How are we feeling about the state of the Red Sox bullpen right now?

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

The Red Sox weak link just became a full-blown problem

[Randy Red Sox]

On 3/23/2025 at 6:59 PM, Larry Cook said:

So we have Chapman, Hendricks and slaten at the backend of the bullpen! 
Bernardino and Wilson as the lefties! 
Whitlock, Criswell and weissert as the multi inning guys?  
anybody else a bit nervous about this????

Chapman has been excellent so far.

[mvp 78]

Yay bullpen!

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

Red Sox need to come to Garrett Whitlock realization before bullpen crumbles

[Kimmi]

I am still feeling good about our bullpen.  It's odd that Whitlock and Slaten both had bad outings in the same back-to-back games, with Slaten also giving up the winning run in his outing prior to those two games.  Outside of the very recent past, they have both been pretty dominant this season.  

[Tedballgame]

The bullpen is the reason the Red Sox are not 3-5 games in front of the Yankees. Breslow is supposed to know pitching. He needs to start acting like it.

[moonslav59]

Chapman has surprised me. I'm not sure he can last the full season.

I think Whitlock and Slaten will bounce back, but the rest of the pen is like 10 to 15 coin flips. Deep but week to mediocre.

[Bellhorn04]

13 hours ago, Kimmi said:

I am still feeling good about our bullpen.  It's odd that Whitlock and Slaten both had bad outings in the same back-to-back games, with Slaten also giving up the winning run in his outing prior to those two games.  Outside of the very recent past, they have both been pretty dominant this season.  

Hard to say with Slaten.  This is a guy who had bad numbers in the minors, with a 5.35 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 210 innings.  Bailey might have helped him a lot in 2024, but there's only so much he can do.    

[Kimmi]

7 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Hard to say with Slaten.  This is a guy who had bad numbers in the minors, with a 5.35 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 210 innings.  Bailey might have helped him a lot in 2024, but there's only so much he can do.    

It's hard to say with Slaten.  Relief pitchers are so volatile, it's hard to say with a lot of them.  How often do we see relievers stink it up one year and be very good the next?  Or vice versa?  As of now, I feel good about Whitlock/Slaten/Chapman at the back of our BP.  Stay tuned.

[moonslav59]

I like the Chapman-Slaten-Whitlock trio, but it sure would have looked nice with Tanner Scott listed first in a group of 4 names.

[Bellhorn04]

I know these team relief pitching stats are a bit wonky, but here goes:

2024 save %

MLB avg 64%

Red Sox 56%

2025 save %

MLB avg 65%

Red Sox 50% (8/16)

 

[Kimmi]

23 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I like the Chapman-Slaten-Whitlock trio, but it sure would have looked nice with Tanner Scott listed first in a group of 4 names.

I know I'm in the minority, but I am not a fan of paying big bucks to relief pitchers.

[Kimmi]

22 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I know these team relief pitching stats are a bit wonky, but here goes:

2024 save %

MLB avg 64%

Red Sox 56%

2025 save %

MLB avg 65%

Red Sox 50% (8/16)

 

It feels like over the past two years, the Red Sox have found ways to lose games.  It's either the BP blowing a game, the starting pitching giving up 6 runs, or the offense not being able to score more than 1 run.  They just can't seem to click on all cylinders.

The BP does have to do a better job of closing out games, no doubt.

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I know I'm in the minority, but I am not a fan of paying big bucks to relief pitchers.

I don't either, but we're paying Chapman and Hendtiks, combined about the same AAV as Scott.

Scott had a cheaper AAV than Buehler, but of course the extra years are risky.

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

It feels like over the past two years, the Red Sox have found ways to lose games.  It's either the BP blowing a game, the starting pitching giving up 6 runs, or the offense not being able to score more than 1 run.  They just can't seem to click on all cylinders.

The BP does have to do a better job of closing out games, no doubt.

I'm not sure it's any better losing games in mostly one area only, although in theory, it should be easier to address and maybe fix.

I've always been a firm believer in trying to order you high need areas and prioritize fixing them first, over upgrading an already decent or good position. I count the rotation as different, since adding a top pitcher just pushes everyone else down one notch and is worth the upgrade.

We went into the winter knowing our pen was not good, even before seeing Jansen & Martin walk. I had a TOTR SP'er #1 and a closer #2. Some called Chapman a closer, but I saw him as a really good #2 and back-up closer. Had we added a top set up guy, I'd have been okay with Chapman as the closer. He's actually been good, so far.

Our defense was high up on my to fix list, and I think we made a good effort to fix it. on paper.

I was not worried about the O.

[Larry Cook]

Burdi is having a good year in Worcester!! 

[mvp 78]

12 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Burdi is having a good year in Worcester!! 

AAAA 32 year old

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

AAAA 32 year old

Likely, but many of these journeymen/tweener kind of RP'ers have up and down seasons and partial seasons. Maybe, we need to try and harness some up seasons.

There is no guarantee his AAA success, so far will translate to the bigs, and the whole trial and error process can hurt a team, if every guy we cycle through sucks, but some of the guys we have now are sucking, so what's the harm?

(I know, we might demote a guy just as he was about to have an upswing.)

[notin]

On 5/5/2025 at 5:35 PM, Kimmi said:

I am still feeling good about our bullpen.  It's odd that Whitlock and Slaten both had bad outings in the same back-to-back games, with Slaten also giving up the winning run in his outing prior to those two games.  Outside of the very recent past, they have both been pretty dominant this season.  

Slaten has been shaky.  But it’s very possible he simply isn’t as good as last year.

Whitlock is the subject of overreacting, simply because he had consecutive bad outings.

If the Sox just use Guerrero and Fitts (upon his return) and keep Whitlock, Weissert and Bernardino in their roles, the bullpen could improve. ..

[mvp 78]

I like the bullpen better when they can play bad offenses like KC. 

[moonslav59]

The pen is still one of our weaker areas.

[Bellhorn04]

Our 11 blown saves unsurprisingly leads the majors.

 

[moonslav59]

The pen was our obvious biggest weakness.

Chapman & Wilson fell woefully short of what we needed.

[mvp 78]

41 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Our 11 blown saves unsurprisingly leads the majors.

 

Kenley has been pretty bad, so at least we didn't bring that guy back too. 

[notin]

On 5/7/2025 at 9:01 PM, Larry Cook said:

Burdi is having a good year in Worcester!! 

 

On 5/8/2025 at 9:46 AM, mvp 78 said:

AAAA 32 year old

Long history of arm trouble has kept him down.   He is earning a cup of coffee right now.  But he’ll probably give himself third degree burns with it…

[notin]

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The pen was our obvious biggest weakness.

Chapman & Wilson fell woefully short of what we needed.

And yet both are doing their jobs.  And I say this as one who has been critical of the Wilson signing since seconds after it happened…

[mvp 78]

Just now, notin said:

And yet both are doing their jobs.  And I say this as one who has been critical of the Wilson signing since seconds after it happened…

He's been good so far. I think needing him for high leverage wasn't what was needed for him though. I thought he'd be good as the 6/7th inning guy, not the 8th inning guy. 🙃

[notin]

46 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He's been good so far. I think needing him for high leverage wasn't what was needed for him though. I thought he'd be good as the 6/7th inning guy, not the 8th inning guy. 🙃

At least he’s stepping up while others have stepped back.  

[Jasonbay44]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Kenley has been pretty bad, so at least we didn't bring that guy back too. 

Chapman has been an upgrade over Kenley, but the set up and middle relief has been just as bad as last season. 
 

Chapman has 0 of those 11 blown saves 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

11 minutes ago, Jasonbay44 said:

Chapman has been an upgrade over Kenley, but the set up and middle relief has been just as bad as last season. 
 

Chapman has 0 of those 11 blown saves 

Did you have to go and put the malook on him?