In the last 24 hours, the Red Sox starting rotation has gone from Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly, Rubby De La Rosa, Alan Webster, and Brandon Workman to Rick Porcello, Buchholz, Wade Miley, Joe Kelly, and Workman. It took two separate trades, involved shipping an All-Star and two top prospects out of town, but Boston has gone from a rotation that would without a doubt hold them back, to one that’s a lot better. Probably.
Let’s deal with the Miley trade first. Wade Miley is a good lefty who previously pitched with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The fact that he played for Arizona made that last sentence necessary. Miley is good and is a safe bet to rack up a bunch of innings, but he isn’t a world killer. He pitches to contact and gets ground balls. He’s a solid two in most rotations and a very good three in most of the rest.
In order to get Miley, the Sox gave up Webster and De La Rosa, both of whom they got from the Dodgers in the Adrian Gonzalez-Carl Crawford-Josh Beckett trade a couple of years ago. De La Rosa hasn’t hit the ceiling scouts set for him and is likely better suited as a reliever long term. I think he’s got a shot to be pretty good at it too. Webster similarly struggled in his first extended big league action but he’s well regarded and has a chance to be a solid big league starter–a Wade Miley type, if you will. Boston definitely gave up talent, but they got a proven big league starter who is much much much more reliable than the aforementioned two. The Astros wouldn’t have made this trade, but it makes great sense for Boston.
Next, the Red Sox finally pulled the trigger on trading outfielder Yoesnis Cespedes for pitching. Cespedes, an All-Star last season with pop and a cannon for an arm, was without a position after Hanely Ramirez signed on with Boston to play left field. He was the perfect chip to move to strengthen the rotation and Porcello is a pretty good get.
After struggling for a little while when he broke in, Porcello has developed into a legitimate mid rotation starter. He’s got a good sinker/2 seamer at around 92 and he, like Miley, gets a lot of ground balls. Unlike Miley, Porcello is tested in the American League and should be unphased by pitching in the AL East. If anything, Boston’s superior (to Detroit, that is) infield defense should help Porcello keep his BABIP down and pitch even better. Essentially, the Sox flipped a superfluous outfielder into a really good starting pitcher. As a Yankee fan, I’m much more afraid of Porcello in a big game than Miley.
But that’s the rub. Who do the Sox go to in a big game? Who’s the Ace of this staff? The easy answer is Bucholz but he was atrocious last season and is really only an Ace by default. Kelly is a 3 starter at best in the right situation and Miley and Porcello are mid rotation guys as well. If Boston is serious about going worst to first (to worst to first) next season, they need another big gun in the starting staff. Why does Max Scherzer make so much sense?
For Detroit, this was also a good move. Justin Verlander and David Price remain in the rotation along with Anibal Sanchez and Shane Greene, whom they just got from the Yankees. As of now, the Tigers also have Alfredo Simon, a 2014 All-Star just acquired from the Reds for Eugenio Suarez and prospect Jonathon Crawford. That’s a pretty solid starting staff, assuming Greene and Verlander live up to expectations.
The Tigers will also score. Rajai Davis is displaced by the arrival of Cespedes and that’s a good thing. Here’s my crack at the Tigers new lineup:
- Anthony Gose
- Ian Kinsler
- Miguel Cabrera
- Victor Martinez
- JD Martinez
- Yoesnis Cespedes
- Nick Castellanos
- Alex Avila
- Jose Iglesias
Uh oh. Pitchers will lose sleep over that one.
-Max Frankel
UPDATE: The Red Sox are reportedly signing Justin Masterson. So everything I said above still holds. Just switch out ‘Masterson’ for ‘Workman’ and we’re good.
