Void a big name starter, Red Sox hope rotation improves with depth this season

FORT MYERS, Fla. — From Pedro Martinez to Curt Schilling to Josh Beckett to Chris Sale, the Boston Red Sox always seemed to have that big-name starter when they were winning four World Series titles in 15 years.

Coming off their third last-place finish in four years and following an offseason that lacked the addition of a high-priced, top-of-the-rotation arm, the Red Sox have many rotation options. But no one is likely to be viewed as an opening-day ace.

“Yeah, we don’t have that marquee name.” 27-year-old right-hander Kutter Crawford said Friday.

Crawford was 6-7 with a 4.51 ERA in 23 starts and also made eight appearances out of the bullpen.

“I think it’s an exciting time and almost makes us hungrier to go out and show the world that even though we don’t have that marquee name, we can make a name for ourselves,” he said.

The Red Sox entered the offseason with some holes: none bigger than needing an ace to eat innings and reduce the load for a bullpen that was overworked most of last year.

“If you look back to the history of the Red Sox, when they’ve been really, really good, the rotation carries the pitching staff,” manager Alex Cora said. “It happened in ’04 when they traded for Curt — him and Pedro — and the rest of the guys carried the pitching staff.

“In ’07, we got Josh before that and the rotation carried that team,” he continued. “In ’13, veterans carried that team; same thing in ’18 and ’21.”

This year, Cora’s message to the starters is simple: They need to be better.

“We can talk about bullpen and all that stuff,” he said. “You cannot rely on the bullpen all the time. Somebody needs to step up and go six, seven innings more than once in a while. … You need five guys that can take the baton and keep on running, running and running, and you can take…