With six-man looming, Sox take five

What we have here, for lack of a better description, is baseball’s answer to the four-corner offense. The Red Sox are spreading things out and taking their time, using every second to their advantage.

So for the next nine days, at least, the Red Sox will remain in a five-man rotation. After that, with John Smoltz now due to start on June 25 against the Washington Nationals, a six-man rotation seems like a probability. If and when the Red Sox go to that scenario, the one thing we know for certain is that it will be a temporary solution pending a more permanent decision involving another member of their staff, probably Daisuke Matsuzaka or Brad Penny.

Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick.

"It might be for a time or two through. It could happen," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said today when asked about the prospect of a six-man rotation upon Smoltz’s return. "I don’t know that we need to make our rotation out a week ahead of time, but [a six-man rotation] wouldn’t be the worst thing for a short period of time."

And so, in the interim, we join the Red Sox in waiting.

For now, there is no doubt that Daisuke Matsuzaka is a lucky man. Nobody currently in the Boston rotation has been as ineffective as Dice-K, but his contract and major league rules will allow him at least one more start, on Friday, against the Atlanta Braves. After that, Matsuzaka’s next turn would have fallen on June 25, which just happens to be the date that Smoltz takes the mound.

What that means, in short, is that Matsuzaka might very well be pitching for his place in the rotation on Friday, though the Red Sox have not said that. Matsuzaka’s contract prevents him from being demoted to the minors without his approval. Meanwhile, the Red Sox do not need to activate Smoltz until he pitches next week -- only his rehabilitation stint ends this week -- so the Sox are stretching the limits to account for their surplus of starting pitchers.

Let’s make something clear here: the Red Sox know what they’re doing. Postponing Smoltz’s return another week allows them to keep more pitchers for a longer period of time. The Red Sox clearly feel that demoting Matsuzaka to the bullpen could alienate him -- they may need him, too, at some point -- and they obviously have not found a suitable deal for Penny yet. The question that now remains is whether the club’s reluctance to move Matsuzaka to another role (or place) hurts Penny’s trade value.

At the moment, there is certainly no need for the Red Sox to make a rush to judgment. But at some point soon, unless the decision is made for them in the way of an injury, one must wonder when a six-man rotation begins to hurt the Red Sox more than it helps.