Boston Red Sox: Grading a rollercoaster of an offseason

Boston Red Sox starting pitching addition grade

Boston Red Sox haven’t done much with their starting rotation this offseason. They lost excellent when healthy  Nathan Eovaldi to Texas in free agency. Problem was, Eovaldi seemed to find the disabled list often.

He only made 12 starts in 2022 before going on the shelf. Nevertheless, he’s a loss. To help in bolstering a lackluster rotation full of question marks, the team added one bonafide starter to date in Corey Kluber.

Keeping with the trend, however, Kluber is older at 36 years old and toiled for the Tampa Bay Rays so he’ll at least be well-familiar with the AL East. Last season he logged a 10-10 record with a 4.34 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 164 innings pitched.

Fangraphs.com had this to point out perhaps Kluber’s best attribute,

"Kluber also happens to be elite in one facet of the game that sticks out among Boston’s acquisitions this winter. After Red Sox pitching finished 21st in walk rate last season, they appear to be intent on winning the walk battle in 2023. Kluber has allowed fewer than two walks per nine over his whole career; his career-best 1.15 BB/9 rate led all qualifiers last year (among pitchers with 50-plus innings, the leader was Martin at 0.80)."

He doesn’t walk anyone and that’s always a good thing. Red Sox Nation is waiting for Mr. Bloom to make a trade to bolster the rotation that at present would include, Chris Sale, Garrett Whitlock, Brayan Bello, Kluber, and maybe James Paxton.

There are a lot of arms with lots of wear and tear in that group but Kluber should be fairly reliable. With these factors in mind, the offseason grade at this point for the starting rotation has to be a C.