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| (Patrick Farell/Miami Herald) |
Boy oh BOY, I don’t know about you but I’m tired of seeing
this pitching staff getting beaten up.
Look, for what it’s worth this team is performing just about how
I thought they would. Offense was
never the question, but the pitching staff was just not strong enough to
balance things out despite additions of David Price and Craig Kimbrel. The Sox had a great run in May where they
were literally the best team in baseball, but of course the offensive output
was never going to continue forever. Now
the team is starting to expose themselves, dropping 7 of their last 10 to hand
them three straight series losses (two of which to very mediocre teams).
Over the offseason the Marlins seemingly made fools of
themselves with an offer to the Red Sox that would send Jose Fernandez to
Boston in exchange for basically everybody that had even an ounce of talent in
them. Obviously the deal was rejected at
the time and laughed at by many. But
here we are, in need of that pesky little thing called pitching again and Jose
Fernandez may just be the guy to end the woes.
The Marlins in general have definitely not gotten the credit
they deserve this season though, finding themselves right in the middle of the
playoff picture. As a disclaimer to this
blog, the Marlins may not even be selling Jose Fernandez at the deadline if
they have a chance to make the playoffs, likely through the Wild Card. But what if they’re out of it by then? Here’s
five reasons why the Red Sox should make a move for Fernandez if he’s
available.
5. The average age of
the other four is 30.
I know the Mets have suddenly become the poster child for
young pitching rotations and there’s obviously no way to parallel that. But there is something to be said for having
guys that are not only young but also developed. The four current everyday Red Sox starters have
an average age of 30 (unfortunately for obvious reasons they don’t have an
everyday fifth starter) which is not necessarily a bad thing, its just not the
most ideal thing in the world. Again,
what the Mets have is special, but there is no harm in at least trying to get
younger. Fernandez is just 23 and
already possesses Cy Young talent, something that could be very deadly to
compliment a proven pitcher like David Price.
4. He is under control through 2018.
Speaking of Fernandez’ age, he also comes with a couple more
years of service. 2018 will mark his
sixth year in the MLB, after which he will hit the open market. The two youngest everyday starters on the Red
Sox, Price and Porcello, are both locked in through at least 2018. Adding a third arm who can pretty much be
paid less than he is currently worth for another two years seems like a very
attractive option going forward, especially if this rotation is ever going to
try to get back to at least above-average.
3. He is a great second half pitcher.
What’s an opinion without facts?
Obviously the second half is a tad bit shorter, but Fernandez is just about as
good as you can possibly be during that time.
He has a 2.11 ERA and nearly 150 strikeouts in just 120 career innings
in the second half. He’s only lost twice.
Now depending on the circumstances in a month, if the Red Sox are still
looking to salvage a playoff spot, they should add a reliable arm that has had
success in August and September. These two months are what playoff races hinge
on and as Mike Lowell said on MLB Network the other day, you need two, maybe
three aces on your staff to make a playoff run.
2. The future is now.
It’s really a pet peeve of mine when people don’t realize
that you have to spend big to acquire big time talent. Miami isn’t going to offer Fernandez up for
just a pair of prospects for a lot of the reasons I previously listed. That being said, Miami wants basically the
city of Boston for him and rightfully so.
The Sox are stacked down on the farm with position players, but have
jack shit for pitching. A lot of
positional talent has already blossomed at the big league level though (i.e.
Betts, Bradley, Bogaerts, etc.).
Many have bought into this team as a playoff
team. You really think so? Let’s put it this way, say they’re right on
the border (which in fact they just about are).
Dombrowski didn’t go out and sign Price and Kimbrel to look forward to
next year because he knows Red Sox Nation is a community of instant
gratification. He wants what we want: a 2016 World Series victory. If there's a chance to make something happen, the time to do it should be now.
So what am I trying to say here? You can’t have it both ways
guys. You can’t argue to “save prospects
for the future” when the future is staring you right in the face. So much young
talent has come together at the same time and their offense has proved they can
compete. You bought into this team as a playoff team, so recognize what has to
be done in order to not only get this team to October, but also make a run into
late October.
Among others, here’s what I’m comfortable giving up for Fernandez (any sort of combination):
Jackie
Bradley Jr. He’s relatively the least valuable player of the Betts/Bradley/Bogaerts trio because he’s
not as consistent and is the oldest by
three years.
Andrew
Benintendi: He’s a Major Leaguer next year, but he’s not the only outfielder out there if you know what I
mean. He can be replaced; a guy like Jose Fernandez cannot.
Yoan
Moncada: I honestly don’t want to give him up but as the #1 prospect in the system he’s a vital chip to
throw into the pot if you want to keep Betts and
Bogaerts from moving to South Beach.
Rafael
Devers: Another great prospect but Travis Shaw is the guy at third base, so Devers virtually has no place to go
for the next few years.
Eduardo
Rodriguez: He’s scuffling so his value is low, but he definitely has potential in him. Maybe a change of scenery might be good for him? Miami
will also need to fill a spot in the rotation.
Clay
Buchholz: Lol
In reality Miami will probably reject right away when they
see Betts and Bogaerts aren’t involved. A guy can dream though right?
1. He has that “it” factor.
The Red Sox have generally had a poor track record recently
when it comes to developing home-grown pitching. The last really successful guy to come
through the system was Jon Lester.
Before that...jeeze...Clemens?
Bottom line, there’s nothing to fall back on right now. The Red Sox have an opportunity to land a
pitcher who has a quality about him that I haven’t seen in a Boston uniform
since Pedro Martinez. He’s young, he’s
fiery, he’s competitive, his stuff is ELECTRIC, and he has the talent to carry
this pitching staff along with David Price.
This next month should be interesting.
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