FORT MYERS, Fla -- Craig Kimbrel will not pitch in the Red Sox' spring training finale against the Cubs on Tuesday. Instead, he will throw a bullpen on the backfields of JetBlue Park.
This means the closer will go into the regular season with only one spring training outing. The right-hander spent a few weeks back in Boston to be with his young daughter, as she from recovered from heart surgery at Boston Children's Hospital.
[UPDATE 2:30 p.m.]: Despite Alex Cora saying Kimbrel wouldn't pitch in the game, he pitched the fifth inning. He will now enter the season with two spring training outings.
Kimbrel has been back with the Red Sox for just under two weeks, which has impacted the plan the organization had for him. Right now, it's about increasing his volume and making him comfortable.
"That is the most important thing," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "We have to be fair for him. For him to just to be here is great, but the No. 1 priority is his family and now that he's back here we have to make sure — we know he's ready to pitch, but obviously the volume we have to make sure is a ramp up."
Cora and Kimbrel had mapped out a game plan for him for the regular season, but that will be adjusted with him missing extended time.
"It's just a game plan and we were at the beginning of the game plan and then he left," he said. "It's not fair for him, for us, just to say we want you in the seventh inning without talking to him. That conversation was going to continue and then he left. I am not going to touch the topic until we talk again."
It would seem Kimbrel will open the year with a lot of one-inning appearances coming in the ninth before potentially expanding to perhaps multiple innings, or even pitching an inning besides the ninth.
For his career, Kimbrel has been a slow starter as his 2.72 ERA in March/April is the worst of any month.
