FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Sox begin exhibition games later this week, but for now, both first baseman Mike Napoli (hip) and David Ortiz (Achilles) are scheduled to be held out of the first few.
Napoli is taking ground balls with the starting infield in morning workouts, then getting some extas after the workout.
"Napoli's making very good progress,'' said manager John Farrell, ''so I can't imagine that it would be too far into the game scheduled before he'll get on the field.''
As for Ortiz, he's been limited to mostly hitting while also executing some agility drills. He's yet to be cleared to run the bases.
"He's not there yet,'' said Farrell. "He's got some protocol to complete with that yet -- increased intensity as we get along that calendar. The most important thing is that we continue on that incline all the way to the start of the season.''
Xander Bogaerts took grounders at third base, in anticipation of playing the position for the Netherlanders in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
He'll also play third base against Boston College on Thursday.
Boston Red Sox
"He's an infielder,' said Farrell, "and he's got a lot of natural ability and instincts there. But we'll get two days of work days with him there and get him in the game on Thursday. The only concern would be the different angles. A shortstop's got the ability to wait -- he's further away from the ball. Here, it's a little bit more reactionary and there are different angles.
"There's no real concern. It's just (a matter of) getting comfortable with the angle he'll be seeing on ground balls.''
