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Trouble With The 5th Arm

One of the remarkably small number of flaws of the 2004 Red Sox roster has been the ongoing problem with whoever is in the 5th spot in the rotation. After missing a good portion of the season due to an injury BK Kim as he is commonly known as, was in one word troublesome. So much so that he has made a trip back to Japan to get some work done on whatever seems to be bothering him. Whatever it is, is not obvious to anyone here and the Red Sox are trying to keep details from leaking about what is going on at this point. Last years AAA pitcher of the year, Bronson Arroyo has also had his share of woes this 2004 season but like he did last season has shown promise and probably needs more time to develop his stuff. Kim has more major league experience as a closer than a starter. Back before he was traded to the Red Sox last season Kim was a major part of the Diamondbacks World Series win a few years ago. After the Red Sox got their hands on him they knew right away what they wanted to do with him. Move him into the starting rotation. They felt he had the stuff to be a decent 4 or 5 starter in the Sox rotation given their depth in that area. Starting was a job Kim proved to be very serviceable last season. After his acquisition in May, Kim was inserted into the rotation and made 16 starts through June when the Red Sox decided they needed him more as a closer. In 2003 Kim finished with some fairly good stats considering the variety of roles he was used:

Era: 3.31

W-L: 9-10

Saves: 16

Walks/K's: 33/102

What jumps out at me looking at these stats is the strikeout totals Kim had compared to his impressive 33 walks. These were by the way in a whopping 122.1 innings. That is what I call control. The reason Kim has so many losses in '03 was because of his role as a closer during his brief time with the D'Backs and with the Sox. He did finish with 16 saves; good enough for 10th in the AL. Kim has also always had a relatively good ERA (3.24 for his 5 years in the big leagues). All things considered Kim, at only 25 years old, still has tremendous upside. Remember Kim broke into the league when he was only 20 and now has 5 seasons under his belt already. One of the major concerns with Kim is his confidence. As soon as things start to go wrong he completely becomes a whole different. His head starts dropping and he loses his usual control. This was one of the reasons he has been though of as a better fit as a starter where there's not as much pressure on him to make a perfect pitch and he focus on getting through innings and being able to deal with mistake or two. So far things have not gone well for Kim coming off his shoulder injury that kept him off the ALCS roster last season and all the way into a good part of '04. When he returned to the roster in May he started a few games for Boston but never really was able to return to his pre-injury form. The Red Sox were forced to send him back to AAA and most recently on back to Japan to have some work done. Personally I hope Kim comes back soon and is able to return back to what made him so effective previously. Kim still has so much potential and I know I'd love to see him have another chance to show what he can do later on this season.

Bronson Arroyo started the season as the Red Sox #5 starter in 2004 with a couple of decent starts. Obviously not outstanding but very impressive for a guy who was playing in AAA last night and has never before last season spent a lot of time in the big leagues. Here are his stats so far for his starts, he also has some good relief outings as well: (IP, H, R, BB, SO)

Loss- (6.0,8,4,3,4)

Win- (6.1,8,4,1,5)

Win- (6.0,4,2,2,4)

Loss- (6.0,3,3,2,5)

Win- (8.0,3,0,0,6)

Win- (6.0,7,5,1,2)

Loss- (3.1,7,9,2,2)

Loss- (5.2,8,6,2,5)

Arroyo I think has the stuff to one day be a number 2 or 3 starter in the Major Leagues. What has gotten him into trouble this season is hanging his breaking ball. This is the same pitch that has also made him pretty tough to hit this season. What I'm getting at here is that the Sox need to give him time to have more control of this breaking pitches, which when they are on, are downright nasty. Al though he has struggled some this season he has showed me a lot, mainly in the poise department. Still a young guy Arroyo has been able to pitch out of some tough jams, which I think, is the toughest thing for a young pitcher to do. Epically given the circumstances of pitching for Boston a team where if your not pitching well the fans will let you hear it. Even though his overall ERA is high this year (5.33) he has shown good promise so far on the way to developing into what Theo has in store for him, a permanent starting job. No, he's not ready yet but he'll really enjoy getting this time in the majors to tweak his mechanics or whatever is involved in making his stuff better.

So if you were Terry Francona, how would you give the chance to? If I were in place I would give Kim, as soon as he is healthy again the job primarily. This would move Arroyo back into the bullpen where I think he would be more dominant. Hitters tend to jump over his pitches deeper into his outings, once they have seen his unorthodox delivery. With Williamson injured not this would be the perfect chance to get into the bullpen and get some pressure-cooker innings under his belt pitching in the 6th and 7th innings. I just have a gut feeling that this is where he would be more dominating. Of course, if somewhere down the line Kim starts to struggle once again you would have to move Arroyo back into the rotation and Kim back to the pen where he started. Having Kim in the rotation and Arroyo in the pen makes perfect sense to me though. Arroyo seems to trust his stuff more than Kim and is less likely to get rattled after he has a tough time. Kim than would have the chance to really focus on relaxing and being a guy that can make a couple mistakes and get away with them being a starter rather than thinking the world will end if he gives up a run the way it has been his whole career. Kim has shown this tendency to fold in big situations last season with a couple tough outings against the Yankees, one in which he blew a save. Whatever happens Sox fans can have this one point to boast about. While some teams are debating who should be there ace the Sox are torn between two guys fighting for the 5th sport in the rotation. Not to shabby I would say. On most clubs Kim and Arroyo would be considered a 2nd or 3rd starter. Not a bad problem to have in my opinion!