BOSTONWith David Ortiz signed to a new two-year deal over the weekend, the Red Sox now turn their attention to the rest of the roster.
First stop: Indian Wells, Calif., the site of the general manager meetings beginning Wednesday.
GM Ben Cherington said the meetings will present a chance for "more information gathering. We'll meet with teams. I'm sure there'll be some agents there and we'll meet with them.
"We've already had a lot of conversations on the phone but when you get face-to-face, you talk a little bit more about both free agent concepts and trade concepts. The offseason is a bit of a mosaic. You have to look at how one piece affects the other. At some point, some of the balls have to fall. David was a big one. Now, we'll try to to identify the next one."
Among other areas, the Red Sox are looking for help at first base, outfield, the starting rotation and possibly shortstop.
"I think we have to engage on a number of different things at once," said Cherington. "We have a general idea of things we want to pursue most. We have to keep our options open as much as we can, knowing that we have a lot of work to do."