Edes: Reasons For Optimism With Red Sox' Starting Rotation
BOSTON (CBS) -- As many Red Sox players begin their spring workouts down in Fort Myers, a number of questions remain about the makeup of the roster.
Chief among them pertain to the starting rotation, a unit that consists of five solid starters but no true "ace."
ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes addressed the topic with Levan Reid on Sports Final, and while Edes admitted the rotation is the biggest question mark heading into the season, there is room for optimism.
"Let's remember that last year's rotation, outside of Jon Lester, the ace who is no longer here, this was kind of a shaky rotation," Edes said. "Clay Buchholz needed to be shut down in May, Jake Peavy won one game for the first three, four months of the season, Felix Doubront got traded to the Cubs. There were a lot of issues with the rotation.
"What Ben Cherington has done in the absence of not bringing back Jon Lester is he's gone out and gotten a number of veteran pitchers, guys who have track records. Now, no one is saying that any of them are your 'aces,' but they are all guys who have at least in some point in their careers, performed at a pretty high level.
"Rick Porcello is a guy coming off the best season of his career last year in Detroit. Justin Masterson was an All Star in 2013. Joe Kelly pitched very well in '13, was supposed to have his first season last year as an every-fifth-day starter but blew out his hamstring and missed three months. And Wade Miley three years ago was an outstanding left-hander for Arizona. Yes if you look at his peripheral numbers, they've kind of gone down in each of the last couple of seasons, but the Red Sox took a big vote of confidence in him and gave him a three-year extension just a couple of weeks ago."
Edes noted that the 2005 Red Sox operated without a true ace, after Pedro Martinez left via free agency and an injured Curt Schilling pitched mostly as a closer. With Matt Clement giving the Red Sox one-half of a very good season, the rest of the rotation was a mix-and-match scenario, and the team still made the playoffs.
Edes also discussed how the playing time in the outfield will work, as well as expectations for Koji Uehara, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Napoli.
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