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Red Sox loss of Garrett Crochet is latest wrong turn for team trying to get back on track | Sean McAdam
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- Red Sox loss of Garrett Crochet is latest wrong turn for team trying to get back on track | Sean McAdam
Just what the Red Sox needed.
In a week in which their manager and most of the coaching staff was summarily dismissed in a sweeping bit of upheaval, the Red Sox revealed that Garrett Crochet was being placed on the IL with left shoulder inflammation.
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What’s next? Locusts? Festering boils?
Crochet is only the most indispensable member of this roster. He may only pitch once every five days, but no player has a more outsized impact on their success than the staff ace. He can stop losing streaks and extend winning streaks.
But his value goes beyond that. When Crochet takes the mound, he instills confidence throughout the clubhouse. He’s not just a No. 1 starter; he’s also a security blanket.
And now, with the news Wednesday, he’s sidelined. Speaking to reporters in Toronto , Crochet maintained that this was merely a minor setback , that he didn’t expect to miss much time, and that he was already experiencing some improvement.
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That may well all be true, but for the time being, the words mean little. Until Crochet returns, sound and healthy, there’s reason for concern. Need a reminder of how unreliable injury recovery times can be? When reliever Justin Slaten went on the injured list on April 8 , he and the team projected he would be available to pitch as soon as his IL time was up. But that was three weeks ago and Slaten is still weeks, it seems, from joining the team.
Here it is, not yet May, and the Red Sox’ rotation is already teetering. Crochet joins Gray on the IL. Brayan Bello’s job may well be on the line when he pitches the road trip finale Wednesday afternoon , thanks to an ERA of 9.00 and a WHIP of 2.273. Bello has pitched into the fifth inning exactly twice in his first five outings and gotten past the fifth just once. With more attractive options available, he might already be out of the rotation.
As it is, Connelly Early , who had four major league starts to his credit before this season began, has been the team’s most consistent starter. Payton Tolle has made two starts: one great, one mediocre. Like Early, he’s not yet a finished product. Ranger Suárez looks to have gotten back on track following an outstanding effort (eight shutout innings, one hit allowed) the other night in Toronto; then again, that’s what it looked like when Suárez put together two scoreless starts before being shelled by the Yankees. So, who knows?
It doesn’t help matters that Johan Oviedo is still shut down from throwing, Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval aren’t close to returning after suffering setbacks and even depth starter Tyler Uberstine is on the injured list at Triple-A. With all of that considered, it appears lefty Jake Bennett — with just five Triple-A starts under his belt — will replace Crochet on Friday night .
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What we do know is this: for a team focused on run prevention, anything that disrupts the starting rotation is potentially ominous. Even as they’ve shown signs of life offensively in recent days, the Red Sox are not about to out-slug teams. They need each member of the rotation to provide innings to give them a chance to win. Need additional evidence of that? When their starting pitcher fails to give them at least six innings, the 2026 Red Sox are a woeful 1-17.
We’ve already seen what happens when Crochet isn’t pitching to his capability. Back-to-back poor starts from their ace threw the Sox into panic, which helped make last Saturday’s start in Baltimore so critical.
Fortunately, Crochet looked like himself during that start, hours before the axe fell on Cora and six of his coaches. But the feel-good nature of Crochet’s rebound outing lasted just four days.
On one hand, if Crochet could look as good as did the last time he took the ball in anger, it helps corroborate his remarks Wednesday in Toronto — that this isn’t anything serious and he’ll be back, healthy, in the near future. His velocity was back to where it should be, and so was his ability to execute. Maybe, just maybe, this is indeed only a minor setback.
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But the proof will ultimately be found in his actions, not his words.
If nothing else, this could not have come at a worse time when it comes to the team’s psyche. The Red Sox look like they just survived a bad car accident — physically unharmed, but mentally shaken, their confidence shattered.
They are still getting acquainted with a rookie manager in his first few days on the job. They’re being introduced daily to new members of the hastily-assembled remade coaching staff .
What they need is a bit of stability, a sense that the worst is over and behind them.
Instead, what they got Wednesday was yet another shakeup, another blow to the equilibrium they so desperately need.
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Maybe this will not amount to much. Perhaps it’s just a short-term detour that delays their ability to course correct.
But these are the 2026 Red Sox, for whom very little has gone right, and skepticism seems like the only sensible stance to take.
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