The
Red Sox pitching situation has been pretty ugly. With injuries to David Price,
Tyler Thornburg and most recently Steven Wright, the team has exhausted almost all
options. The team has used Brian Johnson and Kyle Kendricks for spot starts
already along with rotating in Ben Taylor, Noe Ramirez and Brandon Workman from
Pawtucket into the bullpen.
After having mediocre success so
far, where can the Red Sox turn next?
Henry Owens is still an option.
Owens has pitched well this season in Pawtucket, pitching to a 3-0 record in
five starts along with a 1.35 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 26.2 innings. Jake Peavy
is still a free agent. Peavy pitched for the Red Sox for parts of the 2013 and
2014 seasons. He combined for a 5-10 record with a 4.48 ERA in 30 starts during
that time. Peavy isn’t the best option, but would provide some veteran
experience the team otherwis would not get from internal options.
Swinging a trade could be another
option.
There are short-term options such as
R.A. Dickey, Jeremy Hellickson and Ricky Nolasco. All three veteran pitchers
are set to hit free agency following the 2017 season and currently pitch for a
team under .500.
There are more long-term options
such as Jose Quintana of the Chicago White Sox, Sonny Gray of the Oakland A’s
and Julio Teheran of the Atlanta Braves. All three have been mentioned in trade
talks before with various amounts of willingness from their organization to
move them.
The team could sit back and wait for
Price to return as well. Price is almost ready to begin his rehab assignment. It
isn’t a move that will catch headlines, but it would show that the front office
has patience and believes in the organization’s options. The team also has a
shallow pool of prospects to deal which could impact their decision. Minorleagueball.com
ranked the Red Sox as the 24th best farm system in baseball. The
team dealt top prospects Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Manuel Margot and
Anderson Espinoza in the last year.
Wherever help may come, we can
expect general manager Dave Dombrowski to stay actively looking throughout the
month of May. With a couple of key injuries and especially after losing Wright
for the season, the team’s pitching depth has gotten extremely thin. But as the
team expects Price to return soon, and Carson Smith to return in June from
Tommy John Surgery, the two could very well be all the help the team needs.
Whatever route Dombrowski may choose, we do know that the organization will
evaluate every available option.
