After filling in for about 100 innings in 2024, the Crimson Sox quietly resigned Cooper Criswell as pitching depth in 2025. There’s little question that Criswell was helpful with an ERA/FIP of 4.08/4.15. That’s stable manufacturing for the again of a rotation, to say nothing of a minor league depth man. However depth is what Criswell was signed for and depth is what he supplied. Sadly for him, when the Sox rotation appeared prefer it is perhaps one the breaking point after Could (the month not the Dustin), Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito each turned issues round. There have been sill points, they pushed very arduous for Joe Ryan on the high finish of the pitching market and bought the pitcher Could anyway as a result of they wanted arms. Plus the various callups from the minors. However there was sufficient depth to not want Criswell a couple of or two occasions a month, often out of the ‘pen.
Criswell did most of his work in Worcester this previous season, tossing 65 innings of three.70 baseball and hanging out 68. Strong sufficient. He made simply seven appearances within the majors in 2025, though he did accumulate his first profession save. He wasn’t fairly the hero he was in 2024 with a 3.57 ERA and 5.11 FIP, though 17.2 innings isn’t a big pattern. He had 9 strikeouts and 5 walks. It was a superbly cromulent MiLB veteran call-up season. The Crimson Sox gained 4 of the seven MLB video games he pitched in.
We might argue about his small MLB pattern and the hole between his ERA and FIP however actually the “dangerous” was that Criswell was harm in September. As Dustin Could imploded like a pink large star, the almost certainly possibility to switch him was lacking in motion. That did give us some electrical outings from Payton Tolle and Connelly Early, however I’m positive the steadier hand of Criswell would have been appreciated.
August 1. Contemporary off failing to discover a first baseman or top-end starter, the Crimson Sox had been welcoming the Houston Astros to Fenway Park. On the time the Sox had been dropping momentum and the Astros ascendant. And there was nobody to make the beginning on that fateful Friday night time. Breslow summons Criswell to Boston. And he tosses seven innings of one-run, one-hit baseball. A superb outing in opposition to a group operating across the league telling everybody they had been again! The sport took 10 innings so he didn’t get the official win, simply the one in our hearts.
Whereas he had nothing to do with it, in case you forgot, that recreation ended with the Roman Empire offering some offense:
Is Cooper Criswell sufficient? No. However he doesn’t need to be all of the depth himself. Fortunately the farm is simply starting to supply some younger pitchers out there to supply high quality main league innings.
As you’ll have inferred from The Massive Query (or just remembered from a number of days in the past) Cooper Criswell is again! As a pre-arbitration participant the Sox introduced him again for only a hair over the MLB minimal (a cool $800k). Because the SoxProspects guys mentioned on their newest podcast, one good characteristic about getting this deal accomplished early is ought to there be a roster crunch and the Sox attempt to DFA Criswell to slip him by waivers he’s on a assured deal so that cash must be paid. The claiming group couldn’t then merely launch him to unencumber a roster spot for themselves. $800k isn’t rather a lot however that little little bit of friction is perhaps sufficient to present the Sox the flexibility to maintain Criswell by a roster crunch.
