Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer, Craig Breslow, joins!
Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer, Craig Breslow, joins! Do the Red Sox and Breslow regret trading Chris Sale? Thoughts?
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00:00Craig Breslow, good morning
00:02Good morning. How are you doing? Doing great win last night, and it looks like it's these guys are hanging in and it's
00:09It's gonna it's gonna be down to the wire here four games out with ten left
00:15Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think we can all be realistic that you know the we've got this
00:20Improbable but not impossible path ahead of us and the only thing that we can do is try to win every game every night
00:26you know last night was a was a nail-biter, but big win for us and you know, we'll
00:30Try to tackle the Rays tonight and not get too far ahead of ourselves, but obviously a huge series this weekend Craig
00:37Trevor story was pretty
00:40Up front when talking about the fact that the playoff hopes are less likely
00:45But they're still going out there and playing hard
00:47How important is it for you that you have guys in this clubhouse?
00:52That no matter where they are in the standings are going to go out there and give it their best shot
00:57Yeah, it's unbelievably important
00:59And I think that's a credit to the players and it's a it's a credit to Alex and the rest of the staff to keep those
01:05Guys focused, you know
01:06We've talked all season about the level of resiliency that they've shown and I think Trevor embodies that nearly perfectly right given that he had
01:15this this pretty devastating injury a couple weeks into the season and
01:19You know rehab fought to to get back and then here he is and then last night
01:23You know almost single-handedly won that game for us
01:25So, you know, I think it's really important. We talk all the time about playing meaningful baseball in September, you know
01:32It's important for the present
01:34It's also important for the future as there are a number of players on this team that you know
01:39We believe are going to be a part of really successful Red Sox teams
01:42For the future and
01:43Understanding what it's like for these games to matter in September is a really important lesson for all of us to learn
01:51Right Craig the the thing I was thinking I know that you guys are still focused on the season
01:57But like you said, it's you know, it's a very very tough hill to climb
02:01So as you're starting to look towards the offseason and I don't want to get into specific players of you know
02:07Free-agents, but some of those guys that you might have been looking at
02:11Through trades that could potentially still be there in the offseason of those
02:18Do you continue to kick the tires on players that you know might have been looked to be moved during the trade deadline?
02:25But it's still on the contract with other teams and still looking to maybe
02:29Be a big player in a trade market in the offseason. Not just the free agent market
02:35Yeah, you know I think
02:37We we have to be honest about opportunities for us to upgrade
02:42You know, we have to we have to look at every possible opportunity
02:46And I think you know the the opportunities to upgrade or the deficiencies on this team are pretty well documented right like
02:53You know pitching we we need
02:55You know additional starting pitching depth, you know, we need to take a hard look at our bullpen
03:01You know, we we obviously have Tyler right now, but he's kind of earned the right to explore free agency and
03:09You know the the right-handed power that plays so well at Fenway is going to be a massive hole that we're going to have to
03:13figure out how to fix
03:15Major League Baseball completed their investigation of Alex Cora over the comments that he made on Saturday
03:23I
03:25They there's no suspension. There's nothing I
03:28Just want to ask you you were a pitcher
03:31Are you comfortable with the comments that?
03:35Alex Cora made what happened with regards to Aaron judge and that whole thing
03:42Yeah, you know, I mean look like this is
03:44two incredibly competitive
03:47franchises
03:48you know the
03:50The performance history of Rafi versus Cole is pretty well documented. I think you know the the thing that I would say is
03:57You know, I think all sides kind of handled this in a way that it didn't bubble up
04:01It didn't become something more than it needed to I think
04:04you know that the judges comments were, you know, we're classy and
04:09professional and
04:11You know, it is clear right how much Alex cares about this team and cares about his players
04:17Craig we talked about or wiggy asked about trades about where you are now. I
04:23Are my partner here Chris shine loves golf and is a huge fan of Mulligan's
04:29So looking back on it 17 million dollars for Chris sale to win the Cy Young on another team
04:36Do you regret it?
04:39You know, it is a fair question and you know, there are
04:4429 other teams that benefit from Chris Fitching at the front of their rotation. We certainly would as well
04:50You know, I still believe that this trade, you know, I think can only be fairly judged or evaluated
04:58down the road right like
05:00You know Vaughn is the guy that we are excited to have here and he's a guy that we will have for a long time
05:06I don't think we saw what he's capable of doing over the course of a season
05:10You know
05:11I think the the Vaughn that we've seen over the last month or so in Worcester is far more indicative of the player that
05:16He can be in a player that he will be here
05:18But sure, you know, it hurts that Chris Taylor's having such a successful season in another uniform
05:26But I also recognize when you make these trades that's always a possibility and his talent was never going to be questioned
05:33Craig I always find it interesting at this point of the season
05:36When guys are banged up, obviously everybody's tired and dealing with something
05:40But Alex Cora had to talk about Kenley Jansen yesterday had to talk about Tanner
05:44When you guys only have ten left and you're four games out
05:48How do you deal with guys that have a shoulder issue that could turn into something more serious?
05:57Yeah, it's a difficult balance that we have to strike we are all incredibly competitive and we realize what is directly in front of us
06:04and so, you know, we have to straddle this line between
06:09You know what risk we might be taking on with the importance of the games, you know that we're playing every day and
06:15You know, it's it's most important that we look out for our players
06:19But there's no perfect solution to how you do that. And so, you know, we have to trust the players
06:25We have to trust the medical staff and we have to ultimately do you know?
06:29what we believe gives us the best chance of winning games and you know at this point just given the mechanics of
06:35you know of
06:37the IL
06:38You know anyone who goes on the IL is going to be out for the rest of the season and you know
06:42That can be a damning blow if it's someone who just needs a couple of days
06:45So we have to figure out how to navigate that we don't want to handicap our chances of winning games
06:50But we also don't want to be, you know, too conservative when when these games matter, frankly
06:56I've been hanging on a thread waiting for an answer to this one
07:00Did you make it to Pearl Jam or not? I
07:04Knew that was going to be the most pressing question. So
07:07On Sunday, I did not go I was with the team in New York and then a couple of days ago
07:12I stuck around heard the sound check and heard
07:14You know the first couple of songs, but I did duck out to get home for the kids bedtime
07:19That's something I haven't been able to do enough over the last year and felt like when I had to prioritize each of those
07:24I opted for the family. I will say this kids are the ultimate excuse because nobody can say anything to you like as soon as
07:32You shut everybody down, I mean, that's your favorite band and you only heard a couple songs a sound check I
07:41Don't know Craig
07:45I was at Courtney and I were at Post Malone. Did you go to Post Malone last night? Yeah, I
07:50didn't
07:51again
07:53Literally game so got out of here around 530 or 6. I just in time to watch. Yeah the
07:59The second inning of one of my son's I got twins
08:02So second inning pitched of one of my son's and a couple of bats of the other so it was a sacrifice well worth it
08:09Future Major League Baseball player or two over there
08:13hopefully a battery I
08:15Have a question just regarding the finances of these concerts
08:18Do Sam told us in spring training that the Red Sox were a break-even business?
08:25Are the concerts a different pot like is that a totally different entity that the organization views because they're using Fenway Park
08:32It's a a huge windfall. I mean the amount of money that must generate is
08:37Incalculable what what is that part of your budget? Is that something that's totally different?
08:43I'm actually not certain of the economics in terms of you know profitability of concerts or anything
08:50You know and not sure how much sense it makes for for me to understand any better outside of
08:56you know, I'm trying to put the best put the best team together that I possibly can and
09:03You know when there are opportunities whether that's you know trades or free agencies
09:07I take that to you know to ownership. We discuss whether or not make sense and ultimately make a decision
09:13Craig I mean you can you can go to John Henry and say listen you save some money on Sidney Crosby
09:19I want that money. I want to be able to spend
09:23Yeah, I don't think that would work out all that well, you know, I think one thing that you know Sam and others have
09:31Repeated is that you know, these are kind of standalone businesses that need to be operating
09:36On their own. All right, Craig. Well, listen, there's there's still a chance and we will be paying close attention
09:43I know you will too and thanks for taking the time this morning
09:46You've got it, thanks. Have a good morning. All right, there is Craig Breslow