All Red Sox team 1965-2016, pitchers

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Red Sox fans have had the good fortune to see not only some of the best pitchers in baseball, but also, some of the most colorful. I have to admit, I'm not a Roger Clemens fan, but when I started to make this list, I thought he'd be the number one starter. After looking at the stats, I gave the number one slot to Martinez. Various pitchers of note didn't make the cut. Curt Schilling had one great season and a memorable world series, but he didn't make the rotation. Also, a quick acknowledgment to some other stalwart Sox starters. That group includes Jim Lonborg, Bill Wakefield and Oil Can Boyd.  Chris Sale would be fairly high on this list if he hadn't been plagued by arm issues.  His future is sketchy at best.   Okay, here's the list.

Starting pitcher: Pedro Martinez So how did Pedro beat out the Rocket? In some ways he was more dominant. From 1998-2000 his records were: 19-7, 23-4 and 18-6. His WARs for 1999 was 9.7 and and 11.7 in 2000. For his 7 years with the Sox his record was 117-37 with an ERA of 2.52. Great and entertaining, that was Pedro.

Starting pitcher: Roger Clemens Before Roger found the Fountain of Youth, or Fountain of Whatever, he was a great young pitcher for the Red Sox. In his 13 years with the Sox, Roger led the league in ERA 4 times and in wins twice. He also led the league in strikeouts three times. The argument could be made that he should be number one, but I have him as number two. Maybe he should be 1A.

Staring pitcher: Luis Tiant Before there was Pedro, there was El Tiante. During his 8 year run with the Sox Luis went 122-81 with an ERA of 3.36. Included in those 8 seasons is three seasons in which Luis won 20 games. He's also has be be one of the five most entertaining pitchers to watch in the last 50 years.

Starting pitcher: Jon Lester Before Jon helped the Cubs to their first world series win in 108 years, he helped the Red Sox to a 2007 series win. Jon's numbers are very good for his 9 years with the Sox. He went 115-63 with an ERA of 3.64. Why didn't base runners run on him more when he was in Boston?

Starting pitcher: Bruce Hurst This slot could have gone to some others I mentioned at the beginning of this article, but I gave it to Hurst. I believe Bruce was in line to be the 1986 World Series MVP before Mookie Wilson's dribbler went between Bill Buckner's legs. Bruce record of 88-73 with an ERA of 4.23, plus his world series MVP award that wasn't nails down his spot in this rotation. Barely.

Relief pitcher: Jonathan Papelbon Before Papelbon was choking Bryce Harper, he was an effective closer for the Red Sox. From 2001-2016 Papelbon recorded between 31-41 saves. He's the Red Sox all time saves leader with 219 and had a record of 23-19. While he he probably wouldn't win the Mr. Congeniality award, he gets the call here.

Relief pitcher: Bob Stanley was a Swiss army knife of a pitcher when he was with the Sox. Bob spent all 13 years of his big league career with the Red Sox compiling a record of 115-94 and an ERA of 3.64.

Relief pitcher: Koji Uehara The Red Sox have had more than their share of relievers who had one or two great season and then faded. Uehara hasn't had the dominant season in terms of saves that others have had, he did, however, put together four nice seasons out of the Red Sox pen. Koji finished with79 saves and an ERA of 2.19. Not bad for an old guy.

I really wanted to put Dick Radatz on this team, but his best seasons were prior to 1965. Regardless, their my Red Sox pitching staff. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to discuss, respectfully.