Taking it slow with Miller

Andrew Miller was dominant in his first two spring outings but struggled quite a bit in his third one. That doesn’t change anything about how Red Sox are evaluating him.

If he makes the team, that’s great. If not, the club is invested in him for the long haul.

The lanky lefty offers big potential as both a starter or a reliever. Obviously the latter job would get him to the Red Sox faster.

“Well, he came to spring training with the idea that he’s in competition for a bullpen slot with the idea that Opening Day isn’t the cutoff for him,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “That’s part of the reason we wanted to get him off the roster and then sign him back so we weren’t held hostage by somebody that looks really good but maybe needs a few more weeks or a month, so we need to watch him pitch and see where it takes him. He’s been terrific about it. He’s been really mature about, ‘hey, this is long term’. That’s part of the reason we did it the way we did it.”