The Red Sox fans will not be able to see designated hitter David Ortiz for sometime as he bruised his right knee diving into the first base last Friday night and he was sidelined for the next two games that his team played. The Red Sox manager Terry Francona said that Ortiz is recovering well and feels good in spite of his knee being a bit sore. Francona, who also had similar bruises in his playing days, said that the bruised knee often is painful when a person tries to move.

Terry said that the Red Sox team is ready to wait for David to return and have assigned Ramirez the responsibility of taking up the designated hitter job. The Red Sox team is at present suffering from plenty of injuries and sickness to its key players and fans will be seeing their key player Ramirez playing from the left field.

Fenway Park isn’t getting any younger and that will not help the Red Sox compete on the revenue front with the Yankees and Mets in the years to come. The final payroll information regarding last season was released by Major League Baseball yesterday and it showed the Red Sox spent the second-highest amount. The Dodgers  were third in spending, followed by the Mets and Cubs.The Yankees have had the highest payroll nine years running.

Doug Mirabelli will return to his customary specialty with the Red Sox in 2008 - handling Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball. Though it will require a pay cut, it appears Doug Mirabelli will return to the Red Sox as their backup catcher. The team was close to consummating a deal yesterday to bring Mirabelli back for a $550,000 base salary with incentives that could bring his compensation up to $1 million for 2008.

On Friday, the Boston Red Sox signed minor league contracts with lefthanders Jon Switzer and Michael Tejera. Both the players, Switzer and Tejera, have been assigned to the Class AAA Pawtucket and have been invited to Boston’s major league to spring training camp as non-roster invitees.

Saturday was the first day when 2008 spring training games tickets went on sale, and the  sold over 27,000 tickets! A total of 27,588 tickets, which includes tickets sold over the internet, by phone, and at the City of Palms Park ticket, were sold Saturday for 2008 spring training games at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Florida. Tickets remain for nine of the 13 games that will be played at City of Palms Park this spring.

The Red Sox have hired George Aspeitia as a new head coach. Aspeitia, who lives in Montebello, CA., is currently has no job after a collapse of his Fox College Sports television program, College Baseball Weekly. Before that, Aspeitia was an assistant coach with the Cal State Fullerton Titans, with whom he competed in the 1999 College World Series. Aspetia was also a coach of the Northern Ohio team in the Great Lake Summer League and contributed to a record of 114-31 over four seasons, winning three league titles and two coach-of-the-year awards.