Red Sox: Five storylines to keep track of in Spring Training

The defending champion Boston Red Sox return most of their 2018 team this season, but they still have to answer some questions before Opening Day.

As winter fades and the clean scent of springtime begins to permeate the air, as the days grow ever longer and the world slowly wakes from hibernation, baseball returns to us. New grass, fresh as the hopes of fans and players around the country, will soon be trampled under cleats and flattened by rolling baseballs. But, before we celebrate Opening Day, fight through the doldrums of summer, and finally come hurtling down the fall stretch that leads us to the 2019 World Series, we must first take stock of the new landscape of baseball in Spring Training.

The Boston Red Sox, coming off a commanding post-season performance which saw them lose just three games in October, seem to be in excellent shape. While repeating as champions will never be easy, the Sox have as good a chance as any team to represent the American League in the Fall Classic.

They return the vast majority of the core that won it all just a few months ago, and the members of that core have new, invaluable experience. However, like any team, there are some questions that Boston must answer this spring. Here are five things to watch for as the Red Sox come together in Spring Training.

As the young lefty enters his fifth season with the Red Sox, there are several good reasons to believe this will be the year Eduardo Rodriguez finally takes that next step we’ve all been expecting for a so long. For one thing, he’s finally healthy; the knee injuries that have plagued him in previous seasons finally seem behind him, and the ankle injury he suffered last season spurred him to return better than ever and close out the year with a career-low 3.82 ERA.

This spring, Rodriguez arrived in camp in the best shape of his life and has added a third pitch to his arsenal. His primary issues have always been durability and predictability, and he seems to have worked hard to address both this offseason. His progress with the slider, his new weapon, warrants a close eye or two; he’s been mentored in its development by Chris Sale and Pedro Martinez and it would be hard to find two more qualified teachers. He’s drawn nothing but rave reviews from his fellow pitchers thus far. All we can do now is watch and see if the good vibes keep going.

Right now, E-Rod will likely be the fifth starter, behind Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, and Nathan Eovaldi. If he can be as good as everyone thinks he’s going to be, then the Red Sox could have the league’s best rotation from top to bottom. A rotation like that would be hard to beat in the playoffs.

Though we’ve so far only gotten the tiniest glimpse at what this season’s Red Sox will look like, one thing we have already learned is that manager Alex Cora intends to use Steven Wright out of the bullpen. As there are currently no openings in the rotation, Cora had little real choice, but overall the move should benefit both Wright and the Red Sox.

The first thing to consider is that having a knuckleballer available in relief should be a tremendous weapon. Opposing hitters won’t be able to get comfortable as games get into the later innings, and Wright, who can likely pitch as many as five innings in any given relief outing, will afford Cora multiple opportunities to rest his other relievers. Of course, the Red Sox will no longer have the luxury of pairing a catcher with Wright, but each of their backstops has experience catching the knuckleball, which should mitigate that concern.

We should also note that, historically, Wright has pitched better as a reliever than he has as a starter. He has a 2.99 career ERA and a 7.4 K/9 coming out of the bullpen, and a 4.00 career ERA and a 6.9 K/9 when making a start. Granted, he’s logged far more innings as a starter, but 78.1 innings of relief work is not an insignificant sample size. Cora has every reason to believe he’ll get the best out of Wright by putting him in a relief role. We still have to see how he adjusts to the permanent switch, but this move should make the Red Sox stronger.

Boston’s only significant losses this offseason came from their bullpen. Superstar closer Craig Kimbrel will almost certainly sign elsewhere, and heir-apparent and fan-favorite Joe Kelly departed for the sunny shores of Los Angeles. Replacing two pitchers of that caliber would be a tall task for any team, and it’s likely the Red Sox will need improvement all around to make up for those losses.

However, Boston will, at some point, have to name a closer, and right now there appear to be three candidates. Ryan Brasier emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become a key weapon for Cora, and only got better as the season went along. However, he still battles consistency and confidence issues, and a more seasoned member of the roster might make more sense.

In that vein, Matt Barnes should be considered a strong candidate for the job. The starter-turned-reliever put together the best campaign of his career in 2018. As one of the primary set-up men for Kimbrel, Barnes logged a 3.65 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 61.2 innings. In the playoffs, he logged three scoreless appearances. Barnes may not end up being the guy, but he deserves a look.

The dark horse in the race might be Tyler Thornburg. The start to his Red Sox career has been anything but smooth, but reports suggest he’s looked strong in training camp. Live baseball will be far more telling than bullpen sessions, but a strong season from Thornburg in any capacity will go a long way toward getting Boston deep into October.

After exploding onto the big league scene late in 2017, much was expected from Rafael Devers last season, perhaps too much given his age. The 22-year-old third baseman stumbled out of the gates, and only seemed to get worse as the season wore on.

However, Cora’s patience showed signs of paying off toward the end of the year. Devers’ defense began to improve dramatically and while he still made some boneheaded plays now and then, he seemed to make just as many spectacular ones in the second half. His offense also picked up in September; his five home runs and 11 RBI that month were more than he had of either in July and August combined.

Devers certainly has the tools. His power, when he’s able to harness it, is incredible. He can make all the plays at third when he’s at his best. Right now, he needs to work on control and consistency. Both of those come with maturity. His experiences last year should have at least advanced him in that regard.

With a full season of playing time now securely under his belt, we can now fairly expect to see clear, sustained progress from Devers. He does not yet need to become a superstar hitter, but he does need to be a reliable contributor. His defense may never be outstanding, but he needs to make the routine plays more, well… routinely. He’ll still make mistakes and there should still be some growing pains, but the Red Sox need more of his hype to translate to reality this year. The work he puts in this spring will go a long way toward showing us what kind of player Devers will be this year.