Red Sox Spring Report: Team open to various solutions for No. 5 starter spot

Here are three things you need to know out of Fort Myers:

1. Red Sox open to experimenting with the No. 5 starter spot.

The Sox have four rotation spots spoken for with Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, Eduardo Rodriguez and Martin Perez claiming the first four. The fifth spot could go to a number of different candidates from holdovers (Brian Johnson, Hector Velazquez) or newcomers (Chris Mazza, Matt Hall, Austin Brice).

Or, as Ron Roenicke suggested Tuesday, the Red Sox could take a mix-and-match approach to the spot by using two pitchers to divide up the innings.



"We have this group of guys who are fighting for this one job -- the fifth starter,'' Roenicke told reporters. "And they'll fight that out. But if we find out that it's just better to piggyback two guys, maybe that's what we do. We're still kind of looking at what we have and how it plays out.''

Around the game, teams are exploring different ways to fill starting spots. The New York Mets, for example, are considering identifying a number of back-end starters and then using matchups to determine who pitches against certain opponents.

There's still a month left to evaluate the candidates for the fifth spot, but it's clear the Sox are keeping their options available.

2. Sox taking precautions

Across the world, governments are being cautious when it comes to the coronavirus and all of its implications. The Red Sox are no different.

Over the winter, the Sox signed a two-way player from Taiwan, Chih-Jung Liu. (Liu has been both a pitcher and shortstop, those indications are the Sox envision him as a pitcher only).

Liu arrived in Fort Myers earlier this week, but according to the Boston Globe, the Sox have restricted him to his nearby hotel, while a team representative delivers three meals to him daily.

A team spokesperson said the Sox were exercising an "overabundance of caution'' by keeping Liu quarantined from the team. He's expected to join other minor leaguers in camp this weekend.

3. Duran impresses

Jarren Duran's game is speed. He has plus-plus speed in the outfield and on the bases, capable of tracking down balls in the gap, or sprinting around the bases at an incredible pace.

One thing he hasn't shown in pro ball -- at least not yet -- is a lot of power. In 519 at-bats last year between Single-A Salem and Double-A Portland, Duran had just five homers. He profiles somewhat like Jacoby Ellsbury -- if you subtract Ellsbury's outlier of a season in 2011, when he hit 32 homers. In 11 other seasons, Ellsbury reached double figures in homers just one other time.

Anyway, Wednesday morning in Bradenton, Roenicke told reporters that he thought Duran's power would improve over time.

Then, as if to make his manager look extra smart, Duran went out and hit an opposite-field homer off Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller in the second inning.