Alex Cora sets the Red Sox rotation to begin title defense
Opening Day is tomorrow and the Boston Red Sox will be starting their title defense against the Mariners in Seattle. Alex Cora has named his starting rotation and the Chessmaster is already at work.
The Red Sox are ready to start their march towards October and it all begins in Seattle on Thursday. After a rocky spring training performance Boston will be looking to get the season off on a hot start. As reported by Chris Cotillo of Masslive.com, Alex Cora finally named his rotation that will launch the Boston title defense and it’s a bit different compared to what we know.
The Red Sox star their 2019 with an 11-game road trip, 4 of which will be in Seattle starting Thursday. Leading the charge against the Mariners will be the newly re-signed ace of the Boston pitching staff, Chris Sale. After a strong start to 2018 and an injury plagues end of the season, Chris will be looking to once again be in the Cy Young conversation in 2019. Sale will take the mound on Opening Day for the second year in a row for the Red Sox.
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The Condor will be followed in game 2 by the hero of the World Series, Nathan Eovaldi. Nasty Nate was held off until the very end of spring training and is ready to once again show Red Sox Nation what he has in the tank. After a strong second half with the Red Sox in 2018 and becoming the heart and soul of Boston during the World Series, Eovaldi was rewarded with a new 4-year/$68M contract.
Game 3 will see Eduardo Rodriguez take the hill for the first time in 2019. The soon to be 26-year-old had an alright spring training. He posted a 3.60 ERA over 15 IP while striking out 19 and walking 5. Not bad at all but Rodriguez needs to finally start working towards his potential or he could see himself become expendable as the season goes on. The Red Sox will need their starters to perform at the highest level this season with the lack of bullpen support attained during free agency.
Rick Porcello gets the call for the final game in Seattle and is in the #4 slot in the rotation. Porcello is in the final year of his deal and will be a free agent once the calendar flips to 2020. Much like Eovaldi, Rick was a major reason why the Red Sox were able to win the World Series. If he wasn’t starting he would make his way to the bullpen and stay ready if Alex Cora ever needed to call upon him.
Finally, we get to David Price. Price won’t be pitching in Seattle but will actually open the series against the Oakland A’s. 2018 was a year that David Price won’t ever forget as not only did he get to raise the Commissioner’s Trophy but he also shook off his postseason demons. After a rocky start in October, he was able to find his confidence and dominate through the finality of the playoffs.
The rotation consists of all the same names that Red Sox Nation is familiar with but they’ve gone through a bit of a shakeup since 2018. Fans are familiar with the order of Sale, Price, Porcello, Eovaldi, and Rodriguez. At first glance, I thought that Cora may be trying to mix up his right and left-handed pitchers but he actually still has them going 2 left followed by 3 right, it’s just how you look at it.
The grand scheme from those of us on the outside looking in seems that Cora wants a strong pitcher in Sale opening the season and a strong pitcher in Price kicking off the second series of the season. The way things are lined up will also give Cora the best chance to call on Sale for the Fenway Park opener as well. He’s alluded to using a sixth pitcher towards the end of the road trip to not only guarantee Sale gets the mound at Fenway but to also give his arms an extra day of rest.
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After what felt like the longest winter in baseball history we’ve finally arrived at Opening Day. With what seems like every other team beefing up their rosters to knock the Red Sox off the throne Alex Cora has his first line of defense set. If 2018 and spring training are any indication of how this starting rotation will perform this season, there’s a good chance another World Series title will be coming to Fenway Park. The Red Sox kick off their World Series title defense against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday at 7 pm EST.