Craig Breslow: CBO of the Red Sox

[moonslav59]

Brez is near having his first year as team CBO under his belt. He's already done a lot of moves, including some significant ones, as well as attempted to change the way we acquire and develop our prospects and players.  I won't get into the changes he has made to the scouting and development, so far, and those changes may take years to realize any gains (or losses.)

I hope this thread can be an honest look at what he has done, can do, should do and is allowed to do by JH & Co.

I'll kick the thread off by simply cataloguing his most significant moves made, so far. I'm sure I'll miss some or list some that might not be viewed as significant, but here is my list:

 Signed Giolito: $18M/1 w $19M player option for 2025 ($1M buyout) and club option for $14M for 2026 or $19M, if he pitches 140+ IP in 2025.

Extended Brayan Bello to $55M/6 w option for $21M in '30 ($1M buyout)

Extended Ceddanne Rafaela to $50M/8 w $16M option for '32 and $4M buyout

Traded for Vaughn Grissom (Chris Sale & $17M cash)

Traded for Justin Slaten- a Rule 5 pick (Ryan Ammons)

Traded for Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert & Nicholas Judice (Verdugo)

Traded for Tyler O'Neill (Nick Robertson & Victor Santos)

Signed Cooper Criswell ($1M/1 w arbs pending after 2025) and Chase Anderson

Signed Liam Hendriks $8M/2 w option for '26 at $12M (w $2M buyout- making it a $10M/2 or $20M/3 deal)

Traded for David Sandlin (Schreiber)

Traded for Isaiah Campbell (Luis Urias)

Traded for Quinn Priester 7/28 (Nick Yorke)

Traded for Danny Jansen 7/27 (Paulino,  C Coffey & G Batista)

Traded for Luis Garcia 7/29 (M Lugo, Kavadas, Zeferjahn & Vargas)

Traded for Lucas Sims 7/29 (Ovis Portes)

Traded for James Paxton 7/26 (Moises Bolivar)

Signed Dominic Smith (May 1st) and Brad Keller (5/28)

Signed Rich Hill (8/17) to minor league deal> majors

Traded for Garrett Cooper (Cash)

Traded for T Wingenter (CJ Weins)

Traded for Bailey Horn, Tyler Heineman, Zach Short, N Uwasawa (all for cash) Later, traded Short for cash. Traded Pablo Reyes for cash.

Rule 5 Picks: Mickey Gasper (minor league phase) & Shane Drohan returned to Sox

Waiver Claims: Romy Gonzalez, Max Castillo, Y Ramirez

Signed to minor league deals: Michael Fulmer (2 yrs), Jamie Westbrook, Joely Rodriguez, Wyatt Mills (2 yrs), Lucas Luetge

Drafted: Braden Montgomery (12), Payton Tolle (50), B Neely (86), Z Ehrhard (115), B Clarke (148) and 11 more pitchers and 4 everyday players. (14 pitchers out of 20 draft picks)

IFA signings: V Asencio ($1M), C Carrasqquel ($590K), E Brito ($450K), D Reyes ($450K- RHP), A Fermin ($400K), Justin Gonzalez ($250K) and many more to $200K or less

All-in-all, there were a lot of pitchers acquired, of which some won't play until 2025 or beyond, if at all.

We've already hashed out the Gio signing and Sale trade, and to some extent other moves, but not all that much.

[Old Red]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Brez is near having his first year as team CBO under his belt. He's already done a lot of moves, including some significant ones, as well as attempted to change the way we acquire and develop our prospects and players.  I won't get into the changes he has made to the scouting and development, so far, and those changes may take years to realize any gains (or losses.)

I hope this thread can be an honest look at what he has done, can do, should do and is allowed to do by JH & Co.

I'll kick the thread off by simply cataloguing his most significant moves made, so far. I'm sure I'll miss some or list some that might not be viewed as significant, but here is my list:

 Signed Giolito: $18M/1 w $19M player option for 2025 ($1M buyout) and club option for $14M for 2026 or $19M, if he pitches 140+ IP in 2025.

Extended Brayan Bello to $55M/6 w option for $21M in '30 ($1M buyout)

Extended Ceddanne Rafaela to $50M/8 w $16M option for '32 and $4M buyout

Traded for Vaughn Grissom (Chris Sale & $17M cash)

Traded for Justin Slaten- a Rule 5 pick (Ryan Ammons)

Traded for Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert & Nicholas Judice (Verdugo)

Traded for Tyler O'Neill (Nick Robertson & Victor Santos)

Signed Cooper Criswell ($1M/1 w arbs pending after 2025) and Chase Anderson

Signed Liam Hendriks $8M/2 w option for '26 at $12M (w $2M buyout- making it a $10M/2 or $20M/3 deal)

Traded for David Sandlin (Schreiber)

Traded for Isaiah Campbell (Luis Urias)

Traded for Quinn Priester 7/28 (Nick Yorke)

Traded for Danny Jansen 7/27 (Paulino,  C Coffey & G Batista)

Traded for Luis Garcia 7/29 (M Lugo, Kavadas, Zeferjahn & Vargas)

Traded for Lucas Sims 7/29 (Ovis Portes)

Traded for James Paxton 7/26 (Moises Bolivar)

Signed Dominic Smith (May 1st) and Brad Keller (5/28)

Signed Rich Hill (8/17) to minor league deal> majors

Traded for Garrett Cooper (Cash)

Traded for T Wingenter (CJ Weins)

Traded for Bailey Horn, Tyler Heineman, Zach Short, N Uwasawa (all for cash) Later, traded Short for cash. Traded Pablo Reyes for cash.

Rule 5 Picks: Mickey Gasper (minor league phase) & Shane Drohan returned to Sox

Waiver Claims: Romy Gonzalez, Max Castillo, Y Ramirez

Signed to minor league deals: Michael Fulmer (2 yrs), Jamie Westbrook, Joely Rodriguez, Wyatt Mills (2 yrs), Lucas Luetge

Drafted: Braden Montgomery (12), Payton Tolle (50), B Neely (86), Z Ehrhard (115), B Clarke (148) and 11 more pitchers and 4 everyday players. (14 pitchers out of 20 draft picks)

IFA signings: V Asencio ($1M), C Carrasqquel ($590K), E Brito ($450K), D Reyes ($450K- RHP), A Fermin ($400K), Justin Gonzalez ($250K) and many more to $200K or less

All-in-all, there were a lot of pitchers acquired, of which some won't play until 2025 or beyond, if at all.

We've already hashed out the Gio signing and Sale trade, and to some extent other moves, but not all that much.

And with the 12th pick in the 2024 HOBO draft the Red Sox select Brez.

[Bellhorn04]

Definitely a mixed bag in Craig's first year.

1. Love the moves to acquire pitching prospects.

2. Hate the lack of moves to bolster the 2024 rotation.

3. Sale/Grissom/Giolito/Paxton/Garcia/Sims make me a little nervous the guy has worse luck than Joe Btfsplk.

4. If the Sox miss the playoffs this year, I'm afraid Craig gets a failing grade for 2024.  There's no excuse for not being able to beat out teams like the Royals and the Twins.   

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

4. If the Sox miss the playoffs this year, I'm afraid Craig gets a failing grade for 2024.  There's no excuse for not being able to beat out teams like the Royals and the Twins.   

Frankly, the Twins are a better developmental organization right now. If you look at the guys they've drafted and developed, they're in the upper third of baseball. They're quietly very good at what they're doing.

I view Breslow today as the Twins' current regime in 2017, maybe 2018. I think he's on the right path, he just can't get there overnight.

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Definitely a mixed bag in Craig's first year.

1. Love the moves to acquire pitching prospects.

2. Hate the lack of moves to bolster the 2024 rotation.

3. Sale/Grissom/Giolito/Paxton/Garcia/Sims make me a little nervous the guy has worse luck than Joe Btfsplk.

4. If the Sox miss the playoffs this year, I'm afraid Craig gets a failing grade for 2024.  There's no excuse for not being able to beat out teams like the Royals and the Twins.   

Brez doesn’t get any atta boys for his trade deadline acquisitions either IMO. He looked pretty proud of himself at the time too.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Frankly, the Twins are a better developmental organization right now. If you look at the guys they've drafted and developed, they're in the upper third of baseball. They're quietly very good at what they're doing.

I view Breslow today as the Twins' current regime in 2017, maybe 2018. I think he's on the right path, he just can't get there overnight.

I'm holding our ownership partly, maybe even 50%, to blame, for our failure this year  We have more money than the teams I mentioned but we're not really using it a weapon the past few years.

It's easy to say, but if they had given Craig a larger budget maybe he would have done something like sign Imanaga, which would have made a big difference.  

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Brez doesn’t get any atta boys for his trade deadline acquisitions either IMO. He looked pretty proud of himself at the time too.

Yeah, I mentioned those 3 in my point #3.

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Definitely a mixed bag in Craig's first year.

1. Love the moves to acquire pitching prospects.

2. Hate the lack of moves to bolster the 2024 rotation.

3. Sale/Grissom/Giolito/Paxton/Garcia/Sims make me a little nervous the guy has worse luck than Joe Btfsplk.

4. If the Sox miss the playoffs this year, I'm afraid Craig gets a failing grade for 2024.  There's no excuse for not being able to beat out teams like the Royals and the Twins.   

 

12 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Definitely a mixed bag in Craig's first year.

1. Love the moves to acquire pitching prospects.

2. Hate the lack of moves to bolster the 2024 rotation.

3. Sale/Grissom/Giolito/Paxton/Garcia/Sims make me a little nervous the guy has worse luck than Joe Btfsplk.

4. If the Sox miss the playoffs this year, I'm afraid Craig gets a failing grade for 2024.  There's no excuse for not being able to beat out teams like the Royals and the Twins.   

KCR had a winter spending budget that allowed them to sign several pitchers.

Of course, that does not absolve Brez from his big swings and misses on Gio, Grissom and most of his deadline deals, so far.

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Frankly, the Twins are a better developmental organization right now. If you look at the guys they've drafted and developed, they're in the upper third of baseball. They're quietly very good at what they're doing.

I view Breslow today as the Twins' current regime in 2017, maybe 2018. I think he's on the right path, he just can't get there overnight.

I agree, and a large chunk of his moves were designed for the 2025 and beyond teams:

Hendriks & Fulmer jump out as two.

Fitts, Sandlin & Priester, among others

2024 and beyond: Criswell,  Weissert, I Campbell & Romy

[Brock Beauchamp]

10 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I'm holding our ownership partly, maybe even 50%, to blame, for our failure this year  We have more money than the teams I mentioned but we're not really using it a weapon the past few years.

It's easy to say, but if they had given Craig a larger budget maybe he would have done something like sign Imanaga, which would have made a big difference.  

I agree in that had Breslow had more money to spend, I think he would have done so wisely. But this is a recurring trend across baseball. The Twins would be SO MUCH better if ownership hadn't slashed payroll by $35m (!!!!!!!). That's literally the price of one Carlos Correa. The Brewers are also down a bit. The Cubs, one of the premier franchises in baseball, are toying with staying under the CBT threshold.

I'm not a fan of this trend, to put it mildly.

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yeah, I mentioned those 3 in my point #3.

 

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

 

KCR had a winter spending budget that allowed them to sign several pitchers.

Of course, that does not absolve Brez from his big swings and misses on Gio, Grissom and most of his deadline deals, so far.

Bad luck, or bad judgement, but the 2 BP guys he picked up has pitched worse after coming to Boston.

[Brock Beauchamp]

BTW @moonslav59, thank you for starting a new thread about this! Topics like this are great conversation-starters.

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I agree in that had Breslow had more money to spend, I think he would have done so wisely. But this is a recurring trend across baseball. The Twins would be SO MUCH better if ownership hadn't slashed payroll by $35m (!!!!!!!). That's literally the price of one Carlos Correa. The Brewers are also down a bit. The Cubs, one of the premier franchises in baseball, are toying with staying under the CBT threshold.

I'm not a fan of this trend, to put it mildly.

They did do well with the Pablo Lopez trade & extension, buy yes, they are a fine example of a team, like the Sox, dealing with budget restrictions, but they have done better ... for 2024, anyway.

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

BTW @moonslav59, thank you for starting a new thread about this! Topics like this are great conversation-starters.

I think this topic deserved its own thread. It hasn't even been a year, yet, and Brez has already faced a lot of criticism, rightfully so on a few choices made (Gio, Sale/Grissom & 3 of the deadline deals.)

I do not think there has been enough talk on Slaten, O'Neill, dumping Dugo and his whole schtick, and the building up of our pitching depth (Weissert, I Campbell, Criswell) farm pitching...

?? Priester

10. Sandlin

14. Tolle

15. Fitts

23. Cason

30. Neely, 34. Reyes, 38. Horn, 44. Clarke, 45. Tygart and more...

[Old Red]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I think this topic deserved its own thread. It hasn't even been a year, yet, and Brez has already faced a lot of criticism, rightfully so on a few choices made (Gio, Sale/Grissom & 3 of the deadline deals.)

I do not think there has been enough talk on Slaten, O'Neill, dumping Dugo and his whole schtick, and the building up of our pitching depth (Weissert, I Campbell, Criswell) farm pitching...

?? Priester

10. Sandlin

14. Tolle

15. Fitts

23. Cason

30. Neely, 34. Reyes, 38. Horn, 44. Clarke, 45. Tygart and more...

Picking up O’Neil was no big deal. Duval last year, and Renfroe, and his 96 RBI were added 2 years ago, so those kind of OF are easy to pick up. Weissert, Campbell, and Criswell is depth, but quantity, and not quality.

[mvp 78]

Revamped pitching dev makes me feel much better about the farm today than 12 months ago.

mixed bag FA and trades (like most CBO/GMs) left the MLB team at about the same spot as before. 

first year grade: B

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Revamped pitching dev makes me feel much better about the farm today than 12 months ago.

mixed bag FA and trades (like most CBO/GMs) left the MLB team at about the same spot as before. 

first year grade: B

 

I'm hopeful the revamp of Pitching Development makes its mark, and it will take some time to start seeing the results at the big level, but I do like the fact that we have added more promising pitchers to the farm in the last 10 months than we have in a long time.

Of course, it would be nice to see some nationally ranked, but we have seen many pitchers showing real promise, this summer. I've never been one to favor quantity over quality, when it comes to pitching, but quantity is better than sparsity. 

We need some young pitchers to make some significant jumps in the next few years, but with so many of them, the odds have improved on that happening.

1-2 years: Priester, Fitts, Dobbins, Gambrell, Murphy, Mata

2-3 years:Perales, Sandlin, E R-C, Tolle, Early, Monegro, Paez, Mullins, Dean,

3-4 years: Valera, Cason, Neely, Wehunt, D Reyes, Clarke, Tygart, Carlson, Ingrassia

[mvp 78]

Perales was top 100 before the injury.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Perales was top 100 before the injury.

Good point, and maybe that had something to do with the revamped development system. It might take a while for him to get back to the top 100. I'm not sure who else has a better chance at jumping that much.

Sandlin?

Fitts?

E R-C?

Valera?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

I know CBO is all about improving the entire system, but most fans -- and we're mostly fans of the Major League team -- ultimately judge each season based on the majors.

We know we're watching an improved club from 2023, but few fans or team employees will be satisfied if Boston doesn't make the postseason. What player acquisitions did Breslow actually make that significantly made the Red Sox better this year? 

O'Neill either replaced Duvall or Turner, but didn't upgrade; it moved Yoshida to DH... but T.O. is now only an average outfielder, at best. Romy bumped Pablo as the all-purpose back-up; Reyes hit .287 last year, Gonzo is at .280, but neither was a 1.0 WAR.

Speaking of replacement players, Dom Smith was the ultimate in Beantown: 0.0 WAR. Do you like Cooper Criswell? Apparently, the Sox don't enough, even working on a perfect game (amazing the Rays would dump him; they love guys like Coop they can yank early in the World Series).

The only real new acquisition that has made a difference is Justin Slaten. When your best addition to a last-place big league roster is a decent bullpen piece, then your grade is barely passing: D.

Of course we all think Brez was limited to how much he could spend on upgrading; still, if Henry hired him with that explicit intent to do more with less, then failing to make the playoffs has to be considered a failure.

[Bellhorn04]

10 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I know CBO is all about improving the entire system, but most fans -- and we're mostly fans of the Major League team -- ultimately judge each season based on the majors.

We know we're watching an improved club from 2023, but few fans or team employees will be satisfied if Boston doesn't make the postseason. What player acquisitions did Breslow actually make that significantly made the Red Sox better this year?

Part of me is a little amazed at how upbeat a lot of folks remain about the 2024 team.  

They're 17-25 in their last 42 games (including the suspended game), for cryin' out loud.  That's roughly equivalent to the 24-36 performance of the much-lamented 2020 team.  Their run differential is down to +8.  They could easily end up under .500 again.

The owners and front office have done a phenomenal job tamping down fans' expectations.

All that said, nobody wants to just keep spouting or hearing Debbie Downer thoughts.  I'm just venting again and I'm itching to say something positive.

Hopefully Breslow and company get it together for 2025.  Hopefully.

[Old Red]

6 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I know CBO is all about improving the entire system, but most fans -- and we're mostly fans of the Major League team -- ultimately judge each season based on the majors.

We know we're watching an improved club from 2023, but few fans or team employees will be satisfied if Boston doesn't make the postseason. What player acquisitions did Breslow actually make that significantly made the Red Sox better this year? 

O'Neill either replaced Duvall or Turner, but didn't upgrade; it moved Yoshida to DH... but T.O. is now only an average outfielder, at best. Romy bumped Pablo as the all-purpose back-up; Reyes hit .287 last year, Gonzo is at .280, but neither was a 1.0 WAR.

Speaking of replacement players, Dom Smith was the ultimate in Beantown: 0.0 WAR. Do you like Cooper Criswell? Apparently, the Sox don't enough, even working on a perfect game (amazing the Rays would dump him; they love guys like Coop they can yank early in the World Series).

The only real new acquisition that has made a difference is Justin Slaten. When your best addition to a last-place big league roster is a decent bullpen piece, then your grade is barely passing: D.

Of course we all think Brez was limited to how much he could spend on upgrading; still, if Henry hired him with that explicit intent to do more with less, then failing to make the playoffs has to be considered a failure.

Well said. If the Red Sox don’t make the postseason for the third straight year it’s 100% unacceptable IMO no matter what’s going on down on the farm, and what might happen in 2026. 

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Part of me is a little amazed at how upbeat a lot of folks remain about the 2024 team.  

They're 17-25 in their last 42 games (including the suspended game), for cryin' out loud.  That's roughly equivalent to the 24-36 work of the 2020 team.  Their run differential is down to +8.  They could easily end up under .500 again.

The owners and front office have done a phenomenal job tamping down fans' expectations.

All that said, nobody wants to just keep spouting or hearing Debbie Downer thoughts.  I'm just venting again and I'm itching to say something positive.

Hopefully Breslow and company get it together for 2025.  Hopefully.

The bar has been dropped so low that a 82 win season will now look like a major improvement postseason berth, or not.

[mvp 78]

23 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Part of me is a little amazed at how upbeat a lot of folks remain about the 2024 team.  

They're 17-25 in their last 42 games (including the suspended game), for cryin' out loud.  That's roughly equivalent to the 24-36 performance of the much-lamented 2020 team.  Their run differential is down to +8.  They could easily end up under .500 again.

The owners and front office have done a phenomenal job tamping down fans' expectations.

All that said, nobody wants to just keep spouting or hearing Debbie Downer thoughts.  I'm just venting again and I'm itching to say something positive.

Hopefully Breslow and company get it together for 2025.  Hopefully.

I just think I had reasonable expectations. It didn't seem like a playoff roster. If the owner isn't letting the CBO go over the CBT as he's holding the org up for the youth movement to show up, I don't know how much you are going to get out of the MLB squad. I've been down on the Sox outlook since the Mookie trade.

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I just think I had reasonable expectations. It didn't seem like a playoff roster. If the owner isn't letting the CBO go over the CBT as he's holding the org up for the youth movement to show up, I don't know how much you are going to get out of the MLB squad. I've been down on the Sox outlook since the Mookie trade.

I hear you.  And the Mookie trade does indeed seem like the "inflection point", as they like to call them now.

[moonslav59]

Had we worked hard to replace Mookie, Porcello, ERod, Nate, Bogey and others, we'd be closer to being in competition. We replaced these guys with scraps and hope & prayer players coming off injuries or trying to regain some form from long ago (at a lower cost.)

We paid large & long to keep only Devers.

We spent significantly on Story and Yoshida. Jansen cost a lot for a closer, but that's about it for 5 years.

That comes up way short, in light of who we lost over the last 4 years.

[Randy Red Sox]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Had we worked hard to replace Mookie, Porcello, ERod, Nate, Bogey and others, we'd be closer to being in competition. We replaced these guys with scraps and hope & prayer players coming off injuries or trying to regain some form from long ago (at a lower cost.)

We paid large & long to keep only Devers.

We spent significantly on Story and Yoshida. Jansen cost a lot for a closer, but that's about it for 5 years.

That comes up way short, in light of who we lost over the last 4 years.

this team has gotten exactly what it deserves as a result of John Henry's PENNY PINCHING ways ever since he fired DD..  It is no wonder the miser is in hiding 99% of the time. I'd love to see him come to a game and have his face shown on the scoreboard. I think the fans would let him know exactly how they feel.

[moonslav59]

8 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

this team has gotten exactly what it deserves as a result of John Henry's PENNY PINCHING ways ever since he fired DD..  It is no wonder the miser is in hiding 99% of the time. I'd love to see him come to a game and have his face shown on the scoreboard. I think the fans would let him know exactly how they feel.

I wonder if you despise 99% of corporate leaders as much as JH.

[mvp 78]

8 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

this team has gotten exactly what it deserves as a result of John Henry's PENNY PINCHING ways ever since he fired DD..  It is no wonder the miser is in hiding 99% of the time. I'd love to see him come to a game and have his face shown on the scoreboard. I think the fans would let him know exactly how they feel.

He's intentionally being kept away from the media because whenever he is in front of the camera he says something that needs a PR spin. 

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I wonder if you despise 99% of corporate leaders as much as JH.

This is a very weird statement. Why should we feel the same way about the owner of Dunkies as the way we feel about the Red Sox? Is it the owner who has taken your favorite drink off the menu or someone else? For the Red Sox, we know that JH had a say as to whether or not Mookie was going to be here for life.