Standing Pat at Deadline Will Haunt Red Sox

The Trade Deadline passed Monday without the Boston Red Sox making another move for starting pitching.

August has begun and the Red Sox have the same starting rotation that they had last week. There is no Chris Sale coming to save the day. There was no blockbuster trade. The Red Sox are going to have to work with what they already have in their rotation.

Boston not landing a pitcher of Sale’s caliber is going to come back to hurt the team badly if they are able to make the postseason. Boston’s current starting rotation consists of David Price, Steven Wright, Rick Porcello, Drew Pomeranz, and Eduardo Rodriguez. A rotation like that looks rather solid if you first look at it. Surely, the team would be able to get through the the playoffs with a rotation like that right? The answer however, is no they cannot.

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Which pitcher do you trust the most to hand the ball to with the entire season on the line? Do you trust David Price? He currently has a 4.26 ERA on the season and has given up 16 home runs. Even if he was having a season along his career averages, it would still be difficult to trust him in such a high pressure game. Price’s career playoff numbers are not pretty. In the postseason he has a 5.12 ERA in 8 starts. That is brutal for a pitcher who’s career ERA is 3.20 in the regular season.

Next there is Steven Wright. As marvelous as he has been over most of the season, would you trust him in a deciding game? What do the Red Sox do if it is raining the morning of his start? Throughout the season, the negative effect the weather can have on Wright’s knuckleball has been brought up again and again. And again and again, it has been proven true. For Wright to be effective, he needs to be able to have a perfect grip on the ball.

Not only is there the weather, but Wright just hasn’t been as dominant since the all-star break. In the four games he has pitched since the break, there has only been one of them where he allowed less than 3 runs. If he is going to be relied upon in the postseason he is going to need to get back on track.

Drew Pomeranz has been a mixed bag since coming to Boston. He allowed 5 runs in both his first and most recent start for the Red Sox. In his only other start he pitched well and allowed only two runs while going 6 innings. The amount of innings he pitches could also become an issue down the stretch.

Pomeranz has never pitched anywhere close to 200 innings in a season. His arm getting fatigued down the road could become a real problem. Overall, there is still hope that he will pitch as well as he did for San Diego, but it’s not something you should bet on.

Then, there is Eduardo Rodriguez. He has pitched very well in his last few outings since being called back up to the team. In his four starts since being called back up, he has only had one game where he allowed more than two runs. The problem is that everyone can still remember just how brutal his first half of the season was. He was constantly tipping pitches and afraid to throw anything but his fastball. With all of that in mind, as well as the fact that he is so young, it is hard to trust him in a game that decides the season.

Finally, there is Rick Porcello, who has unexpectedly been the most dependable pitcher for the team this season. He holds a 3.47 ERA with a record of 14-2 on the season. He is yet to lose a game when pitching at Fenway this year. The Red Sox always seem to have a chance to win when Porcello is on the mound.

However, Porcello is not an ace. He is not the type of pitcher that makes you feel like you have the game won before it even starts. It is not a good situation when Rick Porcello is the best starter a team has to use in a win-or-go-home game.

All of these points are the reasons that the Red Sox should have moved heaven and earth to acquire a starter like Chris Sale at the deadline. This decision is going to come back to bite them in the postseason. The current rotation is simply too much of a wildcard to be trusted in a playoff series. Boston had better hope that its bats are wide awake come October if they want to survive.

Sources: http://www.baseball-reference.com/

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