Early Trends and Panick

Spring training means different things to different players. Obviously, Dustin Pedroia isn't going to lose sleep after an oh-fer against an opponent offering a few starters and a bunch of scrubs. Established players can usually rest easy if their track record has been one of consistency at the major league level, and they continue to take pride in their preparation. The spring is a chance for a prospect or a relative unknown to open some eyes and possibly make a run at making the big club, or in the case of Travis Shaw in 2016, unseat a struggling veteran.

Grapefruit League baseball also holds varying degrees of importance among us fans. I always get excited when MLBTV fires up the first spring training game of the season, but I find it hard to maintain any level of interest after the starters are lifted and the farmhands come on to till the field.  Many of those inflated digits they sport on their back remind me of offensive linemen. When you really think about it, the comparison to an offensive line is pretty accurate. I mean, unless you were a warrior of the trenches in football, who really watches the offensive line during a football game? Everyone is too busy watching the sexier positions like the tailbacks, quarterbacks and wideouts with that more refined skill set.

The one unavoidable thing spring offers is trends - how a player may be moving forward or regressing. I'm going to take a look at two trends I've noticed so far and check in with the buyer's remorse concerning the trade of Clay Buchholz.

• Travis Money in the Bank

After only 6 official Grapefruit League games plus a granting some college players the game of a lifetime, Sam Travis is making the most of his opportunities. In an Oriole beatdown in Sarasota on Wednesday, Travis smacked his second homer this spring and in 11 ABs (including the Northwestern exhibition game) he has 4 hits -  all for extra bases. Included in that total are 2 doubles and 5 RBI.

Travis was the guy that allowed Dave Dombrowski to keep his checkbook in his pocket when Edwin Encarnacion was flaunting his wares around the off-season hotstove. He looks like the real deal, and although it's early days, the guy has done nothing but hit in his minor

league career. In 2014 between Greenville and Lowell, Travis hit .316 and in 2015 he batted .307 between Portland and Salem. He didn't produce eye-popping numbers in the home run category but he did hit 32 doubles in 2015 which certainly demonstrates the power potential for a plausible 15-18 homer campaign at the bigs. He led the Red Sox in spring training in 2016 batting .469 with 13 RBI, so he was promoted to Pawtucket to start the season. In only 47 AAA games last year, he had already gone deep 6 times in only 47 games before his season-ending ACL injury.

He also seems to be nimble around the bag so he does offer some defensive upside along with his potent stick. He won't make the club initially as he doesn't provide any versatility. Boston hired a former Gold Glover in Mitch Moreland as an effective stopgap until Travis is ready. If Travis continues to hit with authority with the PawSox, I think we'll get a look at him with the big club in 2017.

• Balky Back End

When you see the number 47.25, you could equate that to the price of a few bags of groceries at your local supermarket. It brings on a more horrifying meaning when it's attached to someone's ERA. The owner of this rancid stat is newcomer Tyler Thornburg. He is to be a key piece in the revamped Red Sox bullpen coming over in the Travis Shaw deal from Milwaukee after a career year in 2016. Even though ERA isn't a great metric to measure relievers, it still set off some alarms in the Red Sox camp.

Farrell was not amused after his second outing of the spring and nor should he be. All this blather about the fact that he's never been a spring training player is all well and good if you're a guy that has successfully weathered a few storms playing in the Boston fishbowl. The reality is,  it's a different animal altogether when you are "from away" as we say here on the Island. Look no further than the initial seasons of Rick Porcello, Pablo Sandoval, and to a lesser extent David Price. It's not a forgiving environment.

Thornburg only has 1.1 innings under his belt so far and has been lampooned for 7 hits and 7 ernies. One thing that I appreciated from Farrell and company last season is that they are open to the concept that opportunities must be earned regardless of what's on your resume or the size of your contract. Thornburg has demonstrated that he has the stuff, and still has plenty of time to put it together. But he shouldn't tarry. The sharks circle quickly when the action moves north.

Another surprising part of the bullpen mix is lefty Fernando Abad. He never made the postseason roster last year, and he had the audacity to go to arbitration after we were forced to witness the huge pile of shit that was his 2016 tenure as a Red Sox. The Red Sox should have charged him for their time on having to listen to his claims for a pay raise after a season that saw him surrender 9 runs while only tossing 12.2 innings. He also gifted opponents with 8 free passes. He needs a strong spring to win back Farrell's confidence.

Heath Hembree can be an effective option against righties, but the guy can't get lefties out as they slapped him around to the tune of .338. There's no such thing as a righty specialist, so Heath has to figure that part out.

At the end of the day, two of the seven spots could eventually be in limbo as Thornburg will be a lock initially along with the core of Matt Barnes, Robbie Ross Jr., Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly. Robby Scott almost made the postseason roster in 2016 and could push Abad this spring. 

More help will be available, but the cavalry is not yet in position to support the front lines. Tommy John recipients Carson Smith and Brandon Workman are two legitimate options when ready. Smith could be back by June, and Workman is in camp now. However, he needs to log some innings in the minors to build up arm strength. So with no other real big league experience that could contribute right away except for Scott and  Noe (as in "No Thanks") Ramirez, time is on this trio's side.

• No Clay, No Problem

By now everyone has heard of the potential critical blow to Boston's playoff aspirations. David Price's elbow discomfort sent shock waves through my Twitter feed and the vultures are circling over the fact that the Red Sox basically gave Clay Buchholz away when pitching depth was questionable.

Instead of deriding Dombrowski for dumping the salary of a pitcher who has been less than reliable since 2013 and was as fragile as a butterfly's wing, people should be kissing the very ground the guy walks on for landing Chris Sale. Christ, just think of where we'd be without Sale now. At least we have an anchor in the rotation to go along with Cy Young winner Rick Porcello. The real question now is can Eduardo Rodriguez be that middle to upper rotation arm that Boston envisioned when they got him in in the Andrew Miller deal with Baltimore in 2014. People also forget how good Steven Wright was in the first half of the season in 2016. Drew Pomeranz hasn't done much to impress me, and I thought he could eventually be a valuable bullpen piece. Now, he'll be a starter without question if Price is unable to pitch in 2017.

Rick Porcello is now, and maybe unfairly, presumed to help Sale shoulder the lofty expectations thrust upon this team in the offseason. Porcello deserved every bit of praise and a plethora of apologies after his fabulous 2016 campaign. I'm just pumping the brakes on Rick is all. His stuff is effective but not lights out, and he seems to translate more to a solid mid-rotation guy. Hey, maybe he goes off now and wins 16-18 games a year for the next few seasons. That'd be great! He pitched the most innings of his career last season (223) and had a career-high in strikeouts (189). Another interesting tidbit is that in 2016, it was the first year his innings of work exceeded the number of hits he allowed. It just seems to me that the 2016 season has that whiff of a career year. If he and Rodriguez could win anywhere between 13-15 games apiece, that should do the trick. You never know what you're going to get from a knuckleballer, so we'll have to see if Wright's "Cinderella season" was just that.

Without Sale and the now retired big bat of David Ortiz, the season would have been a loss. How optimistic would you feel with a rotation of Buchholz, Porcello, Rodriguez, Wright, and Pomeranz? Now, Boston still has an "ace" so they just have to hope the rotation can pick up the slack. The talent is still there to get the job done.