McAdam: Sudden lack of starting pitching depth hangs over Red Sox

While it's easy to cherry-pick a few clunkers among the first 36 games, on the whole, it's difficult to be critical of the Red Sox' starting pitching.

Even Monday night, when the Red Sox saw their four-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles, it was through little fault of starting pitcher Martin Perez, who allowed just one run over five innings. That left Sox starters with a 4.08 ERA, good for seventh in the American League, and if that number doesn't completely impress you, then you weren't paying attention to the Sox last year, when their rotation was arguably the worst in either league.

A more noteworthy stat on the rotation might be this one: the Sox went into Monday night second in the American League in innings from their starters, evidence that, in the vast majority of games, the Sox were being kept competitive by the starters. Again, this marks another stark contest to last year.

The Sox have also been fortunate that all five of their starters have taken every turn but one: Eduardo Rodriguez missed his scheduled Opening Day assignment because of some elbow inflammation he experienced at the back end of spring training, delaying by a week his return to the mound after missing all of 2020.

As the season is nearly one-fourth complete, the Sox have utilized just six starters -- the current five-man rotation, plus two fill-in starts from Tanner Houck. Houck took Rodriguez's missed turn in the first week, and was called upon to start half of a doubleheader caused by rainout.

It's a guarantee the Sox will need to use more than six starters over the long, demanding six-month regular season, though surely the hope is they'll come nowhere near the 16 needed to get through just the 60-game schedule in 2020.

And here's where things get a bit ominous for the Sox.



At the start of spring training, the team felt good about its starting pitching depth -- and for good reason. At Triple-A, the Sox expected to have Houck, Bryan Mata and Connor Seabold in reserve in Worcester. Houck had already demonstrated that he was capable of, at the very least, spot start duty, having won all three of his starts last September.

Mata and Seabold, less experienced and without having pitched above Double-A, were more projections. But the feeling was that they could at least be introduced to the majors at some point this season.

But already, those expectations have been altered. Mata came down with soreness in his elbow after some spring training appearances and when he attempted to begin a throwing program, the soreness persisted. Last month, the Sox announced that he had undergone Tommy John surgery and would, of course, be lost for the remainder of this season, to say nothing of a portion of 2022 also.

More recently, Seabold was shut down after experiencing elbow inflammation last week. The Red Sox say that the elbow is structurally sound and they're merely being cautious -- as indeed they should be. Then, only a few days ago, the team also sidelined Houck, who complained of some soreness with his flexor muscle a day after his most recent start.

The same messaging took place with Houck. Nothing to worry about, just exercising caution, etc.

And maybe Seabold and Houck will be back on the mound for the WooSox soon, continuing their development and ready to answer the call if the major league team needs reinforcements. Having two quality prospects at Triple-A would nicely reinforce the Sox' rotation.

But what if one -- or both -- pitchers are revealed to have more major injuries. Then what?

The performance of the rotation to date aside, there's plenty of reason to worry about the current staff's durability going forward. Both Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Richards have had long checkered injury histories. Eovaldi has spent time on the IL in each of the last five seasons, including both full seasons with the Sox. Richards, meanwhile, had averaged less than 40 innings over the previous five seasons before signing with the Red Sox last winter.

And as welcome as Rodriguez's return has been, there remains some questions about his ability to get through the season without a blow, given that he didn't pitch at all a year ago and his workload will have to be carefully managed.

The issue, then, isn't if the Red Sox will need to augment their rotation at some point during the season but rather, when.

For the time being, there isn't a single dependable starter at Worcester upon whom the Sox could call.

In point of fact, that empty minor league cupboard may well have been the reason that Alex Cora gave the hook to Martin Perez after just five innings and 74 pitchers Monday night at Camden Yards -- to stretch out long reliever/swing man Matt Andriese in the event he has to be plugged in for a spot start soon.

For now, there's little to worry about. But the loss, however temporary, of three prospects at Triple-A in the last four weeks (two of them in the last week) is an emphatic reminder of how quickly things can change when it comes to pitching inventory -- and not for the good, either.