DALLAS – The Red Sox bullpen, like most other areas of the roster, is still far from being fully figured out. And while Boston doesn’t know exactly what its tight end lineup will look like on Opening Day, it sure looks like Garrett Whitlock will be a part of it.
Speaking on Day 1 of the winter meetings on Monday, both head baseball manager Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora hinted that Whitlock, who underwent internal arm surgery on his pitching elbow in late May after starting the season in the rotation, he’ll likely be used as a multi-inning reliever in 2025. That decision isn’t final and will likely depend on how the rest of the pitching staff looks. Opening day But the Red Sox appear to be confident Whitlock will return in the back of a bullpen that will include Liam Hendriks, Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman has recently signed as input end options.
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“The conversations now aren’t about developing him or ‘Is he a starter or a reliever?'” Cora said. “We’ll use him as we see it, and he was a very successful reliever in ’21. He’s been a good starter for us.
“Obviously injuries have been part of his path, but I think, to be honest with you, we’re going to use him the right way and the right way is going to be like high-leverage innings. Whether it’s early or late, we don’t know yet.”
Whitlock has a 2.65 ERA and 10.2 K/9 rate in 132 ⅔ innings as a reliever and a 4.29 ERA and 8.4 K/9 rate in 109 starts. After coming on as a dominant multi-inning reliever as a rookie in 2021, he has made starts for the Red Sox the last three years in a row, but has been limited to just 168 ⅓ innings due to injuries in that span . Boston has long wanted Whitlock to become a rotation force, but that hasn’t happened due to his recurring injury issues. At this point, keeping him in the bullpen probably makes more sense. The Sox are expected to make a major addition or two to a rotation group that includes Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and depth options Richard Fitts, Quinn Priester and Cooper Criswell.
Whitlock probably won’t be Cora’s closer despite having nine career saves. Chapman probably won’t either, though Breslow couldn’t confirm that because his one-year, $10.75 million deal isn’t official nearly a week after it was agreed upon. Hendriks, who has 116 career saves, is an obvious candidate, but he arrives with uncertainty after missing all of 2024 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Slaten, who impressed with a 2.93 ERA in 55 ⅓ innings as a rookie, is thought to have the makeup and pitching mix to close, but has little experience doing so in the majors. Without Kenley Jansen in the mix, the Sox will likely enter 2025 with some uncertainty in the ninth.
“I think right now it’s too early to talk about the ninth inning, to be honest with you,” Cora said. “The offseason is halfway through, and there are many ways to improve the team. So let’s see where we are when we get to Fort Myers. Let’s see where we are after the Mexico series and when we get to Texas. Let’s hope someone shuts this game down and we win it. We have to wait.”
“If we were talking about a Rule 5 pick that could close games in a year, I think we’d all look at each other funny. There’s plenty of time for someone to emerge,” Breslow added. “There’s plenty of time to make an addition that would make sense. We’re fortunate to have Liam, who should be fully healthy and has a pretty impressive record of closing games.”
Breslow hasn’t ruled out more relief additions. The quintet of Hendriks, Slaten, Whitlock, Chapman and newcomer Justin Wilson project as locks, and there are plenty of other options on both the 40-man roster (Brennan Bernardino, Cam Booser, Luis Guerrero, Zack Kelly, Zach Penrod, Greg Weissert). and Josh Winckowski) and outside (Bryan Mata, Isaiah Campbell and Michael Fulmer).
“I think we’re still going to look to add to the bullpen mix,” Breslow said. “That could come in the form of leverage relief. It could have more multi-inning depth. Fortunately, in December we don’t have to make that decision.
“We all recognize the need for the ability to recognize more swings and fouls coming out of our ‘pen.’ We didn’t have speed and premium material. We’ve been very open to trying to introduce that.”