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Home , 2013 World Series, 2018 World Series, Brandon Workman, Brian Johnson (pitcher), Drake Britton, Matt Barnes (baseball)

The Red Sox Tuesday, March 3, 2020

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At Red Sox camp, things seem familiar — but we know it’s not really the same this year

Chad Finn

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Leave it to to nonchalantly address . . . well, not so much the elephant in the room, but the absence of a certain big name who is no longer in that room.

Last season, his sixth full one with the Red Sox, Bogaerts emerged as a true force in all the right ways. On the field, he delivered his finest season to date at age 26, slashing .309/.384/.555 with 33 home runs, finishing fifth in the Most Valuable Player race. Off the field, he was a fulcrum, his fluency in multiple languages bridging a diverse clubhouse while he also took the responsibility of being available and accountable in the toughest times.

Bogaerts became everything he was supposed to be since arriving to help the Red Sox win the 2013 as a preternaturally poised 20-year-old. But even in his ascent to stardom, his casual candor was sometimes startling. It was Bogaerts who first acknowledged in 2017 that, yes, the freshly retired was deeply missed. It was, of course, both obvious and true. But teams sometimes will contort themselves to convince us that all is well, that obvious voids have been filled.

Interim manager and Red Sox personnel have not dodged the subject of ’s departure this spring, But on Monday, Bogaerts became to say so strikingly that the team feels pressure to fill Betts’s void. Bogaerts makes the truth look easy to tell, so it was fitting that he was the one to make the acknowledgment.

Bogaerts, who has been sidelined this spring with a sore ankle, was asked if his desire to improve each season meant that he thought he could be even better this season than he was a year ago.

“Whew!’’ he said with a quick laugh. “Hey, it’s not going to be easy.”

He was then asked whether he felt added pressure coming off such a big year. That’s when he brought up Betts, the 2018 AL MVP and franchise cornerstone who was traded to the Dodgers in early February, a year from free agency.

“I don’t think it’s going to be added pressure,” said Bogaerts. “I just think that knowing that we traded away Mookie, that might put some pressure on us to go out and do more. I think we should be a little careful with that. We just don’t want to put pressure on ourselves and get in a big hole just because we want to fill someone’s shoes like Mookie’s.

“Mookie is one of the best players in the game. Don’t try to go out and do that. Just let the game come to you, play the game the way you know, and just do the stuff you know. Don’t go out there and try to three homers in a game. I haven’t seen anyone hit that mark so much like he did.

“Obviously he’s one of the best game-changers in our game — one swing, one defensive play.”

NESN’s then mentioned to Bogaerts that the same could be said about him.

“But two would be better than one, right?’’ said Bogaerts. “We obviously have a lot of talented guys on this team, and I know we can make it work.”

The outward suggestions of sameness this spring could fool you if you let them. The Red Sox have spent their springs here at JetBlue Park since the venue they like to call “” opened in 2012. It’s become a familiar kind of lovely.

History is marked around every turn: a banner featuring , Pedro Martinez, and other franchise greats under the word “Legendary” over here, large replicas of the ball club’s 11 retired numbers (including ’s No. 42, retired leaguewide) over there, reminders of the franchise’s nine World Series championships in multiple prominent spots.

A signpost marking the distance to Fenway (1,456 miles) as well as the various minor league outposts stands at the end of the walkway to the clubhouses. The big-league clubhouse is roughly 50 yards and yet a million miles from the minor league clubhouse, where would-be prospects toss medicine balls against the wall and hoist kettle bells.

Players chatter in English and Spanish. Mitts pop, bats crackle with contact. The birds chirp, the breeze blows.

It seems the same as this time last year. But step inside the big-league clubhouse, where Bogaerts had his conversation with reporters, and it’s obvious it is so much different.

A year ago, the Red Sox were coming off the 119-win championship season. was the popular manager. Betts was the reigning MVP. had high hopes of a comeback. The faces in the clubhouse were mostly familiar. Ultimately, the only new face to make the 2019 roster was reliever .

Now? The Red Sox have 67 players in big league camp. Enter the clubhouse and look right, and there are so many unfamiliar nameplates above the lockers: Springs, Brice, Bandy. Reporters waited in vain to talk to Phillips Valdez, the most recent arrival as a waiver claim from the Rangers.

Sure, some familiar and accomplished players remain. J.D. Martinez walked through and suggested to reporters they should be writing about the coronavirus and the impact it could have on pro sports. , , and made clubhouse cameos. Many others were in Lakeland as a split squad took on the Tigers.

It looks like Camp Tranquility on the surface, but unless you were hibernating through the chaos of the offseason, you know better. The specter of punishment for a 2018 sign-stealing accusation still lingers. Cora is gone as part of the fallout from the massive Astros scandal. And Roenicke is getting a crash course in how to use an “opener.”

So much has changed. Good to know Bogaerts has not. He still tells it like it is, even if it means talking about who isn’t here rather than who is.

Chaim Bloom’s opening conundrum: How to get Red Sox enough starters

Christopher L. Gasper

The Bruins are steamrolling, the Celtics are surging, the Tom Brady Watch is raging from airport boarding lines to sports talk phone lines. Meanwhile, the Red Sox are in Fort Myers, Fla., biding their time, solving for a winning equation that doesn’t include Mookie Betts or .

It’s hard to know what to make of the 2020 luxury tax-resetting Red Sox, but following a week in sunny and blustery southwest Florida, this much is clear to me: This iteration of the Sox will go as far as the three arms at the top of the starting rotation — Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Nate Eovaldi — can take them.

On a team whose potential is tough to peg, there is no area of projection murkier than the starting rotation. It could fall anywhere from dominant to disastrous.

Nobody questions the talent of the top three. They have the right stuff to headline a formidable rotation and cover for the lack of an identifiable fifth starter and a pedestrian fourth, Martin Perez, with an inflamed earned average. We’ve seen that with Rodriguez, coming off a breakout 19-win season, mowing down the Yankees Saturday with six in three , and Eovaldi, fanning four Braves in three innings Sunday.

The issue is the ephemeral and fickle nature of their health, exemplified by spindly ace Sale already ticketed to the after ending last season idled on it. For a club wisely focused on sustainability in the era, it’s unclear whether the starting rotation can sustain playoff contention. If Sale, Rodriguez, and Eovaldi end up in the familiar territory of the breakdown lane, then a return trip to the postseason is doomed to crash and burn.

While Betts is the most noticeable missing piece, it’s misery agent Price’s pitching that could prove more difficult to fill. Even without Markus Lynn Betts, offense won’t be an issue, not with Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Rafael Devers, and a properly recalibrated Andrew Benintendi. Last year, the Sox scored 901 runs — more than they did during their -winning season (876) — and slugged a club- record 245 home runs. They return 197 of those homers.

Run prevention (where have we heard that phrase before?) prowess proves trickier to project. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is fond of saying that reliability is more important than ability. The Sox’ top three starters possess a lot of the latter and not enough of the former. If the Sox had loaded the trio onto the baseball big rig transporting equipment south on Truck Day, they would have slapped “handle with care” and “fragile” stickers on them.

Sale is simultaneously a Cy Young Award winner and a hardball hiatus waiting to happen. The only thing that has kept him from claiming his rightful hardware is that he appears hard-wired to falter physically before the finish line. Last season, elbow trouble truncated an uneven season (6-11, 4.40 ERA, but 13.3 strikeouts per 9) in mid-August.

Now, pneumonia has stunted Sale’s progression, making 15 pitches of live batting practice Sunday a momentous milestone. This is not what the Sox were looking for in the first year of Sale’s five- year, $145 million extension, a deal that’s a steal if Sale can stay healthy. But that’s a Tacko Fall-sized if.

“I know that on the outside looking in, this is not good. Any time you go on the IL, there is going to be some blowback with this too,” said Sale, when his earmarking for the IL instead of Opening Day in Toronto was announced last Thursday. “I get it. But I have too much respect and faith in these guys who are in my corner to ever second-guess them with any decision we make about the team, about me personally, or anything moving forward.”

Clearly, the Sox are taking all precautions. They invested too much in their Fabergé egg of an ace to do anything else. Sale started two weeks behind, so he must stay behind. As chief baseball officer Bloom said, “He’s so important to us that we shouldn’t be cutting corners with him.”

No matter what the Sox try with Sale, his track record indicates an in-season IL stint is ineluctable.

The 26-year-old Rodriguez is the presumptive Opening Day starter with Sale unavailable, but wobbly knees and an unprecedented workload last season make the lefty a candidate to redline. He tied for the major league lead in starts (34) and threw a career-high 203⅓ innings. However, he accomplished all that in a rotation that boasted Price and . It’s unclear if Eddie Money’s body or psyche can bear the burden of being counted on as a co-No. 1.

“I’ve been feeling like that since I got to the big leagues, and I’ve been a starter. Every time you go out there, you got a weight on your shoulders,” said Rodriguez. “You got to go out there and get six or seven innings all the time, no matter if you’re No. 1 or No. 5. Every time you go out there, you got the team on your back.”

That sounds good, but being a lifeline on a team with little pitching leeway is different than being the kid brother fourth starter on an 84-win team just willing the curtain to close on the season.

That leads us to Eovaldi, he of the triple-digit fastball and the dubious eight-figure salary. The Sox bought at the top of the market when former president of baseball operations/professional free spender lavished a four-year, $68 million deal on Eovaldi after he shined as a rental for the ’18 Sox.

No doubt the Sox have buyer’s remorse.

Eovaldi has all-world stuff and heart. That’s never been an issue for him. His availability has. He was limited to just 23 games and 12 starts in 2019 by surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow, posting a 5.99 ERA.

The righthander has all but turned the IL into a timeshare. He has been shut down or sent there every season since 2015. He’s like a sports car with a faulty fan belt. He looks built for speed but is bound to break down.

The odds of all three remaining healthy the entire season is supermodel slim. That puts the onus on Bloom. He’s going to be responsible for piecing together the other two-fifths of the rotation and foraging enough depth to survive injuries to the trusted triumvirate.

Patchwork roster-building on a budget is a specialty of the , the baseball think tank that groomed Bloom. He’s going to need those skills. It would have helped if he had procured pitching in the Betts-Price sell-off.

Maybe, one of the Sox young pitching prospects, Darwinzon Hernandez, , or 20-year-old Bryan Mata, will morph into the mound version of Rafael Devers, bailing Boston out of its starting pitching predicament. Or the Sox will go full Fenway Rays with Openers.

The mound is lining up as the hump these Sox can’t get over.

Red Sox believe in Ryan Weber despite rough 2019: Here’s why

Peter Abraham

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Red Sox dropped seven largely ineffective pitchers off their 40-man roster after last season. Most were designated for assignment then either released or sent outright to the minors.

But Ryan Weber, who was 2-4 with a 5.08 average over 18 games and 40⅔ innings, kept his spot. The Sox looked beyond his statistics and saw something in the 29-year-old righthander that was intriguing enough to keep him on the roster.

Weber throws five pitches but relies primarily on his sinker, curveball and with only occasional cutters and four-seam fastballs.

Statcast recorded Weber throwing only eight cutters last season. The Sox studied the pitch and felt it was good enough for Weber to use more often.

His sinker tails down and away to lefthanded hitters. A cutter that breaks in to lefties could become an effective swing-and-miss pitch but the greater benefit would be keeping the hitter for sitting on the sinker.

“We talked about it a little bit last year. But it was something new and he was a little reluctant to try it,” pitching coach said. “Over time he got more comfortable with the idea. We really impressed upon him the importance to the rest of his pitches.”

Because Weber tops out at 90 m.p.h., he needs a good mix to be effective. The cutter doesn’t have to be a great pitch; just one good enough to make his other pitches a little better.

“It’s tough to cover both sides of the plate for a hitter,” Weber said. “You want to keep them honest.”

Weber worked on his cutter against the Tigers on Monday with promising results. He allowed one unearned run on three hits over three innings and struck out six without a walk.

It was further evidence that whether it’s as a starter or the multi- “bulk” who follows an opener, Weber could prove helpful to the Sox.

“If I get the ball in the first inning or the third inning, I’m going to pitch the way I pitch,” Weber said. “I’m comfortable starting or relieving.”

Manager Ron Roenicke said Weber would continue to get stretched out.

“He knows how to pitch. When to mix it up and when to attack,” Roenicke said. “He’s got a good feel. He throws strikes.”

Weber wasn’t too concerned as the Sox chopped into the roster.

“They make the decisions; it’s up to them to figure out who they want. I just did my normal workouts not worrying about the roster,” Weber said. “I was just getting ready for spring training wherever that was going to be. But it was nice to know they believed in me.”

Moreland improved , who took himself out of Sunday’s game with a tight right hamstring, should get back on the field later this week.

“Threw a little bit. Doing a little running on the treadmill and stuff,” he said. “We’re going to work on it and make sure we’ve got it strong.”

Moreland has a long history of lower-body injuries and was being cautious.

“I don’t know if it’ll be a couple of days but it shouldn’t be much longer,” Roenicke said.

Andrew Benintendi, who hasn’t played since Thursday because of a sore quad, is scheduled to be the against the Yankees on Tuesday in Tampa.

Perez’s plan Martin Perez will face the Yankees and Masahiro Tanaka on Tuesday. Perez faced the Tigers last Wednesday and allowed one unearned run over three innings.

“It’s good to go face the lineup you’re going to see during the season,” Perez said. “So, you prepare yourself a little bit more and you compete. Just go out there and work on what you need to work on and make adjustments during the game.”

Perez is keying in on the shape of his curveball, something he made a priority for spring training. He threw his curveball only 4.7 percent of the time last year.

“Just to change the hitter’s eye levels,” Perez said. “I want to throw something down to change the eyes and then come back with my hardest pitches.”

Josh Taylor, Austin Brice and Josh Osich are among the pitchers set to follow Perez.

Yaz in the house Hall of Famer arrived at Fort Myers for his annual visit to work with minor league hitters. Yastrzemski, 80, was in uniform and spent some time catching up with Dwight Evans and talking with Benintendi. NESN’s also arrived at camp . . . In his first appearance of the spring, buzzed through a perfect fourth inning that included a of C.J. Cron . . . Rusney Castillo singled in the seventh inning and jogged to first base. When the ball skipped past right fielder Riley Green and went to the fence, Castillo was only able to make second base.

Monday’s spring game report: Red Sox give up 6 in ninth, settle for tie

Peter Abraham

SCORE: Red Sox 11, Tigers 11 (called after nine)

RECORD: 4-5-2

BREAKDOWN: Ryan Weber, Matt Barnes, and Colten Brewer allowed one unearned run over five innings as the Sox took a 7-1 lead. Denyi Reyes, Phillips Valdez, and Adam Lau allowed 10 runs on nine hits over the remaining four innings. The Tigers scored six in the bottom of the ninth for the tie, the last three on Travis Demeritte’s second homer of the game. , Marcus Wilson, and homered for the Sox.

PLAYER OF THE DAY: Weber struck out six of the 12 batters he faced.

NEXT GAME: The Sox play the Yankees in Tampa at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday, The game will be on ESPN and WEEI-AM 850. Martin Perez will face Masahiro Tanaka.

Xander Bogaerts hopes to start playing in games this week

Julian McWilliams

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The biggest mystery this spring for the Red Sox has been Xander Bogaerts.

The season starts in fewer than 25 days, and the shortstop still hasn’t seen any game action and has been limited in what he can accomplish on the field.

Bogaerts, who has been dealing with left ankle soreness since the start of camp, was asked if it is frustrating.

“It is,” he said Monday morning. “Especially [because] the days are close. You’re kind of wondering, ‘Hey are you going to get in [games] in time?’”

Said manager Ron Roenicke, “It’s taking a little bit longer. I don’t think it’s a concern yet. But we go another week and he’s not out there doing stuff and, yeah, we’ll start to get a little concerned.”

Bogaerts hopes to get in games this week, but if he isn’t available to start the season, Roenicke said they will go with Jose Peraza at shortstop. Peraza is projected to be the starting second baseman, but he played 39 games at shortstop last season and takes pride in being versatile.

Bogaerts’s progression has been slow, but he recently ramped up his activity, taking grounders and batting practice. He hasn’t had any setbacks, he said. It’s just a matter of getting acclimated to moving around more.

“I’ve started doing baseball activities, so sometimes I get sore in other areas because I haven’t been swinging, taking grounders, stuff like that,” Bogaerts said. “I think it’s all coming along well.”

Bogaerts took live batting practice just once this spring, against Eduardo Rodriguez, but remains confident he will be ready for Opening Day.

“My swing and all is not midseason form,” he said. “I think it will be a good time to work on that. I think we have enough time.”

The Sox will need Bogaerts’s presence in the clubhouse and on the field more than ever. There are questions surrounding the rotation. Newly acquired will start the season on the injured list with a stress fracture in his back. Unprompted, Bogaerts said Monday it will be different without Mookie Betts around.

“Knowing that we traded away Mookie, that might put some pressure on us to go out and do more,” he said. “I think we should be a little careful with that. We just don’t want to put pressure on ourselves and get in a big hole just because we want to fill someone’s shoes like Mookie’s. Mookie is one of the best players in the game.”

The clock is ticking for Bogaerts.

“I would like 10 days more this spring if it was for me, just because of the way I’m rolling right now,” he said. “I think I have enough time. I can at least track in the cages some off-speed. Just the fastball now is something that I might need to see a little more in game time. I’m looking forward to that.”

Our latest prediction on the Red Sox’ Opening Day roster

Peter Abraham

Back in the good old days — last year — predicting the Red Sox roster to open the season was a straightforward task. Outside of the final spot in the bullpen or on the bench, you knew who fit where.

Now, the Red Sox have so many players in camp that extra lockers were needed. There are more random twentysomething dudes with facial hair walking around than at a Phish concert.

The Red Sox have 24 days to cut down from 67 to 26 players. Beyond that, it’s entirely possible that they open the season with a player or two who isn’t in their camp right now. Chaim Bloom will scour the waiver wire and trade market in late March to seek even marginal improvements to the roster.

But for now, here is our latest prognostication for how the Sox will look on March 26 in Toronto when they open the season.

CATCHER (2): Christian Vazquez, Jonathan Lucroy.

Explanation: The Sox appeared set at this position when they signed as Vazquez’s backup. The unexpected arrival of Lucroy on a minor league contract changed their options. If Lucroy earns a spot, it makes sense for the Sox to keep him if only to flip him to another team at some point. The other alternative would be to stash Lucroy in the minors.

The Sox have enviable catcher depth in Vazquez, Lucroy, Plawecki, Jett Bandy, and Juan Centeno.

INFIELD (7): Xander Bogaerts (SS), Rafael Devers (3B), Mitch Moreland (1B), Jose Peraza (2B), (UTIL), Tzu-Wei Lin (UTIL), Jonathan Arauz (UTIL).

Explanation: That Bogaerts has yet to play because of a sore left ankle is becoming more of a concern. But he has ample time to get ready, so for now no changes in this group. Lin has swung the bat well and Chavis will be needed to platoon with Moreland.

Arauz is getting a good look. The 21-year-old, who was a Rule 5 selection, is not ready for the majors, but the Red Sox are looking for any avenue to add young talent to the organization.

OUTFIELD (4): Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., J.D. Martinez, Kevin Pillar.

Explanation: With Alex Verdugo likely to start the season on the injured list, the Sox could start the season with this group and use Lin as a backup. That would allow them to keep Arauz on the roster.

If they decide they need another outfielder, John Andreoli or Nick Longhi could handle the job until Verdugo is ready. Jarren Duran is fun to watch but needs more time in the minors.

Benintendi appears primed for a big season. I get a sense that the two-year, $10 million deal he agreed to eased his mind.

ROTATION (4): LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, RHP Nate Eovaldi, LHP Martin Perez, RHP Ryan Weber.

Explanation: Chris Sale will open the year on the injured list and that now leaves two holes in the rotation.

The Sox evidently see something in Weber, who has a 5.04 ERA in 42 major league games, including 5.96 in 11 starts. He’s the leading contender for one of those spots.

The Sox will search for another starter via trade. But Bloom also could use an opener for one of the spots. That would give him a chance to evaluate more of the pitchers he’s added to the organization in the last few months.

You can expect a flurry of roster moves all season when it comes to the pitching staff, maybe even more so in April with 20 games in 21 days to open the season.

BULLPEN (9): RHP , RHP Matt Barnes, LHP , RHP , LHP Darwinzon Hernandez, RHP Colten Brewer, LHP Josh Osich, RHP , LHP .

Explanation: If the Sox use an opener they’ll also need somebody as the “bulk” pitcher to go 3-4 innings. That would be a good role for Johnson, who has pitched well so far in camp. Walden and Hernandez also can work multiple innings.

The previous regime liked Brasier, Brewer, and Walden a lot. We’ll see if that remains true.

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Brandon Workman gives Red Sox faith that ninth inning won’t grow ugly

Tom Keegan

FORT MYERS — Shaved heads, ZZ Top , wild sprints to the mound. Name an attention-getting idiosyncrasy and chances are there was at least one who embraced it as part of an image intended to portray pitching on the borders of insanity.

Randy Myers routinely wore combat fatigues, stocked his locker with hunting knives and neutered hand grenades. He rocked from side to side on his jog to the mound. John Rocker started a full-on sprint as soon as the bullpen gate swung open. , the Mad Hungarian, wore a Fu Man Chu and swung his left arm back and forth as he glared in at the catcher’s signs.

For decades, quirkiness was as much a part of a closer’s costume as a Hawaiian shirt is for aging men trying to minimize the paunch.

Then along came , widely regarded as the greatest closer of all-time. Other than “Enter Sandman” playing on the loudspeakers, he had no signature. He was the antithesis of the “look-at-me” athlete. Everything from his jog to the mound, to his easy delivery to his efficient pitching created a new model for closers: Let your results do your talking.

It worked so well for Rivera that zany closers have become the exception, no longer the rule. One thing hasn’t changed about the role: Not everybody with a lively arm is built for the pressure of the ninth inning.

“It takes a different type of mentality to allow a guy you think can be a closer every year,” Red Sox interim manager Ron Roenicke said. “They’re going to give it up at times and lose a ballgame and then how are they the next day when they bounce back?”

The only way to find out is to hand a pitcher the ball to protect a lead in the ninth on a regular basis. Once the Red Sox did that with Brandon Workman late last season, they discovered that he showed the same dominance as in any other inning. Opponents posted an outrageously weak .166 against him. More numbers of dominance: 10-1 record, 1.88 ERA, 104 strikeouts in 71-⅔ innings. And the lone negative: 45 walks.

From Aug. 5 on, Workman saved 11 games in 13 opportunities. He finished the season with 16 saves.

“Workman has the mentality to do that,” Red Sox interim manager Ron Roenicke said. “So that allows us to believe he can go out and do it for an entire season.”

A year ago, the Sox entered the season with a closer-by-committee approach, which didn’t work.

“Last year, I didn’t know if my role was going to be on the team or not so; it’s definitely nice knowing I probably will make the team,” Workman deadpanned. “Being a closer is kind of the job everybody wants in the bullpen. I wanted that from the time I became a reliever.”

Early returns indicate Workman is more suited to the role than a Texas Longhorn from another generation with the Red Sox, Calvin Schiraldi.

To hear Workman tell it, here’s what he did to change once he became the closer: nothing.

“It’s really not that big of an adjustment. It’s still pitching and trying to get three outs,” Workman said. “It’s still pitching. It’s still getting three outs, whether it’s the seventh, eighth or ninth.”

If he were closing in another era, Workman might sport a mullet or shaved head and somersault his way from the bullpen to the mound, the opposite of a Workman-like approach.

Improving upon last season by trimming his walk totals without allowing hitters to make more solid contact won’t be an easy juggling act to execute, but he’ll try.

“There is still a lot of room to improve, in my opinion,” Workman said. “I walked a lot of people. Some of them were good walks that I didn’t mind. Some of them were bad walks that didn’t need to happen. That’s something I’ll be looking to tighten up this year.”

Roenicke also referenced “good walks.”

“Sometimes those are good walks. Sometimes he’s pitching around a guy and I think both he and (Matt) Barnes know when it’s a time when I really don’t want to go after this guy as much,” Roenicke said. “So some of those walks are, I don’t want to say they’re by design because if they’re too much by design I might as well just walk him intentionally and not let him waste four pitches or five or six. With those guys, they have a pretty good idea of what they want to do and who they want to face.”

The negative impact of walks extends beyond a free base.

“The pitch count is what concerns me more,” Roenicke said. “ It would be great if those guys can have some games where they’re one inning and have 10 to 15 pitches instead of always in the 20s because if you’re always in the 20s then I have to back off on you somewhere. If you’re really efficient with your pitches you can go out there a lot more often.”

Overall, Roenicke is genuinely optimistic about the prospects of the bullpen. A year ago, the starting rotation was the source of Sox optimism, the bullpen a major concern. The injury-torn rotation imploded, and once Workman settled into the ninth-inning role the bullpen was better than anticipated. Now the thin rotation qualifies as the glaring hole on the roster.

In other words, in forecasting baseball seasons, it pays to consult the wisdom of Joaquin Andujar, philosopher/former pitcher for the Astros, Cardinals and A’s, who said: “There is one word in America that says it all, and that one word is, ‘You never know.’”

Rays GM on Chaim Bloom’s eventful start with Red Sox: ‘He’s going to do a nice job’

Jason Mastrodonato

It’s not easy to trust the Red Sox right now.

The decision making from top to bottom has been confusing since last fall, when principal owner John Henry fired Dave Dombrowski, waited weeks to answer questions about it and then finally said the two had differing visions for the Red Sox for almost a full year; in that time, Dombrowski kept making decisions with a short-term vision.

The Sox then flip-flopped too many times to count on their public messaging about getting under the luxury tax threshold ahead of the 2020 season.

They finally traded Mookie Betts after saying all the right things about keeping him during a slow off- season.

They made no major acquisitions other than to load up on fringe relief pitchers but still insist they’re trying to compete for a World Series title.

And now, new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom is teaching interim manager Ron Roenicke and his coaching staff how the Red Sox should properly use the opener, a strategy perfected by Bloom’s former organization, the Tampa Bay Rays.

If there’s one person who trusts what the Red Sox are doing, it’s Bloom’s old boss, Rays general manager Erik Neander.

“He’s prepared to handle it,” Neander said of Bloom during the Rays’ visit to JetBlue Park earlier this spring. “He’s thorough. He’s prepared. Nothing is done haphazardly. He’s aware and in tune. He’s able to anticipate. When you do that, you put yourself in position to make what you believe are the best decisions possible.”

Bloom’s biggest decision was to trade Betts and David Price rather than find more creative ways to get under the threshold, though the messy situation he found himself in certainly wasn’t his fault.

“There’s been a lot this off-season, obviously,” Neander said. “But he’s as prepared as one could be to handle it, manage it and make what they believe are the best decisions for the club. You don’t make decisions like (trading Betts) unless you truly believe they’re in the best interest of the organization.”

Added Neander, “He’s going to do a nice job.”

Neander and Bloom worked together for 13 years in Tampa, the last three of which Bloom spent as a senior vice president working directly with Neander on the organization’s most important decisions.

But now they’re contemporaries competing for the same division title. Neander is running a team that seems perpetually underrated and often exceeds expectations while Bloom is operating under the opposite circumstances.

Neander smiled and said he has no empathy for Bloom, who has taken some (although arguably not much) criticism from local media outlets and fans.

“Every environment, every situation has different stresses and different pressures,” Neander said. “These are pressures that come with inheriting —and being in a situation with the type of passionate fanbase that exists up there (in Boston). This is all part of it.

“I don’t feel for him. It’s the job. He’s well-equipped to handle it. He knows full-well what’s going on and what it takes to handle it. I wish him the best, for sure.”

Bloom was to spend his Sunday teaching Roenicke how to utilize the opener.

Neander hardly remembers when the Rays first implemented the opener strategy and he wouldn’t say if it was Bloom’s idea.

“I don’t know if it traces back to a single idea at a single point in time,” Neander said. “We’ve had discussions about whether there are better ways to maximize the contributions of a pitching staff as long as I’ve been with the organization. And just each passing conversation led to a little bit more.

“We got to the point in our club where, you don’t do something like that without a collective support and consideration from a lot of different viewpoints, including your players. I can’t pinpoint it on any one individual person but a lot of us got to the point where we felt like it was the right thing to do with the players we had at the time.”

Now it’s Bloom’s chance to try again, this time on his own. And with a much larger audience watching closely.

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox’s dominating early in spring training with velocity, command: ‘It’s why we like him so much,’ Ron Roenicke says

Chris Cotillo

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- If his first two spring training starts are any indication, Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi will bounce back in a big way in 2020.

Eovaldi, who struggled to a 5.99 ERA in just 67 ⅔ innings last season, has dominated so far in Grapefruit League play. After holding the Twins scoreless for two innings in his debut Monday, he mowed down the Braves for three frames Sunday, allowing one hit and striking out four -- including big-leaguers Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte

In five spring innings, Eovaldi has allowed three hits while striking out eight batters and walking none. His fastball reached 100 mph against Minnesota, easily blowing away hitters who are at the early stages of their spring progressions.

Eovaldi has stood out as an early star of camp for the Sox.

“Really good again. Locating his fastball well,” said interim manager Ron Roenicke. “Threw some great splitters and curveballs. When he’s got his command and has his pitches working, he’s very difficult.”

Eovaldi made just two spring starts for the Sox last year, posting a 3.86 ERA while allowing two homers and walking two batters in seven innings. He lasted just four regular season starts before needing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow and was then shut down for more than three months.

Eovaldi came back as a reliever and made seven appearances out of the bullpen before rejoining the rotation in mid-August. A year after proving to be a key part of Boston’s rotation in the postseason, the righty only had one win as a starter all year.

The long offseason appears to be benefiting Eovaldi so far in spring training. He has looked as good as any pitcher the Red Sox have in camp.

“I’ve never had an issue with throwing hard. I feel like in spring training, it has always been there for me,” Eovaldi said. “Unfortunately, it has just been the command of my off-speed pitches. Right now, I feel like my command is doing pretty well for both of those, the fastball and the off-speed pitches. I just feel really balanced in everything with my mechanics right now.”

Eovaldi is even more important to the Red Sox this year with David Price having been traded to the Dodgers and Chris Sale expected to start the season on the injured list after a bout with pneumonia delayed his arrival at camp. At least at the beginning of the season, Eovaldi will likely slot in as the team’s No. 2 starter after Eduardo Rodriguez, serving as one of three traditional starters in the mix until Sale returns.

In his four remaining spring outings, Eovaldi plans to focus on repeating his mechanics and challenging hitters by throwing strikes. He’ll look to build on his strong start in preparation for his season debut against the Blue Jays in late March.

“It’s so difficult to be able to catch up to the 100 (mph),” Roenicke said. “It’s up there. And then you have to cheat, and all of the sudden here comes a split or a curveball or a cutter. It’s why we like him so much. When we see that kind of command, he’s going to go through a lineup.”

* The Portland Press Herald

So far, it’s been a rough spring for Xander Bogaerts

Tom Caron

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Xander Bogaerts has been dealing with a lot of frustration.

For starters, Bogaerts hasn’t been able to get into a spring training game yet. It’s March, and the will break camp in just three weeks. Bogaerts, who arrived raring to go a month ago, has been slowed by a sore ankle that started bothering him during his final offseason workouts.

The shortstop expects to start playing games soon. He’s not worried about running out of time to get ready for the season. At least, not yet.

“I think it will be a good time to work on that. I think we have enough time.”

The ankle is a different frustration for the Red Sox, who arrived in camp last month dealing with the loss of Mookie Betts via a trade to the Dodgers. The team has moved on as players have immersed themselves in preparation. Yet Bogaerts, who continues to emerge as a team leader, worries about what the loss of a superstar could mean to the remaining players.

“I just think we traded away Mookie and that might put some pressure on us to go out and do more,” said Bogaerts, “and I think we have to be careful with that, you know? We just don’t want to be putting pressure on ourselves and getting in a big hole just because you want to fill someone’s shoes like Mookie.

“Mookie’s one of the best players in the game. Don’t try to go out and do that. Just let the game come to you, play the game the way you know. Just do the stuff that you know. Don’t try to go out there and hit three homers in a game.”

Bogaerts said it isn’t easy losing one of the game’s biggest impact bats, saying Betts could change a game with “one swing, one defensive play.”

Steve Lyons, the NESN analyst who spent nine years in the big leagues, pointed out that Bogaerts can do the same thing.

“Yeah,” laughed Bogaerts, “but two would be better than one.”

The Red Sox certainly have other big hitters. Like Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers are coming off tremendous seasons at the plate.

“We obviously have a lot of talented guys and I know we can make it work,” said Bogaerts. “It’s just frustrating not being able to do much now.”

Better now than next month, when the Red Sox will need Bogaerts and the rest of the lineup to be at its best if it hopes to overcome the loss of Betts. A year ago the Sox set a team record for home runs. It’s unlikely this lineup will top that mark, but it should have enough to succeed.

That lineup needs Bogaerts at the center of it. Getting on the field would be his next step towards returning to his role as run producer and team leader. It’s a role Boston will lean on more than ever in 2020.

* The Lawrence Eagle Tribune

Yastrzemski makes 61st consecutive spring training with Sox

Bill Burt

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The King has arrived.

Carl Yastrzemski, aka the Greatest Living Red Sox Player, made the trip across the state from his snowbird home in Delray Beach, Florida, for his annual spring training ritual.

This is No. 61 for Yaz -- as in, 61 consecutive springs wearing a Red Sox uniform like the one he had on yesterday.

“The first few (seven years) were in Scottsdale,” Yaz said of the Sox workouts that used to be held in Arizona. “Then it was Winter Haven (27 years), which I liked because it was a small, quiet place where you could focus on baseball. This is different, Fort Myers (27 years), and this wonderful park. The facilities are great.

“I love being here,” added Yaz, who spends the warmer months in Boxford. “It means baseball is close. You can taste it.”

There is a quote all over the Red Sox facility in Fort Myers, in both the minor league and major league clubhouses, attributed to Yaz: “I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day, and I dream about it at night. The time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing.”

Yup, he said it. And he means it.

“Of course I’m biased, but in my opinion baseball is the greatest game,” said Yaz, who turned 80 last Aug. 22. “It is such a challenge, every day. You don’t get to this level if you don’t love it and are willing to work for it.”

Dwight Evans, 68, is also active on the practice fields during the Red Sox spring -- talking to players, giving outfield instruction. He and Yaz -- like David Ortiz, and Pedro Martinez -- don’t not have an official capacity. Their jobs are more to spread the word.

While Ortiz and Pedro do their best work with the current major-leaguers, Yaz has always felt a kinship with the true “kids,” the minor leaguers.

“I really look forward to being over here early and seeing the young guys hit,” he said.

“I could do it all day. I like the energy and passion.”

His methods are vintage Yaz -- watch and talk afterward.

If a player asks a question, he will talk … in detail.

Yaz has plenty of resume to support his talk.

His name is all over baseball’s record book. He ranks in the Top 10 all-time in games played (2nd at 3,308); at bats (3rd at 11,988); hits (9th at 3,419); (10th at 5,539); doubles (9th at 646): and walks (6th at 1,845).

“As you can see, Carl is not a big man of stature like some of these 6-foot-4, 250-pound guys we see here walking around,” said Evans. “But Carl was a great athlete. The things he could do with his hands and bat speed, the power he generated -- they were beyond special.

“He taught Jimmy and I how to play the game, every day,” added Evans. “He taught us how to play hurt. Anybody can go out there hurt. But you can’t just go ‘out there’ and play. You have to produce, and at a high level. Carl taught us that.”

A cool thing happened after batting practice on the field at JetBlue Park on Monday for several major- leaguers who didn’t make the trip over to Lakeland for the game against the .

Evans and Yaz were chatting on the third base line after it was over. Evans saw Andrew Benintendi walking by.

Evans, who has done some outfield work with Benintendi the past few days, summoned him over.

“Benny’s a shy kid. I wanted him to shake Carl’s hand,” said Evans. “Benny says, ‘I saw him play on film. I’ve seen a lot of film of him.’ I think a lot of the guys know Carl was great -- but they don’t realize how great he really was.”

Yaz reaches out to Evans amid tragedy

Bill Burt

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Carl Yastrzemski and Dwight Evans played 13 years together. They've known each other for almost 50 years.

If there’s anybody who knows Yaz, it’s Evans.

“He calls me Dwight, and I call him Carl,” said Evans, who played 20 seasons of baseball, 19 with the Red Sox. “I consider him a special friend. I always will.”

That friendship was front and center when Evans eldest son, Tim, died on Feb. 22 from a genetic disorder, neurofibromatosis. Ten months earlier, his youngest son, Justin, died from the same incurable condition.

Yaz lost his son, Mike Yastrzemski, 44, to blood clots after a hip surgery in 2004. He called Evans after he heard the news about Tim. They were on the phone for almost two hours.

“Dwight is one of the mentally toughest people I’ve ever met,” said Yaz. “I can’t believe how strong he is. I wouldn’t have been able to handle it like he has. He is such a positive, special person.”

Evans said Yaz’s call meant a lot.

“Look, it’s tough,” he said. “Right now I’m here six hours or so a day, able to think about baseball. My wife, understandably, is having a tough time. We’re there for each other.

“We’re not supposed to lose our kids,” said Evans. “It’s not fair. But life isn’t fair. Our belief in God has helped. But it’s friends like Carl that help a lot.”

* RedSox.com

Workman: 'It's a lot of fun pitching in those spots'

Ian Browne

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A year ago at this time, roles weren't defined in the Red Sox's bullpen. had left, leaving a gaping hole at closer.

Then-manager Alex Cora was being cryptic about how he would deploy his bullpen personnel. And for somebody who had already been a part of two World Series-winning teams, nobody was in a more uncomfortable spot of limbo than Brandon Workman.

"Last year, I didn't know if my role was going to be on the team or not," said Workman. "So it's definitely nice knowing that I'm probably going to make the team this year."

Yes, Workman is probably going to make the team this year. As in, definitely. He is probably going to be the closer as of Opening Day. As in, definitely.

In the second half of last season, the Red Sox finally provided some structure in their bullpen. And there was no more important development than when Workman was given the chance to take the ninth inning and run with it.

With a nasty curveball that he used 47 percent of the time and a fastball that averaged 92.9 mph and consistently bit the corners, Workman had the best season of his baseball life.

Workman pitched in 73 games, notching a 1.88 ERA and holding opponents to a .123 average. With little fanfare, most likely because the Red Sox didn't reach expectations as a team, Workman became one of the dominant relievers in the game.

And it was a story that should have gotten more play when you consider the following:

Workman missed the entire 2015 season after having Tommy John surgery that June, and he didn't pitch in the Major Leagues at all in '16. Though he was perfectly adequate in '17 and '18 while bouncing between Boston and Triple-A Pawtucket, his '18 postseason was not pretty.

In Game 1 of the American League , Workman gave up two hits and a walk while retiring just one batter as the Yankees nearly stormed back from a 5-0 deficit after three innings in an eventual 5-4 loss to Boston. Game 2 was no better, as Workman gave up a hit to two of the three batters he faced and again got just one out.

The bottom fell out in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series against the Astros. Workman again got just one out. This time, he gave up four runs on three hits, two walks and two homers as Boston got blistered, 7- 2. Though the Sox came back to win the next four games and get to the World Series, Workman didn't make the Fall Classic roster.

For someone who had pitched a scoreless eighth inning in the clinching of the , that was a tough pill to swallow. The Red Sox won the '18 World Series with Workman as a spectator, and that motivation fueled him to have the best offseason of his career.

Nobody enjoyed the resurrection of Workman more than longtime teammate Matt Barnes.

"Absolutely. I've known him for a long time. We played together for the first time in the Cape [Cod League], so we've been friends for a long, long time," Barnes said. "To watch what he's done, obviously first getting to the big leagues in '13 and doing what he did, being a dominant reliever for them in the World Series run, watching him go through the arm injuries, that was tough to watch. But the way that he bounced and his resilience, that was awesome."

And the 31-year-old Workman isn't just a closer for the Red Sox. But he has become a quiet leader in the bullpen.

"He was instrumental in me kind of bouncing back from that terrible June that I had," said Barnes. "We were able to sit down and he helped me a lot in terms of understanding his sequencing, recognizing pitches, how to set pitches up following pitches."

This season will be the first time Workman has had the opportunity to be the closer from start to finish. Entering his walk year, another successful season could earn him a lot of money in the free-agent market.

"It's a lot of fun pitching in those spots," Workman said. "I really do enjoy pitching in those games, those tight games late. I think it's fun -- the adrenaline of it is fun."

In and Kimbrel, Workman had the chance to learn from two of the best in team history. And this is what he took away from it.

"The consistency about how they go about their business every day. They're doing the same work, not skipping out on things," Workman said. "They were just consistently working."

Workman now finds himself doing the same thing.

"I'm trying to stay the same really," said Workman. "Keep working the way I have. It worked out well last year, so I'm just trying to get to the spot where I feel consistent with my mechanics and repeating pitches, that sort of thing."

Red Sox interim manager Ron Roenicke feels secure about the man he will call on in the ninth inning when his team is ahead.

"I think with just his makeup, it takes a different type of mentality to allow a guy to be a closer every year," Roenicke said. "They have to be willing to go out there and they're going to give it up at times and lose a ballgame. And then, how are they the next day when they bounce back? Workman has the mentality to do that, so it allows us to believe that he can go out and do that for an entire season."

Notes: Bogaerts close to returning; Weber K's 6

Ian Browne

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts at last feels like he is turning the corner in his return from left ankle soreness and said he could play in Grapefruit League games at some point this week.

With the Red Sox on the road playing the Tigers on Monday, Bogaerts stayed back and got in a good workout at the Fenway South complex.

"It went well," Bogaerts said. "Looking forward to playing in games, probably this week. I don't know which days, but I feel pretty close to 100 percent. [I'm not there] as yet, but pretty close. I'm much further than I was when I came here."

Bogaerts suffered the injury during an offseason workout, but it's not expected to impact his availability for Opening Day.

That said, this spring has felt strange for Bogaerts, who is a team leader on the Red Sox.

"It feels like I'm in the [World Baseball Classic] a little bit," said Bogaerts. "I'm away from the team. I haven't been able to do much playing games, just trying to get treatment. I think it's smart on us just trying to take it slow. I don't want to aggravate it again or have something nagging going into the season. I think it's been smart of us just taking it slow, getting everything right."

Bogaerts has done everything he can to stay in shape despite the delay.

"I think I'm pretty much the same weight-wise and in the gym," Bogaerts said. "It's just that now I've started doing baseball activities, so sometimes I get sore in other areas because I haven't been swinging, taking grounders, stuff like that. I think it's all coming along well and hopefully I play this week."

Weber makes strong case

The Red Sox have two spots wide open in the back of the rotation, and Ryan Weber is making a strong case to land one of them. The finesse righty fired three impressive innings in the Sox's 11-11 tie with the Tigers on Monday in Lakeland, Fla., holding Detroit to three hits and an unearned run while walking none and striking out six.

Weber threw two shutout innings in his Spring Training debut last week against the Orioles.

With ace Chris Sale slated to start the season on the injured list, interim manager Ron Roenicke is considering using an opener in at least one of the two open spots. But he would rather someone emerge as a starter. Weber is making a good early case.

Dalbec's drive

One of the players to watch for the Red Sox this season is corner Bobby Dalbec -- their No. 3 prospect as ranked by MLB Pipeline.

Dalbec is known for his power, and he walloped a three-run homer to left-center on Monday.

It was the first homer of Spring Training for Dalbec, who is likely to open the season at Triple-A Pawtucket unless the Red Sox sustain an injury at first or third base.

Up next

The Red Sox will play the rival Yankees for the second and final time in Spring Training on Tuesday in Tampa. Lefty Martín Pérez, a free-agent acquisition in December, will make the start. Rafael Devers, Michael Chavis and Jose Peraza are expected to be in the lineup. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET, and fans can watch live on MLB.TV or listen on Gameday Audio.

* WEEI.com

The Monday Baseball Column: The MLB problem J.D. Martinez wants to see fixed

Rob Bradford

FORT MYERS, Fla. — J.D. Martinez is perturbed. And he isn’t alone.

When Players’ Association chief Tony Clark came to JetBlue Park last week he was met with a particular concern that Martinez can’t shake: Major League Baseball seems OK with too many teams being fine with the idea of not winning.

“In the new CBA we have to figure out a way to make teams competitive,” Martinez told WEEI.com, referencing a collective bargaining agreement that expires after the 2021 season. “I believe we are losing a lot of fan bases in certain cities because there are no rewards for winning. There's more of a reward for losing in today’s game than anything. I think we’re losing a lot of fans because teams are more motivated to lose than they are to win. Right now you can figure out the top three or four teams in the league and what teams are going to be competing for the World Series. That’s not how it should be. That’s what the game needs to get better at, making it more balanced.

“(Commissioner Rob) Manfred goes on record by saying salaries have no influence on whether teams are trying to win or not, which is totally wrong. If that was the case then get rid of the luxury tax. They don’t do that. Why? We have to figure out a way to reward teams for competing and not reward them for losing.”

Clark, of course, has been hit with a myriad of concerns from the players as he tours these camps. But the one Martinez brings up seems to have legs when it comes to the MLBPA wanting to make it a priority.

At least that is the vibe Martinez gives off.

“Of course,” he said when asked if the topic was being broached with Clark. “Everybody is on the same page. I think you heard players lash out the last couple of years about free agency and how teams aren’t competitive. There’s a new way and it’s either tank or go all in and that’s not the way it should be.”

There is no doubt a player like Martinez has a vested interest in teams paying money, with the slugger earning the right to enter free agency after this season. But he also sees how his game is trending in more than a few markets when it comes to sustained interest.

Martinez grew up idolizing the world champion Marlins in 1997 and 2003, now wondering what his fandom would look like if he lived life following this recent version of the Miami club.

“Take away rewards from teams for losing,” he said. “That whole idea isn’t working. Look at the game today, it’s so split in half. You have your outlier like Tampa, but those are rare. To me, teams are losing a lot of fans and MLB is losing a lot of fans.

“Manfred’s idea of adding more playoff teams, that’s not it. To me, it’s stop rewarding them for losing. Start rewarding teams for winning. You win, you get rewarded. Every time nowadays you sign a player and you have to give them a draft pick. No. Why? It enables teams to do more of that. They don’t want to give their draft picks away because that’s what they value more.

“Think it about like this: You’ve got little Tommy who lives in Pittsburgh and he’s six years old. When he’s six we’re rebuilding in Pittsburgh. We’re on a rebuild program. So now little Tommy goes four years without ever getting influenced to go to a Pirates game because they’re not good. I’m not trying to pick on the Pirates, I’m just giving an example. That’s a generation you might lose to another sport because maybe the Penguins might be good. So all of a sudden the kid is more attracted to hockey because when you’re a kid that’s what you want to see. You want to see the team that is in the playoffs. That’s what the buzz around the city is. So when you have half the teams shutting down you’re going to lose generations. They don’t feel it now but I have a feeling they are going to feel it in the future.”

So, what is the solution? In Martinez’s mind, it’s simple: A floor tax. Just as teams are penalized for going over the competitive balance threshold, they should be whacked for not spending to a certain level.

Considering MLB’s revenues have grown four-fold since the last CBA was negotiated, proponents of this idea have some ammunition.

“Put a luxury tax on the floor. Put a floor tax,” Martinez said. “You want to go under, you’re going to get penalized. Now all of a sudden the Marlins can’t go out and trade their entire outfield. Now you have to keep players who are relevant so it forces you to be relevant. You’re not sitting in there tanking. The teams take advantage of it. They get the money at the end of the day and put it right in their pockets.

“You put a floor, you make them tax it. To me there's no reason teams should not be spending money in today’s game. You look at this game, from our last CBA agreement I think the average was $2.5-3 billion to over $10.5 now, but the tax is the same. Where is that money going? There is a lot of money that is being put in. The problem is that the players get the bad rep because they say all these players are being greedy and they want all the money. The problem is that the owners are making four times the amount they made so where is all that money going?

“(Manfred's job), as the commissioner, (is) to protect the actual game, the growing of the game. He’s missing out on generations. Generations are not going to experience baseball in all these places because their teams aren’t relevant. There is no interest. Kids want to see relevant teams. An adult might say, ‘OK, we’re rebuilding and it’s going to be OK.’ That’s an adult. They have already been fans.”

He has a point.

SOME EARLY-SPRING TRAINING INTRIGUE

It might mean next to nothing, but first impressions are still first impressions. Here are a few from watching the opening week of spring training games:

- One very interesting arm belongs to Phillips Valdez, the pitcher the Red Sox plucked off of waivers from the Mariners. The 6-foot-3, 160-pound righty (yes, he is Chris Sale skinny) has a tattoo on his left arm which reads, “Be different.” Why? “I got that because there are a lot of guys who try and imitate others. But for myself, I want to be someone who is different and unique. That’s the type of person I am,” he told WEEI.com through a translator.

Valdez can already claim 11 major league appearances from last season, one of which saw him strike out Mike Trout. In his first outing with the Red Sox he struck out two of the three batters he faced. Using a plus-two-seamer and changeup, the reliever had more than a few watching back in the Sox’ clubhouse take notice.

- Rule 5 Draft pick Jonathan Arauz has held his own. The 21-year-old is still somewhat of a long shot to make the team considering he hasn’t played above Single-A, but there is that extra spot on the roster this season that makes keeping a Rule 5 player more palatable if they can bring something to the table.

With the ability to play second base, shortstop and third base, Arauz has acquitted himself well in the field while even popping a . He has looked better than Marco Hernandez, but still might be behind Tzu-Wei Lin in the competition for a utility role.

“At first I was nervous but it’s going better than I expected. It’s going good,” Arauz told WEEI.com though a translator. “I’m proving that I can play with these guys. That’s something that comes with hard work. I’m showing them that I do belong here. I was really nervous at first. I wouldn’t talk. I wouldn’t even laugh. I was just in my head.”

- Lefty Jeffrey Springs, who the Red Sox got in a trade for Sam Travis, is going to most likely factor into the major league equation at some point. It’s easy to see why he has pitched in 43 big league games after watching the southpaw strikeout six in his first three innings. But Springs also has three options left, most likely making in a victim of his roster versatility to start.

- As for the fifth starter role, two pitchers have opened eyes. Using a shortened delivery, Brian Johnson has hit the ground running as a non-roster candidate, allowing just one baserunner in his first four innings. And Tanner Houck was notably stretched out to three innings Sunday, dominating righty hitters with a vicious slider.

WHEN SPRING TRAINING PERFORMANCE ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING

Jonathan Lucroy remembers 2015 well.

That spring training he hit .435 with a 1.306 OPS and five homers. It didn’t translate to April, with the catcher finishing April with a .133 batting average, .393 OPS and no homers. The lesson was that it is OK for veterans to ease into the regular season.

The problem for Lucroy this time around is that he really doesn’t have that option as a non-roster invitee.

“My body feels great. Health-wise I feel great,” he said, having felt the impact of neck surgery in the offseason. “That part is great. Now it’s just getting back into the swing of things. I haven’t felt this good physically in a long time. Now it’s getting the rest of it figured out. Timing. Seeing it. It’s a different situation. Now I am in a different spot. I have to have a great spring. You can’t ease it into. You have to get after it.

“I’m going to be a little more aggressive. I have always been a patient hitter, but sometimes that will get in trouble because you’re too patient. For me, I want to be a little more aggressive. I’m not thinking about it actively in my mind.”

MUSIC TO BRANDON WORKMAN’S EARS

Since his arrival in the big leagues, some things haven’t changed. Such as his intro music: “Runnin’ Out of Moonlight” by Randy Houser.

“It has been the same since 2013,” Workman explained. “They gave it to me. First appearance. They didn’t want to ask me what Iw anted to walk out there before start. Drake Britton gave it to them. I almost changed it a bunch of times, but I never pulled the trigger on it.”

But there are some things that have done a 180-degree turn, such as Workman’s on-field existence since last spring training.

It’s hard to remember how close the Red Sox’ current closer came to not making the team last season, needing a one-inning Grapefruit League finale — in which he struck out the side — to seal his deal.

“I don’t know if it was the difference, but it didn’t hurt,” he noted. “It’s definitely a different boat than I was in last year. I was just trying to make the team.”

Now Workman is on the verge of being classified as one of the game’s elite closers, and living that life in a contract year, too boot. It was a reality that was put on display in his first spring training appearance Sunday in which he absolutely dominated. The reliever cruised through his three batters, striking out Marcell Ozuna and Yonder Alonso on six pitches.

“I’m still going to go out and pitch just like I was trying to get a job,” Workman said. “There are different things to think about, different role or whatever. But it’s still the same thing.”

SOME OTHER THINGS …

- Yes, Jarren Duran has heard of the 1980’s group “Duran, Duran”. In fact, the outfielder used their biggest hit “Hungry Like a Wolf” for his walk-up music while playing for Double-A Portland last season. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he hadn’t heard of the band. A few years ago when talking about Mookie Betts’ namesake, Mookie Blaylock, and how “Pearl Jam” was originally named after the former NBA guard, Betts admitted he had no familiarity with the legendary group.

- Appearing on the Red Sox Radio Broadcast last week, current Twins pitcher had an interesting idea when it came to reparations for the Astros’ cheating scandal. Forget about vacating the championship trophy. The Houston ownership should pay the hefty bonuses lost to the Dodgers’ clubhouse personnel, many of whom lives’ are changed by collecting the World Series-winning share (more than $300,000).

Report: MLB won't announce findings of 2018 investigation into Red Sox this week

Ryan Hannable

The Red Sox and the baseball world will need to wait some more.

According to Joel Sherman of the , MLB is not expected to release the findings of the investigation into the 2018 Red Sox this week, but is expected to before the start of the regular season.

The report noted what has been said for some time that the scheme was not as elaborate as the Astros', thus penalties are not expected to be as severe.

It is worth noting the findings were expected to come before the start of spring training, but that obviously did not happen. And then on Feb. 16, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters in Florida that the findings would be released by the end of the next week, but that did not happen either.

Every Red Sox player and coach to speak on the matter have denied any wrongdoing.

* NBC Sports Boston

For Red Sox, biggest risk of opener strategy is whoever comes next

John Tomase

The term "opener" obscures the most important pitcher in the entire process. It's actually the "follower."

When the Rays popularized the concept in 2018, they recognized it would only be as strong as whoever pitched second. In most cases, the opener himself wouldn't even turn over the lineup.

In 2019, for instance, Ryne Stanek started 27 games and threw only 55.2 innings before being traded to the Marlins at the deadline. A year earlier, right-hander Diego Castillo made 11 starts totaling 19 innings.

The real work, it turns out, comes next.

In 2018, right-hander Ryan Yarbrough won 16 games and threw 147.1 innings in 38 appearances (six starts). Last season, former Red Sox farmhand Jalen Beeks threw over 100 innings despite making just three starts, while Yarbrough once again topped 140 innings in 28 appearances split evenly between starting and relieving.

What makes this relevant to the Red Sox, of course, is dire necessity. With ace Chris Sale already ruled out for Opening Day, and with nary a fifth starter in sight, the Red Sox could devote a pair of rotation spots to openers in April.

The Rays used the system to much acclaim last season, leading the AL in ERA at 3.65, more than a full run better than the Red Sox, despite injuries that limited defending Cy Young Award winner to 23 starts and breakout candidate Tyler Glasnow to 12.

On Sunday, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom conducted a seminar with the coaching staff over the implementation of the opener, since he spent 15 years in Tampa and helped pioneer its use. Roenicke told reporters in Florida that Bloom's primary message was that one size does not fit all.

"There isn't a set way to do things," Roenicke said. "You have to look at who you're playing that day, who you match up against, whether you know a guy is going to pitch that day and you communicate with him that he's going to pitch, you're not sure yet whether he's going to start or come in and relieve. And there's different reasons why you would change that.

It has to do with what happens the day before, it has to do with what the matchup is that day, the lineup against you, so it's really you've got to be really flexible in how you go about it and from game to game.

The issue for the Red Sox will be finding the arms to make it work. Starting a traditional reliever may work to a platoon advantage — the Rays allowed the fewest first-inning runs (67) in the AL in 2018, dropping to sixth (86) last year — but it's the innings-eater in the middle of the game who needs to bridge the gap to the setup men in the sixth or seventh.

The problem is, were that pitcher accomplished enough, he'd simply be a starter. Even the Rays have admitted that in a perfect world, they'd just field a set rotation.

The opener is what happens when you don't quite have the arms to pull that off, since it allows the "follower" to avoid the top of the order right out of the gate, and also limits, in theory, the possibility that he'll face those hitters three times.

"I think it's the personnel," Roenicke said. "If your personnel really fits this opener-type thing, it makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. But if you have a stud fourth or fifth starter, you do it the other way."

With the Red Sox likely carrying 13 pitchers on Opening Day, they'll have some spots to play with.

The safest bets to make the roster, as things stand now, are starters Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, and Martin Perez, as well as closer Brandon Workman, and relievers Matt Barnes, Darwinzon Hernandez, , Josh Taylor, and Marcus Walden.

That leaves four spots and multiple candidates to open, whether it's 30-year-old right-hander Chris Mazza, who made his debut with the Mets last season after eight years in the minors, 27-year-old left-hander Kyle Hart, a 2016 19th-round pick who only throws in the upper 80s but boasts decent command, or old friends Ryan Weber and Brian Johnson, a pair of soft tossers the organization knows well.

While it's entirely possible one or more of them thrive in the role, it's probably more likely that the organization's lack of pitching depth shows up in this arena, too. After all, it's not as if the simple act of employing an opener guarantees its success.

You need the horses, especially in those middle innings, and it's hard to say the Red Sox have them.

* Bostonsportsjournal.com

Red Sox begin to sort out the inner workings of using an ‘opener’

Sean McAdam

Already short an established No. 5 starter and with the knowledge that Chris Sale will not be ready to start the season, the Red Sox are contemplating the use of an opener in the rotation.

Manager Ron Roenicke and the rest of the coaching staff got a tutorial on the opener concept from chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom Sunday. While with the Tampa Bay Rays, Bloom helped to introduce the notion of the opener two years ago. By now, if it’s not exactly commonplace throughout the game, it’s at least a little more prevalent.

As the spring unfolds, the Sox are operating a parallel evaluation track: looking at candidates for the fifth spot, while at the same time, trying to envision how the opener concept could best be applied.

Roenicke confirmed that there’s a great deal of overlap between the No. 5 candidates and the pitchers who would serve as the “bulk” pitcher — that is, the pitcher who takes over after the opener takes care of an inning or two and supplies the team with four or more innings.

On Monday, Ryan Weber drew the start against the Detroit Tigers. He, along with Brian Johnson and one or two others, are in competition for the fifth spot. But if that doesn’t work, Weber and others could be part of the opener experiment, handling the middle innings that bridge the opener with the late-inning bullpen options.

“There were some ups and downs (last season for Weber),” said Roenicke. “The ‘ups’ are what we like, because when he’s on, he’s got his command. He throws strikes — here it is, this is what I have — and he could get you through some quick innings. I think anytime we have somebody who we think can consistently get us through a lot of innings, it becomes huge.

“But maybe he’s a guy who can fit into that (bulk) spot where he goes four or five. And then maybe you’re in the sixth and you decide, whether you’re up or down, where you go from there. He probably is a good fit for that, too, because he can come out of the bullpen, he gets loose fast and he’s very durable. So, I don’t really know yet.”

The plan now is to extend a number of the candidates and build up arm strength. The team will use some in a minor league game in Fort Myers Tuesday while a group heads to Tampa to face the Yankees.

While the Sox sort through a number of candidates for the “bulk” spot, they also must identify pitchers who can serve in the titular opener spot. Recent history suggests that not every reliever is built for that role.

“Durability is important,” noted Roenicke. “Chaim mentioned that (with the Rays), they had two guys who were coming up in the minor leagues that they liked (for the opener role). One they thought would have a hard time adjusting to starting one day and relieving the next time. It ended up just the opposite. The other guy, who they thought wouldn’t have a problem with it, ended up having more of a problem with it.

“So until you do it, you really don’t know. Darwinzon (Hernandez) is one probably of those guys. Down the road, this guy could end up a starter. You don’t know. And yet, his personality, he’s got a lot of emotion. Is that what you want to maybe start off? Because there’s going to more emotions when you start a game. So that’s a guy we’re thinking about and what’s best for him to do well. Maybe he does it for a while and then proves that he does the other for a while. We don’t know.”

In all likelihood, the Sox won’t use any of their high-leverage relievers (Brandon Workman, Matt Barnes) as the opener because that would leave the team short late in games with the lead.

It makes more sense for the Sox to take a look at, say, someone like Heath Hembree or Marcus Walden, preserving the likes of Workman and Barnes to preserve leads in the eighth and ninth.

“You would try to those guys,” confirmed Roenicke. “That part at the beginning, with an inning or two from the guy who starts, you’re trying to delay that so you can get to those (high-leverage) guys. If you start with (a No. 5 guy) who’s only going to give you four or five (innings) and you’re up by two runs after the fourth, you’re like, ‘Man, do we go to our (high-leverage) guys to close this off?’ When you’re trying to cover five innings (every fifth day), you’re going to be in trouble.”

Red Sox Notebook: Xander Bogaerts coming along slowly from ankle injury

Sean McAdam

It’s not quite time to inspire panic, but there’s growing concern about Xander Bogaerts and his readiness for the start of the season.

Bogaerts injured his ankle working out in his native Aruba prior to the start of spring training and was initially thought to be sidelined for a few days.

But here it is March, the Grapefruit League season has been underway for better than 10 days, and there is yet no timetable for his return to the field.

“It’s taking a little bit longer,” agreed Ron Roenicke. “I don’t think there’s a concern yet, but if we go another week and he’s not out there doing stuff, yeah, then I think we’ll start to get a little concerned.”

For now, there are no plans for additional testing. Bogaerts has been swinging in the cage, taking ground balls and doing some light running. But he hasn’t been cleared for game action.

Roenicke said he wasn’t sure how many at-bats Bogaerts would need in games here to prepare for the season, noting that all players are different in that regard.

If Bogaerts doesn’t get back on the field soon and get the necessary ramp-up time to get ready for the start of the season, the Sox have a number of temporary options for shortstop, including Jose Peraza and Tzu- Wei Lin.

“Peraza, obviously, has the most experience (in the big leagues), having played it every day two years ago (with Cincinnati),” said Roenicke. “And we’ve got it covered at second base (with Michael Chavis and Marco Hernandez). ______

Mitch Moreland, who came out of Sunday’s game with a strained hamstring, is likely to miss a few days as a precaution. Moreland was dogged by a series of muscle pulls the last few seasons and this early in the spring, the Sox are being cautious.

“He was being smart,” said Roenicke. “He felt a little something. I saw him this morning and he feels pretty good. I don’t know if it will be a couple of days or what, but it shouldn’t be much longer. Afterward, he was like, ‘I don’t know if I should have come out.’ But I told him he (did the right thing) so it doesn’t get worse. This early in spring, especially, don’t do anything stupid and go back out there.”

Andrew Benintendi, who has been slowed by a quad pull, is expected to be in the lineup Tuesday against the Yankees. He’ll be limited to DH initially. ______

Roenicke has gone out of his way to praise Ryan Weber as someone “who comes right after you” on the mound, and Weber did just that in three innings against Detroit.

Weber allowed an unearned run on three hits while fanning six and walking no one. He continually got ahead of hitters and kept them off-balance by moving the ball around. He also, as he did a year ago, dropped down to a three-quarter arm slot to give the Tigers a different look. ______

For someone locked in competitive balance tax (CBT) jail because of his big salary, you would think that outfielder Rusney Castillo would be doing everything possible to get noticed — either by the Sox or another organization.

But coming off the bench in the latter part of the game, Castillo got noticed for all the wrong reasons.

In his first at-bat in the seventh with two outs, Castillo lined a single to right. Top Tigers prospect Riley Greene charged the ball, only to have the ball go under his glove and roll to the warning track.

But Castillo wasn’t running hard out of the box and when he realized Greene had misplayed the ball, didn’t exactly turn on the jets. Castillo coasted into second base, but better effort would have resulted in him being on third. ______

Catcher Connor Wong, obtained in the big trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the L.A. Dodgers, is capable of playing a number of infield spots (second base, third base), but while he’s in camp, the Red Sox want to look at him exclusively behind the plate. Wong smoked a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the 11-11 tie with the Tigers. Boston also got three-run homers from Marcus Wilson and Bobby Dalbec … The Sox are focused on getting playing time for Kevin Pillar, knowing that he’s likely to play there while Alex Verdugo recovers from the stress fracture in his back. “He knows he can always go back to center and pick that up easily,” said Roenicke.

*

After lost season, Ryan Brasier out to prove Red Sox can count on him again

Jen McCaffrey

FORT MYERS, Fla. – It was exactly two years ago Monday that Ryan Brasier arrived in Red Sox camp after signing a minor league free agent deal. He came with little fanfare, as it appeared the Red Sox were just adding depth to their system.

Brasier’s story is familiar by now. He’d bounced around the minor leagues for several years before pitching in Japan in 2017, and then emailing every major league team asking for a tryout entering the 2018 season.

The Red Sox liked what they saw, but didn’t quite anticipate he’d become an integral piece of the bullpen later that summer, posting a 1.60 ERA and holding opponents to a .171 average in 34 appearances.

But the storybook 2018 season turned into more of a nightmare in 2019. Brasier is hoping for a return to the former in 2020.

“Talking with (pitching coach Dave) Bush and (assistant pitching coach Kevin) Walker about where I wanted to be when this season starts, we’ve been talking a lot about ’18 and the end of last year and just trying to get on the right track,” Brasier said.

Brasier entered camp last year with an infection in his right pinky toe that forced him to miss almost a month of spring training, even forcing him to fly back to Boston for an exam at one point. He made just three appearances before the end of camp.

Despite technically starting the season on time, the lack of spring preparation forced him into some bad habits that he wasn’t able to snap out of in-season. The issues were compounded when the rotation struggled at the outset and the bullpen was relied upon so heavily in the early months. Brasier posted a 4.46 ERA and allowed seven homers in 40 1/3 innings over 44 games. He was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after the All-Star break on July 16.

“That whole (2018) year, from the bullpen when the Red Sox saw me, to spring training where I got here the day minor league camp started, to getting called up and the World Series, I didn’t have time to think about anything,” Brasier said. “I think that’s where you get into — last year you have a few bad ones in a row and it’s like, ‘Crap maybe if I do this or that something might change,’ but ’18 it just kind of kept rolling. I don’t really like going back and talking about it just because last year was not ’18, so I’ve got to go out and make a case for who I am and what I can do.”

After such a successful run in 2018, being sent down to Triple-A was a blow, but it also allowed Brasier to take a step back from the intensity and expectation to perform in the majors and work on finding what was wrong with his mechanics.

Walker, the former pitching coach in Pawtucket, worked directly with Brasier in the first half of 2018 before the right-hander’s promotion to Boston. It marked a full-circle moment when Brasier returned to Pawtucket under Walker’s tutelage almost exactly a year after that original call-up to the big leagues.

“He got put behind the eight-ball with the foot injury in spring training and I think he was trying to play catch up and trying to get back really quick,” Walker said. “I think there was some delivery flaws that crept up in doing that and some inconsistencies in 2019 at the major league level. So he really had to reset and come back down to Triple-A. We got back down to the basics of delivery. We actually had time to kind of take a step back and reset and work on some delivery issues and that was what really helped, just the time to get back to what made him feel right with his delivery and he was afforded the chance to do that in Triple-A.”

Part of the process in “resetting” Brasier was comparing the KinaTrax video from 2018 to 2019. KinaTrax is a 3D motion capture software system used by teams to gather data on pitchers and hitters. It helped Walker dissect what Brasier was doing differently from season to season.

“There are some things you subconsciously forget about and when you’re trying to compete, sometimes can’t fix it out there until you kind of take a step back and look and see what it is,” Walker said. “We identified some things, they sent us some video from KinaTrax and we were down there (in Pawtucket) and got some keys for him to work on. We really were consistent with the same message on those keys.”

While in Pawtucket last summer, Brasier focused on cues in his delivery, so that he would build muscle memory and the movements would become second nature. When he returned to Boston on Aug. 18, he felt much more like his 2018 self. Though he faltered in an Aug. 31 game against the Angels, allowing six runs in two-thirds of an inning, he posted a 2.45 ERA over his other 17 appearances.

“He’s starting to understand those keys and feel those keys when things do kind of get off track,” Walker said. “There are still going to be times when you get out of your delivery but (he’s) able to recognize and fix it pitch to pitch rather than letting it go on for an extended period of time.”

As Brasier heads into the 2020 season, he knows his spot in the bullpen is anything but a lock, especially with a slew of new relievers in camp and the possibility of the Red Sox using an opener system. Like 2018, he has to prove he belongs.

“Behind the scenes, these guys are still doing their delivery reps and mechanical reps so when they get a ball in their hand, they’ve done so many of these, it starts to become consistent and second nature for them,” Walker said. “For him it’s really important to feel that delivery and feel the consistency of it. On backfields back here at 8 o’clock in the morning we’re really hammering those on and hopefully that comes on and when you get a ball in your hand and you’re consistent during the game.”

*

Boston's Eovaldi hopes to bounce back from an awful 2019.

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) —

Nathan Eovaldi hopes to bounce back from an awful 2019.

He helped the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series, throwing 97 pitches over six innings in the 18-inning Game 3 loss to the Dodgers. While Eovaldi allowed 's game-ending home run, his outing was credited as saving the rest of the bullpen, and Boston won Games 4 and 5 to take the title.

After signing a $68 million, four-year contract, he slumped to a 2-1 record with a 5.99 ERA in 12 starts and 11 relief appearances last year. He threw just 67 2/3 innings, slowed by arthroscopic elbow surgery on April 23 to remove loose bodies in his right elbow. He didn't return until July 20.

"I feel like I'm coming in with a better idea and a better approach, picking up where I left off last year, what I was working," Eovaldi said. "Had a lot of time to work on it in the offseason and I knew exactly what I wanted to work on.

The 30-year-old right-hander hopes to slot into the rotation behind ace Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodríguez. Sale will start the season in the injured list while building up following pneumonia.

Eovaldi, who has come back from Tommy John surgery in 2007 and 2016, has been reaching 100 mph during spring training.

"If he's healthy, he's a big arm," teammate J.D. Martinez said. "It never hurts when you have a guy like that in your rotation. If he's healthy and he goes out there and stays healthy, he's going to be a big piece.:

Eovaldi is 46-54 with a 4.30 ERA in eight big league seasons with the (2011=12), Miami (2012-14), the (2015-16), Tampa Bay (2018) and Boston.

"He's huge because we need to keep our starting pitchers healthy, out on the field," Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke saidi. "When you're always trying to go grab guys from your minor leagues to come up or fill in from your bullpen to try to fill starting spots, you can only do that for so long. If you have one injury, you're usually OK, but you have two or three of your starters go down and you better be really deep to be able to fill that."

Roenicke attributes much of Eovaldi's disappointing 2019 to injury.

“It starts with that great stuff," Roenicke said. “He starts getting command with it and then all of a sudden you have this great pitcher.”