Red Sox vs. Yankees lineups: Rusney leads off

Rusney Castillo will get the start in right field Thursday night behind Eduardo Rodriguez as the Red Sox try to take a series win over the Yankees in New York.

So we get Rusney tonight, but we already knew that was the case. John Farrell said as much yesterday, and did so while talking about the pitching matchups, which is completely insane because it suggests that the Red Sox were prioritizing their ability to win a meaningless game in a lost season over player development. But that seems to be what the Red Sox are hanging their hats on these days, so God only knows.

At least with Brock Holt, absent from the lineup in favor of Josh "not helping in 2016" Rutledge (strange how many players have that nickname) there's the possibility that this is being done to give Holt a day off in the midst of a nasty slump. I just wish I could be more certain that was the intent here instead of Farrell getting the righty in for the slumping lefty, particularly given that even if the Sox were trying to win, Brock Holt would still be the better choice because he plays defense. At all.

All this is to say there aren't necessarily any real problems with the lineup. But given how poorly this team has been run on a day-to-day basis for seemingly the past month or two now, even defensible lineups serve to do little more than point out how off-base the indefensible ones have been, and highlight how hard it is to have faith that even the right moves are being done for the right reasons.

First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. ET with broadcasts on NESN, WEEI, and the MLB Network.

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