As injuries have mounted over the past few weeks the Red Sox have been forced to rely on a number of Triple-A call-ups and depth arms to help keep the ship afloat.
It hasn’t always been pretty, but as the club returns to full health the bullpen is beginning to take shape.
Garrett Whitlock was activated from the injured list on Sunday and is expected to return to the multi-inning relief role in which he dominated as a rookie two years ago. With his addition the Red Sox now have eight relievers who could be comfortably described as high-leverage guys, and once Tanner Houck returns to the fold next week the Red Sox will have their full pitching staff available for the first time all season.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Whitlock’s return could be a game-changer.
“Now we can balance the bullpen,” Cora said. “Usage-wise it’s been a challenge the last 10-12 days with so many close games, now adding him to the equation and using him the way we did before, multi-inning guy, is going to take care of everybody.”
For all of the bullpen’s recent struggles, the club’s top arms have consistently done their job. Kenley Jansen (3.05 ERA, 26 saves) has been lights out, and Chris Martin (1.41, 19 holds) is enjoying arguably the best season of his career at age 37. Josh Winckowski (2.86 in 63 innings) and John Schreiber (3.33) have been terrific as well, and left-hander Brennan Bernardino (2.61) has proven a diamond in the rough since being claimed off waivers in April.
Add bulk relievers Nick Pivetta (2.67 ERA since moving to bullpen), rookie lefty Chris Murphy (2.94) and now Whitlock, and suddenly the Red Sox bullpen looks to be as deep as any across all of baseball.
“We feel very comfortable with the way the bullpen is now and hopefully it works,” Cora said.
One piece of the bullpen puzzle who won’t be available anytime soon is left-hander Joely Rodriguez, who recently suffered a setback in his recovery from a hip issue and may now miss the rest of the season.
“We’re going to stay away from him for a while,” Cora said.
Cora said Rodriguez first started feeling discomfort during the San Francisco series. Initially the club thought it was a minor issue, but after spending a week building up he threw a bullpen session and felt it again. At that point the Red Sox opted to shut him down, potentially ending what has been an injury-riddled season for the lefty.
Since joining the Red Sox this past offseason as the club’s first free agent signing of the winter, Rodriguez has appeared in only 11 games for Boston while spending three different stints on the injured list. Rodriguez first suffered a strained oblique during spring training that kept him out until mid-May, and then he missed another six weeks from late-May until early-July with shoulder inflammation.
Rodriguez returned from that injury just prior to the All-Star break but was placed on the IL again with right hip inflammation. All told Rodriguez posted a 6.55 ERA in 11 innings, and Cora said he was playing catch-up all season after suffering the initial injury in spring training.
“The way he was throwing the ball we felt really good about where he was,” Cora said. “I think the velocity was going up and the separation between the fastball and changeup, you could see it and you could see it in the swings, but now we have to make sure we get him right and see where things take us.”
Sunday morning Cora laid out the Red Sox rotation for the upcoming series in Washington, saying the club will start an opener on Tuesday, James Paxton on Wednesday and Chris Sale on Thursday. Nick Pivetta will most likely see significant action out of the bullpen in Tuesday’s game, he said.
Tanner Houck (facial fracture) will make his next rehab start on Wednesday for either the Worcester Red Sox or Portland Sea Dogs, and if all goes well the club expects to activate him at some point during the upcoming road series in Houston.
Cora also said Trevor Story is expected to play Tuesday and Wednesday, have Thursday off, and then play Friday and Sunday in New York. The hope is that Story will be able to play shortstop in all four of those games.