After another miserable outing from Clay Buchholz, the Red Sox have optioned the 24-year old right-hander to their AA affiliate Portland Sea Dogs. This is a good move for all parties. Gets a liability out of the Sox rotation and gives Clay all the time to figure things out without any of the pressures. Hopefully he can figure things out and fight for the #5 rotation slot in Spring Training. With Wakefield's return expected to come next week, it really was only a matter of time that a move was made with Clay, especially with the acquisition of Paul Byrd. No word on who takes Buchholz's roster spot for the short-term until Wakefield returns, might be a reliever, might be a position player. We will find out sometime tomorrow.
Now the Sox will go forward with a 5-man rotation of Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, and Byrd, and Colon is scheduled to return in September. Is this a good enough rotation to make the playoffs and win in the playoffs? With the top 3 of Beckett, Lester, and Matsuzaka, I believe so. It's only a matter of how consistently the offense and bullpen perform down the stretch.
Keywords: Beckett, Byrd, Clay Buchholz, Colon, Lester, Matsuzaka, Portland Sea Dogs, Wakefield
