FORT. MYERS, Fla. — Josh Beckett, the ace of the staff, hit the nail on the head in his first 2009 meeting with the assembled members of the media covering the Boston Red Sox.

"Spring training is important for lot of different reasons," said Beckett. "It's important to come out healthy."

Staying healthy is the No. 1 goal of every baseball team over the long seven weeks of preseason workouts. Trouble is, the Red Sox have plenty of health issues coming into spring training. Just take a look at this list of injury problems facing the team at the start of camp. And that doesn't include the usual nagging concerns that will come up in the Florida heat.

• J.D. Drew revealed that his back injuries have "kind of lingered." He said he could play now if needed, but that he and the team will have to monitor the state of his back closely in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

This is not good news for a player who has been labeled fragile by fans and who has a history of missing days, weeks, and months with injuries.

• Mike Lowell is 35 years old, and is coming off of hip surgery. No one is saying that recovering from that surgery will prove to be an issue come the regular season, but no one's saying it won't be a hindrance to his preseason work, either.

"We're going to take it slow," said General Manager Theo Epstein. "We're going to hold him back. We're not focused on what he looks like on the report date or when the first exhibition date happens. The whole rehab is built around the proper timetable, which happens to coincide with getting him ready for Opening Day."

• Jed Lowrie took his first cuts of spring training with tape on his left wrist, the remnants of an injury that worsened as the 2008 season wore on and limited him to a .157 batting average over the last 15 games of the season.

• John Smoltz, Brad Penny, and Takashi Saito are all veterans who arrive in Fort Myers for their first seasons with the Red Sox. Each has had great success in the big leagues, yet each is coming off seasons plagued by injuries. All three will bear close watching as spring training continues.

Beckett himself had to deal with an injury-filled 2008, leaving the team to have Dr. James Andrews check out his elbow in Birmingham, Ala. Once Beckett was assured the elbow was fine, he had to deal with an oblique injury that bothered him in the postseason.

Injuries are a reality every pro sports team has to deal with, but the Red Sox have more medical "ifs" to deal with than most. Such is the life of a veteran team, and the Sox have plenty of older players that will have to battle through the physical grind of a long season.

In fact, one of the biggest medical concerns of last season seems to be no question at all coming into camp in 2009. David Ortiz began last year coming back from a knee injury, and missed the entire month of June with an injury to his wrist. Some also quietly worried that he was getting overweight and would have trouble regaining his form, figuratively and literally.

Those worries were put to rest Sunday when Big Papi showed up looking fit and ready to go. To the untrained eye, he appeared to be in the best shape he's been in for several years heading into spring training.

"I think he wanted to get a little bit lighter, but saying that, not weaker," said Manager Terry Francona. "Losing weight isn't easy to do, and he needs to be strong, have a good lower half, but lighter. As you get older, you have an injury or two, that's just part of staying good and he did a good job. I'm really proud of him."

Still, questions remain. If the Red Sox are going to stay "good," they'll have to stay healthy. Health could ultimately determine which teams survive the AL East grind featuring three of the top teams in the game playing in the same division.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.