Sox Needs - Starting Pitching

Starting Pitching – The Sox always like to see what other options there are out there, especially when forced to employ a Royals castoff (Snyder) for a spot start – even if he bears a striking resemblance to former-Sox Arroyo.. The Sox have Schilling, Beckett and Wakefield firmly established in the rotation – though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Beckett have some DL concerns as we approach the summer. Wells will not be back – call it a gut feeling, perhaps even a fairly substantial gut feeling. Clement has had a rough season, but certainly can be an effective #4 or #5 pitcher provided he is both physically and mentally ready to pitch. However, the Sox would probably move him if there were any takers (I wouldn’t expect there to be without a solid chunk of money thrown in).

Internal Possibilities – Lester seems to have a lock on a rotation slot until he proves he isn’t ready for MLB, yet. While I expect growing pains, I also hope that he can pitch us to a .500 record in his starts. Abe Alvarez is a possibility, but he just puts far too many people on base right now to trust him in MLB against patient hitters who aren’t trying to pad their individual stats to get to The Show, but rather, are trying to win ballgames. Pauley could be helpful, especially with our defense behind the sinkerballer. The Sox simply want to get him some stability right now, so don’t expect another call up just yet. Then there is Snyder. He’s never put it all together, possibly due to injuries. Could he be this year’s Aaron Small? He kept the Sox in the 1st game of his Red Sox career for a win.

External Possibilities - As always, the price will be high for pitching. There will be several current or former studs possibly on the market in Hudson, Mulder, Zito, Willis and Schmidt. All will have big asking prices, and equally big question marks. The Sox are a team that could possibly afford the talent, though many would simply be rentals. Of those players, I could see the Sox having the most interest in Hudson or Willis – both of whom are locked into contracts for good dollars. Unlike Willis, however, Hudson has proven himself in the AL. I could see the Sox being concerned about Willis’ overuse and NL-to-AL transition in response to the Josh Beckett experiment (and similarly, the Redman experiment, Penny experiment, and Burnett experiment other teams have run to varying degrees of failure). Atlanta will be selling, and because they want to pare payroll, I could see the asking price for Hudson being manageable and costing some young arms (Like Bowden and Bucholtz, not Lester). If nothing else, Hudson is relatively cheap for a man with a solid MLB track record and he eats innings for a team.

After the big names, you have the retreads – which I could see going to teams with lesser farm systems. That list includes Jeff Weaver, Odalis Perez, Kip Wells, Jamie Moyer, Russ Ortiz,, Kyle Lohse, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Sox acquire a store-brand pitcher if the asking prices are overly extravagant for the name-brands – granted I won’t be happy because none of these players are likely to be improvements and are more likely to turn out like the ill-fated Suppan trade of 2003. For those focusing on our friendly competitors to the South, I fully expect a pitcher of this caliber to end up in pinstripes – the Yanks simply do not have the prospects to acquire a bigger name without taking on a salary dump – and the teams selling better pitchers don’t have too many unmanageable contracts.

One name I’d be interested to see on the market is Greinke, who has hit a wall in Kansas City and is rumored to be ready to leave baseball. I would trade for him now as a project for the future, but I suppose that is neither here nor there. Expect a random AAA pitcher to be claimed off waivers by the Sox, as always – possibly Greinke as he only has 5 days on his DL stint until he needs to be optioned.

Final Word: I doubt the Sox will acquire one of the bigger names, but they certainly have the prospects to make a move, or at least raise the asking price for other teams (ahem, Yankees). I could see Hudson arriving in Fenway, but his career record when playing in front of the Monster is less-than-inspiring. I see a lesser-pitcher acquisition as a waste, but I wouldn’t be surprised, depending on how Clement comes back after his DL stint. The Sox best option for now and the future may simply be sticking with what is already in our system. If we can get to the playoffs, the 5th pitcher won’t matter.

EDIT: The Sox just picked up Jason Johnson from Cleveland - a groundball-inducing veteran. He's more likely to get starts than Snyder at this point.