There's a version of this continuous Boston Red Sox news saga that could have sent fans into a real panic, and I get why. Justin Slaten had quietly turned into one of the more trustworthy arms in this bullpen, working to a 2.84 ERA over his final two months of availability before elbow trouble sidelined him in August.
Now we know the full picture: an evaluation revealed degenerative changes in the flexor mass of his right elbow, and rather than push for a return with the postseason approaching, the Red Sox are having him get a PRP injection and start planning for 2027 instead.
On the year, he had thirty-six appearances, a 4.60 ERA overall, but provided a real chunk of high-leverage relief work, which is now gone for the stretch run. That's a real hole, absolutely. It's also not the whole story right now, and it's worth taking a breath before assuming the bullpen just got worse.
Garrett Crochet is back on the Fenway Park mound pic.twitter.com/r9t1HSx41b
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) September 11, 2026
Garrett Crochet was the AL Cy Young runner-up last season, an 18-5, 2.59 ERA workhorse who threw 205.1 innings and struck out 255 batters. What a lot of people forget is that before all of that, Crochet broke into pro ball as a reliever with the Chicago White Sox, sitting comfortably in the upper 90s and regularly touching triple digits in short bursts. That's exactly the version the Red Sox may get back down the stretch.
He hasn't pitched in a game since throwing six scoreless innings on April 25, and after months sidelined with a shoulder issue that turned into more of a lingering problem, he just threw his first bullpen sessions in nearly three months. There isn't time left to stretch him back out as a starter, but a Crochet who can air it out for one to three innings at a time is exactly the profile that's thrived in October before.
Pair that with a Payton Tolle start going five or six innings, Crochet bridging the seventh and eighth, and Aroldis Chapman closing it out, and that's a real, dangerous alignment behind Sonny Gray in a Game 1.
Tanner Houck and Johan Oviedo are trending toward returns to Red Sox bullpen alongside Garrett Crochet
Crochet isn't walking through that door alone, either. Tanner Houck is further along than anyone, working back from UCL surgery and already up to three innings and 48 pitches in a rehab outing for Double-A Portland, allowing just one run with four strikeouts, before moving on to Triple-A Worcester to keep building and facing some better competition.
Johan Oviedo, who Boston acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates over the winter, finally made his own rehab appearance with Worcester this week after missing more than five months with a flexor strain, which is a sign he could factor into the bullpen picture before the year is out. Kutter Crawford is the longer shot of the group, hasn't pitched for the big club since 2024, and there are only unconfirmed "rumblings" he could get a look at Worcester this week. Even if that goes nowhere in 2026, he's still under team control for two more seasons.
Losing Slaten hurts, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But between Crochet, Houck, and Oviedo all trending in the right direction at the same time, Boston may be walking into the stretch run with more usable, high-upside arms than it's had healthy at any single point all season.
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