By Andrew Lipsett
It’s been too nice a weekend to write anything long, so I’ll take the easy way out and post a question for discussion. With the injury to David Wells last night, coupled with Lenny DiNardo’s recent DL trip, the Sox rotation has been left without a fifth starter. There appear to be enough off-days to cover the gap at first, but if either of these injuries extends much further than anticipated, the Sox could have some trouble.
There aren’t really any clear in-house candidates to fill-in for now; DiNardo was the pen’s only long man, and they’ve been without his relief presence for some time now. There are a few mL candidates that can fill in for a couple games, chief among them Matt Ginter, Abe Alvarez, and Jon Lester (in order, I think, of likelihood).
So the question is this: how should the Sox address this rotation weakness, both in the immediate and long terms? It’s been apparent for some time that the Sox could use an additional starter; the injuries to Wells and DiNardo and the ineffectiveness of Clement almost demand it. Do we risk utilizing a minor league arm to fill that gap (and if so, which?), or do we look for outside help? Who do the Sox have to offer in a trade at the moment?
Also, for extra credit: there are two days in any calendar year where none of the major leagues – MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL – have games scheduled. What are they? (Hint: they do not correspond with any major holidays.)
EVAN’S TAKE The only starters we can truly depend on right now are Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. I know we consider Tim Wakefield a rock of the rotation, but his ERA is 4.57, and his WHIP is 1.35, and his career is at 1.36. He’s not neccessarily BAD, and I’m never going to badmouth Wakefield because he’s my favorite Red Sox – but he’s miscast as the third starter. The bottom line is this: Wakefield should be #4, and Matt Clement should be #5. With the future of David Wells up in the air, it’s obvious what the Red Sox should do.
Sign Roger Clemens. I’m not too big of a fan of saying this, but it’s true – we need to sign him, even though it’d push our payroll higher. Right now, the Yankees lead at $196.66 million, and the Red Sox at $120.09 million. We’d sign Clemens for between $3-$4 million a month, for a total of at least $12 million being added onto our payroll, pushing us into true Yankeeland at $142 million. This would give the general populated added fuel that we’re just like the Yankees. Well, guess what? I finally see it from the Yankees’ perspective, except with just one different thing.
Yes, we do have a lot of moeny, and we spend it on the big league club. I think every team should. The thing we don’t do that the Yankees do is feel the need to have an All-Star at every position and throw dollars at aging players (and yes, I do realize what I’m saying, but I think the Clemens and Johnson similarities begin and end with their destination to Cooperstown) ignoring their farm system and their bench. I do feel for and sympathize with the low-revenue clubs, but over the last few years, all the articles I’ve read have shown that the MLB is raking in profits and revenue sharing is putting a lot of people on firm ground – but these clubs still don’t use these revenue sharing profits to field a better team. I’ve heard MLB is trying to firm up this in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, but right now, too many teams take advantage of the revenue sharing dollars not to improve the big club, but to improve the pocket linings of the owners.
I’m not going to apologize for having the money and spending it (although I look forward to the day where Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez’s salaries come off the books and send our payroll soaring down because of the Jon Lester’s of the world still earning league minimum by that time) and thus the best pitching addition we can possibly make at this point is Roger Clemens. An Hall-of-Famer, a former Red Sox icon who left because we ushered him out of town, took the money in Canada, defected to the Evil Empire, retired, thumbed his nose at New York and signed on with his hometown team the Astros, and just basically was COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY LIGHTS OUT for his two years there … returning to Boston. Full circle, to finish what he started: that 193rd win to become first all-time on the Sox wins list (currently tied with Cy Young) and enter Cooperstown with the famed “B” on the cap.
We’d end up with Clemens, Schilling, Beckett, Wakefield, and Clement. If Wells returns, we can just basically dump Clement, or send Clement to the bullpen. (He could potentially succeed there, I think.) If Wells retires and Clement is not doing anything come July or August, we can then take a hard look at Jon Lester. So Andrew, there’s my answer. Sign Roger Clemens, and go with Matt Clement/David Wells as your #5 with a potential Jon Lester arrival in the summer.
By the way, word has it Roger Clemens will decide who he pitches for by the end of the week. Talk about anticipation.
