Boston opened 2025 with a rotation held together by “ifs.” If Crochet stayed healthy. If Bello took the leap. If Giolito could find his old arm. If Buehler wasn’t just a rumor with cleats. If Tanner Houck remembered how to throw a strike. Well, the second half gave us answers. Some hopeful, some horrifying, and most of them proof that you can’t spell “rotation” without “rot.”
Garrett Crochet — LHP (Ace)
Midterm: A+ → Final: A+
Garrett Crochet didn’t just stay upright — he turned into Boston’s one-man bailout plan. He finished 18–5 with a 2.59 ERA, 255 K, and 205 innings of pure “don’t talk to me while I’m working.” Every fifth day was Crochet Day, and the rest of the staff got to pretend they were part of a competent major-league rotation. He carried the team on his left shoulder and a pharmacy’s worth of ibuprofen.
The strikeouts were violent, the pace was surgical, and he had hitters swinging like they were trying to swat mosquitoes. He led the league in WAR, innings, and opposing sighs per at-bat.
Fix it or else: He threw 200+ innings — that’s great for 2025 and terrifying for 2026. If his elbow starts sending “new number, who dis?” texts next July, the Sox are cooked.
Verdict: A legitimate ace. The rotation’s only adult.
Brayan Bello — RHP
Midterm: B → Final: B
Bello took a big-boy step this year. The ERA held around the low 3s, the slider grew up, and he stopped self-destructing every other start. His second half saw a steadier hand — fewer 4-run “learning experiences,” more “give me the ball” energy.
He became the steady No. 2 behind Crochet, and when your top comp last year was “human rollercoaster,” that’s progress. His command improved, he trusted the changeup more, and his WHIP actually looked respectable for the first time in his life.
Fix it or else: Limit the one big inning. You can’t keep spotting the Yankees three runs in the second and call it growth. If he nails the mental side, he’s a borderline All-Star.
Verdict: A legitimate mid-rotation rock. Trending up. Post season told otherwise. The team still needs a ‘better’ option behind Crochet.
Lucas Giolito — RHP
Midterm: B- → Final: B
Lucas Giolito’s redemption tour continued in quiet, veteran fashion — 10–4, 3.41 ERA, 121 strikeouts — the kind of season that looks better the longer you stare at it. He didn’t dominate; he just stabilized. In Boston, that’s practically sainthood.
Yes, the velocity dipped, the innings were light, and the FIP screamed “don’t look too closely,” but every time he took the mound, you at least felt like you had a fighting chance. And compared to last year’s Giolito (a man personally responsible for three franchises firing pitching coaches), this was a miracle.
Fix it or else: He needs to throw deeper into games. Too many 5-inning exits, not enough “hand the ball to the bullpen with dignity.”
Verdict: The veteran you forget to thank but can’t live without.
Walker Buehler — RHP
Midterm: D → Final: F
Walker Buehler’s 2025 was the baseball equivalent of a bad sequel — all hype, no plot, and a budget that went straight into pyrotechnics. The Sox paid $20 million for 4.67 ERA cosplay and a handful of innings that looked like his Dodgers highlight reel before it got buried under another forearm flare-up.
There were occasional flashes of command, like a ghost haunting its former body, but for most of the summer, it felt like watching a once-great actor forgetting his lines mid-scene.
Fix it or else: Reinvent or retire. The “I’ll find my velocity in July” routine is getting old. If he doesn’t figure out how to pitch like a 35-year-old before he actually turns 35, this will go down as one of Breslow’s most expensive nostalgia purchases.
Verdict: The name on the jersey sells tickets; the performance sells Pepto. He has to receive an F for the mere fact he was released.
Tanner Houck — RHP
Midterm: F- → Final: F
This one hurts — mostly because watching him pitch hurt more. Houck finished 0–3 with an 8.04 ERA and a body made of duct tape and broken mechanics. His fastball lost bite, his slider lost faith, and his outings lost fans. He made “mop-up duty” sound ambitious.
Boston tried everything: skipped starts, bullpen days, reverse psychology. Nothing worked. Eventually, the team waved the white flag and the medical staff waved an MRI. Elbow surgery sealed the deal — and possibly his Red Sox tenure.
Fix it or else: Come back throwing strikes or don’t come back at all. The leash is gone, and the seat at Fenway might be too.
Verdict: A live-action cautionary tale. A lot of questions coming into 2026 because if he is considered to be a lock in the rotation for next season, we already will start in panic mode.
Richard Fitts — RHP
Midterm: C → Final: C-
Richard Fitts was exactly what you think he was — replacement-level depth in a league that keeps replacing him. He went 1–3 with a 6+ ERA, couldn’t buy a swing-and-miss, and gave up hard contact like it was sponsored. But hey, he took the ball. Sometimes that’s all you can say.
Fix it or else: Bullpen or bust. If he’s in next year’s rotation, something catastrophic has already happened.
Verdict: Overmatched in the AL East, underqualified for much else. Injuries are already creating question marks for Fitts, and while we cannot give him the title of ‘injury prone’ it’s starting to look bleak for Fitts.
Hunter Dobbins — RHP
Midterm: C → Final: B-
If there was a bright spot beneath the chaos, it was Hunter Dobbins — the “Who?” that quietly became “Hey, he’s pretty good.” He went 4–1 with a 4.13 ERA, threw strikes, and acted like someone who didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to succeed. When the rotation was bleeding, he was the bandage.
He’s not overpowering, but he’s fearless, and Boston needed both. Unfortunately, an untimely injury stopped his momentum — because of course it did.
Fix it or else: Get healthy and stay there. There’s a big-league role waiting if his body cooperates.
Verdict: A surprise contributor with a believable future. Again, small sample size and if the Red Sox place him and a couple others in the starter roles, we might be in more trouble than not.
Sean Newcomb — RHP
Midterm: C → Final: N/A
Sean Newcomb was the pitching version of duct tape — flexible, overused, and not built to last. The 3.95 ERA looks respectable until you remember the traffic jams behind it. He allowed baserunners at a rate usually reserved for charity games.
Still, when Boston needed innings, he showed up. The problem was that most of those innings aged everyone watching.
Fix it or else: Cut the walks, miss more bats, and stop pitching like you’re afraid of contact. Otherwise, enjoy that next Vegas zip code.
Verdict: Not good, not terrible. Just there — which, in 2025 Boston, counted as a contribution. Unfortunately for Boston, he pitched in 36 games for Oakland with a 1.75ERA. Boy, they could have used a guy like this in the stretch run.
Garrett Whitlock — RHP
Midterm: B → Final: A-
Remember when Whitlock was a question mark? Now he’s the bullpen’s spine. 2.25 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 83 K in 71 IP, and an “I’ll clean up this mess myself” attitude. He pitched multiple innings, faced leverage hitters, and gave Cora peace of mind — a rare commodity.
Fix it or else: None. Just stay vertical and healthy.
Verdict: The bullpen’s adult supervision. With all that good vibes, the point has remained on all of us here at RSD, he needs to be a one inning reliever to maximize his effectiveness. It was seen early in April, and of course, in the postseason.
Aroldis Chapman — LHP (Closer)
Midterm: A → Final: A
Age 37, 1.17 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, and somehow throwing 99 again like he’s drinking from the Lazarus Cup. Chapman was flat-out dominant, closing games with authority and occasionally with mild cardiac episodes. He was the only reliever you trusted not to blow a three-run lead into a therapy session.
Fix it or else: Don’t break the old man. His arm’s held together by history.
Verdict: Ageless. Furious. Filthy. Will he pitch like this again in 2026? Who knows. But you can’t fault the Red Sox for extending him and not having to hopefully worry about the closer position moving forward.
Greg Weissert — RHP
Midterm: C+ → Final: B
The mustache had a second-half glow-up. 3.67 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 11 holds, and some genuinely nasty sliders in leverage spots. Still walks a few too many, but far steadier than his April meltdowns.
Fix it or else: Trust the fastball — it’s better than he thinks.
Verdict: Solid setup man who might actually be reliable. Just don’t bring him in with runners on base in pressure games. Whoops.
Brennan Bernardino — LHP
Midterm: B → Final: B+
The unheralded lefty who kept everything calm. 3.24 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 43 K in 33 IP. Not flashy, just effective. Cora deployed him like duct tape, and it usually held.
Fix it or else: Miss a few more bats, not barrels.
Verdict: Quietly excellent middle reliever. One of the better left handed relievers on the team, yet constantly shipped around like chopped liver. Makes little sense.
Justin Wilson — LHP
Midterm: C+ → Final: B-
3.57 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, and too many stressful innings for a guy whose ERA looks normal. His curveball still plays, and he wasn’t afraid to take the ball. At 38, he’s held together by elbow grease and spite.
Fix it or else: Fewer walks, fewer heart attacks.
Verdict: Old-school pro — you need a couple of these guys. Quietly had a good season. The question remains: Can he repeat it?
Chris Murphy — LHP
Midterm: D → Final: C+
He finally remembered how to throw strikes. 4.12 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and decent swing-and-miss stuff. When you’re comparing to his spring disasters, that’s a massive W.
Fix it or else: Keep that walk rate down, and you’re a real arm next year.
Verdict: Progress report trending positive. Still unsure about Murphy. Flashes of brilliance, but the Red Sox still were not happy enough that they had to go out and get a guy like Matz.
Justin Slaten — RHP
Midterm: B → Final: B-
4.23 ERA, high strikeout rate, high blood pressure for fans. Every appearance was a rollercoaster with fireworks. Still, he held his own against tough lineups and proved he’s more than a mop-up guy.
Fix it or else: Limit baserunners — the WHIP’s creeping toward “call security” territory.
Verdict: A little wild, but you take this stuff every time. He settled into a grove once he got some innings under his belt. Going into 2026 with the back end being Slaten, Whitlock, and Chapman all season might be the strength of the team.
Steven Matz — LHP
Midterm: C → Final: C-
Injury riddled and unreliable. 7.20 ERA in limited innings. You can’t spell “Matz” without “meh.”
Fix it or else: Be available or be gone.
Verdict: Just another salary line.
Connelly Early — LHP
Midterm: N/A → Final: B-
A fun midseason call-up who actually threw strikes. 3.33 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 29 K in 19 IP. Small sample, but effective.
Fix it or else: Command consistency; AL East lineups won’t be so polite next time.
Verdict: Keep him around. Unless you can package him for Skubal. Then, bye.
Jordan Hicks — RHP
Midterm: B → Final: F
Let’s not sugarcoat this: Jordan Hicks was a tire fire in cleats. He came in throwing 100 mph, left throwing question marks, and managed to weaponize inconsistency into performance art. Under the hood it was traffic, walks, and hard contact that echoed off Lansdowne Street.
His “power sinker” mostly sank the Red Sox. Hitters teed off like it was batting practice at Six Flags. The control vanished by mid-August, and so did his role. By September, every appearance felt like a social experiment on how much pain fans can endure before muting the broadcast.
Fix it or else: Learn the strike zone. It’s that 17-inch white thing you keep missing by three feet. If he doesn’t find it next year, the only gas he’ll be throwing is at a Mobil station.
Verdict: Throws hard, gets hit harder. A failed science project with a radar gun. Now we still have this guy under contract. Good Grief.
Cooper Criswell — RHP
Midterm: C+ → Final: B
Under-the-radar weapon: 4.09 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, solid spot starter. Not overpowering, but he executes the game plan like a man who knows his limitations.
Fix it or else: Maintain strike-throwing zen.
Verdict: The definition of “useful.” Needed him to be healthy and wasn’t. Will be interesting for next season.
Liam Hendriks — RHP
Midterm: Incomplete → Final: F
The comeback story was supposed to be inspirational. Instead, it turned into a rerun of the same depressing Red Sox tradition: spending millions on medical updates. Hendriks came back, threw a few innings that looked like bullpen practice for the opposing team, and then — shocker — got hurt again.
This franchise treats broken relievers like rescue dogs: good intentions, bad results, and a pile of vet bills. The fastball had no life, the slider had no bite, and the only thing consistent was the trainer’s jog to the mound.
Fix it or else: Don’t. Stop signing these guys. Next time you’re tempted by a “feel-good recovery story,” maybe try signing someone who’s currently functional.
Verdict: Great guy, great heart, terrible investment. The Red Sox need innings, not emotional documentaries.
Isaiah Campbell — RHP
Midterm: D+ → Final: F-
Let’s be clear: Isaiah Campbell’s 2025 audition for “Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” did not go well. In six big-league appearances he logged 7.2 innings, surrendered 13 hits and 6 earned runs for an ERA of 7.04, struck out just 3 and finished with a WHIP north of 1.8 — numbers that read less like a relief profile and more like a warning label. MLB.com+1
You could forgive a small sample size if the stuff popped or the control was tidy. Instead, Statcast paints the same picture: hitters posted an elevated xwOBA against him and the exit-velocity metrics weren’t encouraging — not exactly the profile of a guy you trust in late innings. baseballsavant.com
Boston recalled him in August to patch a bullpen hole, and the results were exactly what the bullpen memo warned about: emergency innings, elevated contact, and managers quietly updating their “do not pitch to” lists. The team optioned him back to Worcester not long after; the transaction log is a reminder that he never quite stuck. Reuters+1
Why the F-: command problems, minimal swing-and-miss (3 Ks in 7.2 IP), and a WHIP/ERA combo that actively subtracts value. At this point he’s not a project; he’s a risk. The Red Sox can’t afford repeated experiments in the high-leverage innings — they need arms who stop the bleeding, not widen it.
Fix it or else: Fastball needs life, breaking stuff needs bite, and the zone discipline needs to exist. If he can’t lower the WHIP to something resembling major-league parity and turn those 3 Ks into 20+ per 20 innings at Worcester, his path back to Boston is a very long one — likely in mop-up roles only, if at all.
Verdict: F-. Not the flameout you hoped for, but the one you got. Clean his mechanics, throw strikes, or please stay in Triple-A until he figures out how to miss bats.
Nick Burdi — RHP
Midterm: N/A → Final: C
5.00 ERA in mop-up duty. Looked competent, which is more than half this bullpen can say.
Verdict: Depth guy. Not a liability, which counts as praise.
Robert Stock — RHP
Midterm: F → Final: F
10.13 ERA. 2.25 WHIP. One of those seasons where your ERA looks like your blood sugar.
Verdict: The less said, the better.
The Pitching Staff, In Sum
Best Thing: Garrett Crochet was a legitimate ace, and the bullpen (Chapman/Whitlock/Slaten) turned into a shockingly steady late-game unit.
Worst Thing: Everyone else trying to pitch in the first five innings.
Biggest Surprise: Early looked like a rotation find.
Biggest Headache: Buehler and Houck, taking turns redefining “unwatchable.”
Final Staff Grade: B-
The Red Sox got elite front-end production, clutch relief, and a middle that resembled a car accident with paperwork. Next year, Breslow needs one more reliable starter — or we’re back here again explaining why the bullpen threw 900 innings.