Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is looking at both ends of the starting rotation as he enters an all-important offseason.
And he might not be completely satisfied with what he finds.
The Red Sox have a number of quality starters, but don’t have a bona fide ace at the top of the rotation that can elevate an entire staff. And while their pitching depth has improved, it is far from an organizational strength.
Starting pitching certainly is one of Boston’s biggest needs this offseason and for Breslow, it’s about striking the right balance when potentially adding to the rotation.
“It’s easy to point to the guy who sits at the front of the rotation, takes the ball every five days, gives you a chance to win. That’s incredibly valuable and we should set our sights there,” Breslow recently said on NESN’s “310 To Left” podcast. “At the same time, we went through a stretch this year … all of a sudden, you’re searching for depth and searching for guys who are ready to just come up, take the ball and give you a chance to win a game that night without setting the bullpen back three or four our five days. I think there’s opportunity to improve on both ends. We have to be open to all of those.”
The Red Sox can pencil in Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford into the rotation next season. Lucas Giolito presumably will opt-in with his contract after missing the entire season due to Tommy John surgery. And it’s unknown if Garrett Whitlock will be part of the rotation or bullpen next season.
That’s a very solid foundation for Breslow to work with. But inevitably throughout the course of a 162-game season, one or more of those pitchers will spend a stint on the injured list.
That’s why it was so encouraging to see Richard Fitts, who the Red Sox acquired in the Alex Verdugo deal, post a 1.74 ERA in four starts over the final month of the season. It was also a positive to have Quinn Priester, obtained at the trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Nick Yorke, throw five innings of one-run ball in his first and only start for the Red Sox during their last series of the season.
Fitts and Priester provide more depth and with a strong core already in place, the Red Sox are in a much different situation with their pitching than in years past.
“I would probably stop short of saying good. I would say I feel better and as an organization we should feel better,” Breslow said. “There were guys who gave us starts down the stretch that weren’t in the organization at this time last year. That matters. That’s meaningful.
“But we need, as we talked about, guys that can start Game 1 of a playoff series. And whether or not Tanner or Bello or Kutter can become those guys — we’ve seen it in spurts. Whether Fitts can take the next step forward or Priester can take the next step, that remains to be seen. We’re going to do everything we can to try to ensure that that happens.”
