Red Sox: Five most disappointing players from 2020 season

Back of the Red Sox rotation

Boston used a staggering 16 different starting pitchers in a 60-game season. A handful of them were only used once in that role and many of them served as a one-inning opener.

The Red Sox cycled through a seemingly endless collection of underwhelming options, the baseball equivalent of throwing mud at a wall hoping some of it will stick. Predictably, very few of them did stick.

Ryan Weber was solid down the stretch out of the bullpen but his opportunity in the rotation to open the season was a disaster. Weber was 0-2 with a 7.11 ERA in five starts compared to a 2.25 ERA in 12 relief appearances.

Boston scooped up Zack Godley following his release from the Detroit Tigers hoping that he could at least eat some innings. His seven starts were the third-most on the team despite that he was arguably their most ineffective starter. Godley posted a putrid 8.16 ERA in eight appearances (one in relief) before ending his season on the injured list with an elbow flexor strain.

Kyle Hart showed some potential in the minors last year but his first taste of the big leagues went horribly wrong. He owned a 15.55 ERA in four appearances, including three starts.

Chris Mazza ended his season on a high note but the overall results weren’t promising. He went 1-2 with a 5.01 ERA in six starts.

The Red Sox finally received some strong production from the back end of their staff when Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck joined the rotation late in the season. It was too late to save the season but at least they provided some optimism for next year.

There were too many failed experiments along the way to single out any individual starter. The real disappointment is management’s failure to assemble anything resembling a viable major league rotation.