2016 Starting Pitching

[redseat]

1. David Price
2. Buchholz
3. Joe Kelly
4. Rick Porcello/Eduardo Rodriguez (Assuming he is healthy)
5. Joe Kelly

On paper I guess not a bad rotation but in reality will this be enough to get it done? Price will be fine. Joe Kelly did bounce back for the most part and the rest is just up in the air.

 

[redseat]

Price will headline a rotation that includes Clay Buchholz (whose $13MM club option for 2016 was unsurprisingly exercised by the team), Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and Joe Kelly. Rodriguez will likely miss the first few weeks of the season recovering from a dislocated kneecap, so new acquisition Roenis Elias or knuckleballerSteven Wright will compete to be Rodriguez’s fill-in or even push Kelly for the fifth spot.

The Sox had something of a rotation surplus even before Price signed, so the team was comfortable letting late-season surprise Rich Hillleave in free agency. After Price joined the club, Boston made room by dealing Wade Miley to Seattle in exchange for Elias and righty reliever Carson Smith.

Offseason In Review: Boston Red Sox

 

[navamind]

A rotation where Joe Kelly starts twice is pretty bad.

 

[redseat]

A rotation where Joe Kelly starts twice is pretty bad.

hahaha woops! Thanks for catching that

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Damn Sox postponed today. I took the day off and was looking forward to seeing Price's first start.

 

[redseat]

Damn Sox postponed today. I took the day off and was looking forward to seeing Price's first start.

Yeah I wanted to see it. Though I wouldn't since I am still at work

 

[#1BostonFan]

Will need another front end of the rotation guy. I think will be a contender this season and will need to add a pitcher before the deadline to compete. Not a bad rotation as it sits, but we need to improve. Price has looked great so far.

 

[redseat]

Will need another front end of the rotation guy. I think will be a contender this season and will need to add a pitcher before the deadline to compete. Not a bad rotation as it sits, but we need to improve. Price has looked great so far.

Woops!

I thought Farrell was supposed to be a pitching guru. Yet when he became the manager (i know there is some disconnect) but the pitching certainly hasn't improved

 

[navamind]

Price will be fine. He's had rough starts before. Plenty of other great pitchers have had slow starts (Sabathia in 2008, Jon Lester in 2008-10). Price's FIP/xFIP marks are well below 3.00 (2.53/2.69; in fact, they'd be career bests). That .379 BABIP allowed isn't going to last forever.

Porcello's picked up where he left off last year when he came off the DL. He's been striking out nearly a batter an inning while limiting walks. He's still giving up his share of home runs, but overall, he's pitching pretty well. He seems to work very well with Vazquez.

Wright's not going to keep the sub-2 ERA up, but even then, he's certainly earned his spot in the rotation at this point. Which is good, given the struggles of Joe Kelly and Henry Owens' command issues. Owens is still pretty young and I still think he has a shot as a SP, especially with that changeup (which is a legit out pitch). Joe Kelly's a tough one because I think he profiles much better as a reliever, but given the Sox bullpen depth, there isn't really a place for him in the bullpen right now.

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Steven Wright is looking great. He's making the rotation look decent. As someone else mentioned Sox need another starter b4 the deadline.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

ERod will be that missing starter. Last night was strange, he threw 80% fastballs that appeared to be mostly 92 MPH. But his location was really good and he got help with Young taking away a 2 run bomb. If his velocity returns to 95-96 he will be huge.

 

[navamind]

ERod will be that missing starter. Last night was strange, he threw 80% fastballs that appeared to be mostly 92 MPH. But his location was really good and he got help with Young taking away a 2 run bomb. If his velocity returns to 95-96 he will be huge.

Yup. Sox just need a #5 starter and they should be set. Sox starters are currently 17th in fWAR, and that was with Kelly/Buchholz stinking up the joint/Price's unlucky start. They're not the '97 Braves, but they don't need to be. At least not with this offense. Red Sox did just fine in 2013 (Sox starters were 13th in MLB).

 

[navamind]

Elias with another strong performance in AAA. 40/8 K/BB and 2.00 ERA in his last 36 IP (five starts).

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

Good God has ERod looked bad.

 

[navamind]

Almost every team has struggles with their #4/5 starters, but good god this is frustrating.

 

[navamind]

Yup. Sox just need a #5 starter and they should be set. Sox starters are currently 17th in fWAR, and that was with Kelly/Buchholz stinking up the joint/Price's unlucky start. They're not the '97 Braves, but they don't need to be. At least not with this offense. Red Sox did just fine in 2013 (Sox starters were 13th in MLB).

And then Eduardo follows my post up with three shaky starts.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

Lets hope the reports that he is tipping his pitches is on point and it can be corrected. He still looks to be struggling with his command, walking the #9 hitter simply can not happen.

 

[redseat]

every pitcher seems to be "tipping" their pitches

 

[navamind]

Even with some of the recent struggles, Sox starters have 41 "quality starts", 11th in MLB. The definition of a QS is kinda sketchy, but it still suggests there's some consistency. Of course, 34 of those have come from Price/Wright/Porcello. The #4/5 guys have just been complete garbage.

Hard to complain too much about the way the season's gone so far. They're 45-37 and only 2 games back of a team whose rotation is even worse than the Sox. And all things considered, the Sox future looks a little brighter than the rest of the division. Last few weeks have been frustrating, but I'm still pretty happy with the way this season's going.

Sox could very well score 900+ runs this year, and most of those key contributors (JBJ, Betts, Bogaerts) won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Even with Shaw's regression, he's still got a 105 wRC+ and he's looked pretty solid defensively at 3rd. Both WARs have him around 2.0, which is pretty solid.

Pedroia's playing at a high level again, though injuries/age will always be a concern. Hanley's batted .313/.408/.554 over the last 28 days, but he's batting .436/.532/.821 in his last 11 games. So at least he's finally hitting.

 

[redseat]

Even with some of the recent struggles, Sox starters have 41 "quality starts", 11th in MLB. The definition of a QS is kinda sketchy, but it still suggests there's some consistency. Of course, 34 of those have come from Price/Wright/Porcello. The #4/5 guys have just been complete garbage.

Hard to complain too much about the way the season's gone so far. They're 45-37 and only 2 games back of a team whose rotation is even worse than the Sox. And all things considered, the Sox future looks a little brighter than the rest of the division. Last few weeks have been frustrating, but I'm still pretty happy with the way this season's going.

Sox could very well score 900+ runs this year, and most of those key contributors (JBJ, Betts, Bogaerts) won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Even with Shaw's regression, he's still got a 105 wRC+ and he's looked pretty solid defensively at 3rd. Both WARs have him around 2.0, which is pretty solid.

Pedroia's playing at a high level again, though injuries/age will always be a concern. Hanley's batted .313/.408/.554 over the last 28 days, but he's batting .436/.532/.821 in his last 11 games. So at least he's finally hitting.

At some point the offense has to stop and the pitching needs to pick up the slack... Price finally had a great outing on Sunday!