Red Sox Links: Garrett Whitlock Steps Up

Red Sox defense, particularly in the infield, continues to be dreadful. With Kiké now playing more innings in center field, it’s Triston Casas who has become the poster boy for sloppy play, but the team is hoping a tweak to his pregame routine can help things. (Julian McWilliams, Boston Globe)

And if you’ve been wondering whether Adalberto Mondesi will come back to help stabilize things, maybe don’t. (Greg Dudek, NESN)

What hasn’t been dreadful is Garrett Whitlock’s performance on the mound. Whitlock threw another gem against the Rockies and credits one particular teammate as being an important mentor for him this season: Corey Kluber. (Sean McAdam, MassLive)

Last night, with the Sox having slipped to two games below .500 in the midst of a season that, in some ways, appeared to be unraveling, Alex Cora rested Rafael Devers and Masataka Yoshida, who are arguably the two best hitters on the team (though Yoshida has been slumping.) Here’s a look at how the Sox decide to dole out their rest days. (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)

The front office is still doing damage control about the Matt Dermody affair. Yesterday, Chaim Bloom said they failed to do proper due diligence and that he “regret[s] it because it caused pain.” Then Dermody went out and started for the Woo Sox a couple hours later. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)