With the MLB season officially underway on Sunday, the Red Sox hope to bounce back from yet another failed season last year. But, the new season comes with multiple controversies.

When a team signs a star player to a maximum-level contract, it would seem that  player would be the team’s starting third baseman for years to come. Yet, if that player shows up to spring training and is still very overweight, the team may have no choice but to bench the player to start out the season. This is the case for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

Sandoval was not supposed to be starting for the Red Sox, but it’s a role he will have to adjust too.

“It’s different,” Sandoval told ESPN in an interview. “I have to be positive and do all the work that I’m going to be doing.”

However, the role change should not come as a huge surprise for Sandoval as he was simply outplayed during spring training and his lack of mobility at third base was evident once again.

Red Sox General Manager John Farrell also commented to ESPN about the role Sandoval will play this season: “I will say this: We need every one of our 25 guys to contribute [and] for Pablo in particular, this is going to be a different beginning to a season,” Farrell said. “The role has certainly changed. How he and I and the rest of our staff communicate with him, put together a work plan to keep him prepared and keep him moving forward, that’s probably the biggest change for all of us.”

The team is also facing other issues with their starting pitching roster. The team added lefty David Price to the rotation to give the team a proven ace, but after Price, the rest of the rotation looks bleak.

Farrell acknowledged that Price’s ability is exactly what the team paid for: “Everything has been as advertised,” Farrell said of Price. “He’s shown his leadership qualities and personality in the clubhouse. [At times this spring], his command was almost midseason form, as well as he was following the glove around the strike zone.”

The addition allows last year’s “ace” Clay Buchholz to step back from the spotlight and focus more on being the number two guy in the rotation. But it’s not as easy for the rotation.

Rick Porcello is coming off another down year and an even worse spring training. Peter Abraham pointed out “Porcello’s 9.77 earned run average in four Grapefruit League (Red Sox Spring Training league) starts is not a product of bad luck or small sample size. He has allowed 29 hits in 15 innings, 12 for extra bases.”

The Red Sox need him to be the same starter he was at the end of 2015.

Like every other year the Red Sox have their fair share of obstacles to overcome, but if the team can overcome them and the lineup is able to give the pitching staff the run support it needs, the Red Sox could push their way out of the basement of the American League East.