Notebook: Cora will mix and match at second in Pedroia's absence; Nunez still on Red Sox' radar

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Red Sox know Dustin Pedroia, who underwent major knee surgery last month, will not be ready for the start of the season. What they don’t know is who will play second base while he recovers, though there is no shortage of candidates.

But manager Alex Cora made clear Wednesday it’s likely to be a combination of players at the position.

“I think, on a daily basis, lineup wise, I’m a big believer, especially in this situation ... we’ll match up,’’ said Cora. "We'll see what the best matchup is for us on each particular day. Obviously, spring training is going to be good for us to evaluate players and see where they’re at. But in the situation like that, I’ll make sure that we have the best second baseman (in the lineup) at that particular time.’’

Among the candidate at second: Brock Holt, Marco Hernandez, Deven Marrero and Tzu-Wei Lin. It’s also possible that Blake Swihart could get a look at second base.

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Amplifying his remarks about attempting to re-sign some of the Sox’ own free agents, Dave Dombrowski confirmed the Sox are still in contact with the representatives for infielder Eduardo Nunez.

“Yeah, he’s still on our radar, sure,’’ said Dombrowski. “He did a good job for us and we liked him.’’

In the final month of the season, and again in the playoffs, Nunez experienced a patella injury to his knee that doesn’t require surgery, but still isn’t fully healed.

“He’s not quite ready, yet, no,’’ said Dombrowski. “He did not have (surgery). That patella injury is a long injury to get through and go full bore. He’s not quite through it in that regard.’’

Toronto and the Yankees are two other teams which have expressed an interest in Nunez.
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The Sox have not yet considered selling off some young players who are out of prospects in exchange for international pool money.

“We haven’t discussed that. We’re not anywhere near at this point,’’ said Dombrowski.

Dombrowski said the Sox continue to monitor the list of international signings made free agents by the commissioner’s office when it was determined that the Atlanta Braves acted improperly when signing them.

“We have been (monitoring),’’  Dombrowski said. “We haven’t been willing to spend the dollars that have been spent on those kinds from an investment perspective. We’ve been aware of them all, it just hasn’t felt like that's where we wanted to go financially.’’

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Lefty reliever Jake McGee re-signed with the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. McGee was one of the top lefty relievers on the free-agent market, a need the Sox have talked about. But Dombrowski said that while they had checked in on McGee, the priority is on finding a power bat first.