The Jake Bennett ride is heading back to Worcester for now.
The Red Sox officially recalled right-hander Jack Anderson from Triple-A Worcester and optioned lefty Jake Bennett to Worcester after Thursday night’s game against Tampa Bay. That is the kind of move that can look harsh on the surface, especially when a young arm finally gets his first taste of the big leagues and then gets shipped back down almost immediately. But this one feels more like roster math than a burial.
Bennett’s first MLB run was short, but it was not meaningless.
He got called up May 1, made his Major League debut against Houston, and gave the Red Sox five innings of one-run ball in a win. That alone is a damn good first impression. A lefty comes up, starts at Fenway, gives you five solid innings, and shows he belongs in the conversation. That matters.
But the roster picture changed fast.
Boston has starters getting healthier, the bullpen has been getting leaned on, and Justin Slaten is getting close to returning from the 15-day IL. So instead of leaving Bennett in limbo, bouncing him between emergency starter and long relief, the Sox sent him back to Worcester where he can keep starting, keep building, and stay ready for the next time the big-league club needs him.
Honestly, that is probably the right move.
If Bennett is part of the future as a starter, don’t turn him into a random bullpen patch just because the major-league roster is messy for a week. Let him take the ball every fifth day. Let him keep developing. Let him stay stretched out. Then when the inevitable injury, doubleheader, or rotation need pops up, he is ready to come back as an actual starting option instead of a guy sitting cold in the bullpen waiting for scraps.
And now Jack Anderson gets the call.
Anderson is the fresh arm in this move, and that matters because the Sox bullpen has been in that weird zone where it feels like everybody is either overworked, underperforming, injured, or about to get replaced. Over The Monster noted Anderson had already had a solid first MLB stint, allowing three runs over 8⅓ innings, but his latest stay could be short depending on how soon Slaten is activated.
That is the funny part of this roster move.
Anderson may not be coming up as some permanent solution. He might just be the bridge guy. The “hold it together for a minute” arm. The dude you call when you need fresh innings tonight but also know another move is probably coming soon.
That next move could be Slaten.
Justin Slaten is the real name hovering over all of this. He has been working his way back, and Over The Monster reported he threw a scoreless inning for Worcester in what looked like a strong final rehab outing. If Slaten is ready, he gives Boston a much more important bullpen piece than just a fresh arm.
That is why this feels like the beginning of a bullpen shuffle, not just a random Bennett option.
When Slaten is right, he matters. He is one of those arms you can actually picture getting leverage innings instead of just surviving middle relief. The Sox need that badly. They have had too many nights where the bullpen feels like a casino table after midnight — somebody might hit, but you are probably sweating every pitch.
And Boston has some real bullpen questions behind him.
Over The Monster pointed to Greg Weissert’s struggles, including a 5.52 ERA and four homers allowed in 14⅔ innings, and Ryan Watson’s 6.46 ERA in 23⅔ innings with a rough strikeout-to-walk profile. Those are the kinds of numbers that make roster spots feel very uncomfortable when healthier options start appearing.
So Jack Anderson coming up might be step one.
Slaten coming back could be step two.
And if the front office gets aggressive, there could be more than that.
The Red Sox do not need to panic, but they do need to clean up the relief picture. You can only play roster whack-a-mole for so long before the bullpen starts costing you series. If Boston wants to turn recent momentum into something real, they need more trustworthy innings after the starter leaves.
That is the bigger story here.
Bennett going down is not really the headline by itself. The headline is that Boston is trying to reset the pitching staff while arms start returning and the bullpen sorts itself out. Bennett gets preserved as a starter. Anderson gives them a fresh righty. Slaten waits in the on-deck circle. And a few shaky bullpen spots might be running out of rope.
For Bennett, this should not be viewed like a demotion of shame.
He came up.
He showed something.
He got his first big-league win.
Now he goes back to Worcester to stay ready.
That is baseball.
For Anderson, it is another chance to prove he can be useful.
For Slaten, it feels like the return is close.
And for the Red Sox bullpen, this might be the first domino in a much-needed clean-up job.