Red Sox vs. Tigers Lineups: A wild Xander Bogaerts appeared!

It’s been mostly bad news for the Red Sox on the injury front over the last 36 hours or so, what with Chris Sale suffering from soreness in his elbow, getting an MRI, having it sent to Dr. James Andrew and now having it sent out for another opinion. So, it’s appreciated to get some good news, which we’ll get to in a second. First, the details of the game! The Red Sox host the Tigers in Fort Myers this afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 PM ET. There is no TV broadcast, though you can listen on 850 AM WEEI.

Okay, now the good news. Xander Bogaerts has not yet appeared in a spring training game as he tweaked his ankle in pre-camp workouts back home in Aruba. It was never considered serious, but we were approaching a point in the spring where he had to either start playing in games or be in danger of missing the start of the year. On Wednesday, he’ll appear in his first game. Bogaerts will not be in the field, but will get some hacks in as the DH. Also in the lineup today are Kevin Pillar and Jackie Bradley Jr., as well as J.D. Martinez and Christian Vázquez.

On the mound, Jeffrey Springs gets the start for Boston. The lefty is one of the many depth options brought in this past winter and could potentially be a starter. I’m not sure he can be a true starter, but there’s a chance he could be the bulk guy to come in after an opener and give four innings or so. I wouldn’t say he’s got an inside track to that role, but he’s in the mix. He’ll have a chance to improve those chances against the Tigers this afternoon,

The full lineups are below: