Starting Lineup for Red Sox Yesterday Could Be Opening Day Lineup

(Oct. 1, 2015 - Source: Jason Miller/Getty Images North America)

In a a Spring Training matchup yesterday against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox put out their starting 9, and it was met with much speculation.

Some good. Some bad. Depends on how you see it.

The speculation was in regards to the starting lineup possibly being the one Manager John Farrell pencils in for Opening Day to put behind David Price.

Here's the lineup:

Mookie Betts RF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Xander Bogaerts SS
David Ortiz DH
Hanley Ramirez 1B
Pablo Sandoval 3B
Blake Swihart C
Rusney Castillo LF
Jackie Bradley Jr. CF

This in fact is the lineup that most project for the Sox to throw out their at the start of the season, but to see it this early into camp is a bit intriguing due to the fact that this is very much the same lineup they put out last season: at the beginning and at the end (minus Hanley and Pablo).

Towards the end of last season, around the time Torey Lovullo took over, they exploded offensively and almost hit .500 by the end of the season.

That was all without Hanley and Pablo. And now they're likely to be back in the lineup.

At the end of last year, instead of Hanley and Pablo, the Sox had Brock Holt and Travis Shaw: two driven, young pieces of the team who produced. Both Holt and Shaw are likely to start this season on the bench.

This doesn't mean that Hanley and Pablo will struggle like they did last year. But it does imply that Shaw and Holt did enough to earn their starting jobs at the start of this year.

There's only one problem: money.

At any rate, the lineup looks pretty good. If Hanley and Pablo can improve on last year and show some consistency, the Sox should be quite alright.

In this game though, Pablo made two errors at third in the same inning which led to 2 runs given up for the Sox.

Take that as you wish.