve got your catcher kind of giving you a hint of what he’d like you to throw, but it’s your final decision. You’re facing this hitter — maybe it’s a clutch situation — and it’s just mano-a-mano. Once a pitch has left your hand it becomes a team game — maybe you’ll get a ground ball — but up until that point it’s just you going after that hitter. That, to me, is a lot of fun.

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As noted in the introduction to last Friday’s conversation with Chris Chambliss, three years ago I did a series of short interviews that were never published and will appear in this space over the coming weeks. They focus on baseball during the decades of the 1980s, and today’s subject is Wade Boggs, who played for the Red Sox, Yankees and Devil Rays from 1982-1999.

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Boggs, on OBP in the ‘80s: “That was my game. It was how I thrived, but at the point in time that I played, I was criticized for doing something that is now fashionable – Moneyball, or whatever you want to call it. Today, everybody is looking for a guy who can get on base 250 times a year, and at the time I was doing it I was getting 200 hits and 100 walks. Then I would go to arbitration and be criticized for doing something that [front offices] now love.

“Billy Beane, the guy in Oakland, is the one who really put it on the map and it’s been fashionable for close to 10 years by now. Like I said, it wasn’t that way when I played, especially earlier in my career. I led off, so I always felt that it was my job to get on base and set the table for Jim Rice, Tony Armas, Dwight Evans, and all the big guys coming up to drive me in. That was a part of the game that I excelled at, but quite frankly, it was a part of the game that I was criticized for.”

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Three years ago I did a series of short interviews, focusing on baseball in the decade of the 1980s, for a book that was never published. Starting today they will begin appearing here, perhaps on a weekly basis. First up is Chris Chambliss, who played 18 big-league seasons with the Indians, Yankees and Braves from 1971-1988.

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“Why is he a good hitter?” That was my question for Clint Hurdle at the Winter Meetings, and I asked it four times. I queried the Pirates manager about two of his outfielders: Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata, and a pair of his infielders: Pedro Alvarez and Neil Walker. Here are his capsule scouting reports on each, plus a bonus question about data and video.

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Hurdle on Andrew McCutchen: “Number one, he’s confident. He doesn’t feel that he’s ever out of a count. There is no panic with two strikes, and that’s one thing you look for in a hitter. After it’s strike two, is it strike three? A lot of it happens in a hurry. Andrew isn’t afraid to take a strike; he’s not afraid to take two. He’s usually looking for something to hit, until he gets to two strikes, and then he’s going to battle.

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Dwight Evans is one of the most beloved players in Red Sox history. Known for his class and dignity almost as much as for what he did on the field, the man affectionately known as “Dewey” played more games in a Red Sox uniform than anyone except Carl Yastrzemski. A member of the star-crossed 1975 and 1986 teams, he also played in some of Boston’s most-memorable games.

An underrated hitter throughout much of his career, Evans hit .272/.370/.470, with 385 home runs, and no player in baseball had more extra-base hits during the decade of the 1980s. Widely regarded as he best defensive right fielder of his era, he won eight Gold Gloves. Bill James has called him “one of the most-underrated players in baseball history.”

As good as he was between the lines — his numbers compare favorably to several players enshrined in Cooperstown — Dwight Evans has been an even better husband and father.

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“How does he get guys out?” That was my question for Bob Melvin at the Winter Meetings, and I asked it six times. I queried the Oakland skipper about three of his starters: Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez and Brandon McCarthy, and a like number of relievers: Craig Breslow, Andrew Bailey and Fautino De Los Santos. Here are his capsule scouting reports on each, plus a bonus question about pitchers and data.

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Melvin on Trevor Cahill: “He’s a little against the grain for a sinkerballer in that most sinkerballers pitch in to a righty and away from a lefty. His bread and butter is actually the other way around. It’s off the body to a lefty and a backdoor sinker to a righty. Certain pitchers have certain holes they go to, and that’s what he tries to establish. It’s what he’s always done.

“Usually, the arm-side slot is the easier one to throw to, and he’s throwing to the glove-side slot, which is a little more difficult to do. I think he’ll get better when he pitches to both sides equally effectively, so not only is he a talented guy with a lot of movement, he has some upside as well.

“Even if he gets behind in the count, he has secondary pitches that he can get over, so along with the movement on his sinker, his unpredictability is one of the biggest reasons he gets hitters out.”

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Mike Matheny is more tuned in to statistical analysis than his predecessor. That isn’t to say that 67-year-old Tony LaRussa was backwards thinking — he and longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan paid more attention to numbers than you might think — but the 41-year-old Matheny is beginning his managerial career at a time when sabermetrics are as much a part of the baseball landscape as the sacrifice bunt. While the new Cardinal’s skipper has a touch of old-school to him, he is more than willing to embrace data if it can help him win ballgames. Matheny addressed the subject during this week’s Winter Meetings in Dallas.

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Matheny on using data to his advantage: “Philosophically, the front office has been great. They’ve been very open, and I believe that there are quite a few people in that front office, including the people in statistical analysis, who bring an asset to the table. I believe that one of the biggest jobs I have, and one of the biggest opportunities, is to present resources to [the players]. They’re going to play the game, so what can I put in front of them that’s going to give them a competitive edge to help them on an individual basis?

“For some guys, I think it would probably be paralysis by analysis if I brought everything down that the sabermetricians have upstairs. I’m pretty sure we’d have some guys going numb thinking too much. Other guys would love the data, so you look at it on a case-by-case situation and present that to them as they need it, or as they want it. Fortunately, this organization goes above and beyond in providing whatever resources are necessary for these guys. That is just one of them.”

On his ability to effectively utilize advanced metrics: “I know Bill James. I’ve done my share of research and realize that there is an advantage to it. Now, I believe it’s also a sifting process, and I’ve made it very clear to those guys — overwhelm me at first, bring me what you think is pertinent and I will be able to sift through it and tell you that a lot of this doesn’t matter to me, but this is what makes sense. I want them to have a voice to say that this is what I believe is important, and this is why. If I can filter that through, maybe it can be something that’s passed on to certain guys. But once again, to blanket that over the entire team, I think you’d be setting some guys up for failure.”

On making data-driven decisions and thinking outside the box: “I’m willing to do anything if it gives us a better chance to win. I’ll take whatever information I get. That’s really the long and short of it; it’s really no more complex than that. If something becomes available to me that gives us a competitive edge, I’ll be all over it, and it wouldn’t matter what the repercussions are from the powers that be. I’m going to do whatever I think is right and what gives us the best chance to win.

“For me, first and foremost is gut instinct. Second is understanding the players. There are things that statistical analysis can’t help with, and the state of the individual players is going to rate really high with me. But is statistical data going to play into every decision? I would say yes. I want to make an educated decision with everything I do.”

A handful of Hall of Famers were in attendance at the Dallas Hilton Anatole when it was announced that Ron Santo would be joining their exclusive club. Among them was Juan Marichal, who took a few minutes to talk about one of his stylish contemporaries, fellow right-hander Luis Tiant. Among the Golden Era Committee candidates who fell short of election, Tiant won 229 games over a career that spanned 19 seasons. Marichal, who entered the Hall in 1983, won 243 from 1960-1975.

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Marichal on Tiant: “I played with Luis in 1974. He was the type of player who gave 150 percent every time he went to the mound. It’s sad that I haven’t seen him going in [the Hall of Fame]. He deserves it. It’s too bad that only Ron Santo got in.”

On Tiant‘s style compared to his own: “I used to kick my leg, he used to turn his back. I used to love to watch him pitch. I was very aggressive in the way I attacked hitters and he was that type of pitcher. He had great command, good control, good knowledge of the strike zone. He turned the hitters off by doing that — by turning his back to them. Hitters don’t like to see that.

“[Pitching backwards] was also his style. That’s why he was so great. A hitter couldn’t sit down and wait for one pitch, because they didn’t know what was going to come. I was similar. If we knew that a guy was a high ball hitter, or a breaking ball hitter or a fastball hitter, we had an edge.”

On the secret to his success: “When I was on the mound, what was in my mind was to try to a good job. To do that — to give 100 percent on the field — you have to be in great shape. That was my thought. If I was in good shape, I would be able to do a good job. That’s why [I was able to throw so many pitches]. Maybe it was the way I grew up. I walked a lot and I threw rocks.”