Position players enjoyed their moment in the sun with the conditioning drills. The stand-out performance was by first baseman/outfielder Chris Carter, who approached his shuttle drills with a peerless intensity. “I think he was the only one looking forward to (the tests),” said manager Terry Francona.

Every player except Rocco Baldelli, Mark Kotsay and Mike Lowell took part in the conditioning drills.

Other odds and ends from today:

– The shortstop competition between Jed Lowrie and Julio Lugo will not just feature the two players at the position in question. Instead, Lowrie will likely see some playing time this spring at third base as well, a position that he handled capably at times when Mike Lowell was down. Lugo, on the other hand, will only play short this spring, rather than moving around the diamond to play either second, third or the outfield.

“(Lugo) is a shortstop,” said Francona. “I think (moving him around) is unfair. You’ve got a veteran guy that’s coming in, he was injured, he missed the last few weeks of the season. He needs to show what he can do. By moving him around, that would be unfair to him. I don’t want to do that… This is a big spring for Julio. It feels like he has something to prove. He missed some time. I think that the best way to go about it is to let him be a shortstop.”

–Lowrie underwent testing on the strength of his wrists, and found that the year-ending disparity in his two wrists (his right wrist was 60 units of unknown measurement stronger than his left wrist at the end of the year) had nearly leveled out (right wrist 15 units stronger than left on Tuesday). At the start of last season, Lowrie showed equal strength in the two wrists, and it would appear he is on track to return to that balance.

–It may have simply been an oversight, but when Francona was asked to evaluate the defense, he identified very position except shortstop as solid to above average. He never mentioned short. It is, however, worth mentioning that Lowrie had an exceptional +8 rating (accoring to John Dewan’s Fielding Bible) in just a third of a season at shortstop. Lugo was a -2 (meaning he made two fewer plays than a league-average shortstop, according to Baseball Information Solutions) in roughly half a season at the position.

–Jason Bay smoked his group in his conditioning tests. In most instances, such outcomes are insignificant. But for Bay, it was his performance in just that type of setting that helped to transform him from a virtually anonymous 22nd round draft pick as a college senior to someone whom the Expos started monitoring in the outfielder’s first spring training in 2001.

“He showed up and the first spring training he went to, we have what we call field day, where you measure tools,” said former Expos farm director Tony LaCava, now the Blue Jays Assistant General Manager. “What a surprise he was—Jason really had tools. He ran a 6.6 in the 60, he had a plus arm from right field, he had raw power and he could hit. In that round, that area of the draft, you usually don’t find that complete a player.”

–The Sox remain hopeful that Mike Lowell will be ready for Opening Day, though Francona cautioned that the team wouldn’t push to fulfill that goal at the expense of Lowell’s long-term health.

–Francona said that because of the depth of the bullpen, the team would have the luxury of protecting a reliever such as Takashi Saito, who is rebounding from an elbow that nearly required Tommy John surgery last season. He referred to the structured program and usage guidelines in place to protect closer Jonathan Papelbon in presenting a blueprint for how the Sox might manage Saito.

–Jason Bay suggested that he’s comfortable hitting anywhere in the lineup, including cleanup, and that he does not approach hitting in the No. 4 spot any differently than he does any other spot. Bay also offerd his belief that the Sox have “four or five guys who can hit third or fourth.” As for goals for improving his game this year, Bay suggested that he’d like to swipe a few more bases, noting, “I get forgotten about sometimes” at first. He stole a career-high 21 bags in 2005, and had 10 steals in 2008 (7 with Pittsburgh, 3 with the Sox). He also repeated yesterday’s statement that an extension to remain in Boston is “definitely something I would consider,” but didn’t express any urgency in that regard.

–Mark Kotsay said that, following surgery on Jan. 29 to remove a bone fragment that lodged in a nerve in his back, he hopes to follow a similar return to the diamond that he did when he underwent the same procedure for a different disk in March 2007. Then, it take him three months from the time of the surgery to return to the field, a timetable that would make a late-April or early-May return reasonable.

–Jon Lester said that he’s fine with the number of innings he put in last year, and that he welcomes the responsibility for being a staff anchor. He also suggested that he is now grateful that people view him foremost as a dominant pitcher rather than a cancer survivor, he now has a better grip on the fact that he can his recovery from cancer can prove an inspiration. Whereas he was, at times, uncomfortable talking about his personal history with the disease, he now proclaims himself more comfortable talking about it.

Just a reminder: feel free to send along questions to Rob, Trags and me in Fort Myers by using the feedback form on the right.

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