The Boston Red Sox could soon return to normalcy in the bullpen. Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten, who were both placed on the injured list with elbow inflammation last week, both had their scans come back clean after undergoing MRIs on Wednesday, per The Boston Globe's Tim Healey. Whitlock, 30, has been his typically nasty self this season -- putting together perhaps the best season of his career with a 2.05 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and 2.22 FIP across 44.0 innings pitched in 2026.
Boston has used him as the primary set-up man to tremendous results, as he has 21 holds and two saves. Slaten, 28, hasn't been as dominant but does have an important role as the club's most versatile high-leverage pitcher. The Red Sox certainly welcome the good news, as they have already seen their lack of bullpen depth come back to bite them in recent losses to the Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Tyron Guerrero and Erik Miller have been good enough to bridge the gap to Aroldis Chapman, but the former has struggled in higher-leverage situations. Jovani Moran has begun to struggle after surpassing his previous career high in innings pitched, while there have been issues all season for the likes of Greg Weissert. Brayan Bello might just be the best reliever in baseball, but has exclusively been used as a bulk option and has pitched in back-to-back games just once in his entire career.
It's a good bullpen, but it isn't a deep bullpen. Whitlock and Slaten would lengthen the list of options and presumably slide back into their roles as the primary seventh- and eighth-inning options should they return. Boston still needs them to start a throwing program before planning for a return, but the first box has been checked.
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