The Boston Red Sox named Craig Breslow as the team’s chief baseball officer last offseason and he has been busy.
Last offseason, the Red Sox didn’t do too much. Boston signed Lucas Giolito and Liam Hendriks and didn’t do anything too crazy aside from that. Boston opted to roll with internal candidates although fans, the media, and national pundits alike all went at the team for not doing more.
Boston dealt with a ton of injuries, but still took a step forward. Now, some of the same guys that were mentioned in trade rumors have developed into stars. Boston took a step forward last year and then followed it up with a huge offseason that included the additions of Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler, Alex Bregman, Aroldis Chapman, and Patrick Sandoval among others.
Breslow has gotten a lot of praise and he has really done a good job getting the team to this point right now. Boston is 7-7 so far but widely is considered one of the best teams in the American League on paper.
The Red Sox are in a completely different place and it’s clear he knows what he’s doing. The addition of Crochet and contract extension have been viewed positively across the league. He’s just 25 years old and looks like one of the top pitchers in the league. One thing that’s interesting is that WEEI’s Rob Bradford shared on Friday that Breslow first showed interest in Crochet before he even transitioned to the starting rotation this past season.
“Something learned about Crochet deal: Breslow was asking (Chicago White Sox) about him right after got the job despite Crochet still being a reliever at that time,” Bradford said.
The 2024 season was his first as a full-time starter and he was one of the best overall pitchers in the game. He finished the season with a 3.58 ERA in 32 starts and had a 209-to-33 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 146 innings pitched. The fact that Breslow had interest in him before he even went to the rotation is just another positive sign about his ability to evaluate talent.
Boston is lucky to have him and it should be a fun season.
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