BOSTON — In fewer than six weeks, pitchers and catchers will report to JetBlue Park as the Bobby Valentine era begins for the Red Sox.

If the Sox have any playoff hopes, they need to get better pitching.

The final pitch of 2011 is also the lasting image of Boston’s historic collapse.

Robert Andino’s winning RBI ended the game, the season, and sent the organization into an offseason housecleaning that is still ongoing.

It was also the final pitch for Jonathan Papelbon in a Red Sox uniform. The team’s all-time saves leader is now a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Andrew Bailey is Boston’s closer.

The 2011 collapse was due in large part to a bullpen that faltered under a heavy workload.

Boston’s starting pitchers threw only 940 innings last season, the second-fewest in the American League. That’s not even six innings a game.

Very few bullpens are built to pitch 3-plus innings a night.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise the Sox rebuilt the bullpen.

GM Ben Cherington did a nice job adding two quality young arms without giving up too much in return.

Bailey and Mark Melancon combined for 44 saves last season, and will be the one-two combo in the eighth and ninth innings this season.

Melancon and Bailey are both under 28 and have handled late-game pressure.

Yet the back end of the bullpen wasn’t really a problem for Boston last year. Papelbon and Daniel Bard were one of the best one-two punches in the game until September.

Bard is a starter, at least for now. So is Alfredo Aceves, who was the MVP of the bullpen in 2011 but would rather start.

It’s hard to imagine both Bard and Aceves in the rotation, which is why Cherington has rounded up alternatives such as Carlos Silva and Aaron Cook.

There is talk the team will still add a pitcher, such as Paul Maholm.

In other words, Roy Oswalt is not walking through that door.

We know Jon Lester and Josh Beckett will be at the top of the rotation. We also know Clay Buchholz will have to pitch the way he did in 2010 if the team is going to have a strong starting staff.

If Bard can win the fourth spot, it would allow Valentine to return Aceves to the bullpen. With his ability to pitch multiple innings, he would be a valuable setup man for Melancon and Bailey.

Silva, Cook, or a pitcher to be named later could take the final rotation spot, at least until mid-season when Daisuke Matsuzaka could return from Tommy John surgery.

The hope is Matsuzaka will be highly motivated in the final months of his six-year contract.

In fact, most of Boston’s hopes are riding on its starters’ motivation.

Lester has admitted to the mistakes made by a group of young pitchers who didn’t take their work as seriously as they should have. Beckett hasn’t spoken about the 2011 collapse, so we can only hope he’s ready to move on from his 1-2, 5.48 ERA September.

If he can, and if the Sox can consistently get six or seven innings from their starters, they will compete for a postseason berth. If not, it could be another long baseball season in Boston.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.