Here come the roster moves.
It wasn’t an earth-shattering announcement that arrived Saturday, but it did remind us that the process of figuring out the Red Sox’ 40-man roster is gaining steam.
The players involved needed to be taken off the 60-day injured list and put on the 40-man roster. That was the easy part. In the next few weeks much more difficult decisions need to be made.
By Nov. 20 the team needs to add Rule 5-eligible players to the 40-man roster or run the risk of losing them to the Rule 5 Draft. And there are certainly more candidates for the promotion than there are currently spots on the roster, with prospects like Jay Groome, Bryan Mata, Connor Wong, Connor Seabold, Hudson Potts, and Jeisson Rosario needing a commitment.
Pedroia remains a wild card in this scenario, with the second baseman's knee still not allowing him to play but the team clearly hesitant to flat-out cut ties with the organizational icon.
The team also needs to decide on which players they will be non-tendering, a decision that needs to be made by Dec. 2. That process also figures to clear up room on the 40-man roster for the aforementioned prospects.
And then there is the idea of actually adding free agents.
In other words, there is a lot more work to do.
