Boston Red Sox: Three up, three down since the All-Star Break

Down: Drew Pomeranz

The 2018 season hasn’t been kind to Drew Pomeranz. The big lefty has been unable to capture the success he found in 2017. After a dismal May, Pomeranz missed all of June and most of July due to injury. Since returning to the rotation, his fortunes have not improved.

In his first start back, against the lowly Baltimore Orioles on July 24, Pomeranz managed to survive just 4.2 innings. He surrendered four runs and six hits, including two home runs, in that short stint, and he needed 89 pitches to even get that far. Though Pomeranz has never been an innings-eater, his inefficiency has reached a crisis point this season; he’s logged more than five innings in just two of his 11 starts, and fewer than five innings in five of those 11.

One starting pitcher will be heading to the bullpen when the postseason begins. While conventional wisdom may have suggested it would be Eovaldi, it now looks as though it will be Pomeranz. In fact, the bullpen may be the best place for him. Pomeranz already struggles to work deep into games, so why force him to? The bullpen would help both him and the team.

The Red Sox need a lefty coming out of the ‘pen, and Pomeranz has actually found success there in the past. Though he’s spent most of his career as a starter, he has logged 64.1 innings of relief work. In those innings, he owns a sparkling 2.10 ERA and a microscopic 0.99 WHIP. Compare that to his 4.05 career ERA and 1.37 career WHIP as a starter. Pomeranz can still play an important role for this team, but it might have to be as a reliever.