Red Sox: Should fans really worry about the rotation yet?

By Tyler Mason | Apr 12, 2016

Apr 6, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz (11) delivers in the second inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

One week into the Red Sox season, fans are beginning to worry about the pitching rotation.

Week 1 is complete for the Boston Red Sox, and it seems like a lot of fans are saying that the ship is already sinking…6 games into the season.

I repeat, 6 games into the season.

You do realize that there are 156 games left, right? And you do realize that EVERY starting pitcher in the major leagues will have a horrid outing sometime in the season?

Yes, I understand, it wasn’t nice to see two out of our five starting pitchers (Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly) looking like little league players who couldn’t hit the strike zone. But I say one last time, we are 6 games into the season. Everyone has made their first start of the season and I know it would have been nice to see all five of our pitchers in the rotation making quality starts, but you know what, we all know (or should know) that we don’t have the best rotation in the league. So I don’t understand why people are having such high expectations for this group.

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After the tough home opener loss to the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox are 3-3. So far, the Sox have stayed in every game they have played in. The offense has been consistent with solid hitting from Hanley Ramirez and Brock Holt, which is why they are sitting at .500 and backing this mediocre pitching.

So far, with fans being so upset and annoyed about the starting pitching, they haven’t focused on how good the bullpen has been. Before yesterday’s hiccup, where Orioles slugger, Chris Davis, belted a 3 run home run against Red Sox newest closer, Craig Kimbrel, the bullpen has been sharp through the first week of the season. This is pretty impressive since their newest acquisition, Carson Smith, went down with forearm tightness and was placed on the DL before the season began.

There is one team that I would like to compare the Red Sox to since everyone is having a mental break down one week into the season. That team is the Kansas City Royals.

Do the Royals and Red Sox have some of best offenses in the league? Yes.

Do the Royals and Red Sox have subpar pitching rotations? Yes.

Last but not least, do the Royals and Red Sox have lights out bullpens? Absolutely.

If you see here, the Royals starting pitching had a 4.34 ERA, which finished 22nd in all of baseball in 2015, just slightly better than the Sox starting pitching finishing 24th with an ERA of 4.39.

But what made the Royals hoist the World Series trophy in 2015? Their bullpen. Last year, their bullpen finished 2nd in the majors with a 2.72 ERA. A lot different from the Red Sox bullpen that finished 26th, posting a 4.24 ERA. And with the acquisitions of Kimbrel and Smith in the bullpen to help Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara, they just became even more dangerous, much like the 2015 World Series champions, the Kansas City Royals.

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So Red Sox Nation, I know we have been through this before. I know we don’t want to see the same story that happened in 2015, where our rotation had a bunch of schmucks. But please, don’t yell the ship is sinking one week into the season. There is plenty of baseball left to be played.

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