| 27 February 2009
I was kicking around the Boston.com Sox message boards and found a pots asking who the 5th starter should be. The original post was months old and it's safe to say the Tim Wakefield and Brad Penny will likely round out the starting rotation to start the 2009 season, but Justin Masterson was on the list of choices and it got me wondering...
What should the Red Sox do with Justin Masterson?
Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield and Brad Penny complete the five-man rotation and Clay Buchholz should be ready to step in if needed... so the Sox don't need a starter.
And Takashi Saito, Hideki Okajima and possibly Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen are capable of setting up Papelbon and/or locking down the 7th inning... so the Sox are covered in the bullpen.
So where does "Mastey" fit in?
In 2008, Masterson was a Jack of all Trades, starting 9 games early in the season while other starters were dealing with injuries. He posted a more-than-respectable 3.67 ERA to go along with a 4-3 record and a .206 BAA in the first half.
But in the second half, the starters were healthy and Masterson was called up to help the bullpen. He quickly became Francona's go to guy when he needed a ground ball out... and eventually became to unofficial setup man, allowing Okajima to avoid situations with men on base. As a reliever, Mastey finished the second half with a 2.36 ERA and 29 Ks in 34.1 innings. He went on to post a 1.86 ERA with a 9 Ks in 9.2 post season innings...
So what do you do with a guy that has proven he can start in the majors AND get key outs as a reliever?
Masterson will be stretched out as a starter this spring, but GM Theo Epstein says the Sox will make adjustments as the 2009 season Opener gets closer:
"We're still going to keep our options open with respect to Justin Masterson's role," Epstein said earlier this month. "Clearly we have some added depth in the rotation and some added depth in the bullpen. But it's January. We'll see what we look like the first week of April when we're ready for Opening Day.
"Justin's versatility gives us the ability to sort of read and react. He's likely to come to camp on a starter's program because we find that's useful for our relievers. Then we can adjust with him the way we did with Jonathan Papelbon."
Bottom Line: Barring any spring training injuries to a starter, Masterson will likely start the season in the bullpen... and that's where I think he will help the Sox the most. With all those options in the pen, Tito will be able to keep Papelbon and the entire bullpen fresh all season.
But wouldn't it be interesting to see the Red Sox start the season with a six man rotation? I know... starters are creatures of habit and they like they 5-day routines... but there are plenty of quality arms in the pen to keep the relievers fresh and using six starters would (theoretically) keep the starters fresh...
What do you guys think? Should the Red Sox keep Masterson stretched out and use six starters... or should they play it safe and keep him in the bullpen?
Use these buttons to share this post...
<a href="http://www.yardbarker.com/author/new" onclick="window.open('http://www.yardbarker.com/author/new?pUrl=' + (encodeURIComponent('')).replace(/./g,'%2E')+'&pHead='+(encodeURIComponent('')).replace(/./g,'%2E'), 'yardbarker'); return false;">
ARTICLEURL
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
