Hugh2

I don't know, but I still won't be surprised if they stretch him out. Not that I think it will happen but I kind of want it to now.

If Heineman or Zavala are the second catcher and we let Jansen walk Breslow should be fired and sued for malpractice.

I almost see Whitlock as two different injury prone pitchers. There's the elbow issues. There's all his other issues. If it was only elbow issues, the case to returning him to the rotation is stronger. He may or may not be over the injury bug, but his chances (minus the elbow) is stronger in the pen. But again, I won't be surprised IF the Sox stretch him out in spring training. I guess we shall see.

He's missed more time with two elbow surgeries than anything else. The biggest risk to his long term health is his elbow. Which very well may be fine.....or not.

Look again, I'm not disagreeing the pen is probably his most optimal location. But the vast majority of his missed time, including a TJ you left out has been because of his ELBOW. We can all agree that he should move to the pen, but sadly it won't reduce future risk of more elbow problems. Now his hip, and obliques and shoulders may thank him for it.

That's exactly how I see his role. The Kut man is the 6th guy, probably still ends up with 15-20 starts this season and is plus out the pen. I'm fine that, I think he is fine in that role too.

If everyone is healthy to start the season and your 5 is Crochet/Houck/Buehler/Bello/Giolito I wonder if Crawford is put into that swing man role, and Criswell is the first guy up to replace Crawford if (when) he moves into the rotation.

I think people should be mentally prepared for that.

I'm 100% for Whitlock in the pen, and it's probably much more likely that's where he returns. But his body not allowing it just isn't that great of an argument. (or at least if we are worried about his elbow that is). While starting pitchers do get hurt with more frequency than relief pitchers, there's zero more risk of injury to the elbow starting rather than relief pitching. Or I suppose another way to put it, moving to the pen does not reduce the risk of injury to Whitlocks elbow one bit. But perhaps his elbow is now fine, and the pen role helps him stave off other injuries. Again, I'll reiterate I'm fine with Whitlock in the pen, it very well may be where he is best suited and I see it as likely. I just wouldn't be completely surprised if he comes to spring training and they're stretching him out as a starter.

There's a very big difference between calling a guy up to spot start, and then putting a guy into the rotation because you expect someone to be out for 1/2 the year. The majority of those guys after your 1-5 are of the spot start variety. If someone goes down for a prolong period of time, things change. Maybe that guy is Cooper Criswell right now IDK, all I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised if Whitlock is in the starting rotation conversation. Doesn't mean I don't think he will be or should be in the pen, but he looked really good there briefly last year and if he's healthy in May and a starter goes down then (assuming they are stretching him out in April) Whitlock might get the nod before a guy like Winc does.

Right now on paper, it certainly looks like Whitlock is going to the pen. But lets say that Giolito has a setback into the summer and another starter goes down. We are left with 4 of (Crochet/Bello/Crawford/Houck/Buehler) and sure it could be Criswell but it was only him last year when Whitlock wasn't there.

I figure he probably goes to the pen, but we shouldn't fully rule Whitlock out as a starter, especially if by the end of April we have some under performance or we lose a guy or two to injury.

Sure things? in todays game anything but. For all we know the "sure thing" is ticking time bomb with the mileage piling up.

I think more than one would be needed. Lackey also had surgery in the 2011 offseason and missed all of 2012. He had about 1/2 more to recover. Of course, TJ takes longer to recover as well. It might make sense to compare guys who have had the internal brace surgery, but in general guys pitch less innings and are restricted their first years back. I'm sure there are case by case basis where people deviate away from the mean.

Perhaps, we certainly shouldn't complain if we get one really good year out of him.

Admittedly I do not know much between the two surgery other than internal brace has a quicker recovery time. But I do know with TJ pitchers workloads are typically reduced their first year back. Stricter pitch counts, total innings, pitchers per inning etc.

Not really, it's his first year back from surgery, guys typically don't ramp right back up to the same workload their first years back.

That's if he pitches over 140 innings, given that he's coming back from injury I think it's more likely the team option is picked up than the mutual. Mutual options are almost never exercised.

Ok, so past injury and rehabbing aren't exactly the same thing. Also, I wonder what percentage of MLB pitchers today have had some kind of past procedure, and I'd love to see that stat compared to 20/40/60 years ago. I'd also like to take a list of all MLB players 28 and over who have never had an injury and see how many get injured in 2025. It sucks, and obviously you can't dismiss it, but the reality is if you're signing a MLB pitcher in todays game that odds that they have had or will have some kind of surgery is as high as it's ever been. There's no such thing as safe pitching.

I find the Giolito contract fascinating. If he doesn't throw over 140 innings the Sox retain a $14 million dollar player option. It's perfectly plausible that he pitches well enough for that contract but it being his first full season back his innings are limited.

ADD: Has there been any indication of where Giolito is at for opening day? I'd have to imagine he'd be working out at full strength NOW if that was going to happen.

I'm curious as to who you the 1/2 is? The Sandoval signing is a play for 2026, it seems everyone who is expected to be part of the 2025 team as of right now will be there come spring time. Whitlock?

Can we please not solicit a curse back into existence. I don't plan on living 80 years longer.

If Sasaki was about going to the highest bidder, he likely would have waited an offseason. He's going to command the highest bonus this IFA class and that's for certain. But if he wanted to come to Boston, or was sold on coming to Boston. The bonus is probably around $4-$4.5 million; a team like Boston could trade for bonus pool space to keep in the rest of their commitments. Shohei Ohtani didn't eat up all of the Angels pool space; he signed for a little over $2 million. So I'm throwing my hat in the ring and projecting a bonus of $4.25 million for Sasaki.

There's also the risk of paying a guy over $200 million and he gets hurt. Certainly Chris Sale on your roster injured under contract hamstrings the team a lot more than the guy you signed for one year. I'm also not overly concerned with the stats a guy puts up a year he is injured or working his way back from injury, it certainly takes more than a year to return to normal for many players. Les not forget that these moves are not uncommon for even the NY Mets or the Dodgers, we've just grown accustomed to Boston doing so without swimming in the deep end. They didn't get Buehler and Sandoval, they got Buehler, Sandoval, and Crochet. To me that high end ace talent changes how Buehler looks in the rotation. The cost is $21 million, the upside is a guy who is well worth it and nets you a draft pick. A good coaching and scouting department should be able to identify the guys who they can work with who are more likely to return to a peak performance or something close to it. Sox haven't been that great in that department in recent years but I will give Breslow and friends their chance. I also don't think they're done, we have almost 2 months left until pitchers and catchers report.