FORT MYERS, Fla. — In less than three weeks, the Boston Red Sox will open their 2016 season in Cleveland.

That means we’re entering the dog days of spring training. It’s been nearly a month since pitchers and catchers reported to southwest Florida, but the regular season is still a hazy vision off in the distance.

The Sox began the week with 55 players on the roster. One would expect there to be cuts coming, but a couple of factors have management thinking about putting off those decisions.

First off, the team has split-squad games coming up Friday. That means Manager John Farrell needs to have enough players two fill out to lineup cards, with reserves for each game. He can, and will, call up minor-league players to help in that effort, but there’s no point in sending a player to Triple-A only to call him back up for a split-squad game a couple of days later.

Then there is the dreaded East Coast trip that begins on Sunday. This is the Grapefruit League version of the regular-season West Coast trip to California. In this case, it’s the Sox traveling three hours to Port St. Lucie to face the New York Mets next Sunday. They’ll stay on the other side of Florida to face the Cardinals and Marlins in Jupiter on the following days.

Usually, veteran players can beg out of the long trips across Alligator Alley in March. It’s not that easy this year. With three games in three days, and a day off on Wednesday, March 23, Farrell may be forced to bring veterans along for the bus ride. He will undoubtedly shuttle some back and forth to each game, but he admitted some will stay overnight and play multiple games.

When that trip is through the Sox will be just 11 days away from the start of the season. By then Farrell will have to make some tough decisions in filling out his 25-man Opening Day roster.

The most important decision involves which pitcher will be the fifth starter. It’s pretty clear that Eduardo Rodriguez, who injured his knee early in camp, will not be ready to take his turn in the rotation once the season begins. He has yet to make a Grapefruit League start.

Steven Wright, who threw four scoreless innings against Toronto, would seem to have the inside track on the start. Henry Owens (four earned runs in 2-2/3 innings Saturday) and Roenis Elias (five earned runs in 2-2/3 innings Sunday) didn’t help their causes over the weekend.

Elias may stick with the team as a long-inning arm out of the bullpen, a role that Wright would’ve most likely taken if E-Rod were healthy. Wright is out of options and will have to clear waivers if the Sox try to send him to Pawtucket.

The other decision will be how to get Travis Shaw enough at-bats. After going 2 for 4 Sunday against the Rays, Shaw was hitting .522 this spring, and had been spending just about all of his time at third base. That’s noteworthy, since Farrell has been pretty clear in his opinion of Pablo Sandoval this spring.

Sandoval has struggled at the plate, hitting just .125 through Sunday, and has been just OK in the field. He has spent plenty of time with third base coach Brian Butterfield putting in extra work on his fielding, as has Hanley Ramirez at first base.

Ramirez hit the longest home run we’ve seen this spring on Saturday, a reminder of why the Sox need to find a place for his bat in this lineup. Sandoval (no homers, two doubles in 16 at-bats) hasn’t shown that kind of power yet.

Shaw – who hit 13 homers in just 65 games last season – has the look of a player about to break out as a big-league star. Players like that have a way of working their way into the lineup, even if there are veterans ahead of them.

These decisions don’t have to be made today. But they will soon. Opening Day in Cleveland is on April 4.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.

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