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Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Provides Update on Red Sox Rotation

Alex Cora told the NESN crew on Friday just how long his team could stick with the 6-man pitching rotation.

Brady Farkas

Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Provides Update on Red Sox Rotation
Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Provides Update on Red Sox Rotation /
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With the Boston Red Sox welcoming back James Paxton on Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, the team now has some starting rotation question marks.

As Paxton makes his first major league start since 2021, he gives the Red Sox six starters for five spots.

The team is prepared to make at least one run through the rotation with a 6-man group (Paxton, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck, and Brayan Bello), but how long will it last?

Manager Alex Cora shed some light during the team's television pregame show on Friday. You can hear his full comments below but there is a partial transcript here.

"As of now, we're going to go with a 6-man rotation, everybody knows who is pitching against San Diego and everybody knows who is pitching against Seattle. There's a chance that we stick with this rotation for a while...."

The benefit to the 6-man rotation is that it helps to protect the Sox rotation health-wise. Paxton is a huge health risk, as is Sale, as is Kluber. Having the 6-man rotation would allow an extra day of rest for those guys, and would protect the young Bello from throwing too many innings.

Corey said that the team will eventually need to make decisions on who stays in the rotation, especially as Garrett Whitlock gets ready to come back from the injured list. When those conversations happen, Bello could be sent to Triple-A, or Pivetta could be begrudgingly sent to the bullpen.

The Red Sox and Cardinals will play tonight at 7;10 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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