RED SOX JOURNAL: Sox sticking to unconventional pitching rotation

Quite literally, the Boston Red Sox need a starting pitcher if they want to play a game because, until rules change, you can’t pitch to yourself.

Just don’t expect that starting pitcher to always be used in the way you’re accustomed to.

Seven games into the season and only two of the Red Sox starters have made it past the fourth inning but it’s been by both necessity and design.

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Quite literally, the Boston Red Sox need a starting pitcher if they want to play a game because, until rules change, you can’t pitch to yourself.

Just don’t expect that starting pitcher to always be used in the way you’re accustomed to.

Seven games into the season and only two of the Red Sox starters have made it past the fourth inning but it’s been by both necessity and design.

TO OUR READERS: This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Sign up for our daily or breaking newsletters to stay informed. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Providence Journal.

With the team’s starting rotation looking thinner than Chris Sale on a diet, the Red Sox have used only two traditional starters and, according to chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, don’t intend to change the format in the near future.

Speaking on WEEI’s "The Greg Hill Show," Bloom talked about the Red Sox’s use of "openers" and why, especially with a staff stripped by injury, it could become common place for Boston in 2020.

"The philosophy is rather than just shove everybody into that same box of ‘Hey, pick a starter and make him go six innings and 100 pitches no matter what’ when we started this with the Rays; first, we thought really highly of those pitchers we were doing it with," Bloom said. "There maybe was a little bit of aspect of necessity that we didn’t do it with a Charlie Morton, we didn’t do it with a Blake Snell, but those guys are very rare. We still thought a lot of those pitchers. It was really just how can we put those guys in the best position to win."

Wednesday night against the Mets, Nathan Eovaldi served as a traditional starter for the second time this season and Thursday night it was Martin Perez. On Saturday, Zach Godley is to make his debut in the rotation against the Yankees with hopes that he can become a reliable No. 3.

Boston plays Friday with Ryan Weber going out there in the opener role, and until more pitchers get healthy, expect to see more pitchers like Matt Hall or Josh Osich get opportunities. Manager Ron Roenicke wouldn’t commit to Sunday’s pitcher, but with Eduardo Rodriguez not close to being in the picture, don’t expect someone who’s going to give a quality start.

Instead, expect — or at least hope — it’s an arm that can do enough before passing the baton off to the bullpen, which is what worked when Bloom was in Tampa.

"As far as whether that’s part of my philosophy, it’s ’let’s look at who we have to go to battle with on a given night and how can we roll them out there in a way that’s going to put them in positions to succeed, keep them healthy and put us in the best position to win games,’ " Bloom said. "If that happens to be different from what’s traditionally been done, maybe that means we have to communicate a little better or communicate it more with the players, but we shouldn’t be afraid to do something that’s different if we believe in it and we think it gives us a better chance to win."

Rest is best

Mitch Moreland has been one of the few bright spots for Boston’s offense the first week of the season, but don’t expect him in the lineup every night.

With left-handed Steven Matz on the mound for the Mets Thursday, it wasn’t a surprise to see Moreland on the bench. It was good timing because Roenicke doesn’t want to wear one of the Sox’s only veterans into the ground in the opening weeks of the season, especially if Moreland isn’t 100%.

"Any time that happens, I want to make sure he’s going. Going into games when I think he could be a little banged up and stuff, I always think that way with him," Roenicke said. "In the last two years, because he does well, we want him out there, whenever we go a stretch where we’re thinking should we give him a day off, it ends up where he nicks himself somewhere and all of a sudden you lose him for a few games.

"I’d rather almost make sure that he’s going to be OK, so that’s why I think backing off is better."

Rafael Devers also found himself with a night off. The 23-year-old had played in every game this season up until Thursday night.

"He’s a guy coming into camp in that short camp and trying to think about playing him 10 in a row, that’s not fair to him. It’s a day off for him," Roenicke said. "I talked to him a while ago and said he was going to get one somewhere."

Don’t blink

Even though the season just started — thanks to the COVID-shortened 2020 schedule — it’s already 10% over.

But with an increase of teams in the postseason, the Red Sox certainly aren’t out of anything with their less-than-desirable play to start the year. The goal for 2020 remains to win games and get to the playoffs and Bloom doesn’t want the small sample size to change ideas about the team’s goals.

"A baseball game is still a baseball game and it’s not necessarily telling you any more than you would know from six games in a 162-game season," he said on WEEI radio. "It just means there’s a lot less of the schedule remaining."

If things look dire, the Red Sox could get active in the trade market and help fill a farm system depleted by the decisions of former Boston baseball chief Dave Dombrowski. Even if things aren’t quite as dire, Bloom wants fans to understand potential trades aren’t just about one season and certainly wouldn’t be out of the question.

"We want to win in 2020. We cannot discard the future," Bloom said. "If something’s going to help us in ’21, ’22, ’23 and ’24, it’d be irresponsible for us not to consider something like that. I don’t think we’re approaching this right now with a singular mindset one way or another."

erueb@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @EricRueb