The Red Sox continue to play close games. They just need to win them.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Boston Red Sox dropped multiple winnable games within the same week. It feels like I’ve led off about three or four of these Brushback articles in the wake of games where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory—it doesn’t get any more fun to do it with every passing instance, as I’m sure you could assume.

What very easily could’ve been a two-outta-three trip to Wiscansin resulted in a sweep at the hands of the Brewers. The Miller Lites do not taste as well nor go down as easily when the Brew Crew spank your favorite team, especially when that set caps off a five-game dive; hope they brought their bathing suits. But hey: a series victory in Hotlanta helps stop the bleeding, at least for the moment. The 2025 campaign might not be totally slipping away just yet; hopefully we can get back to posting our favorite lady on Pod On Lansdowne’s Twitter page soon.

A three-day swing at Fenway against a beatable Angels squad and a trip to the Bronx for our first encounter with the Yankees lay before us in the coming days. A path back into the Wild Card conversation is still open, even when you consider how disappointing this year has been (I know that sorta sounds pathetic to mention—our standards should not simply be to be in the “Wild Card conversation” of course—but this is the nature of the situation, folks).

The question is: who’s gonna step up to make that a reality?

The pitching staff has its ebbs and flows. The Sox’s presumptive three and four hole hitters are going to miss significant combined time. Questions remain about when the best possible iteration of the team will be put out onto the field (looking at you, Roman Anthony). Yet even with all of that, the team continues to find itself in close games; entering Sunday, the Red Sox had been only one of five teams this season to play in at least 21 games decided by one run. Out of those five clubs (the Yanks, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco in case you were wondering), though, Boston’s 6-15 record in those games—or .286 winning percentage—was clearly the worst of the bunch. In spite of the flaws, they’re right in the thick of many of these games. In spite of the consistent knack of getting into close games, they’re dropping way too many of them.

So again: who steps up to change our fortunes?

It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.

HOT TO RO!

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

First baseman Abraham Toro deserves a hat tip this week following his recent play. He’s notched at least one hit in 12 of his last 14 games dating back to April 9, and his defense over at first has been steady enough in Triston Casas’ absence.

While his sample size thus far has been admittedly small, the OPS is north of .800 and his average sits above the .300 mark. He’s been squaring the ball up damn near 33% of the time, and while his expected metrics on Savant don’t really jump off the page, they show the makings of a guy who can do a serviceable job of filling in amid circumstances as dire as Boston’s first base situation.

What’s especially been encouraging to see with Toro’s approach at the plate has been the fact that he’s not being sat down by way of the K too often—something that many other guys in the lineup can’t say for themselves. Part of that lies in the fact that he’s only whiffed about 22% of the time. A 16-17% strikeout rate is absolutely going to play for a guy in that role moving forward. While I’m sure he’s not gonna be a guy who will hit .300 or slug over .500 over the course of the entire year—it’s hard to place that expectation on just about anyone in the league outside of a select few—I think we can expect Toro to keep providing competitive AB’s. His career K-rate sits at 17.5%, and he struck out 17% of the time across 364 plate appearances in 2024. Someone like that in the lineup is a breath of fresh air, considering that the Red Sox are one of only three teams across MLB who had struck out nine or more times per game prior to Sunday’s action.

This is what I’m talking about in regards to players stepping up. Rafael Devers can’t do everything on offense; the Red Sox need someone to elevate their game, keep the line moving, and get this season back on track. It probably won’t be Abraham Toro every week—especially if manager Alex Cora goes forward with his plan to get Kristian Campbell some run at first base—but Toro provides an example of what’s going to be needed over the next few months. To borrow a phrase from another professional team in the area: next man up.

Quality and Quantity

Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

To reiterate what I mentioned in the intro, the Red Sox’s pitching staff has had their highs and lows in the first third of the season.

Ace Garrett Crochet, the Boss Hog himself, is the clear exhibit A of the highs. His ERA sits just under 2.00 and his WHIP is just over 1.00. He’s currently tied for first in all of baseball with 101 punchouts. Sunday’s masterpiece in the finale against the Bravos—seven complete innings of one-run ball to go with 12 K’s—is the quintessential example of why you go out and acquire someone of his caliber. We’re blessed to have him as a part of this organization for years to come.

Yet as excellent as Crochet has been—and I REALLY am not trying to take away from his brilliance—I can’t help but notice the difference between the amount of volume he’s offering (good!) and what the rest of the rotation has provided (not so good!)

Garrett Crochet has logged 82 innings thus far in 2025; that’s good for the most in the entire league.

The problem: Boston does not have another pitcher who ranks among the top 100 in innings pitched. Walker Buehler has the next most innings pitched among the Sox’s pitching staff; his 46.2 innings pitched is good for 115th as of the time I’m writing this Sunday afternoon. Tanner Houck—the guy who’s been on the IL after a disastrous start to his 2025 campaign—slots in at 125th with 43.2 frames.

Surely you see the trouble with this. If not, let me put it bluntly: the Red Sox have the most innings logged by relievers in all of baseball, as of the time of me writing this.

I understand that, in a post-mid-2010’s-Royals world, more of an emphasis has been put on the arm barn across MLB. Your mileage may vary on concerns related to a starter seeing the same batting order for a third time, but teams do take note of that regardless of your feelings on the matter. Five-and-dive pitchers have become the norm in baseball.

The problem here is that the Red Sox, at least in recent weeks, haven’t even been able to consistently count on five-and-dive volume. Brayan Bello hasn’t registered enough work to qualify for a win since May 2; he’s been yanked prior to the conclusion of the fifth in (funnily enough) five straight outings. Lucas Giolito’s yo-yo nature thus far in his Red Sox tenure has seen him go back-and-forth between registering quality starts and being pulled early (although he was solid on Friday despite not finishing the fifth). Dick Fitts is still working his way back to full volume after his IL stint, while Hunter Dobbins—who’s been admirable in his role in the first few months—hasn’t registered a full five innings in his last pair of starts.

This isn’t even an indictment on the bullpen that’s carrying a lot of the workload. That unit’s actually been pretty dependable by-and-large, especially as of late. The Red Sox bullpen ranks seventh in the majors with a 3.61 ERA; the fact that no other unit has thrown more innings than them lends more credence to their performance thus far.

But now Justin Slaten—he of 121 ERA+ and sub-1.00 WHIP fame—is going to miss time due to a shoulder issue. It’s a considerable loss to a group that’s already been asked to do more than any other bullpen in baseball.

So, once more: who’s going to step up? Will Fitts get back to pitching five to six innings a night? Will Bello get through the fifth against the Halos this week? Can Giolito keep things rolling with his game? Can Buehler bounce back and shove? Similar to what I said about Devers: Garrett Crochet can’t throw 100+ pitches every day. Someone else has to make that extra step forward if we’re going to entrench ourselves back into the playoff race this summer.

Down on the Farm

Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

A quick shout out to both Franklin Arias and *checks* Jhostynxon Garcia, as they’ve both made significant gains in Keith Law’s recent top 50 prospects update on The Athletic. I know Law’s been known to call his shots outside of the consensus prospect hierarchy, so take this information for what you will, but I still feel like this is worth pointing out.

Roman Anthony is still in the top spot on the list, of course, and I don’t want to ignore that. However, it’s worth pointing out that the talent within the Red Sox’s minor league affiliates doesn’t start and end with him. If the best case scenario comes to pass, then the organization’s development team deserves to be lauded (I think I used that word properly) with praise.

Let’s start with the 19-year-old Arias, who’s jumped from 42 on Law’s preseason list all the way up to the eighth. It’s also worth noting that he was at number 76 on both MLB Pipeline’s list and Baseball America’s list in the preseason (again: my understanding regarding Law’s reputation is that he’ll stick his neck out compared to the industry consensus). Across 200 plate appearances combined in both levels of A ball through Sunday, Arias had registered a .362(!!!!!!!!)/.410/.476 triple slash. The middle infielder’s glove seems legit, as Pipeline has given his a 60-grade glove. He’s still young and there are plenty of levels left before MLB (two more, in fact!!!!!!!!!), but so far so good with Arias.

As for The Password, who’s gone from an unranked prospect on Law’s list to number 46, he’s just recently been called up to the WooSox. He’s put up a .294/.371/.479 triple slash in 186 plate appearances across AA and AAA. The guy can really hit the ball on the screws, and his solid arm ensures that he could at least serve as a corner outfielder in the future. Plus, it’s an 80-grade nickname. You can’t quantify that………..even though I just did.

Having this depth across multiple levels is great; the team’s ability to reload from within is a nice feather in their cap, if they’re able to turn these guys into big league contributors. The Password would be a top two or three young player in a lot of organizations, and yet he’s, like, seventh out of our young guns. I know 2025 has sucked so far, and I know you don’t want to keep thinking about tomorrow when the present could be so much better, but it’s still good to have that.

Another reason why that’s good to have: trade ammo. Not that I’m pushing the likes of Arias or Garcia out the door, but if one’s a middle infielder fighting for playing time with Marcelo Mayer and Campbell and if another’s an outfielder with Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu in the fold…well, something’s gotta give.

But that’s a different matter for a different day. For now, big ups to the young guys.

Song of the Week: “Shark In The Water” by V V Brown

BANGERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Same time and same place next week, friends! Go Sox.