Even if David Price's injury is serious, the Red Sox have no need to panic ... yet

Lefty ace David Price has elbow concerns, but the Sox are well-positioned to move forward

What you don’t want -- at least if you’re a contending team that has invested $217 million in a certain pitcher -- is for that pitcher to undergo an MRI for elbow soreness and subsequently seek a second opinion. You don’t want that. You also don’t want the likes of David Price to miss time, but that’s squarely within the range of possibilities for the Red Sox, even after the good news on Friday. It does indeed look like the Sox and Price dodged the worst-case scenario, as he’ll avoid surgery on his sore left elbow. Still, the Sox should be prepared if his prognosis worsens or if his rest-and-rehab approach doesn’t yield the desired results.

 

So the question for Boston right now is this: What do you do if you lose Price for longer than you expect? How do you move forward knowing you’ve committed so much blood and treasure toward winning the World Series in 2017? The good news is that Sox are reasonably well positioned to handle the less desirable outcomes, even when we’re talking about a contributor as valuable as Price. 

And he is valuable. After some changes to his approach last season, he resumed pitching like a frontline ace. He has also led the majors in innings in two of the past three seasons and has topped 200 innings in six of his past seven campaigns. So broadly speaking, Price thrives in terms of run prevention and workload. That’s not easily replaced. 

On the upside, however, the Red Sox this past offseason traded for Chris Sale. Also coming back is reigning AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello. Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright also will be in the rotation, and the hypothetical loss of Price would likely push Eduardo Rodriguez into the starting five. Now imagine if Price had never been a part of the mix. Would you be concerned about a Sale-Porcello-Pomeranz-Wright-Rodriguez rotation paired with a powerhouse offense and strong bullpen? Not especially, no. 

Provided no other misfortunes befall the Boston rotation, the Red Sox should be fine. That, however, is a treacherous assumption. 

Wright last season spent time on the DL with shoulder problems. Rodriguez in 2016 dealt with lower-half issues. Pomeranz has been limited by shoulder and forearm injuries over the past two seasons. All of that is to say: Health beyond Price is not to be assumed.

If the Sox are indeed forced to press deeper into their reserves, then names like Henry Owens, Roenis Elias, Brian Johnson, Hector Velazquez and Kyle Kendrick, who’s in camp as an NRI, come into play. Maybe Joe Kelly gets another look as a starter. Those aren’t exactly the kinds of known quantities that contenders want to have taking turns on a regular basis. For Boston, though, if anything goes awry elsewhere in the rotation, it will wind up finding starts from within that group. In a division as tough as the AL East, that’s a concern. 

All of this raises the possibility that the Sox will seek outside solutions (perhaps they would like a do-over on that Clay Buchholz trade with the Phillies). The free-agent market, never strong to begin with on the pitching front, has of course been badly thinned out now that we’re in March. Doug Fister? Colby Lewis? Tim Lincecum? You get the idea. As for the trade market, ESPN’s Buster Olney points to some industry speculation that the Red Sox and lever-puller Dave Dombrowski might engage the White Sox in Jose Quintana talks. Needless to say, the price would be high and would likely require the Red Sox to part with coveted third base prospect Rafael Devers. 

That, though, doesn’t feel like the next step. That kind of drastic measure is likely something the Sox would resort to in-season and only in the event that injury concerns extend beyond Price. For now, it seems that Boston will move forward without any significant additions and then turn to other in-house solutions should someone else go down. If that approach turns out to be found lacking, then perhaps Dombrowski returns to the trade market. 

Obviously, it will be a substantial blow if the plans for Price change and he’s laid up for longer than hoped. In Boston’s case, it has capable replacements in place, but the margin for error is now quite slim. Last season, for instance, the Red Sox gave 29 starts to pitchers not among their top five starters. If that’s the case in 2016, and it probably will be, then Boston might get deeper into the depth chart than it wishes. It’s not time to panic, especially after the second opinion yielded good news, but Boston should be ready if things change for the worse.