On Thursday morning, the Boston Red Sox optioned three players to the Pawtucket Red Sox in shortstop Jose Iglesias, catcher Luis Exposito and infielder Yamaico Navarro. After beating the Mets 8-5 in the afternoon, they optioned first baseman Lars Anderson to Pawsox and reassigned Juan Carlos Linares to the minors.
Anderson is pretty much a man without a country right now as the Red Sox have Adrian Gonzalez for this year and more than likely the foreseeable future. He struggled again this spring like he did last year as he hit .161 with two home runs and three RBIs in 13 games.
Linares was pretty impressive in his 13 games with the big club during spring training. He hit .320 with one home run, three RBIs and nine runs scored.
He also left a lasting impression on skipper Terry Francona.
“Linares is really interesting,” Francona said. “Obviously the major-league staff didn’t know him really well. At first blush you look at him and you’re like, ‘I don’t know if this guy can play center field.’ And then you see him run around out there and he can actually play all three outfield positions, he’s very aggressive at the plate, and he hustles on every ball that is in play. He’s a pretty exciting guy.”
With all of the moves today, the Red Sox are down to 43 players in big league camp. They have to be down to 25 by April 1st when they open the season against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, TX.
