Is Craig Breslow adding at the Deadline?
Is Breslow and the Red Sox going to add before Tuesday's trade deadline? Breslow: "It's pretty clear our lineup is pretty left-handed heavy" "You always want to come to the conclusion that a team is worthy of looking for reinforcements." What position do they need?
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00:00Craig, when you look at where you are always in the standings, right, it's about making
00:07moves based on maybe what other teams are doing around you.
00:12And I think you're fortunate enough, even though you're on this little bit of a slump,
00:16the teams that you're chasing are kind of struggling a little bit.
00:19Does that make it even more important for you to capitalize on this opportunity, knowing
00:24that all three Wildcods positions are within grasp?
00:30Yeah, I think that's a fair characterization here, in that we can't do this alone, right?
00:40There are interactions between us and other teams.
00:42I think the other night when I looked up, I think every team maybe outside of Cleveland
00:47that was ahead of us in the standings had lost.
00:49And so when you win, there's a chance to gain ground.
00:52And a couple of those days that we didn't win, we didn't lose a ton.
00:56So I think it's really, really important for us to stay in range of the teams that we're
01:02chasing to stay close to that Wildcard spot.
01:05And obviously, the goal is to get back into playoff contention, and not just, as Alex
01:12had said, buy for the third Wildcard or the second Wildcard, but to make as much noise
01:16as we possibly can.
01:17Craig, just back to Alex for one more second.
01:20When you go talking about the fact that he feels comfortable here, his family's here,
01:25everything that goes into a decision to sign a contract extension, that was obviously the
01:31case during the offseason, before the season started.
01:33So what was the biggest change between the conversations you guys had before the season
01:37started and right now?
01:39Yeah, I think, being totally candid, the change was the relationship between the two of us,
01:46right?
01:47I mean, obviously, Alex and his family could love Boston, and this could be the place that
01:52they wanted to stay.
01:53But if the relationship between us didn't grow, and one of us had felt like we weren't
01:57the right partner or complement for each other, then it probably wouldn't have worked out.
02:01So I think that was the piece that both of us were feeling out a little bit.
02:05And I think that that is totally normal and natural and fair.
02:09And I think once we each kind of had the honest face-to-face, like, hey, I think this can
02:14really work, then at that point, the conversations progressed quickly.
02:19Yeah, I've been in a lifelong pursuit of a thought partner, Craig, so maybe one day I'll
02:24find one.
02:25But what's the latest on Tristan Kossas?
02:29We've seen varying reports.
02:30When do you expect him back, Craig?
02:33Yeah, so he's made quite a bit of progress over the last week or so, where he's taking
02:38swings at full intensity and taking full batting practice.
02:41So I think he could find himself in rehab games pretty quickly, as quickly as potentially
02:47even the end of this week, which is a great turnaround from where we were in the timeline
02:53we were talking about a few weeks ago.
02:55I think we've all talked, Alex and I have talked about the sensitive nature of this
03:03rehab in that there are some feelings and tolerance that Tristan needs to work through.
03:10We've been really, really excited about the last week or so and hope to see him in rehab
03:13games here shortly.
03:14Now, the benches cleared yesterday, and I'm a big proponent of trash-talking.
03:21How do you feel about that?
03:22Were you a big trash-talker?
03:23I know, maybe that's something we don't know about, you know?
03:26Maybe those, like, you know, five fun facts you don't know.
03:30Right.
03:31If I asked you guys to guess whether or not you thought I was a huge trash-talker as a
03:365'10 journeyman left-handed reliever, what would you guys say?
03:40I would say yes.
03:41I would say no.
03:42It's always the quiet ones.
03:43I guess it would be no.
03:44I'm going to call it, I'd say yes, because the quiet ones are generally a big time trash-talker.
03:49But Craig, who was the best trash-talker you ever played with?
03:53Dustin Pedroia.
03:55I don't think it's even close.
03:57Oh, that's great, yeah.
04:00But I mean, I like it.
04:01I mean, maybe not the subject matter in this particular case, but I, but I, I mean, it's
04:07you know, it's, it's, it's good to see, right?
04:09For the game.
04:10Yeah.
04:11And I think, you know, what we saw and obviously, you know, we'll leave specific content aside
04:19here was just, you know, guys that care about each other, guys that are protecting their,
04:22their teammates, you know, a ton of emotion and passion and that's what good teams have,
04:28you know?
04:29And so even, even after the game, guys talking about being there for each other and standing
04:33up for each other.
04:34So, you know, yesterday I think was emotional day for a lot of reasons with the Alex News
04:38and obviously the, the tough defeat, you know, but we had a chance to catch our breath today
04:42and then we have a really big series coming up starting tomorrow.
04:45Last one from me, been a lot of shows at Fenway of late.
04:48Did you go, have you seen any musical acts and are we able to determine from your attendance
04:54at any of the concerts, what, what is possibly one of your favorite musical artists?
05:00I was going to lead with that, but then I felt like there was more important things
05:03to talk about today.
05:05But I, I did, I did end up seeing the Foo Fighters and, and Noah Khan.
05:10I enjoyed both of those shows and I think, I think I'm prepared to move the Foo Fighters
05:14into one of my top three bands.
05:16Okay.
05:17All right.
05:18Not Noah?
05:19He gets the nod.
05:20Noah Khan was excellent.
05:21I thought too.
05:22It was excellent show.
05:23I just, I'm not quite as familiar with, with his music and so I'll, I'll give it some time,
05:29but yeah, it was a great show.
05:30Both of those were great shows.
05:31All right.
05:33Craig Breslow.
05:34Great job when it comes to Alex Cora and now get to work, uh, and, and get something done
05:38by Tuesday or a couple of things done by Tuesday.
05:41I thank you guys.
05:43All right.
05:44That is Craig Breslow.
05:45Hmm.
05:46Nuggets.
05:47New band.
05:48Nuggets from Craig.
05:49Um, that, you know, him and Cora, they, they, they have a, what we've seen to be a, a good
05:55relationship, a different relationship than he obviously had with Haim Bloom, I would
06:01guess.
06:03Yeah.
06:04I thought that was a great answer to Courtney's question about why now?
06:05And I, it's, it's refreshing to hear what we sort of thought that, you know, maybe there
06:10was a learning curve there.
06:12I, I was so wrong.
06:14I thought that the, I thought it was Haim Bloom and Mookie was, was a Cora and Breslow
06:19and even a month, less than a month ago on with Jones and Mago Cora was like, no, not
06:24even no.
06:25Hmm.
06:26But I mean, Curtis, if, if you're critical of this team and John Henry specifically for
06:30not spending, he certainly was willing to spend for Alex Cora.
06:34But that's some, I mean, yes, absolutely.
06:35Great.
06:36So you got to give him credit as much as it pains you.
06:39I don't, I mean, I've said a thousand times, John Henry, what he did with this organization
06:43is unbelievable.
06:44It's great.
06:45But just like he doesn't pay people in past performance, we shouldn't give him a lifetime
06:49free pass for it, right?
06:50They still need to do something Tuesday, but Cora agreeing to stay here makes me feel much
06:55more optimistic about the future of this organization.