Nine Days Until The Truck Departs

Here's my 4200th post of The Mighty Quinn Media Machine, and a few odds and ends as we wait out this deep freeze for The Truck to leave Fenway Park on February 5th.

Pedro Martinez is back in the fold at Fenway, as he was named a Special Assistant to GM Ben Cherington. Pedro will work with the young pitchers and scout in his native Dominican Republic.

Ryan Kalish will miss at least the entire Spring Training, as he felt pain in his non-throwing shoulder and will have surgery next week. He may also miss the first few months of the season as well. It has been a rough go for Kalish over the last two years, as this will be his third surgery in 16 months. Kalish was expected to platoon in left field with Jonny Gomes.

The Sox signed Ryan Sweeney to a minor league contract this past week after the news of Kalish's upcoming surgery.

The rosters for the 2013 World Baseball Classic were released, and there will be four Red Sox players taking part in it, beginning March 2nd: Alfredo Aceves (Mexico), Shane Victorino (US), Jose De La Torre (Puerto Rico) and Xander Bogaerts (Netherlands).

Once again, the Red Sox locked up all of their arbitration-eligible players, with pitcher Craig Breslow the last one, signing a two-year deal. The Sox have not had to go to arbitration with a player since 2002 with the immortal Rolando Arrojo.

And the best of luck to two friends of mine, Chris Wertz and Gary Titus, who were both invited to try out last week for the vacant Red Sox public address announcer job. The Sox also held public tryouts this past Saturday. Chris, who is also Red Sox Nation-New York's governor, did the Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway as the PA announcer this past September 11th.