PORTLAND – The Portland Sea Dogs enter Opening Day 2009 boasting a roster with the usual sprinkling of gems from the Boston Red Sox development system.

No offense, Sea Dogs fans, but all of the gems are looking for a way out.

This edition includes what Baseball America rates as three of the top seven prospects in the Red Sox organization – first baseman Lars Anderson (No.1), outfielder Josh Reddick (No. 5) and pitcher Junichi Tazawa (No. 7). Four more of the top 30 prospects will be on the field or in the dugout when the Sea Dogs open against the Connecticut Defenders at 6 p.m. Thursday at Hadlock Field.

Most of the Sea Dogs, regardless of their projections, have been here before. When he looks around the clubhouse Thursday, manager Arnie Beyeler can count 16 players who played for him in Portland last year, when the Dogs reached the Eastern League playoffs for the fourth straight year.

“They’ve got some experience here at the Double-A level and now they kind of know what to expect,” Beyeler said. “Now we’ll see how they come out after off-season conditioning and how they improve.”

“We have a lot of young guys that are pretty good and they’ve got a little bit of experience over here,” said infielder Iggy Suarez, who is back for his fourth season in Portland. “Like I said last year, we’re not going to have a problem with working hard. These guys bust their butt all the time.”

Anderson, the Red Sox 2008 Minor League Offensive Player of the Year, hit .317 with 18 home runs and 80 RBI between Single-A Lancaster and a 41-game stint in Portland last year. The 21-year-old left-handed slugger’s name was mentioned often this past off-season as Boston’s first baseman of the future, particularly after the Red Sox lost out on the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes. But Anderson said he’s just looking to blend in with many of the same teammates he had last year and take advantage of his brief Eastern League experience.

“It gives you a certain amount of comfort, knowing the city a little bit and the ballpark and the people and having a lot of the same team,” Anderson said. “This is an interesting mixture of more veteran guys and younger guys. I think it’s going to be a pretty good team.”

He leads an infield that includes shortstop Argenis Diaz, rated by Baseball America as the organization’s best defensive infielder and Mark Wagner, the Sox best defensive catcher.

Anderson may be the closest thing to a household name in a Sea Dogs uniform, but Tazawa may be the most closely scrutinized. According to assistant general manager Chris Cameron, the Sea Dogs are expecting some Japanese media to travel to Portland to follow their latest export.

The 22-year-old right-hander signed with Boston from his country’s industrial league, which is the equivalent to the minor leagues there. In spring training, he impressed Red Sox officials, including manager Terry Francona, after allowing one run and five hits while striking out 10 in nine innings pitched in the big league camp.

Tazawa will get the start Thursday, and the Yokohama native isn’t worried about being too anxious for his first start in America.

“I may get nervous, but I need a certain amount of nervousness to do well,” he said through interpreter Kiyoshi Otani, an assistant trainer for the Sea Dogs.

While Anderson and Tazawa are bound to be the center of attention early, Beyeler was quick to point out there could be some other talent flying under the radar.

“Last year at this time, nobody was really talking about Zach Daeges, or really talking about Daniel Bard,” Beyeler said. “Some of the other guys are back and I think it’s their turn. We’ll see some other guys probably come out of the woodwork this year and do the same thing.”

Daeges is starting the season in Triple-A Pawtucket after hitting .307 for Portland last year. Joining him there is Bard, a flame-throwing reliever who was the talk of spring training after saving seven games for the Sea Dogs in 2008. Venezuelan southpaw Felix Doubront or returning outfielder Bubba Bell could follow in their footsteps.

Doubront, the youngest Sea Dog (nearly a month younger than Anderson) led all Red Sox farmhands with 138 strikeouts while posting a 13-9 record and 3.69 ERA between Single-A Greenville and Lancaster in 2008. The 27th-ranked prospect in the organization said he goes into his fifth season of professional baseball with no expectations but plenty to work on.

“I don’t know yet what to expect. I come here to do my job,” Doubront said. “My best pitch is my fastball, and it’s important to throw that for a first-pitch strike. I have to work on that to get batters out.”

Bell missed all but 79 games last season due to a stress fracture in his left femur. He had been named an Eastern League all-star before suffering the setback.

“The off-season was kind of a tough road getting healthy again, but I am healthy,” said Bell, whose 2007 season was cut short by an injured quadricep. “I had a great spring and I’m coming into this year focused on staying in the field the entire year.”

As Bell and all 23 of his teammates would likely admit, it wouldn’t be so bad if at some point the field was in Pawtucket or Boston, either.