The Boston Red Sox are just over six days away from Opening Day against the New York Yankees and I think we all couldn’t be happier to have some real baseball to watch on our televisions.
The Red Sox will break camp on Friday afternoon after taking on the Washington Nationals. They’ll then head to our nation’s capital to play the Nationals again. After that, it’s on to Boston for Opening Day.
There are still questions to be answered before they break camp.
The main one being how will the roster shape up. Right now, we know the starting nine and we know that Jason Varitek, Bill Hall and Jeremy Hermida will be on the bench. We know the starting rotation plus the fact that Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Ramon Ramirez, Daniel Bard and Manny Declarmen will be in the bullpen.
By my count, that leaves three roster spots open. One of those three spots will go to a backup infielder which’ll most likely be Tug Hulett or Kevin Frandsen unless they can’t trade Mike Lowell this week. There’s also the distinct possibility that Lowell could start on the DL if he his knee doesn’t respond to treatment.
The two remaining roster spots will go to bullpen guys like Scott Atchison, Boof Bonser, Joe Nelson, Scott Schoeneweis or Alan Embree. With two righties and two lefties in the bunch, my guess is the Red Sox will take one of each. Embree may not be ready to start the season in the big leagues so this could give an opening to Schoenweis.
One thing we need to remember is that Daisuke Matsuzaka will be ready towards the end of April. So it’s quite possible that one of these guys in the bullpen who makes the team could be released or sent to Pawtucket.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens in this final week of spring training down in Ft. Myers.
We’ll be back later on with any breaking news and the lineups for tonight’s Grapefruit League tilt against the Tampa Bay Rays.
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Clay able to break mold [Boston Globe]
Francona will choose up sides [Boston Globe]
Patience not lost by Red Sox [Boston Herald]
Clay Buchholz has positive ID [Boston Herald]
Lining them up [Clubhouse Insider]
Quiz time [ESPN Boston]
MLB Power Rankings, 3/29 [Full Count]
Tony Massarotti Tabs Kevin Youkilis as AL MVP in 2010 Predictions [NESN.com]
Clay Buchholz Shakes Off Poor Start, Red Sox Beat Twins 11-5 [NESN.com]
Red Sox Must Beat Teams They’re Supposed to Beat to Be Successful in 2010 [NESN.com]
Report: Lars Anderson to start at Double-A [Projo Sox Blog]
Tug Hulett’s walk-off hit [Projo Sox Blog]
Report: Rangers still talking about Lowell [Projo Sox Blog]
Hulett, Frandsen battle for roster spot [Providence Journal]
Red Sox Journal: Buchholz able to regain his focus [Providence Journal]
Restocked Red Sox begin quest anew [RedSox.com]
Red Sox’s 10 prospects to watch in 2010 [RedSox.com]
Red Sox 2010 organization preview [RedSox.com]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal and WEEI websites.
