2024 Rotation and Bullpen
- Thread starter Rovin Romine
- Start date
Jumps out at me that most of the staff are Bloom acquisitions/development regime.
Breslow’s additions (among the contributors thus far) are:
Anderson
Campbell
Criswell
Slaten
Weissert
But Bloom didn’t bring in Bailey. That’s the big difference.
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Thanks!
If anyone wants to do a stats update on the MiL arms which have a realistic chance of contributing this year, that'd be great. I'll fold it into the running roster-tracking post.
For that, I (personally) usually tend to consider recent performance in the high minors most heavily, keeping in mind that Bailey is very pro-strike/anti-walk. (At this point in the year we're pretty much all recent performance, but a mid-summer option will probably not have their April stats held against them.)
Pretty incredible table from that athletic story:
Top 10 pitching staffs by ERA
[TH]TEAM[/TH] [TH]STAFF ERA[/TH] [TH]1ST ROUND PICKS[/TH] [TH]TOP 5 ROUNDS[/TH] [TH]TOP 10 ROUNDS[/TH] [TH]15TH ROUND AND LATER[/TH] Red Sox
2.61 1 4 5 9 Mariners
2.98 4 8 9 4 Yankees
2.99 4 7 9 5 Tigers
3.24 8 8 10 1 Orioles
3.31 2 7 7 3 Dodgers
3.35 3 11 13 4 Royals
3.35 5 10 12 3 Phillies
3.36 5 8 9 1 Guardians
3.41 2 8 11 4 Pirates
3.64 2 7 8 4
I also asked in the mL forums but can't find anything- what the hell is up with Mata? Wasn't he expected to start in AAA at the end of last week?
I think that's right, but I don't recall where I read it. He posted on Twitter that he was healthy and ready to go at some point. But I don't know if that meant he was cleared for throwing or ready to start a rehab or what.
Still, quite happy with the current listing in the tracking post:
Minor updates and Pivetta returns!
Starting Rotation:
Bullpen:
- Bold is the opening day roster.
- Red indicates no longer on the active 13 (and why.)
- Callups are indented under the player going on the IL (roughly). They may not have the exact same role, but may correlate with who might be sent down.
- N40 is for a viable pitcher not on the 40 man. Not meant to be comprehensive. (Please suggest the most likely hot hand.)
Starting Rotation:
1 Brayan Bello. 15 Day IL (lat tightness, 4/21). Expected back - 5/12 or so.
Naoyuki Uwasawa. Called up 4/28, optioned 5/8.
2 Nick Pivetta (elbow, IL 4/6-5/8)
Cooper Criswell. Called up 4/13.
3 Kutter Crawford
4 Tanner Houck
5 Garret Whitlock. 15 Day IL (oblique, 4/17). Throwing but not in rehab. ETA Mid-May.
Joe Jacques (LHP). Called up 4/17. DFA 4/19.
Cam Booser (LHP). Called up 4/19.
Starting Depth: Winckowski, Anderson, Uwasawa, Dick Fitts? (N40 AAA).
SP Notes: So far at AAA, nobody among the Gambrel/Alexander/Fitts/Van Belle rotation really stands out. That said, of them all, Fitts has had the greatest number of good starts this year. But that could change with a handful of starts.
Bullpen:
1 Kenley Jansen
2 Chris Martin
3 Josh Winckowski
4 Chase Anderson
5 Justin Slaten
6 Isaiah Campbell. 15 Day IL (shoulder 4/12). Good reports, but not yet in rehab.
Brennan Bernardino (LHP). Called up 4/9.
7 Greg Weissert
8 Joely Rodriguez (LHP) DFA 4/28.
Zack Kelly. Called up 4/24
Bullpen Notes: 40 man depth thin at the moment, but some promising arms are in AAA.
Minors - 40 man:
Naoyuki Uwasawa. AAA.
Bailey Horn (LHP). AAA.
Wikelman Gonzalez (AA). Starting prospect. No realistic call-up chance.
Luis Perales (A). Starting prospect. No realistic call-up chance.
Brandon Walter. Injured but is not on an injury list.
Minors - other: (mostly high minors and therefore possibly relevant to this year)
Jorge Benetiz (LHP) AAA. A 2 inning reliever in his first AAA season. Lights out with one blip outing so far.
Luis Guerrero. Power RHP. Being stretched out from 1 to 2 innings in AAA.
Brendan Cellucci (LHP). A 3 inning reliever promoted from AA to AAA 4/27.
Robert Kwiatkowski. Another recent AA to AAA promotion. Another multi-inning arm. SSS, but looks good.
Vladimir Gutierrez. Acquired 4/18. Former starter pre-TJS in 2020. Control issues.
Joely Rodriguez (LHP) AAA.
Also on the 40 man are:
Lucas Giolito: 60-day IL TJ surgery
Chris Murphy (LHP): 60-day IL, likely TJ
Liam Hendricks: 60-day IL, recovering TJ, maybe available post-trade-deadline.
Bryan Mata: IL forever and ever and ever.
Brandon Walter injured but is not on an injury list (possible service time reasons).
Notes/Transactions:
Slaten is a Rule 5 claim for this year.
Joe Jacques was DFA'd to call up Booser and claimed by Arizona. May he forever be an embedded Red Sox.
Joely Rodriguez was DFA'd on April 28th. Cleared on 5/1 and outrighted to AAA.
Vladimir Gutierrez was acquired from the Brewers for cash on 4/18. AAA. DFA'd on 5/1 for Dominic Smith. Outrighted 5/6. Former starter pre-TJS in 2020. Control issues.
Sal Romano was signed as a FA on 4/26. Age 30. RHP, ML exp. Reclamation project.
Bailey Horn was acquired from the CWS (DFAd) for cash on 4/30. Outrighted to AAA. Age 26. MiL LH relief pitcher.
Naoyuki Uwasawa. Called up 4/28, optioned 5/8 for Pivetta.
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Looks like Bello should be back to make his next start…..?
So assuming no injuries the rotation will be Crawford, Pivetta, Houck, Bello and Criswell. Very solid.
Haven’t heard anything back on Whitlock for a few days but probably a month. If Criswell is still pitching… well…. I really hope Whitlock is in the pen.
So assuming no injuries the rotation will be Crawford, Pivetta, Houck, Bello and Criswell. Very solid.
Haven’t heard anything back on Whitlock for a few days but probably a month. If Criswell is still pitching… well…. I really hope Whitlock is in the pen.
I wonder where Criswell goes when Whitlock returns. My hope is that he stays in Boston for a bit. After tomorrow the Sox only have one more day off the rest of the month, and it would be nice especially for Houck and Crawford to get in a bit of extra rest. I can see a six man rotation being a good idea for a few weeks.
There's certainly going to be a need to transition players into different roles. I don't think this pen works with 5 nominal starters and 3 dedicated long men - Criswell, Anderson, Winckowski. I expect they'll transition Whitlock back into the rotation, but there's no reason that absolutely must happen.
Pivetta, Bello, Houck, Crawford, OTOH - those four spots are pretty much locked in at this point. If any of those guys go on the IL they will always get a chance to return to the rotation.
That's somewhat surprising. It's not outlandish, but he's not at the bottom of the talent totem-pole. So it's either resource-conservation driven (keep, say, Anderson, and option Winck.) And/or his ankle is bothering him.
But if they keep him stretched out as a starter, what's the next move? Wait till there's an issue with Bello/Houck/Pivetta/Crawford/Whitlock/Criswell? Or get him fully stretched out and swap him with Criswell?
I'm guessing it would be both. I'm curious with this long stretch of games coming up if there is any thought of swapping Criswell and Winck once or twice to in effect have a quasi 6 man rotation working where the other four would get the benefit of an extra day in between starts like they might if the team actually had a scheduled day off.
