Red Sox is moving struggling veteran Corey Kluber from the starting rotation to the bullpen, the manager Alex Cora told hosts Andy Gresh and Christian Fauria during a WEEI radio broadcast this afternoon (Twitter link). They will return to the rotation of five people including Sell Chris, James Paxton, Garrett Whitlock, Houck Tanner And Brayan Bello in this time.
Kluber hasn’t appeared outside of the bullpen since 2013. The 37-year-old has signed a guaranteed $10 million one-year deal this season, in hopes that he’ll deliver some. steady play for a team that is already fraught with injury risk (Sale, Paxton) and young starters that will be play-limited due to lighter workload in 2022 (Whitlock, Houck). However, things did not turn out that way.
Through his first nine starts with Boston, Kluber has been tattooed with ERA 6.26. His 88.6 mph average fast ball is the lowest of his career and he also has the worst record of his career in terms of hit rate (17.7%), go rate set (9.4%) and HR/9 (2.38). He had just one quality start to the year and only scored twice in the sixth inning. On average, Kluber matches lasted 4 2/3 frames.
Kluber became the second member of the Opening Day rotation to move into a relief role. Houck and Bello’s performances have also replaced Nick Pivettawho has started more Red Sox games than any pitcher since 2021 and led the team in pitches last season.
Houck, 26, has had some rough starts, although the resulting 4.99 ERA is still far ahead of what Kluber has achieved so far. Houck’s most recent bout—six rounds, one run, three hits, two walks, eight punches—in particular seemed to reinforce his decision to move Kluber into a relief role. Overall, while Houck’s ERA is just south of 5.00 by a literal narrowest margin, he’s performed near league-average hit and walk rates with strong grounding rates. 51.8% and a quality score of 0.92 HR/9. Houck struggled with basic men, resulting in a lower-than-average stranding rate of 61.8%, but plenty of points. positive in his overall performance.
Bello, 24, made seven starts and recorded an ERA of 4.08 over 35 1/3 frames. He’s slightly better than average in terms of strike and walk rates (23.6% and 7.6% respectively) and his 59% grounding rate is among the best in the league. Bello had problems with the long ball, serving the home team at almost twice the rate of Houck (1.78 HR/9). He’s managed to beat a whopping 81% of his opponents, which will be difficult to maintain, but if he can reduce the frequency of his home runs, the attack/go trio set/ground will allow him to continue his search successfully.
It should be noted, of course, that the move to bullhead for Kluber isn’t necessarily permanent – neither has Pivetta transitioned to a similar role. Both Sale and especially Paxton are still at risk of injury, and the Sox may still want to keep track of Whitlock’s (82 thirds in 2022) and Houck’s (60) play totals. As a result, there’s likely to be more opportunities in the rotation as the season goes on, though whether it’s Pivetta, Kluber, someone from the farm system, or an outside add-in that shows up those times will depend. depends on how Klüber and Pivetta perform with relief and whether they continue to stretch in multi-set roles.
