Rocco Baldelli, who spent the 2009 season playing in his native New England for the Red Sox, will announce his retirement on Wednesday. (AP)

Rhode Island native Rocco Baldelli, whose major league career appeared headed for stardom before an unusual illness prevented the outfielder from being able to stay on the field consistently, told the St. Petersburg Times that he has decided to retire from baseball at the age of 29. Baldelli had spent the last few seasons with the Rays and Red Sox finding a way to play through channelopathy, a condition that left his body in a state of profound fatigue.

But after Game 1 of the 2010 AL Division Series between the Rays and Rangers, it became clear to Baldelli that he could no longer contribute as a result of the condition. Baldelli went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts in that contest, and experienced significant cramping and pain afterwards. That led to his removal from the Rays’ postseason roster, and helped convince Baldelli that it was time to move to a new phase of his career, a decision that will be formalized with an announcement on Wednesday.

“That was the first time where I couldn’t keep playing and look at my teammates and still be out there,” Baldelli told the Times. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it any more.

“I don’t anticipate ever playing baseball again. I’m retired. The paperwork will be filed,” Baldelli added. “And you know what? The only time I feel like it’s good to retire is when you’re happy to retire. And I’m happy.”

Baldelli will take a job in the Rays front office as a special advisor in scouting and player development. After the Rays took him out of Bishop Hendricken High School with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2000 draft, he blitzed through the minors before making a tremendous big league debut in 2003, finishing third in Rookie of the Year balloting while hitting .289 with a .326 OBP, .742 OPS, 11 homers and 27 steals as a 21-year-old. But injuries started limiting his ability to stay on the field the following year, and he played just 63 games for the Rays in 2007 and 2008 (though he did hit a pair of memorable homers in the 2008 postseason for Tampa Bay).

Baldelli signed with the Sox — the team he rooted for while growing up — for the 2009 season, hitting .253 with a .311 OBP, .433 slugging mark and .744 OPS along with 11 homers in part-time duty. He then returned to Tampa Bay, spending much of the year working in player development and the Rays front office before returning to uniform in September.

Baldelli concludes his career having hit .278 with a .323 OBP, .443 slugging mark and .766 OPS with 60 homers and 60 steals in 519 games.

Jonathan Papelbon wants to achieve greatness in a Red Sox uniform. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — “Nothing fancy, just the facts.” (I’ve been told by Rob Bradford that I am contractually obligated to lead with that statement.)

The Red Sox had one last day of workouts at the minor league training facility before packing their belongings and preparing to head up the road to City of Palms Park for the start of the exhibition calendar. News was scant, insofar as the next round of questions that looms about the club will be answered during spring training games, beginning with Wednesday’s day-night doubleheader against Northeastern and Boston College.

Even so, some items came more clearly into view:

–Jonathan Papelbon discussed his desire to achieve greatness, and the changes he’s making this spring to do so. He discussed tweaking his mental approach, while also identifying work on his split-finger fastball as a key to his success for the upcoming year.

“I came into this spring training knowing what I had to do and being on a mission to do it, whereas other spring trainings, I hadn’t necessary come in that way,” said Papelbon. “This spring, that was part of it – being able to throw my split more, my slider more, making my adjustment to the hitters.

“It’s like riding a bike – it’s always there in the back pocket, but you’ve just got to break it out and dust the rust off,” he continued. “I’ve kind of developed a really good feel for it out of the gate now. For me, that’s huge, because obviously that’s a feel pitch, a confidence pitch. It’s a pitch you have to have confidence to throw. For me, being able to come out here these first few sessions and throw it effectively has been a big confidence builder for me. I’m excited to keep building that throughout the spring.” Read the rest of this entry »

As expected, the Red Sox made official their offer of salary arbitration to free agents Jason Bay and Billy Wagner. Both are Type A free agents, meaning that if either signed with another club after declining the offer of arbitration, the Red Sox would receive two compensatory draft picks (one in the sandwich round between the first and second rounds, the other as high as a first rounder from the team that signs the player).

Bay is certain to receive a multi-year contract this offseason, and so there is no chance that he would accept arbitration. Wagner told WEEI.com during the season that he would decline arbitration (even though he likely could make more money through arbitration than as a free agent) because he prefers to sign with a team for whom he might close.

Even so, there is a chance that the market for Wagner’s services could be chilled by the Sox’ offer of arbitration to the left-handed reliever. With other potential closers on the market who will not require a signing team to part with a draft pick (Fernando Rodney, Octavio Dotel, Brandon Lyon), potential suitors might turn to those pitchers rather than Wagner, particularly given the left-hander’s age (38) and health concerns (he is the oldest known pitcher to return from Tommy John surgery).

That said, Wagner is also one of the best closers of all time, with 385 saves and a 2.39 lifetime ERA, and his numbers after returning to the mound in August 2009 (1.72 ERA, 14.9 strikeouts per nine innings) might convince a team to invest a draft pick in him. That could prove particularly true if Wagner is looking for fewer years than the other elite relievers who are on the market this offseason: Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano and Jose Valverde, all of whom, like Wagner, are Type A free agents who were offered arbitration.

The Sox declined to offer arbitration to outfielder Rocco Baldelli, right-handed pitcher Paul Byrd and infielder Chris Woodward. None of the three were Type A or Type B free agents who would yield a draft pick to the Sox if they were to sign with another club.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Red Sox will use their “regular” everyday lineup for Game 1 against the Angels, with Victor Martinez catching Jon Lester:

Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Martinez, C
Youkilis, 1B
Ortiz, DH
Bay, LF
Lowell, 3B
Drew, RF
Gonzalez, SS

–Outfielder Rocco Baldelli still cannot run due to his strained hip flexor. Nor has he been able to hit. As a result, the Sox had no choice but to leave him off the roster for the Division Series.

–Daisuke Matsuzaka will be available as a long reliever for Game 1. He will long toss, alongside Jon Lester, prior to Game 1 in case he is needed.

–The team feels that Hideki Okajima is in good shape after the left-handed reliever missed time late in the season with a sore right side that required acupuncture and rest. Manager Terry Francona said that Okajima was tested fairly thoroughly on Wednesday and responded well.

A few more interesting notes on the groundhog day series between the Red Sox and Angels:

–The two teams are meeting for the fifth time in the postseason, having done so previously in 1986, 2004, 2007 and 2008. The Sox have won each of the previous series, claiming nine wins in 10 games this decade of 12 of the last 13 dating to Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS.

–The Angels are 0-5 all-time in Game 1 of Division Series. They have also lost their last five home games in the postseason to the Sox.

–In a shocking development, the Angels hate to hear about the details of that history.

–The Angels were tremendously strong down the stretch, particularly in their starting rotation. “Los Angeles” starters had a 2.52 ERA over their final 34 games, averaging more than six innings per start in that span. Halos starters also led the A.L. with 70 wins.

–The 2009 Angels are the only team in MLB history with 11 players who drove in at least 50 runs.

–The Sox are the ultimate “Wild Things,” having entered the playoffs as a wild card seven times. No other team has punched a postseason ticket as a wild card more than three times.

–Jonathan Papelbon’s record scoreless innings streak to start his postseason career now stands at 25 innings. He is closing in on Christy Mathewson’s record of 28 straight shutout innings, achieved from 1905-1911.

–Jon Lester’s 1.95 ERA in five postseason starts is the third lowest in Sox history among starters with at least 30 innings, behind Babe Ruth (0.87) and Ernie Shore (1.82).

The Red Sox have announced that outifielder Rocco Baldelli, who has been battling a strained hip flexor, is not on the Red Sox’ roster from the American League Division Series, with both Joey Gathright and Brian Anderson serving as the team’s reserve outfielders.

The Sox waited until today to announce their roster because they wanted, if at all possible, to carry Baldelli, a right-handed hitter with significant power who is viewed as a legitimate weapon against left-handed pitching. With the Angels featuring southpaws Scott Kazmir and Joe Saunders in Games 3 and 4, respectively, at Fenway Park, there was a good chance that Baldelli would have started at least one of those contests. That is why the Sox waited until the last minute to make their decision, but ultimately, his strained hip flexor made it impossible to predict with any certainty that Baldelli would be available.

“He’s kind of an important bat, especially in this series,” Sox manager Terry Francona said on Wednesday. “But we’re not going to do something that’s unfair to him.”

Anderson performed well in his 21 plate appearances for the Sox, hitting .294 with a .381 OBP, 1.028 OPS and two homers. Anderson also has at least one memorable moment from a playoff-type setting, when he made a spectacular diving catch to preserve the White Sox’ 1-0 win over the Twins in a one-game playoff for the A.L. Central in 2008. (For more on that play, click here.)

The Sox will carry 11 pitchers and two catchers. The roster is as follows:

Catchers (2): Jason Varitek, Victor Martinez

Infielders (7): Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Alex Gonzalez, Mike Lowell, Jed Lowrie, Casey Kotchman, David Ortiz

Outfielders (5): J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Bay, Anderson, and Gathright

Pitchers (11): Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Paul Byrd, Takashi Saito, Billy Wagner, Daniel Bard, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Ramon Ramirez.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Red Sox manager Terry Francona said that pitcher Paul Byrd will be available out of the bullpen for the Red Sox during their American League Division Series against the Angels. Reliever Manny Delcarmen, however, will not be a member of the roster. Byrd pitched three innings of relief on the final day of the season, allowing two runs to finish his year with a 5.82 ERA. Delcarmen struggled to an 8.59 ERA after July 28.

Francona also said that the Sox are still determining who will contribute off the bench. Among the group of outfielders Rocco Baldelli, Brian Anderson and Joey Gathright, two will be on the roster for the ALDS.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona checked in with Dale & Holley to talk about the upcoming ALDS against the Angels.

Following is a transcript of the interview. For the audio, visit the Dale & Holley audio on demand section.

Did you get a chance to watch that [Tigers-Twins] game last night?

Yeah. You know what, we were on the field working out. They had it on the screen, so there wasn’t any volume. But you could just see the game, it was slowly getting everybody’s interest. When our workout was over, everybody ran into the clubhouse because we thought we were seeing the end of the game. Little did we know there was still an hour-and-a-half to go. What a game. That had to be good for baseball. I’m sure that was tough on [Twins manager Ron Gardenhire] and [Tigers manager] Jim Leyland — their stomachs. But that was unbelievable. It was a shame somebody had to lose. Because so many things happened — not all of them good — but you could tell their hearts were in the right place. Everybody was trying to do something to help their team win a game.

Do you agree with [Joe Torre's comment that the sixth inning is the toughest inning of the game for a manager]?

I sure do. If you look back at one of the biggest mistakes that I think — and I’ve owned up to this — when we brought Cla Meredith here. And remember, it didn’t work. And my big thing to Theo [Epstein] was, ‘Theo, we can’t get through the sixth inning.’ We didn’t have a bridge. We had a bunch of starters at that time that, we’d get to the sixth — it would be 5-2/3, 5-1/3, and I didn’t feel that some of them had enough to get pivotal outs. And we needed a bridge to our next guys because it was too early. It’s always a big inning. I can’t tell you how many times you get to the sixth inning and it seems like the leadoff hitter’s leading off and you’re going right through the heart of the order. It’s a huge inning.

Watching [Tigers outfielder Ryan Raburn] play a single into a triple, I’m thinking [the Metrodome] must be a difficult ballpark to play in, with the roof. And the second thing is if you’ve got a lead late in the game, maybe that’s the mistake of a young player, trying to make a big play and then turning it into a huge mistake.

I’m sure that their defense was set up where that wasn’t supposed to happen. I have a feeling if you go back and slow it down, and I’d love to hear the interview, my guess is the last couple of feet, though, he lost the ball. Because if you look at his body, he actually got himself in position where it looks like he should have had a better chance to make that catch. And then the last two feet, he didn’t really make an effort to make the catch. I wouldn’t be surprised if he lost that ball. Because the end was a little awkward. And I think he positioned himself better where he could have had a chance to make the catch.

Read the rest of this entry »