Time for Dave Dombrowski To Look At Outside Pitching Options

The Red Sox sorely miss David Price. Many Red Sox fans and media members have varying views on the star left handed pitcher, but few can deny that he is a serviceable major league arm that can eat up major innings.

He certainly did not provide the pitching a $217 million man would produce, but a 17-9 record and a 3.99 ERA is not too shabby, especially for a number 3 starter, as he would behind Chris Sale and Rick Porcello.

Now, the Red Sox are stuck with the talented, yet wildly inconsistent, Eduardo Rodriguez, knuckleballer, Steven Wright, along with two-pitch man, Drew Pomeranz.

The Red Sox rotation ranks 24th in the majors heading into play on Monday, and that simply is not good enough for a title contending Red Sox team. Without Chris Sale that number would be a whole lot worse.

Rick Porcello, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, has a 5.32 ERA in his first four starts of the season. Not only that, but his specialty is being able to keep the ball on the ground and not allow home runs. He has allowed 5 in 23.2 innings pitched thus far.

Steven Wright has taken a major step back after showing what he can do last season after an all-star appearance, has an unappealing 8.66 ERA and should be looked at to be replaced in the starting rotation.

If and when this Red Sox team makes the playoffs, their four-man rotation would be Sale-Porcello-Rodriguez-Pomeranz/Wright. How scary is that?

Chris Sale has the makeup and ability to perform well in October, but the rest? Porcello is 0-3 with a 5.66 ERA. Rodriguez is a hit or miss pitcher, Pomeranz has shown he can not handle big league innings and Steven Wright is a knuckleballer.

Now this is no time to panic because Porcello may get back on track. E-Rod may take the next step forward in his progression and Wright may get his knuckleball back on track.

What if none of those happen though? President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski should not hesitate to look for some starting pitching help on the trade market, and be willing to overpay for a starting caliber pitcher.

Now I am not talking about overpaying for a pitcher like Drew Pomeranz and sending away your number one pitching prospect, but the Red Sox could dangle center-fielder Jackie Bradley Jr in trade talks, and decide to move forward with Betts and Benintendi, along with a platoon like Brock Holt and Chris Young in left field.

JBJ is valued highly across the league as a terrific defensive CF with some power potential, and while the Red Sox would obviously love to retain him, they already have a strong outfield, and could afford to trade him away in order to shore up a weakness on the roster.

It’s the cost of doing business, especially when looking for starting pitching, a high demand nowadays in the MLB.