Former big leaguer Jerry Royster will be joining Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine’s staff as third-base coach, replacing Tim Bogar, who will move to bench coach, according to team sources.

Valentine confirmed the Bogar move during an appearance Wednesday on sports radio WEEI.

Royster, who was drafted by the Dodgers two years after they took Valentine, first posted the news on his Facebook page. Contacted Tuesday night, Royster said he would speak “soon,” but that he had “unfinished business.”

Bogar, who was the third-base coach under Terry Francona the past two seasons, becomes an obvious candidate to succeed Valentine when his term with the Red Sox ends. Valentine is signed for two years, plus an option. Bogar played for Valentine’s Mets in 1996.

“One of my former pupils,” Valentine said of Bogar during an ESPN broadcast of a Red Sox game last season. “A very good baseball man and future manager at the big league level, no doubt.”

Valentine acknowledged Wednesday on WEEI that his last business interaction with Bogar wasn’t under the best of circumstances.

“I guess when I was managing Tim in New York he was traded to the Astros — or he might have been released and then signed by the Astros — but it wasn’t a pleasant situation,” Valentine said. “But since then we’ve had a relationship where I’ve seen him in the dugout or I’ve seen him on the field and I’ve always admired his passion for the game of baseball and his knowledge of the game of baseball.”

When pressed on details of the Bogar move from the Mets, Valentine added with a laugh: “What I have to do is look up the facts and see if it was a release or a trade, but I remember it was an ugly situation.”

The Red Sox have yet to name a pitching coach, but Valentine said Wednesday that they have decided on a candidate and an announcement could be made shortly.

“Basically I’ve exhausted all friendships, relationships, lists that I’ve seen of many, many ex-pitchers and pitching coaches that are out there,” Valentine said.

He said he and his Red Sox colleagues have “gone through the names, have gone through the interviews and I think that we’ve come to one mind of who that guy is going to be. It should be announced as soon as [Red Sox GM] Ben [Cherington] gets the contract signed.”

A major league source said they were giving serious consideration to former big leaguer Neil Allen, who managed Tampa Bay’s Triple-A team last season, but a Red Sox source shot down that possibility Wednesday morning.

Also Wednesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap reported that former Boston first baseman Bill Buckner will join the Cubs’ Class A affiliate Boise Hawks as their hitting coach — ending speculation that he could be hired to join the Red Sox coaching staff. Buckner makes his home in Bosie, Idaho.

DeMarlo Hale, who became Boston’s bench coach when Brad Mills was hired to manage the Houston Astros before the 2010 season, has gone to the Baltimore Orioles as their third-base coach after he was not interviewed prior to Valentine’s hiring.

Royster and Valentine never played together in the Dodgers’ system, except in spring training. Valentine made it to the big leagues with the Dodgers in 1972 but was traded to the California Angels a year later, when Royster made his big league debut with the Dodgers.

Royster, an infielder, played for five teams in 16 seasons, 15 of which were spent in the National League. He retired just before his 36th birthday, then became a minor league coach, instructor and manager before returning to the big leagues as the third-base coach for the Colorado Rockies in 1993, their inaugural season.

He coached third for the Milwaukee Brewers before replacing Davey Lopes as manager two weeks into the 2002 season. He was fired at the end of the season.

Royster also spent three years managing the Lotte Giants in South Korea, becoming the first foreigner to manage in the history of the Korea Baseball Organization.

Royster, 59, is a cousin of former big leaguer Greg Vaughn, which makes him a distant relation of former Red Sox first baseman Mo Vaughn.

Gordon Edes covers the Red Sox for ESPNBoston.com. ESPNBoston.com’s Joe McDonald contributed to this report.

Follow Gordon Edes on Twitter: @GordonEdes

So, Bobby Valentine will be the new manager of the Boston Red Sox. Surprised? Not me. The now 61-year-old former skipper of the Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Chiba Lotte Marines said a few years ago while still working in Japan, “I plan to be in uniform until I’m 70 years old.”

After two years of not wearing a team logo, Valentine will be back where he belongs — in the dugout, this time at historic Fenway Park.

The news broke on Wednesday Japan time that Boston had decided to hire Valentine over Gene Lamont, the other of two finalists for the job. At the time, Valentine was en route back to the U.S. from Japan where he had come to participate in a few charity events, including further assistance to victims of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami disasters.

Valentine will be leaving his job as an ESPN baseball analyst and, although most who of those with experience both managing and broadcasting may prefer being behind the microphone because of the pressure of making decisions from the bench, it is easy to understand where Valentine would rather be. It is most certainly not in the telecast booth.

The consideration and eventual selection of Valentine as the successor to Terry Francona drew a mix of comments from Red Sox fans on the team website. Many said Valentine’s personality would not be a good fit in Beantown; others insisted their club, torn apart by a disastrous September performance and failure to make the playoffs, needs a guy like Valentine to light a fire and reignite the winning ways the Red Sox have enjoyed for the most part since 2004.

At the end of the coming season, one of those two groups will be saying, “I told you so.” Knowing Bobby, I’ll bet it will be the latter.

Remember how Valentine’s managerial career in Japan came to an end with Lotte after the 2009 season? No one wants to go out that way, and now he will have one more shot as a big league field boss of one of the American League’s high-profile ballclubs.

You can be assured he will make the most of his chance with Red Sox Nation at fascinating Fenway where the “Green Monster” looms, the New England clam chowder is tasty and the crowd joins with Neil Diamond’s voice in singing “Sweet Caroline” prior to the bottom of the eighth inning of each home game.

No doubt all of Valentine’s friends and fans in Japan will be pulling for him to succeed, and the Baseball Bullet-In wishes him the best of luck in his exciting new job.

You read where former Hankyu Braves and Kintetsu Buffaloes manager Yukio Nishimoto died Nov. 25 in Osaka at the age of 91. A long-time popular baseball figure in the Kansai area, Wakayama Prefecture native Nishimoto was one of those not-so-great players who went on to become a successful manager.

He assumed his first managerial position at age 40 when he took over the Daimai Orions in 1960, winning the Pacific League pennant. Nishimoto then managed the Braves from 1963 to 1973, accumulating five more PL titles. His career as a field boss ended in 1981 after eight years piloting the Buffaloes during which time he tacked on two more league championships.

In eight trips to the Japan Series, however, Nishimoto never won, not even once, and he is perhaps best remembered for what was perceived as a blunder in the 1979 final. Playing at home in Osaka against the Hiroshima Carp with the bases full, one out and down by a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, the manager flashed the suicide squeeze bunt sign.

Kintetsu batter Shigeru Ishiwata missed the pitch thrown by Hiroshima reliever Yutaka Enatsu, the runner from third was tagged out, and the Buffaloes never scored. Since two of the team’s best hitters, Toru Ogawa and Charlie Manuel, were due to follow Ishiwata, Nishimoto took a firestorm of criticism for the failed strategy move.

Besides managing Manuel, the currently successful manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, Nishimoto also directed another colorful foreign slugger from Japanese baseball history in Daryl Spencer with Hankyu.

In 1971-72, Spencer, at age 42-43, served as Nishimoto’s first base or third base coach but was kept on the active roster and, in a move rarely-if ever-seen in today’s game, the American would often come off the coaching lines late during a game in a key situation for a pinch-hitting appearance.

After retirement, Nishimoto stayed in the game for a while as a TV and radio commentator but will always be remembered as a perennial Japan Series runnerup and for that suicide squeeze incident of 32 years ago.

Finally this week, author Robert Fitts who wrote “Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball” is coming out with his next book. This one is “Banzai Babe Ruth,” and it is billed as a tale of murder and espionage centering around the 1934 postseason trip to Japan by the Sultan of Swat and other major league all-stars.

“Banzai Babe Ruth” comes out in February, but Fitts says Amazon.com has recently posted the book for pre-ordering. Fellow author Robert Whiting, the king of books about Japanese baseball including “You Gotta Have Wa” and “The Meaning of Ichiro,” said, “Banzai” is “Fitts’ best work and will be a valuable addition to any baseball (or Japan) lover’s library.” Check it out today.

Contact Wayne Graczyk at Wayne@JapanBall.com

Just in case you need a few more turkeys on this holiday, Sports Illustrated has posted a slide show of its “2011 Turkeys of the Year.”

If you’re a member of Red Sox Nation, you don’t have to wonder who tops the list.

From the website:

Our parade of fowl bumblers starts with the Boston Red Sox, who staged one of the greatest collapses in baseball history by blowing a nine-game lead in the season’s final month. Among the culprits: Carl Crawford, who batted .255 following his $142 million free-agent signing, and starting pitchers Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Jon Lester, who were accused of eating fried chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during games.

The only question, I suppose, is why they did not simply post a team photo? No, the entry was not sponsored by Bud Light or Popeye’s Chicken. By the way, here’s the team’s unofficial season highlight video:

And who can forget former Fenway Park left fielder Manny Ramirez, who comes in at No. 13:?

Another case of Manny being Manny? After testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs — his second violation of MLB policy — the 39-year-old slugger opted to retire rather than serve a 100-game suspension. He hit 555 home runs during his prolific career, but may be better remembered for his wacky — and often inexplicable — behavior.

For Celtics and other basketball fans, SI honors both sides in the ongoing labor disptue at No. 30:

Taking a page from the NHL circa 2004, NBA owners and players squared off over a new collective bargaining agreement and ended up jeopardizing the entire 2011-12 season with an angry stalemate. While the owners dug in on their hard line and Commissioner David Stern issued ultimatums, the players union led by Executive Director Billy Hunter rejected a 50/50 revenue sharing deal that would have meant a seven percent cut, split into factions, and filed two antitrust lawsuits. Meanwhile a Poll Position telephone survey found that 76 percent Americans say they don’t miss the NBA.

The Bruins did not make the list – at least not directly. But they were involved for the No. 31 and 35 entries, both from the Stanley Cup Finals:

Falling one win shy of the first Stanley Cup in the franchise’s 41-year history did not sit well with the Canucks faithful, thousands of whom rioted in the streets of Vancouver after their team lost Game 7 of the Cup final, 4-0, at home to the Boston Bruins. Windows were smashed, stores looted, and cars set afire amid $1 million-plus in damage. At least 140 people were injured. Some “revelers” were later publicly identified after photos of them running amok were posted on the web. One, a 17-year-old water polo player at the University of Calgary, was suspended by his team.

During a scrum at the end of the first period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Canucks winger Alex Burrows appeared to put the bite on the finger of Bruins center Patrice Bergeron. The NHL later declined to suspend Burrows after reviewing the incident and finding “no conclusive evidence” of the chomp although Bergeron was seen wearing a bandage on his digit after the game.

And finally, the Patriots are represented with the final entry, No. 36 on the list and formerly No. 92 in your football program, Albert Haynesworth:

The former all-pro defensive tackle, a notorious $100 million free agent bust with the Washington Redskins, was given another chance by the New England Patriots, who acquired him for a fifth-round 2013 draft pick in July. But not even Bill Belichick’s vaunted redemption factory could wreak the desired effect. In six games, Haynesworth had two tackles and no sacks and was served with his release on Nov. 8. Now the Tampa Bay Bucs, who claimed him on waivers, will see if they can squeeze anything out of him. “The thing that I would think about Albert, the way his last three years have played out, is that he hates football,” Chris Cooley, his former Redskins teammate told CBS Washington.

I can hardly wait to see the magazine’s “naughty and nice list” for Christmas.

Read More: Boston Red Sox

Cleveland Indians bench coach and former star catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. interviewed for the manager position with the Boston Red Sox on Nov. 9, but he is no longer in the running to become the Red Sox manager.

Instead, the Red Sox have focused their attention on three other candidates: former Chicago White Sox manager and current Detroit Tigers third-base coach Gene Lamont, Toronto Blue Jays third base coach Torey Lovullo and the frontrunner — Bobby Valentine, who most recently managed in Japan from 2004-2009, prior to which he managed the New York Mets and Texas Rangers.

Although Valentine has not managed in MLB since 2002, Alomar, although respected around the game, has never managed at all, which was of course working against him throughout the hiring process.

Alomar also interviewed for the Chicago Cubs manager position, but the Cubs have since tabbed former Milwaukee Brewers pitching coach Dale Sveum as manager, so it looks like Alomar Jr. will be staying on Cleveland’s bench for the time being.

Multiple media sources say Bobby Valentine has emerged as the favorite to succeed Terry Francona as manager of the Boston Red Sox. The former manager of the Texas Rangers and New York Mets is scheduled to meet Monday with general manager Ben Cherington in what some observers believe is only a formality.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe wrote:

Now Valentine is the front-runner in that he apparently comes pre-approved by team president Larry Lucchino. Valentine also has the support of principal owner John Henry, according to sources.

According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo!Sports:

If Cherington approves, sources said Sunday, Valentine in all likelihood will be the Red Sox’s next manager.

Wrote Tyler Kepner of the New York Times:

There is an increasing sense around baseball that the job may be his (Valentine’s) to lose. The Red Sox have been canvassing the game for opinions on Valentine.

Passan also alluded to some of the behind-the-scenes Fenway intrigue:

The Red Sox’s seeming schizophrenia – four of the five candidates they have interviewed came without appreciable major league managing experience, and Valentine would arrive with 15 seasons plus another six in Japan – does nothing to dispel the notion of Cherington as a figurehead. This is not fair to him. Longtime colleagues as well as executives from other teams and agents believe him to be eminently capable of running the team. Epstein’s departure only emboldened Lucchino’s grasp on the larger pieces of Boston’s day-to-day operations.

Epstein, of course, is Theo Epstein, who left his post as general manager of the Sox to become president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs. One of his first official acts was to hire Dale Sveum as manager. Sveum, by coincidence, is the only managerial candidate who was interviewed twice by the Sox.

Also interviewed by the Sox were Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr., Tigers third base coach Gene Lamont, and Blue Jays first base coach Torey Lovullo.

One person who thinks hiring Valentine would be a bad move for the Red Sox is Bill Price of the New York Daily News:

Plenty has changed – mostly for the worst – in baseball since Bobby V. last managed. The players, especially the star players, have more power than ever before, and a guy like Bobby V., who likes to tweak his players and certainly doesn’t like to pull punches, needs to adapt … You wonder if this could backfire on the Red Sox. Valentine had his moments with the Mets, but imagine how volatile the situation could be in Boston, especially on the heels of this season’s disaster.