Jon Lester’s one-hitter on Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays marked just another step in the turnaround of the Boston Red Sox franchise. Last year, the Red Sox’ staff was nothing short of terrible en route to their worst record since 1960. There was a seemingly endless list of things wrong with that team, but the performances of their starting pitchers may have topped that list.
In 2012, Boston’s starters’ ERA was 5.19, which ranked as 4th-worst in baseball. Among all the team’s pitchers who started any games for them, only Franklin Morales had an ERA below 4.56. Felix Doubront was arguably the Red Sox’ best starter with a 11-10 record, 167 strikeouts, and a 4.86 ERA. It doesn’t take a genius to know there is no winning formula involving numbers like those for a team’s “best” pitcher.
In the offseason, it was clear starting pitching was the area most in need of improvement for 2013. General Manager Ben Cherington could have thrown money at the top free agents like so many Boston teams before and brought any combination of Zack Greinke, Kyle Lohse, Anibal Sanchez, or any other starting pitcher on the market to New England.
But, Cherington had other ideas. In November, he said, “the best way to get better is to see improvement from the guys we have. That’s going to make a bigger impact on our rotation’s performance than probably ant single pitcher we could add from the outside. That has to be a focus.” So, instead of making that big splash, the only outside addition he made to the staff was Ryan Dempster, a good mid-level free agent, but hardly the stud of the bunch.
It was not difficult to understand where Cherington was coming from. Lester and Clay Buchholz had each shown throughout their careers that they were better pitchers than their 2012 performances would have you believe. John Lackey would also be returning after a season missed due to surgery and, perhaps, with a new frame of mind. After getting rid of Josh Beckett, who was widely regarded as a cancer in the locker room, the pieces were already in place for a rotation resurgence.
Lo and behold, that’s what the Red Sox have gotten through the first month and change of the 2013 season. The starting staff’s 3.53 ERA ranks 3rd in the American League. Only six times this year has a Red Sox starter given up more than 3 earned runs in a start. Their BAA of .230 is behind only, oddly enough, the Chicago Cubs.
As a unit, the Sox starters have been very good, but they have been impressive individually, too. Buchholz was named the AL Pitcher of the Month for April and, in the midst of being labeled a cheater, is 6-0 with 60 strikeouts and a 1.69 ERA. He’s pitched like a Cy Young candidate much more reminiscent to his 2010 season than last year’s.
The ace of the rotation, though, isn’t far behind him. Lester has shown he can lead a staff, putting together a very nice year, highlighted by his near perfect night on Friday. He’s turned in quality starts in 5 of his 8 outings and finished one out shy of a 6th. His 6.3 H/9 rate is 2 full hits lower than his career average and his 3.00 K/BB ratio is the second-best of his career.
Even Lackey is doing his part. He showed up to spring training in good shape and with a better attitude than he had shown in the past. He had to leave his first start early because of a biceps strain but has come back and looked better than he has at any time in a Red Sox uniform. While he is only 1-3, his H/9 and K/9 rates are both better than his career averages.
With Dempster doing exactly what he was brought to Boston to do, by eating innings and keeping runs off the scoreboard, the only weak spot in the rotation right now is the fourth starter. Big things were expected from Doubront following his first full season in the majors, but he’s failed to improve. He picked up wins in his first 4 starts, yet made it past the fifth inning in just two of them. In his last two outings, he gave up 12 earned runs in 9 innings. He will likely start again on Thursday against Tampa Bay, but could be in danger of losing the job long-term if he turns in another poor outing.
If the Red Sox have four of their five starting pitchers working all season, they will surely take that. As they demonstrated last year, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to win without good starting pitching. This year, their starters allowed them to jump out to the best record in baseball after the first month. It’s a formula that’s been proven to work throughout baseball history.
