It’s just the start for Whitlock
Cora: ‘Let’s keep him a reliever for the next 10 days’
HOUSTON » It’s clear that Garrett Whitlock will be a big piece of the Red Sox’ future. But exactly how is not set in stone.
Before Friday’s Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, Red Sox manager Alex Cora wasn’t exactly ready to start talking about the 25year-old reliever’s future just yet.
“Let’s keep him a reliever for the next 10 days,” Cora joked Friday, referring to the possibility of a World Series run.
All joking aside, Whitlock has been a revelation for the Red Sox since they snagged him from the Yankees in last year’s Rule 5 draft. Despite giving up a game-tying homer to Jose Altuve in Tuesday’s Game 4 loss to the Astros, the Red Sox wouldn’t have been knocking on the door of a surprise World Series berth without the performance of their surprising rookie.
However the season ends, Whitlock — who posted a 1.96 ERA over 73 1/3 innings out of the Sox’ pen — will be a huge contributor moving forward.
Cora has gone to him countless times in high-leverage, multi-inning situations and he’s consistently come through. He could certainly be considered for a closing role at some point.
But Whitlock also came up as a starter, and he can’t be ruled out of a possible rotation spot next season. The Red Sox discussed earlier this season that possibility, but in his first full season since having Tommy John surgery in 2019, they wanted to bring him back slowly. After finishing a full season, he’ll be ready for more.
“We believe he can be a starter with time, but you never know what can happen in the future,” Cora said. “With (Jonathan Papelbon), we thought he was a starter. Everybody thought he was a starter, I think, and he … made a living on closing out games. You can’t get ahead of yourself. What’s he going to be or whatever? One thing for sure, he is going to be a good pitcher for a long, long time.”
Old friend says hello
Ron Roenicke, Cora’s bench coach in 2018 and
2019 who took over as Red Sox manager in 2020, made a seemingly unexpected visit to Minute Maid Park for Friday’s Game 6.
About 90 minutes before first pitch, Roenicke, who now works with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a special assistant, came down toward the field as the Red Sox were finishing batting practice. Cora was among many members of the Red Sox, including Xander Bogaerts, Christian Vazquez and several front office members, to notice him and go into the stands to say hello and quickly catch up.
Roenicke was beloved within the Red Sox, especially after taking on the unenviable task of being the manager in 2020 after Cora was suspended for the year and the season was shortened due to the pandemic. When it was announced on the last day of the 2020 season that he wouldn’t be returning with the Sox, he endorsed Cora to return as manager.
Lineup change
Cora hasn’t been too willing to mess around with his lineup during the ALCS — at least in terms of adding or subtracting players — but he made an adjustment for Game 6, moving the struggling Hunter Renfroe down to eighth in the order.
The Red Sox right fielder, one of their top offensive contributors this season (31 HR, 96 RBI), doesn’t have a hit since Game 1 of this series. Entering Game 6, he was hitless in his last 12 at-bats with seven strikeouts and four walks since hitting a double in Game 1.
J.D. Martinez batted fifth, Alex Verdugo sixth and Christian Arroyo seventh against right-hander Luis Garcia.
“I was telling the coaches he might come up with the bases loaded and two outs,” Cora said of Renfroe.
“That’s baseball but we wanted to set up the Verdugo, JD thing, Arroyo behind Alex, just to be ready for if they do something quick with Garcia and it just felt like this is the right one.”
Cordero’s next step
The Red Sox had high hopes for Franchy Cordero after acquiring him from the Royals last winter in the Andrew Benintendi trade, but he was designated for assignment Thursday after an unsatisfying season in which he never found his stride. Cora said the biggest thing for Cordero is to figure out how he identifies at the plate.
“Good kid, good talent and an excellent athlete,” Cora said. “He just needs to play. He needed to play.
The more he plays, the better he’s going to be throughout his career. … It’s just a matter of making some adjustments offensively, kind of like recognize who you want to be and not please everybody.”
Cordero will go through waivers, where he’s eligible to be claimed by any team. If he isn’t, the Red Sox could send him outright to Triple-A Worcester.
“We’ll see what the future holds,” Cora said.
Hirokazu Sawamura hurt his right hamstring during his appearance in Game 5, Cora said. But the reliever pitched an early bullpen prior to Friday’s game, and Cora said “he is good.” … Cora said Garrett Richards (hamstring) is improving after throwing on flat ground this week. Richards, who was removed from the ALDS roster after his injury, would be eligible to return for the World Series.