Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Craig Breslow: "We Are Taking Meaningful Steps"

On Friday, Craig Breslow sat down with Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo from Masslive.com on their Fenway Rundown podcast and answered several questions over the 20-minute interview. Although he couldn’t get into details on thoughts on specific players, he touched on the current right-handed hitter situation, the bullpen, and the future of the team as a whole. Let’s take a look at some of his quotes.

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“The focus has continued to be on building a roster that can compete for the division and the postseason in 25 while balancing with a look at the longer term.”

I decided to start here, and we’ll jump around the interview a bit so that related quotes will be grouped. This is an excellent insight into how the team operates when looking at players like Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado. It’s been reported multiple times that Bregman is looking for a contract for at least six years. It’s also been discussed how the Red Sox, so far, haven’t been willing to go that long on an offer. If there’s belief in the young core, more on that in a second, then signing Bregman for the 2025 season makes sense, but locking him up long-term just creates more positional log jams very shortly. 

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“We are still very much engaged in trying to bring in a right-handed hitter, one we think can be a difference maker.”

At this point, I wouldn’t call Alex Bregman or Nolan Arenado, a difference-maker right-handed hitter. They would improve the defense in the infield, and metrics say that playing half of their games at Fenway would bring their numbers up, but once again, we’re looking at short-term improvements that don’t impact the team as the young core grows together. If the contention window isn’t wide open in 2025, adding either of these players doesn’t make much sense. The hope is that the team is in talks to trade for a right-handed hitter, but we’d have to imagine that most teams are not looking to move impact players right now as spring training is underway. Still, an addition later in the season would be welcomed.

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“I understand the criticism (of comments early in the offseason), but at the same time, my job is to put the most competitive team on the field as I possibly can, and we are taking meaningful steps towards doing that…ultimately I think the barometer for our success is going to be where we finish in the standings and that is absolutely the way it should be.”

I was relieved to hear Craig say that he understood the growing criticisms because it shows that the team is at least still somewhat plugged into the fanbase and their feelings. I also agree with him that the team has taken a significant step forward this offseason, thanks to the additions of Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler. Even the additions of Patrick Sandoval, Justin Wilson, and Aroldis Chapman helped to push the Red Sox in the right direction throughout the season. Holes still need to be addressed, but the Red Sox should be a better team in 2025 than in 2024. 

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“We are incredibly excited about Kristian’s and other’s future in the organization…at the same time, I don’t think it’s fair to put so much pressure on young, unproven players…To sit here in early February and say that our only path to success this season means these young players have to shoulder significant responsibilities is probably unfair pressure.”

Like most of the fanbase, the front office is excited to see what the top prospects in the system can contribute at the big-league level, but they seem to understand that placing such immense pressure on the young core could easily put them in a position where they feel as though they can’t succeed. That’s not to say these players don’t believe in themselves; they absolutely do, and I firmly believe that they would step into whatever role they were asked to with ease and be successful, but having other players in place to ease the young group into the majors could be a great path forward. It would give them veterans to lean on and learn from while allowing them to grow into themselves as baseball players.

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“Our hope is over time we can field a bullpen from homegrown pitchers, but right now we’re not there yet, and so if the opportunity exists to bring in someone who enhances that back end, particularly someone who can provide leverage innings, we’re going to be open to that pursuit.”

It’s nice to hear that the Red Sox are still looking for bullpen upgrades, but with pitchers and catchers reporting next week, the options on the free-agent market are thin. You’d have to imagine that if teams are unwilling to talk trades for position players, trades for relievers are even more unlikely. The Red Sox are counting on outside additions of Chapman and Wilson to help stabilize the bullpen while young pitchers like Justin Slaten and Luis Guerrero take the next step forward. Garrett Whitlock returns to 2021 reliever form after coming off an internal bracing procedure, hoping Liam Hendriks can be a lights-out closer again. That’s…a lot of counting on things that could easily fall apart early in the season. In some way, an additional impact arm will be crucial for Boston if they want to play into October this season.

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“Having Trevor (Story) at shortstop daily provides a calming presence across the infield.”

This is a factual statement; the infield did seem calmer once Story returned to the lineup to close the season in 2024. However, counting on Story as the everyday shortstop seems shortsighted, as he hasn’t been able to stay healthy since landing in Boston in 2022. They’ve been freak injuries, but the point still stands. I would love to see a healthy Story all year who can mentor the young infield, but I’ll still err on the side of caution here. Story can be an impactful veteran, especially if his bat starts to come back around, and can be incredibly useful as a clubhouse leader. We’re counting on him staying healthy for that to happen, and so far, he hasn’t been healthy in Boston.

All in all, Craig Breslow handled the interview well. He didn’t get into a ton of technical terminology that would leave the listeners lost, and he took ownership of some of the shortcomings of the offseason. As Red Sox fans, we all want to see our favorite team do more in the offseason, but sometimes deals don’t get to the finish line, and the Dodgers make a better offer because they’re the Dodgers. Breslow is correct when he says that the offseason's true grade comes at the season's end. Should the Red Sox surprise everyone, make a run at the division title, and make some noise in the playoffs, I think we’ll all look back on this offseason in a far more positive light.