The Red Sox have spent the better part of three seasons experimenting with Garrett Whitlock.
It’s been a disaster.
Whitlock was one of the best relievers in baseball during his rookie season, but that success led him down a difficult path in which he was constantly moved between the starting rotation and the bullpen. Boston wanted to capitalize on the fact that he had some of the best stuff in the entire organization, which would have been a decent idea if hip, elbow and oblique injuries didn’t limit him to 23 starts and 57 total appearances over the last three seasons.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora both spoke during the first day of MLB’s Winter Meetings on Monday and essentially confirmed what fans have been waiting to hear.
Whitlock is headed back to a familiar role.
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“The conversations now are not about developing him or ‘Is he a starter or reliever?’ We’ll use him the way we see it, and he was a very successful reliever in ’21,” Cora said, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “He’s been an OK starter for us. Obviously, injuries have been part of his path, but I think, to be honest with you, we’ll use him the right way, and the right way will be kind of like high-leverage innings. If it’s early or late, we don’t know yet.”
Boston likely will wait to make a final determination until it can make upgrades to the rotation, but there’s no doubt Whitlock joining Liam Hendriks, Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman as high-leverage arms would be best for the bullpen.
Whitlock could also be used as an opener, pitching two to three solid innings before giving way to younger arms like Richard Fitts, Hunter Dobbins, Quinn Priester and/or Josh Winckowski to eat up the middle innings — a strategy that was used successfully last season.
The Red Sox have built a stable of high-leverage arms, and though it’s unclear exactly where Whitlock will be used, it’s probably best knowing that he’ll be back serving in a role that he found so much success in a few years back.
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