Red Sox: What could possibly go wrong for Boston in 2017?
By Rick McNair
Clay Buchholz is missed.
Buchholz was a quick exit for a nice salary dump to get under the luxury tax threshold. The Philadelphia Phillies sent a player in return who may not be able to crack the lineup – in Portland. Buchholz was expendable despite the occasional glimmer in 2016, but that has always been his Modus Operandi.
If we suddenly yearn for Buchholz that means the vaunted starting rotation has just hit a 9.0 on the pitching Richter scale.
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Chris Sale has a noted funky delivery and the unimaginable is an elbow “issue” that means extended time off. Rick Porcello can always show that 2016 was an illusion and return to the Porcello of 2015 that had caused a rush on tar and feathers. Make it a threesome with the potential Cy Young winners and that means David Price slides back to the first half of 2016 for the entire 162 game slate.
Steven Wright was an All-Star, but the asterisk is Wright tosses a knuckleball and that is as flighty as my daughter when she was a teenager. Eduardo Rodriguez is just 24-years-old and came on strong in the second half posting a 3.24 ERA. What happens if E-Rod also reverts back to the negative?
Just the thought of a rotation that suddenly has all the pieces for the best in my memory and then those very pieces just don’t fit together. Imagine Henry Owens being your top of the rotation go to guy or an APB sent to the Nexen Heroes of the KBO for Sean O’Sullivan.