The Boston Red Sox starting rotation has been undergoing a crisis this season and their awful collective performance resulted in the firing of pitching coach Juan Nieves yesterday. Now it's all up to general manager Ben Cherington and manager John Farrell to pick up the pieces.
Nieves was perhaps the scapegoat in the situation. While Cherington and Farrell said the pitching staff needed a "new voice" and sources noted that nobody in the organization was displeased with the work he was doing, it's clear the organization needed to make an adjustment because they couldn't fire their pitchers, manager or general manager.
"Nieves's voice was only a month old to Rick Porcello, Justin Masterson, and Wade Miley. Only a few months old to Joe Kelly. Only Clay Buchholz really knew that "old" voice and you can make the case that Nieves didn't make Buchholz better," writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
"These aren't rookie pitchers. They've been around the league quite a while. It was probably going to be tough for Miley to switch leagues. Porcello has done well for the most part (3-2), and would fit very nicely as a No. 2 or a No. 3. Masterson is trying to get by with diminished velocity. If Nieves could have found about 3-4 miles per hour on Masterson's fastball, it would have helped. But Nieves isn't capable of that. No human being is."
The rotation as a whole is 8-11 with a 5.54 ERA (29th in MLB), 1.43 WHIP (25th) and a .267 opponents' batting average (21st). This is an entirely new pitching staff than Nieves was used to being with, although the writing may have been on the wall last season after the club finished 26th in starter's ERA (4.36). In 2013, he led the Red Sox rotation to a 3.84 ERA (11th) and they won the World Series. But this year's crew of starters featured four newcomers - Porcello, Miley, Masterson and Kelly (acquired at trade deadline last year) - and the team inked Porcello and Miley to extensions before they even stepped on the mound in 2015.
"Ultimately, the blame for poor performance lies with the manager and general manager," adds Cafardo. "The GM is the personnel man. He puts the team together with endless scouting reports and analytics to make determinations on the right player for the team, the home ballpark, and the market."
"It falls on Cherington to improve the roster and on Farrell to improve the rotation," writes fellow Globe writer Peter Abraham. "Making pitching coach Juan Nieves the scapegoat didn't change that."
After all, it's not Nieves' problem the Red Sox low-balled Jon Lester with a four-year, $70 million deal before the 2014 season began and then traded him to the Oakland Athletics for Yoenis Cespedes, who they trade for Porcello this offseason. They also dealt experienced veterans Jake Peavy and John Lackey last year, and perhaps it was time to do so, but the starting rotation is completely devoid of leadership and seasoned veterans. One of those guys would have been able to help in some capacity.
The fact that the organization relied on Clay Buchholz to be the No. 1 starter is arguably the biggest mistake they made. The 30-year-old has had only one good season where he logged at least 28 starts and that came in 2010 when he finished 17-7 with a 2.33 ERA and 1.203 WHIP. He has never eclipsed the 200-inning mark and his other two "successful" campaigns came when he was limited to just 14 starts (in 2011) and 16 starts (in 2013). He owns a career record of 67-48, but his 3.99 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 2.12 strikeout-to-walk ratio do not mirror that of a No.1 starter.
So make of it what you will. It's completely understandable why the Red Sox wanted (and needed) to go in a different direction with their starting rotation. But it can certainly be argued Cherington made too many moves for such an important aspect of a roster - one that demands continuity and leadership in order to be successful. While Nieves' voice may have been outdated for this new and younger cast, he certainly wasn't the primary problem, and the Red Sox may learn that in the ensuing months.
