This season has been a real struggle for the Boston Red Sox in almost every aspect. Starting pitching, offense, defense — you name it and one can honestly say that Boston has not done it particularly well. One of the most glaring weaknesses and one that didn’t seem to be addressed at all during the offseason was the lack of quality arms in the bullpen. After Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara, there isn’t much of anything.

When the Red Sox signed Justin Masterson, they projected him to be the fifth starter. Well, that has not worked out well, much like most of their plans for this season. It reached the point where he was performing bad enough that he was relegated to the bullpen. This actually is not as bad of a move as it might seem and, quite frankly, Boston probably should have done this a lot sooner.

Masterson has the sort of stuff where he can keep batters off balance for a few innings. As a starter, the second or third time through the order, he can get knocked around. As a reliever, a few innings can be enough where he can make some sort of impact and serve as the bridge between the starting pitchers and Tazawa and Uehara. Masterson being there improves the bullpen and allows a better starter to slide into the fifth spot.

Remember the last time Masterson was in the bullpen for the Red Sox? That was 2008, and he was extremely solid. It is hard to explain, but he actually looks and has the attitude of a reliever and that is probably where he is best suited.

Too bad this team isn’t close to how good they were in 2008.

Carter Roane is a Boston Red Sox writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter@CarterGRoane, “Like”him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.