EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

FORT MYERS, Fla. - The words pierce through a Fort Myers morning like few others.

"Closer-by-committee."

After Boston's unappetizing 2003 bullpen experiment, there couldn't be a dirtier collection of words in major league baseball. According to the Red Sox decision-makers, the team is going to great lengths to make sure such utterances aren't found around these parts any time soon.

Instead, there will be candidate-by-committee.

Yesterday, Red Sox manager Terry Francona for a second time identified Brendan Donnelly, Joel Pineiro, Julian Tavarez and Mike Timlin as the four who will be given the inside track for the race to close out games starting April 2 in Kansas City.

"There are a number of questions to be answered before we will say it will be just matchups. The one thing we will be avoiding is closer-by-committee," Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell said from the team's minor league training facility yesterday. "The understanding of the other roles, besides the closer, are important. To have guys come in to the clubhouse on a daily basis and understand what is expected is important."

Two of the not-yet-final four - Pineiro and Donnelly - kicked off their Boston baseball journeys at the Red Sox's minor league complex yesterday.

Pineiro first walked out to play catch with fellow newcomer J.C. Romero at approximately 10 a.m. (The lefty Romero, by the way, has 17 minor league saves, and two in the majors.)

The Puerto Rico native doesn't breed the kind of intimidation like burly Jonathan Papelbon or Bobby Jenks might. He is listed at 6-foot-1, but is probably closer to 6 feet, although the broadness of his shoulders seems well suited to at least carry some of the season's weight.

After holding court with three members of the Japanese media, the 28-year-old took time to reminisce about his last stay in Fort Myers. It was 1997 and he was playing for the now-defunct Edison Community College baseball program across town.

"When they said spring training was in Fort Myers, I thought, 'Wait a minute, I went to school there," Pineiro said. "I remember when I was in college, I used to come over and watch the games with the Twins and Red Sox. I was so excited just to watch those games, hoping that I would be in one of those ballparks one day."

Pineiro clearly is anxious to embrace the chance to close, having prepared for the tryout by picking the brains of a pair of former Seattle teammates, closers J.J. Putz and Eddie Guardardo. Although he spent just the final 11/2 months as a reliever last season, showing the presence of a legitimate swing-and-miss outpitch (a slider) and above-average fastball, Pineiro might be the leader in the Red Sox closer race.

"I liked it because I was just going in for one inning and giving it all I had," Pineiro said of relieving. "The only difference was the focus point. I had to focus on just the three outs instead of facing guys three or four times around the lineup. Now instead of having four or five pitches, I'll probably go with fastball, slider and changeup. But all the stuff is there so once in a while I can bring it out."

An hour after Pineiro walked off the field and hit the showers, Donnelly, the 35-year-old, goggle-wearing reliever, was sorting through his old Angels duffel bag and organizing his locker. As he spoke, it became apparent his no-holds-barred kind of pitching delivery seems to translate into his everyday attitude.

Donnelly told of his spring training companion, a half German shepherd, half pit bull named Snapper. The righty also sheepishly talked of his newfound fitness, dropping his weight from 272 pounds to 250 thanks to a routine he doesn't want to publicize too much in the old-school world that is a baseball clubhouse - but he was assured Pilates is a much more accepted form of well-being these days.

Donnelly may have only four big league saves, but between his don't-look-back demeanor and hard-biting slider, it isn't a mystery why he is in the mix.

"They just told me they're not going to be assigning any roles right now, and we can just come in and compete," Donnelly said. "We'll see what happens. I know that's a big thing right now going around right now, but everything is going to shake itself out in the spring. I'm just coming in trying to make the team."

In October, these sights and sounds might ultimately be totally inconsequential.

As one Red Sox official correctly points out, history shows that figuring out who will be recording the final outs doesn't come easy this time of year. Since 2001, Boston and the Angels have been the only World Series winners to carry the same closer from the start of the season to its conclusion.

In '01, Arizona began with Matt Mantei and ended with Byung-Hyun Kim. The '03 Marlins had Braden Looper close at the start before trading for Ugueth Urbina. The White Sox turned to Jenks in the postseason after riding Dustin Hermanson for much of the '05 campaign. And last year, it was Adam Wainwright who closed out games for the world champion Cardinals, taking the place of the injured Jason Isringhausen.

But the Red Sox need someone to at least begin the marathon. Yesterday was just the sound of the starter's gun.

The day in the blog

The following chronicles some of the happenings at Red Sox spring training, and is taken from the Eagle-Tribune Publishing Co.'s new blog, Bradford on Baseball:

Wily Mo Pena has agreed to a one-year, $1.875 million contract with the Red Sox, making the trip of assistant general manager Jed Hoyer and Director of Baseball Operations Brian O'Halloran to sit in on a potential arbitration hearing unnecessary. Pena was asking for $2.2 million while the club was offering $1.725. It keeps Theo Epstein's streak of never having the team go to arbitration since taking over as general manager intact.

...

Epstein, Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell all sat on a bench, put on a microphone and answered questions for a short while. Here are some of the highlights:

* Epstein and Francona said bullpen was biggest issue facing them.

* Epstein was asked about potential free agent-to-be Mariano Rivera coming to Boston. "I'm not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole," he said.

* Will have one-on-one meetings with pitchers tomorrow (which is something new).

* Manny Ramirez has been in touch with Red Sox medical personnel. Francona said he is all set.

* Once again, reiterated that medical people think Jonathan Papelbon is better served pitching once every five days.

* About Keith Foulke, who announced his retirement today, Francona said, "We don't win without him in 2004."

* David Ortiz is evidently in very good shape, having lost some weight.

* Nothing on the horizon regarding possible trades.

* Farrell talked quite a bit about Daisuke Matsuzaka and how he will relate to him. Has been taking Japanese lessons, along with downloading instruction onto his IPod. Will most likely carry a cheat sheet out to the mound just in case. Farrell pointed out that Japanese is an object/verb rules-oriented language, making it much different than English.