Sean

Newcomb

Newcomb managed to wriggle out of trouble early in the contest, but got burned in the fourth inning when J.P. Crawford connected for a three-run homer. It seems like he’ll move to the bullpen next week with Lucas Giolito (hamstring) set to return from the injured list to make his season debut.

Bello will make his season debut at Fenway Park after striking out seven and allowing four runs over 4 1/3 innings last Wednesday for Double-A Portland in his final rehab outing. The move pushes lefty Sean Newcomb back to later in the series. The 25-year-old righty shouldn’t have any restrictions from a workload standpoint after getting his pitch count up to 71 in his final rehab start. He doesn’t offer significant strikeout upside, but there’s some appeal for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues.

Newcomb’s days in Boston’s rotation are likely numbered with Brayan Bello (shoulder) and Lucas Giolito (hamstring) on the verge of making it back to the majors before the end of April. However, he’s continued to hold his own and put together his strongest outing of the season on Wednesday night at hitter-friendly Steinbrenner Field, liming Tampa Bay’s offense to just four hits and two walks, while working into the fifth inning. There’s a chance he takes the ball on Tuesday against the Mariners, but only if Bello isn’t ready to come off the injured list.

Newcomb fell victim to some shoddy defense from his Red Sox teammates in this one. Triston Casas made a poor throw on what could’ve been an inning-ending double play in the fourth inning. Instead, the White Sox rallied for four unearned runs as this game got out of hand. Newcomb wasn’t particularly sharp either, though. He only forced five total swings-and-misses and struggled to place his fastball in the strike zone. It’s likely he’s the odd man out of this Red Sox rotation whenever either Brayan Bello or Lucas Giolito are healthy and ready to rejoin the rotation.

The left-hander struck out five and walked three while registering a 25 percent whiff rate and 28 percent CSW. Newcomb leaned heavily on his cutter, and while it didn’t miss many bats on its own, it was in the zone often, which allowed his four-seam fastball to post seven whiffs on 18 swings for a 39 percent whiff rate. Newcomb has a 5.19 ERA for Boston through two starts. He likely only has one more turn in the rotation with both Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito nearing their return; however, Newcomb could be a deep-league streaming option in that start next week against the White Sox.

All of the runs scored in the first, which featured four singles and a double. Newcomb was able to turn in three scoreless innings afterwards and keep the Red Sox in the game, but that’s the best that can be said for his outing. He’ll make one more start Sunday against the Cardinals and then should be in line to be replaced by either Brayan Bello or Lucas Giolito.

Newcomb will open the regular season as Boston’s fifth starter after spending the spring in camp as a non-roster invitee. The 31-year-old former notable pitching prospect beat out Quinn Priester for the spot. He can be safely ignored in the overwhelming majority of fantasy formats.

Newcomb won the competition with Quinn Priester for the Red Sox fifth-starter job, with the latter being sent to Triple-A. The 31-year-old left-handed pitched sparingly for the Athletics out of the bullpen over the last two years, but was excellent with an 0.63 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and 13/3 K/BB ratio in 14 1/3 innings this spring. Newcomb’s value is limited to an endgame selection in AL-Only leagues.

Ian Browne notes that Fitts will start in Mexico on Monday. The 25-year-old will be one of the replacements for the plethora of injured hurlers for the Red Sox, and Browne believes that Sean Newcomb is the slight favorite for the fifth spot to open the year. Both Newcomb and Fitts will be matchup-dependent streamers while they’re in the rotaiton.

The 32-year-old southpaw racked up three strikeouts on the night and didn’t walk a batter. Coming into this start, there were rumblings that Newcomb could open the season in the Red Sox’ rotation and he didn’t do anything to hurt his cause here. He has been brilliant in Grapefruit League play, registering a 0.63 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and a 13/3 K/BB ratio across 14 1/3 innings. We have seen him have success in a big league rotation before, so perhaps he’s worthy of a late-round flier at the end of mixed league drafts.