OK, I know it's only one start and one turn through the rotation. SSS galore. I know Wright is a knuckleballer and is therefore naturally a little more trick or treat than many starters.
But this question has been on my mind for a while and was only a tiny bit reinforced by the first 5 games.
None of starters 2-4 (sans Eduardo) should fill us with confidence. Or a lot of confidence.
Clay has the highest ceiling and obviously has been ace like at times. But he is prone to bad skids and even in the best of times, often breaks down. Maybe it's his slight frame, maybe it's a lack of conditioning, maybe it's genetic and maybe it's a combination. But the most likely 2 is really a roll of the dice long term, in my view.
Kelly looked great at the end of last season but he's another guy who has a lot of trouble staying effective and healthy for an entire season. Does anyone really expect that in 2016? I do not. Hope, yes, but that's all.
Porcello is what he is. A mediocre to maybe good pitcher who got way overpaid by Cherington, and is probably at best a 4 type starter. He also finished last season strong and unlike Buck and Kelly, has been pretty durable over his career. But Saturday's outing was not unusual. Putting your team in a hole is no way to achieve success, at least not consistently. I think the best we can reasonably hope for is 3-5 runs per game over 6-7 innings, or something like that. Hell, I would take that deal.
That brings me to Wright. He was serviceable last year and gave them some good starts. He, like Wake, might take opposing hitters out of their usual approach and provide an advantage to whoever follows him if the opponent is the same in the next game. I have some hope that he might be a good 4-5 on this team, even while I know that his long term record is somewhat wanting.
But if Sox had to win a game and neither Price or Rodriguez were available, I'd tab be inclined to tab Wright. Caveat: facts on the ground at the time could change that...this is really more of a prediction than what anyone could say about the future.
As a result, assuming he continues to pitch reasonably well, I think the Sox would be well served to at least consider keeping him in the rotation rather than automatically shifting him to the pen or AAA when E-Rod returns.
Two things.
One, yes, injury often has a way of taking care of these things. The 2004 rotation was an extreme outlier. And with this particular mix of pitchers, it would be of no surprise if that's how the Wright issue got resolved. No one would be shocked if Wright plus someone now in Pawtucket end up in the rotation
Two, again, I know, one turn is the very definition of the smallest of samples. I know it's a time honored tradition here, for good reason, to be keenly aware of that factor. But Like many, I have been down on the remaining starters and concerned that this would be a fatal flaw for the 2016 Sox for weeks if not months, so this is substantially more of a reaction to that and the hope that Wright may be a partial solution than anything else. Yesterday was a nod your head moment for me, not an AHA moment.
But this question has been on my mind for a while and was only a tiny bit reinforced by the first 5 games.
None of starters 2-4 (sans Eduardo) should fill us with confidence. Or a lot of confidence.
Clay has the highest ceiling and obviously has been ace like at times. But he is prone to bad skids and even in the best of times, often breaks down. Maybe it's his slight frame, maybe it's a lack of conditioning, maybe it's genetic and maybe it's a combination. But the most likely 2 is really a roll of the dice long term, in my view.
Kelly looked great at the end of last season but he's another guy who has a lot of trouble staying effective and healthy for an entire season. Does anyone really expect that in 2016? I do not. Hope, yes, but that's all.
Porcello is what he is. A mediocre to maybe good pitcher who got way overpaid by Cherington, and is probably at best a 4 type starter. He also finished last season strong and unlike Buck and Kelly, has been pretty durable over his career. But Saturday's outing was not unusual. Putting your team in a hole is no way to achieve success, at least not consistently. I think the best we can reasonably hope for is 3-5 runs per game over 6-7 innings, or something like that. Hell, I would take that deal.
That brings me to Wright. He was serviceable last year and gave them some good starts. He, like Wake, might take opposing hitters out of their usual approach and provide an advantage to whoever follows him if the opponent is the same in the next game. I have some hope that he might be a good 4-5 on this team, even while I know that his long term record is somewhat wanting.
But if Sox had to win a game and neither Price or Rodriguez were available, I'd tab be inclined to tab Wright. Caveat: facts on the ground at the time could change that...this is really more of a prediction than what anyone could say about the future.
As a result, assuming he continues to pitch reasonably well, I think the Sox would be well served to at least consider keeping him in the rotation rather than automatically shifting him to the pen or AAA when E-Rod returns.
Two things.
One, yes, injury often has a way of taking care of these things. The 2004 rotation was an extreme outlier. And with this particular mix of pitchers, it would be of no surprise if that's how the Wright issue got resolved. No one would be shocked if Wright plus someone now in Pawtucket end up in the rotation
Two, again, I know, one turn is the very definition of the smallest of samples. I know it's a time honored tradition here, for good reason, to be keenly aware of that factor. But Like many, I have been down on the remaining starters and concerned that this would be a fatal flaw for the 2016 Sox for weeks if not months, so this is substantially more of a reaction to that and the hope that Wright may be a partial solution than anything else. Yesterday was a nod your head moment for me, not an AHA moment.
