The 2011 Yankees and the 2012 Red Sox

Last year the Yankees lost in the ALCS, missed on Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte retired so they were gonna have to rely on Ivan Nova a relatively untested rookie and Phil Hughes who faded bad down the stretch. The ownership was so desperate for a move that they went over the head of Brian Cashman and signed Rafael Soriano to a three year deal. The Yankees pieced together a rotation with Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon making major contributions. People thought that the Yankees would make a deal for a starter, but they didn't have to and their copious amount of starting pitching depth meant that they did not need to worry about finding starters. That may not seem like a big deal but remember bad the Red Sox starters were in September, they had no starting pitching depth and that was the reason they did not make the playoffs. The Red Sox have the top three starters and they only need to fill in the rest of their rotation, that's why its not a big deal for them to try Alfredo Aceves and Daniel Bard because those two just need to be not terrible. However if one or both of those guys falters they have to rely on the Andrew Miller, Carlos Silva type and they cannot even keep  Carlos Silva and Aaron Cook in the minors past the end of April because of their opt out. On top of that Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz are major injury concerns, especially Buchholz who has only been able to complete a full season of starts once in the last four years and is recovering from a stress fracture in his back.  There is a chance that everything will go well for the Red Sox and Aceves and Bard will be effective and everyone in the rotation will be healthy. If somebody has to miss a start then Andrew Miller can step in but if one starter is going to miss some time then who is gonna pitch?
The problem for the Red Sox is that they can't add a starter at the trade deadline very easily this season as they would need to move some salary to do so and if they can't eat salary then it will be very hard to acquire a starter as most teams looking to unload a starter want prospects or salary relief and the Sox system is barren at the higher levels. The Red Sox chief problem last year was a lack of pitching and it does not seem like they have done much to rectify that situation and it prove costly for them.