FORT MYERS, Fla. - Perhaps Clay Buchholz shouldn't be written in as the Red Sox' No. 5 starter just yet. Though he may be the team's best option to fill the void left by the injury to Curt Schilling, the Sox have other options. They could trade for a starting pitcher or sign a free agent.
Or the Sox could turn to Julian Tavarez.
While Tavarez has not yet arrived at spring training, pitching coach John Farrell mentioned yesterday that he could factor into the starting pitching plans. He began last season as a member of the rotation, putting up a 6-11 record and a 5.22 ERA in 23 starts and 120 2/3 innings. He added 11 appearances as a reliever, with a 4.50 ERA.
"I think the two very clear candidates for that are Clay and Julian Tavarez," Farrell said. "I think we can't not recognize what Julian provided for us last year. In the first two-thirds of the season, he was a very key component to our starting rotation. He gave us not only very good individual outings, but when you look at 125 to 135 innings that he pitched for us last year, that's a key role for us.
"It will be our challenge to make sure that we prepare him, regardless of if it's as the fifth starter or the guy in the bullpen, that he's of the mind-set to give us above-average performance."
Not that Buchholz will be moved into the bullpen. The team has not had conversations about moving Buchholz to relief, a role he briefly sampled last season. And, very probably, he will break camp in the starting five, with the chance to increase his innings count by about 30 from last season.
"We had a target number of innings before the season started last year, which we'll have this year," Farrell said. "It'll certainly be an increase over the 150 innings that we targeted last year. I think it's a reasonable number to think that Clay is going to be in line for 180-190 innings, in that range.
"I think he's ready certainly for a full season at the major league level and he's got the talent to back that up."
Backup duty
While Jonathan Papelbon will keep his job as the closer, he's going to need backup. Like last season, when the Sox tried to limit the wear and tear on Papelbon's shoulder, there will be days when the closer is off-duty. In 2007, most of those chances went to Hideki Okajima, but with the emergence of Manny Delcarmen toward the end of the season (2.05 ERA in 44 innings in 2007), the Sox are considering bumping up their reliance on him, especially in key roles. "We've had a number of conversations already this winter, to challenge him with an increased role, increased importance, not to think that last year's ERA or performance that he had is the Manny Delcarmen," Farrell said. "I think there's still room for improvement, certainly with his fastball command, that can continue to improve. I'd like to think at some point we can begin to expose him in that closer's role. And I say that because we probably are going to take a similar approach with the use of Jonathan this year, so there are going to be opportunities that both Manny and Hideki will again assume."A preseason loss
Farrell did comment on the loss of Schilling, saying, "I think anytime any club, whether it's the Red Sox or any other ball club, you're without a pitcher of that capacity, that kind of experience level, and certainly the leadership that he can provide, it's a loss. But I think we all plan, coming into every spring training, that you're looking at anywhere from seven to nine starting pitchers to provide that depth in the event of an injury. What we have to do going forward is understand what happened is behind us, map out a very concise plan to get him back to contribute to us sometime in the middle of the season."Getting there
Yesterday brought two more major league types to Fort Myers. Both Delcarmen and Javier Lopez arrived at the player development complex, joining Buchholz, Okajima, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Among the more than 40 minor leaguers who have been working out or have made appearances at the complex in Fort Myers are Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden, Brandon Moss, Bryce Cox, Craig Hansen, and George Kottaras. Members of the coaching staff also showed up yesterday. Terry Francona joined bench coach Brad Mills (who was there Monday, as well), bullpen coach Gary Tuck, and Farrell . . . The Red Sox equipment truck showed up in Fort Myers yesterday morning, first stopping at City of Palms Park to unload there before heading down Edison Avenue to the player development complex. It opened up to a wall of boxes that were removed and wheeled inside the main building at the complex.Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.
