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| Barnes: Ace Of The Future? |
Part of the reason the Red Sox have not made any prospect-yielding trades this Winter is that they value their bevy of young starting pitching talent so much. While it can be frustrating for fans to see elite players go elsewhere, it's at least understandable that Ben Cherington wants to horde as many homegrown arms as possible. The current market for free agent starters is ridiculously overvalued and, as
WEEI.com's Alex Speier points out,
Boston's recent experiences with free agent pitching (read: John Lackey) have been less than stellar. In the pipeline, the Red Sox have the following prospects who
could be impact starters in the bigs:
Matt Barnes,
Rubby De La Rosa,
Allen Webster,
Henry Owens,
Brian Johnson,
Brandon Workman,
Anthony Ranaudo, and
Drake Britton (
Read our profile of Barnes on FenwayNation last June). That's quite an impressive stockpile—arguably among the best in baseball. Moreover, we've already seen the solid potential demonstrated by the still-young
Felix Doubront. Chances are two or three of the names on this list will replenish the big club's rotation in the not too distant future.
