The Red Sox Are Failing Their Ace, And It Needs To Stop Immediately

Garrett Crochet has been everything the Boston Red Sox could have hoped for when they traded for him.

Through 12 starts, Crochet has a sparkling 2.04 ERA, striking out 89 batters in 75 innings. He'd finish in the top five of Cy Young Award voting if the season ended today, and his 2.4 bWAR ranks sixth among all pitchers in Major League Baseball.

But here's the issue: The Red Sox are 6-6 when he pitches for them.

Crochet took yet another hard-luck loss on Monday, allowing two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers and striking out 11 batters. It was his third loss of the year in which he was charged with two earned runs or fewer.

After Monday's game, Red Sox veteran outfielder Rob Refsnyder made it clear that it's unacceptable that the Red Sox are continuing to waste Crochet's starts.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the game,” Refsnyder said, per Sean McAdam of MassLive. “We feel like every time he goes to the mound, it’s a great thing for us. He’s such a competitor. It’s just disappointing that we can’t come through for him.”

WEEI's Joe Weil pointed out later on Monday that the Red Sox are now 1-4 in Crochet's last five starts, but the lefty still has a 2.03 ERA and 39 strikeouts across 31 innings in those starts. That's not just a waste, that's a complete and total catastrophe.

The Red Sox did a great thing by trading for Crochet, who is still only 25, and locking him up on a six-year extension. But they're failing to take advantage of the benefits he brings them, and that's not good for anyone involved.

“As long as I continue to do my job, I think that it will come together,” Crochet said postgame, per McAdam. “That’s really all there is to it.”

Hopefully, he's right. Because the alternative is missing the playoffs for a fourth-straight year and wasting the best season the Red Sox have seen by a starting pitcher since peak Chris Sale.