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Tony's Top 5 reasons to keep Justin Masterson in the bullpen
5
The impact on Manny Delcarmen. As we learned last year, Delcarmen is far more effective in the sixth or seventh innings. Keeping Masterson makes Delcarmen better and gives the Sox the flexibility to trade.
4
His stuff is better. As a starter, Masterson's fastball is in the 90-92 mph range. As a reliever, he has touched 96 mph. This gives Masterson the ability to induce strikeouts and double plays, both invaluable in the late innings.
3
The lefty issue. Unless or until he incorporates an effective changeup or split, Masterson will continue to be vulnerable against lefthanded batters. As a starter, he'd be exposed to more lefties. As a reliever, Masterson gets the benefit of matchups.
2
Efficiency -- or inefficiency. As a starter, Masterson's difficulties against lefthanded batters can inflate his pitch counts and shorten his outings. As a reliever, pitch counts are virtually irrelevant.
1
Right now, Masterson is more the former than the latter. The team would be better off. It may seem sad to say, but an effective late-inning reliever now may have more value than a mediocre, back-end starter.
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About Mazz
Tony Massarotti is a Globe sportswriter and has been writing about sports in Boston for the last 19 years. A lifelong Bostonian, Massarotti graduated from Waltham High School and Tufts University. He was voted the Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by his peers in 2000 and 2008 and has been a finalist for the award on several other occasions. This blog won a 2008 EPpy award for "Best Sports Blog".
Tony's Top 5
NFL power rankings
5
Broncos. OK, we’re convinced. Kyle Orton is now 26-12 in his career as a starter. Josh McDaniels looks like a real coach. And the defense is much improved.
4
Saints. Went into Philly and beat the Eagles, went into New York and beat the Jets. Better defense than we thought. Right?
3
Vikings. If you’re a Vikes fan, Brett Favre should scare you come playoff time. But in the regular season? So far, so good.
2
Colts. Don’t look now, but only three teams in the NFL have allowed fewer points than Indy. And have we mentioned the quarterback?
1
Giants. They can run, pass and play defense. And did we mention they’re well-coached? Who needs Plaxico?
Featured Comments
Sox pitching depth hits bottomThe real reason for concern is that key pieces of the 04 and 07 winning teams are old and rusty.
Ortiz, Lowell, Varitek. Is there a baseball "Cash for Clunkers" program? Trade them in for new models.
Bob
'Big Papi' revealed as a mythWow....no sugar coating here, huh Tony? It is bitterly disappointing to confirm what I think most honest Red Sox fans must have at least suspected. Does it change anything? Not really. Again no honest Red Sox fan really believed none of the Home Town players were involved with this, did they? Baseball could have ended this whole story years ago by just making "The List" public. Instead, it will continue to trickle out over the next 10 years and we'll never get past this.
Steve from Plattsburgh, NY
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