Things just continue to get CRAZIER...

Things just continue to get crazier and crazier surrounding this Boston Red Sox organization as injuries were a huge focal point of the entirety of the season from pitchers to position players to everyone in between. But now we just learned brand new information from someone that had the keys in the biggest situations on the mound and how he was dealing with a substantial injury the entire time. but despite that he was out on the mound especially in a win or go home scenario in the wild card against the New York Yankees and I just can't believe that we're now finding out about all of this I'll break down all of the new updates surrounding top setup man in all of baseball Garrett Whitlock what he had been dealing with for how long how many games he actually pitched with it and why we are just now finding out about this and actually the severity of it and when we could expect to see him return to baseball activities. We'll break down all of that on this episode of Red Sox Digest. I do apologize for missing a few days. Things have been crazy in the life side of things, but we are back. Daily uploads are coming. I promise you we'll keep you updated with everything Red Sox all offseason long. So in order to do that, make sure you are subscribed to the channel. We do appreciate all your love and support. You guys have been crushing it despite the lack of uploads from us. So again, thank you. But now let's get to it and break down the Garrett Whitlock conversation as the injury bug had bit this Red Sox team all season long. Literally from the opening month to the final day, injuries just continued to stack up for this Red Sox organization and really put them in a very difficult spot in order to stay relative and stay consistent and stay competitive amongst the rest of the league. Now they were able to do so rattling off 32 wins out of 37 games, and they were able to get hot in the summer and propel them into the playoffs, which was great to see. It saved the season, but you cannot overlook the injuries and how much of an issue and how substantial they actually were. And now we have updates from Gabriella Starr highlighting that Garrett Whitlock was playing with a fractured fibula. That is not a joke. Like, we'll get to it now. This is the article from Gabriella. she posted it on her uh her twitter it was a boston or yeah boston herald article as well so you can go to the boston herald and look at it you can go to her twitter click on that picture i just showed you it'll take you right to the actual article itself but she goes on to say this garrett whitlock's career year included unknowingly pitching on a fractured right tibia not fibula i apologize that was not properly diagnosed until after the red socks were eliminated from the postseason last week the 30 year old reliever told the herald on friday over the last month of the season the right hander worked with the red socks staff to manage ongoing pain in his right leg so he could continue pitching he only underwent imaging after the american league wild card series whitlock said he will be in a boot for about six weeks but surgery is not required even with prescribed rest he is on track to have a normal offseason and expects to be ready for spring training what are we talking about what are we talking about Garrett Whitlock was playing with a fractured right tibia and the diagnosis that the Red Sox gave him was just hey your legs basically like hey we're just gonna do imaging how how this like this guy is one of the top setup men in baseball like you put him in a wild card game where he had to go out there and perform it seems like he played for the last handful of time with this problem it's it's not i just this is just amazing to me i don't know at first i thought it was the athletics specifically that had a microwave for an x-ray machine in house at their in their organization at their stadium specifically I don't know why but I think the Boston Red Sox have the equivalent to their actual medical side of the entire organization I'm not trying to just beat up on them but we had the thing with Garrett Crochet Garrett Crochet allegedly was dealing with one injury ended up being significantly worse he was out for a lot longer period of time than anyone expected because of the original diagnosis we all remember roman anthony sam kennedy coming out and being like well it's a strain in his finger and then roman himself had to come out and say negative it is not a strain it is a fracture i or excuse me not a fracture a torn ligament in his finger and there was back and forth there was this no it was that and blah blah blah blah blah the point of me bringing this up is because we are told one thing or flat out not told something like this case in Garrett Whitlock and then they go out they attempt to play they can't they're called soft because they can't deal with pain tolerance or a lack of pain tolerance in reality the injury is substantially worse than anyone ever reported or informed the rest of the fan base and supporters to your organization I just this is this is just too it happens too often at this point it has happened too many times up to this point in this year alone for me to just not be upset about it like garrett whitlock had been phenomenal phenomenal all year long fantastic no way around it like I understand he was only he was a setup guy but he was absolute nails sinker slider change up and guess what no one could touch it you look at some of these underlying metrics he's phenomenal top 90th percentile in the vast majority of them outside of what the innings pitched because he was a setup man he doesn't have to go out there all the time the strikeouts per nine again they're down a little bit they're in the what top 75th percentile compared to the 90th percentile for everything else yeah guess what weak contact also works whether it's up in the air or on the ground Garrett Whitlock was absolutely phenomenal this season outside of that game in the wild card where he has a 20 ERA because he gave up three runs on three hits maybe the fractured right fibula was the problem maybe maybe that had an impact in his abilities to pitch because if you look at the other games in the other times prior when he was in the postseason in the playoffs in '21 he had two one six he went one and oh in five games he had he pitched eight and a third four hits two runs earned and two walks 2.25 last year again one and two-thirds three hits one earned run two walks okay i know the three hits and ending it in two-thirds but he only gave up one run in that time then this year 2.25 ERA okay that's just insane 1.13 hits three earned three walks i'm gonna say that the fractured right tibia that we're now learning about that he's been dealing with for some time and pitching on for some time played a bit more of a factor than anyone really gave credit for and everyone just thought Garrett Whitlock had let the pressure get to him no probably not in 54 games this year he went seven and two with a 1.72 ERA four saves 26 holds in 52 and a third innings pitched he only gave up 38 hits he only gave up 10 earned runs And he only walked nine guys in 52 in a third innings. Okay, that's a 1.72 ERA. This is the best setup man in all of baseball. This was his best year, a career year for him. And if you don't see him go down with a fractured right tibia, there's a good chance this guy shoves in the wild card. And I'm pretty damn sure of it. The guy has been nails all season long and the moment has never gotten to him. Now, you look at the numbers, and this is arguably the biggest part of this conversation. Garrett Whitlock and the contract situation he's currently walking into. He's walking into the first of two club options with the Boston Red Sox. This year's price tag will be $8.25, I believe, yeah, $8.25 next year, if still with the Red Sox and accepted in the club option by the Red Sox. It will be a price tag of $10.5 million. those price tags for Garrett Whitlock going into next year age 31 season if we have baseball and then the season after that age 32 season again at 10.5 if he is anywhere close to the production and efficiency and consistency that we saw this year from Garrett Whitlock these are home run averages or it's not averages numbers and overall just values behind Garrett Whitlock in the dollar amount that Boston Red Sox would then owe him via salary because of the contract and the club option. Rather than going out there giving a brand new large extension where, yes, you'd have more control over him, but also the idea that you'd have to pay a lot more annually for him or really collectively in a total number for Garrett Whitlock. I really do enjoy Whitlock. I think he has been phenomenal all season long. And I think that he just has the ability to really dominate and remain as a high-leverage guy in this Red Sox bullpen. And you can't look at the playoffs and understand, wow, he has to get out of town. He's not built for the moment. Fractured right tibia, okay? And the fact that we didn't know about this and there was no conversations about this, really, really, it's just a bit frustrating in my opinion. Let me know down below, what are your thoughts and opinions on the entire situation involving Garrett Whitlock? And if you think, how much of a factor do you think the fractured right tibia actually played in Whitlock's postseason performance where he looked very, very human? Thank you guys for watching this episode of Red Sox Digest. I will see you guys on the next one.