BOSTON (AP) – The Red Sox will get something for Johnny Damon, after all.

More than five months after the free agent center fielder left for the New York Yankees, Boston has two extra picks in next Tuesday’s draft as compensation for his departure. They also have two extra selections for losing free agent third baseman Bill Mueller to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The players the Red Sox choose may need several years to contribute, and general manager Theo Epstein doesn’t focus on possible compensation when deciding whether to re-sign his own free agents.

“It’s never a primary factor in a specific instance of where we’re assessing a player the caliber of Johnny Damon,” he said Thursday. “You never say, Oh, we’ll get the draft picks if we don’t sign him.’ It’s let’s see how far we can go to sign him.’ But, as far as an overall plan for the offseason, we try to, every year, come out with a net gain in draft picks.”

The Red Sox made two first-round picks last year, although they gave their own choice, the 28th, to St. Louis in exchange for signing free agent shortstop Edgar Renteria. But they added the 23rd pick when the Los Angeles Angels signed shortstop Orlando Cabrera and the 26th when the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Derek Lowe.

The Red Sox used the 23rd choice to take speedy outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who leads Single-A Wilmington with a .337 batting average and has 13 stolen bases in 26 games.

They took reliever Craig Hansen with the 26th pick after he had been projected by some teams, including Boston, to be among the first three players drafted. He is 0-1 with a 2.29 ERA in six games for Triple-A Pawtucket, three of them starts, after going 1-0 with an 0.82 ERA in five relief appearances at Double-A Portland.

Hansen could advance to Boston this season. So could lefty starter Jon Lester, a second-round pick in 2002.

Lester won’t be called up to start next Tuesday against the Yankees when the Red Sox need someone to fill in for injured David Wells. Lester has allowed fewer than two earned runs in each of his last five starts in which he is 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA. His ERA for the year is 2.95 going into his next scheduled start Saturday.

Tuesday’s game “is in Yankee Stadium. It might not be the best forum for a player to make his major-league debut,” Epstein said at a briefing on the team’s draft preparations. “Jonathan Lester is at a very crucial point of his development. He’s really in finishing school right now and he’s getting very close to being ready to help us. I don’t think it’ll happen by Tuesday.”

That’s also the first day of the two-day draft with a maximum 50 rounds, Boston has its own first-round pick, the 27th, and New York’s, the 28th, as compensation for signing Damon. It also was awarded the 40th choice, known as a “sandwich pick” since it occurs between the first two rounds, for losing him. Mueller’s departure brought the 44th choice, another sandwich pick, and the Dodgers’ third-round choice, the 83rd overall.

Boston has seven of the first 103 through the first three rounds. Washington, Boston and the Dodgers are the only teams with more than one choice in the first round.

Pena has wrist surgery

BOSTON (AP) – Red Sox outfielder Wily Mo Pena had surgery Thursday on his left wrist and is expected to begin rehabilitation immediately.

The surgery went well, according to a brief statement by Dr. Thomas Gill, who gave no timetable for Pena’s return. Boston manager Terry Francona said Pena was to have his hamate bone, which doesn’t serve much of a purpose, removed, and has estimated Pena could miss two months.

Pena went on the disabled list last Sunday after missing three games the previous week. In 36 games, Pena batted .321 with four homers and 18 RBIs.

Crisp returned to action Sunday after missing 42 games with a broken finger.

The wrist bothered Pena last year when he was with Cincinnati. Boston obtained him in spring training for pitcher Bronson Arroyo.

AP-ES-06-01-06 2324EDT