Boston Red Sox: Plenty of blame assigned to starting rotation

Starting pitching continues to be an issue for the Boston Red Sox, a massive worry as the dog days of summer arrive.

The Major League Baseball trade deadline came and went, with the Boston Red Sox standing pat. There was no new reliever, no new bat, and, outside the arrival of Andrew Cashner in early July, no new starting pitcher.

Truth be told, the talent on this team is already present. The offense continues to shoulder the load, leading the league in multiple categories.

An overworked and less-than-effective bullpen has struggled, but it’s been a team effort. A single middle reliever or closer added to this team was going to suddenly fix all of Boston’s woes. Nor was it worth mortgaging a current player, trading away for a possible short term solution. Plus, a shallow farm system didn’t exactly help.

More from Boston Red Sox

• 3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox
• MLB Screws Red Sox Fans With Broadcast for Mookie Betts Return
• Red Sox Continue Rollercoaster Season With Massive Win
• Mookie Betts Has Humble Outlook on Returning to Fenway
• Alex Cora Reveals What He Said to Cause NSFW Response from Justin Verlander

Problems run deeper than the bullpen. It’s a starting rotation with five starters that don’t regularly get past the sixth inning. A starter even making it through the fifth is cause for celebration these days.

Baseball strategy is a different beast than yesteryear, when a starting pitchers regularly tossed seven innings, with only 1-2 relievers being used in a perfect world. Only 32 complete games have been tossed in 2019, ten years after 152 were achieved. The Red Sox stand tall with one this season belonging to Chris Sale.

In blowouts and leads alike, a bullpen taking on 3-4 innings every night is bound to add up, meaning performance also takes a hit. Yes, the Red Sox bullpen is shorter on talent in 2019 than they were in 2018, but starting rotation isn’t doing the beleaguered bullpen any favors.

Boston Red Sox rotation woes

Since early on this season, the bullpen has been overworked. Through the season’s first two months, the bullpen was actually performing just fine, outside a couple of games. The offense was struggling to score runs, the starting staff was lost, and the bullpen was forced into action in the early going of games.

A trend that hasn’t stopped yet.

It didn’t help that the Red Sox were forced to essentially use an “opener” throughout much of the season’s first-half. After Nathan Eovaldi went down with an injury, Hector Velazquez and other “openers” rarely lasted more than three innings, placing extra strain on the bullpen.

The main issue has most been inconsistency. Each turn through the rotation is always a guessing game as to which two pitchers are going to pitch well. And it’s usually never more than two, with one of those Eduardo Rodriguez.

Rodriguez (13-4, 4.13 ERA) is having an above average year, though even he has been the beneficiary of nice run support. Or at least that was part of his success in April and May.

Rodriguez, however, has not lost a start since June 9, going 7-0 in nine starts since. He’s even lasted seven innings in four of those starts.

In July, he was even better, allowing only 7 earned runs in five starts.

A trio of hardware winners

The other three starters, the ones making the money, the ones who have earned Cy Young Awards, have at times struggled the most.

David Price had been even better than Rodriguez for much of the season, with an ERA just above 3.00. That is, he was until the entire incident with Dennis Eckersley slid back into the news. In three games since, Price has pitched only 14.1 innings, allowing 21 hits and 13 earned runs.

Looking at Sale, his real struggles were in April and July. In between, he was one of the better pitchers in the American League.

In May and June, Sale made 11 starts, going 3-2 with in ERA under 3.00. He averaged just over 10 strikeouts a game, collecting 116 in those months.

July has been an inconsistent one, even as he collected his first win at Fenway in over a year.. Sale’s ERA was 5.86 on the month and he pitched only 27.2 innings, collecting 41 strikeouts.

And Rick Porcello, who has pitched decent in small stretches in 2019, might be at the back of the pack as far as having “good stuff” is concerned. Porcello has allowed at least 6 earned runs in four of his last six starts. He’s thrown only 28 innings in that span but holds a record of 4-1, thanks to the Red Sox scoring 74 runs in those starts.

The fifth starter, Cashner, was supposed to help, as he was enjoying a renaissance this season. Acquired in a July trade with the Baltimore Orioles, Cashner made his fourth start for the Red Sox Thursday night against Tampa Bay. He responded by giving up seven runs, bringing his total in four games to 19.

Cashner has allowed 31 hits in 23.1 innings, though he did pick up a win against the New York Yankees.

These numbers by the starters as of late are hardly putting a scare into anyone. I’m not asking for a complete game every time out, but if at least three-fifths of the rotation could give seven innings again, this results in the bullpen would turn around accordingly.

I’m afraid it just might be too late to expect that turn around in 2019.