With the Red Sox looking to upgrade a rotation that completely failed them during the stretch run and replace the injured John Lackey, two left-handers Wandy Rodriquez and Gio Gonzalez, have landed on the team’s radar. The two pitchers are quite similar on the mound; both feature a fastball, curve and change repertoire and get ground balls at a fair rate. The choice between the two will likely come down to a few key areas where significant differences exists.
The Houston Astro’s Wandy Rodriquez has been a consistently above average starter for the perennial also-rans, but he carries a contract that will pay him $36M over the next three years. The rebuilding Astros would love to move that price tag for less costly prospects. Oakland’s Gio Gonzalez, on the other hand, is younger, he is still cost controlled, just entering his first arbitration season now, and he is coming off the better season. On those differences alone, Gonzalez is the easy choice. He will be in his prime over the...
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