Why Red Sox Can Wait To Find Roles For Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock

The Boston Red Sox have an interesting conversation ahead of them this winter surrounding the future roles of young pitchers Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock.

The two right-handers have bounced back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen during their time in the big leagues. In the early stages of the offseason, the Red Sox see a situation to keep them in shape to eat innings for the time being.

While meeting with reporters on Wednesday at baseball’s GM meetings, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow shared that the two pitchers will remain as starters for the time being, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Breslow did add that the direction and moves of the offseason could change their roles.

That decision in the current time makes sense for the Red Sox. Boston’s available starters on the roster are Chris Sale, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta Kutter Crawford. That isn’t exactly a surplus, so Houck and Whitlock would add rotation depth if the season was going right now, which it is not.

The Red Sox absolutely have to improve the rotation this winter with frontline talent, a priority that Breslow has addressed. If Boston adds one or two top starters, some combination of Sale, Bello, Crawford and Pivetta would likely fill out the rest of the rotation. At that point, the logical guess would be that Houck and Whitlock would head back to the bullpen.

Both pitchers have been at their best as relievers. In 2022, Houck posted a 3.15 ERA when 28 of his 32 appearances came out of the bullpen, including eight saves. Whitlock was simply dominant in 2021 when Boston kept him exclusively as a reliever, posting a 1.96 ERA in 46 games. For their careers, Houck has a 2.68 ERA as a reliever compared to 4.17 as a starter while Whitlock has a 2.65 ERA in the bullpen compared to 4.76 in the rotation.

If the Red Sox properly add to the starting rotation, Houck and Whitlock can eventually return to the areas that suit them best.

Whatever their roles may be, both Houck and Whitlock remain of utmost importance for Boston’s chances to compete in 2024 and beyond.