For most of the season, the Boston Red Sox have had one of the best pitching staffs in the league. Ranger Suarez didn't take long to start dominating in Boston, veteran Sonny Gray is having one of the seasons of his life, Payton Tolle built on his success from last year, Jake Bennett has crushed his rookie year and the bullpen has supported them well.
But as the season has gone on and the innings build up, Boston's arms haven't looked the same. Suarez has a 5.01 ERA and 1.45 WHIP over his last seven outings (before his September 4 start in Baltimore). Gray had his scheduled start against the Seattle Mariners skipped to give him necessary extra rest. Bennett shoved against the New York Yankees, but he's otherwise slowed down with a 4.50 ERA in August. Even Brayan Bello is losing his magic touch out of the bullpen — he's let up at least one run in his last five outings and four in his last two.
The Red Sox are so desperate for pitching depth that they had to call up Triple-A reliever Jedixson Paez to start against the Seattle Mariners. The game quickly became a lost cause after Paez was lit up to the tune of eight runs on 10 hits over 3.2 frames.
Before the season, the Red Sox had more pitching depth than they knew what to do with. But chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made a fair few trades this year, mostly from a position of strength with pitching depth. Now, unfortunately, he could use those extra arms, if only to eat some innings.
Red Sox trading so much pitching depth this season is coming back to bite them down the stretch
Trading Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for Curtis Mead hasn't come back to bite Boston yet, as both players are still on the injured list. Tyler Uberstine (2.81 ERA over 32 innings with the WooSox) could've been a preferable starter to Paez, but Breslow traded him to the Atlanta Braves for Eli White. Hunter Dobbins has a 3.67 ERA with the St. Louis Cardinals this season, though he's spent a good chunk of time on the IL.
Injuries out of the Red Sox's control have severely affected their pitching depth after their many trades. Garrett Crochet was supposed to be a fixture in the rotation, Kutter Crawford was expected to be healthy by now and Johan Oviedo has been sidelined since March 31. Breslow never could've predicted this, but they were all injured at the trade deadline when he could've traded for a rental starter to reinforce his pitching staff.
The trades Breslow made that included depth starters have undoubtedly helped the Red Sox — Gray and Willson Contreras have been two of the club's best players this season. But Boston quickly went from having an excess of pitching depth to having to call up Triple-A relievers to start during a playoff race, which is troubling given the rotation's recent changes.
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