The pitching plan for the Boston Red Sox in the opening games of the season are coming into focus.
Boston will play it's final Grapefruit League game Tuesday afternoon, then jet on up to New England for Opening Day against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
The Red Sox pitching staff is in a state of flux right now. Matt Barnes tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, forcing himself and eight others into the COVID protocols. However, he was cleared Monday and so, too, are those that were considered in close contact.
But Cora noted Tuesday that now Ryan Brasier is dealing with an injury.
"Ryan Brasier in the B game yesterday, catching a ground ball now he has a left calf strain," Cora said. "So he's going to have an MRI today and we'll know more, obviously, in the upcoming days. But it doesn't look too promising. He thought it was a cramp early on, but at night he felt worse. He's on crutches. So he'll have his MRI at 10 o'clock and we'll go from there."
With that in mind, here are some notes about how things are shaking out.
-- A lot of this is predicated on the availability of Eduardo Rodriguez, who is trending towards beginning the season on the injured list.
-- Nathan Eovaldi will be the Opening Day starter. The Sox have Friday off, then things get a little more uncertain, although there is a general framework. Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck are likely to pitch either Saturday or Sunday. Garrett Richards is in the mix for Sunday or Monday, and Martin Perez is slated for Tuesday.
-- That means if Richards pitches Sunday, either Houck or Pivetta (whoever doesn't start Saturday) will likely pitch Monday.
-- As a result, the rotation to begin the year sans E-Rod will probably be: Eovaldi, Pivetta, Richards, Houck, Perez.
--The bullpen is a bit more uncertain with Brasier potentially set to begin the season on the injured list. Assuming all of the COVID protocol guys are cleared, everything is pretty much locked in with Matt Andriese, Matt Barnes, Austin Brice, Adam Ottavino, Hirokazu Sawamura, Phillips Valdez, Garret Whitlock, Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor.
-- If Brasier doesn't need to start the year on IL, then either Brice or Valdez are the likely candidates to get cut.
-- It's worth noting that Cora said Thursday the plan is to keep Andriese in the bullpen, though he does have starting experience.
"If we make a decision with Eddie, it's something that's a short-term thing, so we don't feel the need to extend (Andriese), so he'll start in the bullpen."
