Red Sox first baseman/outfielder Chris Carter, currently playing for Triple A Pawtucket, was claimed on waivers as a means of delaying his transfer from the Red Sox to the Mets as one of the two players to be named in the deal that sent reliever Billy Wagner to Boston, according to a major league source. Despite the claim, however, the only effect of the maneuver will be to leave Carter in limbo for the rest of the season, since the Red Sox are expected to pull him back from waivers and then send him to New York after the end of the season, at which point players on the 40-man roster no longer need to clear waivers to be traded.

Carter, 26, is hitting .279 with a .340 OBP and .779 OPS for the PawSox. He was acquired — as a player to be named later — as part of a three-way deal that sent former Red Sox outfielder Wily Mo Pena to the Nationals in 2007.

While the Red Sox had no announcement, outfielder/first baseman Chris Carter confirmed he was being sent to Triple A Pawtucket following the Sox’ 7-3 win over Minnesota in the teams’ second game of their doubleheader, Wednesday at Fenway Park. With outfielder Rocco Baldelli on the 15-day disabled list, and recently-recalled Jeff Bailey primarily a first baseman, one player who could potentially be recalled is outfielder Jonathan Van Every, who had a grand slam for Pawtucket in his first game back from an ankle injury, Wednesday. Carter was 0 for 5 with a sacrifice fly in his stint with the Sox.

“It’s really the classiest, greatest team I’ve ever been on. I’m just really privileged to be a part of it,” said Carter just after packing his bag in front of his locker. “I’m always grateful. I’ll play baseball anywhere, and to play on what I think is the best team in baseball, and not only on the field, is fantastic. They’re just a great bunch of guys. I always look at the positives. I’ll get more at-bats, so that will be good.”

According to multiple reports, Chris Carter will be the Red Sox choice to fill the backup first baseman/outfielder spot until Mark Kotsay makes his return from back surgery (expected to be sometime in May), beating out Jeff Bailey. Red Sox manager Terry Francona would only say that players have been spoken to inform them what the club’s thinking is heading into the final days of spring training. While there is always a possibility that help could be brought in from the outside, Carter’s status is a testament to his camp thus far. The 26-year-old came into the spring having improved his conditioning significantly, and enters Tuesday hitting .359 with six home runs. 

In other news from City of Palms Park, Julio Lugo (knee) and Mark Kotsay will both join the team when they head to New York to play two exhibition games with the Mets. Lugo will return to Fort Myers after the Sox leave for their West Coast trip, April 10, while Kotsay will make the trip to Anaheim and Oakland.

John Smoltz threw his second bullpen session of the spring, tossing 46 pitches. He is slated to execute another side session Friday and might be ready to face hitters in a batting practice environment when the Sox head to the West Coast. In other Smoltz news, the hurler beat Tiger Woods in their round of golf Monday — albeit with Smoltz getting three strokes a side.

The Red Sox’ lineup against the Rays Tuesday could very resemble what fans will see Opening Day: Ellsbury CF, Pedroia 2B, Ortiz DH, Youkilis 1B, Drew RF, Bay LF, Lowell 3B, Lowrie SS, Varitek C. Clay Buchholz will take the mound for the Sox, with Justin Masterson, and Ramon Ramirez closing things out.

Forgive me if you’ve heard this before: not much going on this morning in Fort Myers. Reliever Takashi Saito is scheduled to pitch, and he’s been one of the more interesting players to watch this spring. Though there was some thought that his damaged elbow might necessitate Tommy John surgery last year, the right-hander has appeared to be anything but damaged goods. His velocity in games has peaked around 92-93 mph, roughly where it was when he was performing at full health for the Dodgers.

“Ball’s coming out of his hand nice, with not a lot of effort. I think we’re really pleased with what we might have found,” said manager Terry Francona. “Doesn’t look like he’s favoring his arm at all. That’s exciting … We thought that he would come slower in camp. We were okay with being real patient, let’s let him build up his arm strength. But he looks real healthy. That’s good news.”

Other notes from the mundane:

–Josh Beckett is slated to throw roughly 45 pitches today, and so stands a good chance of being the first Red Sox pitcher this spring to reach the third inning.

–Pitcher Brad Penny is going to throw long toss today. He’ll visit later today with Dr. Thomas Gill, the Red Sox team physician. Francona said that there was no real cause for alarm. “I don’t think we’re terribly worried about him,” said Francona. “He’s come through all the MRIs and all his testing, he’s come through fine.”

–Josh Bard is scheduled to catch Tim Wakefield tomorrow against the Rays in Port Charlotte. It will mark the third straight pairing of those two. Francona would like George Kottaras to catch Wakefield at least once this spring. Even so, the fact that Bard is getting almost all of the game action with Wakefield underscores the veteran’s front-runner status in the competition for the backup catcher role.

–J.D. Drew will serve as designated hitter, and will likely bat three times.

–Jason Varitek‘s left-handed swing has been noticeably simpler this year. Throughout his career, the catcher has had a lot of mechanical checkpoints that have made his swing from that side of the plate a complex undertaking, and one that is difficult to maintain. Though he has not received many at-bats to this point, Francona is pleased with the progress.

“Left-handed, it’s always taken more work. Even when he put up the good offensive numbers, he had to spend more time (in batting practice) left-handed.
… I like the idea that he’s trying to keep it simple, especially from the left side. The more consistent he can do that, the better chance he’ll give himself,” said Francona. “Saw him shoot the ball to left-center the other night. That approach, if he can stay with it, will be beneficial.

–All of the players (Jeff Bailey, Chris Carter, Paul McAnulty, Brad Wilkerson) in competition for the firth outfielder spot have swung well to this point in the spring. Carter went 3-for-3 with a homer against Puerto Rico on Thursday, but his defensive limitations are the primary factor in whether or not he’ll be able to stick with the Sox as a major leaguer.

“You can’t work any harder (than Carter),” said Francona. “I was talking to him a couple days ago about his throwing. I was hitting him ground balls and the ball wasn’t ending up where it was supposed to. I just said in passing, ‘You’ve got to get the ball.’ He had (first-base coach Tim Bogar) on the back field this morning. He takes it to heart. But it is important. A bat that good, we do want to spend some time with him defensively because the bat is so potent.”