It didn’t take long for this year’s Boston Red Sox to realize the old expression still holds true: You never can have enough starting pitching.
The Red Sox, whose rotation currently features several question marks, are looking outside the organization for starting pitching depth, according to manager John Farrell.
“That’s ongoing,” Farrell told reporters Monday in Fort Myers, Fla., per the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato.
“Our efforts haven’t picked up just because of recent developments,” the skipper continued. “It’s always been there. It focuses back on those guys who have just been sent out of camp and getting them to the point of being more consistent. Henry Owens and Brian Johnson, those two guys in particular, because they’re healthy and they’re capable. They’re not dealing with physical ailments. We’ve got to make them consistent to be more readily available depth pitching. That’s why Kyle Kendrick’s presence here has become more important by the day.”
The Red Sox’s rotation was dealt a serious blow earlier this spring when David Price began dealing with an elbow issue. The 2012 Cy Young winner avoided surgery, at least for now, but there’s no timetable for his return, leaving Boston with a glaring hole in its rotation behind Opening Day starter Rick Porcello and newly acquired ace Chris Sale.
In theory, the Red Sox should be fine even without Price, a five-time All-Star who’s coming off a season in which he logged 35 starts and 230 innings. The Red Sox already had six starters vying for five spots, with Drew Pomeranz, Steven Wright and Eduardo Rodriguez all viable options outside the big three of Porcello, Sale and Price.
Pomeranz is dealing with triceps tightness, though. And Wright and Rodriguez also faced some uncertainty earlier this spring before returning from their own ailments. Ideally, the Red Sox would like to add some additional depth, especially with the next men up — Kendrick, Owens and Johnson — being unknown quantities at this point.
“Ideally, but I know every effort was made to try to sign that type of pitcher,” Farrell said, according to Mastrodonato, of adding another pitcher like Kendrick, a 32-year-old veteran with ample major league experience. “That tells you the demand for pitching around baseball. We were able to have one type of starter like this in Kendrick.”
For now, the search continues.
Thumbnail photo via Jonathan Dyer/USA TODAY Sports Images
