Craig Breslow Is the Main Culprit of the Red Sox Dysfunction

Craig Breslow and company promised the Boston Red Sox success in 2025, splurging on high-end talent. They acquired the likes of Garrett Crochet by trade and signed Alex Bregman to a huge deal. Not only did they acquire said guys, they extended Crochet and their rookie, also potential future All-Star, Kristian Campbell, to long-term contracts.

They set the stage for Boston, and the possibilities were endless. However, it turned out to be the worst-case scenario.

The Boston Red Sox had a rough start to the season, including the month of May where they went 11-17. June is usually the turning point for a team, if there is any. Afterwards, it almost solidifies where the team would be heading towards the middle of the season, which tells the executives whether to sell, buy, or stand pat and do nothing at the deadline.

As for the Red Sox, they had a six-game winning streak heading into Seattle. They swept the New York Yankees at Fenway, the ultimate momentum shifter for them. But right after the game, the Red Sox shocked the world that Sunday night on Father's Day.

Rafael Devers was no longer a Red Sox. In a shocking turn of events, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for four players: RHP Jordan Hicks, LHP Kyle Harrison, and two prospects; the Giants' #4 prospect OF James Tibbs III and P Jose Bello. As said before, Bello was not even on the team's top 30 prospect list. Additionally, but also most importantly, San Francisco was willing to pay all the remaining salary due on Devers' contract.

When the details came out, and fans saw what the return was for their former seemingly franchise player, social media was in delirium. The "cheap ownership" accusations caught fire once again, pointing the fingers at John Henry for not wanting to see through the Devers' deal.

Rightfully so, everyone wanted answers. The Red Sox had done this before, trading Mookie Betts in 2020 and Nomar Garciaparra in 2004. The sad part is, the Red Sox keep doing this. Many rumors were surfacing these past recent weeks about Jarren Duran getting traded, mainly to teams like San Diego. That was bad enough, but nobody expected this.

When did Breslow address this trade? Not right away.

Red Sox Dysfunction Directly Stems from Craig Breslow's Incompetence

With the team going to Seattle for their ever-long West Coast trip, the "press conference" was on Zoom. Understandable, but the problem was that he waited until 8 pm the next day to give his answers and perspective on the trade.

Breslow said, "As we think about the identity, culture, and environment that is created by great teams, there was something amiss here." This was pointed directly at Rafael Devers not wanting to make the sacrifices needed to help the team win. The clubhouse was also asked about how they felt about the trade, and most of them didn't feel much remorse about it. Notably, Jarren Duran stated he took a nap and didn't get a chance to really think about the trade.

Reading between the lines, this seemingly had to be done. So this was where fans started pointing the fingers at Raffy as well, seeing the signs since Spring Training that he was not being a team player and playing for himself. But then, more information was leaked.

According to reporter Joon Lee, Breslow was hired to sustain a long-term window and future for the team. However, Alex Cora contradicts this thinking as he is and has always been a "win-now" manager. The issue isn't with Alex Cora, but he did let things escalate in the locker room until it was too late, and ownership had to step in, including John Henry and CEO Sam Kennedy. He's also infamously benching the future stars like Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony (both left-handed hitters) against left-handed pitching.

But again, Cora isn't the problem, although his managerial decisions clash with the plans of Breslow. He wants to win, just like all Boston fans wanted out of this 2025 campaign.

Breslow is the real issue, and the Red Sox organization has been desperately trying to keep this under wraps and away from the public eye. However, the power of sports media strikes again. The front office staff who have contributed to the Red Sox championship windows, some from all the way back to 21 years ago in 2004, are now almost completely shut out of operations. Things started heating up last year in 2024, not even a full year after Breslow was hired.

In May of last year, Breslow brought in Sportsology to evaluate how this team was being run, an organizational audit, if you will. From what Breslow believed would help make things work better, it ended up causing many staffers to be fired, and most notably, it caused the aforementioned longest in-house voices to be shut out of operations almost entirely.

Then came the infamous meeting just months ago, where Carl Moesche, a longtime scouting supervisor since 2017, cursed out Breslow at the end of their Zoom call. Presumably, Moesche thought that the call had ended already, but unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case, and it cost him his job. Breslow fired him as a result just hours later.

Speaking of scouting, the player development and almost everything related to that, is now heavily relied on numbers and advanced analytics because of Craig Breslow.

While having analytics gurus and relying on numbers can definitely be healthy for a team, it's not a lifestyle towards talent. It's a rather robotic attempt at trying to focus on one aspect of the game, while stubbornly keeping pace in doing so and not trying to do or learn anything else. It helps make the team better, yes, but it will never get a team past mediocrity. It's evident with teams like the A's, the Rays, and even the Brewers on some occasions, although the list of teams is much bigger.

In this case, the Red Sox have now been heavily focused on swing and hitting analytics, which is rightfully frustrating the coaching staff. They feel that there's too much focus on things like this, while basic skills with the fundamentals of hitting and fielding aren't getting enough attention anymore.

Lee pointed out about Kristian Campbell in this case, and it's a very good example of what the Red Sox are teaching their players in the minor leagues. All of this has caused the Red Sox to lead the league in errors, despite having four Gold Glove caliber players. "This is the kind of stuff we still have to teach, at the big-league level."

Meanwhile, recent reports came out about an interview that happened with the Red Sox. They were interviewing somebody for their front office staff, but there was one problem: The person that was being interviewed was speaking to an AI bot, not a personal executive of the team, for not just one, but five interviews.

Afterwards, Breslow looked at the AI notes and then decided on whether or not to hire the person. The person being interviewed had been interviewed by other teams, like the Dodgers, among others, and all of them had a person at the other end of the phone call. This was "miles apart" from what they "thought" the Dodgers were doing.

Here's the problem: Andrew Friedman not only relies on numbers and analytics, but he also focuses on the people aspect as well. So if the Red Sox are seriously trying to emulate the Dodgers, then they have serious work to do, because this is not it at all.

Now, as for Breslow, he's running things solo. He doesn't want to hear about what's not important; he wants to stubbornly keep pace at doing what he wants to do, instead of doing what needs to be done. He may have thought Devers' actions justify this trade, but how does that explain the terrible return?

The Braves, among others, had reached out to Devers, but the Giants were the only ones willing to pay the entirety of his contract. He focused on the financial flexibility instead of the return. Breslow did want #1 prospect 1B Bryce Eldridge, but the Giants refused to do so...and Breslow still said yes to the trade. They could've gotten a better return for Devers; get a good eighth-inning guy and a couple of good starters.

However, he decided to get an outfield prospect and another pitcher who may not even make it past AAA Worcester.

Why haven't the Red Sox owners taken any strides to fix this? Well, there's no surprise to the right eye that the ownership has taken a serious step back towards operations. Ever since 2002, when Henry took over, he has been heavily involved in every baseball-related decision among many other factors towards the organization. He made it his reputation to make the Red Sox a winner, regardless of how much meddling he had to do to get it. However, Sam Kennedy has since taken the reins and is noticeably doing a terrible job.

This team has had no direction whatsoever since 2020. Conveniently, this all traces back to the Mookie trade, doesn't it?

More Boston Red Sox news and rumors: