Dream Boston Red Sox starting rotation if Craig Breslow makes big splashes
Change is coming to Fenway Park in the 2024 season, perhaps most notably because fans and the Boston Red Sox brass are less than pleased with the club's finishes as of late. So in comes Craig Breslow, now the top decision-maker in Boston after Chaim Bloom was cut loose.
Breslow has already indicated he will be far more aggressive in landing stars for the Red Sox and, perhaps more pressingly, he knows that upgrading the rotation for 2024 and beyond is of the utmost importance, as is the bullpen -- but that's for another day.
The Red Sox ranked 24th in MLB in runs allowed in the first six innings last year, an indictment on the rotation after Bloom and the Boston brass banked heavily on the likes of Corey Kluber. But it's been an ongoing problem for the Sox beyond just this past year as they ranked 28th in the same metric back in the 2022 season.
It's something that needs to be priority No. 1 for Boston. Luckily, with Breslow at the helm, the Red Sox can dare to dream about their 2024 rotation as all three newcomers to this dream pitching staff are in play for the franchise.
Red Sox No. 5 starter: Chris Sale, LHP
After how great Chris Sale was for the Red Sox immediately upon arrival, it's certainly gone downhill with an extreme quickness over the past few years. Injuries have plagued Sale since the end of 2019, which has to be factored into the equation. What's worse, though, is that it's seemed like every return ends poorly for the southpaw.
He looked great at times over nine starts back in 2021 with a 3.16 ERA. However, he pitched in only two games in 2022 and then was in and out of the rotation in the 2023 season as well. He finished the year with a 4.30 ERA, which is a far cry from where he once was. However, he did show some positive signs in September when he lasted at least five innings in four of his five starts and allowed more than one earned run in all but one of the five starts.
At 34 years old, the big question with Sale would be if he could earn the No. 5 role over the likes of Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Nick Pivetta, assuming all three remain on the team as at least a couple of those arms have been floated already this offseason as trade candidates.
For me, Sale's body of work when healthy gives him the nod. If he can stay healthy, it still seems like the lanky lefty has some juice that could be wicked at the back end of a rotation. The good news for the Red Sox should they retain guys like Houck, Crawford and Pivetta in the bullpen or otherwise is that they have plenty of injury insurance for Sale that they could feel confident in.