How many Red Sox relief pitchers would be selected for high-leverage work in the Padres bullpen?
Aroldis Chapman is a given thanks to his 2025 renaissance. He’s been superb. Any success Boston enjoys into October and beyond is likely to include a healthy contribution from the veteran left-hander.
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In addition to him? It’s a worthwhile question after San Diego took two of three games in a weekend series at Petco Park. Robert Suarez’s blown save on Saturday night was eventually salvaged by Jason Adam, and the Padres finished things off with another victory on Sunday.
The Red Sox bullpen entered the Aug. 13 series finale in Houston ranked 21st in walks per nine innings and 23rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio, two worrying signs for a team with designs on returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Limiting base runners and missing bats have always been two October keys, and never more so than in this current power era on the mound and at the plate. Boston pivoted to starters like Nathan Eovaldi, David Price and Chris Sale for some extra muscle during its most recent World Series run in 2018.
Suarez, Adam, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada — they’re disgusting. The Padres weren’t content to settle with that group and at the deadline added Mason Miller, the high-octane right-hander from the Athletics with multiple years of team control remaining. San Diego won’t need much more than 15 outs from its starters in the playoffs before turning things over to a dominant collection of stoppers.
How might the Red Sox bullpen take shape when the games matter the most? Chapman is at the back end, of course, and Garrett Whitlock is a solid second option thanks to his command and elevated strikeout numbers. It gets considerably murkier from there.
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Justin Wilson is sliding a bit after a quick start — his WHIP is up to 1.36, and that’s mostly due to 35 hits allowed in just 36 innings. Greg Weissert has just 38 strikeouts in 50 innings, and most teams aren’t comfortable with allowing that much contact in pressure spots. Justin Slaten is a hope at this point, on the injured list for more than two months and with just 68 career appearances to his name.
The most uncomfortable current scenario for any Boston fan involves Jordan Hicks taking the ball with any sort of real stakes at play. He’s walked eight and hit three in just 13 innings since a trade from the Giants, the only current roster piece added in the deal that sent Rafael Devers away. The raw stuff is undeniable, but so is this: Hicks, who turns 29 in September and has more than $22 million remaining on a deal that runs through 2027, is well past his prospect period and still searching for command in what should be the center of his prime.
The starting pitching market didn’t move much at the deadline, with rentals changing teams instead of long-term options such as Joe Ryan, Sandy Alcantara, Mitch Keller and Zac Gallen. Bullpen options were another matter — Miller was one of the prizes in a large group that included Jhoan Duran, Ryan Helsley, Griffin Jax and David Bednar. Any one of those pitchers would have given the Red Sox an immediate upgrade to slot in alongside Chapman and Whitlock.
Payton Tolle, David Sandlin, even Kyle Harrison — another San Francisco option who came in exchange for the most expensive player in Boston franchise history — have all been mentioned as possible reinforcements from Triple-A Worcester. The Red Sox reaching that point would qualify as confirmation that they didn’t do enough through last offseason and the first 120 games to help strengthen the existing group. Rookies exploding to stardom in those situations tend to be memorable because of how infrequently it happens.
Entering Wednesday, Boston remains a game ahead of the Yankees and Guardians in the loss column for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. The Red Sox have two more wins than New York and four more than Cleveland — that creates a bit of a cushion with the middle of August looming. Boston’s lineup continues to enjoy a return from Alex Bregman and a breakout from Roman Anthony, who signed an eight-year contract extension right around the same time his offensive numbers kicked up toward star status.
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How the Red Sox solve the late innings every night could shape whether or not they’re still around deep into the fall. They just got a close look at how many more options some other contenders might enjoy.
On X: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Red Sox bullpen will be the key to the team’s success
