The Red Sox have signed 29-year old righty reliever Rock Cherry to a minor league deal. Cherry pitched in 18 games (0 starts) for the Orioles last season in which he was 0-3 with 1 save, a 6.35 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. He has now pitched in 40 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 1-4 with 1 save, a 5.77 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. Cherry will likely be nothing more than organizational depth at AAA for the Red Sox in 2009.

The Red Sox have released catcher Josh Bard after he was still having issues catching Tim Wakefield. Bard played in 6 games this spring for the Red Sox in which he was 6 for 14 (.429 avg, 1.315 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBIs. 25-year old lefty swinging George Kottaras will back up Jason Varitek this season and he will try to handle catching Tim Wakefield. Kottaras played in 3 games for the Red Sox last season in which he was 1 for 5 (.200 avg, .600 OPS) with 1 run scored. Kottaras is having a good spring for the Red Sox as he has played in 10 games in which he is 4 for 14 (.286 avg, .875 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs.

The Red Sox have lost 26-year old righty reliever Wes Littleton on waivers to the Brewers. Littleton definately deserved to get released based on how poorly he pitched this spring for the Red Sox. He pitched in 6 games this spring in which he was 1-0 with a 18.56 ERA and a 2.81 WHIP.

Julio Lugo will miss the next month of the season as he will have arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Tuesday. That’s a shame because Lugo was playing well this spring. He played in 8 games in spring training this season for the Red Sox in which he was 9 for 20 (.450 avg, 1.028 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs. Lucky for the Red Sox that Jed Lowrie got a lot of experience last season. He has played in 11 games this spring for the Red Sox and he was 10 for 28 (.357 avg, 1.031 OPS) with 5 runs scored and 5 RBIs.

33-year old lefty swinging DH David Ortiz struggled with a wrist injury most of last season but his numbers still projected out well over a full season. He played in 109 games for the Red Sox last season and he was 110 for 416 (.264 avg, .876 OPS) with 74 runs scored, 23 homers and 89 RBIs. Personally, I don’t think that Ortiz has lost anything and I think he will have a fine 2009 season for the Red Sox as long as he can stay healthy.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2009 SEASON: A-