The MLB Trade Deadline is rapidly approaching on August 3rd, and with just over a month before that, nobody seems like more of a seller than the Boston Red Sox. Still, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow refuses to commit to selling.
Breslow is in a difficult position. A year removed from a playoff appearance, he fired World Series-winning manager Alex Cora in April on the basis that this team needed a new voice to get to the playoffs. They’ve only gotten worse, though, and local ire is pointed directly at him. So, buying may not be smart for the Red Sox, but selling is an admission of failure. With that as the backdrop, Breslow raised some eyebrows with his latest comments on the Trade Deadline.
“We’ll be realistic and do what is best for the organization,” Breslow said, being quoted by The Boston Globe. “But I still think that we’re capable of playing better and stacking some wins together and hope that we can do that in the [coming days and weeks].”
Prior to this, Breslow has publicly shared that he thinks it’s too early to commit to selling. Instead, it’s his belief that the Red Sox are capable of going on a run and getting competitive for the Wild Card once again. Now, with the Red Sox still sliding in the standings, he wants his team to start playing better.
“The first thing we need to do is take care of what’s happening here and do everything we can to figure out how to play better baseball and stack some wins together,” Breslow said. “After that, when teams make the decision to sell off players, particularly those that are maybe on expiring contracts, you try to get the best return you possibly can. Sometimes that’s available early. Sometimes you don’t know what a team is truly willing to pay up until you’re closer to the deadline.”
Boston Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow Says Trade Deadline Decision Isn’t Clear
The Red Sox are now 32-45. That’s 14.5 games out in the AL East and 6.0 games back of the AL Wild Card. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but only one AL team has a worse record than the Red Sox, meaning they’d have to pass seven teams before cracking the Wild Card.
With that context, Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow says that it’s still not clear what the Red Sox should do at the Trade Deadline. However, regardless of buying or selling, he wants to be ready for next season.
“We’re still not at a point where that decision is clear,” Breslow said. “Because like I said, we’ve got a lot of baseball games to play between now and then, and we’re going to do everything we can to get the ship righted for 2026. Beyond that, we’ll take stock in terms of like, OK, what are our roster needs going to be? And how do we position ourselves to have the best 2027 possible? If that’s where things go.”
This is in line with previous comments that Breslow has made about the Red Sox. He wants more time to give the team runway to turn it around. Still, Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy has publicly admitted they may need to “pivot,” so time is running out.
Breslow Got Pushback for His Comments
Unsurprisingly, given the state of the team, there has been plenty of pushback against Craig Breslow from the Red Sox fanbase. That includes for these most recent comments.
Perhaps the most prominent name to push back against those comments was Jared Carrabis. Host of the popular Section 10 podcast, he wrote a sarcastic response on social media.
“When you’ve got the worst Red Sox team in over 60 years on your hands, you absolutely have to see it through,” Carrabis wrote. “Just in case.”
Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow Raised Eyebrows With Latest Trade Deadline Comments