The Red Sox seem to have a solid starting rotation in place for 2010 with Lester, Beckett, Dice-K, Buchholz, and Wake but one or more of them is bound to be injured for a significant part of the season. When that happens the team has limited options. Bowden and Tazawa both stepped in at times but neither looked ready for the majors yet. This is where Theo tries to find one of those bargain guys that has been thrown on the scrap heap. Last season he tried it with Penny and Smoltz and even though they didn’t work out he has not given up on the strategy.
“But the reality is, looking at our club, we want sort of a complement to Tim Wakefield in the fifth starter’s role. We’re probably not going to end up with a front-line free agent starting pitcher with the way we look at the market and the nature of the market these days. Could we end up with another buy-low, high-upside, low-risk starting pitcher somewhere on the roster? Sure. And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll move on.”
Sean McAdam of the Herald believes that Rich Harden, Ben Sheets, and Mark Mulder are three potential pitchers the Red Sox will look at this winter.
If Theo’s plan works out with any one of those guys the rotation will look good and as we all know, you can never have too much pitching. The problem for the Red Sox next season is really going to be offense; a place where the bargain basement offers far less options.
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