BOSTON — Red Sox players and coaches brought their luggage to the ballpark on Sunday, but they don’t know yet where they are headed.
“Just go to Logan and they’ll decide where we go,” manager Alex Cora joked Sunday.
The Red Sox clinched a postseason berth Friday. But results from today will determine whether they are the No. 5 or 6 seed. They will play a wild-card series either in Toronto, New York or Cleveland.
Cora said the Red Sox won’t make roster decisions until they know their opponent and that matchups will play a role in them.
They must decide on how many position players and pitchers they will carry. Last year, the Royals and Astros both carried 15 position players and 11 pitchers in the wild-card round while the Orioles and Tigers carried 14 position players and 12 pitchers.
MLB teams can carry as many position players as they want, but there’s a 13-pitcher maximum.
Cora confirmed Sunday that the Red Sox won’t carry three catchers. Catcher Ali Sánchez is here with the team on the taxi squad but not a member of the 40-man roster. It would be easy, however, to add him if Boston wanted to carry a third catcher in addition to Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong. The Sox only would need to designate today’s spot starter, José De León, for assignment to make room.
If Boston carried 14 or more position players, David Hamilton, Nate Eaton and Nick Sogard all could be selected to the roster.
Hamilton and Eaton give Boston two pinch running options late in games. Eaton also would provide a solid right-handed bat off the bench against a lefty reliever. He’s 12-for-38 (.316) with a .350 on-base percentage against left-handers.
“The Yankees have the two lefties (Max Fried, Carlos Rodón) so we’ll have to adjust to that,” Cora said. “Toronto, we don’t know. I know (righty Kevin) Gausman is pitching today and they have other stuff going on health-wise. And then Cleveland, they lefties, too. So I think that’s going to dictate certain spots ,understanding that we’re going to use our lineup matchup-wise. We’ll try to maximize the roster just matching up with them.”
The Red Sox also will need to determine how many lefties and righties they carry in the bullpen. The active roster right now includes six lefties: Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson, Steven Matz, Kyle Harrison, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle.
Chapman and Wilson obviously are locks while Matz should be, too. Tolle and Early bring swing-and-stuff, which is so valuable in the postseason. Early has struck out 36.7% of the batters he has faced in the big leagues while Tolle has a 25.7% strikeout percentage.
Brennan Bernardino, who has been on the IL with a left lat strain since Sept. 12, was scheduled to throw a bullpen session Sunday.
The Red Sox optioned lefty Chris Murphy to Triple-A Worcester on Sunday to make room for De León to start Sunday. Murphy, therefore, is not available to return for another 15 days and not an option for the wild-card round.
Garrett Crochet will start Game 1. Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello will start the other two games, although the Sox have not yet decided which pitcher will start which game.
Cora said more rest days won’t affect whether he pitches Game 2 or 3. Giolito said he doesn’t like long layoffs between starts. The numbers reflect it to a degree. He’s been best on five days rest in his career (4.28 ERA, 75 starts) and hasn’t pitched as well on six or more days rest (4.82 ERA, 42 starts).
Giolito last pitched Sept. 23, meaning he’ll pitch on more than six days rest either way.
“We’ll go with whoever we think should go on Game 2 and then whoever should go Game 3,” Cora said.
Righty Dustin May flew in from Fort Myers to Boston on Friday night. He’s an option to be activated from the IL to make the wild-card roster.
“So we’ll see where we at. We’ll see how he feels, and then we’ll make decisions,” Cora said. “I think it’s more based on roster and who we play.”
Roman Anthony and other rehabbing players will work out in Fort Myers while the team is on the road during the wild-card round.