Too Much Pitching? The Red Sox Have Been There, Done That.
Written by BCollins1123, Friday February 19 2010
The Boston Red Sox have a familiar problem heading into spring training; Too many quality starting pitchers.
Back in 2005 the Red Sox were confident that, even though they had parted ways with consummate ace Pedro Martinez, that there were plenty of pitchers to send to the mound to construct a rotation that would be effective. However an injury to Curt Shilling had the team scrambling to find it's ace, and identity.
Though Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo had above average years, they were no match for the monstrous rotation the Chicago White Sox threw at us in the ALDS. Spelling an early demise for a short series rotation of Wakefield, Matt Clement, and David Wells.
Fret not Red Sox Nation! That's all prologue to some good news.
Heading into 2010 the Sox will send a pitcher that has proven Ace-worthiness 3 times out of 5 with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. This gives this rotation one of the few cases of "too much pitching" that could be viewed as a bit of a problem, one they don't mind having however.
Of the non-aces making their way to the mound for the Sox this season will be; Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. All pitchers have their issues behind them, and are looking to prove they're worthy of the fourth and fifth spot in the rotation.
There are plenty of solutions to this problem, however each and every one of them leaves a pitcher miffed in the process. Though it may ruffle his feathers, Buchholz may benefit from starting the year in AAA again and keeping his innings under control for the first month or two of the season, seeing Matsuzaka and Wakefield filling out the rotation.
After the first few months of the season starting pitching will start to get thinner with the lack of off-days and Wakfield could be moved to a spot-starting role to spell tired aces and Buchholz could take the fifth spot in the rotation, leaving him a bit fresher down the stretch.
The only other viable option right now is to trade Buchholz, however he has next to no value on the market since there is little demand, I would expect to see him waived in the San Diego Padres face in July along with a massive package of prospects and finally get the Adrian Gonzales deal done. (We may even see this deal get done before July is Ortiz starts out slow this year again.)
Whatever the 2010 season brings the Red Sox, there's a good chance that the Sox will have an ace on the mound when they need one. And that having too much pitching is a problem the Red Sox are looking forward to dealing with.
Tags:
Recent Red Sox Articles
- Interleague Baseball Is Back
- They Might Be Your Father's Red Sox
- Does Bobby Valentine Know What Rock Bottom Is?
- Greatest Moments At Fenway
- 100 Years Of Fenway Park
- Problems In Boston
- Red Sox Find Home Welcoming
- 100 Years Later: Fenway and the Titanic
- Sox Lose Opener To Tigers
- Lester Looks Ready
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
2 comments
Please sign in to rate!
the sox had a similar situation with 7 pitchers last year... Lackey is new now, but Beckett, Lester, Dice-K, Wakefield, and Buchholz were 5 of the 7 (remember Brad Penny and John Smoltz were in last year's picture).... you can never have too much pitching.... http://playerpress.com/articles/time-for-a-6-man-rotation
Please sign in to rate!
I think it's good that the Sox have 6 starting pitcher ready to go. The only potential setback is that Wakefield has his annual back problems, which I feel makes Buchholz the #5 starter which would then make it difficult to trade Clay.