Boston Red Sox Rumors: Pitching Will Be Trade Deadline Key As Joe Kelly Demoted

The Boston Redsox are at the top of the AL East thanks in large part to an offense that just keeps on rolling no matter who the team is playing. On the other hand, it appears if there’s one thing that will keep the Redsox from the division it will likely be a pitching staff that has been in a state of flux for most of the first part of the season. That flux continued on Thursday when Boston announced it was demoting Joe Kelly to AAA.

That means the Boston Redsox have now changed around two thirds of their opening day rotation, despite the fact the season is just two months old. For his part, Kelly seemed truly surprised that the Redsox were wanting to send him down to the minors, despite the fact that he’s got an earned run average of more than 8.00. The pitcher, who was acquired by Boston a few years ago during the team’s selloff talked to the Providence Journal about his reaction to being sent down.

Kelly was caught off guard. “Obviously I didn’t see it coming,” Kelly said. “I’m just going to go down thereand try to continue to get better at commanding the baseball…. I’ve got to try to get my mechanics right and get that fastball command where it was a couple starts ago and to where it needs to be.”

The Boston Redsox’ manager John Farrell said the main reason they are sending the pitcher to the minors is because he’s having some real problems with control and fastball command.

Kelly follows former stud pitcher Clay Buchholz who has been moved to the bullpen. At least he gets to stay on the major league roster. Now that the Redsox have been playing a bit of musical chairs with the rotation, it appears the team is going to be looking hard for rotation help once the trade deadline rolls around. Those who aren’t looking closely might not notice that the Redsox rotation has got some holes, considering their ace, David Price has seven wins and Rick Porcello has seven of his own.

The problem is that both of those Boston hurlers have been winning despite the fact that neither of them have performed all that well on the mound. An offense, led by David Ortiz, Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts has been leading the way for Boston’s pennant chase. Ortiz, who is retiring at the end of the season, is leading the team in home runs with 15 while Bogaerts is near the top of the entire American League with a.347 batting average. Betts recently saw the season’s longest hitting streak go by the wayside and Bogaerts picked the team up with his own hitting streak.

All of this means the Redsox are going to have to find a team willing to trade them a top of the rotation starter who can get the ball every fifth day and usually leave the mound with the lead. Even if David Price can get his season together, there will still need to be someone who can follow him up after his turn in the rotation. The MLB Trade Deadline could be quite an eventful one if the Boston Redsox are going to make a push for November. The Redsox have the kind of offense that could carry them a long way.

Boston’s rotation has been a thorn since the season started. The real question is whether or not the Boston Redsox are going to be able to offer enough prospects to bring in a top of the line starter.