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Ellsbury dropped to seventh in batting order »
March 24, 2008
BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer
TOKYO -- After several weeks of spring training and exhibition games -- both in Florida and here -- the Red Sox roster for Opening Day went right down to the wire.
Though the Red Sox didn't have to determine their final choices -- a 25-man roster with a three-man inactive squad -- until hours before the season opener with the Oakland A's, all signs pointed to the following developments:
-- The intends to put pitcher Josh Beckett (back), who is still at the Fort Myers training base in Florida, on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 19. That would make Beckett eligible to come off the DL on April 3, when the team has an off-day between Oakland and Toronto.
-- The following players will be inactive for the games here with Oakland: first baseman Sean Casey, pitcher Mike Timlin and Tim Wakefield. Casey has been slowed by a stiff neck, incurred during the 17-hour flight here last week. Timlin received stitches on his right ring finger last week and hasn't appeared in a game in since last Tuesday. And Wakefield, who pitched Sunday night in the final exhibition game and won't work in either game against the A's, was being made inactive to give the team additional flexiblity.
-- The "extra'' players, who can't be in uniform during the games, will be infielder Jed Lowrie and outfielder Bobby Kielty. Both came to camp as non-roster invitees. Lowrie will be the starting shortstop at Pawtucket, while Kielty is the odd-man-out as the team's fourth outfielder until Coco Crisp can be dealt elsewhere. When Kielty signed his minor-league contract over the winter he received an "out" clause that allows him to elect free agency at the end of spring training if he doesn't make the 25-man roster. But Kielty also knows that a spot will become available eventually and doesn't intend to act on the clause.
-- The club will purchase the contract of catcher Kevin Cash, the backup catcher who came to camp on a minor-league deal.
All those moves would allow the Sox to have three catchers -- Cash, starter Jason Varitek and reserve Dusty Brown -- eligible for the two games here. The Sox wanted to have three catchers on hand in the event that something happened to either Varitek or Cash, leaving them thousands and thousands of miles from catching reinforcements.
The Sox now have these two games and three more in Los Angeles to continue to make decisions on its final bullpen choices. For now, David Aardsma, Javier Lopez and Bryan Corey are competing for the final spot, with Corey seen as having the edge.
It's conceivable the Sox will eventually need to place Timlin on the DL -- they could backdate him, the way they did Beckett -- but that's a decision they don't have to address until after their weekend series of exhibition games with the Dodgers in Los Angeles. For now, he's merely inactive and unavailable for the first two regular-season games here.
Posted by Sean McAdam 
at 6:19 AM | Permalink
