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Red Sox set Opening Day roster, with one surprise (5 thoughts) | Chris Cotillo
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- Red Sox set Opening Day roster, with one surprise (5 thoughts) | Chris Cotillo
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox appear set with their Opening Day roster after the late development that rotation candidates Connelly Early and Johan Oviedo both made the team, with Oviedo likely to serve as a multi-inning, piggyback option in the bullpen early in the season. Barring a last-second change, the 26-man group projects this way:
ROTATION (5) : LHP Garrett Crochet, RHP Sonny Gray, LHP Connelly Early, LHP Ranger Suárez , RHP Brayan Bello
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BULLPEN (8): RHP Johan Oviedo, RHP Ryan Watson, LHP Jovani Morán , LHP Danny Coulombe , RHP Greg Weissert, RHP Justin Slaten, RHP Garrett Whitlock, LHP Aroldis Chapman
CATCHERS (2): C Carlos Narváez , C Connor Wong
INFIELDERS (6): 1B Willson Contreras, 2B Marcelo Mayer, SS Trevor Story, 3B Caleb Durbin, UTIL Isiah Kiner-Falefa, UTIL Andruw Monasterio
OUTFIELDERS/DESIGNATED HITTERS (5): LF Roman Anthony , CF Ceddanne Rafaela , RF Wilyer Abreu , OF/DH Jarren Duran , OF/DH Masataka Yoshida
With the roster set, here are five quick thoughts on how it’s constructed:
1) Health is the story of camp this year.
The main goal for teams in spring training is to remain as healthy as possible and for the Red Sox , that happened. No player who entered spring training at 100% is going to miss Opening Day. That’s a staggering reality — and one the Sox are surely thankful for.
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Boston will start the year with five contributors (starters Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval, first baseman Triston Casas and utility man Romy Gonzalez) on the injured list . All arrived in Fort Myers hurt. The severity of Gonzalez’s shoulder injury, which was known internally but not public until mid-February, was the biggest injury-related news to come out of camp at all. It did not sneak up on the Red Sox, though, as they protected themselves with the acquisitions of Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
Of the injured players, it’s realistic to think Crawford and Sandoval could be ready before or around May 1 with Casas and Gonzalez potentially back around June 1.
2) The World Baseball Classic changed things in an unexpected way.
The World Baseball Classic ended last week and the experience was an overwhelmingly positive one for the Red Sox, who had half their roster participate — and largely show out. Now, though, the tournament is having an unexpected impact on Boston ’s roster construction.
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In a regular spring training in which starters would build up as they normally do, the Red Sox would not have had to get creative with their final roster decisions. But with Ranger Suárez (and to a lesser extent, Brayan Bello) not where the club wanted them after pitching in the WBC, the Sox had to bring a stretched-out starter (Johan Oviedo) into the season as a long reliever simply to cover innings. That paved the way for Connelly Early, who pitched well, to make the team in the rotation. It’s a creative — and relatively surprising — development that manager Alex Cora first introduced over the weekend.
There is a little uneasiness entering the season when it comes to Suárez, who got to the 69-pitch mark (and was shelled to the tune of eight runs and nine hits in 4 ⅓ innings) in Tuesday’s spring finale . The Red Sox would like to have had him built up to around 80 pitches by now. With that in mind, he’ll be limited in his first couple of starts with Oviedo (and other relievers like Ryan Watson and Jovani Morán) likely tasked with picking up the slack in those games.
3) Zack Kelly was the victim — and perhaps Tommy Kahnle , too.
All spring, the Red Sox planned on carrying eight traditional relievers in addition to five starters. That changed at the very end, and if there’s anyone who fell victim, it’s Zack Kelly .
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Kelly was the odd man out with Early, Oviedo and Watson all making the team and was optioned Monday after looking like a near-lock for all of camp. The 31-year-old will surely factor into the big league mix at some point soon, but it won’t be in the first 15 days of the season because of option rules. The Red Sox can point to some inconsistency from Kelly when it comes to strike-throwing — and a lack of swing-and-miss stuff during camp — as reasons to send him down. But in a normal spring training, he’d likely make the roster after a strong end to last season.
Tommy Kahnle, who will join Kelly in Worcester’s bullpen, was always in a race against time after arriving in Fort Myers just a week before Opening Day. He’ll continue to get his reps in Worcester and seems likely to be called up relatively soon. For the Red Sox, roster flexibility was important when it came to the bullpen. By putting Watson on the roster and sending Kelly and Kahnle down, they kept three intriguing arms. Choosing either Kelly or Kahnle over Watson would have meant having to likely part ways with Watson, a Rule 5 pick. In the end, preserving depth won out.
“That was my biggest fear coming into camp and throughout camp: Do we have enough that if somebody gets banged up here, we’ve got quality arms in Triple-A? And we do,” Cora said Tuesday. “Feel very confident where we’re at.”
4) Alex Cora’s outfield construction is a top storyline to watch early.
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In Tuesday’s spring finale, Cora had Roman Anthony in left field, Ceddanne Rafaela in center, Wilyer Abreu in right and Masataka Yoshida as the designated hitter with Jarren Duran out of the lineup. Asked if that was an Opening Day preview, Cora balked.
The reality is that Cora will have to juggle having five players for three outfield spots and the DH spot every single day, and how he goes about that plan is perhaps the most interesting storyline to watch early in the season. The manager has played his cards close to the vest during camp but will have to make tough decisions. On any given day, a good player is going to sit (and be a weapon off the bench).
The guess here — and it’s a true guess — is that Anthony plays left field most of the time with Duran slotting in sometimes, Rafaela is the center fielder except against select righties who Duran will face, and Abreu is close to an everyday player in right field. That leaves a lot of DH at-bats for Duran and an unclear role for Yoshida, who will be a valuable bench bat on days he doesn’t start and a DH alternative when one of the outfielders is off. In April, Cora likes taking care of his players and will like getting some guys off their feet. But if the season goes on and everyone remains healthy, something will have to give.
5) The only wild card, at this point, is Danny Coulombe.
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If there’s a name with an asterisk next to it in the projected 26-man group, it’s that of lefty Danny Coulombe, who has had a strange couple weeks since arriving in Fort Myers. Coulombe had his signing delayed by an issue with his physical, then pitched just once before getting sick late last week. He then was hit by a comebacker Monday but deemed OK once X-rays were negative.
The plan is for Coulombe to stay back in Fort Myers for an extra day to pitch in a minor league game Wednesday and then fly to Cincinnati on his own in order to be ready for Opening Day. If anything further delays him, lefty Tyler Samaniego seems like a reasonable candidate to take his spot on a temporary basis.
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