Red Sox pitchers on the fringe of making 2018 Opening Day roster

The Red Sox are in the midst of Hot Stove Season. The player acquisition world is their oyster. However, it’s easy to forget that they don’t have to acquire players to patch every hole in their roster.

The Boston Red Sox, despite what you might believe, have questions regarding their pitching staff.

Eduardo Rodriguez had offseason knee surgery, and will miss time in 2018 as a result. The depth behind the starting rotation is iffy at best. Tyler Thornburg has yet to throw a pitch in a Red Sox uniform. Their bullpen in general, as it stands right now, is not as good as it appeared in 2017.

See what I mean about the questions facing the Red Sox pitching staff?

If the Red Sox want to be a perennial playoff contender – and give the powerhouse teams in the AL a run at the World Series – they’re going to have to solve said problems.

Since we’re in the throes of Hot Stove Season, fans and media alike tend to forget that some of these problems could be solved by players that the Red Sox already have signed to contracts.

This piece is akin to what I did with Red Sox position players knocking on the door of the Major Leagues. I’ll try to convince you – through the power of statistics – that free agency or trades aren’t the best solution to every problem or hole regarding the pitching staff.

So, without further ado, I made a list.

SOURCES: Baseball-reference dot com, MLB dot com