Who Will Step Up for Boston Red Sox in Garrett Whitlock’s Absence?
The Boston Red Sox lost their top reliever to the injured list on Thursday.
Video Transcript
What's up everyone?
Zach Coe here for Roundtable.
Ahead of Thursday afternoon's series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Red Sox bullpen took a major hit as they placed reliever Garrett Whitlock on the fifteen-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.
Whitlock told reporters after Wednesday night's loss that the injury had been building up for a couple weeks and got to a point where it was really bothering him, but he didn't think that there was any structural damage.
Red Sox recalled Greg Weiser from Triple-A Worcester to take Whitlock's place on the active roster.
The Red Sox, of course, have the best bullpen in baseball by ERA, and the injury to Whitlock really puts pressure on three guys in particular to step up and bridge that gap between the starter and All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman.
First and foremost is Justin Slayton.
It's been a up-and-down season for Slayton.
When he's on, he is one of the most unhittable relievers in baseball.
But when he's bad, he is prone to give up several runs at a time.
The one that really jumps out to mind is that appearance in Yankee Stadium where he gave up four runs.
But he's gonna really have to put together a consistent string of great performances as the primary right-handed reliever in the back end of that bullpen.
Next is Tyron Guerrero, who of course has been a revelation for the Red Sox after having pitched in the Mexican League and the Japan League, having not appeared in Major League Baseball for six seasons.
And he, like I said, he's been a total revelation for this team.
He throws 103 mile an hour sinker, and the problem has always been control for him.
But he's been able to get that under control for the most part in twenty twenty-six.
Of course, he did have his first major blowup of the season in Wednesday night's loss to Toronto.
But the pressure's gonna be on him to flush that appearance, put it behind him, because again, if Slayton's gonna falter, it's gonna fall on Guerrero to be that top right-handed relief option in the pen.
Finally, Eric Miller.
He's been absolutely incredible for the Red Sox since they acquired him from the Giants ahead of last week's trade deadline in exchange for Marcelo Meyer.
He's allowed only one unearned run in four innings of work, and that was really the missing piece in this Red Sox bullpen.
Obviously, you have Aroldis Chapman as your high leverage lefty, but you weren't gonna use him situationally, and now Miller gives you another option, albeit he does have some control problems that the Red Sox are gonna be working through as they get him into that pitching lab.
But again, he's been the guy to go to in lefty situational spots.
So those three guys have the most to gain from Whitlock's injury.
And overall, the Red Sox still have a ton of bullpen depth, but it's still a major blow to have Whitlock go down.
