Know how I know it's a slow news week around Fenway Park? Joe McDonald of ESPN Boston is trying to drum up a conversation around whether the Red Sox rotation (which currently consists of 2 1/2 pitchers) should be considered top 10 in the majors.
If last season caused you to drink so much that the last five months have been wiped completely from your mind, McDonald gives you the current state of the Sox rotation. It ain't pretty:
At this point only Jon Lester and Josh Beckett have defining roles. Clay Buchholz still has to prove that his lower back is healthy and he’s ready to pitch. Who knows what Daisuke Matsuzaka will add after the right-hander missed the majority of last season after having Tommy John surgery. He’s scheduled to start throwing off a mound in spring training but it’s unclear when he’ll be ready for the rotation. Right-hander John Lackey will miss the entire 2012 season after having the same procedure done.
Plus, Bard and Aceves, assuming they can get comfortable as starters. McDonald also throws out the same names we've been hearing the past few weeks as potential free agent signings: Saunders, Oswalt, Kuroda and Edwin Jackson. Plus the "potential" return of Wakefield (at this point they might as well sign him to a one year deal, get on their knees and make sacrificial offerings to Father Time).
If I was controlling John Henry's bank account, I'd throw some money at Oswalt and Jackson and try to get them to agree to one-year deals. Actually, if I was controlling Henry's bank account signing pitchers would probably be one of the last things I'd do, trailing things like purchasing private islands and exotic sports cars. But once those were secured, I'd go get some arms. Because right now, our plan is to cross our fingers and hope for the best.
And if you didn't know, Jose Bautista feasts on crossed fingers.
