When the Boston Red Sox announced their 2009 spring training schedule yesterday, they also announced the dates for pitchers and catchers to report along with the full squad.
Pitchers and catchers will report on February 12th, 2009 and they will hold their first workout on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. The fest of the team is scheduled to report on February 16th and the first full-squad workout will take place on February 18th.
All this means that spring training is just 78 days away for the Red Sox. I can tell you this, I can’t wait for it to start. It feels like it’s been a full year since we’ve seen the Red Sox play.
Some quick Jason Varitek news. His agent Scott Boras said that the Red Sox have expressed interest in bringing back their Captain but have not talked dollars and years yet.
“We’ve had no financial discussions with the team as of yet regarding Jason,” agent Scott Boras said. “We met briefly when the club expressed interest in bringing Jason back. And we told them we were interested in looking into it. It was something we agreed to discuss in the future. So I’m sure sometime after Thanksgiving we’ll sit down and talk about it.”
Something tells me that since this is taking a long time that Varitek may not be back in a Red Sox uniform. Just a gut feeling I have. I really think if he wanted to come back and the Red Sox wanted him back that a deal would have already been done.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are exploring other options at catcher in case they can’t re-sign Tek.
Have the Red Sox made an offer to Mark Teixeira? According to Boras, he has received formal offers for Teixeira’s services. No word on what teams have made these formal offers. Of course then again, Boras could be lying about it. Only time will tell about this.
With the Clay Buchholz having a good Arizona Fall League, it’s quite likely he’ll compete for a spot on the Red Sox roster for next season. Of course if the Red Sox sign a free agent pitcher, he could be traded or spend the start of the season in the minors.
Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen says the Red Sox are close to signing some minor league free agents to fill the rosters. They have already signed Paul McAnulty and Marcus McBeth. They’ve also re-signed Gil Velazquez.
The Red Sox stadium deal does not make sense for Lee County according to Ft. Myers councilman Warren Wright.
Jed Lowrie was a hit at an event he attended at his middle school he went to growing up.
