Boston Red Sox: Boston Globe Makes Interesting Roster Predictions

Boston Globe staff writer Chad Finn recently projected the Opening Day roster for the Boston Red Sox, just days before pitchers and catchers must report to camp in Fort Myers, Florida. Finn, though noting that this year has been much more difficult than previous years, made some interesting predictions on the players who'll crack the 25-man roster come April 5, when Boston travels to Detroit for the season-opener. 

Now, Finn uses a ranking system to determine who will be most valuable to the Red Sox, but I'm really just looking at his picks in general, not who's better or will be better than who.

First off, these are the predictions that Finn has made:

Starting Pitchers: Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Vicente Padilla

Relief Pitchers: Matt Albers, Bobby Jenks, Andrew Miller, Franklin Morales, Mark Melancon, Alfredo Aceves, Andrew Bailey

Catchers: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Kelly Shoppach

Infielders: Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jose Iglesias, Nick Punto, Mike Aviles, David Ortiz (DH)

Outfielders: Ryan Sweeney, Cody Ross, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury

There are several names that jump out immediately, but no bigger than the decision to keep Vicente Padilla and Jose Iglesias on the roster.

Padilla was signed to a minor-league deal this offseason, with a spring training invitation. He pitched in less than nine innings last season with the Dodgers before a bugling disk in his neck required season-ending surgery. Finn is basing the roster spot for Padilla on his resume, winning the fifth-starter job over the the long list of starters that includes Carlos Silva and Aaron Cook.

Now the case for Jose Iglesias is a little more subtle. It could be argued that if Crawford wasn't ready for Opening Day, and Mike Aviles was going to play more outfield during that span, then platooning Iglesias with Punto would make sense, but Finn has left Crawford on the roster. Iglesias's defense is at a level where he could play shortstop every day, but his offense still needs a ton of work, only producing a .554 OPS last season in Triple-A Pawtucket.

Of the notable players left off of the roster include outfielder Darnell McDonald, as well as catching prospect Ryan Lavarnway. 

McDonald, who played in 117 games in 2010 with Boston, and 79 last season, has hit .258 with 66 runs over the last two seasons. He's served as the first outfielder off of the bench in the past and usually pinch-hit against left-handed pitchers. McDonald is out of minor league options and will need to clear waivers before reporting to Pawtucket, assuming Boston doesn't release him altogether.

Players who also are out of options are Andrew Miller, Franklin Morales and Matt Albers, who all made Finn's roster, as well as Michael Bowden and Felix Doubront, who did not make the cut.

Back to Lavarnway, who was surprisingly left off of Finn's Opening Day roster. The young catcher came on to the major league scene in September, after crushing the ball throughout the season in Triple-A. Boston will definitely have Saltalamacchia and Shoppach as their primary catchers, and David Ortiz will DH 99 percent of the games, basically leaving Lavarnway without a spot as of now. Now, he could continue to flourish and earn a call-up midseason, but someone will have to fail or get hurt before that happens.

Overall, Finn makes a lot of easy projections, picking the obvious All-Star-caliber players such as Ellsbury, Gonzalez and Pedroia, but does do a tough task in projecting the bullpen. He chooses two lefties and two righties, before getting into the combination of Aceves-Melancon-Bailey at the end of the game.

All we can do for now is sit back and wait for it all to play out. Just three more weeks until the Red Sox kick off their spring schedule against the students of Northeastern University.