Starting to come into focus
With Terry Francona setting his starters today for Games 1 and 2 in Japan, the Sox' pitching plans for the start of the season are beginning to come into a bit more focus.
We still don't know when Josh Beckett will return from a sore back. What we do know, however, is that he will miss the Japan trip and is likely to miss the two regular season games in Oakland that follow it.
Here's a schedule of the Sox' hectic start to the season, along with starting pitcher projections. Those with asterisks next to them are educated guesses at this point. None of this is set in stone. Heck, it's not even written in ink, particularly where Beckett's return is concerned.
March 21: Red Sox vs. Hanshin Tigers (Exhibition in Japan) -- Clay Buchholz
March 23: Red Sox vs. Yomiuri Giants (Exhibition in Japan) -- Tim Wakefield
March 25: Red Sox vs. Athletics (Regular season opener in Japan) -- Daisuke Matsuzaka
March 26: Red Sox vs. Athletics (Regular season game in Japan) -- Jon Lester
March 28: Red Sox at Dodgers (Exhibition) -- ???
March 29: Red Sox at Dodgers (Exhibition @ LA Coliseum) -- ???
March 30: Red Sox at Dodgers (Exhibition) -- ???
April 1: Red Sox at Athletics (Regular season) -- Daisuke Matsuzaka *
April 2: Red Sox at Athletics (Regular season) -- Jon Lester *
April 4: Red Sox at Blue Jays (Regular season) -- Clay Buchholz *
April 5: Red Sox at Blue Jays (Regular season) -- Tim Wakefield *
April 6: Red Sox at Blue Jays (Regular season) -- ???
April 8: Red Sox vs. Tigers (Opening Day at Fenway) -- ???
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Meet the Globe's Red Sox team (left to right): Nick Cafardo, Amalie
Benjamin, Adam Kilgore and Tony Massarotti
Not bad for a team with their two best pitchers on ice. I'm glad Dice-K had his wife induce labor so he could make the trip. We would have been in real trouble without him.
I have to disagree with Buchholz as the fifth starter. Given that he was "shut down" last year after less than 150 innings, I would rather have him open the year in AAA and be ready to contribute in August - October. I think that having him in the rotation at the start of the year will weaken the rotation in the back-end of the year as he begins to wear down. It is too much to ask him to go 200 innings this season.
I would rather have Tavarez in the rotation now, just like he was at this time last year and then replace him (or Snyder or Colon) with a fresh Buchholz for the back half/ play-off run.
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