Is Craig Breslow the Right Executive to Lead the Red Sox to a Championship?

There is plenty of evidence on both sides of the argument

There is no doubt that the story of the 2025 Red Sox is one of improvement. The “headline number” aka wins at 89, was the highest total since 2021 and the first time since that season that the team had a record above .500. A trio of new acquisitions (Bregman, Crochet, Chapman) fueled that record. Some other players stepped up, while others took a step back. Four rookies factored into the team’s success, but three of them did not play a full season.

There are as many question marks leading into the 2026 season as there were leading into the 2025 season. For now, let’s look at how Craig Breslow has improved the team (or not) since taking over before the 2024 season.

Offense

The Red Sox improved slightly in terms of offense over the last two years but have consistently been a top 10 offense. Their best hitter in ’23 and ’24 was Rafael Devers. Without him in 2025, there were enough contributors to keep the offense moving. Contributions from Bregman, Story, and Anthony were solid. Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, and Yoshida were very streaky, as was the entire offense. This needs to even out going forward, if that is even possible.

Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder were my offensive co-MVPs as there was no way the Red Sox made it to the playoffs without their contributions against left-handed pitching. Strikeouts weren’t as bad as 2024 but continue to be a concern.

Situationally, the Red Sox took a step back in 2024 and were even worse in 2025. The Red Sox were a middle of the pack team in 2023 but in ’24 and ’25 they were lower third in batting average with RISP and dead last in strikeouts with RISP.

Who is responsible for this? You might say it’s the hitting coach or the manager and you’d be right, but Breslow is ultimately in charge of his team’s performance. Just as Alex Cora needs to hold his coaches and players accountable for their poor performance, Breslow needs to hold Cora accountable. This can’t continue for another year. What changes will Breslow make to improve situational hitting? Acquiring one or two bats won’t make a difference. There needs to be a change in organizational philosophy.

Pitching

It is clear that pitching overall has improved since 2023. Last year they had a strong rotation led by performances from Houck, Pivetta, and Criswell. In 2025, the rotation gained an ace, and Bello stepped up as the number 2, but the rest of the rotation was plagued by either injury or poor performance.

What will Breslow do to improve the rotation in 2026? Will he go out and get a solid #2 or #3 starter or rely on the return of injured players and rookies? If the latter, I think that is a major failure on his part. There are several free agent starting pitchers that would be a good fit. Will he even have the backing of ownership to spend money on these pieces?

With Chapman and Whitlock leading the way, the Red Sox had the second-best bullpen in baseball. Even though middle relief was shaky at times, the back end performed admirably. With those two plus Slaten coming back, Breslow should be able to piece together effective middle relief. This should be a strength going into 2026.

I do think the poor WHIP, K/9, and BB/9 numbers are a concern. The pitching staff did not have enough swing-and-miss stuff, and they allowed too many baserunners. If not corrected, this could come back to bite them in 2026.

Defense

Let’s face it, the defense was bad in 2023, and Craig Breslow has done nothing to improve it. Replacing Devers with Bregman at 3B should have helped. Ceddanne Rafaela being one of the best defensive CFs in baseball should have helped. Everyone contributed to this one. Story had 19 errors. Eight other players had 7 or more.

Again, this problem is one of organizational philosophy. If there is no priority on defense from the front office, then no one can be held accountable. This is an organizational failure just like situational hitting and I’ve seen no attempts to correct either.

Positives

There is no question that Craig Breslow made good moves in the most recent offseason. Trading for and signing Garrett Crochet was a franchise changing deal. I honestly don’t think he had expected Aroldis Chapman to be as good as he’s been, but he gets the credit for it anyway, and he extended him for one year plus an option which is a good move. The Alex Bregman signing was good, but I think the structure of the deal (essentially 3 one-year deals with opt outs) will end up with Bregman looking elsewhere in 2026. Finally, signing Roman Anthony to a long-term deal may have been the smartest thing he’s done since becoming CBO.

Negatives

Craig Breslow has proven to be a horrible deadline deal executive. Danny Jansen, James Paxton, Dustin May, and Steven Matz are among the deadline acquisitions he’s made over the last two years. None have had an impact on the club, while other contenders have signed impact players that have fueled their playoff runs. This needs to change in 2026 if they are to have any chance of going deep in the playoffs.

The Rafael Devers situation was handled about as poorly as any handling of a star player I’ve ever seen. I won’t rehash the details, but not only did you lose his production, you essentially got nothing in return.

Breslow also had no backup plan for first base and DH. Once Casas and Devers were off the team, he struggled all year to find replacements for both positions. The poor performance at those positions certainly contributed to their failure to make a deep playoff run.

The Original Question

Can the Red Sox win a championship with Craig Breslow at the helm? My answer is no. He will be with the team in 2026 and may get them closer, but he does not have the talent, personality, or relationships with other executives that will take this team to the next level.

Deadline acquisitions have been proven to be huge factors in playoff success over the years. He is overmatched in this area. It has already been reported that he doesn’t have the respect of other team executives. I don’t know how you can make win-win deals if you don’t have the respect of other teams.

I also have seen no evidence that Craig Breslow has an organizational philosophy for this team. This is evident by the team’s poor fundamentals. If you have no plan, there is no way to make corrections along the way.

The Red Sox have momentum after a positive season, but there are holes to be filled and moves to be made. Will Craig Breslow be the right guy to make them? Only time will tell.