Red Sox Notebook: Opener and bulk roles still up for grabs

Colten Brewer certainly helped himself in Thursday's intrasquad game when he turned in three perfect innings, with seven of the outs coming on the ground.

"We liked a lot what he did today,'' said Ron Roenicke, "and that's what we saw in the first spring training. His confidence has, for me, really improved. He's attacking the hitters a lot more with his fastball. We know he's got a great curveball, we know he's got a great slider. We're really impressed with what he's doing.''

Brewer is in the mix for the Red Sox opener slot in the rotation along with others. But in addition to having a number of candidates, the club is still trying to determine who will pitch the first inning or so -- the true "opener'' -- and who will provide the three or four innings in relief as the "bulk'' pitcher.

"That's something we have to figure out with a guy,'' said Roenicke. "Does he get anxious about starting a game? Because it's different. If you're used to the bullpen, you know you (don't have) much head's up on when you come into a game and when you get loose. That's different when you're a starting pitcher, knowing that the day before you know you're going to be that guy. So that night, you're anxious about it, you're anxious all day about it.

"We just have to figure out who those guys are, that it doesn't bother, they can come out and just open up. Or if it's the guy that would next come in for the opener. We've talked about the guys who are candidates to do that. I won't give you names now, but yes, we do have a couple of guys who we think could handle that well and won't get too anxious. We'll come down to the last few days and let some guys know what we're thinking about.''

Whomever fills the actual opener job, that pitcher will likely work out of the bullpen in between starting assignments.



"If he's only a one-inning guy, you could have him go one or maybe two outings in-between those five days,'' said Roenicke. "If he's a two-inning guy, really, you probably could get an inning out of him in-between. But you've got to be more careful. But it depends on how these games go, how much we need to fill in some innings. You never want to think about having bad games, but you have to be prepared for it.''

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Kevin Plawecki, who had three hits Thursday, is unsure how playing time behind the plate will be divvied up -- beyond the obvious fact that Christian Vazquez will be the No. 1 catcher.

"I really don't know how it will play out,'' he said. "I'm just going to continue to stay ready everyday. Whenever I'm in that lineup, I'm going to do my best and go out there and perform to the best of my ability to give us a win. This season is weird in the sense that there's not time to really go through a month slump.

"So in a sense, you can't really get too worried about how you're doing on a personal level. It might sound weird, but it's almost goes back to the college ball in a sense where it's a quick race to the finish line and it kind of takes away from the individual part of it. It's just about simply winning the game. Because every win is so much bigger with the shortened season. It's just going to be one of those years where I'll take advantage of the opportunity when I'm in there playing and try to get a 'W' and move on, however often that is.''

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Brandon Workman was hit hard one again, shelled for three hits and two runs in his inning of work and now has allowed runs in each of his four appearances in intrasquad games. Still, Roenicke maintains that he's not worried.

"I don't want to say it's never a concern,'' Roenicke said. "But we know what he did last year. We still think his stuff is good. He threw the ball well in Florida. I don't expect there to be anything different. It's just right now, he's missed location and our hitters aren't missing anything when he misses. I always want him to do well, but I know he's going to be our closer and we're very confident with what he's going to do.''

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The Red Sox' third-round pick in last month's draft, Blaze Jordan, officially signed his contract, with a $1.75 million signing bonus...The Sox will begin nighttime intrasquad games beginning Friday night to help replicate the rhythm of the regular season....Ryan Weber, locked in as the No. 3 starter when the season begins, gave the Sox five innings, throwing 82 pitches, 53 for strikes. He gave up a two-run homer to Rafael Devers but otherwise, continued to show well....The Sox will turn to some fundamental work on the field before games in the upcoming days.