Last season, Bogar worked as an assistant coach for Tampa Bay, though he was not in uniform during games. His responsibilities included infield and baserunning instruction and providing input on advance scouting.

Before joining the Rays, Bogar spent two years each managing in the minor league systems for Houston and Cleveland.

In his position with the Sox, Bogar will coach first base, align the infield defense, work with infielders and help with baserunning.

``I'm really looking forward to bringing something to the staff to help the Red Sox be a better team than they already are,'' he said in a conference call yesterday.

Sox pitching coach and former Cleveland director of minor league operations John Farrell highly recommended Bogar. Bogar managed the Indians' Double-A affiliate (Akron) from 2006-07, was named Eastern League Manager of the Year in '06 and was chosen as the league's best manager prospect by Baseball America.

Relief obtained

The Sox obtained pitcher Wes Littleton from the Texas Rangers for two players to be named later or cash considerations.

The 26-year-old Littleton spent parts of the last three seasons with Texas, combining to go 5-3 with three saves and a 3.69 ERA in 102 1/3 innings. In 12 appearances last season with the Rangers, he was 0-0 with a 6.00 ERA. He spent most of the year at Triple-A Oklahoma, going 7-1 with six saves and 4.01 ERA in 44 games.

``He's a side-arming righty with a good sinker who gets a lot of ground balls and has been especially tough on righties (career .236 batting-average against),'' Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. ``He's been an up-and-down guy the last couple of years, but if you look at his big league track record, he's actually been pretty successful. He just hasn't stuck. We see him as a buy-low guy who has a chance to help us in the bullpen.''

Littleton was added to the 40-man roster. He's out of options, so he would have to make the club in spring training or risk being exposed to waivers. - smcadam@bostonherald.com