--DH David Ortiz announced he'll run the "Papi Cares 2009" charity for the entire 2009 baseball season, a ticket program that will provide trips to Fenway Park for families facing difficult financial times. One family will be chosen for each game and hosted by Ortiz at Fenway Park. "We're just trying to build up something the way that those families can still come to the field and have fun and be part of the family," Ortiz said. "This is a baseball game, it's a family game. We need to try to keep it that way."
--RHP John Smoltz and SS Julio Lugo headline a group of five Red Sox players who will begin the 2009 season on the disabled list. Lugo and OF Mark Kotsay are the two closest to returning to full health -- with Lugo expected to be ready in the first few weeks of April after undergoing right knee surgery. Kotsay is on schedule to return in May after back surgery, and Smoltz is targeting a June return to the pitcher's mound following shoulder surgery. RHP Miguel Gonzalez, a Rule 5 pickup, will miss the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, and OF Jonathan Van Every was also placed on the disabled list to start the season with a right ankle sprain. --RHP Clay Buchholz was optioned to Class AAA Pawtucket over the weekend after putting together a solid -- and at times spectacular -- spring in big league camp with the Sox. The 24-year-old right-hander went 2-0 with a 2.52 ERA in six spring starts with the Sox and struck out 19 batters in 25 innings pitched. Buchholz appeared to have taken a new approach toward pitching this spring, and paired his powerful stuff with a more advanced mental approach to the mound. Buchholz will likely be the first starting pitcher called from the minors if Boston needs reinforcements over the baseball season's first few months.
--OF Brad Wilkerson accepted Boston's offering of a minor league assignment after he was informed at the end of spring training that he wouldn't be making the opening-day roster, according to WEEI.com. Wilkerson had a right to elect free agency when the Red Sox did not add him to the 40-man roster by April 1, and had cleaned out his locker after getting the news from the Sox in March. He is, however, currently working out at the team's minor league complex in Fort Myers in anticipation of a likely season-opening assignment to Class AAA Pawtucket.
BY THE NUMBERS: 13 -- Extra-base hits slammed by SS Jed Lowrie during 67 spring training at-bats.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "You get kind of caught up, especially in the first two weeks, when everything's overanalyzed, everything's overblown, over-magnified. That's what we just reminded the players. Just try to have good players trying to do the right thing and then, as you get into the grind of the season, if you're as good as you think you are, it'll show." -- Red Sox manager Terry Francona on his mind-set at the beginning of the season.
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