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Reliever’s Season Ends As Elbow Damage Proves Too Severe
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- Reliever’s Season Ends As Elbow Damage Proves Too Severe
Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
A Heavy Blow to the Bullpen
The Boston Red Sox just lost a key piece of their relief corps for the rest of the year. Right-hander Justin Slaten is done. Interim manager Chad Tracy delivered the bad news on Tuesday, confirming that Slaten will not pitch again this season. The diagnosis was grim. Doctors found "some degenerative changes in the flexor mass," a problem that leaves no room for a quick return. Tracy told reporters bluntly, "He's going to be down." This isn't a minor tweak. It is a season-ender that hits the team right when they need their bullpen most.
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Slaten last threw a pitch on August 12. He worked a scoreless inning before the elbow inflammation forced him onto the injured list just four days later. The team tried to get him back, but the flare-ups kept coming. Now, he faces a platelet-rich plasma injection to try and heal the damage. Tracy called this "the conservative course of action." The hope is that the treatment works over the next four to six weeks, but there are no guarantees. The reality is that Slaten's 2026 campaign is over at 36 appearances. His stats show a 4.60 ERA, but he had been pitching much better after the All-Star break with a 3.00 ERA in his last 21 outings.
Why This Hurts So Much
The timing makes this loss sting even more. The Red Sox have been rolling with an MLB-best 3.11 relief ERA this season. Over their final nine contests, a 1.75 relief ERA marked their arrival in Texas . Losing a guy who was trending up right before the playoffs is a massive hit. Slaten had just three walks and 22 strikeouts over 18 innings since the break. He was a guy they could count on. Now, that option is gone. Tracy admitted the team was already planning to operate without him, but the injury adds a heavy finality to the situation. "We were operating and moving forward, planning on having to operate without him; this maybe adds some finality," Tracy said.
This isn't Slaten's first rodeo on the injured list. This marks his third straight season interrupted by injury. He missed time in 2024, 2025, and now 2026. The pattern is worrying. He told the Globe back in May that these stints "never get any easier," adding that "If anything, it gets worse." The team has to hope Garrett Crochet and Tanner Houck are ready when the playoffs start. They might need every arm they have. The loss of Slaten leaves a hole that is hard to fill with the current roster.
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The medical outlook is not bright. Utility man Romy Gonzalez had a similar PRP injection in January for a shoulder issue. Honesty compelled him to tell the Herald later, "I didn't really feel too much relief, if any." Gonzalez had to undergo surgery and missed months. That story casts a long shadow over Slaten's recovery plan. If the injection doesn't work, surgery could be next. That would push Slaten into next season. For now, the Red Sox must move forward without one of their top relievers. The playoff push just got a lot harder. Tracy observed that the odds of his return are now very slim. You still held out hope, even though we were already operating that way. That hope is gone.
