By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff
BALTIMORE — Clay Buchholz has been activated off the disabled and will be in the bullpen tonight
He said he is not an option to start tomorrow.
"I don't think they'd let me [start] in the sense that I would only be able to go an inning or so, a couple of innings, maybe," Buchholz said. "If I got off to a bad start, that wouldn't be good for the team. I don't think so."
Buchholz has not appeared in a major league game since June 16 because of a back injury. He threw one inning in an Instructional League game on Monday. He threw 18 pitches that day. His most strenuous bullpen session — 40 pitches — came last week.
"I feel like my pitches are there and my arm feels good," Buchholz said. "Obviously, I'm not going to be starting. I'll probably be sent out to the bullpen, and if a situation arises where I can get in the game, we'll go from there."
Said Terry Francona: "We were going to send him down to the Instructional League and I think we kind of got together and thought, 'Well, with the way things have gone, we've proven we can play 14, 15-inning games.' If we're fortunate enough to have a blowout, we'd love to pitch him. If we ever got into a situation where he can be a wild card, knowing there's a lot there unproven now. So we figured keep him here."
Francona said Buchholz could pitch, "an inning or two."
Buchholz has appeared in relief twice in the regular season (in 2007 and '08) and never in the postseason. The 27-year-old was 6-3 with a 3.48 ERA in 16 starts this season before he went down.
"I think coming out of the bullpen the difference is you have to come in throwing strikes," Buchholz said. "You can't nibble like you could if you were starting and trying to set up the hitter for the next at-bat. You might only face the guy one time. Your job is to come in and get him out. I don't think it really matters how you do it."
Buchholz will be somewhat limited as a reliever. He would need additional time to warm up and likely would only come in to start an inning. Buchholz talked optimistically about building up his arm strength to a point where he could start if the Red Sox were to advance in the postseason.
Of course they need to get there first.
In other news:
ߦ No starter has been named for a possible Game 163 tomorrow. No pitchers have been, or will be, sent ahead given the uncertainty. "We have a lot of destinations possible tonight," Francona said. "We'll be happy to go anywhere but Boston."
ߦ Francona on whether Alfredo Aceves could pitch tonight after going 3.2 innings (and throwing 36 pitches) last night: "Yep."
ߦ Tim Wakefield told Fox Sports he wants to return to the Red Sox next season to chase the team's career victories record.