TORONTO — A few hours before the first pitch of the final regular season road game for the Boston Red Sox, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow reflected on his first season with the club.
Breslow spoke for roughly 20 minutes with a few reporters on the trip in Toronto about the current state of the team, evaluated his own job performance and looked ahead to what should be a busy offseason.
Here a are a few highlights from the session:
A missed opportunity
As the Red Sox took the field for the final game of their series in Toronto, they were still in the postseason hunt, albeit barely. And yet with so many teams struggling to secure wild-card spots, the Red Sox position on the outside edges of the wild-card race looks like a missed opportunity.
Breslow said if the Red Sox do miss out on the postseason, he’ll view the year as disappointment.
“I think you have to,” he said. “I think we play these games to make it to the postseason, win the World Series. And so falling short of that, it should be a disappointment. I want it to be a disappointment. I want it to hurt.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t find things that we did well or things that are encouraging or reasons for optimism,” he added. “But at the end of the day, you play these seasons to win games and get to the postseason. We are potentially looking at a season where that didn’t happen.”
Campbell, the 23-year-old who was named Prospect of the Year by The Athletic’s Keith Law, also earned Minor League of the Year status from Baseball America this week.
As a right-handed hitter, Campbell seemingly has a chance to make the 2025 Opening Day roster.
Asked about his preference for Campbell to get more time in Triple A versus starting his major-leaguer career near the start of next season, Breslow kept the door open.
“I think it’s really early to make any type of prediction there, right now we’re focused on having as productive an offseason for those guys as we can and hitting on their developing goals,” he said.
Kristian Campbell wasting NO time.
So far tonight: 2 H, 3 RBI pic.twitter.com/A9ZY9qZlgw
— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) August 21, 2024
When asked where he sees the versatile Campbell’s best defensive fit, Breslow highlighted Campbell’s impact across the field.
“It’s kind of hard to forecast because wherever we’ve put him, he’s excelled,” Breslow said. “I wouldn’t want to diminish the possibility he can play anywhere on the field. He’s obviously had a tremendous impact in the batter’s box. But also, this guy was supposed to be an outfielder and who could play the middle of the field. He’s shown he can do that. He’s gotten some reps at third base, and he’s looked comfortable there. Shortstop, the mechanics are a little bit unorthodox, but the end of the day, he’s converting ground balls into outs and that’s what we care about.
“So I think that versatility is going to be really beneficial. We saw (Wednesday) night the way that Alex (Cora) can mix and match the entire roster. So I think we’ll see. But my guess is we’re going to continue to develop him and make sure that what we preserve is the athleticism, versatility and his ability to impact the ball.”
Rafael Devers’ conditioning routine
Breslow reiterated that they do not expect Devers to need surgery on either shoulder and that rest has been the recommended approach. He did, however, suggest a different kind offseason conditioning program for Devers.
“Raffy is a guy who’s pretty diligent in his work, and so I would be very, very careful to ensure that this doesn’t come across as though he isn’t doing enough,” Breslow said. “I think maybe we can just be more targeted now, knowing that he’s got an incredibly aggressive swing, there’s a ton of bad speed, and that takes a toll on one’s body.”
Who’s the closer?
Notably, Breslow said that if Liam Hendriks’ offseason goes well, and he comes into spring training with no restrictions, they expect him to contribute in the back end of the bullpen next season. While he referenced Hendriks’ “track record as an elite closer,” he did not say Hendriks would be the closer in 2025 if healthy. Cora has mentioned Justin Slaten’s potential as a closer at various points this season and it seems there could be a scenario where Hendriks, coming off surgery, is the eighth-inning setup man. It’s something to watch this winter.
Rotation upgrades
Though the Red Sox saw significant steps forward in the rotation from Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford while watching Brayan Bello rebound after a rough first half, adding to the rotation will once again be at the forefront of conversation this winter.
When asked about the need for a front-line starter, Breslow wasn’t definitive about adding one, but did suggest trades might be on the horizon given the top-heavy position player group in the minors.
“I think every team needs someone to front the rotation,” Breslow said. “I think the question is, what does that look like? Where does the availability come from? Do we have guys that can take another meaningful step forward and pitch at the front of the rotation. Because there were stretches this season where any number of guys pitched like a legitimate front of the rotation starter. Now, that said, our system, we are certainly biased in the direction of position players, and that’s something that we have to address. So we will absolutely look to do that.”
Breslow admitted the burgeoning young core gives them a sustainable pipeline of talent, but noted the need to balance that out.
“I think we have seen the ability to be competitive in the AL East with a young group that’s really exciting, athletic, really dynamic,” he said. “And we have to figure out what the right pieces are after that. It is likely that some of that comes via trade because there’s only so many middle infielders, left-handed hitting outfielders that we can play at any given time. In a perfect world, you kind of stagger the matriculation off of your system, but we have to deal with the realities that we currently have, which is I think there are a lot of players that will impact the major leagues in the future.”
Will the Red Sox spend this winter?
It’s been a long-running question and, of course, Breslow did not give a hard-and-fast answer.
“Those conversations are always ongoing. I feel like when opportunities to improve our team exist — and we should be aggressive in trying to find those opportunities — we take them to ownership,” he said. “I think we’re going to have the support to do that. But, it’s kind of premature right now to say exactly what that will look like outside of everyone in this organization is excited about what we believe is going on and happening here.”
(File photo of Breslow: Charles Krupa / Associated Press)
