Red Sox News & Notes @ SOX & Dawgs

Red Sox spring training tickets went on sale yesterday in Fort Myers and also on redsox.com and from all accounts things went without a hitch. People started lining up on Thursday for the tickets and the fans down in the Fort didn’t go home disappointed. This shows you how hot Red Sox tickets are even for spring training games. With the abbreviated spring training schedule this year, you can definitely expect the Red Sox to expand on their 62-game consecutive sell-out streak during Grapefruit League games.

Brendan Donnelly spoke out about his name being in the Mitchell Report and denied using steroids.

“In 2004, I was having multiple health issues and was concerned about not getting on the field fast enough. I made a phone call to (Kirk) Radomski about a substance called Anavar. Once I learned Anavar was classified as a steroid I realized that was not an option. That was the end of it. Yes, I called him. But I did not purchase or receive anything from him and have never taken Deca or Anavar. I fully support the current drug testing program put in place by Major League Baseball and agree with their efforts to widen the testing.”

For those who don’t know, Donnelly is not a member of the MLBPA. He is barred from joining because he was a replacement player in 1995.

“The replacement players are represented by the Players Association on matters of arbitration and other grievances, and they receive pension benefits, but they are not part of the union, they are not allowed to vote on union matters and they do not get licensing money.”

So while we here in the Northeast enjoy the typical winter N’oreaster and await the Patriots-Jets game at 1 PM, let’s look at the headlines.

Red Sox fans wait, ignore rain in Fort Myers [The News-Press]

Donnelly surfaces [Boston Herald]

Replacement players [Baseball Almanac]