Recently signed veteran Paul Byrd will join the PawSox Wednesday for a start as he gets ready to help the big club down the stretch. His role has yet to be determined but it’s likely to be minimal with Dice-K and Wake set to return sometime in the next few weeks. In two starts with the Gulf Coast Red Sox, Byrd is 0-1 with a 5.14 ERA over seven innings - not exactly impressive. With the Sox in 2008, Byrd had a 4.78 ERA in eight starts.
Of these three, the most important is obviously All-Star veteran Tim Wakefield. If he can pitch as well as he did in the first half and give the offense a chance to win for him, he would rejoin Beckett and Lester as stabilizing forces in the rotation, something Penny was for a good while until recently and that Clay Buchholz needs time to prove he can be. Between now and October 4, the Sox need to regain that solid starting pitching depth they once had if they are to be playoff bound. Between Wakefield, Buchholz, Penny, and Dice-K, they should be able to do just that.
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