Red Sox Journal: Sale battling pneumonia

FORT MYERS, FL — And the doctor's diagnosis … pneumonia, but at least not a bad case.

Despite battling the flu and pneumonia for the past two weeks, Chris Sale is displaying the toughness he's known for.

"It actually sounds a lot worse than it is," interim manager Ron Roenicke said Wednesday following the first pitchers and catchers workout. "He's actually feeling really good and he told me he got a good [...]

FORT MYERS, FL — And the doctor's diagnosis … pneumonia, but at least not a bad case.

Despite battling the flu and pneumonia for the past two weeks, Chris Sale is displaying the toughness he's known for.

"It actually sounds a lot worse than it is," interim manager Ron Roenicke said Wednesday following the first pitchers and catchers workout. "He's actually feeling really good and he told me he got a good night's sleep last night, so he was really happy with the way things were going."

Roenicke said Sale threw a bullpen session Tuesday and that his arm "feels great." Sale is expected to be re-evaluated by the team's medical staff Friday and could participate in workouts if he's cleared.

Jeter at short

Jeter Downs, acquired by the Sox Monday in the Mookie Betts deal, is in camp early and on Wednesday he looked smooth and confidence while taking ground balls.

He said his mom named him after Derek Jeter, the longtime Yankees star and Red Sox nemesis recently elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"My mom loved Derek Jeter, how he was and how he played the game," Downs said. "I can't even count how many people have asked me (about the name) over the years. Obviously, I have the name so I had to be a fan of his. I idolized him and how he played the game, the things he did — how he's respected by every single team."

Downs — a Miami native who is now the top-ranked prospect in the Red Sox farm system — said he was on his way to the airport for a flight to Arizona where the Dodgers train when he got the call he was traded.

"It's pretty cool to be part of something this big. But at the end of the day you've still got to go out there and play baseball. I'm try not to make too big a deal about it and just focus on what I need to do on the field."

Opening thoughts

Roenicke said there might be a spot for an “opener” in the team's pitching plans.

The “opener” strategy uses a relief pitcher to open the game and work 1 to 2 innings. Ideally a long relief pitcher will then work four to five innings with the regular bullpen closing the game out.

This concept was begun by the Tampa Bay Rays a couple of years ago when Chaim Bloom was in their front office.

"I think the opener is a possibility when you don't have your five guys that you really like," Roenicke said. "Obviously, Chaim is very familiar with it and in talking to him about it, it wasn't like 'this is what we want to do.' It's more like, what's the best personnel we have and what's the best way we can get these guys to perform at the level where we hope they can be. And we may use the opener, but (Bloom) is also OK if we find that fifth guy. So we just need to see where we are at the end of camp and go from there."

But Roenicke also added he had plenty of faith in the pitchers in camp vying for that fifth starter role. Those options include Ryan Weber and Hector Velazquez, but there are no current plans to move young fireballing lefty Darwinzon Hernandez into the rotation.