As documented by
The New York Post's
Joel Sherman, the 2017 Red Sox—despite an impressive roster—have
a major concern with their starting rotation. Only two pitchers—
Chris Sale and 2016
Cy Young winner
Rick Porcello—are 100% healthy. Everybody else is
MASH Central.
'Porcello And Sale and pray for hail' is not exactly a solid foundation for a championship team. So, is
Kyle Kendrick (who didn't pitch
at all in 2016) the answer in the short term? Probably, but what if injuries persist with
David Price,
Eduardo Rodriguez,
Steven Wright and
Drew Pomeranz? That's a
lot of salary potentially on the shelf. Most reports assume that
John Henry will simply hock one of his playthings and fork over what's necessary to get another solid starter—even if it puts the team over the salary cap threshold. We shall see. Until then, overly optimistic assessments of the
2017 Carmine Hose should be tempered by reality.
