Red Sox Report Card (rotation)

Part 2 of the first quarter report card.


Boston Red Sox (24-15, .615, 1st place AL East)

1. RHP Curt Schilling (6-2, 4.17 ERA, 5.78 K/BB) B

Schilling is holding down the fort as the #1 starter, and the Sox couldn't ask for a better mentor for future staff ace Josh Beckett. The downside of the near-40 Schilling is the barrage of home runs that have come off him this year. However disconcerning the homers, find consolation in the fact that Schilling has shown the ability to give up the long ball and still maintain a very good ERA. Curt is the type of pitcher who should (and has already proven to) age fairly well despite an increased hittability.

2. RHP Josh Beckett (5-1, 4.24 ERA, 2.26 K/BB) B

It feels good to have an ace in the hole, doesn't it? Beckett and Schilling are dueling frontmen in the rotation this year, an in intriguing combo they make. Beckett has refused to settle for mediocrity so far in his first year in Boston, pitching either brilliantly or flat-out badly. Like many SPs, he has first-inning problems, but tends to settle down very nicely in the middle innings. Beckett has incredible stuff, intensity, and composure. He never looks out of his element on the hill, no matter how he's pitching; starters with this mound presence tend to get in the drivers seat and take complete control of a great many games.

3. RHP Matt Clement (4-3, 5.36 ERA, 1.42 K/BB) C

Clement is a general disappointment, sitting in the #3 spot, wallowing in mediocrity, and making $10 mil per year. The Red Sox management thought that Clement would mature and build his confidence with the guidance of C Jason Varitek, but that just hasn't happened. The underlying problems with Clement are control and stamina. With some conditioning and discipline, one would think, Clement could become a very effective starter. We're not holding our breath.

4. RHP Tim Wakefield (3-5, 4.17 ERA, 1.72 K/BB) C+

The W-L statistic haunts Wakefield as it has a tendency to do, but don't let that take away from his solid performances that have yielded 38K and a 4.17 ERA. Wakefield started with a statistical handicap after getting pummelled in his first start, but has since scraped his way back to respectability. His K/BB is low because of his high walk total, but the K/9 is still nearly 6. Wakefield's a knuckleballer -- what can you say about control? He should have made the wind blow more balls over the plate? It seems like an arbitrary stat line appears every year. I'll go out on a limb and say he'll have 140 Ks with an ERA in the 4's, like he's had most every year for the past 10.

5. LHP Lenny DiNardo (1-1, 6.17 ERA, 1.30 K/BB) C- for effort

Oh Lenny. A good guy but a generally ineffective starter thus far. DiNardo leads a lonely existence as the sole lefty in the Red Sox rotation, and left-handedness is just about the only premium he has provided. Lenny has been effective out of the pen, but being stretched into a starter over the course of 3 games has proved a shelling of an experiment. After each game he says "I left the ball up today," then does the same thing in the next start to perpetuate the hit parade. However, expect better things from DiNardo as the season progresses if the Sox are really not going to give this spot to Wells or Papelbon. Lenny is not overpowering by any means, but he is wily, and now that he is coming off a 93-pitch outing he just may have the stamina necessary to have a couple solid starts.