Farrell hints Castillo's arrival could be imminent

BOSTON -- Coming off a West Coast trip in which the offense struggled mightily, manager John Farrell didn't shake up his lineup for Tuesday's opener of the homestand against the Rangers. However, it certainly sounds as if Rusney Castillo will be making his way to Fenway Park in the coming days.

The outfielder, who is hitting .304 for Triple-A Pawtucket with two homers and nine RBIs, is currently in Miami for the birth of his child.

The Red Sox certainly didn't sign Castillo to a $72.2 million contract last August so he could toil away in Triple-A. The issue for Castillo has been a pile-up of nagging injuries.

Not only is Castillo healthy again, but he's hitting. Castillo played 10 games for the Red Sox last September, hitting .333 with two homers and six RBIs.

"What's taken place is his timing, his ability to impact the baseball is starting to show up a little bit more," said Farrell. "He's returned home obviously for the birth of his child. That's going to be a couple of days. Whether or not we allow him to get a game under his belt at Pawtucket before possibly looking at a change here, those are all possibilities.

"It's good to see him get back on the field. The timing is there. The ability to impact the baseball, so I guess in the short, he's doing what he can to impact a potential change."

The reason Farrell went with his standard lineup on Tuesday is due to the fact that so many different hitters have struggled and it would be hard to know who to move around.

"If it centered around one or two spots in the order, you might say, 'Let's look to slide [Shane Victorino] in the two-hole like we did in Seattle. Or move him up ahead of a couple of guys in that bottom or middle third," said Farrell. "We have the capability here. I'm not saying that there won't be changes, whether that's to the lineup or whether that's to our position player group. But coming off the road trip, I thought, 'OK, let's get through the off-day still maintain some stability.' But always with an eye to what changes might help us."