No one's saying anything about Bowden, who had another difficult evening.

Now maybe he's working on something, as he's been reported to do rather than simply using what he has at various stages of his development. But that approach would be at odds with the Sox's reported tendency to promote guys to AAA only when they are basically developed and need only minor tweaking. I'm not sure I buy that assessment of the organization's philosophy anyway, but regardless, Bowden seems to have regressed some, and at this point should probably not be counted as part of the team's 2009 rotation depth for the time being.

Unless things turn around fairly quickly for Bowden, he may find himself in somewhat the same situation in 2010 as Buchholz is this year. He'll finish out the year in AAA, maybe get a September callup depending on how things shake out from here, and probably start 2010 at Pawtucket as a primary replacement option for the rotation, almost regardless of how he pitches in ST next year, unless the Sox have more injury problems in the rotation in ST.