Sale, Price, Porcello in that order for Red Sox to start the season, Alex Cora announces. Brian Johnson also likely in the rotation to begin. Eduardo Rodriguez has a chance to be in there too, depending how he does next time out.
2018 OD Rotation--Sale, Price, Porcello, Johnson, TBD
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Sale, Price, Porcello in that order for Red Sox to start the season, Alex Cora announces. Brian Johnson also likely in the rotation to begin. Eduardo Rodriguez has a chance to be in there too, depending how he does next time out.
Makes sense. Hopefully just one start has to be made by Brian Johnson before Pomeranz returns and Erod slides into that 5th spot. Wright in the bullpen to start the season when BJ gets sent down?
Brian Johnson can't be sent down. He's out of options. If he's not in the rotation, he's in the bullpen or he's DFA.
Do they have room for him with a healthy Erod and Wright? Wonder how the bullpen will shape out.
He threw in a minor league game today. 3.1 innings, 62 pitches. Assuming no ill effects from this outing, he may make a start for the big league club this weekend. If all goes well, he might only need one more start before he's good to go in terms of being stretched out for 100 pitches.
There's not one "pitching line" in Spring Training that I pay attention to. If Kershaw wasn't striking out anyone and doing nothing but giving up HR's and BB's, I wouldn't be concerned. These guys are mostly working on stuff and getting their mechanics back in order.
That said.... this is the year, IMO, that will really sway me on Rodriguez's future as a starter... will he take the next step and STAY THERE???? We've seen several stretches where he's pitched like a 1a or a 2 type of starter for a playoff hopeful team and then mechanics or injuries derail him..... Would the real EdRod please step forward!!!!
I believe Sackamano is cleverly referring to this:
"When Eckersley reportedly said “yuck” after seeing Eduardo Rodriguez’s poor stats in a rehab start — three earned runs over 5.1 innings — Price fumed."
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/24/dennis-eckersley-under-fire-from-some-red-sox-for-ludicrous-reasons/
Since 1970, 47 lefthanded pitchers have thrown at least 300 innings with an average-or-better ERA through their age-24 season. It's a pretty encouraging list. Of course there are some busts on it, but not a lot of them.
On that list of 47, Rodriguez ranks 10th in K rate -- better than Zito, Price, Valenzuela, Swindell, Righetti, Quintana, Lester, Pettitte, Mulder, Avery, Hampton. He ranks 24th in BB rate -- better than Hampton, Valenzuela, Kershaw, Lester, Zito, Price, Sabathia, Santana. He ranks 22nd in OPS+ allowed -- better than Kazmir, Sabathia, Bumgarner, Quintana, and Hampton.
He's been pretty good, overall. If he gets much better, he'll be really good. So if by "will the real EdRod please step forward", we mean "are you just a pretty good pitcher like a Milton or a Danks, or are you a very good pitcher like a Lester or a Sabathia?" then I think that's a valid question to be asking, and boy is it a fun question to be asking about your #5 guy.
EDIT: Trimmed a few comps to make the distinction clearer.
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Shit like this is why I love this place. This has made my optimism for the '18 Sox go from 7 to 9 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being certain of an appearance in the WS).
His issue is clearly health, heavily combined with confidence in his health. When he has one, he's still ok. When he has both, he's been better than that.
Considering the rise in k%, it may be a good idea to keep that in mind when comparing Erod to the rest of that list. But I am also high on him and think he has a great chance to really put it together this year. Not that he's been bad before now, but get past the knee issues and have a consistently good season.
Don't forget that E-Rod's stats were negatively affected by the pitch-tipping at various points. Just read an article (Tomase on EEI) that Cora is confident that this problem is completely solved, which should also lead to greater consistency and improved performance.
I'm looking for a big year from E-Rod.
I'm looking for a big year from E-Rod.
Has to be. Six games in a row to start the season, all in domes so no rainouts, then a day off then the home opener. Based on Price starting game 2, it would be his turn. Can't imagine they'd re-shuffle he and Porcello that early on, or give them extra rest by inserting Pomeranz or Rodriguez that soon.
Dombrowski says they (Pom and ERod) are not going to pitch until at least the first homestand.
I wouldn't mind plugging in a 6th starter against the New Orleans Baby Cakes. Do we really want Sale hitting on the 2nd start of the season? Or get a couple of extra days of rest?
Even assuming all three of Sale, Price and Porcello remain healthy, this is still a bad idea.
Get each actual MLB pitcher as many starts as possible in MLB games that count in the MLB regular season standings until Pomeranz, Rodriguez, and Wright are also MLB-ready.
The Red Sox don’t need to neutralize their competitive advantage against Miami by throwing Chandler Shepherd or Jalen Beeks out there instead of Chris Sale.
Seriously. We get a little luck in terms of health and in terms of guys like Hanley Ramirez, Rick Porcello, and Brian Johnson hitting the top half of their performance curve and we're gonna be doing shit that makes the minstrels weep.
Sale can stand in the batters box and watch three down the middle with his bat on his shoulder if they're concerned about him pulling a Bartolo. I don't think the offense would suffer too much by it. (though he was 1 for 3 with a double last year)
They've already significantly cut back on his spring work to try to prevent late season burnout. I don't think they need to go overboard and rest him for seven days after his first start. Besides, between guys like Pomeranz and Rodriguez being slated to join the rotation after the first road trip and the two off-days surrounding the home opener, they can give Sale that week long rest then without having to use their 8th or 9th best starter, even if it is against the Marlins. Also, how are they getting that extra starter on the roster in the first place? They've already got a crowded 25-man.
Minstrels don't like round numbers is all I'm saying.
Sounds like Erod or Wright could start game 4 of the season but neither wouldn’t pitch in Miami where they would have to hit.
If I were to guess, it would be Wright (or Velezquez) starting the fourth game and Brian Johnson starting the first game in Miami. That gives Rodriguez time to make an additional minor league or simulated start before debuting some time in the second week of April (13th or 14th vs the Orioles?).
The article linked below echoes this:
"Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Wednesday that left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez and right-hander Steven Wright are both "in play" as candidates to start the fourth game of the regular season against the Rays rather than going on the disabled list...
Rodriguez and Wright are both coming back from knee surgeries, which is why they are candidates to pitch the fourth game against the Rays, but not either of the two games in the second series of the season at Miami, which will be played under National League rules. Cora doesn't want either pitcher to have to hit or run the bases."
https://www.mlb.com/news/red-sox-wright-rodriguez-may-start-4th-game/c-269285856
I wonder if Cora would consider the following unusual approach if both Wright and ERod are ready to pitch against Miami:
Top of 1st: use Swihart or another bench player as the #3 hitter.
Sub out Swihart for ERod, who would pitch 2-3 innings then be lifted for a pinch hitter.
In the bottom of the inning, Wright would go in for 2-3 innings. Then when his turn came up, Moreland would go in to pinch hit and as a defensive replacement, while the pitcher would go in for HRam (who would need to be batting 2nd or 4th).
Then at that point just go to the pen for the final 4 innings.
I know keeping both pitchers burns a roster spot and the bench would be short for this game, but if they are really both ready to pitch this probably gives the RS the best pitching option over the the 1st 5. In addition, it would be likely that even in the best case scenario it is hard to imagine either going longer than 5 innings.
I saw an article earlier this week quoting Wright as saying he expected to break camp with the team, but he's apparently just about on the same timeline as Rodriguez in terms of making starts. Neither has thrown against big league hitters yet (other than maybe intrasquad or BP). Rodriguez is apparently on track to maybe start a game this weekend for the big club. No such news regarding Wright that I can find, but he is scheduled to throw 4 innings in a minor league game today. But even with that, neither is likely ready to throw more than 70-75 pitches. It would probably benefit them both to make another start in a minor league game rather than in St Pete since Velezquez is stretched out to handle a 100 pitch load by then.
I rather suspect that if they're both ready to go, they'll make the decision on rotation and bullpen spots betwixt Rodriguez, Wright, and Johnson.
Alternately, one of Rodriguez and Wright will be on the DL to stretch out for a few starts.
Baseball is not a game where people fuck around with stuff like this often.