The early reports are encouraging on Josh Beckett’s hyperextended left knee, but what if Boston is forced to place him on the disabled list alongside Jon Lester (lat), Clay Buchholz (back) and Daisuke Matsuzaka (elbow)?
Such a move could leave the Red Sox with a rotation of John Lackey, Tim Wakefield, Andrew Miller, Kyle Weiland and Kevin Millwood, if only for a week or two.
And what a far cry that would be from a postseason-worthy rotation.
Lackey has a jumbo-jet-like ERA of 7.47. The 44-year-old Wakefield is at 4.74. Miller has been pretty impressive since his callup, going 3-0 with a 3.57 ERA. However, he went 1-5 with an 8.54 ERA for Florida last year.
Weiland will be making his major league debut in Lester’s place Sunday.
Millwood just gave up four runs in five innings for Triple-A Pawtucket tonight. He had a nice run last month in which he allowed a total of five runs in four starts, but he’s now struggled in two of three outings. Overall, he has a 4.50 ERA in eight starts for Pawtucket.
An alternative to calling on Millwood would be to move Alfredo Aceves from the bullpen to the rotation. Another would be to bring up left-hander Felix Doubront. Doubront pitched seven scoreless innings for Pawtucket two days ago and is 1-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 12 starts this season.
Hopefully, it won’t come to any of that. Beckett might be ready to start in the first series back after the All-Star break. The hope is that Lester will make it back before the end of the month and that Buchholz could return in early August. So, the Red Sox still have plenty of time to get their rotation ready for October. The key will be making it through the next few weeks without doing too much damage to their chances of getting there.