Red Sox roster appears to be set

And that's it.

With the reports that Mark Kotsay is set to re-sign with the Red Sox as a fourth outfielder and backup first baseman, the team's 25-man roster appears to be set before the season even begins. All the Red Sox need now is a catcher -- be it a chastened Jason Varitek, who has found no interest on the free-agent market thanks to his status as a Type A free agent, or a young catcher like Miguel Montero or Jarrod Saltalamacchia, acquired by trade.

Other than that, though, everything is all set. Here's how it looks:

Catchers (2):
Josh Bard
Varitek/Montero/Saltalamacchia/George Kottaras

Infielders (6):
Kevin Youkilis
Dustin Pedroia
Jed Lowrie
Mike Lowell
Julio Lugo
David Ortiz

Outfielders (5):
J.D. Drew
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jason Bay
Rocco Baldelli
Mark Kotsay

Starting pitchers (5):
Josh Beckett
Jon Lester
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Tim Wakefield
Brad Penny
(John Smoltz, opening the season on the DL)

Relief pitchers (7):
Jonathan Papelbon
Hideki Okajima
Manny Delcarmen
Justin Masterson
Javier Lopez
Ramon Ramirez
David Aardsma

*At first, I counted this as six relief pitchers. I apparently need to repeat the first grade.

That's it. It's done.

The Red Sox entered the offseason needing only to strengthen their bullpen and to find a catcher to match the production of Varitek; now, either they'll bring back Varitek or be dealing from a position of strength in negotiations involving one of their young pitchers. And as far as the bullpen is concerned, Ramirez is an impressive young power arm and Masterson will get a chance to pitch a full season at Fenway rather than taking the I-95 shuttle back and forth to Pawtucket all season.

Look at that roster one more time. That roster won 95 games last season -- yes, Manny Ramirez was in the lineup for two-thirds of the season, but the Red Sox actually had a better winning percentage (.642) after Ramirez was traded than they did before he was traded (.560).

I don't know about you, but I'm just about ready for Opening Day.