Four Red Sox on provisional World Baseball Classic rosters

PROVIDENCE -- Before Xander Bogaerts makes his debut on the major-league stage, Bogaerts will make his debut on the world stage.

Bogaerts was one of four players in the Red Sox organization named to provisional World Baseball Classic rosters released Thursday. A native of Aruba, the 20-year-old shortstop will compete for the Netherlands alongside notables such as Andruw Jones and Jair Jurrjens.

Outfielder Shane Victorino was the lone Red Sox represenative on the U.S. roster. Pitcher Alfredo Aceves is on the Mexico roster, and reliever Jose De La Torre is on the Puerto Rico roster. World Baseball Classic pool play begins on March 2, less than a month after most players have reported to spring training.

Bogaerts will be invited to major-league spring training with the Red Sox for the first time in his career, but he won't be there long before he'll have to take off to join his Netherlands teammates for their pool games in Taiwan.

One challenge for the Red Sox to monitor will be the glut of young shortstops the Netherlands team has. Bogaerts will be competing for playing time with fellow young stars Jurickson Profar of the Texas Rangers and Andrelton Simmons of the Atlanta Braves. That could mean one or more winds up being shifted elsewhere on the diamond.

"I wouldn't expect him to put on the catchers' gear or anything like that," Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said before NESN's forum at La Salle Academy. "Hopefully they'll find a spot on the field where he'll be safe. I think we'd be mostly concerned with just safety and putting him in a spot where he'll be comfortable. I'm sure they want his bat in the lineup."

Different concerns exist about Aceves. Pitchers tend to need more time in spring training than position players, and Red Sox fans remember well the injury issues with which Daisuke Matsuzaka dealt after his World Baseball Classic participation in 2009.

At this point, like Franklin Morales, Aceves is slated to stretch out as a starting pitcher in spring training but most likely to go into the bullpen when the regular season begins.

Whether Aceves will be a starter or reliever for Mexico remains to be determined.

"(As) a reliever, you're probably a little more accepting rather than that gradual build-up over time that a starter needs to go through," Farrell said. "Our intent in spring training was to stretch Alfredo out. He and Franklin would join five other guys as starting pitchers to get a number of guys with multiple innings under their belt. We'll take the necessary steps if in fact he does go and do what we can with the time allowed."

Boston certainly seemed to catch a break in that no cornerstone players -- from Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester to Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia -- are candidates to participate in the World Baseball Classic and skip the spring-training time it would have involved.

"If you have real concerns about a guy, sometimes it's taken out of your hands because there's an injury," Cherington said. "Sometimes you can have a conversation with a player and it makes sense to sit it out -- or the player decides himself, which we had this year. Other times, there's not really much risk here and we're comfortable with it.

"Each time, it's gotten better at including safeguards for players and really managing workload and timing it at the right time of spring training so guys are naturally ready anyway. It's a pretty well-oiled event at this point, and certainly one we support."

Twitter: @brianmacp

Source: http://blogs.providencejournal.com/sports/red-sox/2013/01/four-red-sox-on-provisional-world-baseball-classic-rosters.html

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