BOSTON -- When the Red Sox submit their 26-man roster for Tuesday’s Wild Card Game against the Yankees, the group will look a bit different than the one that closed out the regular season against the Nationals on Sunday. (UPDATE: Boston released its full roster Tuesday morning.)
Sox manager Alex Cora and his staff are tasked with constructing a roster for just one game with no bearing on a potential ALDS roster if the Red Sox win and advance to face the Rays in a best-of-five series.
Chris Sale will likely be left off the roster after throwing 62 pitches Sunday against the Nationals. Jarren Duran, who has not appeared in the majors since Sept. 1, is expected to make the team as a pinch-running/speed option. Nick Pivetta, who tossed the ninth inning Sunday, feels good enough to be available again Tuesday and is likely to make the team. Eduardo Rodriguez has about a 50/50 chance after throwing eight pitches in the eighth inning Sunday.
José Iglesias is not eligible to play in the postseason because he joined the Red Sox after Aug. 31, so he will be left off the roster. If J.D. Martinez’s ankle injury is still bothering him, he could be unavailable, too.
“This is different,” Cora said. “This is one game and there’s going to be guys that we are not going to have on the roster that obviously they deserve to be there. But we don’t need a one-game, quote/unquote, series. It’s very difficult. Obviously you go through the game mentally. I’ve been thinking about this game and moves and all that stuff for the last 24 hours, and we don’t know the roster.”
The fact Cora expects to carry both Pivetta and Rodriguez -- who made bullpen cameos on short rest after starting in the days prior -- comes as a bit of a surprise. It speaks to the all-hands-on-deck approach the Sox are employing in a win-or-go-home game.
“I think having them on the roster makes sense,” Cora said. “Just be ready for that one and then if you have to use the bullpen for one day in Tampa, it means that something good happened tomorrow.”
Sale is a different case. The lefty is just nine starts (and 42 ⅔ innings) in to his return from Tommy John surgery after making his season debut Aug. 14. He threw Monday at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox had a rain-shortened workout, and tried to convince Cora he could pitch in relief against New York.
“He felt good,” Cora said. “He stopped by the office, and like, no, we’re not doing that.”
If the Red Sox advance to the ALDS, Sale -- on short rest -- could be a candidate to start Game 1 on Thursday night at Tropicana Field.
“We’ll talk about it,” Cora said. “Hopefully we can have that conversation, when is it, on Wednesday.”
By Tuesday morning, when the rosters are due to the league office, both the Red Sox and Yankees will have made some tough decisions.
“It’s very hard to do,” Cora said. “But at the end, I think the 26 guys that they are going to pick and the 26 guys we are going to pick, they are going to be the right ones and it should be fun tomorrow.”
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