The Red Sox haven’t approached right-hander Tanner Houck about a contract extension this spring, Houck himself tells Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. The 28-year-old adds that he’s open to such talks and would be happy to stay in Boston long-term — “I love it here” — but isn’t concerning himself with the lack of extension talks at present.
Houck reached arbitration for the first time this offseason and agreed on a $3.95MM salary to avoid a hearing. That contract came on the back of a breakout 2024 season wherein he pitched a career-high 178 2/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate, 55.9% grounder rate and 0.55 HR/9 over the life of 30 starts. After having floated between the bullpen in rotation in recent seasons, that career-best performance cemented Houck’s spot in Boston’s rotation.
Injuries to Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito only further locked Houck into a prominent rotation role. He’ll likely take the ball in the Red Sox’ second game, behind Opening Day starter Garrett Crochet. The rest of the rotation looks a bit different than most would’ve expected heading into camp. Free-agent signee Walker Buehler is locked into a spot, but there’s been a competition for the final two outings that’s taken place as health troubles have arisen.
Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic wrote earlier in the week that right-hander Richard Fitts looked to have the fourth spot in the rotation locked up. The 25-year-old Fitts, acquired from the Yankees in the trade sending Alex Verdugo to the Bronx, has allowed only one run in 10 2/3 official spring innings. He’s punched out 13 of his 31 opponents (31.7%) against four walks (9.8%). Fitts posted a 4.17 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate in 116 2/3 Triple-A innings last year and also made a brief MLB debut, pitching 20 2/3 frames with a 1.74 ERA (in spite of a paltry 10.6% strikeout rate in the majors).
More surprisingly, McCaffrey listed veteran Sean Newcomb as a strong candidate to earn the fifth spot. MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith suggests the same, writing that manager Alex Cora said the veteran lefty has “caught our eyes” with an impressive spring of his own. Newcomb, a Massachusetts native, has held opponents to one run on five hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings. Unlike many veterans around the league on non-roster invitations, Newcomb does not have an opt-out in his contract before the end of camp, Smith notes, so the Sox don’t need to worry about losing him if they opt for someone already on the 40-man roster, such as righty Quinn Priester.
Similarly, veteran reliever Michael Fulmer tells WEEI’s Rob Bradford that his minor league deal with Boston does not have an opt-out opportunity. The former AL Rookie of the Year signed a two-year minor league deal with the Sox in the 2023-24 offseason as he rehabbed from a UCL revision performed in Oct. 2023.
Fulmer didn’t pitch last year while rehabbing that procedure, but the 32-year-old has been outstanding this spring. He’s tossed 9 1/3 innings and held opponents to one run on nine hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. The fact that he can’t opt out is a bit of a strike against his Opening Day chances, particularly if the Sox want to carry a long reliever to support their diminished rotation, but Fulmer has put himself in a nice position to either break camp with the team or get an early-season look.
At the other end of the bullpen, Boston’s ninth-inning picture has been a question for much of the spring. The hope was surely that Liam Hendriks would look closer to vintage form and claim that role as he enters the second season of a two-year contract, but it’s lefty Aroldis Chapman who’s emerged as the favorite for ninth-inning work, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes. Chapman has impressed the Sox with the quality of his raw stuff and has set down 10 of his 23 spring opponents on strikes. Hendriks has been tagged for six runs in five spring frames. Righty Justin Slaten also appears to be ahead of Hendriks on the closer depth chart — at least for the time being.
Certainly, that’s subject to change as the season wears on. Changes in the ninth inning are common, particularly when the frontrunner is a 37-year-old with persistent command issues and a recent injury history of note. Hendriks, Slaten or someone else entirely could wind up handling the bulk of the ninth-inning workload for skipper Alex Cora, but it sounds like Chapman will get first crack, thereby giving him a chance to become just the 14th pitcher in MLB history to tally 350 saves. He currently ranks 16th all-time, sitting just six saves behind Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers.
Hendricks is toast-what a waste of $—why hasn’t David Robertson been hired yet?
If Robertson recently had TJ, the Sox would snatch him up and pay him to rehab.
How about Craig Kimbrel? Even he’d be better than Hendriks.
he signed with the Braves
Newcomb is a good dude. Would be nice to see his career rebound.
They might need 5 games to beat the Dodgers in the whirled serious.
Talk to text? Haha
Closing situation in boston is crazy
Could be chapman, could be hendriks
Could be slaten, could be whitlock
Feel bad for Hendriks. Been through a lot. But the health issues seem to be catching up to him.
Which in and of itself isn’t a big deal. Knowing who your closer is in March isn’t a necessity. Having a set one by August/September/October is far more important.
In 2013 Uehara didn’t pick up his first save until May 17th and wasn’t made the full time closer until the end of June.
Exactly. The more important part is that talent is *there* in our bullpen. It’s a matter of just working through how they all fit together. Spring training can be helpful for that but it’s not a question that HAS to be answered right now. Plenty of time early in the season to see who fits best where and if a trade is needed to go get someone else for a specific spot.
It’s going to be Chapman in all likelihood.
Considering his propensity for walks, it is best to let him start a clean inning.
Have Whitlock come in and put out fires, at least to start the year.
With the deal Chapman signed this off-season, he was going to be given the first shot at the closer role. Teams generally don’t sign relievers to that but if a deal to be just another guy out there.
That being said, if Hendricks came back and was blowing people out of the water, it would have forced their hand. But it looks like him and Slaten have struggled.
Interestingly enough, both chapman & hendriks pitched today
Chapman 8th, hendriks 9th
Clean inning for aroldis, hendriks gave up a run but secured the save. Not sure if it means anything but this late in ST you have to assume tms are using players as they expect to use them a week from now
Whitlock is going to be the guy who comes in after an early exit from a SP, shuts down their opponent and gives the Sox a chance to come back and win. He might be their most valuable reliever without being their closer.
What was the thinking that a guy who went through TJS could just up and become the closer? That was risky from day one. If this ends up another closer-by-committee thing, fans aren’t going to like it.
If he’s fully rehabbed and strengthened, why not? Fans are not going to care who closes as long as the job is done well.
Tell that to Bautista of the Orioles.
Cora already mentioned he made mistakes with closer by committee in the past and doesn’t want that this year
Chapman?
Fitts and Whitlock. Boston seems to know more about Yankees pitchers than the Yankees.
I don’t trust Chapman to close games. He throws too hard. They should consider Whitlock.
They’re not just throwing money at stars or panicking about injuries. They’re playing it like a chess game—using cheap, flexible pieces to cover all their bases, so if someone fails, they’ve got others ready to step up. It’s a clever, under-the-radar way to build a team that can handle anything, and it’s all about logic, not flashy moves.
Is that what we tried last year? I admit our team is much deeper this year but we had the same kind of mentality last year