The Red Sox left Fort Myers on Sunday night and will face the Rangers for two exhibition games at Globe Life Field over the next two days. They’ll then have Wednesday off before opening their season with a late-night matchup against the Mariners in Seattle on Thursday.
Boston hasn’t yet announced its 26-man roster for Opening Day but a flurry of roster moves from the weekend have them on the verge of finalizing it. On Sunday, the Red Sox officially signed veteran righty Chase Anderson to serve a multi-inning bullpen role, informed lefty reliever Joely Rodríguez that he will make the team and, in a bit of a surprise, released veteran first baseman C.J. Cron. Rodríguez won the spot over fellow lefty Lucas Luetge (he’ll head to Triple-A Worcester and his opt-out/upward mobility clause is no longer in play, per source) and the Red Sox appear to be going with Bobby Dalbec as the backup first baseman with Cron out of the mix. On Sunday, manager Alex Cora told reporters there was a “good chance” Dalbec would make the team; there might be interest in bringing Cron back on a minor league deal but he is said to be exploring his options on the open market.
Barring a surprise, this is the 26-man roster the Red Sox will start the season with; seven players (pitchers Lucas Giolito, Liam Hendriks, Bryan Mata and Chris Murphy; infielder Vaughn Grissom and outfielder Rob Refsnyder) will begin the year on the injured list.
Rotation (5): Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock
Bullpen (8): Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, Justin Slaten, Isaiah Campbell, Brennan Bernardino, Josh Winckowski, Chase Anderson, Joely Rodríguez
Catchers (2): Connor Wong, Reese McGuire
Infield (6): Triston Casas, Enmanuel Valdez, Pablo Reyes, Trevor Story, Rafael Devers, Bobby Dalbec
Outfield/DH (5): Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Tyler O’Neill, Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida
The Red Sox are taking more than those 26 players to Texas with some top depth options and some minor leaguers (like pitching prospect Richard Fitts, who will start Tuesday) making the trip along with those projected to make the team. There’s also the slight, but non-zero, chance of something shaking things up in the coming days.
The main situation to monitor involves the health of both Martin and Jansen, who each pitched scoreless innings against the Braves on Sunday in Fort Myers. As of now, both veterans are scheduled to pitch Tuesday and are tracking to be ready for Thursday despite short ramp-ups late in camp; if either has any sort of setback, that could change. Greg Weissert, who looked likely to make the team before the Anderson signing, has not yet been optioned and would be a natural fill-in.
