Sox must decide on future of Whitlock
With Sale nearing return, his role remains unclear
Who’s going to save the Red Sox bullpen?
The best answer at this point is Chris Sale, whose pending return could push one of the current starters to the ‘pen.
The Sox lefty is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today in Fort Myers. And if it goes well, the next step should be a minor league rehab assignment. Given he’s been out the entire season with a fractured rib, it’s likely he’ll need at least three rehab starts before the Sox call him back to the big leagues.
Assuming he stays on a fiveday schedule that begins after his bullpen session, three rehab starts would put him back in the Red Sox’ rotation for the start of the Cleveland series on June 24. Four rehab starts would put him back June 29 in Toronto, but Sale can’t travel to Toronto because he hasn’t been vaccinated against COVID-19. A return after that series seems probable.
The Red Sox will have an interesting decision to make at that point.
Moving to a six-man rotation could preserve long-term health and keep the starters as fresh as possible later in the season, but a sub-. 500 team might not have that luxury.
Rich Hill has been the most inconsistent of the five starters, but manager Alex Cora has enjoyed the way hitters look foolish facing Tanner Houck as a piggy-back option after Hill. Going from 88mph fastballs and 71-mph curveballs to 96-mph biting two-seamers and 86-mph sliders is a juxtaposition that has worked well for the Sox thus far.
Besides, the Sox already have three lefty relievers they like: Matt Strahm, Jake Diekman and
Austin Davis.
Nick Pivetta and Nathan Eovaldi are the only set of teammates with complete games this year, so removing either one of them is senseless.
Michael Wacha has a 2.43 ERA, so he isn’t going anywhere.
How about Garrett Whitlock?
This is what makes the decision to keep Whitlock in the rotation even more befuddling.
With Sale due back by the end of June at the latest, super prospect Brayan Bello waiting in Triple-a Worcester and James Paxton still hoping to return sometime in the second half, there are several starters that could be contributing at some point this year.
Having too many starters is never a bad thing, but roping around the organization’s most talented young pitcher sure is.
Whitlock was sensational out of relief before they put him in the rotation. He’s been OK in the rotation. Watching him throw six scoreless innings without striking anybody out against the Reds on Wednesday night was bizarre.
He’s still effective, but far from the dominant pitcher who was holding batters to a .121 average and .384 OPS out of relief. As a starter he’s allowing a .252 average and .657 OPS.
“On the whole he’s done a pretty solid job,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said. “But it goes to show just why starting pitching is so prized in our business that turning a lineup over, a lineup that’s had time to gameplan against you, and turning that lineup over a couple of times is not just something you can snap your fingers and do.
“I think the first few weeks of the season, we were getting such consistency from our starting pitching, and on the whole they’ve done a great job, that they were making it look easy. It’s not easy. And we’ve seen that. I think you can you can see him learning and growing on the fly.”
Whitlock will get better, surely. But if Sale is ready to return and all five starters are still healthy and performing similarly as they are right now, which one moves to the bullpen to make room?
Whitlock makes the most sense, except that changing his role a second time, this time after stretching him out, is probably irresponsible for a pitcher who is less than two years removed from Tommy John surgery and trying to build a starter’s routine.
“The thing we set out to do is give him some consistency, some regularity as he progresses in his career,” Bloom said.
There’s simply no easy answer, and it’ll probably fall on whether or not Hill has found a way to be effective as a starter or if the Sox need to cut bait or move him to the ‘pen.
Someway or another, the Sox need more reliable options out of relief before the Aug. 2 trade deadline. And Bloom knows it.
“We haven’t thought too far ahead,” he said. “Let’s get to that point and see where we are. We had thought prior to the lockout lifting and learning where we were with Chris that we were going to go into spring training really with seven guys we thought were capable starters, length options and running with all seven of them healthy and we ended up with six and we’ve seen how that’s played out. So it’s obviously something we’ve contemplated but we’ve got to see where we’re at when we get to that point.”