Red Sox Notebook: Kimbrel turns his attention to newborn daughter; plus notes on Swihart, Devers and more

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. - - Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel is 10 months away from free agency, but for now, that’s the last thing on his mind.

Kimbrel, appearing at Red Sox Winter Weekend at Foxwoods Resort and Casino, revealed that his infant daughter Lydia was born in early November with a heart defect. The baby has already endured one surgical procedure and is facing another in March.

Not surprisingly, that’s taken precedence this winter. Kimbrel and his wife, who knew before the baby arrived that a problem existed, decided to spend the winter in Boston so as to be close to Children’s Hospital.

“It’s been an ordeal,’’ he conceded. “She had her ups and downs but she’s doing great right now. It’s definitely been tough, but it’s also been one of the most joyful times of my life. Being in Boston, we feel so blessed because the doctors are the best in the world.’’

Kimbrel’s daughter’s condition is similar to what befell Travis Shaw’s infant last year, and both players’ wives have kept in touch to compare notes.

“They say when you have a child everything changes and they have,’’ said Kimbrel. “There’s definitely more focus towards her and her needs and our family’s needs. It’s just one day at a time. It’s real easy to look at her and understand that everything I’m doing is for us. It makes it a lot easier.’’

Being focused on his daughter’s health and recovery has meant Kimbrel has given virtually no thought to his pending free agency after the 2018 season.

“I’ve had my hands so full this off-season that I’m just preparing for this next season,’’ he said. “Right now, I’m not even thinking about it. It’s all going to be based on my performance and how the team does. At the end of the day, I’ve just got to go out and do my job. Right now, I’m just worried about doing my job and this season.’’

New manager Alex Cora has said he might use Kimbrel in the seventh or eighth inning of some games, depending on which high leverage situation presents itself.

Kimbrel indicated he’d be willing to talk with it about Cora, though he seemed circumspect about the prospect.

“There will definitely have to be a plan in place,’’ he said. “It’s got to come from both sides – mine and his. I’m sure we’ll be able to talk something out. It’s going to be based off workload and things like that. It’s the way the game is going and it’s definitely going to be a possibility and if it’s something the team wants me to do and needs me to do and I’m asked to do it, I’m going to do it.

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More than a year and a half ago, Blake Swihart severely injured his ankle while playing the outfield and required surgery.

All this time later, he believes he’s finally fully recovered.

“I’m finally healthy,’’ proclaimed Swihart. “It’s the first time I’ve felt good in a long time. I’m not going to play through anything; I’m actually going to be playing the way I want to play. It’s going to be fun. I’ve been able to do all the things I was able to do before I ran into the wall. I’m excited.’’

Swihart struggled through last year at Triple A and his performance suffered because of the ankle. But this winter, he went to the Dominican Republic and played winter ball. That’s when he knew he was back.

“I was playing in my second straight game at catcher,’’ he recalled. “Usually, when I played back-to-back days, I would feel something. I wasn’t supposed to catch back-to-back days, but I was like, ‘You know what, I actually feel pretty good today.’ It was the first time I was healthy again. I’m ready. That when it finally was, like, ‘OK, you’re back.' It was a big relief. I called my wife and said, ‘I feel great. What’s going on?’ It was great.’’

In retrospect, Swihart now knows that he pushed himself too quickly to return from the injury.

“I think I just did too much too early,’’ he said. “The minute they cleared me, I did everything I could do. I pride myself on being an athletic guy and I wanted to be ready for spring training and be that guy again. I think I just overdid it. It’s a learning process. That was my first big injury.  But I’ve taken the right steps to get healthy and now I’m ready to go.’’

Left unaddressed is how Swihart fits in. He could be the team’s third catcher, but he could also fill in at other positions in the corner infield spots.

“I look at myself as a catcher,’’ he said. “I love catching and I want to be a catcher. Whatever happens, happens. But for me going into spring training, I watch to catch. I’ve done what I’ve needed to do to be ready. I’ve taken a lot of ground balls, fly balls. (Where I play is) not up to me to decide.  I’ll play wherever I need to play.

But I still look at myself as a catcher. If I need to play other positions, I will. They haven’t told me fully what’s going to happen. They just said to come into spring training healthy and that’s it and that’s what I’m going to do.

“I have a lot to prove and I have a lot to show people who I really am. I can’t wait to show everybody that I’m back. I’m a better player than I’ve shown in the past and I know what I can do. I just want to be able to prove myself – that’s it."

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Eduardo Rodriguez has recovered from right knee surgery in October and can already feel the improvement.

In each of the previous three seasons, Rodriguez has been sent to the disabled list after the knee cap would pop out of place. The surgery should ensure that doesn’t happen again.

“I just feel way better now,’’ he said. “I feel like my kneecap isn’t going to pop out anymore. That’s a good thing because I feel really comfortable with that now.’’

Rodriguez hasn’t started running yet, but has been working on a bike and getting some cardio work in.

“But I can feel the difference, just talking around,’’ he said. “As soon as I got the surgery, I really felt the difference between before and after.’’

After having his last three seasons interrupted with the same injury, he looks forward to not having that on his mind when he takes the mound.

“Everybody wants to play,’’ he said. “It’s kind of hard to be just sitting on the side and seeing everybody playing. Maybe this year it’s just going to be time to just throw and not think of the knee anymore.’’

Rodriguez is likely to be somewhat behind schedule when spring training. The initial projection was that he wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day, but he’s not ready to make that concession.

“I don’t know,’’ he said. “I’m just going to wait until I get to Fort Myers and then we’ll know how far (away) I am. Maybe it can happen, maybe not. But we’ll try to make it happen.’’

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On Friday night, David Ortiz said that third baseman Rafael Devers reminds him of himself as a young hitter. That was quite a compliment for Devers, who made his major league debut last July.

“I don’t take that lightly,’’ Devers said through a team translator. “It’s an honor to have him say that and I just want to do my best to not let him down and let those words mean something and not have them be empty. I want to learn from someone like him, a future Hall of Famer and All-Star. I want to pick his brain for any tips he can give me, any data he can give me. I look forward to that opportunity.’’

One of the things that Devers is focused on this off-season is his mental approach to the game.

“Last year,’’ said Devers, “I got a little bit down on myself (at times). I had a bit of a bad streak, so I’m working on that mental part."

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As Cora’s new bench coach, Ron Roenicke will be in charge of planning spring training.

“We’ve talked about things,’’ said Roenicke. “But we’re actually going to sit down and talk about all the coaches (Saturday) evening and really map out what we’re going to do in spring training. I can find out what’s important to (Cora). He’s certainly wants to know from me and the other coaches what other teams have done and we can gather information and figure out what we think is important to make sure that we continue this winning atmosphere.

“We’ve already talked about some different ideas.  I’ve talked to (special assistant) Tony La Russa and Tony had some concerns about spring trainings and what his thoughts were and I’ve relayed those things to Alex.''

Having worked mostly for teams which training in Arizona, Roenicke will be coming to Florida, where road trips and travel consume far more time. That will impact his planning, too.

“It’s a huge difference,’’ said Roenicke. “In Arizona, you can map out your seven or eight fundamentals that you think are important and you know you’re going to get them done. If you don’t do it tomorrow, you’ll just do it the day after – whether you’re home or away. Here, we have to look at the schedule more. We may have three games in a row where we’re on the road and we can’t get as much done. So the mapping out is way more important (for teams training in Florida).’’

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Tyler Thornburg, who underwent thoracic outlet surgery last June, has been throwing since October and  hopes to be available for Opening Day.

“Things could be a little different ,’’ he said, “but I think everyone of us is hoping for the start of the season and try to make spring training as normal as possible. (Opening Day) is the goal, 100 percent. As long as there’s no setbacks or anything like that, I do know that I’ve pressed the issue with weightlifting and my shoulder program and I haven’t had any adverse effect from doing that.’’

Thornburg has consulted with Jaime Garcia, who had the same procedure a few years ago, to help guide him through the rehab process.