Mark Down February 18th and Much More

The long awaited release date has been announced. Red Sox pitchers and catchers will report to Fort Myers on February 18th, as the Sox look to rebound from disappointing exits the past two postseasons. 85 days to go, but who's counting?

Red Sox Hot Stove:

• According the the Boston Herald, the Red Sox are showing preliminary interest in SS Marco Scutaro. The scrappy shortstop hit .282/.379/.409 with 12 homers, 60 RBI and 100 runs scored in 2009. The team has been keeping tabs on free agent Alex Gonzalez, but Scutaro would provide an offensive boost from a position that the team doesn't normally rely on offensive from. We mentioned Scutaro as a possible addition in part one of our offseason preview right here.
• A source told the New York Daily News that the team is putting together a "full-court press" for SP Roy Halladay and the team would like to complete a deal before the Winter Meetings. Take this with a grain of salt, Sox fans, as the paper provides no source of information and no mention of who would be involved in a possible swap. However, it is speculated that in any Halladay deal, Toronto's new GM Alex Anthopoulos would ask for SP Clay Buchholz and number one prospect Casey Kelly. We noted that Halladay could be a welcome addition to the team in part two of our offseason preview over here.
  
• Rumors yesterday from FOXSports.com cited that the Red Sox were willing to eat as much as half ($6 million) of Mike Lowell's contract in a trade. Much speculation has been made about who would replace the 35-year old third baseman. A popular name being thrown out is Adrian Beltre (.265, 8 HRs, 44 RBIs in 111 games last year). While Beltre would be an upgrade over the older and slower Lowell defensively, the Sox would be better off keeping Lowell than trading him to acquire Beltre. The team should only pay to move Lowell if it nets them an offensive powerhouse in return (Adrian Gonzalez, Miguel Cabrera) and should not sacrifice the veteran via trade to bring in Beltre, who is not an upgrade over Lowell.
• J.D. Drew underwent surgery on his left shoulder. Drew received cortisone shots in his shoulder during the season as well as right before the playoffs, so surgery to fix the problem was inevitable. Drew, who played in 137 games last year, should be fine for spring training. J.D. has two years and $28 million left on his original five year pact and is coming off of a season where he sluggled 24 HRs and boasted a very impressive .914 OPS (On-base % plus Slugging %).
• The Red Sox coaching staff has been officially set. Pawtucket Red Sox mananger Ron Johnson will take over the 1B coaching duties which will move incumbent Tim Bogar to the 3B coaching box. Last year's 3B coach Demarlo Hale, who has served admirably as the 3B coach for the past few years (when you don't hear 3B coaches name too much, they're doing well), will become Terry Francona's right-hand man on the bench. Congratulations to Hale, as he deserves the role.
  
• Finally, after watching NESN's 'Hot Stove Special' today, it was interesting to hear GM Theo Epstein's evaluation of where they stand in this free agent market. While he said they're always looking for an intriguing trade or the most interesting free agents, he described the next tier of prospects as being 1.5-2 years away from contributing at the major league level. He proceeded to say this puts them in a bit of predicament having to bridge the gap while satisfying the need to stay competitive now.