How good the Red Sox can be moving forward just might depend on the return of Eduardo Rodriguez
COMMENTARY
One year ago, on May 31, the Boston Red Sox found themselves in a familiar spot, mired in last place in the American League East at 22-29, four games behind the first-place New York Yankees.
In 2014, the Sox were 26-29 on the doorstep to June, in fourth place and four games in back of the Toronto Blue Jays. Of course, in 2013, they occupied the penthouse of the division, 33-23, with a one-game lead over the Yankees. That was a marked improvement from 2012, when manager Bobby Valentine had the team one game over .500 (26-25), with a litany of dysfunction still to come.
Now, mind you, of the American League teams that held leads in their divisions last year as the calendar turned, only the Houston Astros wound up with an October berth. The Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays disappeared after the Toronto Blue Jays’ summer surge, while the Minnesota Twins surrendered to the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals.
So, with 31-20 Boston sitting atop the AL East with a two-game lead on the Baltimore Orioles, maybe this week’s four-game series isn’t as pivotal as we might like to imagine. Following Monday’s 7-2 win over the Orioles, a complete game victory for knuckleballer Steven Wright, the Red Sox are on a pace to win 98 games, which we would be the most for the franchise since 2004.
But in 2007, the World Series champs roared out to a 36-16 mark on May 31, on pace for a 112-win season, but settled for 96-66 and the trophy.
There isn’t much these days that is telling in the long run.
Except that this is a hell of a lot more fun than it’s been in quite some time.
After a three-game skid and some backward-stepping north of the border over the weekend, the Red Sox seem to have balanced out with “stopper” Wright to thank for another dominant effort in which the future All-Star scattered four hits and five walks over nine innings at Camden Yards. That performance sets up Tuesday’s marquee debut for starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, the 23-year-old lefty who began the season on the disabled list after wrenching his knee in spring training. It’s an important addition to a starting rotation that has been so top-heavy, 20-11 in games started by Wright, David Price, or Rick Porcello.
With Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly, Henry Owens, or Sean O’Sullivan taking the mound, the Red Sox have gone only 11-9.
It could be worse, but Rodriguez’s return suggests just how much better this Red Sox rotation, so in doubt at the dawn of the 2016 season, can be as it looks to cement itself as one of the best in baseball. Boston’s starting pitching brings a 24-12 record into Rodriguez’s start, the best mark in the American League, albeit with a 4.60 ERA that is 11th, much thanks to Buchholz’s 6.35 ERA as a starter, not to mention Price’s 5.11 ERA, which has dwindled from a season-high 7.06 on April 21.
Boston was 13-8 last season in games started by Rodriguez, who impressed enough during his rookie season that some believed he had earned the inside track to the No. 2 starting role behind Price. That’s a stability that Wright has wrangled from the staff, only in the rotation because of Rodriguez’s absence in the first place. The 7-2 Porcello pitched like an ace during April, not so much in May (4.65 ERA), but is firmly in the role of No. 3 guy, despite a salary that shouts “Game 1 starter.”
Based on the strength with which it started, Rodriguez slots in as a No. 4 guy. For now.
“You want to be part of the team when they’re playing like that,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve been around but I’m not really around, you know? It’s hard just watching.”
Rodriguez wasn’t great last year against the Orioles (0-2, 4.20 ERA), the team that traded him to Boston in exchange for Andrew Miller at the 2014 trading deadline. He was 0-3 during a five-game rehab stint with the Pawtucket Red Sox, a somewhat-shaky process (10 earned runs over his first 21 innings) that seemed it would be extended indefinitely until the team outfitted the lefty with an effective knee brace. In his last start on May 24, Rodriguez allowing one run on four hits over seven innings of work. That, coupled with Buchholz’s continued incompetence was enough for the Red Sox to see.
“He makes us a more well-rounded team,” manager John Farrell said.
Once upon a time, so did Pablo Sandoval.
While the third baseman’s status for the season (finished after shoulder surgery) came with a collective shrug, the uncertainty over Rodriguez’s status after a freak injury sparked some concern, though less after the emergence of Wright seemed good enough to plug the dam. This is a guy, after all, who had made one big league start at this time last season, a three-hit shutout against the Texas Rangers. After his first three starts, Rodriguez was 2-0 with a 0.44 ERA.
From there on, he was 8-6 with a 4.54 ERA, with some gems (eight innings, one run against the Cleveland Indians on Aug. 18) and some stinkers (1 2/3 innings, seven earned runs against the Los Angeles Angels) along the way.
“He has the ability to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher,” pitching coach Carl Willis told the Providence Journal. “He’s young and he’s still learning. His physical gifts and his abilities, you’re very excited to see someone of that caliber.”
The Red Sox rotation has been good, with a chance to be great.
A lot of that depends on Rodriguez.
Photos from Boston Calling
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