After Andrew Bailey went down with a thumb injury, the Red Sox bullpen doesn't look quite as strong as it should be as the 2012 season begins.
The Red Sox pitching shuffle has found Daniel Bard and Felix Doubront in the rotation and Alfredo Aceves closing out games for the team.
If these moves don't work out for the Red Sox, they could have an option to fall back on. According to the Boston Globe, Larry Lucchino revealed that the team would be willing to increase the team's payroll to improve the pitching staff.
Our goal is to field a team with more homegrown players, fewer free agents, and to have a more manageable payroll down the road." said Lucchino. "But if youre asking about this year, we understand that each year has to be taken on its own and this year our payroll is going to be, Id hate to make a guess, but itll be well over the 178 million dollar threshold.
Its important to us to get under the threshold when we can, depending on when the circumstances will allow us to do so, Lucchino added. Our first and fundamental obligation to our fans, the first and fundamental obligation of ownership, is to field a team thats worthy of the fans support. I think our track record over the past 10 years demonstrates that we honor that obligation and we will continue to honor that obligation.
If the Red Sox were to add some pitching depth one name that comes to mind is starter Roy Oswalt, whom the Red Sox were connected to during the offseason. The veteran right hander is eyeing a midseason return, and his signing would also bolster the bullpen as Bard or Doubront would lose their spot in the rotation.