Red Sox Need to Add Starting Pitcher
The Red Sox needed to add another outfielder with the news that Carl Crawford might not be ready until opening day because of wrist surgery. They addressed that this week when they signed Cody Ross.
The team has another issue and that involves the starting rotation — they only have three pitchers that have proven they can be dependable starting pitchers. Because of that the Red Sox need to address it and sign a starting pitcher.
As it stands right now the Red Sox have Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz as their top three starters. The fourth and fifth are the ones that are up in the air. Going into spring training Daniel Bard will be the fourth starter. As for the fifth starter it is a toss up between Alfredo Aceves and the few pitchers the Red Sox have signed to minor league deals this off season. Clearly, this is an issue.
If things don’t chance between now and spring training, Red Sox fans have every right to be upset with general manager Ben Cherrington. He knew that he would be without the services of John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka for the entire 2012 season, so there really is no excuse as to why Cherrington could not have gone out and signed a reliable starting pitcher by now.
What if one of the starters gets injured in early April and is out for a long period of time? The Red Sox can barely put together a five-man rotation, how would they be able to find a reliable starter after that? What if Bard or Aceves can’t make the switch from reliever to starter? What happens then?
The past few off seasons Red Sox fans have been able to talk about how the team has too many starting pitchers, this year they don’t have enough. If the past two seasons haven’t been a perfect example to how starters get injured and it is important to have starting pitching depth, I don’t know what is.
The Red Sox are riding a thin line heading into spring training the way they are now. Something needs to be done or else it could be a long 2012 season.
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