March to the Sea: Red Sox Landed The Real Prize In Free Agent Market

Pitching wins championships. Ask anyone who really knows the game—they all say the same thing. The 50-homer guys are nice to have, but when the chips are down, the best pitching wins.

The Yankees don’t win every year because Giambi and Soriano smack homers every third or fourth game. They don’t win because Jeter’s a “clutch” hitter or because they can play “small ball.”

They win because of Mariano Rivera. They win because of Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, David Wells and David Cone. They win because Mike Stanton and Jeff Nelson shut down the big boppers and because their workhorse pitchers don’t collapse in the seventh or eighth innings.

This week, the Boston Red Sox went out and traded a bunch of nothing for 37-year old Curt Schilling. The Yankees responded by using their unlimited money supply to purchase Gary Sheffield and two fine relievers, Tom Gordon and Paul Quantrill.

Who had the better week? It’s tough to say, but only because Gordon and Quantrill are excellent relief pitchers. If you just match up Schilling vs. Sheffield, the Sox emerge victorious.

The Red Sox biggest weakness for the past decade has been their failure to have a solid one-through-five rotation. The expression “Pedro, Lowe and pray for snow” hasn’t quite caught on like “Spahn, Sain and pray for rain” (in reference to the Milwaukee Braves’ Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain during the 1950s).

Nevertheless, when the Sox had to go with Casey Fossum, John Burkett, or Jeff Suppan, a loss was, at least, just as likely as a win. It was 50-50 at best.

With the addition of Schilling, the Red Sox now have a rotation of Pedro Martinez, Schilling, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield and Byung-Hyun Kim.

This fearsome fivesome has to be the best on-paper rotation in the league. Pedro and Schilling have arguably been the best two pitchers in the majors for the past three seasons. Lowe won 20 games two seasons ago and 17 in 2003. Wakefield is one of the most underrated pitchers in the game, recording a 2.81 ERA in 2002.

And Kim has had only success as a starter, recording a 3.38 ERA last year in 12 solid outings.

The Yankees counter by signing a 36-year old outfielder who had a career year last season. This isn’t the first time New York has signed a big name hitter to play right field. How much of a difference did Raul Mondesi make? Nada—and he was younger and a better defensive player than Sheff. Of course, Sheffield likely won’t tank like Mondesi. But he probably won’t put up last year’s numbers either. In 2002, Sheffield only had 25 homers and 84 RBIs. Yankee Stadium is hitter-friendly but more so to lefties. If Sheffield only hits 25 homers, even if he bats .300, the Yankees will get, what, two more wins?

Yankees fans out there, was hitting your problem last year? No, it was relief pitching and inconsistent starting pitching.

So with Schilling on the Sox, Boston should have the best staff in the majors. The guy is a Cy Young candidate and a bull of a pitcher who can go all nine.

No more excuses. Next year is The Year. Right Sox fans? I mean, it has to be…

See Brenda, I can write a column without stooping to insults. Of course, if you rearrange the letters in the last sentence and make some omissions, it spells out “Brenda is a loser.” But I’m just pointing that out.

—Staff writer Alex M. Sherman can be reached at sherman@fas.harvard.edu.