
The Boston Red Sox can’t keep their starting pitchers away from the Injured List.
The latest IL casualty for Boston’s rotation is Richard Fitts, who exited Saturday’s game versus the Chicago White Sox with right shoulder pain.
Fitts joins a trio of Red Sox starters who began the season on the IL: Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, and Lucas Giolito.
When Boston’s chief baseball officer Craig Breslow acquired Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler this past offseason, no one imagined that starting pitching depth would be among the Red Sox’s concerns in 2025, but here we are.
IL stints for Bello, Crawford, Giolito, and now Fitts, plus underperformance from Tanner Houck might convince Breslow to add more starting pitching sooner rather than later.
Breslow doesn’t have to bring in a blockbuster name, just someone to eat up innings. Los Angeles Angels starter Kyle Hendricks is one possible target.
Another under-the-radar target to keep an eye on for Boston is Los Angeles Dodgers 26-year-old right-hander Bobby Miller, who is rumored to be on the cusp of another call-up to the Majors.
Miller has been back and forth between the minors and The Show over the last year or two. He has a world of talent — it’s why Los Angeles selected him at No. 29 overall in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft and made him part of their Opening Day rotation last season.
But Miller has also struggled in stretches for a Dodgers team that isn’t currently designed to put up with anything less than championship excellence.
If the Dodgers are up for trading Miller, he’d be a low-risk, potentially high-reward arm for the Red Sox to take a flyer on. Other teams looking for starting pitching depth like the Milwaukee Brewers could be calling about Miller soon.
Boston’s pitching program has developed guys like Bello and Fitts recently. Could Miller become the next beneficiary of that program?