Red Sox Contemplating Moving Star Reliever Into Rotation Next Season
If Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora has one flaw, it's his persistence to find high-end relievers and turn them into below-average starters.
Every time a young hurler has found his grove in a specific role over the last few years, Cora tries to elevate them to a different one as soon as possible. He appears willing to do so again, not learning from his past mistakes.
“This guy (Josh Winckowski) can be a starter in the big leagues but then we have to decide what we do," Cora told MassLive's Christopher Smith.
"I’m not saying that’s the route we’re going to go," Cora said. "He can do both. But he was really good over there (in the bullpen) between him, Kenley (Jansen) and Marty (Chris Martin). They gave us three quality arms whenever we had the lead or in close games. He did an outstanding job.”
Cora even acknowledged that Winckowski had better stuff when he only went one inning versus multiple. Yet, here he is again, trying to get too much out of a player who found a role he's thriving in.
Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford are in the same mold. Some of their role changes were due to necessity this season but the overall trend is highly frustrating.
Whitlock in particular appears to be breaking down primarily due to the constant role changes and the injuries that have mounted under the larger workload of a starting pitcher. He might not ever return to his 2021-22 dominance.
Crawford has looked the best out of the aforementioned hurlers in a starting role but he posted a 4.51 ERA as a starter and a 1.66 ERA in relief this season.
Houck has a career 4.17 ERA as a starter and a 2.68 ERA coming out of the bullpen. Even his starting numbers are only elevated by the fact that he is taken out of the game prior to seeing the lineup a third time through. Almost every time Cora has attempted to push him past that, he's blown up.
Winckowski appeared to truly excel as a high-leverage reliever but he's far from capable of becoming a reliable starter.
The 25-year-old posted a 2.88 ERA with an 82-to-31 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .267 batting average against and 1.42 WHIP in 84 1/3 innings this season.
While the results were strong, his underlying numbers are not highly encouraging moving forward -- especially if Boston promotes him into the rotation.
Winckowski allowed too many baserunners, which led to a 3.91 FIP. In other words, his season was so strong because the dam never broke but he tested those waters many times. Under a larger sample size and the duress of throwing 100+ pitches, he's going to have too many imploding innings to keep Boston in the game every fifth day.
Winckowski can build upon his current role as a high-leverage arm with the ability to stretch out for two or three innings occasionally but should not be tossed into a completely new role next season.
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