LISTEN: Buster Olney of ESPN Says Boston Red Sox Could Benefit From Six-Man Rotation

The Boston Red Sox are hoping to have Garrett Whitlock, Brayan Bello and James Paxton by the end of April. If all three of those starting pitchers come back healthy, the Sox will have six starters for five spots. Do they send someone to the bullpen? ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney says the team could benefit from using a six-man rotation.

The Boston Red Sox are out to a 3-4 start on the season after beating the Tigers on Thursday. 

One of the issues for the Red Sox in the early going has been the performance of the starting rotation, but help is on the way.

Garrett Whitlock, Brayan Bello and James Paxton are each working their way back from injury and the team hopes that all three could be ready by the end of April.

Assuming all three are healthy, the team will have at least six starters for five spots.

Those three would presumably join Corey Kluber, Nick Pivetta and Chris Sale in the rotation with Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck becoming candidates for the bullpen, or maybe Crawford going back to AAA Worcester.

But what do the Red Sox do if they have six healthy starters? Do they elect to send one of those six to the bullpen also? Or do they go with a six-man rotation?

ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney spoke with the "Brady Farkas Show" on WDEV Radio on Friday and said the team could benefit from utilizing a six-man rotation.

"It's a good problem to have. We've seen teams in the last three-four years have a ton of success using a six-man rotation. The Milwaukee Brewers are at the top of that list....I think there's a strong case to be made, especially early in the year for the Red Sox to pull back the reigns and go with a six-man rotation with the injury history with these starters."

The Red Sox will take on the Tigers on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET.

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