The Boston Red Sox may look at the trade market for a pitcher like Cole Hamels, Scott Kazmir, Jordan Zimmermann or Johnny Cueto, as the rotation has been struggling this year and now with Justin Masterson on the DL with an injury, the team could be more willing to pull the trigger on a deal.
The Reds Sox rotation has been up and down all season and now Masterson will be out with an injury to his shoulder. According to the Boston Globe, Masterson is on the 15-day disabled list while dealing with right shoulder tendinitis and the team brought up Robbie Ross from Triple-A to take his place. This season Masterson has not been pitching well, as he has a 6.37 ERA and he comes in after allowing 10 runs on 13 hits in his last two outings.
The Red Sox have Clay Buchholz, Wade Miley, Joe Kelly and Rick Porcello as the other four pitchers in the rotation and they are coming in using a sixth SP for the first time this year. The results for the Red Sox with those five pitchers have not been all that great, but it shows that they at least had some consistency.
Now things are a bit in flux and with the struggles coming for the rotation, a deal for someone like Cole Hamels or Johnny Cueto could be an option. Hamels is 31 years old and he is coming off of one of his best seasons with the Phillies from 2014. Hamels went just 9-9, but he had a 2.45 ERA and struck out 198 batters in just over 200 innings.
The Sox have been mentioned as the front runners for Hamels, as they have the prospects and the farm system to make a deal happen. Kazmir could be on the market, according to Jay Jaffe at SI.com, while Hamels is a likely target for the team. The team fired pitching coach Juan Nieves and now they could look at making a trade. The Phillies reportedly will pay for part of Hamels' contract to get a deal done and that could help get some top prospects from other teams. The Red Sox made an offer earlier in the offseason, but they reportedly do not want to add Mookie Betts or Blake Swihart in the deal.
The team has added Kelly, Masterson, Miley and Porcello dating back to last season and they traded Yoenis Cespedes to get Porcello. The team already signed Porcello to an extension and while they have confidence in him, Kelly, Masterson or Miley could be pushed back if the team adds another pitcher. Miley comes in with an ERA above seven, while Kelly's is over five and Masterson is now over six. Porcello is under five and he leads all starting pitchers for the Red Sox currently.