Doubront has good stuff , but he has not been able to consistently have command of it.  With Webster and De La Rosa coming on , Felix is definitely on the bubble. I would have Dempster on a short leash also.   We should not wait until we are 15 games out before making a move.

Allen Webster has over 200 innings in AA and has proved himself there.  He should start they season in Pawtucket, and if he continues his dominance be the first guy up to fill in.  It makes sense, it's non rushing, and it starts his clock a year longer.  I'm all for aggressive prospect promotions, (Bogaerts, 19 in Portland) but they should also not be rushed too fast and challenged at every level before they are advanced.

Baring any injuries, I'd put money down on him starting in AAA.

Webster will start in AA, maybe AAA.

Doubie had another 5 K's last night. Hes got great swing and miss stuff. I highly doubt just because some kid has a few good innings in ST that will be enough to take our #4 pitchers slot in the rotation.

Everyone needs to ease up on these prospects. Just because they have a good spring doesnt mean they automatically should be in the starting rotation or line up. Its very encouraging and they have impressed, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. their time will come soon enough.

A) Tazawa has the best stuff in the organization. bar none.

One of the best for sure.

B) Doobie pitched well enough last season that he deserves a long look in 2013.

It was not as great as you and others think. His WHIP was bad.

C) Webster (along with RDLR) is on an innings limit, so starting him in the MLB will only complicate things down the road when we shut him down and look for another pitcher to take his palce.

The problem is, he will be getting innings in AAA that will limit how many MLB innings he can give us. It's too early to decide now, but if he's better than Doubront, why use up his innings in AAA?

D) Webster (along with RDLR) will get a cup of tea at some point this season. But they will not start the season in the MLB unless someone gets injured.

I agree, but that doesn't make it the right call.

E) even if someone does get injured there are probably at least 3-4 other pitchers who would get the starting nod ahead of them at this point. Due to the aforementioned innings limit.

 #6/7/8/9: Morales/Aceves/Wright/Mortenson/(Tazawa). not necessarily in that order. THEN RDLR & Webster probably.

I doubt Aceves starts, and I don't see themn stretching out Mortensen, so I do not think they will use him for anything more than a 3-4 innings start in a pinch. I do think Morales and Wright may be used before Webster or DLR- right or wrong.

maybe the reason why he tired and struggled was more to do with him not being in great shape as opposed to having to pitch extra innings. he showed up for camp out of shape and has not pitched overly well over his few starts this spring. his whip last year was brutal, yes he did put up good strikeout numbers, but when your walking as many batters as he does, 5-6 inning starts become the norm it puts extra stress on the pen. hes 25 this year, if he holds onto his rotation spot, he needs to cut down the walks and be more effecient. first and foremost he needs to imrpove his conditioning in order to remain effective till the end of the season. he has good stuff, he just needs to work on his control. but until he does, he remains a slightly above average #5 pitcher. 

I doubt Aceves starts, and I don't see themn stretching out Mortensen, so I do not think they will use him for anything more than a 3-4 innings start in a pinch. I do think Morales and Wright may be used before Webster or DLR- right or wrong.

His whip was bad.....so wasn't Jon Lester's, John Tudors,Bobby O'jedas's, Bruce Husrt's, and many,many other young left handed pitchers at similar stages and age in thier careers. You DO NOT give up on cheap left handers with plus stuff like he has too early. Are you kidding me. As a rookie.....he had One, One really tough 6 game stretch. Other than that, he was the teams most consistantent and best pitcher last year. Look it up...

Where did I say give up on Doubie? 

I merely said his 2013 numbers were not that good.

They weren't. 

Being the "most consistent" out of one of the worst rotations we've ever had, does not mean he did well.

He did not.

I have mentioned trading Doubie. I guess you may call that "giving up", but I prefer to see it as making room for pitchers who all togteher, offer an equally promising future, and getting something of better value back when he is packaged with others.

Iwe everyone so high on tazawa, is he strictly relief or possible starter, sox killed me last year and did not pay as much attention as usual, plus three young kids makes watching games a little tricky, can someone please state where Tarawa should fit best. Thanks

K's are over-rated.

We can spin numbers to fit any point we want to make. Let's start with your guy Salty. I ve heard you say many times that his cera. Got much better after the first 6 or 8 weeks of the season, or....that after buch's first 5 or 6 starts his era was really good. Same thing with Lester....so, You want to trade Doubie...who has pretty good upside and is really cheap over trading a Lester, who is expensive and prob will not be here in 2 yrs? Don't make sense....Felix Doubront was 10-5, with a 4.37 era on aug 3rd when he hit the rookie wall....he then had 5 pretty ugly starts, and the reason the red sox didn't shut him down was because they knew what they were doing. They wanted him to pitch through the fatigue. You have got to do that at some point to a young pitcher. The good thing for both him, and the red sox is that he got his 2nd wind and finished with 4 really good starts. That's what I'm looking at, and I'm sure the red sox are also. In baseball today, you DO NOT trade high upside pitching, especially left handed pitching. Take his whip and exclude those 5 starts just like you do for Salty, or Buch to make a case for them and see where we are at. 

Doubront has good stuff , but he has not been able to consistently have command of it.  With Webster and De La Rosa coming on , Felix is definitely on the bubble. I would have Dempster on a short leash also.   We should not wait until we are 15 games out before making a move.

Doubront to this point is very similar to Lester at the same point of development.  It's too early to make judgments on what Doubront can be.

In response to makonikyman's comment:

We can spin numbers to fit any point we want to make. Let's start with your guy Salty. I ve heard you say many times that his cera. Got much better after the first 6 or 8 weeks of the season, or....that after buch's first 5 or 6 starts his era was really good. Same thing with Lester....so, You want to trade Doubie...who has pretty good upside and is really cheap over trading a Lester, who is expensive and prob will not be here in 2 yrs? Don't make sense....Felix Doubront was 10-5, with a 4.37 era on aug 3rd when he hit the rookie wall....he then had 5 pretty ugly starts, and the reason the red sox didn't shut him down was because they knew what they were doing. They wanted him to pitch through the fatigue. You have got to do that at some point to a young pitcher. The good thing for both him, and the red sox is that he got his 2nd wind and finished with 4 really good starts. That's what I'm looking at, and I'm sure the red sox are also. In baseball today, you DO NOT trade high upside pitching, especially left handed pitching. Take his whip and exclude those 5 starts just like you do for Salty, or Buch to make a case for them and see where we are at. 

Excellent post...a lot of good points about Doubront's season there.

In response to Hfxsoxnut's comment:

Doubront has good stuff , but he has not been able to consistently have command of it.  With Webster and De La Rosa coming on , Felix is definitely on the bubble. I would have Dempster on a short leash also.   We should not wait until we are 15 games out before making a move.

Doubront to this point is very similar to Lester at the same point of development.  It's too early to make judgments on what Doubront can be.

In his age 23 season, Jon Lester won the clinching game of the 2007 World Series.

In his age 24 season, Lester went 16-6 with a 3.21 ERA in 33 starts covering 210.1 innings.

In his age 24 season, Felix Doubront (who turned 25 during the World Series) went 11-10 with a 4.86 ERA in 29 starts covering 161 innings.