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FORT MYERS, Fla. — David Price will be the third Opening Day starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in the past three seasons Tuesday in Cleveland.

Boston hopes Price will be the man for that job for the next seven years, and his biggest fan on the 2016 team may be one of his biggest former enemies, David Ortiz.

It turns out Ortiz also gave his blessing when the Red Sox asked him about pursuing the dominant lefty as a free agent. But the two new teammates once enjoyed a public and mutual professional scorn.

Their open acrimony surfaced during the 2013 American League Division Series. It intensified in May 2014, when Price plunked the Red Sox DH during their first matchup of the season.

Ortiz referred to their hostilities as “war” and called Price “a little b—h.” Price objected and said Ortiz “looks like he’s bigger than the game of baseball.”

That was then.

This is now.

Millions witnessed images of their bromantic clubhouse hug on Feb. 22, posted by the Red Sox on social media.

“With the hug, there was media everywhere. I mean, he wasn’t going to punch me or act mad,” said Price, who admitted he had been nervous about meeting Ortiz as a teammate.

But few outside of Price and Ortiz saw what truly made him feel like he was a friend and teammate of Ortiz, and by extension, a bona fide member of the Red Sox.

It was an unexpected but welcome text message.

“The biggest thing, and this is the first time I’ve said it, was probably a week or two after that hug. We had a day game. I’m home. It’s probably nine o’clock at night. David just sends me a text,” Price told Bleacher Report in an exclusive clubhouse interview.

“He’s asking me: ‘How are things going? Is there anything [I] can do to make it better?’ He wanted to know if there was anything he could do to make this process go more smoothly. That text he sent me that night, while he’s at home with the family. To do that, it was special.”

For Ortiz, the text message was a natural extension of him being the team’s in-house leader and a star in the final year of his career with dreams of one more World Series.

“There’s no way you can win by yourself. I can’t pitch. I have no clue about pitching,” Ortiz acknowledged with a laugh. “David is our ace. I want him to do well. I want him to feel comfortable.”

“I know how everything works around here. I wanted to make sure everything was going well with him at the time. And if there’s anything he would like to know, when it comes down to putting up with the media and the stuff around here, I wanted him to feel open to call me and ask me any type of questions. I’m wide open for it. I want him to be peaceful.”

As Big Papi knows all too well, finding that peace in a city like Boston is a different story.

“He’s a quiet guy. He’s not a guy who likes the attention much. Playing here, there’s no way you can stay away from it. So I wanted him to know that if he ever had any questions or problems, he could hit me up.”

Ortiz hasn’t been simply reacting to Price’s arrival with hugs and text messages during spring training; he was helping to facilitate his acquisition in the offseason.

“When you add someone like David to your starting rotation, you’re going to add a lot of W’s. The [Red Sox] organization let me know they were chasing him,” Ortiz said.

“They asked me, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, oh yeah, we need him.’ You saw how bad we struggled with pitching last year. And you know that making a move to sign a guy like Price is not an easy move to make. There’s a lot of money involved. Once something like that happens, you already know that you’re going to have an ace.”

Ortiz reassured what was once a “war” in 2014 is now nothing more than a one-off moment of the past.

“That incident happened between me and David one time. But I did my homework. I asked around about David. Everybody loves him. We got to know each other. He’s a super nice guy. You see everything he does. You look at his Twitter account. There’s no way you can have any issues with that guy.”

With Ortiz’s support both in the clubhouse and at the plate, all the 6’5″ Price must do now is justify his $217 million contract—the largest ever given to a pitcher.

Price was MLB‘s premier free-agent pitcher this offseason, going 18-5 with an AL-best 2.45 ERA in 220.1 innings for Detroit and Toronto in 2015. In December, he signed with Boston through 2022, though the deal includes an opt-out clause after the 2018 season.

The citizenry of Red Sox Nation watched the so-called “five aces” of Boston’s 2015 rotation transform into a house of cards last summer. Boston’s mudslide in the standings was triggered in large part by a mysterious elbow injury to Clay Buchholz that ended his season on July 10.

No one on the Red Sox payroll questions Price’s role as the team’s “ace” this season.

“Everything has been as advertised,” manager John Farrell said of Price. “He’s shown his leadership qualities and personality in the clubhouse. [At times this spring], his command was almost midseason form, as well as he was following the glove around the strike zone.”

“His willingness to take some young left-handed starters under his wing—Eduardo Rodriguez and Henry Owens particularly—to impart some of his experiences on them. David Price has been everything we have hoped for to date. David has been a very good presence in our clubhouse and a very good teammate.”

Dave Dombrowski, Boston’s president of baseball operations, acquired Price when he was the general manager in Detroit. Dombrowski knew the opportunity to bring him to Boston could not be missed, despite the historic price tag.

“He brings to your rotation and your club a big presence as the No. 1 guy. And he is legitimately that. No. 1 starters are not easy to find. He also brings the intangible aspects. The worth ethic. The leadership. He’s really the whole package. To have someone like that in the organization is a real plus.”

Price is also aware of any bullpen’s limitations, even with Boston’s addition of closer Craig Kimbrel and setup man Carson Smith (currently on the disabled list).

“I expect to go nine and get 27 outs every time I step on that mound,” he said. “I take a lot of pride to give those relievers that day off. I’d rather go eight and give up one run, than go six and give up none.”

One of Price’s former proteges, Toronto pitcher Marcus Stroman, said he’s “given about 30 million interviews” on Price this spring. But he is still quick to laud Price as both a huge role model and mentor.

“I try to take down how he went about his business on and off the field, and how he treated everyone. He’s a true leader. A true ace. I was just lucky to play with him as long as I did. He’s a friend that I’ll have forever.”

And Price is still dispensing advice to one-time Rays teammate Chris Archer.

Boston has seen many of its recent splurges in free agency backfire. Look no further than $90 million signing and current bench player Pablo Sandoval.

But Price is far more prepared for the best and worst of what Boston can offer, according to Dombrowski.

“If you’re going to invest those type of dollars, you want that player to bring everything to the table. I had the pleasure and fortune of being with him in Detroit. I thought he’d be able to handle the Boston spotlight. He can handle it. And he has no difficulty with the communications and intellectual aspect of it.”

So what is the difference between the David Price who closed out Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS against the Red Sox and the David Price now carrying the hopes of a beleaguered Boston fanbase?

After all, it’s been 14 whole months since the city’s last duck boat parade.

“I had two pitches then, a straight fastball and a slider. I didn’t have the fastball command that I needed. My velocity allowed me to get away with a few more mistakes. I threw a good amount of sliders that night. That was my best pitch coming out of college,” Price said.

“I probably threw two changeups in college [Vanderbilt], and maybe five before I got to the big leagues. I realized very quickly that it doesn’t matter how hard you throw at this level. You have to be able to locate and change speeds. I take pride in being able to make adjustments on the fly.”

Price began developing a changeup in 2009, and he picked up the one he uses today back in 2011 courtesy of then-teammate James Shields.

“It’s a feel pitch, but you have to have trust in it,” Price said. “You’ve got to throw it. You’ve got to take it to the game. I don’t care how good it is in the bullpen; you’re not going to have confidence in that pitch unless you go and throw it in a game.

“Where you get that first swing and miss, or that first ball off the end of the bat for a ground ball, that’s going to give you confidence to throw that first pitch in a big situation.”

Ortiz carries a .250 average with nine strikeouts and just two of his 503 career home runs in 54 plate appearances against Price. He cites Price’s “experience” as the biggest factor in his evolution as a pitcher.

“Here’s a guy with the same stuff. More experience. That’s dangerous,” Ortiz said. “Before, he would try to overpower [you]. Now, he uses his power when he wants. He can throw the ball wherever he wants.”

“You don’t need nothing else. You can be powerful and have three different pitches, but if you don’t throw the ball where you want it, that gets you in trouble. Now, he’s got both power and super-extraordinary control.”

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is fifth among active players with 58 at-bats (.276/.358/.431) against Price. None of those 58 were ever easy.

“Whenever you face him, you’ve got your hands full. He’s the kind of guy who will take the ball in a big game. He’s going to be extremely important to us.”

Price has pitched for three AL East champions and is 49-21 against division foes with a 3.15 ERA. He’s been even more effective in Fenway Park, going 6-1 with a 1.95 ERA in 11 career regular-season starts.

This familiarity with division and league opponents breeds both contempt and, eventually, respect. Big Papi may be the well-known feud, but this isn’t the first time Price has turned an enemy into a friend.

“I couldn’t stand Ian Kinsler. I told him that,” Price said. “Then I got to play with him [in Detroit]. Now, Ian’s in my top five of guys I’ve played with and enjoyed being around. Ian’s a really good dude.”

Ortiz has experienced the same change of heart many times before.

“When you haven’t played with someone, in between those two lines, they don’t have to look nice for me. They’re trying to get their job done. A lot of players judge other players on what they see without knowing the guy,” he said.

“I don’t like him for his body language, or whatever he does out there, but once I was in the room with him all the time, and I got to know the guy. I see the intensity in the guy. How he goes about his business. And then, boom, then you get to know the guy.”

Price also knows Boston and his contract will inevitably send a social media barrage his way, but he has scaled back on his interaction of late.

“One third of it’s going to be positive. One third of it will be negative and one third will be about fantasy baseball,” he said. “I don’t read a whole lot of tweets. I’ve gotten a lot more lately and a lot of the decisions I’ve made lately have gotten some people mad. But that’s part of it.”

Jared Carrabis, a Red Sox fan-turned-blogger for the past 10 years, was once an ardent “Twitter troll” of Price. Later, his digital courtship of Price earned Carrabis an infamous “bunk beds” mention during Price’s introductory press conference in Boston.

Carrabis’ reaction to Price coming to Boston was typical among diehard Red Sox fans.

“It felt like a concussion grenade went off when I saw the tweet. I remember my brain actually going numb and hearing that ringing sound in my ears that you get after leaving a concert. I think that was what it feels like to literally have your mind blown,” Carrabis said.

Price hopes to continue converting past haters by winning a World Series in Boston, or seven. He is resolute about ending his “winless as a starter in the postseason” drought this October. His regular season was delayed for a day by bad weather as Monday’s scheduled opener was postponed. 

“I know good things are going to come to me in October baseball. It just hasn’t happened…yet. I’ve thrown the ball well in some games. You’ve got to have some of those hard-hit balls at people. The balls you execute, and there’s weak contact, you’ve got to have that play made and not for that ball to fall into no-man’s land, or to be hit in just the right spot.”

“My time is coming. Is it frustrating? Absolutely. Winning in the playoffs is something I want to do. It’s something I’m capable of doing. Hopefully, this year, we can get going and start a streak on the right side.”

And Ortiz and the rest of Price’s new Red Sox teammates will be there to watch his back.

All quotes were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report unless otherwise specified.

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist who first covered the Red Sox in 1987. He Tweets at @RealOBF and @BillSperos.

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After the Toronto Blue Jays‘ Marcus Stroman cruised through the bottom of the seventh inning in Sunday’s 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, ESPN announcer Dave Flemming noted it was the young right-hander’s first Opening Day start.

However, Flemming added, “You would not know it.”

Indeed, taking the ball for the defending American League East champs and effectively taking the mantle from departed ace David Price, Stroman looked confident, unfailingly competitive and, above all, largely dominant.

With an assist from home plate umpire Mike Everitt’s consistently low strike calls, Stroman pounded the bottom of the zone with his heavy sinker and induced 15 ground-ball outs compared to just three outs in the air.

His final line wasn’t perfect—and he missed a shot at a complete game after taking the hill to start the ninth and yielding a home run and a single—but it should still bring a smile to the faces of Jays fans: eight innings pitched, six hits allowed, three earned runs, one walk, five strikeouts, plus a notch in the win column.

It’s nearly impossible to overstate how much an ace-level Stroman would mean for Toronto this season.

The Blue Jays returned baseball’s highest-scoring offense almost completely intact. Reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson is there, joined by the slugging contract-year duo of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. And they’ll get a full season out of 2015 trade deadline pickup Troy Tulowitzki, who cracked a two-run homer in the eighth that proved to be the difference in the game.

The Jays will plate runs in bunches—that much we know. But they’ll need their starting pitching to carry its share of the load minus Price, who bolted over the winter for a gaudy payday with the division-rival Boston Red Sox.

The rest of the rotation has talent, with promising youngster Aaron Sanchez, 23, joining changeup artist Marco Estrada, veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and left-hander J.A. Happ.

Stroman, though, is the obvious candidate to emerge as a No. 1. And if Sunday’s performance is any indication, he’s up for the challenge.

Coming into 2015, Toronto was looking at Stroman as an emerging rotation anchor. But the former first-round pick tore his ACL during spring training fielding drills and didn’t pitch until Sept. 12.

When he did come back, however, he came back strong. In four September starts, Stroman went 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 27 innings. And he got his first taste of the postseason, making two starts in the division series against the Texas Rangers and picking up a win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals.

Now, Stroman—who has a scant 24 regular-season starts to his name and won’t turn 25 until May 1—is hoping to channel his tantalizing potential into a full 162-game grind.

The projection systems don’t scream Cy Young contender, with ZiPS forecasting a 3.80 ERA in a modest 104.3 innings, per FanGraphs. 

Stroman, however, has proved himself capable of shattering expectations. Remember, this is the guy who “stunned” renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews with his ACL recovery, as Stroman boasted last August.

Last year, Stroman was at Tropicana Field to watch his buddy Chris Archer make his first Opening Day start, as Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling reported. This year, he outdueled Archer on the very same mound.

“It’s crazy how everything comes full circle,” Stroman told Zwelling. “I truly believe everything does happen for a reason. So, I’m just thankful—just thankful that everything played out as it did.”

Yes, we’re one contest into the season. The Rays are not the ’27 Yankees or even the 2016 Yankees when it comes to the lumber. And again, Stroman benefited from some friendly calls below the knees, as MLB.com’s Michael Clair noted:

But in a crowded division with flawed contenders stacked top to bottom, every club is looking for an edge. For that extra something to push it over the top.

For Toronto, a full-blown Stroman breakout hitched to its world-beating offense would fit the bill.

So far, so good.

All statistics current as of April 3 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Tampa Bay Rays have released first baseman James Loney just ahead of their regular-season opener on Sunday, according to Bill Chastain of MLB.com.

The team had made the decision earlier this week, per Chastain, but waited to make the move as it was seeking to trade Loney before Sunday’s deadline to have its 25-man roster finalized.   

The Rays still owe Loney $8 million in base salary in 2016, per Spotrac, as he had one season left on a three-year, $21 million deal he signed in January 2014. 

Loney, 31, had been the Rays’ starter at first base the past three seasons, but his future seemed in doubt when the team added Logan Morrison, Steve Pearce and Corey Dickerson this offseason. 

“It was a difficult decision, but especially for a guy, he did a lot of good things for this organization over the last couple of years,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said, per Chastain. “He was a leader for us. He had some good seasons. But sometimes, we all know in this business, there’s decisions that need to be made.”

This spring, Loney hit .265/.286/.353 with zero home runs and one RBI in 34 at-bats over 12 games. He played in at least 155 games in each of his first two seasons in Tampa Bay but suffered injuries early in the 2015 season.

Loney wishes he could stick around as the Rays continue their rebuilding process but thanked the team for the opportunity, per Chastain:

The team was great. Obviously, I wish them the best. The guys were great. Loved my time here. Loved the organization, how they gave me a chance after 2012. But at the end of the day, you want to play in the big leagues and you want to win, obviously. So we’ll see how that goes.

 … I would have liked to win with these guys. But at the end of the day, it is a business. So those aren’t my decisions. I had nothing to do with that.

Loney should find another job, particularly early in the season as rosters continue to shuffle, but he may have to settle for a minor league contract. That might not be a huge issue for him, though, as he’s earned nearly $27 million over the course of his 10-year career, per Baseball-Reference.com.

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There are some things money just can’t buy—including, but not limited to, love, happiness and Chris Colabello’s digestive health.

The latter was nearly put on the line when teammate Jose Bautista and his other Blue Jays brethren wagered $15,000 on the outfielder’s ability to consume an entire eight-pound dish of lobster macaroni and cheese.

The terms were simple: chow down, cash out.

Set to gain? A sizable amount of money, taste-bud bliss and likely a little weight.

At stake? Nearly everything mentioned in the Pepto-Bismol song.

But despite the fact that Colabello was afforded the opportunity to have his dough and eat his mac, too, he hesitated at the sight of the glorious challenge.

In fact, according to Bautista, Colabello considered buying into the dare for 40 minutes:

Updates:

8:34 he is still struggling with it
8:45 im losing hope over here
8:53 not looking good…
8:56 @kpillar11 shows up and is upset that #CoachBelo is taking so long to decide
8:59 officially has waved the white flag, not even an attempt…disappointing…

 

Ultimately, he declined the once-in-a-lifetime proposition.

Of course, he could have always negotiated a higher price, or even suggested lessening the burden of pasta, but isn’t indulging in that cheesy deliciousness a prize in and of itself?

[Instagram, h/t SB Nation]

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For the second straight year, the New York Yankees will call upon Masahiro Tanaka to be their Opening Day starter.  

On Thursday, Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced the news in an interview with YES Network (via Wallace Matthews of ESPN.com). Tanaka will take the mound for the Yankees in their season opener on Monday at Yankee Stadium against reigning American League Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel and the Houston Astros.

“I kind of wanted the first four guys to know when their days were and we just went ahead with it,” said Girardi, per YES Network (via Matthews). “[Tanaka] feels good. He’s confident that he’s ready to go.”

The decision by Girardi to go with Tanaka means the Yankees-Astros matchup will be a rematch of last year’s AL Wild Card Game. Keuchel and the Astros shut out the Bronx Bombers, 3-0, at Yankee Stadium to move on to the AL Division Series.

An All-Star in 2014, Tanaka opened the Yankees’ season last year with a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. He went only four innings, gave up four earned runs and a home run. Tanaka went on to win seven of his next 11 starts after that.

However, the 27-year-old has had a struggling spring so far, going 1-1 in four starts with a 7.36 ERA after undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow, per Matthews.

“We weren’t exactly sure where he was going to be when he got here and how he was going to react to the surgery, and if he was going to maybe need one more start,” Girardi said, via Matthews. “That was something that we looked at too, do you give him one more start? But we just felt that he was ready to go.”

Tanaka struggled slightly last year, going 12-7 with a 3.51 ERA as the Yankees’ ace. New York’s success in 2016, despite the recent acquisitions of shortstop Starlin Castro and closer Aroldis Chapman, will rest on its starting rotation.

The Yankees will rely on Tanaka to have a strong start to 2015, but they will need success from Nathan Eovaldi (14-3 last year) and Michael Pineda (12-10) if a trip back to the postseason is in their plans.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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When the Boston Red Sox signed Pablo Sandoval in the winter of 2014, their hope was surely that he would take his game to new heights.

Instead, Sandoval has gone down, down and down some more. And on Thursday morning, you could practically hear the THUD of him hitting bottom.

Signed for $95 million just 16 months ago, the word out of Red Sox camp is that Sandoval is no longer the club’s starting third baseman. As reported by Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, Boston skipper John Farrell has handed that job to the upstart candidate, Travis Shaw.

In explaining himself, Farrell didn’t make things complicated:

Although this is an event that should be surprising, it’s not.

Sandoval entered spring training off a 2015 season that was several different shades of disastrous. The 29-year-old hit just .245 with a .658 OPS, marking the worst offensive season of his career. Per the advanced metrics, he also played some terrible defense. All together, Boston’s big offseason investment might have been in the worst everyday player in baseball.

The Red Sox have seen more of the same from Sandoval this spring. Though he’s shown off some decent power, he’s hit only .244. And as Ian Browne of MLB.com reported, Sandoval’s continued struggles on defense also had a hand in his new position on the depth chart.

For his part, Shaw clearly deserves his spot. Though his arrival in the big leagues last season wasn’t met with much fanfare, it resulted in a .270 average, an .813 OPS and 13 home runs in 65 games. He’s stayed warm this spring, hitting .333 with an .886 OPS.

Whether Shaw is really the answer the Red Sox seek at third base, though, remains to be seen.

The 25-year-old’s modest minor league numbers (.261 AVG, .803 OPS) suggest he’s hitting way over his head. And though he’s not totally out of water at third base, he fits better at first base. As R.J. Anderson wrote at CBS Sports, the Red Sox are banking more on Shaw’s “acumen for the game” than they are on his talent.

Still, there’s no blaming the Red Sox for rolling the dice on Shaw over Sandoval. Where the former earned his chance, the latter ran out of chances.

The Red Sox’s decision to sign Sandoval ahead of the 2015 season had “knee jerk” written all over it.

Boston was clearly desperate to patch up an offense that was one of the worst in the American League en route to a last-place finish in 2014, and Sandoval was coming off a red-hot run through the postseason with the San Francisco Giants that ultimately led to his third World Series ring.

Oh, but the red flags were there.

Sandoval’s dominant postseason obscured the reality that his offense was actually in a steady decline. There were also the ever-present concerns over Sandoval’s annual struggles with his weight, and his consistent defiance that his heft was actually a problem.

“I feel in shape,” he told MLB.com at one point. “Who cares what other people say? I’m here to do my job.”

If that was Sandoval’s attitude before his big payday, it raises the question of what assurance the Red Sox had that it wouldn’t be his attitude after his big payday.

Perhaps now-former Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington decided to take what Sandoval told Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan in spring of 2013 to heart.

“I’ve got this year and next year to change all the things,” Sandoval said. “It’s going to take me a while, but I can do it. I know I can do it. You need to learn. You need to grow up. You need to step up and know the difference between what you can do and what you can’t.”

Sandoval’s timeline put him on track to start getting serious in 2015, just in time for his first season in Boston.

Instead, Sandoval never even bothered to try. He showed up to spring training with a boiler heard ’round the Internet, and failed to put concerns to rest by hitting just .259 with a .662 OPS in the exhibition season. Maybe “pathetic” is too strong, but that performance sure ended up being prophetic.

As the Red Sox were careening toward another last-place finish in the AL East, Sandoval’s facepalm-worthy season is one thing among many that led to Cherington’s ouster in August. In came Dave Dombrowski, and among his directives was that Sandoval spend the winter getting into better shape.

In January, the news was good. Farrell told Sean McAdam of CSN New England that Sandoval was 20 pounds lighter than he had been at the end of 2015. After the club’s signing of David Price and trades for Craig Kimbrel and Carson Smith, this was another bit of good news in an exciting hot-stove season for the Red Sox.

But then, this happened:

And then, this happened:

Which brings us to today, and what the heck the Red Sox are supposed to do with Sandoval now. 

The best option is trading him. A recent report from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe suggests the San Diego Padres may be interested in a deal. If so, they’re probably not the only team intrigued by taking a flier on a two-time All-Star and three-time champion who’s still on the good side of 30.

But as Sandoval goes, so goes his value. The only way the Red Sox are moving him for anything of value now is by eating a good chunk of the nearly $80 million he’s still owed, or if they agree to a bad contract swap.

If the Red Sox go through with keeping Sandoval on the pine, they don’t have much choice but to hope his benching lights a fire under him and inspires him to try to win back his starting role.

But there’s not much hope for this hope. Scott Lauber of ESPN.com wasn’t out of line when he recently scolded Sandoval for having thin skin. That’s something he’s demonstrated time and again. Rather than inspire him to ramp up his give-a-you-know-what meter, his benching may leave the Red Sox with a piece of mopey dead weight on their bench.

For now, choosing Shaw over Sandoval at third base is the best the Red Sox can make of a bad situation. And if Shaw continues to surprise them, that’s just another reason to buy into the notion that they can pull off a worst-to-first season in 2016.

If they’re lucky, Sandoval will either soon be gone or will ultimately find a way to be a part of it. If they’re unlucky, he’ll stay in a pit of his own making and see how deep it goes.

Regular-season stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked. Spring training stats courtesy of MLB.com.

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The New York Yankees‘ bullpen has suffered another setback as Bryan Mitchell is expected to miss at least three months due to a toe injury.  

Continue for updates.

Mitchell Out Until Midseason Due to Toe Ailment

Thursday, March 31

Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Mitchell has a fractured toe on his left foot, but it’s unclear whether surgery will be necessary. Jack Curry of the YES Network stated it’s a “Grade 3 turf toe,” which will require a minimum of 12 weeks to recover.

Word of the setback comes just days after Mitchell was informed he earned a spot on the 25-man roster for Opening Day. Ryan Hatch of NJ Advance Media passed along comments from the right-handed reliever after he first suffered the injury Wednesday: “I honestly don’t know what to feel right now. I’m just trying to stay positive and hopefully when I wake up tomorrow it feels 10 times better than it does. Just trying to stay positive right now.”

The bullpen was expected to become a major part of the Yankees’ success coming into spring training. Now, it’s suddenly become a question mark with the regular-season opener scheduled for Monday afternoon against the Houston Astros.

Projected closer Aroldis Chapman was suspended 30 games under the league’s new domestic violence policy. Andrew Miller, who was expected to fill the closer void for the time being, also faces an uncertain status due to a wrist injury, per Mark Townsend of Yahoo Sports.

Mitchell had shined during spring training with a 0.57 ERA across six appearances with 12 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. He also posted a 0.64 WHIP, and his batting-average against was just .132.

That success, combined with the suddenly unstable New York bullpen, made him a candidate to pitch some high-leverage innings early in the campaign. That seemed like a long shot at the start of camp after he finished last season with a 6.37 ERA in 20 games.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post noted the injury is a double whammy for the organization:

Looking ahead, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Miller hopes to pitch through the pain despite the injury to his non-pitching hand, but the Yanks are awaiting details form a hand specialist. If he’s unavailable, Dellin Betances will be the last member of the team’s star pen trio left standing.

Chasen Shreve, Johnny Barbato and Kirby Yates are among the other relievers who will need to step up while the Yankees wait for Chapman, Miller and Mitchell to assume their expected roles.

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Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell announced Thursday that Travis Shaw has won the starting job at third base over Pablo Sandoval. 

Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe passed along word of the decision from Farrell, who met with both players Thursday morning to inform them of the decision.

“I’m not going to take this opportunity for granted,” Shaw said after learning of his spot in the starting lineup, per Tim Britton of the Providence Journal.

Shaw has outperformed Sandoval at the plate during spring training, hitting .333 with a .377 on-base percentage across 20 games. Sandoval has a .244 average and .279 OBP in 16 games.

That said, Farrell noted “defense became a deciding factor” in the final decision as well, per Britton.

Sandoval admitted “it’s the right decision to help the team win,” and because of that, he’s happy despite heading to the bench for the time being, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald.

However, Sandoval’s agent Rick Thurman didn’t agree, saying ““if you want to win, why leave the ferrari in the garage?” per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

While all of the on-field signs point to Shaw being the right choice, it’s still a bit surprising given the financial commitment the Red Sox made to Sandoval last offseason. Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post spotlighted the money still owed to the 29-year-old infielder:

Sandoval has provided almost no bang for that buck. He posted a career-low .292 OBP during his first season in Boston while hitting just 10 home runs. Pictures of him early in spring training this year became a viral sensation, as he looked out of shape.

Though the former San Francisco Giants star has never been a physical specimen, the extra weight started to have an impact on his ability to defend third base. His minus-11 Defensive Runs Saved figure last season tied the worst mark of his career, according to FanGraphs.

Looking ahead, the Red Sox would probably love to rid themselves of Sandoval, even if it meant eating a sizable portion of his remaining contract. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported Monday the San Diego Padres were scouting the third baseman.

Otherwise, they’re stuck with an extremely high-priced bench player for the foreseeable future. Shaw has been the better player throughout spring training, and he shined with 13 homers in just 65 games as a rookie last season, so the team will stick with him as long as he keeps slugging.

It’s been a rapid fall from grace for Sandoval, who won three World Series titles and got selected to the All-Star Game twice while with the Giants. Now, his future is a mystery as he prepares to watch the start of the new season from the dugout.

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The New York Yankees bullpen had a biblical feel to it at the start of spring training. We knew it was general manager Brian Cashman’s creation, but it seemed as if a higher power put it together.

In reality, it was a serious off-field problem and a failed trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers that allowed the Yankees and Cashman to pull off an offseason trade that brought flame-throwing left-handed closer Aroldis Chapman to the Bronx. He joined Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances to form a three-headed monster that had the potential to be one of the best relief trios baseball has seen.

They looked unhittable on paper. Now, less than a week away from Opening Day, the Yankees bullpen just looks paper-thin.

First, Major League Baseball suspended Chapman, set to be the team’s closer, for 30 games after an alleged domestic violence incident. Then on Wednesday, the team announced that after throwing only one pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves at Disney World, Miller suffered a chip fracture in his right non-throwing wrist when a line drive hit him.

Let’s call the Chapman suspension the result of his own alleged behavior. What happened to Miller was daggone bad luck.

The Yankees stated, per Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, that there was no timetable for Miller’s return and that he would see a hand specialist to “determine the next course of action.”

It’s so unlikely that he’ll be ready for Opening Day that I’ll let Miller drill me with a fastball if I’m wrong. But Superman couldn’t heal from a wrist fracture in less than a week. And clearly after suffering the injury, Miller doesn’t have superhuman strength.

Until then the bullpen is left without a closer. Betances is a career setup guy. Nine of his 10 career saves came last season. With New York’s bullpen at full strength, the plan was for Betances to be a seventh- or eighth-inning guy.

Having both Miller, who had 36 saves last year as the Yankees closer, and Chapman, who has eclipsed 30 saves the past four seasons, had a dual purpose.

Primarily it would have allowed the Yankees to throw a closer at opponents for six outs. Miller, who would finish games on nearly every other major league team, would pitch the eighth inning. Chapman would close. And on days when Chapman needed rest, Miller could close. Or one could fill in should the other become hurt.

Or in Chapman’s case, suspended.

One line drive decimated that plan.

Even after Miller’s injury, though, there’s still evidence that the baseball higher-ups love pinstripes. Any day of the week, the left-handed Miller would prefer an injury occur on his right side.

With his right wrist in a cast, Miller will still be able to work his pitching arm in some capacity. To what degree won’t be understood until more information is released.

Other than that, Wednesday’s news did nothing to reassure the Yankees.

“Anytime you get a line drive, right away I don’t think it’s going to feel good,” Betances said, per Feinsand. “I’m sure right away you’re going to think everything is bad, but when he was in here talking to me, he was all right.”

Until Miller or Chapman returns, whichever comes first, insurance runs will be important to the Yankees.

The less experienced Chasen Shreve will become the team’s left-handed specialist. With Miller out, expect Luis Cessa, Johnny Barbato and Kirby Yates to all make the Opening Day roster.

All three have little major league experience. Yates has pitched parts of the last two seasons in Tampa Bay but has only one save. He posted a 7.97 ERA in 20 games in 2015.

Prior to Miller’s injury, the three pitchers were competing for two remaining bullpen spots. But neither of the three figured to pitch in the high-leverage situations reserved for Betances, Miller and Chapman.

Given that the remaining Yankees relievers are baseball neophytes, Betances is the only choice to close for now.

The good news: Of the 30 games that Chapman will miss to start the season, only nine come against teams that made the playoffs last season.

The Yankees’ bad luck is coming at a good time in their schedule.

With Miller’s injury, though, it’s as if New York had awoken from a dream. Its bullpen was the envy of every executive in baseball.

When the pieces are healthy, it is among baseball’s best. It might even push to be one of the best ever. Chapman and Miller had 69 combined saves in 2015, and Betances is regarded as one of the game’s elite setup men. Both Chapman and Betances have fastballs that have clocked in at over 100 miles per hour.

But for at least the duration of Miller’s recovery, the Yankees relievers might look ordinary if they don’t struggle altogether.

So as New York awaits a timetable on Miller’s return, this bullpen may just want to ask for a little more help from above.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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The Boston Red Sox‘s major offseason addition will be on the mound when they begin their 2016 regular-season slate on April 4, as David Price was announced as the team’s Opening Day starter Tuesday.  

The organization announced the decision on Twitter:

After finishing last in the American League East in 2015, Boston will begin its bounce-back attempt April 4 with a road tilt against the Cleveland Indians.

Following a 2015 season that saw Price finish second in the AL Cy Young Award voting by virtue of an 18-5 record with a 2.45 ERA split between the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays, the fact that the team selected him comes as little surprise.

Boston inked the 30-year-old lefty to a seven-year, $217 million contract during the offseason, and he is expected to be the workhorse and one constant in a rotation that is riddled with question marks otherwise.

The Red Sox mark Price’s fourth team since 2014, as he spent the first six-plus years of his career with the Tampa Bay Rays, and starting on Opening Day gives him a rare distinction, per the Elias Sports Bureau (via Red Sox manager of media relations and baseball information Jon Shestakofsky):

Price has consistently been among the best starters in baseball since debuting in 2008, as evidenced by his career mark of 104-56 with a 3.09 ERA.

He will have a tough challenge ahead of him, however, as the Tribe will counter with 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, according to Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com.

That is a marquee pitching matchup in every sense of the term, and it will certainly test both lineups as they look to get into regular-season form.

While the Opening Day result carries the same weight as any other game over the course of the season, Price will undoubtedly have some added pressure to live up to his contract and get Boston off to a great start after a miserable 2015 campaign.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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