The Boston Red Sox are making some ground in their baseball operations search. Boston will be in for an interesting offseason as they could have their next leader to replace Chaim Bloom. The club has been interviewing candidates over the last few weeks. Former Red Sox pitcher and current Chicago Cubs executive Craig Breslow is reportedly the clear favorite to land the top job.
Multiple people with knowledge of the Red Sox thinking believe the baseball ops search is heating up to the point where a hire may be imminent. Craig Breslow is the perceived favorite.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) October 24, 2023
Former Red Sox Pitcher Shipping Up to Boston?
Breslow is the assitant general manager and vice president of pitching for the Cubs. He spent his entire post-playing career with the club following his MLB season in 2017. The 43-year-old pitched across 12 Major League seasons for seven teams. The lefty reliever played with the Red Sox on two different occassions, once in 2006 and from 2012 to 2015. He played an integral role in 2013 World Series team, accumlating a 1.81 ERA in 61 games.
Why the Red Sox Are Targeting Breslow
Breslow became a strong figure in the Cubs pitching department. He earned multiple promotions that made him an assistant general manager and the senior vice president of pitching. He oversaw a rebuild of Chicago’s pitching development infrastructure. It took him as far as evaluating free agents while staying close to the everyday operations of the club.
Since Breslow has management experience, Boston could offer him a promotion to general manager. That could mean two things. First, Breslow could be the leader of the front office or as a second-in command under a newly named president of baseball operations. But, it’s increasingly likely he will overlook the front office.
Breslow is already on a similar path that’s similar to Chris Young, the general manager of the Texas Rangers. Young is a Princeton graduate who pitched in the majors for 13 seasons before working for MLB. Young was hired as the Rangers general manager following the 2020 season. He has helped lead the turnaround that has the Rangers in their third World Series in franchise history.
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