2009 Red Sox Season Preview: Pitching

The Red Sox head in to 2009 with easily the best pitching staff in baseball.

Their ace Josh Beckett is looking to improve his 2008 stats and return to his Cy Young deserving form of 2007. Daisuke Matsuzaka has had two years in the Majors and should now be able to make a full adjustment, especially considering the Red Sox could convert to a 6-man rotation when Smoltz is ready to pitch. Jon Lester is arguably the southpaw in baseball and he can only get better. Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is back, and as long as he gets a little more run support than he did last year, he should statistically be the best pitcher on the Sox this year. Brad Penny, John Smoltz, and Clay Bucholz should all have a positive impact from the tail end of the rotation.

In the ‘pen the Sox got the pieces they needed to be able to hold leads and close out games. Wes Littleton, Ramon Ramirez, and Takashi Saito are the newcomers, joining Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, and Justin Masterson. In the back of the ‘pen is currently the best and most dominating closer in the league, as Jonathan Papelbon returns for his 4th big league season.

In the minors the Sox have top pitching prospect Michael Bowdin, as well as knuckleballer Charlie Zink. Both appeared in Boston for short stints and putting together some impressive performances. They should be a good part-time fill-in this year.

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