GLENDALE, Ariz. — The signing of Bryan Shaw to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training put the Sox’ total of players in camp to a club-record 70, including 30 non-roster invitees, also a record.
Why so many?
Manager Pedro Grifol said it’s about competition.
“Everybody knows that at this level there is a lot of talent,” he said Saturday. “If not, you wouldn’t be here. We’re looking for guys that want to play our style of baseball. Fast, we want to play fast. And there’s a lot of things that go into that word. And they know what we’ve been talking about. They understand what we’re looking for and the style that we want to play.”
Whether the Sox have enough talent to improve from their woeful 61-101 performance of last season is open to debate. What’s not open for discussion, Grifol says, is how he wants to use his roster.
“Competition is based around our style of baseball,” Grifol said. “We’re not going to deviate from this. This is who we are and this is how we want to play. And that’s part of the competition. You’re either buying in or you’re not. And if you’re not, the train is leaving the station. You might not be on it, you’re probably not going to be on it.”
All aboard! Not yet
The first full-squad workout is Monday, when Luis Robert Jr. and Eloy Jimenez are expected to make their first appearances. Robert is the Sox’ lone returning All-Star. Jimenez predicted on A.J. Pierzynski’s podcast that he’d hit 40 home runs.
“If I’m healthy, more than that,” Jimenez told the Sox’ former catcher.
Jimenez hit a career-high 31 homers his rookie season in 2019, when he played in a career-high 122 games.
Grifol wouldn’t specify it, but the emphasis on better defense is entrenching Eloy Jimenez in a designated-hitter role.
“Eloy is coming in and prepared to practice [in the outfield],” Grifol said.
“He told me and he told a lot of us that he’s ready to go and he’ll come in and compete and go through his process and his and his work and we’ll see where we go.”
The bullpen
Shaw’s addition brings to mind the possible constitution of an uncertain bullpen that has options such as veterans Shaw, 36; and Jesse Chavez, 40. Veterans John Brebbia ($4 million) and Tim Hill ($1.8 million) were signed in the offseason.
Front offices usually have a firm idea of what the Opening Day roster will look like when camp opens, but Grifol said, “we’re not even thinking about the roster right now.”
“It’s a question I’ll probably answer three or four weeks from now,” he said when asked how the Sox are weighing going with veterans against younger options who need development innings at the major-league level. “We are thinking about competition. We are thinking about guys going out there and proving to us these are the guys we want to go to Chicago with. And that’s where we are at right now.”
“You got guys like Jesse Chavez going out there and pounding the strike zone today and throwing all his pitches for strikes and slowing the game down,” Grifol said.
Shaw made his first appearance on July 2 last season and threw 42 innings, including the last five games. He posted a 4.14 ERA.
