Chris Carter

Carter, Green make 25-man

Nick Green and Chris Carter are your final members of the 2009 Opening Day Boston Red Sox, Sean McAdams reports. Carter grabs the "Kotsay spot" and should see time at first and DH until Kotsay returns in May. Green will back up the infield until Julio Lugo returns a week or two into the season.

Things can change if the Red Sox make an acqusition this week. The Sox are known to like Jeff Keppinger, who is available. If they do acquire Keppinger, you would have to think Lugo will not return at all.

March 31, 2009 evan brunell

Angel Chavez

Handicapping the backup infielder race

With the news that Julio Lugo is undergoing arthroscopic surgery tomorrow, the question becomes who is going to pick up the slack. Lugo may return in time for Opening Day... he could return a few days after... or his injury could be worse than currently thought.

Either way, the backup infield job is now officially a competition. If healthy, Jed Lowrie and Lugo are the two victors... but who could the job fall to if Lugo can't make it back in time? Let's look at the four candidates.

March 16, 2009 evan brunell

Dustin Pedroia

Lugo to have surgery, Pedroia hurt

Dustin Pedroia strained a muscle near his ribcage during Team USA workouts on Friday. It's not anything to be concerned about, but this next piece of news is.

Julio Lugo may have torn his meniscus in his knee and word is he will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday. He'd be sidelined a month, leaving the starting shortstop job to Jed Lowrie. That's probably the outcome we all hoped for, but losing Lugo as a backup is tough.

Nick Green, Gil Velazquez, Ivan Ochoa and Angel Chavez will all compete for the backup job. So far, Green has to be winning the job -- he's hitting .387/.472/.645 and has a reputation as a solid gloveman.

March 14, 2009 evan brunell

Angel Chavez

How dependent are we on Mike Lowell?

Mike Lowell is prepared to hit the field and play in a game in two weeks, he reported yesterday. Although he hasn't suffered any setbacks with his right hip, he also hasn't been running the bases yet, which could make or break his progress.

It's very possible, although no noise has been made about it, that Lowell could suffer a setback which would either a) postpone his regular season debut or (worst case) b) knock his 2009 season out entirely.

Should Lowell not be able to start on Opening Day, this means Julio Lugo would start at shortstop with Jed Lowrie manning third base. There's a problem with this, however.

March 2, 2009 evan brunell