SARASOTA, Fla. -- The actual 25-man roster won't be submitted until it has to be, which is Monday, Opening Day itself. But the decisions have been made, the affected players told as much, the composition of the 2006 Red Sox effectively set. The Sox entered yesterday with 38 players in big-league camp, leaving an unlucky 13.
Manager Terry Francona, before last night's game, acknowledged who will make the club and who will not. Here's how he'll get down to 25:
Tony Graffanino was claimed off waivers yesterday by the Royals, the team that dealt him to the Sox last July. In claiming the 33-year-old second baseman, the Royals saved the Sox $512,500. Had Graffanino cleared waivers, the Sox would have paid him that figure to terminate his nonguaranteed $2.05 million contract. He then would have gone looking for the best money/job out there.
There proved to be little interest in Graffanino, despite his career year in 2005. Teams initially interested in dealing for him were scared off by his paycheck and poor spring (.189, 1 HR, 3 RBIs). The Sox, in shopping him, asked only for a prospect, and when they couldn't get that, offered to pick up $500,000 of his salary. Still without takers, they put him on waivers, fully prepared to eat one-fourth of his salary. The Mets, Cardinals, and Cubs all were believed to be interested, but the Royals were the only team to put in a claim.
Before learning he'd been claimed, Graffanino expressed one last time how maddening this spring has been. He said that before the Sox offered him arbitration this winter, he knew of at least four teams potentially interested in signing him to a two-year deal.
''They took a lot of security out of my pocket," he said, ''and added a lot of frustration."
All of those offers disappeared when the Sox offered Graffanino arbitration. Signing Graffanino, a Type A free agent, after he'd been offered arbitration would have cost the signing team either a first- and second-round pick, or a sandwich pick and a second-round pick.
His absence got the Sox down to 37.
Manny Delcarmen, 24, and Craig Hansen, 22, were optioned to Pawtucket yesterday. Both could help the team now, but the Sox have six veteran relievers.
Hansen, though viewed as a future closer, will not close on a full-time basis in Pawtucket. Instead, the club wants him to develop his slider and possibly his changeup. He'll sometimes pitch multiple innings and presumably will be asked to throw specific pitches in specific situations.
''We set up a program to follow monthly for his development," Francona said. ''Hansen is good enough to go to the minors now and have shutout innings or a clean inning. We want him to use his pitches. As he found out here, you've got to throw more than one pitch and locate it."
