What a difference a day makes!

Ahead of the season both Neil and I identified the potential injury risk that both our rotations carried -– well within the space of a week, and only 20 odd games into the season, 30% of our combined rotations are now on the DL –- Wright, Wells and now Schilling.

In 2004, the Sox starters never missed a turn in the rotation, although spot starts were required at various points to cover for extended A-S breaks, and the various doubleheaders. Knowing that the 2005 team were unlikely to repeat that luck, the Sox built starting depth into the roster, – with the acquisitions of Wade Miller and John Halama providing the necessary depth. Less than five days ago, Sox fans were discussing which starter should be moved to the bullpen to accommodate Miller’'s return, given that four of the five were in form, and the fifth was considered to be only a matter of time.

However,– if a week is a long time in politics…

Assuming that Schilling comes of the DL some time around the 20^th of May, and that Miller meets the same sort of timetable, here are the Sox fixtures over the next 20 days – with probable starters;

Date	Opponent	Probable Starter
29-Apr-05	@ Texas Rangers	Wakefield
30-Apr-05	@ Texas Rangers	Arroyo
1-May-05	@ Texas Rangers	Clement
2-May-05	@ Detroit Tigers	Halama
3-May-05	@ Detroit Tigers
4-May-05	@ Detroit Tigers	Wakefield
5-May-05	@ Detroit Tigers	Arroyo
6-May-05	Seattle Mariners	Clement
7-May-05	Seattle Mariners	Halama
8-May-05	Seattle Mariners
9-May-05	Oakland Athletics	Wakefield
10-May-05	Oakland Athletics	Arroyo
11-May-05	Oakland Athletics	Clement
12-May-05	Off Day
13-May-05	@ Seattle Mariners	Halama
14-May-05	@ Seattle Mariners	Wakefield
15-May-05	@ Seattle Mariners	Arroyo
16-May-05	@ Oakland Athletics	Clement
17-May-05	@ Oakland Athletics
18-May-05	@ Oakland Athletics	Halama

No disrespect intended, but that table doesn’t fill you with huge amounts of confidence. –It is not that the starters penciled in aren'’t capable of winning their starts, I am just not sure that they are (generally speaking) the starters that you look at before the start of each game and say, we will be strong favorites in that match up.

And that leaves possibly three starts that we need from elsewhere in our roster, with– the early 'favorites' appearing to be Lenny DiNardo, a Rule 5 pick up from the Mets in 2004 (who spent a long time on the DL last year with a blister – the Sox weren’t playing fast and loose with the Rule 5 rules were they?), and Jeremi Gonzalez – who pitched for the Cubs in the early part of his career, disappeared (I presume with an injury), then reappeared in the Devil Rays organization - you can find his career stats and an interesting summary at SoxProspects.com - if you are going to be compared with Derek Lowe, I am guessing his mound presence isn't really the characteristic that you would want first on that list!