March 18, 2008 at 8:41 PM
Sox set roster for Tokyo series
The Red Sox have announced their roster for their season opening two game series in Tokyo, Japan against the Athletics, March 25-26. The Sox will travel with 30 players, The Sox will have a regular 25-man roster, plus two additional players who will be eligible to play in the series and three more players who will be inactive for both games. The rationale behind allowing the inactives is to alleviate the potential burden of both teams having to set their 25-man roster in advance of the rest of the league. They will be required to reduce their roster to 25 when the regular season resumes April 1 in Oakland, after playing an exhibition series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester are scheduled to start in Japan.
Pitchers: David Aardsma, Clay Buchholz, Bryan Corey, Manny Delcarmen, Jon Lester, Javier Lopez, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Kyle Snyder, Julian Tavarez, Mike Timlin, Tim Wakefield.
Catchers: Dusty Brown, Kevin Cash, Jason Varitek.
Infielders: Sean Casey, Alex Cora, Mike Lowell, Jed Lowrie, Julio Lugo, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis.
Outfielders: Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Bobby Kielty, Brandon Moss, Manny Ramirez.