Andrew Cashner Has Been One Of The Worst Starters In Baseball Since Joining The Red Sox

How’s everybody’s Wednesday going, good? Awesome. Let’s make it even better.

All these Negative Nancy’s are out here saying that the Red Sox are shutting it down because Dave Dombrowski didn’t get anybody before the trade deadline — that’s not true. He got Andrew Cashner! That’s positive number one. A lot of people are saying that Cashner has been the worst pitcher in Major League Baseball since joining the Red Sox. That’s not true, either! Before coming to Boston, Cashner had a 3.83 ERA in 17 starts. That’s pretty good! But since coming to Boston, he does have a 7.53 ERA in five starts.

But come on, guys. That’s not the worst ERA in baseball. It ranks 81st out of 84 starters who qualify. There are still THREE starters who have sucked more than him. That’s more than half a big league rotation. And his WHIP? Also not the worst! His 1.74 WHIP is 83rd out of 84 qualified starters. Jon Lester has been worse than Cashner, and he’s won THREE World Series! If you apply the numbers here, saying that Cashner has been the worst pitcher in baseball since putting on a Red Sox jersey, that’s simply untrue.

People also forget that Cashner did win a game. Against the Yankees, no less! Remember that one? That was during that three-game stretch when we still had hope that the Red Sox could secure a postseason spot, and then they lost eight straight. Cashner did NOT start all eight of those games. So again, it would be unfair to place all of the blame on him. I’m even willing to give Cashner a free pass for his most recent outing against the Royals in which he gave up six earned runs and three homers. Uh, remember 2015? The Royals won the World Series. Ever heard of it? They went to the World Series the year before that, too.

Speaking of the Royals, they actually have a better winning percentage than the Red Sox since July 13. At 10-15, the Red Sox, over that span, are currently lumped in with teams like the Mariners, Rangers, Marlins, Padres, White Sox, Rockies, Tigers and Pirates. The Mariners used to have Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson, the Marlins won TWO World Series in 1997 and 2003, the Padres had Tony Gwynn, the White Sox won the World Series in 2005, the Rockies went to the World Series in 2007, and the Tigers had a rotation of Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Price, Anibal Sanchez, and Rick Porcello. That’s SIX Cy Youngs! And the Pirates are in the league, too. No shame in being lumped in with these teams right now.

You know what else is crazy? If the Red Sox win on Wednesday, they can actually WIN this series against the Royals. I bet they do it, too. Eduardo Rodriguez is starting for the Red Sox and they’re 17-6 when he pitches. I don’t even think the Red Sox have a single stretch all season where they’ve gone 17-6 or anything close to that. With their ace on the mound, in the series finale, everything is coming up Red Sox right now.