ATLANTA — In the coming weeks, the Red Sox will have some decisions to make when it comes to their starting rotation.
The next turn through is certain, with ace Garrett Crochet starting Sunday, the trio of Richard Fitts, Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito starting against the Angels and Walker Buehler likely getting the series opener in the Bronx next Friday. After that, though due to the status of Hunter Dobbins and the progress of injured righties Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck, there will be calls to make.
For now, Dobbins — who has a 4.21 ERA in 7 starts — is in the bullpen as the long man and is expected to piggyback Fitts, who is still not all the way built up in his return from the injured list, Monday night against the Angels. After that outing, Cora said, a decision will likely be made in an effort to keep both rookies stretched out as rotation options.
“We’ll have Dobbins, probably, piggybacking there,” Cora said. “Then, after that, we have to make decisions based on matchups, off days and all that stuff.”
In the coming weeks, both Crawford (who has missed the season with a lingering knee injury) and Houck (out since May 13 with a right flexor pronator strain after posting an 8.04 ERA in 9 starts) could both get close to returning. Crawford, in Fort Myers, threw a four-inning live batting practice session Saturday and is slated to begin a multi-start rehab assignment next week. Houck, whose IL stint appeared more mental than physical at first, is feeling better and is long tossing. His return to bullpen sessions could come soon.
“Over the last few days, he has maybe turned the corner,” said chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. “He’s a really important part of this team. We saw what he’s capable of doing, especially in the first half last year. We need to get him back on track. I think he’s a potential solution to some of the inconsistency in the rotation.
Crochet will continue to be the anchor and Buehler, despite a poor outing Saturday against the Braves, has largely pitched well enough to keep a spot in the middle of the group. But the Red Sox, if still scuffling, will have to decide the best starting five to carry them through the middle part of the season. If, say, Fitts and Dobbins are pitching better than Bello (6.11 ERA in last 4 starts) or Giolito (4.78 ERA in 6 starts), there will be a case to be made for some difficult calls. Behind Crochet, the Red Sox have yet to find much consistency in their starting five, in part because they have used eight different starters through 60 games. Their 4.21 rotation ERA ranks 21st in all of baseball.
“We expected starting pitching to be a strength and there’s still time for it to emerge as a strength, but we need to get some guys on track,” Breslow said. “We’ve seen inconsistency from Bello and Tanner, and Garrett has been consistently excellent. But it’s not fair to count on him every five days as the guy that’s going to end a losing streak. We’ve got four other games we need to deal with in between those starts.”
