Clay Shows Why Johan Wasn't Worth It

Remember back when Clay Buchholz was a prospect that Red Sox were content to dangle around to other teams to see what they might get in return. When the Minnesota Twins were shopping Johan Santana Buchholz was a name along with Jon Lester that came up in potential trade talks. But the Sox pulled back, Johan signed with the New York Mets and, a few years later, Santana has fallen from his throne as the best pitcher in baseball, Lester has arguably surpassed him as one of the best southpaws and Buchholz has matured into the front end guy the Sox always thought he could be. With a win tonight over the Los Angeles Angels, Buchholz improved to 14-5 with an ERA of 2.36.

In his last five starts, Buchholz has allowed just five earned runs in 37 innings. That comes out to an ERA of 1.22 in his last five trips to the hill. And while Ubaldo Jimenez, Adam Wainwright and David Price soak up all the pitching hype this year, Buchholz has quietly put together a Cy Young caliber season. This is the same kid who threw a no-hitter in just his second career start. This is also the same kid that was so terrible in the next season that the Sox had no choice but to repeatedly put him down in the minors in hopes of getting his confidence back. This is also the same kid that showed some signs of that potential the Sox always thought he had. Well in 2010, that potential has morphed into performance and Buchholz, an All Star, has been arguably one of Boston's best pitchers.

Whether or not he wins the Cy Young this year (he probably won't), Buchholz has shown why he was thought of as an untouchable prospect and why he is more than the No-Hit Kid nickname he has carried around since his brilliant gem against the O's in 2007. Buchholz has shown his ability to be a front end of the rotation starter and while some Red Sox fans might have given up on this season, his performance this season shows us why the Sox will have one of the most intimidating rotations in all of baseball for years to come. Jon Lester has rocketed himself into the talk of one of the game's best pitchers, let alone one of it's top two or three left handers. Josh Beckett has shown he can be a Cy Young pitcher and a stopper for Boston when the pressure is on. John Lackey is the horse, the innings eater who might not have a great ERA but will go out and pitch late into games. Daisuke Matsuzaka is the frustrating import who shows signs of brilliance and signs of maddening impotence. And now enters Buchholz who can flat out pitch. Buchholz with his good fastball, nasty changeup and ability to pitch late into games without losing much off his stuff, has flashed the ability to be what some might consider a fourth ace.

Take a minute to think about that fact. Lester and Beckett (when healthy) are both bona fide aces without any doubt. Lackey, while he is a step below the others, was the ace in LA and can go out and win games in Boston as well. And Buchholz has the stuff and the maturity to become an ace as well. So that's four. Sure we've heard of two, think of the San Francisco Giants with Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum or St. Louis with Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. We've even heard of three like with the Yankees' CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes and even the Sox at the start of the season with Lester, Lackey and Beckett but rarely, if ever in the last few years at least, have we heard of a rotation with four guys who could be consider No. 1's. But the best thing about this rotation is that not only do we have it for this season, these guys are all locked up long term. That means the Sox have time to assemble a few more offensive pieces and make this team into one of the best in baseball. We already have MVP-caliber players in Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis. If we can retain Victor Martinez then we have a third offensive catalyst. We have holes, the left side of the infield will likely go through renovations again in the next few years and the outfield needs help but there are pieces in place, especially with the arrival of Buchholz, that should have Sox fans giddy for the future.

Source: http://breakingdownthebigs.blogspot.com/2010/08/clay-shows-why-johan-wasnt-worth-it.html