News Flash - Red Sox need starters that can throw 200 innings a year

The Red Sox need pitchers that can throw 200 innings a year. I found that out by listening and reading the Boston sports media over the last few weeks. I know it shouldn't bother me but it does. Why does it irritate me?

Here is the reason. There have only been 24 pitchers in all MLB that have averaged 190 IP over the last 3 years. Wait, what? Yup, it is a small select group that qualify in the modern 21st century baseball to pitch 570 IP over 3 seasons. Teams, players, agents and a striking number of injuries help keep this number to only the sturdiest of MLB arms.

As a point of reference, just 10 years ago there where 42 pitchers that would have qualified. Meaning the numbers have dropped 42.9% in just 10 years.

For the last 3 years, that means that 24 out of 150 (30 teams x 5 starters each) pitched more than 190 innings a year. That equates to 16%. That's it. Could the Red Sox have spent their money and assets more wisely. A thousand times yes. Is there a deep pool of horses that are "aces"? Absolutely not.

So for anybody to say that the Red Sox pitcher X isn't any good because he only threw 150 IP last year is behind the times. Wayyy behind the times. In year 2016, if you can get 150 IP from a pitcher you sign that player to a 4 year/$50 million dollar contract immediately.

So, let's look at who the 24 pitchers that qualified will pitch for this year.

1. Five teams, the Cubs, White Sox, Mariners, Giants and Cardinals each have 2 pitchers.

2. Thirteen teams have one pitcher.

3. There is one pitcher that retired, Mark Buehrle.

That would leave 12 teams that have ZERO pitchers that have averaged 190 IP over the last 3 years. None, nada zilch. Here is the team breakdown.

Team	Pitchers		Team	Pitchers
Cardinals	2		Angels	0
Cubs	2		A's	0
Giants	2		Brewers	0
Mariners	2		Marlins	0
White Sox	2		Phillies	0
Astros	1		Pirates	0
Blue Jays	1		Rays	0
Braves	1		Reds	0
Diamondbacks	1		Rockies	0
Dodgers	1		Royals	0
Indians	1		Twins	0
Mets	1		Yankees	0
Nationals	1
Orioles	1
Padres	1
Rangers	1
Red Sox	1
Tigers	1
Retired	1			.

Now let's look at the elite 24 pitchers that amassed 570+ innings over the last 3 seasons.

1. Twelve of the 24 qualifiers were signed as free agents or traded in the last 3 years, Scherzer, Shields, Price, Samardzjia, Lester, Hamels, Zimmerman, Lackey, Greinke, Leake, Dickey and Miley,

The Red Sox could have been "in" on any of these players via free agent signings or trade. Regretfully, they hardly participated. In fact, the net for the Red Sox was (-2) pitchers over the last 3 years. They lost Lester, Lackey and Miley but gained Price. That in of itself is ruminating now with their horrific starting pitching rotation.

2. One is retired, Buehrle.

3. Ten pitchers are still with their original team, Kershaw, Hernandez, Bumgarner, Teheran, Quintana, Kluber, Sale, Tillman, Kuechel and Lynn. Besides Lance Lynn, prying the other 9 pitchers from their teams would be virtually impossible.

4. And one is just Bartolo Colon.

Here is the list. Players are sorted by innings pitched.

Player	Team	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	W	L	Win %
Clayton Kershaw	LAD	93	667	466	142	125	772	1.92	53	19	0.736
Max Scherzer	WAS	98	663.33	524	217	153	768	2.94	53	20	0.726
James Shields	SDP	101	658	628	249	193	592	3.41	40	24	0.625
David Price	BOS	93	655.33	598	219	112	647	3.01	43	25	0.632
R.A. Dickey	TOR	101	654.67	593	287	206	476	3.95	39	37	0.513
Jeff Samardzija	SFG	98	647.33	629	294	170	579	4.09	26	39	0.400
Felix Hernandez	SEA	96	642	535	204	150	655	2.86	45	25	0.643
Jon Lester	CHC	97	638	586	225	162	604	3.17	42	31	0.575
Madison Bumgarner	SFG	96	637	521	205	144	652	2.90	49	28	0.636
Cole Hamels	TEX	95	637	571	230	171	615	3.25	30	31	0.492
Jordan Zimmermann	DET	97	614.67	581	218	108	507	3.19	46	24	0.657
Julio Teheran	ATL	96	607.33	550	227	169	527	3.36	39	29	0.574
Jose Quintana	CHW	97	606.67	603	229	152	519	3.40	27	28	0.491
John Lackey	CHC	93	605.33	596	225	140	500	3.35	37	33	0.529
Corey Kluber	CLE	90	605	549	213	129	650	3.17	38	30	0.559
Mark Buehrle	RET	97	604.33	665	254	130	349	3.78	40	28	0.588
Zack Greinke	ARI	92	602.67	490	154	129	555	2.30	51	15	0.773
Mike Leake	STL	94	598.67	584	239	147	405	3.59	36	30	0.545
Wade Miley	SEA	98	597.67	609	273	205	477	4.11	29	33	0.468
Chris Sale	CHW	87	597	498	194	127	708	2.92	36	29	0.554
Bartolo Colon	NYM	92	587.33	628	238	83	404	3.65	47	32	0.595
Chris Tillman	BAL	98	586.67	549	258	198	449	3.96	40	24	0.625
Dallas Keuchel	HOU	84	585.67	556	217	151	485	3.33	38	27	0.585
Lance Lynn	STL	97	580.67	546	210	216	546	3.25	42	31	0.575