So it looks like Garrett Crochet could be making his return for the Boston Red Sox soon-ish after being sidelined with a shoulder injury since Apr. 25. It's going to be a great day for Boston (who suddenly looks like legitimate World Series contenders) when Crochet is back on the mound, but the team needs to wait until it's 100% sure he's ready to come back before it happens.
At this point, the Red Sox don't need Crochet. He's just the cherry on top of what is looking like one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball and has for most of the season. Adding him back into the fold should boost Boston's chances at a title, but the team will also be just fine without him.
There is no reason for them to rush things (especially at this point), and they should only bring the 27-year-old back when they know for a certainty that it's time.
The Red Sox' rotation has been great without Garrett Crochet
It's almost easy to forget that Boston has been without its Ace for the majority of the season because of how good its rotation has looked.
Sonny Gray is having arguably the best season of his career and looks like a Cy Young candidate, Ranger Suarez was named an All-Star this season, and they have gotten good play out of their young guys like Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett (and Connelly Early, way back in the day).
According to FanGraphs, the Red Sox's starters rank ninth in ERA (3.91), fifth in quality starts (47), and 10th in strikeouts (563) across all of baseball (and for the WARheads, their 10.2 WAR is the eighth-best).
And they're doing all of that without their best starter, who finished second in AL Cy Young voting just last year.
Boston's pitching staff is already elite and is a huge reason for the team's success. The fact that they may be able to bolster their pitching depth by adding Crochet by the end of the season is incredible. But they also can't bring him back too soon just for the sake of having him back on the mound. They shouldn't bring him back too soon and take any risks.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, there is still a lot of time left between now and the end of the season, and there will be plenty of opportunities to get the "War Pig" back on the mound as they look to make some magic happen in October.
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