FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Red Sox manager Alex Cora has not determined what positions Caleb Durbin and Marcelo Mayer will focus on leading into the new season, but he insists a decision isn\u2019t far off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sooner the better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That decision could potentially come this weekend once both players have appeared in a game at second base for the club. Caleb Durbin, who was once again penciled in at third base on Tuesday, is scheduled to start at second for the first time on Thursday, Cora said.<\/p>\n
Mayer, who is ramping up slowly following last season\u2019s wrist surgery and has yet to appear in a spring training game, is expected to make his Grapefruit League debut on Friday, also at second base.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing everything, he\u2019s just adding the velo machine and the Trajekt,\u201d Cora said, referring to the advanced pitching machine that replicates the experience of facing specific pitchers. \u201cHe\u2019s doing the Trajekt again today, I think it\u2019s the third time in the last four, so he\u2019ll be ready for games on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gray pitching Saturday<\/p>\n
Sonny Gray will make his Red Sox debut on Saturday, Cora announced prior to Tuesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
One of the club\u2019s most notable offseason acquisitions, the 36-year-old right-hander did not take the mound during the club\u2019s first turn through the rotation. That wasn\u2019t because Gray experienced any kind of setback, however, as Cora joked that Gray was on \u201cthe veteran program\u201d and preferred to get his initial work done on the back fields.<\/p>\n
Last season Gray posted a 4.28 ERA with 201 strikeouts in 180 2\/3 innings with the St. Louis Cardinals.<\/p>\n
Crawford, Sandoval behind<\/p>\n
Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, both of whom missed all of 2025 due to injury, have been ramping up more slowly than the rest of the pitching staff. Though they may still be ready for Opening Day, Cora acknowledged that they\u2019re running short on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re behind, yes. But trending in the right direction,\u201d Cora said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to get to that point, but it\u2019s getting to March.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford is scheduled to throw an up-and-down and Sandoval live batting practice within the coming days. Cora added that he was impressed by Sandoval\u2019s last bullpen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threw the ball well the other day,\u201d Cora said. \u201cVelo was up, 94-95, which is eye opening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cora said he still sees both as starters right now.<\/p>\n
Injury update<\/p>\n
Infielder Anthony Seigler, one of the players acquired alongside Caleb Durbin earlier this month from the Milwaukee Brewers, is battling a knee issue and is currently listed as a non-participant in camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started in winter ball and the first few days he was feeling fine, but now he\u2019s not,\u201d Cora said.<\/p>\n
In addition, non-roster right-hander Osvaldo Berrios is dealing with right shoulder tendinitis and isn\u2019t throwing. Fellow non-roster righty Hobie Harris (forearm soreness) also remains shut down, and Romy Gonzalez (shoulder) is still only playing catch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Red Sox manager Alex Cora has not determined what positions Caleb Durbin and Marcelo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[42152,58090,64,63,5156,130442,211170,58685,591,36733,16088,24614,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-501357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-alex-cora","9":"tag-anthony-seigler","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-boston-red-sox","13":"tag-caleb-durbin","14":"tag-kutter-crawford","15":"tag-marcelo-mayer","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-patrick-sandoval","18":"tag-red-sox","19":"tag-sonny-gray","20":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}