Dave Dombrowski will have a pair of risky, expensive aces up his sleeve come free agency
New Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was perhaps at his most candid when asked what he planned to do to rebuild Boston’s ailing pitching staff from top-to-bottom during his introductory press conference earlier this week.
“I guess we need to find some better pitching,’’ Dombrowski said.
I like him already.
As the new guy in charge, Dombrowski has no emotional attachment to any of the players on the Red Sox roster or farm system that will impede him from making callous decisions in order to rebuild a franchise that is on cue to finish in last place for the third time in four seasons. There will be no delusional sell job in line with manager John Farrell’s ridiculous assessment that the 2015 Red Sox had “five No. 1’’ starting pitchers as he professed during spring training. Perhaps there will be more than a dash of eyeball reality when it comes to guys like Clay Buchholz, who it doesn’t take a baseball genius to understand is a maddening dependability despite the fact that he has the fifth-best ERA-plus by a player 25 or under since 1990.
Cool stat. False sensibility.
As is the dubious notion that Buchholz is ace material, something Dombrowski desperately needs to find in order to improve a starting staff that has pitched to the tune of a 4.80 ERA. Only Colorado (5.10) and Philadelphia (5.46) have worse starting ERAs.
Still, the $13 million option the team holds on Buchholz for 2016 is generally seen as a bargain, so he’s likely to return along with Eduardo Rodriguez, who has been mostly impressive during his rookie season. Wade Miley isn’t a terrible No. 5, and Henry Owens and Brian Johnson are probably very much on the block this offseason, as Dombrowski has proven over the years that he’s not afraid to trade young talent. He also proved he wasn’t afraid to trade Rick Porcello, who he’s now saddled with once again in the midst of a disastrous campaign and a premature, expensive reward in his first season with Boston.
Dombrowski has trade options, particularly if he can sucker someone into thinking Hanley Ramirez or Pablo Sandoval will produce any better in a different environment, but he also will have an intriguing pair of free agents to mull over, one of whom he’s familiar with already, having dealt for David Price last summer, and then trading him to the Toronto Blue Jays just prior to be let go by the Detroit Tigers earlier this month.
The other, Johnny Cueto, pitches at Fenway Park Friday night, when the Royals and Red Sox play the second game of their four-game series. Cueto also changed addresses at the trading deadline when the Cincinnati Reds shipped him to the first-place Royals for Cody Reed, Brandon Finnegan, and John Lamb. Cueto is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA ver four starts for the Royals, including a complete-game shutout against the Tigers in which he struck out eight.
Price has been just as dominant for his new team, going 2-0 with a 1.61 ERA for the surging Blue Jays. Price also pitches Friday in Anaheim against the Angels. He’s coming off his worst start as a Jay, giving up 11 hits and three runs to the Yankees during last weekend’s showdown in Toronto. Prior, he had allowed only one run over his first 15 innings.
Both are 29 years old. Both will be 30 at the start of next season. Both will take monster commitments in terms of years and dollars.
It hasn’t even been a full year since the Red Sox have seen themselves in such a predicament of course, arguing that owner John Henry wasn’t privy to giving long-term deals to pitchers over 30. It’s not a theory shared by former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who signed former Red Sox ace Jon Lester, 31, to a $155 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. Lester will be 37 at the end of the deal.
Is it a philosophy that just vanishes with the arrival of Dombrowski?
Cueto brings a style and aura reminiscent of Pedro Martinez, a celebration of pitching every fifth-day. He’s 94-64 over eight years in the big leagues with a 3.18 ERA, including 20-and19-win seasons. He’s 9-7 with a 2.46 ERA in 2015 with the Reds and Royals.
Price would bring the reputation of being one of the most dominant lefties in the game. He’s 97-55 with a 3.11 ERA over is eight years in the majors, ad the Sox are all to familiar with him during his time with the Tampa Bay Rays. He’s also had 20-and-19-win seasons to go along with the Cy Young Award he received in 2012.
Of course, Price also has an interesting history with Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz that would be interesting to monitor. Price memorably lambasted Ortiz last season, arguing that he feels he’s “bigger than the game’’ when the two exchanged words after the pitcher’s 94-mile-per-hour hello. Ortiz fired back by saying, “It’s war. It’s on.’’
“If you spend the amount of time in one division facing a team as many times as I faced Boston or pitched in Fenway or pitched against those guys in general, stuff like that’s going to happen,’’ Price told WEEI.com last month. “I don’t think about it now or today or yesterday. That stuff to me is in the past. I don’t think about the negative stuff. I surround myself with positivity.
“If you’re not going to sign a pitcher that’s 30, so be it. I’ll cross you off my list.’’
The Red Sox should have two of them on their own list, but it would lead to a drastic shift in philosophy in order to sign either one, at great risk.
The Sox took the first step. Dombrowski figures they ought to get some better pitchers.
Now that’s some forward thinking.
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