With John Smoltz’s debacle in New York (granted, the stadium didn’t do him any favors) behind us, it’s time to look ahead and figure out how exactly we’re going to make the playoffs with exactly two reliable pitchers in the rotation.
Look, Clay Buchholz has a future, I believe that. But his indecision and lack of fastball command are still flaring up.
Brad Penny has never been of tremendous value to the Sox besides being just a body in the No. 5 spot. But he can’t even eat innings, as he has yet to crack the seventh inning barrier.
And we’re familiar with Smoltz: he actually has a friendly FIP but even excluding last night’s game, there is a clear trend in how much worse he fares the “deeper” he gets into the game.
I think he could succeed in a Justin Masterson role out of the bullpen, and I think last night’s start was enough to look ahead and move on. Quite simply: we need a pitcher that can go deep and eat innings. I don’t care how you find it: waiver wire or Pawtucket. But it needs to be found.
Barring someone who can eat innings, at least bring someone aboard that can pitch.
In Triple-A, that’s Michael Bowden, posting a 3.40 ERA in 20 starts over 103.1 innings.
The waiver wire has Jon Garland, Doug Davis and other middling starters that could at least post an ERA around 4.50, something Smoltz and Penny are incapable of doing.
The biggest question I have right now is: how long do we wait? Daisuke Matsuzaka will not return for a month. Tim Wakefield… from what I’m hearing, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve seen the last of him.
Do we really want to rely on Smoltz, Penny and Buchholz for the next month? Can we really wait around for Paul Byrd? Should we even pretend that Byrd is the answer?
I can’t even go on anymore. I’m too demoralized about the state of the pitching staff.
Let me turn it over to you: WHAT can we do? What options do we have? Do we even have any?
Paging Curt Schilling…