Andrew Miller will be "ready to go" in spring training according to John Tomase, giving the Red Sox yet another strong piece to work with in an already stacked bullpen.
Miller missed out on the second half of Boston's 2013 championship season after suffering torn ligaments in his left foot on July 6. To that point, he had been enjoying a breakout season, proving useful not just against lefties as he had in 2012, but also managing to hold right-handed hitters to a line of .153/.319/.207. He was still prone to walks against opposite-handed hitting, but with a stunning 14.09 K/9, Miller was able to avoid damage without much difficulty.
At this point, finding time in Boston's bullpen might not be the easiest feat. Koji Uehara is set to reprise his role as the closer after a historic performance in 2013, with Edward Mujica joining Junichi Tazawa and Craig Breslow in setup, to say nothing of the solid Burke Badenhop. It might not be surprising, then, to see Miller be used as a lefty specialist again despite his improvement against opposite-handed hitting last year.
All this is, of course, a good problem to have. Over the last few years, the Red Sox have seen bullpens anchored by Scott Atchison and Alfredo Aceves. 2013 was a marked improvement, but even then there were serious questions asked about depth following the not entirely unpredictable implosions of Andrew Bailey and Joel Hanrahan. If Andrew Miller is anything like the pitcher he has been over the last couple of years, then having him and Burke Badenhop as the middle-inning relievers will be a huge luxury for the team.