On Wednesday morning in Fort Myers, Alex Cora made official what had seemed obvious for the past week: when the Red Sox open the regular season on March 30, Corey Kluber will be the team's starting pitcher.
It certainly had seemed things were heading in that direction a week ago, when Cora revealed that the assignment wouldn't be going to Chris Sale, has had been widely assumed.
By tenure and achievement, Sale had been the logical choice. He's been with the team longer than anyone on the roster, and when he's been healthy -- admittedly, a rarity over the last three seasons -- he's also been their best starter.
But even with Sale looking 100 percent after missing almost all of last season with a succession of injuries, Cora determined that it would be best for Sale to be an observer for the opener.
"I want him to enjoy it as a regular baseball player,'' explained Cora. "just the whole Opening Day thing and whenever he pitches in the rotation, he'll pitch in the rotation. I decided that like a month and a half ago, when we had that conversation.''
Sale took no issue with the news, and in fact, expressed some relief that he wouldn't be tasked with the assignment.
"Honestly, I really appreciate it,'' Sale told The Bradford Sho podcast. "It's still great, it's still fun. I still enjoy it, I still appreciate it. But I definitely understood why he did that. And I just appreciate that. To be able to soak it all in and enjoy that day as a whole and not have the stress of getting ready for it and all this other stuff.''
At the time of Cora's announcement, that left Kluber as the likely alternative. He's the oldest pitcher on the staff, and his two Cy Young awards speak to his level of accomplishment. Wednesday morning, hours before Kluber's scheduled start against Tampa Bay, Cora clarified his intentions when he said Kluber would get the honor at Fenway against the Baltimore Orioles.
It will mark the fifth time in his career that Kluber has drawn the Opening Day assignment -- the first four came with the then-Cleveland Indians.
Wednesday morning also saw Cora clarify -- at least somewhat -- his plans for the leadoff spot.
He strongly indicated that the Sox will not have a permanent choice at the top of their batting order. Instead, Cora will mix and match a few players in the leadoff spot: Christian Arroyo, Kiké Hernandez, Rob Refsnyder, and at least occasionally, Triston Casas.
Notable by his absence from that group: outfielder Masataka Yoshida.
Yoshida's on-base ability was one of the things that attracted him to the Sox last December, when they signed him to a five-year, $90 million deal. His career on-base percentage of .421 in NPB seemed to signal that Yoshida would be an obvious choice.
But in his introductory press conference this winter, Yoshida acknowledged that he had virtually no experience hitting leadoff and was unsure how comfortable he would in the role. That, coupled with the Red Sox not wanting to add anything else novel to his experience in North America seemed to take Yoshida out of the running from the start. Over time, that could change, but for now, Cora prefers to have Yoshida hit third, fourth or fifth.
Arroyo and Hernandez are both projected as everyday players -- at second and short respectively -- and Hernandez thrived in the leadoff spot over the second half of 2021 and into the postseason.
Refsnyder is a platoon player who will find himself in the lineup against most lefties, against whom he compiled a 1.005 OPS last season.
In both size and experience, Casas represents an unorthodox choice. He has just 76 major league at-bats, and at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, would be among the biggest leadoff hitters in modern memory.
But even in his brief major league career to date, Casas has shown terrific discipline at the plate and a thorough understanding of the strike zone. He'll hardly be a threat to steal when he reaches base, but then again, the notion of what it takes to be a successful leadoff hitter has undergone quite an evolution over the last decade-plus. While speed would be welcome, most teams seek a player with an ability to reach base and slug enough to do damage from the top spot. In admittedly a short sample size, Casas has demonstrated that he can do both.