Tanner Houck is being evaluated by Red Sox team doctors after sustaining “a recurrence of the right pronator strain” the right-hander initially suffered back in mid-May, MLB.com’s Ian Browne writes. Houck had pitched in five minor league games during his rehab assignment, but the Sox have now officially returned him from that assignment and kept him on the 15-day injured list in order to monitor this new problem.
More will be known once Houck is through a fresh round of tests, yet if he has suffered another strain, it might entirely set his rehab back to square one. Given how he has already missed more than two months of the season, a similar recovery timeline could now threaten Houck’s availability to return before the 2025 campaign is over.
Even the best-case scenario of just a minor strain would still likely mean Houck will be sidelined for at least another month, adding to what has been a frustrating season for the right-hander. Houck had reached the 30-day end point of his initial rehab assignment and was seemingly close to being activated from the IL before this setback arose. The Red Sox will probably shift Houck to the 60-day IL at some point, which wouldn’t change his timeline (the 60-day window would start at the time of his initial placement on the 15-day) but it would allow the club to open up space on the 40-man roster.
A breakout 2024 season seemingly cemented Houck’s place in the Boston rotation, as Houck posted a 3.12 ERA and 6.5% walk rate over 178 2/3 innings. Most of his secondary metrics didn’t back up that strong bottom-line ERA, however, and as Browne noted, most of Houck’s success came in the first half of the 2024 campaign. The hurler’s late struggles then got several degrees worse in 2025, when Houck posted an 8.04 ERA in his first nine starts and 43 2/3 innings.
Getting Houck back before the trade deadline wouldn’t have really altered Boston’s plan to acquire starting pitching, yet getting a change to gauge Houck’s effectiveness in a start or two would’ve given the Sox a bit more information before jumping into the trade market.
Looking at Boston’s rotation depth, Hunter Dobbins and Kutter Crawford have already been lost to season-ending injuries. Josh Winckowski has been sidelined by a flexor strain for roughly the same amount of time as Houck, and only just started a throwing progression, so Winckowski is probably a month away if all goes well in his rehab. Patrick Sandoval had internal brace surgery on his elbow last June and has moved to the point of mound work, though early September could be his target date.
This leaves Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, Richard Fitts, and the struggling Walker Buehler as Boston’s starting five. Even with Kyle Harrison and Cooper Criswell available in Triple-A as backup options, getting another solid rotation piece in play at the deadline would go a long way towards helping the Sox reach the playoffs. Boston is 53-46, as yesterday’s loss to the Cubs snapped a 10-game winning streak that had brought the Red Sox back into the postseason hunt.
These guys can’t warm up without getting hurt anymore.
Get back soon Hockman all those runs aren’t going to Score themselves.
Priester 10K’s of shut out baseball against the Dodgers.
Miller – Priester? Funny thing, the Red Sox used to have a pitcher by that name but they thought he sucked so they got rid of him. Wonder whatever happened to him?
They didn’t “get rid of him because they thought he sucked” they thought at the time they had enough pitching in roughly the same class as him and picked up a decent young player and the 33rd pick in this year’s draft for him.
KingKen, who are you referring to? 19 year old Yophery Rodrigues who is an outfielder or 22 year old John Holobetz who is just starting his pitching career in single A?
Priester is only 24 and legit. We traded him for an outfielder the Sox do not need and an unproven prospect just starting out.
At no time has Boston been in the position of ‘having enough pitching’
Just a completely silly take on the trade.
The Red Sox just drafted RHP Marcus Phillips with the no. 33 draft pick they got along with Rodriguez and Holobetz. Priester has been legit for about 2 months so far. I think we need to see how the prospects turn out and it Priester can keep it up.
*if
Ken – Other than Dobbins and Fitts, who exactly did they have?
Do you not remember the Sox making a panic move by calling up Fitts from his rehab assignment way prematurely because they had nobody else to start?
I know you’ll always defend Breslow like you did with Bloom, but he’s far from perfect and it’s okay to admit when he blows it.
“okay to admit when he blows it”
Does FPG ever admit a single good move by anyone except the Yankees and Dombrowski? His takes are hilarious. I wonder if he considers locking up Rafaela a good signing yet. Two months ago that was a TERRIBLE signing according to him. Repeated, again and again and again. Now, does he give any credit, nah just silence.
Sometimes they give up on a player a bit too quickly or give one too much time to showcase skills that they may not have. It is easy to second guess a move when someone they let go quickly becomes an impact player on another team. I am sure the Yankees are wishing they hadn’t let go of Narvaez. You win some and you lose some with these trades, but there is nothing you can do about it aside from looking at your talent evaluation system. The Brewers obviously saw something in Priester to give up as much as they did for him and it clearly paid off.
This is typical FPG, Then and Now:
THEN:
(copy and pasted from original Priester trade article)
“there are simply too many bodies in the Red Sox organization and not enough spots in the starting rotation.
As most here know, I was never super-big on Priester like so many others here were (I’m sure they no longer are now) and just look at all the guys who jumped ahead of Priester on the depth chart:
Fitts
Newcomb
Buehler
Crochet
Dobbins
Sandoval
Priester has a 6.23 ERA in 100 MLB innings, he was always a longshot. No loss here.”
—————————————–
NOW:
“Other than Dobbins and Fitts, who exactly did they have?”
——————————————
Terrible judge of talent. He sees a player for 10 mins and decides immediately exactly how his career will go. (Rafaela, Duran, Priester etc).
If he’s right we hear it for year, if he’s wrong, silence or like in this case, completely changes his take on the situation. Whatever the outcome, his opinion never changes: Red Sox are Bad.
Uncle Pedro’s spot on.
Its the whole body of work, not a specific player, the day after they throw 10Ks. Bregman, Narvaez, Crochet, Romy Gonzalez trump all of the bad moves.
Uncle – The thing that is so concerning is that pitching is supposed to be Breslow’s strong point. Between him, Boddy and Bailey they are supposed to be “pitching experts”. And yet in their 1+ years with the Sox they have been at best mediocre.
It’s not just Priester and Sale and Pivetta etc, it’s also the free agents that they’ve severely undervalued.
Did you watch last night’s game? That was Shota clearly delivering a message to Breslow, he’s worth a hell of a lot more than the 2 years guaranteed that he was offered by Breslow.
And now bigger picture here, are these constant misses by Breslow because he’s moved away from scouting and evaluating players in person and is instead relying 100% on analytics? If so, the Red Sox are screwed.
The best teams rely both on analytics and the eye test (scouting).
The Red Sox still scout in person. For example, Devin Pearson, Director of Scouting went and scouted Kyson Witherspoon in person. They do a lot more scouting by video because you can watch 200 ABs by a player in the time it takes to sent someone to scout 5 ABs in person. The Red Sox have been having great drafts including this year. I think their scouting department is in great shape.
Agreed, Suit. It is one department that seems to be rocking.
Conversely you always criticize anyone in the Sox FO as if you’re so much more brilliant than any of them. After the fact criticism is easy. If you were so good at making baseball moves someone would have hired you.
I agree with you Ken. On the original post of the trade (4/7/25), Although I didnt read them all, I couldnt find any in the top 50 or so comments saying they didnt like the trade from a Red Sox standpoint.
Suddenly now after a 10K night and 13 good (not great) starts, they’re all experts and cant believe how foolish the Red Sox were. So comical.
3 months should never change an opinion this much on a trade. Especially one that will take years to determine a winner and loser or just a tie.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/04/brewers-to-acquire-quin…
Ken – You’re attacking me personally just because I said Breslow is not perfect? Seriously? After how nicely I’ve been treating you?
Okay I’m gonna cut to the chase. You’re full of crap. I can easily prove it, when I do you either apologize or disappear for the rest of season. Deal? I am dead serious, I don’t tolerate blatant lies about me. You’re full of crap, which is to be expected based on your egotistical handle.
Fever-With Sale it was tough because you have to consider how he had played for the Sox. Sale seemed so injury prone that I did not have high hopes for him, but I still think they undervalued him in the trade because we got almost nothing back. I certainly did not expect him to return to an ace caliber pitcher as soon as he left the Sox.
Pivetta was solid but not spectacular. My preference was that they would have signed him as he was a proven innings eater even if he was not always dominant. I did not expect him to become the ace of another team’s rotation. Not sure why they went after Buehler when you have someone who can handle the pressure and had been dependable for years like Pivetta.
Is it the change of scenery/coaching staff that are bringing out the best in players like Sale and Pivetta? We have also had some pitchers that are performing above expectations when they come to the Sox, so it is hard to know. I was not expecting Chapman to be the lights out closer he has been and Crochet has been even more dominant than I expected.
No doubt Breslow has had some big misses, especially with some of the reclamation projects, but you do need to give him credit for Chapman, Crochet, Narvaez, Bregman, etc.
What Breslow does between now and July 31st will be telling and help to determine how successful he has been in putting together a competitive team. It will be very disappointing if they overspend on some mediocre aging rentals and give away a player like Duran without bringing back a high level starter in return.
Reds – You are 100% correct. It will be interesting to see if Breslow’s analytics-only approach pays dividends.
Uncle – Let me ask you a question ….. when Sale was healthy (not injured, and not returning from an injury) how did he pitch?
That’s the thing that many people here (and I’m not directing this at you) don’t understand, injuries effect a pitcher. Speaking of which, I neglected to include the signing of Gio …. if Average Joes like me can identify potential injuries from performance, why didn’t Breslow and company realize the reason Gio sucked from 2022-2023 is the same reason why other teams stayed away from him in free agency? Breslow has an ignorant, arrogant side to him …. we’ve seen it many times, especially in The Clubhouse. There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance.
You’re right about Nick, but his under-the-hood numbers strongly pointed to him taking that big step up to the next level, and shame on Bailey/Breslow/Boddy for not being able to make that happen. It didn’t take long for the Padres, did it? And BTW on the road today Nick pitched another 6 innings of 3-hit 1-run ball, lowering his ERA to 2.81
Sorry but “change of scenery” is a nice PC way of saying “surround with better people”.. The manager and coaching staff is a reflection of the CBO.
Hey I’ve been pushing for Chapman for over 2 years, so I deserve some credit too ;O)
And yes, I’ve already given Breslow credit for how the others have performed thus far … in fact just a few days ago in a reply to CDC.
Fever- When I say change of scenery, I am thinking about things like the stadium, fan base, pressure from the market, etc. Of course coaching is a big part of it and I agree there is no reason that Pivetta should not have had the same level of success (could also be the manager and how he was used).
With Sale, I always hoped he would regain his form and there is no doubt that the injuries were what was holding him back. The most frustrating injuries were the ones when he did things like punching the wall or whatever it was and injuring his hand, etc., which were not game related. Since he was getting into his mid thirties, I just was not sure if he would be able to go back to the dominance he had prior. He obviously proved he could.
I try to look at the positives so want to give Breslow the benefit of the doubt. I felt much better about the acquisitions this offseason and if they use the money saved by unloading Devers’ contract to make significant improvements it will go a long ways towards helping me overlook all those terrible reclamation projects. The way he handled the whole Devers situation left a lot to be desired and hopefully he learns from his mistakes.
Uncle – I get what you’re saying. Honestly I don’t know if tough pressure environments have a negative impact on Nick, before this year he was in two of the toughest (Philly and Boston). I think Petco being a more pitcher-friendly park could have something to do with his home performance.
With Sale I think you’re thinking of when he demolished a dugout TV in the minors, he didn’t injure himself there. He injured himself trying to grab a line drive with his bare hand in Yankee Stadium, and then from a mysterious bike accident. He also suffered a rib injury while throwing a pitch.
I’ve always said Breslow is a rookie who needs time to learn by gaining experience. He deserves at least a 4-year leash, just like every other recent Sox CBO. And I’ve given him much credit for many things, including his admission that he botched the handling of Raffy and his pledge to improve going forward.
Queen – Time’s up. Just like I figured, another keyboard warrior coward who thinks he can get away with anything because of the TR next to your handle.
Muted.
Fever- It is interesting how Devers has now transitioned to 1st base and is saying he prefers that over DH. His comments about being overly focused on every at bat as a DH make sense. If he ends up being a decent 1st baseman it is going to be really disappointing that it didn’t happen with the Sox. I wish that whole situation had been handled better, but like you said Breslow is still learning on the job. We could really use Devers bat right now.
He got traded to Milwaukee
They chose to keep Fitts because Priester was out of options, made sense at the time but in hindsight looks to have been a bad trade. Buehler, Buehler? Buehler??
In all honesty I had thought Buehler was going to have a great season and thought he would emerge as a solid two behind Crochet so I can’t really dog him too much but liked Priester too and thought it was a good trade for the Brewers.
miller – As everyone knows I wasn’t as high on Priester as others here. The version of him that left was not a big loss because Breslow/Bailey/Boddy etc weren’t capable of unlocking his potential. But that doesn’t change the fact it was a bad trade. It was like giving away a safe full of gold just because you’re not capable of figuring out the combination to open it.
just shut down Houck for the year and hope for the best in 2026.
I really hate being that guy, but after the blatant IL manipulation with Yoshida, this seems fishy.
I haven’t heard anything about Sandoval and if he is throwing yet or not. Does anyone know? Also, the Red Sox have one of the best LHP prospects in AA right now in Payton Tolle. He has a sub 2 ERA with a 0.71 WHIP and is averaging 14Ks per 9 innings. He was just drafted last year out of college and hasn’t spent the full season in AA, but I wonder if things get worse with the rotation if they’d give him a shot in the majors this year? He should be up next season if things continue to progress, but he could be a surprise addition this year’s team.
Sandoval was throwing as of last month. Tolle may have an innings limit.
masslive.com/redsox/2025/06/red-sox-starter-recove…
Dotty – History has shown EVERY ONE of these two-year contracts for injured pitchers has resulted in the pitcher not throwing a single pitch for the Red Sox in the first year.
Paxton
Liam
Giolito (not officially injured at signing, but performance indicated health concerns)
I don’t expect Sandoval to pitch this season.
No pronation for youuuu.
I did not see Houck coming back and magically being what he was last year, but I hate to see him have a setback. I am hoping he can figure it out eventually but we need to assume he won’t be pitching in the majors this year.
Unfortunately neither the offense nor pitching have looked great since the break. Don’t know if it is just facing a better team or they lost their momentum. Toro had hits in both games so hopefully that is an indication he is not bottoming out as many have predicted.
I hope this doesn’t lead to them being sellers, granted it is early to be concerned as even the best teams can lose a couple of games in a row. If anything it shows that they do need some pieces as soon as possible to jumpstart the team. Any catchers with a good bat to replace Wong available? At least Hamilton was sent down and now Wong needs to be as well, because they can’t afford to carry players with a batting average below .200 and no pop to their bat.
Uncle – I am never one to say “I told you so”, but I will remind everyone here that you shouldn’t make predictions or judgments based solely on wins and losses.
Of course facing teams that aren’t massively struggling is a factor, as is facing pitchers that don’t have ERA’s over 5 and facing managers that don’t have their head up their butt.
You think it’s a coincidence the Sox losing 7 out of 8 happened against teams that don’t suck and the 10-game win streak happened against teams that do suck, and now another losing streak against a team that doesn’t suck?
The Sox have the hardest 2nd-half schedule in MLB, that’s because they had one of the easiest schedules in the first half.
The offensive struggles never went away, it was just hidden by facing awful pitchers and a couple really hot hitters in Rafaela and Story who pounded crappy pitchers on struggling teams.
The interesting question is how Roman will respond when opponents get a book on him and make adjustments. I do think he will make adjustments to their adjustments, but the question is how long it will take him.
The pitching hasn’t been bad in Chicago. Both Giolito and Bello started awful but then settled in nicely.
Toro? Since June 13th he has batted .222 with just a .553 OPS, that’s over a 2-month period so no small sample size. I wouldn’t read into his 3-for-7 in the last two games.
As long as the Sox remain over .500 by the deadline, I really don’t think they will be sellers. They would have to go 2-8, 1-9 or 0-10 for them to become sellers. None of that will happen.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if they make the usual window dressing minor acquisitions so they can once again proclaim “We are GFIN!!”
Uncle – That’s not a surprise because Raffy always enjoyed being on the field, the NESN guys mentioned that many times. For some guys it’s hard to stay mentally focused when all you’re doing is swinging the bat every 2-3 innings, Raffy is one of those guys. It’s one of the reasons why he was so unhappy this year in Boston.
I had been saying for years he should move to first base, and I have always felt he’d be great at it. Loumer strongly agrees with me as well, as do others. The transition should have begun long ago. In fact when he signed the extension they should have told him he will begin learning first base, he could have played some last year when his shoulder was bothering him and when Casas was injured. He should have played first base in the last WBC and he wanted to and the Dominican manager wanted him to, but Cora refused to allow it. It’s just an unbelievable example of gross mismanagement by the Sox, and they are paying the price right now.
I totally agree with you, they could really use his bat right now if his back remains pain-free..Toro has slumped badly and Romy is hitless in his last 18 PA’s. Even Roman has struck out 4 times in each of the past two games, not sure if it has to do with his illness or if it’s a sign opponents have a book on him now.
And don’t forget the Sox have 7 more huge games against the Yanks, nobody pounds Yankee pitching like Raffy.His last hit in a Sox uniform was a monster homerun off Fried.
Luckily the Sox don’t have to face Yamamoto or Glasnow this weekend, so I do think they can win the series if their pitching is decent. Sunday should be really interesting with both Buehler and Ohtani.pitching.
The Sox traded Priester because Breslow believes they got excellent value for him. The Brewers where desperate for starting pitching at the time. The 18th overall pick in the 2019 draft tells us the talent is there. In early April the Sox , Breslow, thought they had enough quality pitching depth to move him. I thought it was a curious move , because YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH PITCHING. As DBH1969 posted earlier, the Sox have never had enough pitching. He is certainly on a nice run now. 6 shutout innings,10 K’s against the Dodgers no less. Right now the Brewers are clearly winners of this trade,but in 3/4 yrs,who knows.. LOL
Especially in the days of pitch counts and the worship of radar guns leading to more injuries, you can never have enough pitching.
But what does an old catcher know about pitching.
Reds
Yeah … Every young pitcher is chasing velocity and spin-rate. Especially velocity,it gets you recruited and drafted, which means paid. Throw in a Tommy John or an ulnar brace surgery and the rehab.
Look no further that this year’s draft as proof of point. Breslow said he targeted big guys with velo.
DBH – Fitts has been heavily pressured by Breslow, Cora and the coaching staff to increase his velo to 100MPH and they will give him a special t-shirt if he accomplishes it.
Can’t make this crap up, it’s like a damn cult.
Reds – I’d trust your input a lot more than most of these current front offices.
Everyone is raving about Tolle who last year was throwing 90-92 MPH fastballs in college and now is averaging 95 MPH while reaching 99 MPH. I’d say it’s more likely he sustains a serious injury before 2027 than him becoming a stud reliever in the majors.
And it’s ridiculous how people will take the “bad luck” stance when an injury does occur. It ain’t “bad luck”, its the idiotic decision to put a kid’s health at much higher risk simply to gain a few extra MPH on their fastball.
cdchi, now that is take I can chew on and say ‘Ya, kinda makes sense.’
Thanks!
The Sox are still 2nd in runs scored in the AL despite scoring just 1 run in the 2 games against the Cubs.
As usual ,we need Crochet to come up big this afternoon. This is why he got paid. To be the ace. It will be interesting to see how Cora manages his pitches thrown / innings pitched.
cdc – Crochet has had SEVEN DAYS REST since his last start on July 12th, and he’s not pitching again until Saturday which means 5 days rest. So there should be no restrictions today, I fully expect Crochet to be throwing extra hard and have a very good game. Horton has been really bad so the Sox should have an easy win today.
BTW you were right about Bregman, he is slumping badly as expected. Since May 8th he’s batting only .212 with just a .655 OPS. And since May 16th he’s batting only .184 with just a .542 OPS …. and his defense has sucked too, did you see that play he botched last night which the scorer generously ruled a hit? He needs to man up and start earning his $31M salary.
FPG
It would be nice if they are not down a couple runs going into the 2nd inning. I do find it amazing they are 2nd in runs scored in the AL .
Not sure about the Bregman thing (?) Give him some time after the extended IL. I’m expecting him to be an above average MLB player. We are in trouble if he cannot be that player. ( are you talking about Bregman???)?? C’mon give him a little bit of time.
Cdc – It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. I’m still feeling really good about Crochet, Bello and Gio. The offense is another story.
Fleming just said Roman is the best hitter on the team right now … he’s right, but it’s kinda a backhanded slap at the rest of the team. At least he didn’t say Rafaela. Lol!!
Yoshida batting cleanup and playing LF looks awesome!!
You misunderstood my stance on Bregman. He came back too soon for selfish reasons, they don’t need him. And for him to demand $200M he’s got to be a lot better, that’s all I’m saying.
Am I the only one who like to see the Sox try Houck at closing? He definitely the killer mentality and the pitches to back it up. I know not everyone is mentally geared for the gig. Maybe he wouldn’t be good at and ends up better suited to high leverage set up like Timlin.
When the Sox were at their best they had an 8th inning, slam the door shut guy who handed off to the closer to lock the door.
Given Houck’s track record of not being successful past 5 innings, why not give it a go?
DBH – He was a closer already. Overall he’s thrown 54 innings in relief and has much better numbers than as a starter. But he doesn’t have the ability to strike out enough batters to be an elite closer.
Dbh 69
Unfortunately the Sox said he is basically done for the year. What a disaster . One of the biggest disappointments for this team. Maybe next year. The talent is in there . I think.
cdc – Agreed on all counts. Huge disappointment, but the talent is there.
Houck used to be tough as nails, he needs to rebuild that confidence and toughness.