Sometimes you have to wave the white flag.
Following the Red Sox’ run to the ALCS in 2021, each of the following seasons has been more or less the same. They’ve entered the season with low expectations, but enough talent to hover around .500 until the trade deadline. With the expanded playoff system, .500 baseball is enough to remain in contention until late summer, when real contenders start to separate from the pack. The two major holes each of those teams had that remained unaddressed were poor defense and a lack of starting pitching. As a result, Alex Cora often had to lean on his bullpen frequently. Here’s a look at the bullpen’s performance over the first two months of the season, and how they fared the rest of the way.
The previous three Red Sox teams used their bullpens at a high rate. All of those bullpens saw their performance fall off a cliff after two months of the season. Some of that may be due to players playing above their level, but there’s also a lot of wear and tear when you have to pitch back-to-back days, or four times in a week. This season, the bullpen is eighth in innings pitched, and the results haven’t always been great.
What this team has that those other teams didn’t is depth and roster flexibility. The list of starters and long relievers in the organization with contract options includes Josh Winckowski, Richard Fitts, Hunter Dobbins, Cooper Criswell, and Shane Drohan. Sean Newcomb is out of options and could be claimed off waivers if he were to be DFA’d, and Robert Stock is also on a minor league deal.
This flexibility gives Alex Cora a luxury that some teams don’t have. Alex Cora doesn’t have to chase wins. That sounds ridiculous, because the object of every game is to win. At the same time, there are 162 games in a season, and winning all of them is impossible. Sometimes, you have to give the ball to someone, tell them they’re being sent down after the game and being replaced by whoever else is available, and hope they keep it close.
On Wednesday night, Cora went to Josh Winkowski with the Red Sox trailing by four runs in the 7th inning. He allowed two runs in his first inning of work, immediately igniting the fanbase. Those two runs included two seeing-eye singles and a blooper on a changeup well below the zone. He walked a hitter and could have executed better with two strikes, but it’s not as if he was up there throwing batting practice. He pitched an inning in a baseball game, and the things that happen in baseball games happened. He proceeded to get out of the jam and pitch two more scoreless innings, knowing he was getting sent to Worcester after the game to ride buses and have a roommate on the road.
I’m not trying to convince you that Josh Winckowski is having a great season. He’s not. My point is, the long relief role is a necessary one. You have to pick your spots with your bullpen to win the games that are winnable. Garrett Whitlock can’t give you two innings every day. Aroldis Chapman and Justin Slaten can’t throw 120 effective innings in a season.
Sometimes, someone has to eat it. Long relievers are long relievers for a reason. It’s not because they’re going to give you four quality innings every outing. If they pitch great and the offense scores some runs to get back in it, then you push some chips into the table and hand the ball to those high-leverage arms. If they don’t, you let them eat it even more and move on to play tomorrow. Josh Winckowski did his job and then some last night, and for that, he deserves credit.