Red Sox Update

Spring Training has finally begun and all players expected on the Red Sox 25-man roster have reported to camp with one exception. That exception, of course, is Manny Ramirez who is scheduled to report on March 1st due to his mother's illness. General Manager Theo Epstein has confirmed this report. There have been reports that Ramirez was scheduled to appear at a classic car show sometime this week (rather than reporting to Red Sox spring training), but those reports have not been confirmed.

In news from camp today, Daisuke Matsuzaka threw a whopping 103-pitch bullpen session and reportedly impressed all spectators.

Curt Schilling has announced that he will test the free agent waters upon completion of the 2007 season. Members of the Red Sox front office have deemed it too risky to enter into a contract extension with Schilling before this season due to his age. Hopefully, this motivates Schilling to prove Theo Epstein wrong and pitch great in 2007.

There were rumblings on Tuesday that Jonathan Papelbon would reclaim his closer role for the 2007 season, but those have been quieted for now and it appears that Papelbon will be a starter in 2007 as was anticipated.

Boston.com has been posting spring training photos on a daily basis, here are the links from the last few days:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_22_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_21_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_20_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_19_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_18_07_spring/
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/02_17_07_spring/