NASHVILLE -- The annual Rule 5 draft takes place Thursday morning, the final day of the Winter Meetings and the last item on the agenda.
Teams may draft unprotected players left off the 40-man rosters of other teams, with the understanding that they have to remain on the drafting team's 25-man roster for the entire season, or be offered back to the player's original team.
In the past, the Red Sox have selected some players of note in the Rule 5 draft, including pitchers Lenny DiNardo (2003), Javier Lopez (2002) and Vaughn Eshelman (1994).
Since teams draft in the reverse order of standings, the Sox will choose seventh Thursday morning, but were unsure whether they would select a player.
"We're going to meet later . . . and spend some more time on that,'' GM Ben Cherington said Wednesday evening. "Wouldn't rule it out. We have done it in years past and carried them all year on the roster, but it's a little tougher in a place where you're trying to win and trying to put the most developed 25-man roster out there. But couldn't rule it out.'
Then again, since the Sox finished last and lost 92 games, this year might be a good time to take a longshot on a pick.
"Perhaps -- that's a reasonable question,'' acknowledged Cherington. "You still have to weigh it against other things you can do with the roster spots. The roster spots are valuable especially this time of year. The difference between adding talent or not is often the use of a roster spot or losing another player. You have to weight that. But it will be a consideration.''
The Sox also risk losing some players. Most notable are reliever Josh Fields and outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker, neither of whom they were able to protect.
"I wouldn't be surprised to lose someone,'' said Cherington. "We had a number of guys we would have liked to add if we had more spots and couldn't. We have a fair amount of depth in certain areas and weren't able to add everyone that we wanted to. We'll see. It's hard to tell how other teams see you.''