Reliever Barnes working through velocity concerns

FORT MYERS, Fla. — It is both early and late in spring training, a notion that makes it both understandable and perhaps a bit concerning for the Red Sox as they watch their relievers prepare for the season.

On Saturday, Matt Barnes prompted a measure of consternation while allowing one run on two hits in an inning of work. More notable to the Red Sox than the right-hander’s line was the story being told by his velocity readings.

Barnes mostly pitched with his four-seam fastball at 92-93 mph, down from the mid- to high-90s level he reached last spring en route to an All-Star first half.

“We’re almost [to Opening Day] and we need to get going,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “The velo’s not there. We see it. … That was a game-changer last year — velo and attacking.

“So we’ll take a look at it and keep working with him.”

Barnes, who will make two more spring training appearances before the team breaks camp Tuesday, is not the only one to elicit concern.

Ryan Brasier’s velocity was down early in the spring. Lefty Jake Diekman, who pitched in a minor-league camp game Saturday, his second of back-to-back days on the mound, has struggled to throw strikes.

Hansel Robles, who signed a minor-league deal two weeks ago but just joined the club after resolving visa issues in recent days, has yet to appear in a spring training game.

Cora noted that, in a spring training compressed by the lockout, bullpen arms seem to be scrambling to get the repetitions necessary for a normal spring buildup.

“Relievers are the ones who have quote-unquote suffered,” said Cora. “[But] we expect them to be ready. I think everybody’s in

the same boat.”

Sale still docked: For Chris Sale, a recent pain-free sneeze offered reassurance that the stress fracture in his right rib cage has healed significantly. An MRI on Thursday offered greater clarity.

“The bone is healing,” Sale said. “Everything is shrinking. The edema is going away. Good news.”

The bone has healed to the point Sale has been able to increase his physical activity to run, jump and, more notably, twist. But the left-hander, now just over five weeks removed from suffering the injury, has not been cleared to start throwing.

Sale described his situation as one of “dotting the I’s, crossing the T’s,” with a determination to let the bone heal completely before he starts throwing rather than to the point of pain tolerance.

“I feel like I could go out and throw today and be all right,” Sale said. “But there is a difference between going out and throwing and being all right, and going out and throwing and being great.

“I think that’s along the lines of what they want me to be.”

While the 33-year-old expressed optimism, a best-case scenario remains a return in May.

Trimming to size: First baseman Travis Shaw was informed by the team that he is “trending” toward making the Opening Day roster, offering the 31-year-old enough reassurance to pass Saturday on exercising his right to opt out. Shaw, who’d spent the lockout in free-agent limbo, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in mid-March.

The team informed left-hander Derek Holland that he will not make the Opening Day roster, leaving the veteran, who signed a minor-league deal with the club last month, with a decision about whether to opt out of his contract or accept an assignment to Triple-A Worcester. Holland was one of six cuts Saturday.