Red Sox's Craig Breslow Era Is Set to End With A Whimper

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

By all accounts the Sox overvalued Duran, and it wouldn’t be such a bad look this season if he wasn’t awful at the plate this year

May i ask for just one account, where the other team offered ___ insert name___ and Brez said no. I'd love to know of just one, and don't say "Paredes or KMarte."

[Hugh2]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

May i ask for just one account, where the other team offered ___ insert name___ and Brez said no. I'd love to know of just one, and don't say "Paredes or KMarte."

I don't remember specific names being thrown around, but a lot of people on the radio, and soxprospects were mentioning that people around the game were talking about Duran being shopped in the offseason.  I think all the outfielders were so they just weren't overvaluing Duran but rather all their outfielders. 

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

I don't remember specific names being thrown around, but a lot of people on the radio, and soxprospects were mentioning that people around the game were talking about Duran being shopped in the offseason.  I think all the outfielders were so they just weren't overvaluing Duran but rather all their outfielders. 

Please, he's asking for specifics! You know, the things that aren't typically leaked. Seems like a fair demand even though all reporting in the offseason disagree with his current assertion. 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Please, he's asking for specifics! You know, the things that aren't typically leaked. Seems like a fair demand even though all reporting in the offseason disagree with his current assertion. 

FWIW, I take all off-season trade talk with a grain of salt.  I doubt any GM will tell a reporter which players he is discussing and for what?  My take hasn't changed in 50 years.  GMs will spread disinformation to writers who just want a story to print.  And they will give a heads-up to their favorite writers, but only after a deal is 99% certain.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

I don't remember specific names being thrown around, but a lot of people on the radio, and soxprospects were mentioning that people around the game were talking about Duran being shopped in the offseason.  I think all the outfielders were so they just weren't overvaluing Duran but rather all their outfielders. 

I am 100% certain Duran was being shopped. My point and question was who was offered for him? I never heard one specific name. I never even heard one specific team that was even asking about him.

It's easy to say Brez overvalued him, and he probably did, especially after 2024, but if no GM wanted him or offered anything, it's hard to say Brez missed the boat after 2025.

Many teams would not want Duran just because of hi $7.7M contract. That's maybe 15-18 teams off the books automatically. HOU seemed like the best fit, and I live there. All I ever heard was HOU did not want Duran: they wanted Abreu.

I don't think a single poster, here wanted Duran traded more than I did, and I'm talking even before 2025. The TV site is littered with Duran trade suggestions by me. Maybe the window for trading was open only during and after 2024. There have been several instances and events that have hurt his trade value beyond on the field blunderings. Maybe teams just never wanted him.

Yes, things may not be leaked, especially specific names, but did we ever even hear such and such team "is asking about Duran?" We hear that kind of thing all the time, but I don't recall hearing that once about Duran, even after 2025!

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Please, he's asking for specifics! You know, the things that aren't typically leaked. Seems like a fair demand even though all reporting in the offseason disagree with his current assertion. 

I'm not claiming Brez turned down offers. I'm asking what they were. At this point, any offer would likely look like a good one, and we could say "Brez dropped the ball," but I really wonder if nobody even made an actual offer.

Now, maybe they never made an actual offer, because Brez started the conversation with, "I won't settle for anything less than ____." In that case, Brez is still to blame, even if there never was a real offer. I know this might be the case.

[Hugh2]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I am 100% certain Duran was being shopped. My point and question was who was offered for him? I never heard one specific name. I never even heard one specific team that was even asking about him.

It's easy to say Brez overvalued him, and he probably did, especially after 2024, but if no GM wanted him or offered anything, it's hard to say Brez missed the boat after 2025.

Many teams would not want Duran just because of hi $7.7M contract. That's maybe 15-18 teams off the books automatically. HOU seemed like the best fit, and I live there. All I ever heard was HOU did not want Duran: they wanted Abreu.

I don't think a single poster, here wanted Duran traded more than I did, and I'm talking even before 2025. The TV site is littered with Duran trade suggestions by me. Maybe the window for trading was open only during and after 2024. There have been several instances and events that have hurt his trade value beyond on the field blunderings. Maybe teams just never wanted him.

Yes, things may not be leaked, especially specific names, but did we ever even hear such and such team "is asking about Duran?" We hear that kind of thing all the time, but I don't recall hearing that once about Duran, even after 2025!

He put up a 3.9 WAR last year and a 6.8 War the year before.  Even if any team thought he was the 3.9 guy and nothing else he's easily worth that contract.  $7.7 isn't a lot of money to even small market teams.  I really don't think 15-18 teams is accurate.  Maybe closer to 1-2 teams wouldn't want him for the money only. Did we hear specific names being thrown out for Abreu, or Rafaela??? doesn't mean they weren't discussed either. 

We know the Sox were shopping outfielders, the fact that we don't have specific names means nothing,  I'm pretty sure if a name gets thrown out there and deal never moves past "you want him? uh no" that stuff doesn't get reported, but rather the deals that come close and fall apart; those are the ones I think we are more likely to hear about.  The fact that we don't know specific names means a deal never became serious......which is exactly what you would expect from a team that is overvaluing their players. 

 

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

He put up a 3.9 WAR last year and a 6.8 War the year before.  Even if any team thought he was the 3.9 guy and nothing else he's easily worth that contract.  $7.7 isn't a lot of money to even small market teams.  I really don't think 15-18 teams is accurate.  Maybe closer to 1-2 teams wouldn't want him for the money only. Did we hear specific names being thrown out for Abreu, or Rafaela??? doesn't mean they weren't discussed either. 

We know the Sox were shopping outfielders, the fact that we don't have specific names means nothing,  I'm pretty sure if a name gets thrown out there and deal never moves past "you want him? uh no" that stuff doesn't get reported, but rather the deals that come close and fall apart; those are the ones I think we are more likely to hear about.  The fact that we don't know specific names means a deal never became serious......which is exactly what you would expect from a team that is overvaluing their players. 

I have never said Duran's name was not discussed. It's weird that we never even heard such and such a team is interested in Duran. Like I said, maybe there was some mild interest, but it never got mentioned because Brez snuffed it out early on by making high return value initial demands. I'm well aware that could be the case,

I don't think 15 teams wanted Duran at $7.7M on opening day or before for anything more than a halfway promising single A player. Maybe I'm wrong. He had a lot of baggage beyond $7.7M, which is actually a lot of money to half the teams. Take BAL, a near 15th ranked budget team. $7.7M would be their 9th largest contract. At least 10 teams have payrolls around $100M or less. I doubt any felt Duran was worth 8% of their budget.

Yes, I heard very specifically that HOU would give Paredes for Abreu. I'm sure many other teams would want a GG OF'er who hits .780 and has no "baggage."

My point all along has been that I wish I had some names of players we could have gotten for Duran. Maybe we'd look at the list and say, "Okay, Brez made a mistake, but not as big as we think it might have been."

I do think we could have gotten someone good for him right after 2024, but who else wanted him traded then, maybe MVP or notin? It seems everyone else called us nuts for even suggesting a trade, then.

[moonslav59]

Revisit this thread!

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Revisit this thread!

I gave Brez two atta boys yesterday.🤫

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I gave Brez two atta boys yesterday.🤫

So, it's 3872 to 2, now?

😛

[Hugh2]

One thing about being on top is the buck stops with you.  You get the blame when things go wrong, but you get the praise when things go right too. 

Right now, Brez is looking pretty damn good. 

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

So, it's 3872 to 2, now?

😛

Just going with the flow, and to me the flow right now is more, or less going for it NOW, and not waiting to later. I think the Rut  Man trade shows that to me. Giving up as many suspects as they did for someone who is currently injured, and with a lockout looming next year this seems more like a now move to me.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

One thing about being on top is the buck stops with you.  You get the blame when things go wrong, but you get the praise when things go right too. 

Right now, Brez is looking pretty damn good. 

That’s how it’s supposed to work to me.

[JoeBrady]

10 minutes ago, Old Red said:

That’s how it’s supposed to work to me.

Not really, but I will expand on that later.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

One thing about being on top is the buck stops with you.  You get the blame when things go wrong, but you get the praise when things go right too. 

Right now, Brez is looking pretty damn good. 

While that is undoubtedly true, there should be consideration to the moves he made, at the time he made them.  And at least some consideration for the peripheral stats and sample sizes.  Mead's .500 OBP and Miller's 0.00 are likely not sustainable.

[Old Red]

15 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Not really, but I will expand on that later.

It works for me. If it doesn’t work for you meh.

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

While that is undoubtedly true, there should be consideration to the moves he made, at the time he made them.  And at least some consideration for the peripheral stats and sample sizes.  Mead's .500 OBP and Miller's 0.00 are likely not sustainable.

Huh?😃🙈

[UtahSox]

Breslow looks like a completely different GM than a year ago. I wonder how much of an internal struggle there was between him and Cora. He has shown growth/ decisiveness/ aggression at times. I literally didn’t have a single positive thing to say about him June 2025- July 2026 (called him Beta Breslow)…. Probably couldn’t find a single positive remark I made in regards to him.

I just like that he is evolving even if just a little. Regardless of how this season turns out, I can see the vision Breslow built this team on and it’s been a fun year. I’d like to see Breslow and Tracy lead us in 2027. 

[Old Red]

15 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Breslow looks like a completely different GM than a year ago. I wonder how much of an internal struggle there was between him and Cora. He has shown growth/ decisiveness/ aggression at times. I literally didn’t have a single positive thing to say about him June 2025- July 2026 (called him Beta Breslow)…. Probably couldn’t find a single positive remark I made in regards to him.

I just like that he is evolving even if just a little. Regardless of how this season turns out, I can see the vision Breslow built this team on and it’s been a fun year. I’d like to see Breslow and Tracy lead us in 2027. 

I wonder if Brez is getting any advice from Theo on any of the recent moves.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Huh?😃🙈

I know I post a lot of stuff that you don't understand, but you need to be more specific than 'huh?.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, UtahSox said:

I literally didn’t have a single positive thing to say about him June 2025- July 2026

He was too quiet last June 25.  But his work in the off-season was nothing but home runs so far.  You probably should've had something positive to say.

[UtahSox]

No doubt, but I absolutely was furious that  We didn’t offer Alonso, trade Mayer and Early  for Marte, and of course I was on team Bregman after all that had happened with Devers…….

I’m the first to admit I was completely wrong. The way Durbin has turned around. He is absolutely my favorite Red Sox player and I’m just so glad we have him for years to come. I think his mental toughness is stuff of legend
 

I still wish we had Alonso at DH all year,  but I’m sure Craig did as well. It’s easy to spend someone else’s money.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

One thing about being on top is the buck stops with you.  You get the blame when things go wrong, but you get the praise when things go right too. 

Right now, Brez is looking pretty damn good. 

I do hindsight judgments, too, but I try to avoid them or lessen their impact on my grading a GM. In my own mind, I'd feel like a hypocrite, if I counted the Sale trade as a major deduction, when I liked the trade a couple days after thinking about it. Ultimately, he deserves a ding for that one,  but I don't think I ding him as much as others for that reason.

Of course, the bad deals get discussed more than the good ones, and sometimes trades and signings start off looking bad (Durbin, Giolito and to a lesser extent Sandoval and others) and turn out okay or even good, and sometimes the opposite happens.

Honestly, I thought Brez did a very good job last winter, despite not finding another big bat, but the Suarez signing and Durbin trade we done to offset that "miss" (Bregman.) I thought we'd do better than last year, and last year was not bad. When we lost so many games, I resisted blaming it on Brez, and often I asked, why not blame the players. I even got more critical of Cora than ever before, but that actually started with his avoidance of doing his job on talking to Devers.

The team we had on opening day was basically the same team Brez put together over 3 winters and two deadlines. The only real change was the players doing better, a new manager and Brez's bench guys stepping up bigtime. I remember some poster complaining about our lack of depth back before opening day.

I realize the bottom line is wins and losses, but some serious introspection should be taking place by those who live and die by it. How can they reconcile thinking Brez sucked two months ago and now praising him. It's the same team. Maybe cut these GMs some slack and realize that baseball is not so easily predictable and so GMs should not be so quickly judged. At least couch your criticisms with, "So far, it sure looks like Brez goofed on ____," or "That decision sure looks bad SO FAR."

Players and teams can turn on a dime. I'm not sure Brez deserved all the bashing two months deserve as much praise as he's getting, now. I've praised him a lot, because I liked almost all his deals when they occurred. (I'm not sold on the Mayer trade, but it's probably minor.) I was okay with the Durbin trade 2 months ago, too, and argued about who here cried about Harrison before he did well? Posters were bashing him for being "all we got for Devers." Same with Priester, and I'm still hopeful someone from that trade comes through. The Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler trade now looks like a win, while a month ago it looked like a clear loss.

Brez has been decisive.

He focused on fixing the pitching pipeline and acquisition formulas, and so far it seems to be working very well.

He hasn't hoarded prospects or babied vets. Things past GM were criticized for.

He's made many very bold trades and signings, and most have worked (so far) or are still TBD. 

He hasn't added any long term contract issues, although the Campbell and maybe Bello extensions look sketchy, but neither are like Story or Yoshida deals.

We have a young core of SP'ers with some vets on the right side of 31.

We have a young core of everyday players with 2-3 or more control years at arb or lower cost.

Our pen has Chapman as an old man, but Brez has had 3 straight pens that overachieved any of our expectations, so I'm willing to say he knows more than I do on pen building.

He's fixed our defense in a major way.

There seems to be less base-running blunders, and even when we were losing in April and May. (Less SBs, too, for some reason, but it's working.)

It's hard for me to point at one thing and say Brez sucks at ________.

I don't care if he was the 12th pick. I don't get the Bres-LOW nickname. I'm not slamming anyone for thinking this was not the year. I got on the top of the fence and even went over to the "Sell, sell, sell" side for a few days, myself. I do think some went overboard on attacking Brez's body of work and focusing only on wins and losses. We have gotten a lesson on that, this year. We all learned something.

 

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

No doubt, but I absolutely was furious. We didn’t offer Alonso, trade for Marteand of course I was on team Bregman after all that it happened with Devers…….

and I’m the first to admit I was completely wrong. The way Durban has turned around. He is absolutely my favorite Red Sox player and I’m just so glad we have them for years to come. I think his mental toughness is stuff of legend
 

I still wish we had Alonso at DH all year,  but I’m sure Craig did as well. It’s easy to spend someone else’s money.

I still wish we had another big bat, too, and I wanted one at this deadline. AR offers a chance for a vast improvement over Narvaez on offense, but he's no Alonso or Schwarber.

The thing about the Durbin for Bregman trade off is that it was more, and we can see it now,

Bregman, DHam, Harrison & Drohan

for

Suarez, Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler

How about that Perales for Bennett deal that kinds flew under the winter radar stations across New England?

Anybody upset we lost Dobbins (doing well, now,) Fitts, Clarke, Gallo, Fajardo & Aita? We got Gray and Contreras for that group.

Despite the injuries to IKF and Oviedo, those deals don't seem awful anymore, but winning helps with those type deals.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

He was too quiet last June 25.  But his work in the off-season was nothing but home runs so far.  You probably should've had something positive to say.

The thing is, everyone wanted Tolle and Early last summer.

I really like Tolle & Mead for this year and beyond.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Merloni yesterday traced the team's resilience and tenacity to the late June sweep of the Yankees when Durbin dislocated his finger, pulled it back into place himself, then homered to beat Schlittler the next night. Then Seigler got creamed in a collision at the plate, refused to come out of the game, and homered to beat Cole.

When Durbin had a tough start, his ex-manager Pat Murphy -- whose Brewers have the most regular season wins the past two years -- called Durbin "a winner in every sense of the word."

Personalities matter. Most of us appreciated the positive impact Bregman had on the Sox in '25. But Breslow didn't do so bad with the characters he culled from Milwaukee.

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Merloni yesterday traced the team's resilience and tenacity to the late June sweep of the Yankees when Durbin dislocated his finger, pulled it back into place himself, then homered to beat Schlittler the next night. Then Seigler got creamed in a collision at the plate, refused to come out of the game, and homered to beat Cole.

When Durbin had a tough start, his ex-manager Pat Murphy -- whose Brewers have the most regular season wins the past two years -- called Durbin "a winner in every sense of the word."

Personalities matter. Most of us appreciated the positive impact Bregman had on the Sox in '25. But Breslow didn't do so bad with the characters he culled from Milwaukee.

Very nice post.

[JoeBrady]

38 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'd feel like a hypocrite, if I counted the Sale trade as a major deduction

 

38 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't get the Bres-LOW nickname.

Everyone wanted Sale gone.  And everyone wanted a 2B (and still do).  Sometimes I wonder about my memory.  Until I come in here and realize that no one remembers anything.

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

 

Everyone wanted Sale gone.  And everyone wanted a 2B (and still do).  Sometimes I wonder about my memory.  Until I come in here and realize that no one remembers anything.

It was not everyone for sure. Many thought Sale still had hopes.

I disliked the money part, but I ended up being okay with the trade. I felt we "used the savings" to sign Gio who looked like a cinch to give 150 IP in 2024. (LOL)