Should Dice-K Replace Aaron Cook In The Red Sox Rotation?

Recently we looked at the Red Sox rotation woes and while immediate improvements are far from certain, there are options that may or may not provide an upgrade to the current starting five.  Daisuke Matsuzaka is ready to be promoted to the big club, that is of course if he’s wanted.  Based on his last outing in Pawtucket, he can not be ignored and will give Bobby Valentine something to think about moving forward.

Tuesday night Dice-K threw seven shutout innings while only giving up one hit.  He did walk four and fanned seven batters en route to picking up his first victory of the season.  Ironically, it was the same night that Aaron Cook was unraveling on the mound at Fenway Park to the tune of eleven hits over five innings while surrendering five runs, four of which were earned.  Is it time for a switch in the rotation? Dice-K over Cook?

All indications are that Dice-K is ready to be activated from the disabled list and with Cook’s next start scheduled for Sunday night, that could be the perfect opportunity to slide the Japanese native into game action at the big league level.  Given Cook’s recent struggles, bumping the former Rockies pitcher from the rotation may not be a bad idea.

It’s been a mixed bag for Cook this season despite a 3-7 record with a 4.79 ERA.  Aside from Tuesday night’s start, his previous two outings were good, only allowing three combined earned runs over 12.1 innings.  Of course it’s easy to remember his blunder against Baltimore that led to an ugly inning, one that eventually cost the Red Sox the game.

Then there were the July 27th and August 1 starts that saw Cook give up six earned runs in each of those games and not make it past the fifth inning in either contest.  A roller coaster ride to say the least when looking at Cook’s starts as a member of the Red Sox organization.

But is throwing Dice-K back on the mound really going to benefit this club? Is he going to produce better results than what Cook can maybe do every third outing?

So far this season Dice-K has made five starts that has produced an 0-3 record with a 6.65 ERA.  In total he’s worked in 23.0 innings, given up 17 earned runs on 23 hits while walking 8 and striking out 20.  His last start was on July 2 against Oakland where he didn’t make it out of the second inning before giving up 5 runs.  In short, he has not been very good, although it is a small sample size.

One option is to move Cook to the bullpen as he does have bullpen experience, albeit nothing since 2003 when he appeared in 27 games in relief fashion.  He does, however, appeal as a reliever a lot more than Dice-K does.

Early reaction via the Twitter wire and discussion among staff here at BSI has Cook staying and Dice-K spending the rest of the year rotting in the minors, patiently playing out the rest of his ludicrous contract.  The best predictor of future performance is past behavior and going by that philosophy, Cook is the best bet to try and salvage some victories in the final six weeks of the season.