Position is filled

Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said he invited new hitting coach Dave Magadan to join the organization in September during a meeting in the Tampa area while the Sox were playing the Devil Rays.

Magadan's role was undetermined at the time, although he took part in organizational meetings and worked with young hitters at the team's instructional league in Fort Myers, Fla.

The clincher seemed to be a meeting with manager Terry Francona at the instructional league.

"Needless to say, I'm very excited to be with the Red Sox," the 44-year-old Magadan said on a conference call yesterday. "It was a tumultuous time for me when I was let go [in San Diego June 15]. I'd been there 3 1/2 years. I was shocked when I was let go. I didn't see it coming at all.

"It's kind of like my relationship with the Red Sox evolved from a lot of different levels, but it eventually turned into being the major league hitting coach."

Magadan and Epstein know each other from their days in San Diego, Epstein working his way up to become director of baseball operations, and Magadan working his way up to become the Padres' hitting coach.

Magadan has gotten to know the Red Sox organization during the past few weeks.

"I've been really impressed with the attention to detail and in the front office, obviously, everyone is working toward a common goal," Magadan said. "I was able to experience some of it when I was up in Boston [for organizational meetings] and I spent some time in the instructional league watching some of our young hitters and working with our minor league hitting coordinator Victor Rodriguez. It's been a little strange in that I was going in a lot of different directions finding my feet in the organization and trying to figure out what I was going to be doing. When the hitting coach job became available, I talked to Tito about coming on board."

On his hitting philosophy, Magadan said, "I like to keep it simple. Every hitter has his own personal quirks at the plate. There's not just one way to hit. I'm a hard worker. I believe in watching a lot of video to prepare for the pitcher we're going to be facing. When I was with San Diego, I did all of the advance scouting for our hitters on the pitchers we were going to face."

Magadan was drafted by the Red Sox in 1980 but elected to take a scholarship at the University of Alabama. He was signed by Lou Gorman's Mets in 1983, the 32d pick overall.

Major League Baseball hired Francona to replace Ken Macha as manager of an all-star team touring Japan Nov. 3-8. A five-game series will be played in three cities -- Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. Macha was fired by the Oakland A's last week.

"[MLB] called a few nights ago and the first thing I did was call Macha, who is one of my closest friends in baseball. I believe he was responsible for my name emerging and pushing it, so I decided to do it," Francona said.

No Red Sox players will be on the team.