Matt Johnson
The Boston Red Sox enter MLB games today with the seventh-worst record in baseball with chants at Fenway Park for an overhaul of the front office getting louder. It’s led to plenty of speculation about the job security of chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
According to Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, ownership is “not considering” firing Breslow anytime soon. In fact, he has so much support from the Red Sox front office that ownership has not once discussed making a change.
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Breslow, a Connecticut native, was hired in October 2023 to replace Chaim Bloom as the Red Sox chief baseball officer. Bloom was fired following a 2023 season that saw the club miss the postseason for the second consecutive year after posting a 78-84 record.
Boston failed to make the postseason in Breslow’s first year at the helm and, after the signing of Alex Bregman, he seemingly alienated fan-favorite Rafael Devers before trading away the homegrown star. Frustration from the fan base intensified after the club lost in the AL Wild Card Round last October and then let Bregman walk in MLB free agency without filling voids in the lineup.
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Breslow effectively cleaning house with the coaching staff was an attempt to salvage the season. While interim manager Chad Tracy has delivered a better record than Alex Cora did earlier in the season, both skippers still have sub-.500 marks this year.
The team’s issues also haven’t changed. Since May 1, the Red Sox have scored the fourth-fewest runs (127) in baseball with the third-lowest walk rate (6.9 percent). All the while, rival clubs are starting to evaluate the Red Sox roster to find specific trade targets this summer.
It’s not exactly clear what Breslow would have to do in order for ownership to make changes. Granted, the issue Boston runs into is that the Fenway Sports Group seems to keep pursuing the same type of top decision-maker with an emphasis on someone who can work with a more limited payroll. Unless either of those things change, firing Breslow might just mean replacing him with someone similar.
