Boston Red Sox Hope Low-Risk/High-Reward Signings Bolster Rotation

One of the Boston Red Sox’s biggest question marks of the 2020 was answered in the affirmative, part of the reason they reached the playoffs and came within two wins of the World Series in a season when expectations were low.

The Red Sox didn’t know what to expect from left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez. He had missed the entire pandemic-shortened 2020 season with a heart ailment he contracted during a bout with COVID-19.

Rodriguez wound up making 31 starts and pitching 157 1/3 innings. It was not to his 2019 levels of 34 starts and 203 1/3 innings but Rodriguez did enough to be an asset while providing league-average pitching with a 13-8 record and 4.74 ERA.

However, the Red Sox opted to move on from the 28-year-old when the Detroit Tigers offered him a five-year, $77-million contract in free agency in November.

It was a bit of a gamble on the Red Sox’s part. However, how they are trying to fill out the starting rotation in free agency is also a series of gambles.

Albeit the risks being taken by president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom are nearly as costly as it would have been to re-sign Rodriguez.

The Red Sox signed left-handers James Paxton ($6 million) and Rich Hill ($5 million) and right-hander Michael Wacha ($7 million) to one-year contracts worth a guaranteed $18 million. Paxton’s deal includes club options for 2023 and 2024.

All three veterans have been brilliant at various points of their careers. All three have also spent plenty of time on the injury list.

The Red Sox won’t ask anyone from that trio to do heavy inning lifting. Boston has presumable healthy lefty Chris Sale at the top of the rotation with right-handers Nathan Eovaldi and Nick Pivetta. Young Tanner Houck’s potential is intriguing.

Yet, with the way the roster is currently constituted, the Red Sox are going to need at least something from Hill, Paxton and/or Wacha.

Hill made a combined 31 starts last season with the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Mets, his most since going to the post 32 times way back in 2007 for the Chicago Cubs. Hill had a solid 2021, going 7-8 with a 3.86 ERA.

Yet Hill will be 42 years old when the season is scheduled to begin March 31 – presuming the lockout doesn’t change those plans. He also pitched just 58 2/3 innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019, the last full MLB season before ’21.

The 33-year-old Paxton has never made more than 29 starts or pitched more than 160 1/3 innings in nine major league seasons.

The big lefty worked just 20 1/3 innings over five starts for the New York Yankees in 2020. He then pitched only once for a 1 1/3 innings last season for the Seattle Mariners before needing Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery.

Wacha burst on the scene as a rookie with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013 when he was MVP of the National League Championship Series. However, persistent shoulder problems have prevented him from becoming a star.

Last season with the Rays, Wacha pitched in 29 games (23 starts) and logged 124 2/3 innings. However, he did not pitch particularly well with a 3-5 record and a 5.05 ERA.

Wacha, 30, hasn’t had an ERA+ over 100 (league average) since 2018. He also has pitched as many as 138 just three times in nine big league seasons and not since 2017.

The Red Sox have a creative front office as well as heady field staff led by manager Alex Cora and including pitching coach Dave Bush. It wouldn’t be wise to bet against any plan the Red Sox come up with to try to get the best they can from Hill, Paxton and Wacha.

Then again, the Red Sox might have no choice. It is hard to envision them getting back to the postseason without that happening.