Pitchers
Going into Spring Training, everyone was talking about the 3-headed monster of Chris Sale, David Price, and Rick Porcello. Dave Dombrowski made the acquisition of reliever Tyler Thornburg. And suddenly, it seemed like most of the pitching problems were fixed.
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First, David Price goes down with an elbow injury. This injury has sidelined him for the considerable future, and everything is still up in the air. Carson Smith will not be ready to come back from his Tommy John surgery until roughly June. Then, Tyler Thornburg will start the season on the DL with a right shoulder impingement.
All of these pitching injuries have let one man capitalize. Robby Scott is looking as a shoe-in to come out of the bullpen for Opening Day. While he was not drafted in 2011, Theo Epstein purchased his contract from an independent team that year. Epstein had a giant haul that year for Boston. Mookie Betts, Matt Barnes, Jackie Bradley Jr, Blake Swihart, and Travis Shaw were all selected by the Red Sox.
Scott fought through years of the minors to make his debut last year. And he was an effective lefty reliever. Scott has had a very good spring, giving up only 1 run in 11 innings pitched. If he can continue this, he could be an X-factor for the team this year.
Unlike Scott, Noe Ramirez did not take advantage of his time at JetBlue Park. Just like Deven Marrero, Ramirez was sent down on March 27th. In less than 10 innings, Ramirez had already allowed 5 runs. In the current state of the bullpen, this spring was pivotal into trying to take a bullpen spot. Robby Scott did just that, Noe Ramirez did not.