Banged-up BoSox on the mend

It must be hip to have a hip problem. First Chase Utley, then A-Rod and then, well, before A-Rod, actually, there was Mike Lowell.

Lowell is progressing nicely from right hip surgery and could play his first exhibition game "within a week," according to manager Terry Francona.

"We're getting into that area now where we can maybe think about DHing [him] a couple of at-bats, and then [have him] play third," Francona said. "But I bet you were getting close enough where it will be within a week. He's doing good. He's doing fine. He's running the bases. Every step he's supposed to do, he's done. We'll do our best to ease him in as much as we can where he gets comfortable baseball-wise."

The Red Sox need Lowell now as much as ever. He was really their fallback option at third this season when any chance to sign Mark Teixeira was nixed when the Yankees signed him. If Tex went to Boston, Kevin Youkilis would slide to third and Lowell would be the odd man out.

J.D. Drew is also back to baseball after a cortisone shot in his back.

In fact, Drew said that his lower back has been at its best of late when he's on the field. It's normally when he's sitting at home or doing some other idle activity when it tightens up.

"It seemed like the more I got it loose and moving around, I wasn't really having any issues out there playing," said Drew. "That was encouraging. But it is aggravating to be sitting at home and what we call dancing in the chair, back and forth, trying to get in a position that doesn't really stiffen up. I had good days and bad days, and hopefully, this will give me the benefit of getting freed up and having a lot of good days."

The purpose of the shot was to get some scar tissue out of the facet joint and reduce the inflammation.

Drew played just 109 games last season with injury problems, but he did hit the 140-game mark each of the two seasons prior.

Fantasy Impact: Drew and Lowell are big time gambles in fantasy ball this year. If you draft one of the two, chances are you got them as a high risk, high reward type in the second half of your draft. Take other third baseman and outfielders before drafting Lowell or Drew. Ideally, Lowell is more of a corner infielder or a backup while Drew is a fourth outfielder who hits like a No. 3 if he can hit that 140-game plateau.