Red Sox's 2014 Mistakes Leave Them Without an Ace, Ready to Fold

Valerie Winslow is a lifelong member of Red Sox Nation. She lived 30 of her 33 years in Boston before moving to Ohio. Last week, a trip to the Cubs-Reds series in Cincinnati was a necessity because Jon Lester is now with Chicago. 

Winslow and her family got seats behind the visitor's dugout and waited for the opportune moment to laud the former Red Sox ace with praise. 

Lester was having none of it. 

"We told him we were Sox fans who were here to see him and love him, no matter where he's pitching," Winslow relayed in a series of direct messages via Twitter. "He told us, 'I don't play for Boston anymore,' gave us a nasty expression and walked off." 

It has come to this for Red Sox fans—so desperate for an ace, they head to the ballpark to pine for the one that got away.

And even in the face of rejection, those moments of nostalgia are still better than what they have to look forward to back in Fenway Park.

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The Red Sox began this season without an ace on their staff—depending on one’s definition—for only the second time since 1984. 

Roger Clemens joined the Red Sox midway through the 1984 season. Since then, the team's starting pitching rotation (barring injury) has included either Clemens, 2015 Hall of Fame inductee Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett or Lester.

The lone exception was 1997. Clemens left Boston as the sun set on "the twilight of his career" after the 1996 season. He is the only one of these pitchers not to win at least one World Series ring with the Red Sox. Along with 1986 "World Series MVP for 10 Minutes" Bruce Hurst, Clemens brought the Red Sox to the brink of a World Series crown in 1986. 

Last time we checked, they were still one strike away.

Boston's historic reliance on a premier ace or stopper has gone the way of $2 beer and $12 box seats at Fenway Park. 

The Red Sox preseason mantra from John Farrell implied the team would boast "five aces" this year. Joe Kelly doubled down with a sort-of-serious prediction that he would win the Cy Young Award in 2015.

The award's namesake has a better chance than Kelly (2-6, 5.94 ERA and a career-high 1.51 WHIP) to win that honor this season. Kelly spent nearly a month with Class AAA Pawtucket before a post-All-Star break return. 

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The dead-cat bounce bringing the Red Sox to within four games of .500 earlier this month splattered all over Fenway Park when ace-in-training Clay Buchholz walked off the field in the fourth inning July 10 against the Yankees.

The exact nature of a right elbow/flexor injury has yet to be fully determined. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection and will be shut down indefinitely. Buchholz (7-7, 3.26) has never thrown more than 190 innings in his nine seasons, nor has he made it to the All-Star break since 2010 without going on the DL. 

"It's concerning that, not only do they trade away and lowball pitchers, but the management is leaving such a bad taste in their mouths that they hold a grudge and cop an attitude that carries over to fans," Winslow wrote. "Every time I hear someone refer to Buchholz as an ace, I hang my head. I'm very frustrated about the entire management team. I tried to have faith in (general manager Ben) Cherington and Co., but I'd like to see that whole crew revamped."

Winslow's animosity toward the players, team and management has been shared by Red Sox fans across social media and on both of the city's major sports talk radio stations as things race downhill.

The Red Sox began dealing assets with Monday's trade of Shane Victorino to the Angels.

Boston is poised for its third substantial overhaul in the past four years. The dream of dumping quasi-left fielder Hanley Ramirez, first baseman Mike Napoli or third baseman Pablo Sandoval—all at deep discounts—lingers for citizens and residents of Red Sox Nation who remember 2012's bailout courtesy of the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Meanwhile, most fans in New England are left to focus on either 2016 or Tom Brady's fate in federal court. The Red Sox were 14 games out heading into Wednesday's contest. The last time they fell that far back this quickly was 1998. Tuesday's loss pushed Farrell under .500 as Red Sox manager (212-213).

Despite the Red Sox's slide in the standings, various reports had tied the team to a possible deal for Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels—including ESPN's Jayson Stark.

But Boston managed to blow that opportunity too, as the Rangers, according to Stark, reached a deal to acquire Hamels Wednesday night. 

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Hamels, 31, is signed through 2018 at $23.5 million a year with a $20.5 million team option for 2019. Bringing him to Boston would have been a marked change in the team's past record of avoiding long-term, big-money deals to pitchers over 30. 

"There's no hard-and-fast rule" on avoiding huge deals for pitchers over 30, Cherington said on WEEI radio in Boston last Thursday. Red Sox owner John W. Henry expressed confidence in his current management team before the season and has not wavered.

And they have never needed an arm like Hamels’ more than they do at this very moment.

Rick Porcello, 26, was supposed to be Boston’s stable top-of-the-rotation arm. But after inking an $82.5 million extension through 2019, American League hitters are the ones rejoicing. Porcello has given up a career-high 20 home runs this season. Wade Miley, Porcello and Kelly, the three "aces" Cherington brought in to bolster Boston's rotation, posted a 13.09 ERA in three games this week against the White Sox. 

All of this came during a span when the Red Sox honored Martinez by retiring his No. 45. 

The virus that would trigger this season's pitching contagion was planted before the 2014 season, when the Red Sox offered Lester a four-year, $70 million contract.

Talks between the Red Sox and Lester's representatives collapsed. His eventual deal with the Cubs was worth $155 million over six years. 

It grew larger as Cherington, whose teams have had a combined payroll of more than $346 million in these past two seasons, botched the handling of John Lackey's exodus.

Cherington publicly proclaimed early in 2014 that the Red Sox would not pay Lackey more than the veteran minimum in the final option year of his contract. Lackey all but threatened to retire.

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He was ultimately dealt at the 2014 trade deadline to St. Louis for Kelly and Allen Craig, who was given his release by Boston this May. 

The lack of veteran leadership within the pitching rotation has been magnified because of the instability behind the plate. After a season-ending spring injury to Christian Vazquez, Boston's catching duties have been fairly evenly split this between Ryan Hanigan, Blake Swihart and Sandy Leon—who has since been cut. 

There’s no concern for another “Chicken and Beer” uprising this season among the pitching staff, mainly because no one is around to lead it. The Red Sox have used eight different starting pitchers this season, and Buchholz is the ranking veteran.

Contrast this to 2004, when the five members of the starting rotation (Martinez, Schilling, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, Derek Lowe and Bronson Arroyo) started a combined 157 games. Jason Varitek guided the four non-knuckleballers by catching 130 games.

In 2007, the Red Sox rode the postseason success of Beckett, with help from Lester and even Schilling, to a title. Varitek and Doug Mirabelli also split the bulk of the catching duties that year.

In 2013, Lester and Lackey proved to be stalwarts in the postseason. Boston won eight of their 10 combined starts. Lester's World Series ERA of 0.43 is the third-lowest all-time over 20 or more innings. 

Lester's catcher of choice during the 2013 season in Boston was David Ross, also signed by the Cubs this offseason to be Lester's personal caddy. In two seasons working with Ross in Boston, Lester pitched 195 innings, posting a 2.77 ERA, 192 strikeouts and .235 opponent average.

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Ross, by the way, still enjoys meeting Red Sox fans. 

"He threw candy and waved at us," Winslow said. "Too bad he isn't a better player." 

Better players...that's something the Red Sox need. The road to redemption in Boston begins where it always has—with pitching. The best place to start is with a big, bold move at the top of the rotation, if not a complete purge of the baseball operations staff.

And when it comes to pitching, Boston should try going with just one ace next time, instead of five.

It’s worked before.

Award-winning journalist Bill Speros is a Bay State native and wrote the "Obnoxious Boston Fan" column for Boston.com. He can be reached @RealOBF on Twitter or at [e-mail].