The Red Sox are Finally Getting Healthy

– Kevin Youkilis will be activated tomorrow tomorrow
– Daisuke Matsuzaka is pitching Friday versus the Mets
– John Smoltz pitches his first rehab game Thursday for Greenville
– Mark Kotsay is “pretty close” to starting a rehab assignment
– Jed Lowrie’s wrist is at 80% strength; at 90% he will resume full baseball activities

Some real good news today on the Red Sox injury front. Having Youkilis back tomorrow will be nice; it just lengthens our lineup with another great hitter. Matsuzaka coming back is nice, but the real added benefit is putting Masterson back in the bullpen where he can go 2 or 3 innings a time in an emergency. Our bullpen has been burned this year by having only one inning guys when our starters struggle.

Smoltz for the second half of the season could be better than any possible trade in baseball. Kotsay, while not sexy, is a better bench player than what the Sox have been running out recently.

Lowrie showed how sick he can be while healthy this spring after playing with a broken wrist last year. When right, he can play a very solid SS with gap to gap power. Hopefully he too is a huge addition around the All Star break.

Report: Will Middlebrooks has a torn hamstring

According to the blog on soxprospects.com, 5-tool prospect Will Middlebrooks tore his hamstring during drills and could be out through April and possibly longer.

This is horrible news for my favorite breakout candidate.

What this does do is give Michael Almanzar a major opportunity to play third base full time in Low-A Greenville while Middlebrooks gets healthy.

Ryan Westmoreland has surgery on torn labrum

Red Sox Top 10 prospect Ryan Westmoreland will be out 4-6 months after having his right labrum successfully repaired.

Instead of an almost guaranteed starting spot in Single-A Greenville, it is now reasonable to assume his debut will come with the Lowell Spinners when they open up their short season on June 19, 2009.

More from the ProJo: Sox’ Westmoreland has surgery

He began rehab and was sent to the Dominican instructional league this winter with six other Sox draftees. He went 10-for-15 with two triples, a double and home run in four games.

“He was phenomenal,” McLeod said. “He swung the bat exceptional well. . . This is bittersweet for us, because you get so excited when you hear the reports coming back. Everyone was excited what he was doing offensively, but obviously we want to get him back at full strength. Our goal is to make sure he’s healthy first.”

Unfortunately, Westmoreland’s shoulder was still bothering him, so the Red Sox thought it best to shut him down. He returned to Boston where he underwent strength tests last Friday. Gill’s recommendation was to have the surgery.

Westmoreland is scheduled to begin his rehab on Monday and will spend the month of December in Fort Myers. He should be able to start swinging prior to the four-month mark, and begin throwing soon after.

Good News on Beckett, Ross Called Up

Terry Francona said this afternoon that Josh Beckett’s visit to Dr. Andrews in Alabama went well and all tests came back clean.  Beckett was put on the DL but is already slated to pitch next Friday.

With the open roster spot the Red Sox called up catcher David Ross, who was to be called up when the rosters expanded on September 1st anyways.  This move allows more maneuverability with pinch hitters/runners in this weekend’s series against the White Sox.

Red Sox Updates; Rizzo, Bard, Okajima

Not a lot of news lately; the Sox wrapped up a hellish road trip and instead of getting back on friendly grass of Fenway Park last night the game gets rained out and we have nothing to switch to as the Celtics can’t close out a series on the road — again. At least they are Sox playing two today.

Terrible news yesterday as the Sox announced big-time hitting prospect Anthony Rizzo is being treated for lymphoma. Apparently they caught it early and he should have it beaten in about six months. Still, Lester, Kessel and now Rizzo… this has not been a fun stretch.

In happier prospect news, Daniel Bard is flying north this morning to join the Sea Dogs. After a miserable 2007, something finally clicked last winter while pitching in Hawaii and so far this year he has been nearly unhittable in low-A Greenville. He posted a 0.64 ERA while amassing 43 strikeouts and only 4 walks in 28 innings of relief work for the Drive. Instead of sending him back to pitchers hell in Lancaster, CA the Sox decided the best place for his next challenge is Portland. Look for him to continue pitching in two-inning stints every few days.

The Providence Journal is reporting this morning that Hideki Okajima has been pitching with a sore left wrist and is now being shut down for a few day of rest.  I find it interesting that the Sox decided to pitch him in the Baltimore series when they could have piggybacked a few days of rest with Thursday’s offday.  Here’s to hoping Hansen and Delcarmen are given first cracks are high leverage relief innings today.

Manny Delcarmen Injured

Playing on a wet field, Manny Delcarmen fielded a ball this afternoon, slipped, and then came up lame.  After this play the game was put into a rain delay. Goddamnit.

As I wrote a few days ago, the only thing you have to worry about with veteran players in spring training is avoiding injuries and the Red Sox have had a million this spring.

Hopfully MDC can get back on the mound a time or two before the trip to Japan.

It’s too bad we don’t just send a Triple-A squad to play the A’s, we would still probably split the 2-game series and not have to worry about 30 billion miles traveled right before the start of a grueling 162+ game season.