RED SOX : News & Notes March 24,2014.

RED SOX : NEWS & NOTES
March 24,2014.





~Breslow headed for D.L. : When leftyCraig Breslow makes his first appearance of Spring Training on Monday, it will be in a Minor League game in Fort Myers rather than in Sarasota, Fla., against the Orioles.One of the reasons for this is that if the Red Sox start the season with Breslow on the disabled list, they can backdate the move to March 22 as long as he doesn't pitch in front of a paid attendance.Under that scenario, Breslow would be eligible to pitch for the Red Sox as early as April 5, which would be the fifth game of the regular season.A key component in last year's bullpen, the Red Sox have brought Breslow along slowly because of his heavy workload last year and the fact that he experienced some arm problems during Spring Training of 2013.If Breslow doesn't make the Opening Day roster, Brandon Workman or Drake Britton are the most likely candidates to win the last spot on the roster. Workman could have the inside track because of the track record he built in the second half of last season all the way through the World Series.

~Setup Men : Though Junichi Tazawa and Edward Mujica both have the stuff to be the primary setup man in front of Koji Uehara, manager John Farrell probably won't designate one person in that role. Andrew Miller could also be used in the eighth inning, particularly in situations where the Red Sox badly need a strikeout.
"I think they're going to have similar roles. When you have multiple guys with similar talents, we can keep guys a little bit more fresh early on where you can rotate some guys through," Farrell said. "We know with what both guys are coming off of, high number of appearances last year. We'd like to think we can alternate game to game rather than going back to back earlier in the year. That way we can keep guys more fresh, the deeper we go into the season."
Mujica was the Cardinals' closer for most of the 2013 season before fatigue caught up with him down the stretch. Tazawa faltered a little down the stretch last year but was a stalwart in the postseason.

~No roster additions ? : Asked if the Sox were still looking for roster additions, Farrell replied:“I like the team we have. I think we have a very good team. And yet Ben [Cherington] will never rest on ways that could upgrade the roster, but my thought is we’re heading into Monday’s’ opener with the guys that are here in camp.”

~Minor League games for starters : Jake Peavy is scheduled to start Monday. Instead of traveling to Sarasota to face the Orioles, though, he will pitch in a minor league game at the complex. The Sox are scheduled to host the Orioles' Single-A teams. Jon Lester will do the same on Wednesday when the Sox host an Orioles split-squad team at Fenway South. He will start in a minor league game, when the Sox are scheduled to host the Twins’ Single-A teams. Although it still has not been officially announced. Lester is on schedule to start Opening Day in Baltimore.