16 Red Sox To Watch During Spring Training 2016

BOSTON (CBS) -- Spring will hit the east coast soon (we hope), but it's in full swing down in Fort Myers, Florida.

The Red Sox will hold their first full squad workout on Wednesday, giving us our first glimpse of the 2016 team. And there are plenty of players to watch as the Sox look to bounce back from their third last place finish in four seasons.

We've finally seen David Price in a Red Sox uniform, and he's already squashed any beef with Boston DH David Ortiz. But Boston's new $217 million man won't be judged on what he does in February and March, and we already know that Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts are stars in the making -- if not stars already. While they'll be integral parts of a successful Red Sox team, there are plenty of other players to monitor during spring workouts and the exhibition season, with an eye towards April 4 in Cleveland.

So without further ado, let's take a look at 16 Red Sox to watch during spring training:

Hanley Ramirez

It's safe to say Hanley's first season back in Boston was a disaster. He never figured out how to play left field, and the team played better without him in the lineup to close the season.

And he'll have a new position to learn for the second straight season in 2016. Ramirez is moving to first base, a transition that will give us all the entertainment we need in meaningless baseball games. It'll be interesting to see how the fiery Dustin Pedroia handles Ramirez's first in-game miscue when it inevitably happens this spring.

Hanely has said he's been an infielder his whole life, so a move to first won't be very difficult. We'll find out if that's true this spring.

Pablo Sandoval

We were told this offseason that Sandoval had trimmed down a bit, but it was pretty obvious that wasn't the case when he showed up to camp over the weekend.

But there is much more to focus on beyond the rotund nature of Boston's third baseman. We'll see how Sandoval starts his second season in Boston, after he hit just .210 after the All-Star break in 2015. It hasn't gotten off to a very good start, so this may get more outrageous as the spring -- and season -- continues.

Dustin Pedroia

Pedroia played just 93 games in 2015 due to a bad hamstring strain that sidelined him for a chunk of time in the middle of the season, finishing with a .291 average and 12 homers. He hit .338 in 16 games in September, and it will be interesting to see how he plays in what should be limited playing time this spring. The Sox have said they're going to limit Pedey going forward, and we'll get a glimpse of how that plan will play out this spring.

At least we already know Pedroia already has his game pants on:

Blake Swihart

The 23-year-old will be Boston's top backstop heading into the new season after an impressive rookie season in 2015. He finished the year with a .274 average and .319 OBP over 84 games, but really came on with .303/.353/.452 splits after the All-Star break. He went on a tear in the month of August, batting .373 (22-for-59) with four doubles, nine RBIs and 15 runs scored, and looked more and more comfortable behind the plate as the season went on.

Christian Vazquez

Ryan Hanigan will be behind Swihart on Boston's depth chart to start the season, but all eyes will be on Christian Vazquez as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Vazquez was Boston's top backstop heading into last season, possessing a cannon behind the plate, but had to go under the knife just ahead of Opening Day. He's said he feels great throughout the offseason, making progress after a year off, but it'll be interesting to see how the Red Sox handle this one.

Vazquez will likely start the season in the minors as he regains his strength, and expect some time at DH until it starts to get warm -- much like the Baltimore Orioles' approach with Matt Wieters a few years back. But if the Red Sox can feature the duo of Swihart and Vazquez behind the plate, look out.

Rusney Castillo

It's been about 18 months since the Red Sox gave Castillo a seven-year, $72.5 million deal, and we still aren't very sure what they have in the 28-year-old. We saw a glimpse of success last August when he hit .338 with three homers and 18 RBIs for Boston, and he played well in place of Ramirez after the slugger landed on the DL, but Castillo looked worn down at the end of the season.

In all, Castillo hit .263 in 120 games between Boston and Pawtucket (80 games in the Majors, 40 in Triple-A) in 2015. He'll be Boston's starting left fielder to start the year, so hopefully he can get off to a good start this spring.

Jackie Bradley Jr.

Bradley Jr. was red hot last spring, batting .378 over 18 games (17-for-45), which set some high expectations heading into the season. He struggled out of the gate and was sent down to Pawtucket, and was hitting just .133 in 14 games before the All-Star break. He had a great month of August, hitting .354 with nine doubles, three triples, five homers and 23 RBIs in 26 games, before cooling off in September (.266 average) and finishing the season with a .249 average in 73 games.

Read: Are Red Sox Banking Too Heavily On Castillo, Bradley?

Bradley Jr. dazzled with the glove no matter where the Sox put him in the outfield (he played all three positions), but it's time to see if the bat has caught up with his defense. Maybe he should save all those spring training hits for the start of the regular season this year.

Clay Buchholz

The president of the "What exactly do the Red Sox have in (insert player name here)?" club, Buchholz has an important year ahead of him. He is under contract for one more year, with a team option in 2017, so he's essentially pitching in a contract year.

Buchholz is coming off another season in which an injury ended his campaign early, with a bad elbow shelving him in July. Which Buchholz are we going to see this year? The one that went 8-11 with a 5.34 ERA in 28 starts in 2014, or the Clay Buchholz who had a 1.74 ERA in 2013 before injuries derailed his stellar start?

There's no clear-cut No. 2 in the Boston rotation at the moment, so Buchholz stepping up into that spot would be huge. But you just never know with the enigmatic pitcher, so he'll be worth watching early on, no matter how frustrating it may end up.

Rick Porcello

Porcello had a tough first year in Boston, matching his career-high with a 4.92 ERA and a 9-15 record. His $21 million salary for 2016 puts a lot of expectations on his right shoulder, but having Price to frontline the rotation lets him shed the "ace" tag that never really fit. We'll see if he can bounce back in his second year with Boston, a la Josh Beckett in 2007 (whose ERA dropped from 5.01 to 3.27 in his second year in Boston).

Eduardo Rodriguez

E-Rod had a promising rookie season in 2015, starting off his MLB career with back-to-back wins while allowing just eight hits and one run, striking out 21 over his first 20.2 innings pitched over his first three starts. He gave up nine runs to the Blue Jays in his fourth start, and had one of those outings every few trips to the mound, finishing an up-and-down season 10-6 with a 3.85 ERA.

There was some concern as the season progressed that Rodriguez was tipping pitches, but he's confident those issues have been fixed heading into the new season. His struggles in 2015 where those you'd expect out of a 22-year-old rookie who had just eight starts in Triple-A, and it will be fun to see his progress as the 2016 season gets underway.

Joe Kelly

Kelly remains an enigma, a talented young arm who lacks consistency. At times he looks like a front-line starter, and others he looks like a glorified No. 5.

He closed 2015 with eight straight wins before a no decision in his last start of the season, finishing with a 10-6 record (matching a career-high in wins) and a 4.82 ERA in 25 starts. Let's see if the 27-year-old can take the necessary steps towards solidifying his spot in the Boston rotation in 2016.

Carson Smith

The acquisition of Smith was lost a bit with bigger moves bringing in Price and closer Craig Kimbrel, but he's going to be an important piece to the Boston bullpen in 2016.

Smith, who struck out 92 batters in 70 innings while allowing just 18 runs on 49 hits for Seattle in 2015, will be setting up Kimbrel, which will take loads of pressure off Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa in the Sox' pen.

Yoan Moncada

He's still a year or two away from the bigs, but there is a lot of hype around the Cuban prospect the Sox spent roughly $63 million to acquire last spring. Moncada had .278/.380/.438 splits with eight homers and 49 steals in 81 games at low-A ball last season, and is No. 7 on Baseball Prospectus' Top 101 Prospects of 2016.

There's no rush for Moncada with Pedroia back at second, but it'll be interesting to see his progress this spring.

Travis Shaw

The future is unclear for Shaw, but he's worth watching after hitting 13 homers in the final two months of the regular season last year. If Hanley or Sandoval falter (or Dombrowski can somehow work out a trade of either), Shaw is the most likely to replace them on the depth chart.

Anderson Espinoza

Espinoza won't turn 18 until March 9, but there's a lot of chatter surrounding the 6-foot, 170-pound righty, who has drawn early (very, very early) comparisons to Pedro Martinez. We should pump the brakes on the Pedro talk, but Espinoza started 15 games in the lower levels of the minors last season and went 0-2 with a 1.23 ERA while striking out 65 batters in 58.1 innings pitched.

The fireballer is a young arm worth watching this spring.

Andrew Benintendi

Another intriguing youngster is Boston's first pick in last year's draft, who has some pop to his bat.

Benintendi, the seventh overall selection out of Arkansas, hit 20 homers as a sophomore as he helped lead the Razorbacks to a College World Series. He hit .313 with 11 homers, seven doubles and 31 RBIs in 54 games in the minors (split between Greenville and Lowell) after signing with Boston.

He won't be in Boston any time soon, but we may get an early glimpse of his power this spring.

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