Article: Craig Breslow Has Won Over the Red Sox Veterans in the Clubhouse

[Alex Mayes]

Lost in all the trade deadline shuffle was an excellent piece by The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey about how the trade of Rafael Devers prepared the team as they were approaching the deadline. We’re not going to rehash that trade or dive into even more analysis than we’ve already done here at Talk Sox. Your opinion on the trade is likely solidified at this point, but what McCaffrey has written paints a much clearer picture of a President of Baseball Operations that understood that he was at fault for things souring between the franchise and their, at the time, longest-tenured team member. If Craig Breslow can realize that he has to be an effective communicator with his team, and is willing to work on something that he acknowledges he struggles with, then that should bode well for fans moving forward. 

McCaffrey noted a quote from Breslow’s press conference in the wake of the Devers trade in her piece; he said that entire situation “forced (him) to reflect on the interactions” he had up to that point with both Devers and the rest of the team and search for “opportunities to communicate differently.” He added, “I need to own things I could have done better.” For many people, owning up to mistakes of that caliber is something that they struggle to do. For someone like Craig Breslow, the public face of the Boston Red Sox, it has to be even more difficult. Breslow came into the job knowing that every single decision he would make would be put under a microscope by not only the fan base, but one of the largest media markets in the country. Still, in the face of that, he traded away the team’s best player and said that although it didn’t look like it at the time, he believed the team would be better without Devers. He was crucified by both the media and the fans in the wake of the deal. What about now, though? The Red Sox are arguably the hottest team in baseball and are showing no signs of slowing down. Breslow obviously had his finger on the pulse of the clubhouse in that situation—he just approached it incorrectly at the time. 

Arguably the most encouraging quote in McCaffrey’s piece is from subtle but strong team leader, Rob Refsnyder. “I think Craig has done an excellent job of communicating with us, and if established guys have questions, he answers,” Refsnyder said. “I think his communication and his honesty has been really good and if we don’t add, I don’t think it’s for a lack of effort by him.” That seems to be a complete 180 from how things were handled at the beginning of the season. As the deadline approached, more rostered members started to hear their names brought up in trade rumors and scenarios. Before, they likely wouldn’t have felt comfortable going to anyone other than Alex Cora to talk through those things, but now it seems like Breslow is far more candid with them. Is it a coincidence that once reports started coming out that Jarren Duran wasn’t being traded that his on-field performance saw an uptick? Did he have that vote of confidence from Breslow himself that settled his overactive imagination? We can’t say from the outside looking in, but it shouldn’t come as a shock if that’s what unlocked this form of Duran again. 

The team trusts Breslow to be the one to make the additions and put the team in a position to be successful. Just look at what Trevor Story told McCaffrey: “I think the closer the deadline gets, it’s easy to kind of play GM and be cooking up trades in your mind or whatever... For me, you got to keep the main thing, the main thing. A lot of other stuff is just distraction. Bres does a great job of identifying guys, and obviously that’s his job, so we’ll let him do it.” That’s a far cry from when Devers told the media that Breslow was the GM and needed to do his job when he was asked about moving to first base. Story’s attitude seems to permeate through the clubhouse. This team believes in themselves. 

Even though there was an excellent case for more additions at the deadline, the team seems to have rallied together and shown that this club is more than capable of making a run at the postseason. That’s something fans in Boston haven’t seen since 2021. While the additions of Steven Matz and Dustin May aren’t flashy, they addressed two areas of concern and should allow for the Red Sox to continue pushing towards an appearance in October. With Craig Breslow being more open and responsive to the team, it should be easier for them to buy in for the rest of the season and prove that this team is worth investing in for the long haul. 

Of course, it also helps when you extend your face of the franchise on a $130 million contract.

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[Hitch]

I think the players respect Bres which is something that is often overlooked when we talk of his communication style.

As a side note - Carrabis said a little while back that he was speaking to Bres and asking him to come on the pod, etc, and said to him - you need to show the guy that just spoke to me. Not the one you create for the world to see. 

I think he's likely much more natural with the players than he is with the press, in which he continues to struggle.

[Alex Mayes]

2 hours ago, Hitch said:

I think the players respect Bres which is something that is often overlooked when we talk of his communication style.

As a side note - Carrabis said a little while back that he was speaking to Bres and asking him to come on the pod, etc, and said to him - you need to show the guy that just spoke to me. Not the one you create for the world to see. 

I think he's likely much more natural with the players than he is with the press, in which he continues to struggle.

I debated putting that Carrabis quote in this actually. I think Section 10 would be a really good outlet for Bres to go onto to show a vocal portion of the fan base who he actually is.