Red Sox spring training plan for starting pitchers has backfired

The Boston Red Sox took a cautious approach by reducing the workload of their starting pitchers in spring training and the plan seems to have backfired.

Alex Cora had a plan entering spring training this year. Their World Series trip last fall left the Boston Red Sox with a shorter than usual offseason and with potentially another postseason run to look forward to, the manager had to find some additional rest for his pitchers.

Eduardo Rodriguez, who needed time to experiment with a revamped slider, was the only Red Sox starter to make four starts or reach 15+ innings in spring training. Rick Porcello and Chris Sale made three starts yet logged at least four fewer innings than the previous spring while David Price and Nathan Eovaldi were limited to two starts and no more than seven innings.

Spring training allows pitchers time to get back into the routine of facing live batters while building up their arm strength. The reduced workload has left the Red Sox staff ill-prepared for the regular season and it shows in how rusty they appear on the mound. Velocity is down, breaking balls have less bite, and far too many pitches are left hanging out over the plate.

The Red Sox have now completed one full turn through the rotation and remain without a quality start. Each starter has been tagged for 4+ runs, including Sale’s Opening Day meltdown in which he was shelled for seven earned runs in only three innings. It’s damning with faint praise to call Price’s outing the best of the batch when he gave up four runs and was one of three Red Sox starters to allow three home runs. Boston set a dubious record by allowing 11 home runs in the series in Seattle, the most ever by a  defending World Series champion in the first four games of a season.

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Needless to say, this is not how we envisioned one of the best rotations in baseball opening the season and explains the pitiful 1-4 record that places them in the basement of the AL East.

Does this mean the sky is falling and all hope is lost? Of course not. The Red Sox are only three games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays and they have 158 more games to close that gap. A slow start doesn’t necessarily mean a team is doomed. Red Sox Notes reminds us that the 1998 New York Yankees sputtered out to a 1-4 start only to end with a franchise-record 114 wins and a World Series title.

However, this stretch of futility can only be allowed to continue for so long before panic begins to seep in. If the Red Sox are going to use late March/early April as extended spring training, they risk digging themselves into a hole so deep that even this star-studded roster won’t be able to climb out of it.

Perhaps this first turn through the rotation was the final tuneup they needed and they’ll get back on track the next time they take the mound. We’ll find out tonight when Sale gets his shot at redemption. What if it takes more than one start though? What if it takes the Red Sox starters two or three starts before they finally find their form? Boston could be buried 10 games back in the division race by then.

Baseball players are creatures of habit and Cora has toyed with the schedule these pitchers are accustomed to. The decision was made with good intentions but comes with a risk that may have been overlooked. This plan may ultimately pay off if it ensures the rotation is strong enough to pitch deep into October again. The only problem is that the Red Sox need to make it to the postseason in order for the strategy to pay off.