Boston Red Sox prove young arms and pitching depth key in Majors

Each time Boston had talented young arms to throw at the Bronx Bombers in Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. By contrast, the Yankees (who finish a 4 game series with Cleveland tonight) have one dominant starter in his prime in C.C. Sabathia, and a lot of question marks, a combination of aging veterans (Bartolo Colon, Freddie Garcia, A.J. Burnett) and untested kids (Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes). 

That’s why losing prize free agent pitcher Cliff Lee over the winter was such a huge blow. Instead of two aces, New York has one combined with a ton of injuries. The Yankees lost Colon last week, so now they are minus two starters with Hughes on the shelf. He’s been out since early in the season with shoulder injuries. The Yankees also lost reliever Joba Chamberlain for the season last week with a torn elbow ligament, and have seen their bullpen decimated by injuries. Rafael Soriano and Pedro Feliciano, both signed as free agents in the offseason, are out with injuries. Soriano has an elbow injury and Feliciano a shoulder problem, and there is no timetable for either to return.

Yankees were confident in March 

Go back to spring training and the Yankees were actually very confident with their pitching depth. "We may very well have the answers right in front of us," GM Brian Cashman said at a March spring training game. "We may. It doesn't mean we do or that we will, but right now, we very well may have all the answers right here in front of us. Time will tell."  Less than three months later, we have an answer and it’s not been good for New York, which means they will be buyers in the pitching market before next month’s trading deadline. 

Boston also lost two starting pitchers, the No. 4 and 5 starters in John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka, but had reliable knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to throw in there, a valuable weapon as a spot starter, middle man and even closer at times. Plus, Lackey has thrown two good games since returning from an injury, but the point is the Red Sox had better options and pitching depth. 

The team that won the World Series last year, San Francisco, had a lot of weakness on offense. The 2010 Giants didn’t score many runs, had a terrible on-base percentage and couldn’t steal bases. They rode an incredible array of talented young arms to the championship in Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain.  This season, the defending champs have been even better, No. 4 in pitching ERA with the emergence of young Madison Bumgarner and veteran Ryan Vogelsong. The Giants are 35-17 in their last 52 against the National League West and 23-8 in Cain’s last 31 starts. If you like to play totals, keep in mind the pitching-rich Giants are 21-7 under the total following an off day. 

Stockpile pitching depth

Each season different teams try new things to stockpile pitching. In 2007, Boston added the best free agent pitcher on the market in then 26-year old Daisuke Matsuzaka from Japan. For a team that didn’t make the playoffs in 2006 with pitching problems, Matsuzaka was a terrific addition, making 32 starts, with 204 innings pitched, 201 strikeouts and a 15-12 record. Expectations were high and some claim he disappointed, but the fact is Dice-K teamed with newcomer reliever Hideki Okajima (also from Japan) to vastly upgrade the Sox’ pitching and pave the way for another World Series title. 

Matsuzaka started Game 7 of the ALCS, an 11-2 win over the Indians and Okajimi followed. The two combined to throw 7 innings allowing 2 runs and no walks. The team they faced, the Indians, were in the ALCS largely because of the emergence of 23-year old starter Fausto Carmona, who dazzled with a 19-8 record (after going 1-10 in 2006). You can see why general managers are constantly trying to upgrade pitching, drafting and trading for young arms and why MLB handicappers are tuned into this activity. 

But pitchers also get hurt or flame out, and this season Matsuzaka is out with a serious arm injury while Carmona continues to show that he was a one-year wonder back in 2007. Edinson Volquez of the Reds is back from a major injury, but still looking to regain his old form, walking way too many batters.   

Talented arms can do so much to help a team win. First, just having a reliable ace every 5 days gives a team a great chance to end any losing streak. Second, having a starter go 7-8 innings gives the bullpen a day off. Less innings and wear and tear generally makes a bullpen much better. In 2004 and 2007 the Red Sox bullpen was used to a minimum because of reliable starters going 7 innings almost every night, just like the Giants in 2010. In 2005 and 2006 they had all kinds of problems with starters and the bullpen was far less effective because of overwork.  

Coors Field dilemma 

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox once commented that he hated playing in Coors Field in Colorado, not so much because of what it did to his staff there, but what happened AFTER they played in Denver. His staffs would get so overtaxed that they would be a mess for a week trying to recover. A few years ago the Padres had a 22-inning game that they lost at home. San Diego had a winning record the previous seven games, then went on a losing streak after that 22-inning marathon. They lost the next two nights 9-0 and 10-3, which started a 2-9 run. The team that won that marathon, Colorado, finished up a 9-game road trip shortly thereafter, then lost 11 of 13 games. 

The cost of pitching is going up more than hitting, as we saw with the Lee signing and the recent trades of Roy Halladay and Johan Santana trade. At the time the Mets added Santana, before their financial troubles, three of the top five Mets’ highest paid players were pitchers in Santana ($16.9 million), Pedro Martinez ($11.8-million) and Billy Wagner ($10.5-million). The same is true for the current Yankees, with Sabathia ($24.2-million), Burnett ($16.5-million) and Mariano Rivera ($14.9-million) three of their top five paid players. In baseball betting, the old adage is still true: You can never have enough arms!