8 observations on the 2021 Red Sox as spring training begins

Here’s a little inside baseball about something that’s … well, inside baseball.

You know all of those tidbits of statistical data that your friendly neighborhood beat writer (or wise-acre columnist) uses to populate their stories with facts and context on a daily basis?

Not all of them come from the writers’ own accounting and research. Some do, maybe even most for the more enterprising writers who have mastered baseball-reference.com’s Stathead search feature.

But even independent homework is often buttressed by information provided by the daily notes packet provided by Justin Long and the Red Sox public relations staff. During the season, the packet is a marvel, requiring daily updates to…