It Appears The Red Sox Know What Their Five-Man Rotation Will Look Like To Start The Season
In a perfect world, Boston’s rotation would look something like Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Drew Pomeranz, and Eduardo Rodriguez. You’ll still get Sale, Price, and Porcello, but Pomeranz experienced forearm tightness in his start back on March 2 and Rodriguez is still recovering from patellofemoral ligament reconstruction surgery on his right knee, which he had this past October.
Some updates on both of those guys — Pomeranz threw two simulated innings yesterday, while Rodriguez also threw three innings of live batting practice, and is set to make a minor league start on Tuesday. Scott Lauber reported that Rodriguez told him that “he hasn’t pitched with such minimal concern for the stability of his knee since 2015″ and that “it no longer seems far-fetched that he could be ready to take his first turn in the rotation.”
All encouraging signs, but the Red Sox still have to prepare themselves to start the season without Rodriguez and/or Pomeranz in the rotation, which it appears they have put themselves in a position to do.
For the time being, Cora acknowledged, his five-man rotation consists of Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Hector Velazquez and Brian Johnson. Those two will round out the rotation if none of the injured starters is ready.
“It looks that way,” Cora said. “We have to stretch those two guys. You saw the moves we made, so as far as starters, those are the guys that we feel comfortable with them, that can give us solid starts.”
There were two other rotation candidates, but Jalen Beeks was sent down to minor league camp, and Roenis Elias was converted full-time to the bullpen.
Love a good HJ, but am also very big on BJ. Hector Velazquez is the wild card here. Last season, the 29-year-old appeared in eight games for the Red Sox, three of them starts, and posted a 2.92 ERA and 1.14 WHIP with 19 strikeouts in 24.2 innings. A small sample size, but still relatively impressive results, although his success last year came almost solely as a reliever. As a starter, opposing batters teed off on Velazquez, hitting him at a .304 clip with a .921 OPS, hence why he’s a wild card.
Speaking of wild cards, you also have Steven Wright waiting in the wings, so he’ll get a look eventually. Velazquez has two options remaining on his contract, but Johnson is out of them. If and when the Red Sox are willing to give Wright a look in the rotation, they can option Velazquez down to Pawtucket and move Johnson to the bullpen, assuming that whenever Wright is healthy enough to rejoin the rotation, Rodriguez likely will be, too.