The Red Sox are on the verge of signing another Cuban defector, Jorge Padron. Padron is a 22-year old outfielder who is known to be a strong contact hitter, but with limited power at this point in his career. Hitting from the left side of the plate, Padron could be a top tier prospect after becoming accustomed to the Sox minor league system and playing professionally in the United States.

Fansided.com has just launched a new website on Monday called Call to the Pen. I was asked and have accepted the position of featured columnist and my first post went up today. Every Wednesday, I will write about streaking players and teams throughout the MLB. My column, Streaking in the Park, will not detract my attention on this site, but will give me more opportunities to write and you all more opportunities to read my writing. Head over to Call to the Pen and let me know what you think about the site and the column and come back every [...]

Start-up the duck boats and fill the cannons with confetti, because the Red Sox are coming back home as champions. Mayor’s Cup champions. After a 6 long and hard fought Spring Training battles with the Minnesota Twins, the Red Sox claimed another Mayor’s Cup title yesterday. I can just hear the champagne corks popping as we speak.

After a rather quiet few weeks surrounding the Josh Beckett contract extension talks, some new information emerged last night. According to Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com, a person familiar with the contract negotiations has said the Red Sox will not use the John Lackey, 5-year deal as a benchmark when talking to Beckett and his agent. Supposedly, the team has made it clear they will not offer Beckett anything above 4-years due to the concern with Beckett’s shoulder health long-term.

A day after releasing Brian Shouse, the Red Sox sign another veteran reliever to a minor league deal. Scott Schoeneweis signed a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to Spring Training with the Sox this afternoon. After spending all of Spring Training with the Milwaukee Brewers, Schoeneweis was released on Thursday, but now has the chance to make the Sox opening day roster.

As the Red Sox continue to cut their roster down for opening day, there has been no shortage of moves over the past week. Some players were demoted while we saw one notable reliever, Brian Shouse, released. We also saw a few injuries including the wrist issue with Dustin Pedroia as opening day looms just 9 days away. Here is a recap of transactions, injuries and news from this past week. Enjoy!

It appears Terry Francona and the Red Sox have already decided on an opening day starter already. When speaking to the media about the road trip to Washington, DC the day before their season kicks off against the Yankees, Tito mentioned that ‘even Beckett’ would travel, implying he will be the opening day starter. We are in for a treat to start the season with the Sox/Yankees pitching match-ups.

After back and neck injuries, Dice-K is finally making his first Spring appearance against the Florida Marlins. The Marlins are traveling to City of Palms Park this afternoon at 1:05pm to face the Red Sox in their final Spring match-up. Tim Wakefield will start this afternoon after an impressive 5 inning shutout on Saturday, as the Red Sox blanked the Baltimore Orioles 6-0.

After a relatively healthy Spring for the Red Sox starting 9, a potentially troublesome injury happened yesterday. During the 1st inning of the 5th Mayor’s Cup battle with the Minnesota Twins, Pedroia made a great diving stab on a bullet hit by Denard Span. Pedroia got up and threw wildly to first, committing his first error this Spring. During that play, Pedroia sprained his wrist and was removed from the game after just 1 inning.

After dropping both games of a split-squad effort on Monday and dropping their overall Spring record to 2 games below .500 (9-11), the Red Sox look to rebound and secure another Mayor’s Cup title. Clay Buchholz will start, looking to push the Sox record against the Minnesota Twins to 4-1 and take home some pre-season hardware in tonight’s battle under the lights. As much as Francona and the players joke about the importance of the Mayor’s Cup, it does add some intrigue to Spring Training.