McAdam: As Red Sox return to Fenway, a lot has changed

Part of baseball's longstanding appeal has long been its familiarity and continuity.

Step onto the Fenway Park grass, and it's easy to get lost in the history. Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski once called it home. Games were played there before the invention of television, long before the arrival of cell phones.

In that regard, Fenway is timeless.

But when the Red Sox take to the venerable ballpark's lush lawn Friday for the start of their summer training camp, much will be different in comparison to their last appearance last fall.

Mookie Betts? Gone. David Price? Gone. Alex Cora? Same.

You won't be able to tell the players without a scoreboard. Then again, you won't be able to buy one either, since fans will not be permitted in the ballpark -- Friday, or likely, any time for the rest of the 2020 season.

Welcome to baseball's second stab at preparing for the 2020 MLB season, where, for a change, the sport which most prides itself on tradition, very little will be the same.

For one thing, the very fact that "spring" training is being held in Boston -- and not Florida -- is different. That, of course, was made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic, which shuttered the game in mid-March and continues to rage in the Sunshine State, making a return to Fort Myers too risky.

Instead of the usual seven weeks of spring training, this training camp will be truncated to three. Grapefruit League exhibition games? A thing of the past. If the Red Sox play any exhibition games at all -- MLB is limiting teams to a maximum of three, and then, only at the tail end of camp -- they'll likely be against their Opening Day opponent.

Long bus rides across Florida? A thing of the past, at least for now. Morning workouts, followed by afternoon rounds of golf? Not now.

Instead, players will report to Fenway in shifts, to accommodate all of the players. Manager Ron Roenicke won't roam the back fields at Fenway South, moving from one diamond to the other because, well, there will only be one diamond -- the main field at Fenway.

Pitchers will still go through tedious PFP (pitcher's fielding practice) drills, but they'll do so in Chestnut Hill, on the campus of Boston College, a shuttle bus ride away.

Once all of the players get screened and tested, there will be a lot of work for Roenicke, his coaching staff, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and his Baseball Operations staff -- and far less time than normal in which to do it.

All of which lends a complete air of unpredictability to the proceedings.

"I think the game is humbling enough,'' noted Bloom last week, "that we should be careful to think we can know too much about how this different schedule will be an advantage or disadvantage for teams. I think a lot of the things that make teams successful in the long haul also will make them successful over a 60-game sprint.

"But there's going to be some things that are different. Given that we haven't done this before -- especially under these circumstances, especially after this long layoff -- I don't think really know. I think there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic that it can work in our favor. But I think to try to construct too much of a case, I think would be to pretend to know more about this than we can.''

A look at some of the biggest questions that must be answered by July 23:

1. Who's on first?

The right side of the infield has plenty of job candidates, but little in the way of certainty. At first, Mitch Moreland and Michael Chavis will divvy up playing time, but it's possible someone else could elbow themselves into the equation.

Assuming the Red Sox work things out contractually with Jonathan Lucroy -- he's on a minor league deal with an opt-out and isn't yet part of the organization's player pool -- he could see playing time at first. That, in turn, would enable Chavis to focus more fully on second base.

There's also Bobby Dalbec, who possesses plus power, but must demonstrate that he can make enough consistent contact and overcome the fact that he has just 113 at-bats above Double A.

2. What's the fellow's name on second?

In addition to Chavis, there's Jose Peraza, signed on the cheap after he was non-tendered by Cincinnati. Peraza is a strong defender and represents valuable infield depth, but can an American League team really afford to carry a regular with a career .686 OPS?

A string of others provide additional options at second, including Marco Hernandez, Tzu-Wei Lin, Rule 5 pick Jonathan Arauz and mystery man Yairo Munoz.

Even in a typical spring training, it would be difficult for some depth pieces to secure bigger roles, and that goes double for a shortened spring. Then again, we can't pretend to know how any of this is going to unfold, and injuries and positive tests could create havoc.

3. How does the rotation fill out?

The first three spots are assured: Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi and Martin Perez. Roenicke has repeatedly indicated that Ryan Weber, based on his performance in Spring Training 1.0, is the front-runner for the fourth spot.

That still leaves a vacancy for the No. 5 slot. For now, the Sox seem to be leaning toward using the opener concept here. That could involve some combination of the following: Austin Brice, Matt Hall, Brian Johnson, Chris Mazza and Collin McHugh.

McHugh is especially intriguing, since he has a track record of success as both a starter and a bullpen piece. But coming off offseason elbow surgery, McHugh remains something of a physical question mark.