Foundation

It’s what you build on. It’s what everything is based on. It’s where you strength should be. In this case, the foundation of your 2007 Red Sox baseball team is its starting pitching rotation and it looks really freaking strong.

Remember back to spring training last year? We had just traded Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo because we had “too many starters”. God that looks freaking ridiculous now. We were saddled with Schilling, Beckett, Wells, Clement, Wake and maybe Papelbon. Yep… too much talent there. I still think the front office made the wrong move (young arm vs broken down veterans and head cases) but I am not gonna harp TOO much because I like Wily Mo. It’s hindsight, but after watching less than a full season from Wells, Clement and Wake combined, it was the wrong move.

Sometimes it’s SHOCKING to see people in sports management learn from their mistakes, but this time it looks like Theo and Co. pulled it off. Now we potentially have (from top to bottom) the strongest 5 man starting rotation in the major leagues. Schilling (fat but strong), Beckett (2nd time around and better adjusted), Dice-K (ace quality), Papelbon (still the beast from last season) and the venerable Wakefield (unsung hero and damage sponge). You look at those 5 guys, and if you are wearing the right rose colored specs, you can see a 13+ game winner in each one.

Of course there are a TON of “ifs”.

IF Dice-K can translate his stuff to the USA.
IF Schilling and Wake can stay healthy.
IF Beckett is better attuned to the AL.
IF Papelbon can make the transition back to starter.

So it isn’t 100%, but it’s better than the “ifs” from last year. Another good sign is the great spring starts this crew is having. Watching Beckett mow down LA today got me all excited for this staff. I see it as fielding 4 probable aces and an ageless veteran. I don’t even think that is too far of a reach.

And if anything unforeseen does happen, we now have Jon Lester waiting in the wings. Yeah, I like this foundation.