The acquisition of Erik Bedard comes at a delicate time for the Red Sox rotation, and for their new left-hander. Because of a wide variety of elements, a great deal of planning has taken place.
To begin with, Boston is just beginning the second half of a brutal run that sees the team play 20 games in 20 days. That matches the longest stretch of the year without a day off.
Also, Bedard has made just one start in more than a month, coming off the disabled list Friday to throw only 57 pitches in 1 1/3 rocky innings vs. Tampa Bay.
Finally, it's that time of year when everyone could use a bit of a break. For all these reasons, manager Terry Francona has elected to utilize a six-man rotation for the second half of the 20-game stretch. There will be off-days on Aug. 11 and Aug. 15, at which point things should revert back to normal, barring anything unforeseen.
The plan starts with the situation surrounding Bedard, the sixth man in.
"The way we interpreted it from the Seattle guys is if he had pitched for them Wednesday, they were going to hold him to about 75 or 80 [pitches], so we probably need to stick somewhat to that also," Francona said.
Because of that, fellow lefty Andrew Miller, who started Sunday in Chicago, will be in the bullpen to back up Bedard. If Miller is not used, he will start Monday in Minnesota. If he is used, he will be pushed to Tuesday against the Twins, with Tim Wakefield going Monday on regular rest. Bedard would go in the series finale Wednesday.
While that situation gets ironed out later this week, some of the big horses at the front end of the rotation get a much-needed extra day. John Lackey and Josh Beckett initially will stay on regular rest through the slate, but Jon Lester gets five full days off before pitching Friday night against New York.
Then, Lackey and Beckett will have five days between starts before going in the first two games at Seattle next weekend.
The matchups are as follows, complete with probables for all opponents:
Cleveland
Monday: John Lackey versus Josh Tomlin
Tuesday: Josh Beckett versus David Huff
Wednesday: Tim Wakefield versus Carlos Carrasco
Thursday: Erik Bedard versus Justin Masterson
New York
Friday: Jon Lester versus Bartolo Colon
Saturday: John Lackey versus CC Sabathia
Sunday: Josh Beckett versus Freddy Garcia.
After that it will be Miller, Wakefield and Bedard in Minnesota, or Wakefield, Miller and Bedard if Miller appears out of the pen Thursday.
Following the off-day, Francona can settle things down a bit.
"We don’t have that day off until we go to Seattle, and then we have two in about a four-day span, so obviously the six-man thing doesn't help then,"he said. "We'll get to that off-day and we’ll probably mix and match a little bit, or we'll see what puts us what we think is in our best position. But for the time being, they can all use an extra day."
