Eduardo Rodriguez put the ribbon on his gem of a 2019 season by finishing sixth in Cy Young voting. Chris Sale finished in the top-four in seven consecutive seasons before falling short of the ballot this year. Now, when determining the ace of the staff, will the Boston Red Sox value track record (favoring Sale), or recency bias (favoring Rodriguez)?
The entire Red Sox rotation, except for Rodriguez, entered 2018 hot after a dominant postseason run. They all left 2019 cold, except for Rodriguez.
Sale entered 2019 after a shaky end to his 2018 season.