February 25, 2009 at 10:52 AM
February 25 Fort Report
The major league spring training squad packed up their bags yesterday and moved from the Player Development Complex down the road to City of Palms Park ... The big league game schedule gets underway today with an afternoon scrimmage against Boston College and a Grapefruit League game against the cross-town rival Twins ... According to Kevin Thomas, several prospects are penciled in to see time on the mound against Boston College, including Clay Buchholz, Kris Johnson, Junichi Tazawa, Felix Doubront and Daniel Bard ... Against Minnesota, look for Justin Masterson, Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Billy Traber and Dustin Richardson to follow starter Tim Wakefield ... In the field, likely PawSox Chris Carter, Jon Van Every, Nick Green, and Angel Chavez will start this afternoon (George Kottaras, who is out of options, will start behind the plate) ... In the evening game, Jeff Bailey and Gil Velazquez are scheduled to start ... With the major leaguers gone from the Player Development Complex, minor league mini-camp gets underway this week, including most of the players from the 2008 Fall Instructional League and other players who voluntarily reported early ... In other news, Globe reporter Amalie Benjamin notes that Terry Francona has instructed Lars Anderson to work on his defense and "enjoy the experience" during his time in major league camp this spring ... Benjamin also talked to Josh Reddick, who was overwhelmed and excited by his first major league camp, but also surprised that camp was fairly laid back, "as long as you do your work" ... According to Joe McDonald of the Providence Journal, Francona doesn't rule out the chances of Chris Carter earning the bench spot left open by Mark Kotsay's injury, but only if Carter is able to help the team defensively ... Earlier this morning, we reported that fifteen Red sox players were named to final WBC rosters, including eleven minor leaguers ... WBC games start on March 5.