Look alive, people, look alive! The Boston Red Sox have pitchers and catchers reporting on February 20, a mere week away.
The spring training intrigue starts with pivotal players like Xander Bogaerts, Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz trying to rebound from disappointing campaigns. It continues on with the unknown of Rusney Castillo and the shiny gleam of new toys Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez.
Then we get to Davis Ortiz, dissecting if there is any hint of decreased bat speed as he enters his age-39 season. We'd reach Dustin Pedroia next, keeping a keen eye on if he shows the renewed pop to match his offseason bluster.
That's when our gaze wanders to the critical injury question marks of Shane Victorino, Koji Uehara and Mike Napoli. Bypass Mookie Betts and Rick Porcello, because barring truly horrific performances I'm not sure much can be gleaned from their pre-April play, and we finally get to our under-the-radar bunch.
They may not be the biggest brand-name entities, but they're in the well-respected Little Caesars division compared to the Papa John's, Pizza Hut and Domino's groups that the aforementioned players fall under.
So with the successful pizza integration check mark complete, let's delve into lower-profile Red Sox with a lot to prove this spring.
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