Craig Breslow Has No One Left to Blame

Given his record, would you allow him to make decisions for the team’s future?

Craig Breslow was hired as the Red Sox’ Chief Baseball Officer on October 25, 2023. By all accounts, no fewer than 9 executives declined to interview for the job. Reported by various outlets, this included:

Brandon Gomes (Dodgers GM)

Sam Fuld (Phillies GM)

Derek Falvey (Twins PBO)

Jon Daniels (former Rangers PBO)

Kim Ng (former Marlins GM)

James Click (former Astros GM)

Mike Hazen (Diamondbacks GM and former Red Sox exec)

Amiel Sawdaye (Diamondbacks AGM and former Red Sox exec)

Michael Hill (former Marlins PBO)

Theo Epstein had hired Breslow as Assistant GM for Pitching with the Cubs. His role focused on the strategic management of the club’s minor league pitching infrastructure. It is assumed that Theo was a proponent of Breslow’s for the Red Sox job. Somehow, he thought he was ready to run an entire front office. Thanks, Theo.

Let’s dive right into his record with the Red Sox.

Free Agent Signings & Player Extensions

Breslow has made some good free agent pitcher signings, including Justin Wilson, Ranger Suarez, Aroldis Chapman, and extensions to Garrett Crochet and Chapman. Even though Giolito had a good 2025, Breslow did not pursue another year. Same with Justin Wilson. He was a valuable bullpen back ender, but Breslow chose to go with lefty Danny Coulombe to fill that role, who has been mostly hurt and bad.

Speaking of hurt pitchers, that has been kind of a thing with Breslow. He signed 3 injured pitchers (Giolito, Hendriks, Sandoval) for a total of $65M, knowing they wouldn’t pitch for at least a year. If Sandoval doesn’t pitch this year, he will have paid those 3 a total of $38M not to pitch. If there is a handbook on how to be a general manager, I’m sure one of the cardinal rules is “Don’t pay players not to play.”

We’ll get to Alex Bregman and Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the upcoming “power bat” segment.

Breslow has locked up four of his prospects (Bello, Rafaela, Campbell, Anthony) to extensions for a total of $295M. Bello has pitched in parts of 5 seasons and has been mostly inconsistent but seems to be falling apart in 2026. Campbell had a hot start in 2025 but faded quickly and was sent down after 67 games and has yet to come back to the majors. Roman Anthony was touted as the superstar of the future but has now had injuries in both his major league seasons. Ceddanne Rafaela is probably the only one that has earned his pay to date, playing a gold glove CF and having a good 2026 at the plate.

Offseason Trades

Obviously, the best trade Breslow has made for pitching is for Garrett Crochet. He is a legitimate ace and will hopefully come back from injury to have a good 2026 season. I’d also give him credit for Justin Slaten and Jovani Moran, who have been serviceable relievers. He didn’t have to give up too much for Sonny Gray and so far, the results have been mostly good. The Johan Oviedo trade was puzzling. He was supposed to compete for the 5^th starter job but lost out to Connelly Early. Breslow traded away a top prospect in The Password to get him, and he pitched 3.2 terrible innings before going on the 60-day IL. Tyler Samaniego, a throw in on that deal, could be a serviceable bullpen arm.

We’ll get to the Chris Sale trade in a bit.

Craig Breslow’s curious relationship with power bats

When Craig Breslow was hired in the 2023-24 offseason, the Red Sox only had one true power bat, Rafael Devers. Justin Turner had just turned in a good 2023 with the Red Sox but opted out of his contract. Other available power bats that offseason were Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Teoscar Hernandez, Jorge Soler, and old friend J.D. Martinez. Breslow chose to trade for Tyler O’Neill, an oft-injured RH power hitter who had one great year in his six with the Cardinals. He had a good 2024 for the Red Sox but only played 113 games and struck out a whopping 159 times.

In the 2024-25 offseason, the Red Sox still had the same need for a RH power bat. The offseason dragged on until that fateful day February 15, 2025, when Linda Henry posted a picture of her husband smoking a victory cigar. Alex Bregman had been signed to a 3 year, $120M contract, but there was a catch. Bregman could opt-out after either of the first 2 years. After a gangbusters start, he got hurt, came back, didn’t play well, and said screw this I’m outta here. So much for the ultimate team leader.

In the most recent offseason, guess what was on the top of the Red Sox wish list? You guessed it, but this time the need was two power bats because of the Devers fiasco (we’ll get to that in a moment). The two prized jewels on the market were Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber. Either would have been the Prince of Fenway and hit 40 homers as a Red Sox. By all accounts, Breslow put all his eggs in the Alex Bregman basket, but the Cubs offered him what he wanted (a no-trade clause) and the Red Sox would not match it.

The Willson Contreras trade has been very good, but it just wasn’t enough. Breslow’s attempts to further add to the offense resulted in the panicky acquisitions of Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Caleb Durbin, and Andruw Monasterio. The result is that the 2026 Red Sox are at or near the bottom of the league in every power category.

Midseason & Deadline Deals

When assessing a front office executive’s record at the deadline, you have to evaluate whether they are buying or selling. The Red Sox records at Breslow’s two deadlines to date have been:

7/31/24: 57-50 (+7), 2.5 games behind the 3^rd wildcard spot

7/31/25: 59-51 (+8), holding the 2^nd wildcard spot

In both seasons, they have been close enough to a playoff berth to be buyers. At least that’s what Breslow will tell you. His deals tell you something else. I think they are telling you that Craig Breslow is completely overmatched when he needs to deal with other teams, quickly evaluate trade proposals, and close the deal. The names you see above speak for themselves. They were all disasters and did more to hurt the Red Sox playoff chances than help them. This is why Breslow should under no circumstances be allowed to preside over another trade deadline, regardless of whether the Red Sox are buyers or sellers. He will be fleeced by rival executives once again and the Red Sox will be worse off for 2027 and beyond.

I said I would get to Chris Sale and Rafael Devers. Sale had a tough last couple of years with the Red Sox and was owed $27.5M in the final year of his contract. Breslow shipped him to Atlanta with $17M for Vaughn Grissom. All Sale did was win the Cy Young in 2024 and has been just as good in ‘25 and ‘26. Grissom was a bust and traded away for nothing. Sale was finally healthy again and ready to pitch at a high level, but Breslow obviously misread the situation badly.

The Rafael Devers fiasco was a lesson in how not to deal with your star player. Craig Breslow was a player once, but he seems unable to relate to his own players. He mishandled the situation twice, once when asking him to DH and the second time when asking him to play 1B. Sure, Devers is a bit of a prima donna, but as a GM you need to be able to deal with those types of players. It was one of the worst handled situations in Red Sox history.

My takeaways, draw your own conclusions:

Breslow knows pitching fairly well, and he should since he is a former pitcher and came up through the front office ranks as a pitching specialist; however, he has a propensity for signing hurt pitchers and trading away pitching prospects that do well with other teams.

He has demonstrated an inability to build an offense tailored to Fenway Park. Fenway is a hitter’s park, and the ideal hitter profile is well known. RH power hitters or LH power to the opposite field are what has fueled the Red Sox offense for decades.

He has demonstrated an inability to add impact players at the trade deadline. The list of deadline acquisitions speaks for itself.

He has continued the use of Driveline. Much of the Red Sox failures on offense in 2026 and hitting with RISP over the last few years can be traced back to the adoption of Driveline during the Bloom administration. Breslow has not changed this philosophy.

He has demonstrated an inability to evaluate talent. There are too many boneheaded deals to mention, but I think I have laid out for the main ones. I know a common response is “he’s just doing what John Henry tells him to do.” If that’s the case, then he should not have taken the job. Sorry, but the buck stops with him.

He has demonstrated an inability to relate to the front office, coaches and players. By all accounts, Craig Breslow is not liked by many people within the organization, including the front office staff that work under him. There has also been plenty of evidence that he can’t relate to his players, even though he was once a player. He routinely butted heads with Alex Cora and then scape-goated him when the team was playing poorly.

I suppose Breslow has performed as expected as the 10^th choice for the job. One of the problems associated with firing Breslow is who will take over next season, but that’s a topic for another day. My hope is that the leadership of the team will change as well, including CEO Sam Kennedy, but I won’t hold my breath. For now, we just need somebody to do a passable job of selling off assets for the best possible return.

John Henry, Red Sox Nation implores you, please make the smart move.