John Farrell: Injured Clay Buchholz could start on Thursday

Clay Buchholz was supposed to start on Monday night in the series opener against the Phillies, but instead, discomfort in his collarbone saw him scratched in favor of Alfredo Aceves. Apparently, the Red Sox aren't overly concerned with the injury in the long-term -- from the sounds of it, a few days off might be all Buchholz needs to get right:

Farrell: Buchholz threw today. "We haven't yet set the rotation" and where Buchholz slots back in. Could be as early as Thursday.

— Brian MacPherson (@brianmacp) May 27, 2013

At the moment, Jon Lester is scheduled to face Jonathan Pettibone on Thursday in Philadelphia. Shifting Buchholz to Thursday would allow Lester to start in New York against the Yankees, giving them a left-hander on the mound to try to counter the pro-lefty hitter environment of Yankee Stadium 3.0. It would also realign Lester and Buchholz back-to-back in the rotation, as they were at the start of the year.

With the bullpen actually healthy again once Franklin Morales returns on Tuesday, splitting up Lester and Buchholz to given the pen a break in between the starts of Felix Doubront and Ryan Dempster might not be as big of a deal. And, if they still want to go that route going forward, they can shift things around with the day off on Monday, anyway.