Which pitchers will be in the 2023 Red Sox starting rotation?
The 2022 starting rotation was a merry-go-round, with the number of pitchers making starts for the Sox numbering in the double digits.
As of now, the starting rotation for 2023 will be Nick Pivetta, Chris Sale, James Paxton, Garrett Whitlock, and Brayan Bello. The Sox also extended a Qualifying Offer to Nathan Eovaldi this week, and it’s hard to see him turning down a salary of over $19M.
Sale has been one of the most unlucky pitchers in baseball since the Sox won the World Series in 2018. An injury-shortened 2019 season led to Tommy John surgery in April 2020. He returned in August 2021, but then missed the first few months of the 2022 season to heal from a stress fracture in his ribs. When he returned from the rib injury, he broke his pinky on a comebacker from Aaron Hicks in his second start of the season, requiring surgery. While rehabbing that injury, he was in a bike accident and broke his wrist, requiring a second surgery.
At the GM Meetings in Las Vegas this week, the Sox revealed that Garrett Whitlock will be a starter in 2023. In his nine starts in 2022, he posted a 4.15 ERA, a number skewed by a rough start against Seattle.