Today, the Red Sox revealed that Chris Murphy, a left-hander, had successfully undergone Tommy John surgery, which reconstructs the left ulnar collateral ligament. The lefty has already been placed on the 60-day injured list after it was revealed a few weeks ago that he had ruptured the ligament.
Murphy, who turns 26 in June, joined the Sox in the major leagues last season. Despite having higher underlying metrics, he pitched 47 2/3 innings over 20 outings with an earned run average of 4.91. While his 44.7% ground ball rate, 8% walk rate, and 23.1% strikeout rate were all rather near to the league average, his 67.2% strand rate and.321 batting average on balls in play were unlucky. He outperformed his ERA by more than a run with a 3.70 FIP and 3.88 SIERA.
He had been a starter in the minor levels, but that big league work was all coming out of the bullpen. He might have been demoted to Triple-A to provide depth in the rotation, or he could have continued to pitch out of the big league bullpen in his two remaining option years. After the ligament damage was identified, the Sox were spared from having to make that choice. Murphy will sadly have to miss the full season and probably a good portion of 2025 as well because he had surgery.
Murphy will receive major league money and service time while on the injured list the entire season, which is a bright spot. Next year, probably around his 27th birthday, he’ll try to get well and restart his career.
This increases the number of injuries that the Sox have to deal with in their rotation. After having elbow surgery, Lucas Giolito will also miss the 2024 season, and Nick Pivetta was just placed on the injured list because of a flexor strain. Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock, Brayan Bello, and Kutter Crawford are the team’s four rotation players as of right now, but their combined experience is somewhat bare. None of those four pitchers has ever hit 160 in a single season and none of them has more than 265 career innings in the major leagues.
The Sox are hopeful Pivetta’s injury is minor, but they will still need to fill in for him for a few turns in the rotation. Although Cooper Criswell and Naoyuki Uwasawa are on the 40-man roster but are presently on optional assignments, Josh Winckowski and Chase Anderson have made lengthy relief outings recently and could potentially be stretched out quite easily.