Lester went 3-0 with a startling 34 K’s in his last three starts as well. The young lefty is so pleased with his pitching lately that he recently declared the “stuff” he had in the 2-hit, 1-run CG outing versus Texas June 6 was better than what he threw in his no-hitter against Kansas City in May of last year.
Brad Penny (5-2), coming off an injury-plagued and sub-par 2008 season with the LA Dodgers, has slowly but surely proven to be a reliable 5th starter in his brief tenure with the Sox, with only three bad outings to his name thus far. Penny’s only glaring flaw now is that he doesn’t go deep into games, and the fact that his ERA is still over 5 is in large part due to his two shortest outings of the season, one of which saw him give up 8 runs in only 3 innings in early April. Still, the crafty veteran usually gives up no more than 2-4 runs per start. Penny’s most impressive and gutsy outing of the year was his most recent one in which he held the Bronx Bombers scoreless over 6 innings with 117 pitches thrown on June 11 at Fenway.
Unfortunately, with John Smoltz getting ready to make his Red Sox debut either this Thursday or next week, Brad Penny’s days in Boston may be numbered depending on how GM Theo Epstein makes room for the future hall of famer on the roster. The way Penny has pitched lately helps his trade value for sure, but it is going to be very hard for Epstein to trade away this quality veteran anytime soon, especially when no one knows yet how much Smoltz has left in the tank.
To make room for Smoltz, instead of trading Penny, I think the Sox will consider dropping the only struggling Sox starter from the rotation, Dice-K, and assigning him to be the long man in the bullpen while sending down either Justin Masterson or rookie fireballer Daniel Bard to the minors. What probably won’t happen is Dice-K (ERA 7.55) landing on the DL again anytime soon, since he’s clearly healthy now, nor will Smoltz head to the bullpen to begin his Sox career. A six-man rotation isn’t likely to happen either.
Article comments
1 - Tony
Wow, you want the great Asian-import Dice K in the bullpen. I, of course, agree but what a far cry from the Sox rooster like preening when they "snatched" him away from the Yankees.
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Ha. Tony, I think you and Charlie are gonna get along juust fine.
3 - Tony
I think he's a great writer but it just wouldn't be natural for us to not spar a little bit. It would a disservice to the site and our respective loyalties.
4 - Tony
By the way "Dead" red; great name for the feature.
5 - Charlie D
Thanks for the compliments Tony! BTW, let the "spar[ring]" begin (joking). Seriously though, about Dice-K coming to Boston, it was one of the RARE instances where Boston outbid Cashman and the Yanks for a big-time free agent. I don't see it happening again anytime soon.
Also, it now looks like Smoltz will make his debut next week after all (Thursday vs. Washington). But no one's getting dropped from the starting rotation...yet.
Starting next Tuesay, the Sox have 19 games in 20 days leading to the All-Star break, so a 6-man rotation is likely to happen for a week or two after all. I'm surprised Francona and the Sox embraced this option, even if it's temporary. But I guess this will buy Epstein more time to consider which two out of the three (Dice-K, Smoltz, Penny) will have a permanent place in the starting rotation.