Too Much Pitching? The Red Sox Have Seen This Before

The Boston Red Sox have a familiar problem heading into spring training. Too many quality starting pitchers.

Back in 2005 the Red Sox were confident that, even though they had parted ways with consummate ace Pedro Martinez, there were plenty of pitchers to send to the mound to construct a rotation that would be effective. However, an injury to Curt Shilling had the team scrambling to find its ace, and its identity.

Though Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo had above average years, they were no match for the monstrous rotation the Chicago White Sox threw at Boston in the ALDS, spelling an early demise for a short series rotation of Wakefield, Matt Clement, and David Wells.

Fret not Red Sox Nation! That’s all prologue to some good news.

Heading into 2010 the Sox will send a pitcher who has proven ace-worthiness three times out of five with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. This gives this rotation one of the few cases of “too much pitching” that could be viewed as a bit of a problem, one the Sox don’t mind having however.

Of the non-aces heading to the mound for the Sox this season will be Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. All of these pitchers have their issues behind them, and are looking to prove they’re worthy of the fourth or fifth spot in the rotation.

There are plenty of solutions to this problem, however, each and every one of them leaves a pitcher miffed in the process. Though it may ruffle his feathers, Buchholz may benefit from starting the year in AAA again and keeping his innings under control for the first month or two of the season, as Matsuzaka and Wakefield fill out the rotation.

After the first few months of the season, starting pitching will start to get thinner with the lack of off days, and Wakefield could be moved to a spot-starting role to spell tired aces and Buchholz could take the fifth spot in the rotation, leaving him a bit fresher down the stretch.

The only other viable option right now is to trade Buchholz, however he has next to no value on the market since there is little demand, I would expect to see him waived in the San Diego Padres face in July along with a massive package of prospects to finally get the Adrian Gonzales deal done (we may even see this deal get done before July is Ortiz starts out slow this year again).

Whatever the 2010 season brings the Red Sox, there’s a good chance the Sox will have an ace on the mound when they need one.

Having too much pitching is a problem the Red Sox are looking forward to dealing with.

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