In a prior offseason that saw them sign Carl Crawford and trade for Adrian Gonzalez, the 2012 baseball offseason has been relatively boring and uninteresting for fans of the Boston Red Sox. With the pitching rotation in doubt for next season, we got a small gleam of hope last night.
According to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, the Red Sox have maintained active dialogue with free agent pitcher Roy Oswalt. With Hiroki Kuroda coming off the board this week (Thanks, Yankees), the pitching options for the Red Sox appear to be dwindling for Boston. If the somewhat frugal Red Sox were able to sign a guy like Roy Oswalt to a team friendly contract, it would quickly change the outlook of the pitching rotation in 2012.
In 2011, Oswalt went 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA while battling severe back troubles with the Philadelphia Phillies last season. A healthy Oswalt would go a long way for the Red Sox, as he fit in nicely as a fourth starter behind Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. No to mention, the addition of Oswalt would allow them to use recently converted starter Daniel Bard more conservatively.
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