Ortiz On Aceves: 'He Should Be Starting'
BOSTON (CBS) – David Ortiz is no longer just a designated hitter.
Now he is trying his hand at managing a starting rotation.
After the Red Sox dropped Game One of a day-night doubleheader 6-5 to the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, Ortiz made his plea to get reliever Alfredo Aceves in Boston's starting five.
"To be honest with you, the way things are going he should be starting," Ortiz said after watching Aceves pitch three scoreless innings against Baltimore.
"It's as simple as that. Give it a shot," said Ortiz. "He's got electric stuff. We've been saying that for a while, right?"
Aceves is 9-2 with a 2.74 ERA this season in 50 appearances. While used mainly out of the bullpen where he has been lights out, Aceves did get four starts, going 1-1 with a 5.14 ERA.
He has also notched two saves for Boston.
After watching Kyle Weiland throw batting practice to the Orioles, allowing six runs and three home runs in 4.2 innings, Ortiz had seen enough.
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"He's got good stuff, man. You see how easy he gets hitters out," Ortiz said of Aceves. "I think, at one point, he should be starting. It all depends on what our front office decides, but he's got good stuff, man. We definitely need a guy like that, a guy to come in and give us six or seven good innings. He seems like he's capable of doing it. We'll see."
Manager Terry Francona said last week the Red Sox would prefer to use Aceves out of the bullpen where he could make a daily impact on the team.
"If we don't have him in the bullpen, I'm not sure where we go right now," Francona said over the weekend. "So it's not just the idea of him starting, because he can do that. I don't know how you replace him in the bullpen."
But with the back end of the rotation struggling, the rotation in general for that matter, it might be time for Francona and the Red Sox to listen to their DH.
The Red Sox split their doubleheader with Baltimore with a 18-9 win in Game Two, and lead the Tampa Bay Rays by two games in the AL Wild Card with nine games to play.
