Red Sox Video
Last week, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow met with the media over Zoom to discuss the remaining items on the team's offseason to-do list. During the call, he mentioned that both Lucas Giolito and Garrett Whitlock should be available to pitch for most or all of the season, with Whitlock pitching out of the bullpen in a "leverage bulk role." This is undoubtedly good news, but both pitchers are coming off lost seasons and will need to work back up to full strength before they can be considered integral parts of the pitching staff. What can we expect their roles to be this season?
Lucas Giolito
The Red Sox signed Giolito before the 2024 season hoping that he could help anchor what was then a relatively young starting rotation. He never made it out of spring training, as an elbow injury required an internal brace procedure that kept him on the IL for the entire season. Still, Giolito spent time around the team and lent a veteran ear to those around him. Coming into 2025, Giolito himself says he is on track to have a full spring training and to go into the season ready to take on a starter’s full workload. Giolito struggled mightily in 2022 and 2023, combining for a 4.89 ERA and 4.70 FIP. However, from 2019 to 2021, those numbers were 3.47 and 3.54. It's unreasonable to ask Giolito to come back as the very best version of himself, but if he can bounce back to something approximating his old form, that would be a big win for the Red Sox. Even as he struggled over his past two seasons, he ran encouraging whiff and strikeout rates. We don’t know how his elbow will respond to a starter’s workload, and the team will try to manage his innings. Giolito should be one of many beneficiaries of the rumored six-man rotation, even though he has said he prefers preparing under the standard five-rotation schedule. Look for Giolito to slot in as a back-end starter for the Red Sox this season. If he fails to reach 140 innings in 2024, Giolito's contract gives the Red Sox a team option for 2026. He'll have a lot to pitch for this season..
Garrett Whitlock
What exactly is a "bulk leverage reliever?" On paper, it makes some sense for Whitlock. He has starting experience and should be used to throwing multiple innings, even out of the bullpen. In my opinion, though, that’s a waste of Whitlock's ability. He has proven to be a dominant reliever in the recent past. Whitlock has a career 4.29 ERA as a starter, compared to 2.65 as a reliever. Giving him a full offseason to work with Andrew Bailey and letting him prepare to be a reliever is the best way forward for the Red Sox here. Whitlock only has nine saves in his career, but he very easily could be the first person to take the mound in the ninth inning once the coaching staff decides that Liam Hendriks is not the closer they had once hoped he would be. Whitlock isn’t a flame-throwing, strikeout pitcher (though his career strikeout rate jumps from 22% as a starter to 28% as a reliever). He tends to pitch to contact, and with a renewed focus on infield defense and a healthy Trevor Story, that should be a more successful strategy in 2025. That should allow Whitlock to feel comfortable stepping to the mound with the game on the line in the ninth inning, and barring another injury, that’s the exact position the Red Sox should hope for him to be in at some point during the 2025 season.
It's not particularly comforting that the Red Sox are relying on so many pitchers with Tommy John surgeries or internal brace procedures in their recent past. All the same, Giolito and Whitlock have had enough success in recent memory that they're good bets to contribute as the team attempts to return to contention.
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now