Red Sox's Craig Breslow Admits That He Has Underperformed Since Taking Over

Boston has done nothing of note this winter

Scott Neville | Feb 13, 2024

Red Sox's Craig Breslow Admits That He Has Underperformed Since Taking Over /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox faithful and media alike expected big things this offseason following back-to-back last-place finishes in the American League East combined with a myriad of personnel changes from the leadership group.

That narrative was driven from the ownership through baseball operations, including new Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow -- who boasted about Boston's rich resources and willingness to be bold during his introductory press conference.

Since then, it's been all downhill. The talk shifted from a "full throttle" offseason to not wanting to compromise future wins for current wins and a budget that continues to decrease for reasons unknown.

Breslow admitted that the winter has not gone as planned during a spring training press conference.

“We can appreciate that things haven’t come together in maybe a way that I anticipated," Breslow told reporters on Tuesday. "But, nonetheless it's not going to stop us from trying to pursue that vision of building this standard of quality and consistency I have spoken about."

Much like his predecessor, many of Breslow's additions have come with nearly equal subtractions. He added Tyler O'Neill to the outfield but traded away Alex Verdugo. He then swapped out Chris Sale for Lucas Giolito in the rotation.

Those moves did come with additional bullpen depth as well as second baseman Vaughn Grissom but the roster on the whole is arguably worse than last season after losing designated hitter Justin Turner, outfielder Adam Duvall, left-hander James Paxton and some ancillary pieces.

A move for left-hander Jordan Montgomery could salvage the offseason to some degree but is not nearly enough to get the team into contention. Even then, many speculate that signing Montgomery could force Breslow into trading closer Kenley Jansen.

The Red Sox brass continue to focus on the future and fail to realize that their lack of willingness to invest in the current club is preventing them from getting any closer to their aspirations of a perennial contender.

Holding prospects close to the vest is fine but they need to spend in order to climb into a window of contention. Until the team realizes they need to spend some money, they won't go anywhere.

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Published Feb 13, 2024

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu