Since Grapefruit League play officially kicks off this afternoon, what better time than to try and guess what the PawSox Opening Day roster will look like.  We won’t know the actual roster until a couple weeks before April 5, but the good folks at MLBDepthCharts.com have already given it a guess.

Here’s what they came up with:

Pojected Starting Lineup (*indicates left-handed batter **indicates switch-hitter) 
1 CF Che-Hsuan Lin
2 2B Brad Emaus
3 1B Lars Anderson*
4 C Ryan Lavarnway
5 3B Will Middlebrooks
6 RF Josh Kroeger*
7 DH Mauro Gomez
8 LF Alex Hassan
9 SS Jose Iglesias

If Jose Iglesias breaks camp with the PawSox, he likely won't be with the club for very long. (Kelly O'Connor)

Projected Bench
C Luis Exposito
C Max St. Pierre
IF Pedro Ciriaco
IF/OF Tony Thomas
OF Juan Carlos Linares
OF Daniel Nava**
OF Jason Repko

I have great memories of watching Danieal Nava play in Portland during the 2009 season. (Kelly O'Connor)

Projected Starting Rotation
1 RHP Ross Ohlendorf
2 RHP Vicente Padilla
3 RHP Clay Mortensen
4 RHP Alex Wilson
5 RHP Carlos Silva
6 RHP Brandon Duckworth
7 RHP John Maine

Brandon Duckworth will once again give some stability and veteran leadership to the PawSox rotation in 2012. (Kelly O'Connor)

Projected Bullpen
CL RHP Scott Atchison
SU RHP Junichi Tazawa
SU RHP Tony Peña, Jr.
MID RHP Chris Carpenter
MID LHP Jesse Carlson
MID RHP Sean White
MID LHP Justin Thomas
MID RHP Will Inman
MID RHP Justin Germano
LR RHP Doug Mathis

Junichi Tazawa, who entered the Red Sox system in 2009 with so much hype and promise, pitched in Salem, Portland, Pawtucket, and Boston last season. (Kelly O'Connor)

Projecting a roster at the start of Spring Training is never easy, but it’s still fun (when someone else gives) it a try.  Enjoy the Red Sox game this afternoon and have a great rest of your weekend.

-AG

@aaronmgoldsmith
agoldsmith@pawsox.com