I liked what I saw from Lester. I don't know if he recovered his movement and raw stuff, but he and Buchholz have both picked up the pace and established better rhythms which I think is a key to success for both of them. Lester has always had trouble when he labors and slows his pace since he first came to the majors. Once he started to quicken the pace and attack the zone he was successful. The same goes for Buchholz. In the last couple of years, I think Beckett had a very negative influence on both of them in this regard.
If Dempster has found a new life with the splitter, maybe he will be effective despite subpar velocity. There has been more good news than bad with the starters. Lackey has had some bumps. Doubront has the stuff, but does he have the command to improve over last year. We don't have depth if any of these guys falter. Morales is having back trouble and he is not ready to take starts any time soon. He's not even ready for the pen. De La Rosa is not ready to be an MLB starter. I guess that Webster is first on the depth chart at this point.