The Boston Red Sox already had one of the best rotations in Major League Baseball in 2016, and it just got even better.
Boston landed lefty starter Chris Sale on Tuesday after trading prospects Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz to the Chicago White Sox, giving them a trio of aces in Sale, Rick Porcello and David Price. And that’s enough to give them the best rotation in the American League.
The AL’s two other fearsome threesomes belong to the Cleveland Indians, who have Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, and the Detroit Tigers, who have Justin Verlander, Jordan Zimmermann and Michael Fulmer. But the Red Sox still pose a bigger threat now, and they aren’t entering the 2017 season with injury concerns like the two AL Central teams.
For starters, the Red Sox got the third-best ERA in the AL out of their starters at 4.22 behind the Toronto Blue Jays (3.64) and the Indians (4.08), while also posting the second-best WAR at 13.9, according to FanGraphs. But it was Boston’s run down the stretch that really gives the club an edge, as it had the second-best ERA in the entire league at 3.65 behind the World Series champion Chicago Cubs and the highest WAR at 9.0.
And, again, this all was without Sale.
The Red Sox also enter spring training with the fewest questions surrounding their health. Price, Sale and Porcello all managed to get through 2016 without any injuries and ranked first, fourth and sixth in the league in innings pitched, respectively. The Red Sox’s nine complete games also were the second-most behind the San Francisco Giants, and Sale himself had the most in the league with six for the White Sox. But neither the Tigers nor the Indians can say that.
Zimmermann made just 18 starts for the Tigers last season because of groin and neck injuries, and Detroit manager Brad Ausmus on Tuesday said “really all we can do is hold our breath and get to spring training and hope it doesn’t flare up again,” per MLive.com. That doesn’t sound like a great prognosis. Carrasco fractured a finger on his pitching hand in September, and Salazar was shut down with forearm soreness, which is an injury teams must tread lightly with, as it can be a precursor to Tommy John surgery.
At the end of the day, though, the National League’s ace trios still take the cake. The Cubs’ one-two-three punch of Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks helped Chicago win a whopping 103 games and carried the team to its first World Series win in 108 years. The New York Mets managed to have one of the best rotations in the league even after losing Matt Harvey to season-ending shoulder surgery thanks to Noah Syndergaard, Jacob de Grom and Steven Matz. And the Giants probably could get by with just Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto, but they also have Jeff Samardzija for good measure.
The Red Sox and the Washington Nationals are pretty even, as they have NL Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Tanner Roark, who picked up some Cy Young votes this year, too. But they probably have a leg up over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who’ll be hoping Kenta Maeda doesn’t go through a sophomore slump and Rich Hill’s age doesn’t catch up to him behind ace Clayton Kershaw.
Either way, there’s a chance Boston will get to put its rotation to the test against any of those NL teams, as the club’s new arms along with its powerful offense make it a huge favorite to win the AL in 2017.
Thumbnail photo via Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports Images
