Farrell's Lineup May Have Benintendi 3rd, Betts 4th

Red Sox manager John Farrell has talked a little bit about his 2017 lineup and the issue of having a run of right-handed hitters at the top of the lineup.

To offset that, Farrell is considering having rookie Andrew Benintendi bat third, after Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts. Mookie Betts would likely hit fourth, followed by Hanley Ramirez.

Farrell:

There might be some lineups here in camp when Bogey returns that would take a look at that. If you were to take the approach of Andrew in the two-hole, where does that put Bogey? We're also talking about a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner who has had very good production offensively. If there's a way to combine breaking up the right-handers and not having a string of three or more right-handers in a row, is that one potential option with Benny in the three-hole? That puts Pedey, Bogey 1-2 with Benny and then Mookie four and Hanley five. You can probably make the argument those are our best five hitters in the top half of the lineup with some balance as best possible.

Benintendi:

Wherever they need me, wherever that may be, it doesn't really matter to me. Approach or anything doesn't change for me. I'll be the same wherever I hit. Obviously there's a strategy behind it. You have to break up the righties. I'm just going to worry about hitting.

Farrell also had some good news on Saturday morning about David Price:

Yesterday we talked about increasing the rehab and putting some plyometrics in place. But he actually went and threw in the cage today, about 25 throws and the range of motion, the freeness to the movement is all positive. Granted, we recognize we're at the early stages right now, but it's a good day for David. ... All of the early phase of throwing are going to be short, controlled effort and energy. We're not even mapping out distances right now. We're more interested in seeing how his arm responds to even the light throwing.

Speaking of Price, the lefty did a Q&A interview with the Globe's Stan Grossfeld a few days ago. WEEI's Alex Reimer called the interview "bizarre" and "troublesome". He said Price was "paranoid", thought the pitcher was "losing his mind" and warned that we are "witnessing the self-destruction of a man". Reimer believes nearly the entire published interview "should disturb Red Sox management".

It sounds pretty horrible, doesn't it? I read Grossfeld's Q&A before seeing Reimer's description and I do not agree with his description. Price certainly comes off as thin-skinned and he seems to have a pair of rabbit ears when it comes to the boo birds and sports radio trolls, which is a shame, but in no way would I call it anywhere near a meltdown. Read it yourself.