There are a lot of options in that role."eRosterStatsYahoo Red Sox NewsYahoo Red Sox Team PageYahoo Red Sox ReportYahoo Red Sox Depth ChartYahoo Red Sox TransactionsYahoo Red Sox PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ed Sox AnalysisOne Big QuestionOne Big Question: Is Marcus Walden the best long man on the Red Sox roster?New Trevor Hoffman Jersey ,7commentsThere are a lot of options in that role.EDTShareTweetShareShareOne Big Question: Is Marcus Walden the best long man on the Red Sox roster?Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY SportsWelcome to Over the Monster’s One Big Question series. For those unfamiliar, this is something of a season roster preview where over the next 40(ish) (week)days we’ll be taking a look at each player on the 40-man roster prior to the season. If changes are made to the roster between now and Opening Day, we’ll cover the newly added players. Rather than previewing what to expect in a general sense, the goal of this series is to find one overarching question for each player heading into the coming season. We’ll go one-by-one alphabetically straight down the roster, and today we talk about Marcus Walden.The Question: Could Marcus Walden be the best swingman for the Red Sox in 2019?In my second roster projection of the spring, published on Sunday, the only change compared to my projection from before spring games began was Marcus Walden being added to the bullpen. He took a spot I had previously assigned to Colten Brewer. Now, it’s far from a sure thing Walden takes that roster spot. There is a lot of competition fighting for the last couple roster spots, and none of them really stand out above the others, albeit for different reasons. It does make it easier for Walden and everyone else now that an extra pitcher slot is opened up with Dustin Pedroia heading to the injured list to begin the season. Even so, Walden’s name doesn’t really jump off the page if he does indeed make the Opening Day roster. The issue is that Walden doesn’t solve the problem many foresee in the Red Sox bullpen.One area of depth for Boston in terms of their pitching is in the swingman/long man department. It goes without saying that it is not the sexiest role on the roster, nor is it the most important. Still, having guys who can throw multiple innings in relief and also start here and there when needed is a valuable asset. With Walden, Brian Johnson and Hector Vel谩zquez, plus minor-league signees Ryan Weber and Erasmo Ramirez along with prospect Mike Shawaryn, Boston has options here. None of them have huge upsides, of course, or else they’d be starters. But they are fine. As for Walden specifically, it’s fair to wonder where the 30-year-old fits among that group.Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsI think there is at least a chance he is in the conversation for the best of the bunch, which sounds crazy given the major-league experience for some of the others. Walden had never pitched in the majors prior to last season, when he surprisingly grabbed an Opening Day roster spot. The righty didn’t get a chance to make much of a mark at the level, but he was good in his small sample. Over eight outings and 14 2鈦? innings he allowed six earned runs (3.68 ERA) with 14 strikeouts and three walks. Obviously that sample size isn’t very telling, but it’s all we have at the highest level. His plate discipline numbers showed off solid stuff, too. He’s had success in the minors, too, pitching to a 3.92 ERA, 3.33 FIP and 4.14 DRA in Pawtucket in 2019. On top of that, he’s had a strong showing this spring with a 1.69 ERA in 10 2鈦? innings with 10 strikeouts and four walks. It should be noted that, by Baseball-Reference’s opponent quality measure, he has faced the equivalent of Double-A hitters on average.You may have noticed that I didn’t mention last year’s time in the minors Evan Longoria Jersey , though. Walden didn’t get a ton of time down on the farm, missing the majority of the year with injury. He tossed 32 2鈦? innings with Pawtucket, and he wasn’t great in that time. The righty pitched to a 4.96 ERA, a 4.40 FIP and a 4.36 DRA. It should be noted that he was better by ERA post-injury, pitching to a 3.38 ERA in 18 2鈦? innings over the last month-plus of the year.Dustin Pedroia to begin year on the Injured ListJasen Vinlove-USA TODAY SportsAs we look ahead to what Walden could be at his best, the most puzzling part of his game is the lack of strikeouts. He has missed some bats this spring and he nearly set down a batter per inning in his short stint in the majors last year. However, through his career in the minors he’s generally sat around six-to-seven strikeouts per nine innings, and he was even lower than that earlier in his career. This is a bit puzzling, because again his swing-and-miss stuff was above-average in his short major-league stint last year. Even ignoring the small-sample numbers, Walden throws a mid-to-high-90s fastball with a cutter and a slider. You’d think that repertoire would get more whiffs. On the other hand, that repertoire is clearly lacking something offspeed. Walden doesn’t really throw anything slower the mid-to-high-80s, and major-league batters are too good to try and sneak that pay. Combine that with the fact that neither the cutter nor the slider is anything better than average at best, and you see the issues. Velocity is not everything, particularly in today’s version of the game. Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY SportsWithout the strikeouts, Walden does have some skills that can keep him in the majors. He generally won’t allow a ton of damage on single swings, as he does a good job of keeping the ball on the ground. According to Baseball Prospectus, he has consistently kept his ground ball rate at 55 percent or higher throughout his professional career. Walden has struggled to limit hits on balls in play, but it’s hard to say how much of that has to do with subpar minor-league defenses. At the very least, more creative major-league shifts should only help his results. Ultimately, it’s hard to see Walden surpassing Brian Johnson in this role. The lefty has a more established track record in the majors, is younger and has a much better pedigree. Johnson hasn’t been great in the majors, of course, but he has the confidence of the team. If Walden wants to make a leap over him on the depth chart, the strikeout stuff is what’s going to put the righty over the top. Chances are he won’t be able to make that kind of leap, as it’s very rare for a pitcher to improve so much off their minor-league track record. That being said, Walden has spent the last few years making strong impressions on the Red Sox, and after the issues we brought up with Hector Vel谩zquez yesterday we know there is reason to at least give Walden a chance to show what he can do in the majors. Another game, another close loss."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Farmers onlyFeaturesPlayoffsHistory/Hall of FameGame RecapsReds finally score runs, still lose 6-5New,72commentsAnother game Andrew McCutchen Jersey , another close loss.EDTShareTweetShareShareReds finally score runs, still lose 6-5Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY SportsThe Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the GameKyle Farmer got his first start of the season, filling in for Eugenio Suarez, who was getting a day of rest. And it was Farmer’s bat that was exactly what the Reds needed. In the third inning, Farmer uncorked a two run tater. Those two runs, you’ll remember, were the first runs the Reds had scored in over three games. So yeah, when you end a 30 innings scoreless streak, you get JNMHSotG honors.Not only was that Farmer’s first dong of the year, it was the first dong of his career! While that honor may be a little more important than this one, he gets a little extra hardware for the trouble!Honorable mention to Joey Votto, who hit a dinger of his own as part of a two hit day. Derek Dietrich hit a single and a double, while Casali doubled, batted a run in, and scored one himself.Key PlaysTanner Roark served up Jason Martin’s first MLB hit in his first MLB plate appearance. The Reds are here to make the home fans happy, of course. Anyway, Starling Marte struck out for the first out of the inning, but then Martin stole second base. Colin Moran flew out, but Josh Bell hit a double in the right center field gap to score Martin. Melky Cabrera flew out to end the inning. Pirates up, 1-0 after 1.A strange thing happened in the top of the 3rd inning... the Reds scored a run. And not just ONE run, but TWO runs. Curt Casali reached on an error by Colin Moran to begin the frame, and then Kyle Farmer blasted a Williams offering over the fence in straightaway center field. Our long national nightmare was over; the Reds scored runs. Tanner Roark made the first out of the inning, but then the hits started coming in bunches. Scott Schebler singled. Joey Votto singled. Yasiel Puig singled, which scored Schebler. Matt Kemp grounded into an inning ending double play, but if you think about it, even that was one of Kemp’s more productive trips to the plate this year. Hot diggity damn the Reds were on the board! Leading, even! 3-1.With one out in the bottom of the 3rd, Moran grounded into left field for a single before Bell roped a line drive to the gap in left center field. Fortunately for the Reds, the ball bounced into the seats for a ground-rule double, keeping Moran at third when he otherwise would’ve easily scored. He scored on the next at bat http://www.giantsfanproshop.com/authentic-evan-longoria-jersey , as Cabrera’s grounder was slow-rolling enough that the only out was at 1B. Starling did battle with Roark again, but this time grounded out to end the inning. Reds up, 3-2.Derek Dietrich singled to open the 4th and then, after a Jose Peraza fly out, Casali roped a double down the left field line that scored Dietrich all the way from first. Reds tack on another run, 4-2 in the 4th.Roark was still hucking 90 mph gas for the Reds in the Bottom of the 5th, and perhaps it would’ve been wise to send him to the showers before facing the heart of the order again. The benefit of hindsight is on my side in this instance, as I’m writing this knowing that Roark served up a meatball that Josh Bell hit a country mile for a solo dinger over the CF wall, which left the Reds up just 4-3.Jared Hughes was brought on to face the bottom of the Pirates order, and promptly served up a single to Stallings. He moved over on a sac bunt by Gonzalez. Left handed batter Adam Frazier then came up to pinch hit for Williams, so Reds manager David Bell went to left handed pitching Zach Duke. Duke walked Frazier and was promptly pulled for Michael Lorenzen. Lorenzen induced a soft ground out from Jung Ho Kang that moved runners to second and third, but then Marte doubled on a line drive to center that scored them both, and the Pirates take the lead, 5-4.Joey. Votto, Dinger. Tied game after top 8, 5 all.FREE BASEBALL!Raisel Iglesias was pitching in his third inning since coming into the ball game when he entered in the 10th. Seems like a lot. He struck out Josh Bell, but then allowed a single to Francisco Cervelli. Kevin Newman doubled deep into the gap in left center field, and there was just no Red over there to catch up to it. Cervelli scored from first, and that was that. Pirates win, 6-5.Tony GraphaninoSource: FanGraphsOther NotesBREAKING NEWSSeriously, though. The Reds went 30 innings without scoring a run before Kyle Farmer’s dong in the third inning. It’s not only crazy that the Reds went 30 f’ing innings without scoring a run, but it’s also crazy that apparently, the keys to offensive success are possessed by checks notes... Kyle Farmer.Speaking of streaks, that Josh Bell dinger was the first one allowed by a Reds starter all season. Normally, that’s a sentence we get to type in the 3rd inning on Opening Day.The Reds and Pirates will wrap this four-gamer tomorrow afternoon in Pittsburgh, with the Redlegs trying to avoid another sweep to an NL Central foe. Anthony DeSclafani will take the mound for the second time this season, looking to build off his strong first start. It doesn’t get easier for the Reds, however, as they’ll be opposed by Chris Archer for the Pirates. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM EDT.Tunes.