With Eduardo Rodriguez on the DL, looks like Wright will be moved to the rotation for the first turn or two through the rotation. And with Smith on the DL for what may be a couple of months, that makes two slots open in the bullpen for players who weren't expected to start the season with the team.
Speculation is that Barnes and either Elias or Noe Ramirez will get those spots to begin with.
Not optimal. But wait, it gets possibly worse:
"Koji Uehara is dealing with general soreness and is expected to throw a bullpen on Friday with a game appearance scheduled some time after that. It's something to watch over the next few days."
The "boolpin," as Grady Littlebrain used to call it, is already down its #3 arm and long man, so any issues Koji has would make things quite worse. Hopefully it's just an old man feeling stiff and he will be all sorted before the season starts. He is really old and is coming off an injury to his pitching hand, so reports of any soreness of any kind make me wary.
From the same article, on Elias: "While he's been stretched out as a starter there's a possibility he breaks camp as the long reliever in place of Wright in the bullpen to start the year. (There's also the possibility the Red Sox don't want to keep flip flopping him and he starts the year in the Triple-A rotation.)... Barnes also has the option to be a multi-inning reliever as well, and Ramirez provides a bit of a different look, similar (although not as extreme) to Smith. He's only given up two earned runs in 8 2/3 innings this spring."
With the injuries, Tazawa will be at least the #3 bullpen arm to start the season. He was last seen shutting it down early for the rest of last season after being totally torched in the second half. Hopefully he is back to his normal self, but with 7 of the first 13 games to be played against his personal kryptonite, AKA Toronto, he might not be getting off to the good start we will need from him. In his 24.2 career IP against Toronto, he's served up 9 HRs, with 23 runs allowed. Just a small sample size, right? He's due to shut them down a bunch of times in a row now, surely.
On the other hand, at least Kimbrel looks ready for the season: "In five innings, he has nine strikeouts and no walks.
"He's thrown the ball exceptionally well," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "He looks midseason form with the power that he's showing to his fastball. He's thrown some breaking balls now that are, like I said, midseason. He'll get a couple more appearances before we break camp."
The righty finished Thursday's outing by blowing a 98-mph heater by L.J. Mazzilli."
And here is a BP article on Barnes that talks up his chances of being a good setup man this year.
So it looks like to start the season the boolpin totem pole will look something like this:
Kimbrel
Koji, hopefully
Tazawa
Barnes
Ross
Layne
No Way Ramirez, if they go with a RHP to start with and let Elias stay stretched out as a starter in AAA. With the Toronto games early and hopefully Rodriguez returning to the rotation fairly soon, I think they might go this way for the first couple weeks, with Marmol in Pawtucket along with shuttle riders like Hembree, Pat Light, Elias and Escobar ready to come up at any point if needed. If Marmol has an out in his contract then he might get the last bullpen spot to begin with, but I hope not, as he isn't throwing hard or showing great command so far.
As I mentioned in another thread, I'd like to see them try to pick up Badenhop's minor league contract from the Marlins, which presumably would cost very little. Could be a useful veteran option to have around early in the season.
Speculation is that Barnes and either Elias or Noe Ramirez will get those spots to begin with.
Not optimal. But wait, it gets possibly worse:
"Koji Uehara is dealing with general soreness and is expected to throw a bullpen on Friday with a game appearance scheduled some time after that. It's something to watch over the next few days."
The "boolpin," as Grady Littlebrain used to call it, is already down its #3 arm and long man, so any issues Koji has would make things quite worse. Hopefully it's just an old man feeling stiff and he will be all sorted before the season starts. He is really old and is coming off an injury to his pitching hand, so reports of any soreness of any kind make me wary.
From the same article, on Elias: "While he's been stretched out as a starter there's a possibility he breaks camp as the long reliever in place of Wright in the bullpen to start the year. (There's also the possibility the Red Sox don't want to keep flip flopping him and he starts the year in the Triple-A rotation.)... Barnes also has the option to be a multi-inning reliever as well, and Ramirez provides a bit of a different look, similar (although not as extreme) to Smith. He's only given up two earned runs in 8 2/3 innings this spring."
With the injuries, Tazawa will be at least the #3 bullpen arm to start the season. He was last seen shutting it down early for the rest of last season after being totally torched in the second half. Hopefully he is back to his normal self, but with 7 of the first 13 games to be played against his personal kryptonite, AKA Toronto, he might not be getting off to the good start we will need from him. In his 24.2 career IP against Toronto, he's served up 9 HRs, with 23 runs allowed. Just a small sample size, right? He's due to shut them down a bunch of times in a row now, surely.
On the other hand, at least Kimbrel looks ready for the season: "In five innings, he has nine strikeouts and no walks.
"He's thrown the ball exceptionally well," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "He looks midseason form with the power that he's showing to his fastball. He's thrown some breaking balls now that are, like I said, midseason. He'll get a couple more appearances before we break camp."
The righty finished Thursday's outing by blowing a 98-mph heater by L.J. Mazzilli."
And here is a BP article on Barnes that talks up his chances of being a good setup man this year.
So it looks like to start the season the boolpin totem pole will look something like this:
Kimbrel
Koji, hopefully
Tazawa
Barnes
Ross
Layne
No Way Ramirez, if they go with a RHP to start with and let Elias stay stretched out as a starter in AAA. With the Toronto games early and hopefully Rodriguez returning to the rotation fairly soon, I think they might go this way for the first couple weeks, with Marmol in Pawtucket along with shuttle riders like Hembree, Pat Light, Elias and Escobar ready to come up at any point if needed. If Marmol has an out in his contract then he might get the last bullpen spot to begin with, but I hope not, as he isn't throwing hard or showing great command so far.
As I mentioned in another thread, I'd like to see them try to pick up Badenhop's minor league contract from the Marlins, which presumably would cost very little. Could be a useful veteran option to have around early in the season.