Wily Mo Pena is eligible for arbitration, and the Red Sox are dealing with that. They are also dealing with the reality that Pena, an extraordinary talent who cannot improve if he doesn't get some at-bats, won't have a clear avenue to get at-bats consistently this year. David Ortiz is locked in at designated hitter, and the starting outfield is set, with Manny Ramirez, Coco Crisp and J.D. Drew. The chance for Pena to play is a little better as a backup to this group than it would be if he were a member of another team, because of the injury history of Drew and because of Ramirez's habit of occasionally checking out for a few days at a time.
But if Ramirez, Crisp and Drew stay healthy, that won't allow for enough at-bats for Pena, so it wouldn't be surprising if the Red Sox ask Pena to take some ground balls at first base this spring, just to see what they see. Maybe he would be adequate, decent enough for manager Terry Francona to use him as a fill-in for Kevin Youkilis, or for third baseman Mike Lowell, with Youkilis moving over to third base on the days that Lowell sits. A gut instinct after watching Pena play the outfield for years is that it would not work out; Pena is so big and wouldn't seem to have the kind of agility required by the position, and he might struggle to throw the ball at all. But it never hurts to try, and maybe he'll be a surprise.
The Red Sox investment in his talent was theoretically long-term when they traded Bronson Arroyo to Cincinnati for him last spring. His birthday is this month, and he'll be just 25 years old. His at-bats improved over the course of last season; gradually, it seems, he's learning how to identify pitches, to lay off the breaking ball away. He looks terrible some days, but there were a lot of at-bats when he'd only flinch a little when he saw a good 1-ball, 2-strike breaking ball. Look at his numbers hitting in various counts: