In Case You Missed It: Yesterday the Red Sox announced that their starter in the season opener vs Tampa Bay (April 6, 2:05 ET) would be Josh Beckett. Although it will be Beckett's first ever Opening Day start, he is clearly worthy of the assignment. The 28-year old righty has an 89-62 career record (48-28 his 3 years in Boston) and helped the Sox win the 2007 World Series when he was ALCS MVP. Most importantly this signifies that Beckett is healthy and ready to go, something he was not able to say at this time last year (Dice-K started the opener in Japan with Beckett not joining the Sox until Game 7 in Toronto). Beckett will be followed in the rotation by Lester, Matsuzaka and Wakefield. The 5th spot is still open for now, and is likely Brad Penny's if he's healthy and ready to go. Let the games (that matter) begin!
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From Boston.com:
The Red Sox are waiting on naming the fifth starter, who, because of a day off April 7, will not be needed until April 12. They need to see how Brad Penny, who is starting today against the Twins, comes through in his final two starts of the spring. Penny previously battled fatigue in his right shoulder, but he was stellar in his first start, in which he pitched three innings.
"You don’t want to rush into something because there’s an arbitrary date," Francona said. "We need a pitcher, but we don’t want to make a mistake, either. He’s been great about buying into everything. We’ll continue to talk to him and see how he’s progressing."
If Penny is healthy and effective, it seems, the pitcher left out of the equation would be Clay Buchholz, who, with a 0.46 ERA, has been perhaps the best Red Sox pitcher of the spring. Francona has not spoken with Buchholz about where he will begin the season, because it has not yet been finalized.
"We can’t tell guys stuff we don’t know," Francona said. "Guys that are still in camp are still in camp. I know that the closer you get to breaking with the team, it can create some anxiety. At the same time, he’s done a terrific job, and I think he’s been really mature about the whole thing. But we can’t tell guys stuff we don’t know.
"Whatever the decision ends up being on Clay won't diminish how we feel about him. That's for sure."
A reporter suggested to Francona that, reading between the lines, it seemed like Buchholz would be the fifth starter, at least at the outset of the season, if Penny is not ready. "I don’t blame you for reading between the lines," Francona said. "I’m probably not going to talk between the lines."
Buchholz would be the obvious choice, in part, because Masterson is a definite reliever as of today. The Red Sox had him on a starter's throwing schedule, so he was stretched out just in case.
"We’re going to put him in the bullpen," Francona said. "That’s why he’s going to pitch two innings. We love the idea of what we did with him. We think it’s really good for him. I think we’ve gotten to a point in spring where we think it’s in his best interest now to go the other way, for our ball club to get set, not having him hang in the balance, not knowing what he’s going to do."
Masterson consistently said he did not have a preference and was never overly anxious to learn his 2009 role. His maturity and relaxed demeanor made his handling this spring possible.
"If he was a kid that couldn’t handle or it caused a lot of anxiety, we would have done it differently," Francona said. "We kept checking with him. If we ever felt like it was counterproductive, we wouldn’t have done it. He’s a solid kid, and he understands. We never want to do something that’s going to put somebody in a tough state, and he’s fine."
Last season, Matsuzaka pitched in front of Lester. This year, that's switched. Francona said the reason for the move was not based on performance, but rather because of Matsuzaka's World Baseball Classic schedule.
“I don’t think it really mattered,” Francona said. “We just got our hands on Daisuke. Rather than flip-flop everybody’s order, we have it settled in.”
To prepare for their starts, Lester and Matsuzaka will pitch Friday and Saturday against the New York Mets in New York in the final exhibition games of the spring. Wakefield will pitch a minor league game here on Saturday.
(all 3 sections above were from Adam Kilgore's piece on Boston.com yesterday)
I really hope Tim Wakefield has a strong start to his season. The feedback I've been hearing is that people are starting to think he's all done and that Tito is doing him a favor as a trusted veteran and ignoring what's best for the team. Hopefully Wake is able to show he still has something left....if not I hope the Sox are willing to cut ties in some sort of classy way (is that possible?)
...and the reason there aren't more options in the poll for "Worst Sox Opening Day starter of the past 25 years" is because every other one was started by either Dice-K, Schil, Pedro, Clemens or Hurst. Tough to argue with any of those guys.
I wish Wake would be a long reliver...and use Penny and Buchy as 4 and 5. But Wake did look good in his last outing...perhaps give him a game. But, it's always the same - a decent 5-6 innings with 4 ERs...
i wish wake had retired after we won in 2007. i love him but the longer he goes the more he diminishes my good memories. sort of like timlin
HUGE year for Beckett. I was bummed I didn't get him in my fantasy league.
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