The Red Sox announced Friday afternoon that Tim Bogar has been named first-base coach. He replaces Luis Alicea, who was released by the club earlier this month.

Bogar served as assistant major-league coach for the 2008 American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, providing infielding and baserunning instruction while also assisting with advance series preparation. He is entering his 21st season in professional baseball, and his sixth since his playing career ended.

"To work for a manager of [Terry Francona's] stature, I'm really looking forward to it," Bogar said. "Hopefully I can bring something to his staff and help make the Red Sox a better team than they already are. It was a great process and I really enjoyed going through it. I'm looking forward to spending time with the Boston Red Sox."

Francona is always very well prepared and he didn't waste any time helping Bogar get acclimated. Francona said he sent his new coach a bunch of emails Friday morning.

"It's not rocket science," Francona said. "Getting baseball played correctly is all we're trying to do. Already, in the course of this process, I spoke to Tim about getting some of his opinions, too."

Bogar will also be in charge of the infielders and defensive setups, along with running the fundamental infield drills during spring training.

"We will certainly go over that stuff, but we don't have to do it tonight," Francona said. "As exciting as it gets, there will be a lot of give and take over the next couple of months and his input will be welcomed."

During his one-year stint with the Rays, he quicky gained the respect of the players in Tampa, including Rocco Baldelli.

"That's a good move for them," said Baldelli. "He's a great guy and a great baseball man."

Bogar, a former minor-league manager in the Indians and Astros organizations, said he's looking forward for this opportunity with the Red Sox to be back on the field.

"It was a very unique situation [in Tampa]," Bogar said. "I got to deal with different areas of the game that I hadn't been involved with [including] the scouting side of it and dealing quite a bit with the front office, but also dealing with the major-league staff and going over the game from the previous night. It opened my eyes to a lot of situations of things that happen at this level. Saying all that, I also missed the opportunity being on the field and the emotion of being with the player, the teaching aspect of it and having a direct influence as the game progresses on. I'm really looking forward to that again."

A former major leaguer and utility man, Bogar played nine seasons iwith the New York Mets (1993-96), Houston (1997-2000) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2001). He hit .228 with 24 home runs and 161 RBI in 701 games. He was originally selected by the Mets in the eighth round of the 1987 amateur draft.

With Bogar's appointment, Francona's staff is complete. He joins pitching coach John Farrell, third base coach DeMarlo Hale, hitting coach Dave Magadan, bench coach Brad Mills, and bullpen coach Gary Tuck.