Garrett Crochet spoke to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other reporters Friday about his health status, though the left-hander still didn’t have any clear timeline about when he might return to the Red Sox rotation. “I think it would take a huge leap to say I’d be back before” the All-Star break, Crochet said, as “I think that would be really rushing it” given that his rehab process will now have to be essentially restarted in the aftermath of a lat strain.
Crochet tossed six shutout innings on April 25 and was then (retroactively) placed on the 15-day injured list the next day due to left shoulder inflammation. After about a month on the sidelines, Crochet had progressed to facing live batters before the lat strain resulted in a throwing shutdown that has now lasted over two weeks.
The lat strain is now no longer a real issue, and Crochet said he is “getting close to throwing.” Understandably, the southpaw is frustrated “that I’ve been out this long” due to a confluence of two relatively minor injuries that overlapped at just about the most inconvenient time.
The best-case scenario would have Crochet ready to go when the second half begins on July 17, as the Red Sox face the Rays in a doubleheader. It remains to be seen if that twin bill may have much impact on the AL East race, as 12.5 games currently separate the division-leading Rays from the Sox at the bottom of the division standings. Boston is looking like a trade deadline seller as things stand now, and not having Crochet for several more weeks will make it even harder for the Red Sox to climb back into contention.
Between Crochet’s injury absence and Brayan Bello pitching so poorly that was optioned to Triple-A last week, the emergency of Connelly Early and Payton Tolle have been a godsend to the Sox rotation. With Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray also pitching well, the rotation hasn’t been much of an issue, at least not in comparison to the offensive woes that have been Boston’s biggest Achilles heel.
Meanwhile the White Sox are surging with multiple players that came from the Crochet trade.
I really hope Crochet can stay healthy for the next few years. He’s a tremendous talent, but his injury history is a huge concern and the Sox have paid a huge price for him in terms of talent and money.
Red Sox give up a ton in every trade they make. Just how it goes in Boston
Another stellar Breslow trade. Can’t wait to see how Crochet holds up through that extension….
Maybe trading a ton of talent and extending at essentially market value a guy who had TJ while handling the workload of a reliever and is now trying to be a starter wasn’t a good idea. Who could have anticipated that.
Both moves – trades and extension – were widely praised at the time
Neither team, White or Red Sox, would not take the trade back. The sign of a great trade.
Crochet has more WAR than all of those players combined. Either that means its a win for the Red Sox or its a To Be Determined (FYI, its absolutely TBD). No way is it a loss, unless you guys are more concerned about minor league wins.
rhs – I respect that you have a different opinion of what constitutes “widely praised”, but fact is many of us here and on social media and in the baseball world expressed concerns.
Lou Merloni stated because the Sox missed out on all the free agent SP’s that offseason, they would therefore have no leverage when trading for Crochet … and he was 100% correct. They needed a #1 SP, all of them signed elsewhere, so they were forced to pay whatever Chicago demanded for Crochet …. and the price was incredibly steep and included a top catching prospect at a time when catching was Boston’s biggest weakness.
As for the extension, it didn’t have to be done that fast. He was coming off a season in which his health was so questionable that he became an opener after June and he refused to be used in the postseason because he was concerned about an injury occurring.
FPG: “the Sox missed out on all the free agent SP’s that offseason”
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It’s a good thing the Red Sox missed out on Corbin Burnes and probably Max Fried too.
fpg- Lou’s the guy who coined the “pig” nickname and had a pig as his Twitter profile pic all offseason. I’m sure he, like almost all of Sox nation, was devastated once it became apparent the Sox would no longer be employing a rotation of a #3 and four fives.
rhs – With all due respect, you’re erroneously conflating two different topics.
Like I said in my first post, nobody is questioning Crochet’s talent or abilities.
What’s been justifiably questioned is the trade overpay (Teel) and Crochet’s injury history.
Overpaying for Crochet doesn’t mean he’s not a very good pitcher.
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/12/red-sox-on-the-verge-of…
I commented there going:
Joemo
December 11, 2024
What a horrible move. Just like I was afraid of the Sox trading for Paxton when he was dfa’d, I didn’t want them to trade for this massive risk.
Crochet’s second half: 38.2IP in 12 games with a 5.12 ERA. That’s our ace!
This organization is ran by clowns.
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Hmmmm….
Joe – You were definitely not alone my friend!!!
The only person that was completely in favor of it is that front office plant who posts nothing but pro-FO propaganda here. Thankfully I muted him.
That Matz for Blaze Jordan trade is looking stupid now they got 21 innings out of Matz and Blaze is only 23 tore it up at AAA and just went 2-4 in his debut.
Slow you roll, Jordan has all of 4 ABs in the majors. Unless, you think Phil Plantier and Sam Horn belong in the HOF.
Todd Benzinger
I thought Blaze would have been the plan after trading Devers. He hasn’t quite reached his power potential.but he has grown into a good hitting prospect.
What I believe: The Red Sox management is fixated (for better or worse) on defense. And they projected Blaze as a 1B, which they hoped Casas would fill. So there wasnt a logical fit in Boston. We’ll see if he can handle 3B in StL.
“Boston is looking like a trade deadline seller as things stand now”
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The Red Sox are 4 games out of a Wild Card spot in the loss column entering today. I think they may still be buyers.
Unfortunately I think the front office may agree with you. It would take a huge streak starting about 2 weeks ago to convince anyone who has actually watched this team play this year. Alex Cora was not the problem.
I think Cora was a problem when you see they have a lead on the Yankees after 6 innings and Whitlock and Chapman are rested and he doesn’t use them. Looks like he may have been trying to get Breslow fired.
….but how will they finish last in the AL East without him??????
winos – The Sox have been among the worst teams in the league, after Wednesday’s loss only the Angels had a worse record in the AL.
Red Sox Nation is fully aware the odds of climbing past 7 teams to get WC3 is near impossible.
But just like the “Dumb and Dumber” movie, there will always be some who say “So you’re telling me there’s a chance!” LOLOLOL!!
Nobody was complaining last year..
Oppo – Red Sox Nation was complaining about his overuse, he led the league in Innings Pitched and Batters Faced. It was his first full season as a starting pitcher, but all the Red Sox gave a damn about was his league-leading strikeouts. It was gross mismanagement of a pitcher with his injury background.
I did find it odd that they pitched him that much
FPG: You would be complaining no matter what happened.
Love all the ‘Red Sox Nation’ comments, like he was elected to be their representive. FYI opinions vary among Red Sox fans on everything right down to What to Have for Breakfast.
Another guy who got the money and flamed out. He joins Anthony, Bello and Campbell. Fingers crossed on Rafaela. Fortunately, they didn’t extend Mayer, an absolute bust.
Lou – And Thank God Casas rejected an extension offer.
As always, Boston will be both buyers and sellers at the deadline. I’m glad Cora is gone. Breslow was wise to change lanes to pitching during the off season after it was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to add the offensive upgrade this team needed due to the constraints placed upon him from Ownership. Loosing both Anthony & Crochet for basically this entire year hurts. I think Breslow & the front office knew the offense was going to be weak and the realistic competitive target date is still 2028. This team is currently smack in the middle of that 3yr bridge.
Could be another Chris Sale situation, where the Red Sox just don’t understand how to keep pitchers healthy, whereas other teams do. Wonder who the next version of Vaughan Grissom will be a few years down the line?
Sale was under Dombrowski. Sale was battling injury in 2018 and was not going to be a free agent until after 2019. Dombrowski signed him to the disastrous 5 year extension after 2018 instead of seeing how he pitched in 2019. I think that was a big reason Dombrowski got fired in 2019.