The Boston Red Sox were determined to improve their pitching staff for the 2025 MLB season.
Craig Breslow made two significant moves to strengthen the rotation and bullpen: acquiring starting pitcher Garrett Crochet and reliever Aroldis Chapman.
Pitching coach Andrew Bailey couldn’t be happier with the additions. He joined Sean McAdam on MassLive’s “Fenway Rundown” podcast to discuss the pair.
“The ability to generate swing and miss is the best outcome for a pitcher,” Bailey told McAdam. “There’s no ball in play, there’s nothing bad that can happen. … For us to be able to come in and strike guys out not only helps starters get out of jams when needed, or to be able to put out fires late in games, is going to be great. You want to collect as many arms as you can who have that elite stuff and that’s what we’re doing.”
Crochet is coming off a season in which he transitioned into a starting pitcher and is more than two years removed from having Tommy John surgery. Bailey doesn’t anticipate the Red Sox putting any restrictions on the 25-year-old ace.
“We’re going to treat him just like we do the rest of our starters,” Bailey said. “We want them to be the best versions of themselves every single time they take the mound, whether that’s on their fifth day, sixth day… whatever that looks like.
“Communication is huge. If we need to skip starts or if we need to push a guy back, we really want to meet them where they’re at. From an innings limit standpoint, as long as he’s healthy and there’s no signs of fatigue and he’s bouncing back OK, he’s going to be in the bucket with everybody else.”
Bailey continued: “So there’s no reason, in my mind, he can’t go out and make all his starts, throw however many innings he can total up and bounce back. We know there’s some undulations throughout the course of the season with fatigue and ability to recover. … We’ll have those conversations. But yeah, going in, I would expect a fully healthy workload for the season.”
As far as Chapman, Bailey doesn’t have a specific role for him yet but knows the Red Sox can expect good things from the soon-to-be 37-year-old.
“He’s going to have an impact,” Bailey said. “This guy’s done it for a really long time, and has thrown in the biggest of games and has done really well. So we’re excited to have him down there.”
