Boston Red Sox

Unlike the young-gun non-roster invitees who have been reassigned to minor league camps and may still have the whole baseball world before them, these more veteran pitchers need to shine now if they’re to make the 2010 show.

With the starting rotation and bullpen largely predetermined, there aren’t many spots for these aging devotees of the diamond gods.

While they await the sign to take the field and pray for injuries or trades to free up roster space, let’s take a look at who they are and where they’ve been.

Today’s edition of “Fish Bytes”, the Miami Herald’s daily blog that covers the Florida Marlins, says that the club had a scout in Fort Myers yesterday watching Mike Lowell throw the leather at first base. As was reported here last night, Lowell made his spring training debut at first base in the game, going 1-for 2 and playing three innings in the contest.

Lowell played seven seasons with the Marlins from 1999-2005 and was a very popular player both in the clubhouse and in the community. He hit .272 with 143 HR and 578 RBIs while with Florida.

During a recent "Saturday Night Live", comedian/host Zach Galifianakis did the mustache community proud by shaving his trademark bushy hobo beard down to a very handsome cookie duster.

Similarly, during last spring's World Baseball Classic, Kevin Youkilis abandoned his goatee and toyed around with a fu manchu that would make the likes of Luis Tiant and Hulk Hogan blush.

Unfortunately, the werewolf gene present in both "The Hangover" star and the Red Sox first baseman keeps them from donning just the lip sweater.

As usual, Theo Epstein has effectively overloaded the 2010 Red Sox rotation with Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and John Lackey owning the front end and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield, and maybe Boof Bonser competing for the final two spots.

The bullpen, led by the still largely dominant Jonathan Papelbon, is not quite so prohibitively predetermined but remains crowded. Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, and Daniel Bard have probably already locked up their spots if only due to their experience.

The average baseball fan looks for success in their favorite team by simple facts. People want their stars to be home run hitters who hit 40 every season. They believe their relievers to be these fabulous athletes who can get 40 saves as well. A player is looked upon as a great hitter if he is able to hit 90 or more RBIs.

All those statistics that I just named are false tools. They ignore the true use of a baseball player and ignore what makes a star.

Depending upon which prospect list you happen to read, RHP Casey Kelly is either the Red Sox No. 1 or No. 2 prospect.

But today, he’s just another young man in the Red Sox minor league camp.

It hit me at one point in the offseason that of the 30 teams in the game of baseball, there are a few teams that currently “get it” when it comes to running an organization, both short-term and long-term.

There are a few teams that get it and then there is the Boston Red Sox.

Few teams are on Boston’s playing field when it comes to spending money. That is a reality of the game we play in and for the foreseeable future, it will be the reality.

The Red Sox top prospect, outfielder Ryan Westmoreland of Portsmouth, RI, has been diagnosed with a rare congenital condition (a cavernous malformation) that carries a risk of neurological damage and is potentially life-threatening.

He has taken a medical leave of absence from the club to obtain treatment and undergo surgery.

GM Theo Epstein made the announcement yesterday:

JD Drew is entering the penultimate year of the five-year, $70 million deal he signed with the Red Sox prior to the 2007 season.

While many members of Red Sox Nation believe that he hasn’t been worth the money, others (myself included) have been converted—at least to the point where we do not consider it to have been an outright mistake.

It is undeniable that he hasn’t put up the kind of sexy numbers you would normally equate with a $14 million players, but he has been very consistent (averaging 429 AB, with a .276 BA, 18 HR, 65 RBI, and 82 R per year).

Fantasy baseball drafts are happening in peak volume across the country this week and next, and in nine out of 10 of those drafts, Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay will be the first two pitchers off the board.

Lincecum and Halladay are the premier starting pitchers in the game, particularly for fantasy owners. They are durable, strike batters out in bunches and have great control.

Unfortunately, both Lincecum and Halladay will come off the board within the first round and a half of the majority of drafts.