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| Felix Doubront |
RED SOX : BASEBALL 2014
April 11,2014.
c/o Ben Shapiro
The Republican
Is Felix Doubront good, bad, or somewhere in between?
No one really knows the answer. But after Tuesday night's shellacking courtesy of the Texas Rangers lineup, patience is probably wearing thin.
After 61 major league starts, the 26-year-old Doubront has shown that he can be everything from very good, to very bad.
Tuesday night was the shortest start of his career. But even within the brief, and very bad outing, the inconsistent nature of Doubront was on full display.
The second inning was an eight-pitch masterpiece.
Doubront got Alex Rios to ground out, then got David Murphy to pop-out. Those two outs took four pitches. It took Doubront another four pitches to strikeout rookie Michael Choice.
It looked as if Doubront was on cruise control.
Then the wheels came off
In the top of the third, Doubront went to a full count on leadoff hitter Robinson Chirinos. His sixth pitch was a flat 89 mile-per-hour fastball which Chirinos promptly launched over the Green Monster.
From there it all unraveled. Doubront didn't even make it out of the third inning.
The outing left plenty of people scratching their heads.
Forget the questions, though. Red Sox fans, and the team are ultimately concerned with results. When it comes to Doubront, it seems as if no one really knows what to expect when he takes the mound.
If this were just an early season blip on the radar, then there'd be no issue.
It isn't though. This is Felix Doubront. He's a tantalizing mix of potential, both realized and unfulfilled.
The bulk of Doubront's experience as a starting pitcher has come over the last two seasons.
Tuesday night's start might have been his worst. But he's had his fair share of bad outings. He's also had his fair share of impressive ones.
Doubront had a spot in the starting rotation of the 2013 Red Sox, but lost it after a frustrating spring training was followed by a bad April.
When Doubront walked off the mound following a rough appearance out of the bullpen against the Minnesota Twins in early May, his ERA had ballooned to 6.40. On Aug. 4, less than three months later, that ERA was down to 3.56.
That's because Doubront spent most of May and just about all of June and July performing as the pitcher that the Red Sox had hoped he'd be.
He wasn't all that efficient, but he kept the Red Sox in games, notching strikeouts when he needed them, and avoided disastrous innings. Basically, he was the exact opposite of the pitcher that Red Sox fans watched implode in the third inning against the Rangers on Tuesday night.
So who is Felix Doubront?
Last season, Red Sox manager John Farrell was patient with him, and the team reaped the rewards of that patience.
Will the team be as patient this year?
On one hand, the Red Sox don't have too many more immediate options.
Ryan Dempster is gone. Clay Buchholz may or may not be someone the Red Sox can depend on this year. Jon Lester and John Lackey have been great, and Jake Peavy looked solid but not spectacular in his one outing.
Alternative options include veteran Chris Capuano, the recently demoted Brandon Workman and a whole host of minor leaguers who could be either pleasant surprises, or woefully unprepared for the rigors of starting in the majors.
When the Red Sox lost Buchholz to a neck injury last year, they temporarily turned to minor league prospect Allen Webster.
Webster was and still is a well-regarded prospect, but he wasn't ready for the big leagues last year.
Tuesday, he threw six shutout innings en route to a 7-1 victory for Triple-A Pawtucket. Is Webster ready? That remains to be seen, and if all five starting pitchers were to have solid 2014 seasons then the Red Sox probably wouldn't entertain promoting Webster to make regular starts until 2015.
So far, that hasn't been the case. Webster wasn't ready last year, but that doesn't mean he won't be given another shot at the majors this season. That potential big league shot becomes a lot more likely if Doubront continues to perform in such an inconsistent manner.
At this point, the Red Sox have to be wondering if Doubront's ceiling is that of a talented but inconsistent starting pitcher.
It is beginning to look like that might be the case. On some teams, that would be enough. The Red Sox are trying to repeat as World Series champs. They've also got one of the best crops of minor league pitching talent in the majors. Those two factors could mean that Doubront's window of opportunity to establish himself as a fixture in the Red Sox starting rotation is starting to close.
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