Henry Owens and Garin Cecchini lead the latest round of roster cuts for the Red Sox, joining Heath Hembree, Bryce Brentz, and Zeke Spruill in their trip to the minor league camp Thursday afternoon.
None of the players could really have expected to break camp with the Major League team, particularly with no major injuries having popped up so far. Henry Owens may well be the first man out of Pawtucket if rotation issues crop up later in the season, but the Red Sox will likely give him some more exposure to Triple-A before asking him to make the final jump, particularly after a rough spring which has seen him surrender 11 runs in as many innings.
Cecchini, on the other hand, is probably the actual first line of defense in the infield. He hasn't exactly made the most of his plentiful opportunities in spring, but we are fast approaching "if not now, then when?" territory with the young third baseman, and he did at least acquit himself well in his short time in Boston last year. Still, with Sandoval and Holt both healthy, Cecchini wasn't going to start anywhere in Boston's system other than Pawtucket.
The rest mostly fall into the category of depth at already deep positions.
The Red Sox have also announced that they have released Mitchell Boggs, who was making a comeback attempt after having bounced from team to team, mostly in the minors after a big 2012 with the Cardinals.