In addition to their pitching woes, injuries were another major nail in the coffin for the 2024 Boston Red Sox.
Unfortunately for Boston, the injury bug hit the club early in spring training when newly signed starting pitcher Lucas Giolito was lost for the season with a partial UCL tear. These woes were only further confounded when the team's star shortstop, Trevor Story, went down with a long-term shoulder injury within a week of the young campaign. However, despite the severity of these injuries, the season-ending injury to starting pitcher Garrett Whitlock changed 2024 for the worse in Boston.
Going into 2024, the Red Sox were already playing with fire. In the prior offseason, Boston's brass failed to acquire any meaningful starting pitching, leaving them with an already thin and questionable rotation moving forward. Of course, these problems were only made worse when Giolito, the club's lone starting pitcher signing, went down early on in spring training.
Nevertheless, Boston's rotation was better than expected in the first half. The Sox's starters pitched to a 3.66 ERA, and 3.80 FIP, ranking them in the top six and seventh in MLB, respectively in those categories.
Garrett Whitlock's season-ending surgery removed crucial skill and depth from the Red Sox's rotation
Garrett Whitlock, 95mph Two Seamer (foul) and 80mph Sweeper (Swinging K), Individual Pitches + Overlay pic.twitter.com/s4DM85SPQG
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 26, 2024
Injuries continued to plague the team, though. It was announced in May that Garrett Whitlock's season would prematurely end due to an injury eerily similar to Giolito's. This proved to be a defining moment in Boston's season, as, up to that point, Whitlock was pitching like a true ace, sporting a 1.96 ERA and ERA+ of 221. Additionally, this brought Boston's already thin rotation to the brink. Boston lost two key starters who were expected to carry a heavy workload just two months into the season.
While the Red Sox were able to right the ship in the first half with Cooper Criswell serving as the team's fifth starter/opener, it was clear that this success could not be sustained. Even though the team may have been able to deal with the loss of Giolito early on, Whitlock going down spelled doom for the Red Sox pitching. Without him, Boston had to rely heavily on Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford, two pitchers who, despite their talent, had never pitched nearly this many innings in a single season before.
Naturally, this became too much for Boston's rotation, as with such an increased workload, this put more pressure on the Sox's equally thin bullpen, leading to the team's total pitching collapse in the second half.
All in all, Whitlock's injury is a good representation of the Red Sox's 2024 rotation. Despite pitching coach Andrew Bailey's efforts and the talents that it did possess, Boston's rotation was nowhere near deep enough to maintain its success and survive a 162-game season. Whitlock's injury sapped the rotation of much-needed talent and depth, leading to the team's downfall in 2024.