Red Sox Bullpen a Key Reason for Recent Success
The greatest photo of the Red Sox bullpen ever
Bullpens are probably the most volatile part of any baseball team. Your pen can have a great year, come back with exactly the same squad, and stink it up the next year. I suppose it's due to the nature of a bullpen. Relievers are mostly failed starters. There are a few elite relievers which are usually 8th or 9th inning guys, and the rest are part of the dreaded "middle relief." These are the worst pitchers on your team and usually cause the most problems.
This year the Red Sox signed a reliever that most of the league thought was way past his prime. Once an elite closer, Aroldis Chapman had faded in recent years and was relegated to a setup role. His resurgence as a closer has been nothing short of spectacular. The Red Sox had tried for years to make Garrett Whitlock a starter which led to many injuries. This year they started him out as a multi-inning middle reliever, but once they gave him the 8th inning, he began to shine. Justin Wilson was a journeyman reliever that didn't really stand out as elite. He has embraced his role as a back-end reliever and has performed well in his 7th inning role.
The goal of a bullpen is to shorten the game. If you can lock down the 7th thru 9th innings, you can take over from a quality start and hold the lead. We have Tony La Russa to thank for the modern bullpen, defining the late inning setup and closer roles. He created one of the greatest closers ever in Dennis Eckersley. Eck took what was a good starting career and turned it into a Hall of Fame closing career.
The Red Sox bullpen ERA currently stands at 3.28, second only to the Padres in MLB. They are 6th in saves with 33 and 5th in WHIP with 1.24. They are only 16th in the league in K/9 (8.5) even though Chapman has a 13.2 K/9 this year. The 15 games since the All Star break have been outstanding for the bullpen with a 2.15 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, including zero earned runs in the Houston series. This stretch is what vaulted them into second place in the majors.
Earlier in the year, they had a middle relief problem. This was mainly caused by starters not going at least 5 innings which resulted in high inning counts. Garrett Whitlock has pitched 52.1 innings, and Greg Weissert has pitched 47 innings this year. This may be a concern going forward. Whitlock needs to be slotted into the 8th inning with a clean inning whenever possible to limit his workload.
The Red Sox should also get Justin Slaten back before the end of the season. He was having a very good season before getting hurt and could also be slotted into the late innings if he regains his form. The problem is there are a few relievers that cannot really be trusted yet. Jordan Hicks and Jorge Alcala have been shaky this year with limited innings. Steven Matz is a new acquisition, and we haven't seen much of him yet. The good news is if your starter gives you 6 solid innings you probably won't have to see the middle relievers that much.
A great bullpen is a key element for making a deep playoff run. We see it all the time, including the four great bullpens the Red Sox had during their championship seasons. Keith Foulke, Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Koji Uehara, Brandon Workman, Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly, and yes, Craig Breslow were all big reasons the Red Sox won four World Championships. I expect the 2025 squad to continue their stellar play for the rest of the year and into the playoff.