For most of the year, the Red Sox looked like they had pitching to spare. Ranger Suarez settled in fast in Boston, Sonny Gray turned in one of the best seasons of his career, Payton Tolle kept building on last year’s success, Jake Bennett put together a strong rookie campaign, and the bullpen backed them up.
That picture has changed in a hurry as the innings have piled up. Suarez has a 5.01 ERA and 1.45 WHIP over his last seven outings, with that stretch coming before his September 4 start in Baltimore.
Gray had his scheduled start against the Seattle Mariners pushed back to give him extra rest. Bennett flashed against the New York Yankees, but otherwise slowed down in August with a 4.50 ERA.
Even Brayan Bello has started to lose his touch out of the bullpen, allowing at least one run in each of his last five outings and in four straight.
The depth issue showed up in a big way when Boston had to turn to Triple-A reliever Jedixson Paez to start against the Seattle Mariners. That move went sideways quickly, with Paez getting tagged for eight runs on 10 hits over 3.2 innings.
It’s a sharp reversal for a club that entered the season with more arms than it seemed to need. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made several trades from that surplus, leaning on Boston’s pitching depth to improve elsewhere. Now the Red Sox could use those extra pitchers back, even if it’s just for innings.
Some of those moves haven’t hurt them yet. Trading Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for Curtis Mead hasn’t come back around because both players are still on the injured list.
Tyler Uberstine, who has a 2.81 ERA over 32 innings with the WooSox, might have been a better option to start than Paez, but Breslow sent him to the Atlanta Braves for Eli White. Hunter Dobbins has posted a 3.67 ERA with the St.
Louis Cardinals this season, though he has also spent a significant chunk of time on the IL.
There’s also the injury side of the ledger, and that’s where Boston’s depth really got stripped down. Garrett Crochet was supposed to be a mainstay in the rotation, Kutter Crawford was expected to be back by now, and Johan Oviedo has been out since March 31. Breslow couldn’t have predicted those setbacks, but all three were injured at the trade deadline, when Boston still had a chance to add a rental starter.
The deals Breslow made from his pitching stockpile have helped the Red Sox in other ways. Gray and Willson Contreras have been two of the team’s best players this season.
But the bigger picture is hard to miss: Boston went from having a surplus of arms to scrambling for Triple-A help to start games in the middle of a playoff race. That’s a problem, especially with the rotation already changing shape.
In Other News...
Red Sox Trade Just Took A Painful Turn For One Young Pitcher
Hunter Dobbins move out of Boston was already one of those trades that invited a long view, with the right-hander sitting on the edge of what looked like a possible 2027 rotation job for St. Louis. Instead, the latest turn has pushed the timeline back sharply. Dobbins underwent elbow surgery to address a ligament issue in the same arm that once required Tommy John surgery in 2021, a reminder of just how fragile the path can be for young pitchers trying to establish themselves.
The Cardinals were banking on Dobbins as a pitcher whose development could line up with their plans a couple of years down the road, but that projection now comes with a major caveat. He is expected to miss about a year, which likely leaves much of the 2027 season in question and adds another painful layer to a trade that was supposed to be about upside and future stability. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Durbins Bat Is Suddenly A Real Red Sox Concern
Caleb Durbins surge from mid-June into early August lined up neatly with the Red Soxs own climb in the standings, and for a while it felt like his bat had become a quiet but important part of the teams momentum. Even when the offense around him started to wobble, Durbin still found ways to help, staying valuable with his glove and by working walks while Boston kept leaning on him as a steady presence.
Lately, though, the bat has gone cold, and the timing has not been ideal for a club trying to steady itself again. The Red Soxs recent struggles have mirrored Durbins offensive downturn, which is a reminder of how much his production matters to this group, even when he is still contributing in other ways. [Read more 🡒]
Mickey Gasper Is Giving Red Sox Fans A Breakout Nobody Saw Coming
Since being recalled on Aug. 17, Mickey Gasper has gone from useful depth piece to one of the most surprising bats in the Red Sox lineup. The utility player has ripped through a short stretch of games with a .378/.525/1.000 slash line and eight home runs in 16 games, production that has forced a quick recalibration of what Boston thought it had on hand when the season moved into its late stages.
Interim manager Chad Tracy went so far as to call Gasper the best pure hitter he has managed in the Red Sox system, high praise for a player who arrived with a much quieter reputation. The numbers have gotten loud enough that Gasper now carries a higher WAR than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., even though Guerrero has played in far more games this season, which only adds to the strange, fast-rising profile of a player Red Sox fans are suddenly trying to figure out in real time. [Read more 🡒]