FORT MYERS, Fla. – If it wasn’t already clear how unclear the Boston bullpen situation is, Terry Francona made it abundantly so during a recent press conference

“To be quite honest with you, if we knew exactly where everybody was situated right now, I’d probably sleep a little better, but we have some questions we still have to answer,” said the Red Sox manager. “The better we answer them, the better team we’re going to be.”

With 24 pitchers – 14 of them relievers or guys capable of relieving – still in Boston’s major league camp 18 days into spring training, and four of the top candidates for the team’s six- or seven-man bullpen being brand new faces, those answers won’t be coming quickly.

“There are quite a few new faces. I’ve got to get to know (Brendan) Donnelly, (Joel) Piniero, (J.C.) Romero and (Hideki) Okajima,” said catcher Jason Varitek. “We’ve still got a long with to go with it.”

Good thing Boston’s starting rotation is pretty much cut and dried. Otherwise Francona would be suffering insomnia.

“I would love to have most everything figured out and be able to answer your questions,” Francona said when asked about Boston’s bullpen in flux. “I really would, because then you wouldn’t have to keep repeating them and I wouldn’t have to keep saying I don’t know.”

That’s not to say Francona and pitching coach John Farrell don’t know anything about their relievers. They do, but they don’t know as much as they want or need to know about them Yet.

“I try to be optimistic, but I haven’t been around some of these guys more than three weeks,” Francona explained. “We need to let them settle in. Right now, if the season started today, I don’t know how much rope to give a guy yet. That’s all part of the learning process.”

Now entering his fourth season as Sox manager and eighth overall as a big league manager, Francona says the bullpen is usually the biggest mystery almost every season.

“It’s given every manager that’s ever been in this game a headache because you’re the one going out there, and when it doesn’t work, you’re the dumbass who put the guy in. That’s the way it is,” said the 47-year-old native of Aberdeen, S.D. “A good bullpen makes everyone look smart. It’s amazing how good bullpens make the games look crisper, you don’t look sloppy, and you don’t lose games late. It’s great.”

Pitching primary

So how great is Boston’s pen? Well, not everything is an uncertainty.

The Sox feature a mix of veteran leadership as well as experience to go with youthful talent in the relief corps. Proven leaders like Mike Timlin and Julian Tavarez are back to shepherd youngsters like second-year pro Craig Hansen, seventh-year pro Manny Delcarmen – ages 23 and 25, respectively – and new guys like Donnelly and Javier Lopez, who arrived via trade, and free agent signees Romero, Piniero; and Okajima, who came all the way over from Japan’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

That doesn’t include familiar faces like Kyle Snyder, whose solid spring pitching has Francona thinking about making him a reliever just to keep him on the team roster; starter Matt Clement; and lesser-known candidates like Craig Breslow, Mike Burns, and Travis Hughes.

This field of candidates is just as crowded and diverse as the one for the 2008 Presidential election.

“Romero’s throwing well. Okajima isn’t accustomed to how we do it over here, but he’s throwing strikes, Donnelly’s reliable, Tavarez is the same thing and then there’s me,” said Timlin, who’s entering his 16th big league season overall and fifth with Boston.

The 41-year-old Timlin’s current status has thrown another curve into the Boston bullpen as he is currently being rested due to an oblique muscle strain in his right arm.

It’s quite a puzzle for the coaches to try and put together.

“That’s not a bad way to put it, and with Timlin not throwing right now, it makes that puzzle a little harder to figure out,” Francona said. “We’ll get to that point, but with Timlin inactive, we’re just not ready to do that yet.”

The early success of lefthanders Romero, Lopez, and Okajima is a rare ray of sunshine in the otherwise cloudy relief scene. The southpaw trio combined to allow 13 hits, but just four earned runs in 19 innings through Wednesday.

“You’re going to see a different J.C. this year than you did last year, I guarantee you that,” said Donnelly, a teammate of Romero’s with Anaheim. “He was one of the three best lefthanders in the game before last year.”

Romero was 1-2 with a 6.70 ERA last season.

“He had a bad year, but for him to get through that and be professional, it’s a tribute to him and might make him an even better pitcher,” said Donnelly, who also likes what he sees from others. “Timlin’s solid and Piniero’s dropped down and created a load of movement on his ball instead of just going straight over the top and hot every time.”

The blunt Donnelly isn’t just uttering the company line. He really feels good about his fellow relievers.

“A good bullpen needs to have one guy with a lot of experience and we’ve got Timlin, who’s had a lot of success at a very high level. It’s important to have that kind of leadership,” he explained. “You have to have a tight unit, a veteran arm, and quality arms, and we have all those things.”

The lefthanders’ success – combined with the diverse strengths the other candidates bring to the mound – is another reason for optimism as Boston’s bullpen should feature plenty of versatility and adaptability, giving Francona plenty of options.

“It would be nice to have a couple lefties you can count on. I don’t know how many teams have that, but I hope we do,” Francona said. “To have three Well, that would be great, but it’s still early.”

It’s still early: That’s been the mantra around the Sox camp this spring with regard to the bullpen.

While it may be early, the top question for many Sox fans is who’s going to be there late?

In closing

The wide-open relief competition may be a headache for the coaches, but it’s cause for excitement for most of the guys chasing a bullpen spot.

“I think you can take anyone in the bullpen right now and put them in any situation,” said Hansen, who says he feels much more comfortable this spring. “You can have anyone set up and anyone close, because the talent is that good where any guy in there can take any job that’s up for grabs.”

That’s where the versatility comes in with Tavarez able to be a long reliever and starter, Timlin able to set up or close, and Donnelly being a proven commodity.

“It’s different. I’ve never been in a situation like this where so many jobs are open,” said Donnelly, a 35-year-old righthander who was traded from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Phil Seibel in the offseason. “It doesn’t happen that often, especially when you don’t have an unquestioned closer coming into spring training.”

Ah, the million-dollar question. Who inherits the closer’s job from rookie phenom Jonathan Papelbon, who is being switched back to a starting pitcher?

The 28-year-old Piniero, a righthander who’s also going from starter to closer after signing as a free agent Jan. 4, is the early favorite, but even the players and coaches aren’t willing to say it’s his job to lose.

“It’s nice when someone thinks enough of you to have you in mind to take on that kind of role in the bullpen,” said Piniero, who counts a fastball, sinker, slider and split-fingered fastball as his best pitches. “It’s something I’ve never done before so it’s going to be a challenge for me.

“If I do get the job, I’ll probably sit down with Papelbon and ask him to help me out and tell me what I should do,”

Piniero is no sure thing so far this spring after allowing 10 hits and five runs (four earned) through 7 1/3 innings for a 4.91 ERA.

If Piniero falters, a healthy Timlin would be the next best candidate and even the versatile Tavarez, who was very successful as a spot starter last season, could step up.

“If it’s my choice, I would like to be a starter,” said Tavarez, 33. “You have five or six days in between, you know what days you’ll pitch and you have time to rest and get stronger and do your homework on the hitters.

“If you give up one or two runs as a reliever, that’s a lot. If you give up two or three runs as a starter and pitch five or six innings, that’s a good thing and you probably get a win.”

Whatever his role, Tavarez is convinced the bullpen will be a strength for Boston this season.

“I like what I see from guys so far. I think we’ll be stronger,” said the 12-year big league righty. “We don’t have Jonathan, but we have good arms.”

“Everybody’s going to know he’s not there, but we can bridge that gap. If our starters go six or seven innings most times, we have guys who can finish it. We’ll be fine.”

Just the same, Francona may want to keep an extra bottle of sleeping pills on hand.