Quantifying the Need
Anyone who knows anything about baseball was acutely aware of the Red Sox problems with their starting rotation. However, I have yet to see or read any article quantifying that need and, as a result, I assigned myself with said task.
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Prior to our acquisition of Pomeranz, our rotation was 60-percent complete, e.g., three of our starters were productive, while the remaining two, whoever was rotated in for the week, were horrifically unproductive.
It does appear that Eduardo Rodriguez may have turned the corner; however, this article is mainly referring to our rotation, as it has existed macroscopically throughout the entire 2016 campaign.
No other statistic better highlights our prescient need for a starter not named Price, Porcello, or Wright than the following: The Red Sox pitching staff has produced a total of 47 Quality Starts, and the three aforementioned names can lay claim to 39 of them. In other words, our fourth and fifth starting pitchers combined have produced a total of eight Quality Starts in all of 2016. The chart below further quantifies our dire need of assistance, (Pomeranz’s first start with the Red Sox was not included in these numbers):
| 2016 | Price, Wright, and Porcello | All Other Starters |
| Team Record in Starts | 36-21 | 16-18 |
| Quality Starts | 39 | 8 |
| FIP | 3.26 | 6.37 |
| ISO | 0.134 | 0.245 |
| BB% | 6.1 | 11.3 |
| K% | 22.0 | 15.4 |
Next: Pomeranz adds a cutter