Uehara made his spring training deubt, surrendering some loud contact in giving up a run on three hits against the Marlins on Friday, WEEI.com reports.

Uehara wasn't too concerned with the results, saying he was happy to get some work in and repeat his pitches.

Uehara threw his first bullpen session of the spring Monday, CSN New England reports.

Manager John Farrell, who watched the session intently, was pleased with the life and action of Uehara's pitches, particularly his splitter.

Uehara's usage will be monitored closely this season as manager John Farrell said he'll do his best never to warm up the reliever without bringing him into the game, the Providence Journal reports.

That sounds like the normal course Farrell has taken with Uehara since he first signed with Boston in 2013. If Uehara is unavailable for any game this season, Edward Mujica will serve as Boston's closer.

Uehara had a lower-back problem that caused him to alter his mechanics and resulted in a poor stretch of pitching last season, the Boston Herald reports. In a six-game stretch between Aug. 16 and Sep. 4, opponents hit .500 off Uehara, who allowed 14 hits, four homers and 10 runs in 4.2 innings.

The poor stretch prompted manager John Farrell to remove Uehara from the closer's role as the reliever made just three appearances over the final three weeks of the season. The Red Sox evaluated him following the season and gave Uehara a clean bill of health and a two-year contract. We suppose it's good news that the ineffective pitching was the result of a physical problem and not over-use, but we are still talking about a 40-year-old pitcher.

Uehara has agreed to a two-year contract with the Red Sox, MLB.com reports.

Boston was unlikely to pick up Uehara's team option for next season, since it would mean the club would have to pay the pitcher $15.3 million next season. Instead, both sides were able to agree on a two year deal for a lower figure.

Uehara is unlikely to receive a qualifying offer from the Red Sox, WEEI.com reports. If Uehara were to accept the one-year qualifying offer, the Red Sox would be on the hook to pay him $15.3 million.

Both sides have been talking since Boston's season ended, according to an industry source, a promising sign that Boston will be bringing back the reliever for 2015, albeit at a rate below the $15.3 million qualifying offer.

Manager John Farrell said he'd like to use Uehara in a closing situation before the end of the season, Maureen Mullen of the Boston Globe reports.

A heavy workload clearly started to catch up with Uehara in early September, resulting in his ouster from the closer's role after he gave up 10 runs over a stretch of 4.2 innings. He's been used much more judiciously since moving to middle relief and has seemed to benefit from the rest, striking out the side in his most recent outing back on Sept. 16. Though it's uncertain if the Red Sox will bring the aging reliever back in 2015, manager John Farrell probably wants to reward him with one final save for what has mostly been a dazzling two-year run in Boston.

Uehara's appearance in Friday night's win over the Royals was his first since Sept. 4. He retired the side in the eighth inning on 15 pitches, 12 for strikes.

The Red Sox made the decision to reduce Uehara's workload, including taking him out of the closer's role, after a run of six straight subpar relief appearances.

Uehara is expected to be available in low-leverage situations beginning Thursday in Kansas City, the Boston Globe reports.

After an extended bullpen session Tuesday, Uehara is believed to be ready to resume appearing in games. Red Sox manager John Farrell said he still would like to get Uehara back into save situations before the end of the season, which could remove the late-season value provided by current closer Edward Mujica.

Uehara has been removed as the Red Sox's closer.

Fatigue has seemingly set in on the 39-year-old reliever, as he has been clobbered for 10 runs in his last six appearances, so the Red Sox will move him out of the ninth-inning role and slot Edward Mujica in as closer. There were murmurs that the team could shut Uehara down entirely with an eye toward 2015, but manager John Farrell said that ideally Uehara will be closing out games again before the end of this season.

The Red Sox will consider shutting down Uehara for the season, WEEI.com reports. Uehara, who gave up two homers in a blown save Thursday, has allowed 10 runs in his last 4.2 innings.

Manager John Farrell, who said Uehara has been lacking finish on his pitches, added that they'll talk with the closer and discuss all options, including "the potential of shutting him down."

Uehara struggled again Thursday, giving up a pair of solo homers to suffer a blown save against the Yankees.

Uehara could not protect a one-run lead, allowing solo shots to Mark Teixeira and Chase Headley. Uehara hasn't had a ton of work lately, but he's been tagged for nine runs in his last six appearances, dating back to August 16.

Uehara pitched for the first time in eight days Tuesday night. He allowed a homer to the first batter faced in a win over the Yankees.

Manager John Farrell intends ease up on Uehara's workload for the remainder of the season, but indicated Uehara would continue to handle save situations, though Tuesday night was not a save situation.

Manager John Farrell said Sunday that he'd look to reduce Uehara's usage in September, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports.

The usually-steady Uehara has endured a string of poor outings lately, but still posts a pristine 2.25 ERA and 0.90 WHIP over 60 frames. It's likely that Uehara's age (39) and his innings count -- as well as Boston's place in the AL East standings -- that are the primary factors in Farrell wanting to limit the right-hander's workload, though he should still see the bulk of closing opportunities that arise down the stretch. On nights that Uehara is deemed unavailable, Edward Mujica would represent the team's top closing option.

The Red Sox have no plans to shut down the struggling Uehara, the Providence Journal reports. Boston's closer has allowed an earned run or inherited runners to score in four straight appearances.

Uehara is showing no signs of fatigue and continues to work as normal during his pre-game throwing program. Coaches and trainers don't detect anything abnormal, other than the results.

Uehara blew a second straight save opportunity Monday night in Boston's extra-inning win over Toronto. He was credited with a win after Boston's offense picked up in extra innings.

Uehara was unable to prevent inherited runners from scoring after Clay Buchholz ran into trouble in the ninth. No runs were charged to Uehara, who said he's been having problems lately locating his splitter.

Uehara was tagged for five runs on five hits, walking one and striking out one while recording just two outs in a 5-3 loss to the Mariners on Friday night.

An extremely rare implosion for the Boston closer resulted in his third blown save on the season. There were a couple of hard hit balls but some of the damage came from bloops that found a hole so the outcome could easily have been different. He tossed 38 pitches in the game so his availability could be in question Saturday, but his job is certainly still secure.

With the Red Sox falling out of contention, manager John Farrell will not be pushing Uehara over the final six weeks, the Providence Journal reports.

We don't see Farrell using other pitchers to save games, but there will be non-save situations where Uehara's usage is affected. For example, in Friday night's extra-inning affair, Uehara needed just seven pitches to get through an inning, but did not come back for a second inning.

Uehara picked up his 25th save of the season with a scoreless inning in Sunday's win over the Angels.

Uehara extended his string of scoreless innings to 11 and lowered his ERA to 1.32.

Uehara gave up two hits while pitching a scoreless ninth for his 23rd save of the season Wednesday against the Cardinals.

Uehara wiggled out of trouble after allowing singles by Matt Adams and Oscar Taveras. The right-hander has been rock solid when given the infrequent opportunity to close out a game for Boston. He sports a 1.39 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and is 23-for-25 in save chances on the year.