Boston Red Sox pitchers: Who will trend up or down?
By Rick McNair
The Boston Red Sox have a wealth of pitching – maybe the best in the American League. There are a few that I am predicting will trend up or down.
Who will surprise and who will fail or trend up or down – pitching department? I usually grab a copy of Bill James’ projections and thumb through it. Historically, I find it somewhat like astrology – fun to read, but don’t take it seriously. I will also do my own projections based simply on pulling an opinion out of the air. This is hunch prognostication and not based on any proprietary math. Just something for the offseason hot stove guessing game.
Pitching is the driver of a baseball team’s success or failure and that is set in baseball since, but even stone has the occasional crack or two. Occasionally a team surfaces that can overcome pedestrian levels of pitching either by bludgeoning opponents or favorable circumstances where the opposition within their division of the league is equally inept. That should certainly not be Boston’s problem in 2017.
On paper – a gentle way of saying what should be – the Red Sox have a range of talented arms with an impressive history to back it up. David Price and Chris Sale are beyond just good and certainly can have the honorarium of “Ace” attached to their career performances. One would expect that to continue.
There are, however, a few that may trend down or up and I have – to ease my boredom – placed a few into this slide show. occasionally I do this and then in a year check back and see what is inevitably mixed results.