Ok, I’ll admit it; I had high hopes for Josh Reddick heading into this season. I wanted the guy to come out, make people forget about fellow Georgian J.D. Drew, and revitalize a down Red Sox team by making our outfield shine (a little help would of course be needed here from Crawford). Then, after meeting the guy in person (his grandmother cuts my hair), I hear that he’s been traded, and was furious until I found out who he was dealt for.

In what could have been his most key off-season move since announcing that fans wouldn’t have to endure another season of John Lackey’s incompetent pitching, new Sox General Manager Ben Cherington plugged Boston’s biggest hole in acquiring All-Star closer Andrew Bailey. Sure, the Sox lose a reasonably nice guy and solid baseball player to Oakland, but by gaining Bailey new manager Bobby Valentine (still mixed feelings here) will have at least one question answered heading into spring training. That being of course: Who will replace Jonathan Papelbon?

For those of you who don’t know his history, Bailey’s been pretty good pitching in a division that’s got some pretty established hitters, and has done well to keep his numbers solid in recent years. But the assurances Bailey brings with him are more important than any stats. While it pains this writer to say it, Daniel Bard has yet to prove that he has the fortitude to handle the closing role. Born with a cannon, his stuff’s electrifying, but he’s let the pressure get to him on numerous occasions. With Bailey’s acquisition, Bard can stay in his primary role as set-up man, a role in which at some points last year he proved to be the best in the league. Better still is that now with Bailey the Sox can play around with other options for the bullpen and thus other options for starters.

Don’t let the outrageous media attention behind the Mark Buehrle signing fool you, there are plenty of veteran arms out there that Cherington could sign. Hopefully he will do this soon, but that will still only shore up the fourth starter spot. For the fifth, I believe the Sox could look inward instead. There are a plethora of young bullpen arms teeming with ability, and the acquisition of Bailey might give them a chance. I’m not for tinkering with Bard and attempting to make him a starter as some suggest, especially with better options available.

The front-runner in this situation would be Alfredo Aceves, who pitched over 100 innings last year anyway, and brings a background of capable spot-starting experience with him. Another possibility of course, is the recently re-signed Andrew Miller, who at one time had stuff enough to be drafted early in the first round, ahead of his college teammate Daniel Bard. There is also a dark horse here on the team in Felix Doubront. When healthy, Doubront’s stuff can be nasty as any, and while I prefer him in an area where his limited skill set of fire-balling works best (the bullpen), I could also see him transitioning to become a capable starter in the event that no other serious option presents itself.

Ultimately, Cherington needs to sign a new starter, and soon. Rather than picking through a bargain bin of has-beens, the Sox need to pull the trigger on a reliable arm, hopefully for even longer than a year. When’s the last time you found out that two starters from last year’s rotation would be gone and you were excited knowing that nearly anything could be better?

So now, while they have the excuse, Sox management should look into signing (or trading for) a reliable arm for a couple of years instead of just 2012 and let the cards fall where they will on Lackey and Daisuke when next season rolls around (even if that means they’re released or delegated to mop-up/bullpen duty). After all, with someone reliable at the back end of the rotation, the Sox could right the shifting swoons of consecutive losses that killed them last season. I’m not saying any starting pitcher is going to outperform Lackey’s 2011 if signed…just that I’d prefer having them instead.