McAdam: Thoughts on the bullpen, offensive approach and developing pitching

If the first five games have taught us anything, it's that, well, they've taught us nothing.

How else to explain how alternately good and bad the Red Sox have been? Losers of three straight to Baltimore, and more recently, winners of two straight against the defending AL champs. Who can figure this out?

Still, here are three thoughts/trends that have struck me in the first week of the season:

1. The bullpen remains very much a work in progress.

Partly, this is because it's been difficult to gauge performance in the first five games. In the first three, the Red Sox never led. Then, when they finally registered a win on Monday, were up by such a large margin mid-game, they didn't have to worry about matching up or lining up their bullpen in a specific way.

Alex Cora has stubbornly evaded questions about the identity of his closer -- Matt Barnes or Adam Ottavino. Without a save situation through the first five games, he's been able to hold his cards close to the vest.

But the more interesting aspect will be how Cora constructs the roles around those two, with very little already defined.

Remember, Cora hasn't had the majority of these relievers before: Hirokazu Sawamura, Austin Brice, Phillips Valdez, Garrett Whitlock and Matt Andriese are all new to him, having either joined the organization last year, or this past winter. He has no preconceived notions about any of them.

It's obvious that Andriese is the long man, and should he be needed, a spot starter, too. With Ryan Brasier out for some time, Cora needs to identify someone who can be his other high-leverage option besides either Ottavino or Barnes -- whoever isn't anointed closer.

Sawamura has the experience, but it seems that the Sox want to ease him into this transition from Japan and don't want to ask too much of him, too soon. Whitlock, a Rule 5 pick lacks the experience to be trusted there for now, but could, in time, claim such a spot.

That leaves Valdez and the two lefties, both of whom are question marks -- Hernandez because of his errant control (he walked the first two batters he faced Monday, forcing in runs both times) and Taylor, who hasn't been able to replicate what he showed in his first season with the Sox in 2019.

Thanks to the nature of the games, some organization in the back end hasn't been necessary yet. But that won't last forever, so Cora has some decisions to make.

2. A contact-first, all-fields approach is working for the Red Sox.

One of the more noteworthy aspects of the Red Sox' 16-hit, 11-run attack Monday night was the number of times the lineup utilized the whole field -- either by taking the ball up the middle, or going the other way.  Franchy Cordero twice went to left field, and from the right side, Hunter Renfroe did the same to right. Both Kiké Hernández and J.D. Martinez drove booming doubles to straightaway center.

In an era where shifts are more prevalent than ever, attempting to take away the chance to pull the ball, the ability to go the other way or back up the more middle, has never been more effective or necessary. Moreover, for a team with a lot of hitters who have reputation for being free swingers, it was encouraging to see the hitter value contact over trying to hit the ball 450 feet.

"We talked about it before the game,'' said Cora. "You know, 'Do the little things, keep the line moving and big things are going to happen.'  So try to stay on top of the ball and go the other way, take what they give you... There's certain days, that, hey, take your 'A' swing every time, it doesn't matter. Let it fly. But with certain guys, you have to make adjustments and if you do, maybe some good things will happen.''

Cora added that it's not a coincidence that the last three World Series champs -- the '18 Red Sox, the 2019 Nationals and the 2020 Dodgers -- all put a premium on contact in the face of the industry-wise trend of skyrocketing strikeouts.

"Swing and miss doesn't accomplish anything,'' said Cora, recalling that the Sox were able to shoot the ball through a drawn-in infield for a run. "There's value (in putting the ball in play) and we're going to keep preaching that.''

3. Have the Sox finally figured out some things when it comes to developing pitchers?

It's been well-documented that while the Red Sox have been among the better organizations when it comes to producing homegrown position players, their track record with pitchers is far less impressive. In fact, it's been downright abysmal. The Sox haven't drafted or signed, then developed a starting pitcher of any merit for themselves since Clay Buchholz -- whose rookie year was in 2007.

Lately, however, there's evidence that that's beginning to change.

The success that Tanner Houck has enjoyed, however small the sample size (four major league starts), is more than encouraging. The Sox worked closely with Houck at last summer's alternate site, ensuring that his splitter was developing into a quality pitch against lefties and helping him to better shape his slider. The results, so far, have been impressive.

On Monday, Nick Pivetta tossed five shutout innings, relying mostly on his slider as his primary weapon. It was a pitch that handcuffed the Rays all night. Asked after the game if the slider was a new pitch or whether he had changed the way he threw it, Pivetta revealed it was neither.

"It's something I'm throwing more since I've been (with the Red Sox),'' he said.

Now, Pivetta is no prospect, having pitched in 95 major league games with the Phillies before coming to the Red Sox last August in the trade that saw the Sox ship relievers Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree to the Phillies. But while the Phillies were adamant that Pivetta projected as a reliever and not a starter and wanted him to emphasize other pitches over his slider, the Red Sox made it clear to him from the beginning that they saw him as a starter and thought he should go back to featuring his slider.

Should Pivetta turn into a dependable starter, the Sox won't be able to claim him as someone whom they nurtured through the minors on his way to the big leagues. But they can say they made some important evaluations that salvaged his career. And that's something.