FORT MYERS, Fla. – Former Portland manager Todd Claus has traded his No. 5 Sea Dogs jersey for No. 007 with the Boston Red Sox.

“That’s kind of the way I like to look at it: The James Bond of the Red Sox,” a well-tanned Claus said with a hearty chuckle.

Claus didn’t exactly look the part Friday morning as he threw batting practice at City of Palms Park in his red batting practice jersey and white pants, but the James Bond references are understandable, given his new title.

The man who led the Sea Dogs to two playoff appearances and their first Eastern League championship ever in two seasons of managing the Double-A team has been promoted to Red Sox advance scout.

“I have to be one step ahead of the club and scout the team we’ll be playing in the next series,” Claus said. “Some clubs have one and others don’t have any, but we now have two and I’ll be working with Dana Levangie.”

Claus will alternate scouting upcoming opponents’ series with Levangie. Their’ primary task is to look for any helpful information concerning players or even coaches on the team the Red Sox are due to play next.

“Having two of us means it’ll be more hands-on and face to face, relaying what we saw in person to whoever can best use the information the first couple games of the series,” Claus explained. “We’ll be looking to provide tendencies and other things that you can’t find in the statistics, like if a guy keeps swinging at a fastball up in the zone and keeps popping it up.”

For now, Claus is serving as a “roving coach and extra set of hands” during this, his 15th spring training as either a player, coach, or scout.

“I was an amateur scout for three years, but that’s more evaluating talent,” he said. “We’re not doing that. We’re deciphering gamesmanship and tendencies.”

While excited about working directly for the major league club and adding to his baseball resume, Claus is also a bit wistful about no longer managing.

“Anyone who’s been in the dugout enjoys that moment of competition and I’ll miss that, but I am in the big leagues and I’ll still be competing for our big league club,” he said. “Seeing big league players day in and out is different than seeing minor leaguers, so it will be priceless for me to be around that as a baseball man in the future.”

That’s important since Claus hopes to eventually manage at the big league level.

Baseball America’s 2006 Double-A Manager of the Year has managed for Boston in Single-A (Sarasota, 2004), Double-A (Portland, 2005-06), and recently finished a stint as the manager for West Oahu in the Hawaii Winter League.

“What a special season for us. It couldn’t have ended any better with David and Goliath in our championship series and I’m really proud of how they fought,” Claus said of Portland’s triumph over the Akron Aeros in the EL title series. “Talent-wise, we may not have stacked up at the end there, but I think we got five or six more guys in the big leagues and it’s very rewarding to see those guys no only get there but have success.”

The 37-year-old Endicott, N.Y., native lives in Florida now, but plans to return to Maine in the near future.

“It’s part of Red Sox Nation, a very exceptional place, and the most unique city I’ve ever been in the minor leagues,” Claus said. “I’ll definitely cherish the memories of my time there.

“I hope when I’m in Boston for a day game, you might see me up there in Portland sitting in the stands and having a pop just watching the game.”

Healthy Wakefield eager to start

After making just 23 starts due to a stress fracture in his rib cage last season, Tim Wakefield appears more than ready for the start of the regular season.

In fact, he’s downright impatient to get it started.

“I’m just ready to start playing games. Spring training gets a little old for me after awhile, so I’m ready to play,” said Boston’s 40-year-old starting pitcher.

Part of that eagerness is from a desire to make up for last season, but it also stems from his optimism about the 2007 version of the Red Sox.

“I love the way our team’s set up. We’ve got the best rotation in baseball, and defensively and offensively, we’re a really good club,” said Wakefield, who is closing in on three career milestones this season.

Wakefield is 20 appearances shy of 500 and 68 innings away from 2,500 in his career. He is also 13 wins away from 150 as a Red Sox pitcher.

This spring training is going noticeably smoothly for the knuckleballer, both in terms of health and comfort, particularly with having Doug Mirabelli back as his personal catcher.

“Having Mirabelli back really puts my mind at ease,” Wakefield said frankly. “Not taking anything away from Josh Bard, but the reason we got Doug back is our track record proves how effectively we work together.”

He feels no lingering discomfort from the rib injury.

“I feel good. I’ve felt good since the first day I started throwing when I got back last year,” Wakefield said. “I knew at the end of last year I was good. I felt healthy going into the offseason. There was no doubt in my mind I’m back to 100 percent this year.”

Schillings mourn Vukovich

Red Sox starting pitcher Curt Schilling made a point of taking time during his Thursday postgame press conference to extend his sympathies and thoughts to the Vukovich family after hearing news of the death of former major league player and coach John Vukovich.

“He’s a very, very close friend of mine,” Schilling said. “I talked to John in early January after I’d heard that some stuff went downhill. I called to leave a message and he answered the phone, so we talked for a few minutes and that’s the last time I talked to him.”

Vukovich died Thursday at age 59 due to complications from an inoperable brain tumor.

Schilling and Vukovich formed a close bond when Schilling pitched and Vukovich coached for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1992 through 2000.

“For the first 10 years of my career, he was really kind of a surrogate father to me,” Schilling explained. “I lost my father in 1988 and I did not have that prominent or dominant male figure in my life and I think that reflected in the way I acted, the way I conducted myself.

“When I went to Philadelphia, he made an effort to get involved. There’s no question in my mind that I would not have stayed in the big leagues had it not been for him.”

Schilling added, “He was the guy who taught me about preparation and he was the guy up until about 2005, I talked to just about before every start I made when it came to pitching against National League teams. He was an incredible man and a good friend, a very good friend.”

Spring roster cleaning starts

Boston trimmed five players from the spring training roster on the 10th day of camp. The Red Sox optioned righthanded pitchers Edgar Martinez and David Pauley to Triple-A Pawtucket and assigned infielders Chad Spann and Luis Jimenez and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to minor league camp. The moves leave the Red Sox with 53 players in camp.

Boston also opted to shut down veteran reliever Mike Timlin for a week after he underwent a scheduled MRI (magnetic resonance image) and had the results examined Friday. No further details were available.

Sox sellouts

Thursday’s game against Toronto marked the 53rd consecutive sellout at City of Palms Park, which has a capacity of 7,575 fans. The sellout streak includes all Grapefruit League contests (excluding college or exhibition) at the park since March 16, 2003.

Ortiz hits home run

David Ortiz homered and the Red Sox roughed up Cole Hamels for an 11-10 win in their spring training game Friday.

Hamels gave up four runs in the first and lasted only two innings. He allowed three hits and walked four.

Julio Lugo led off the game with a long triple to center field for Boston. Kevin Youkilis and Ortiz followed with RBI hits, and Doug Mirabelli added a two-run double to cap the outburst.