The Red Sox Have Lost the Human Element Under Craig Breslow's Leadership

Baseball has always been my escapism from the drama of everyday life. (If I’m seeking drama-riddled sports, I can tune into an early morning European football match on the weekend.) Even during the Chaim Bloom era, I found myself looking forward to watching games. Secretly streaming Red Sox games on my phone helped make my college night classes bearable. Sadly, the Red Sox are less enjoyable to watch in 2025 than in previous years because the organization is rife with drama, stemming from the front office’s leadership and poor communication skills.

Conflict has the potential to be healthy if handled properly with effective communication. The Red Sox’s divorce with Rafael Devers is the perfect case study on how not to address conflict. With that being said, the Devers trade is not black and white — it’s a nuanced issue, and I think both sides are culpable for communicating poorly.

The front office dynamics in professional sports are unique. Athletes generate revenue for the team with their performances, merchandise sales, etc. Theoretically, they should hold the bargaining power, but they’re ultimately told what to do by the front office. A self-governed team would be an interesting social experiment, perhaps conducted by Nathan Fielder?

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Breslow, 43, is well-versed in using advanced data and technology to aid in amateur scouting, player development, roster-building, and game-planning. But at the same time, he has a first-hand knowledge of clubhouse dynamics and the need to factor that into decision-making.

- Pete Abraham, “The Red Sox’ hiring of Craig Breslow is a best-of-all-worlds move"

The Red Sox hired Craig Breslow as their Chief Baseball Officer in late October 2023. Relationship building, whether it’s professional or personal, is a hallmark of personal fulfillment. As Buster Olney noted, Breslow did little to ingratiate himself with the face of the franchise over his one year and seven months tenure. 

Last May, it was reported that Craig Breslow hired Sportsology Group to conduct an audit of the team’s baseball operations department. The move was reminiscent of McKinsey’s infamous audit of the Astros, which raised eyebrows across the league. Why mix big business and baseball? Following the audit, several seasoned scouts were fired, fueling growing tension and discontent within the team’s scouting department. 

This unrest reached a boiling point last month during an internal Zoom meeting. Believing the call ended, Carl Moesche, the Red Sox’s former scouting supervisor, reportedly said, “Thanks, Bres, you f***ing stiff”. Any competent leader would have fired Moesche on the spot for undermining their authority in such a manner. However, the real question worth pondering is: what led Moesche to make such a comment? Was it just one disgruntled employee, or are there deeper issues at play? It’s likely that other scouts privately share Moesche’s frustrations, but they were more cautious in voicing their opinions.

Adding fuel to the fire, the Red Sox were listed as one of the least scout-friendly teams in Baseball America’s 2025 Scout Survey. Last year, Alex Speier reported that the front office staff and scouts were asked to accept pay cuts to remain with the organization. Baseball scouts, by nature, are scattered across the country, evaluating players in various locations. Moesche’s outburst could have been avoided if there had been more direct communication and in-person meetings at the start of the season. Coming from the Cubs, where Breslow worked remotely from his home in Newton, he may have been more accustomed to an online-focused environment and brought these principles with him to the Red Sox. In baseball, effective leadership and the ability to maintain personal connections are critical skills. While remote work may be an inevitable trend, certain aspects of traditional interaction, like face-to-face meetings, remain essential for fostering team cohesion and maintaining morale.

The Red Sox have overlooked the human element in their hiring process for baseball operations positions. Joon Lee reported that the Red Sox used AI bots to conduct interviews with candidates for not one but five rounds of interviews. Technology is beneficial, but at the end of the day, humans are the best judges of a candidate’s potential. Winning organizations are built on strong, human relationships from the ground up, and good employees can't be effectively assessed or developed solely through AI. Moreover, now that the public is aware of the team's automated hiring process, it discourages qualified candidates to apply for future positions.

Speaking from personal experience, I applied for Fenway Sports Management’s Associate Program back in 2023 and was prompted to provide a video on HireVue, a video-based AI recruiting platform. I chose not to submit the video at the time, as I had just started a new job (which I still hold today), but I can’t help but wonder if there were additional video interviews following the first one.

This leads us to John Henry, the owner of the Red Sox. When Henry took over the team (under Fenway Sports Group) in 2003, the Red Sox were his main priority. He frequently attended games and seemed to be in tune with the state of the organization. However, since expanding Fenway Sports Group’s portfolio with ventures like the purchase of Liverpool FC (2010), Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing (2007), and the Pittsburgh Penguins (2022), his involvement with the Red Sox appears to have waned.

On Friday, June 13th, Liverpool announced a record-breaking transfer to sign Florian Wirtz. While Henry is free to allocate his resources and time as he sees fit, effective delegation and management are crucial for the success of the Red Sox. Under Craig Breslow’s leadership, it’s clear that the human element and the connection between management and the team has been lost, and the Red Sox are paying the price for it. Delegating proper management for the Red Sox is of the uttermost importance. Craig Breslow has demonstrated that, while he may be an excellent baseball analyst, he isn't an effective leader of men, and the Red Sox have lost the human element under his leadership.