I think Kopech has a Sale level ceiling, and I don't see the Sox having five pitchers of a high enough caliber to bump him anytime soon. He could put up 5+ ERAs, he's still going to get at least 60 starts for the Sox to put it together, just like Lopez and Giolito. Same with Cease. Lopez will be the first to be bumped if anyone, and he'll have to fireball for that to happen before the end of next season.  

Edited December 18, 20196 yr by PantsRowland

1 hour ago, PantsRowland said:

I think Kopech has a Sale level ceiling, and I don't see the Sox having five pitchers of a high enough caliber to bump him anytime soon. He could put up 5+ ERAs, he's still going to get at least 60 starts for the Sox to put it together, just like Lopez and Giolito. Same with Cease. Lopez will be the first to be bumped if anyone, and he'll have to fireball for that to happen before the end of next season.  

There's an obvious problem with this. If he puts up an ERA of 5+ through the end of 2021 and this team is stuck near .500, since they won't spend on the upper part of their rotation, they would enter the 2021 lockout offseason saying "Moncada and Giolito are gone in 2 years and the rest of our roster hasn't stepped up to push us over the edge, trading them is now or never".