In a battle to avoid the basement, Boston and Toronto open a three-game series Friday night at Fenway Park. Lately, the big story has been Sox manager Bobby Valentine’s meltdown on the radio or the idea of Blue Jays manager John Farrell succeeding the embattled Bobby V.

Another topic: From a baseball development standpoint, which team is better prepared for the future? Let’s take a look at the series, which features 11 ex-New Hampshire Fisher Cats and 10 former Portland Sea Dogs.

Prospects

The series opens with home-grown starters Felix Doubront (10-7, 5.03 ERA) and Henderson Alvarez (7-12, 5.04 ERA), who both signed as teenage free agents in Venezuela. Doubront began climbing his way through the minors in 2005, while Alvarez made a more rapid ascent after signing in 2008.

In Manchester, we are fortunate to watch some of baseball’s top minor leaguers come through the Eastern League. The Fisher Cats usually play the Sea Dogs about 14 times at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, giving fans a chance to size up most of the best talent heading toward the American League East. In 2013, the Red Sox sent four of their top 10 prospects through Manchester, most recently Xander Bogaerts, Bryce Brentz, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and recently acquired elite prospect Allen Webster from the Dodgers. The Sox also acquired power arm Rubby De La Rosa from the Dodgers in the too-good-to-be-true trade.

The Blue Jays have been praised for their development of elite arms in recent years, including All-Star lefty Ricky Romero, but they haven’t gained ground on the Red Sox. This year, Fisher Cats outfielder Jake Marisnick showed the tools of an impact big leaguer, but he wasn’t surrounded by much talent. Edge: Red Sox.

Core players

Now that the Red Sox have payroll flexibility — after unloading $260 million in salary in the nine-player trade with the Dodgers — general manager Ben Cherington can focus on building around the team’s core players. Dustin Pedroia, 29, is under the team’s control through 2015 (including a club option). Arbitration-eligible Jacoby Ellsbury, 28, and catcher Jarrod Saltalmacchia, 27, should be priority-signs for Cherington. Third baseman Will Middlebrooks, 23, and Doubront, 24, have locked down full-time jobs and will be under Boston’s control for several years. Clay Buchholz, 28, will remain in a Red Sox uniform through 2017 if the team excercises a club option on the final two years of his contract. Jon Lester, 28, will likely stay with Boston through 2014 if the team picks up a club option following the 2013 season. That’s seven impact players under age 30. The Blue Jays’ list of young core players includes J.P. Arencibia, Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie, Colby Rasmus, Brandon Morrow, Romero, and let’s generously include 22-year-old Alvarez. Edge: Red Sox.

Payroll

The Red Sox once have deep pockets after dumping the salaries of Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Adrian Gonzalez. For next season, they currently have six players under contract for $46.6 million, according to Baseball Prospectus. Of course, the Sox would have to shell out millions to re-sign Ellsbury and David Ortiz, but they’d still have more financial freedom than Toronto. The Blue Jays have 13 players under contract for $61.3 million next season, including Jose Bautista at $14 million. Edge: Red Sox.

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ALL-CLEMENS BATTERY?: Fisher Cats role player Koby Clemens was released from his minor-league contract on Tuesday, giving the eldest K-kid a chance to join the Sugar Land Skeeters and serve as catcher for his old man. Roger Clemens is scheduled to pitch again Friday for the independent-league Skeeters.

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Staff writer Kevin Gray covers pro baseball for the New Hampshire Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News. His email address is kgray@unionleader.com. Twitter: @graymatter11.