WEEI Bosto_2025-04-10_15h43:07

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Boston has lost 3 straight. Is weather to blame? Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow joins! What does Breslow make of the recent strike out issues? Concerned?  Are SPs Lucas Giolito and/or Brayan Bello close to a return?  After the Crochet and Campbell extensions, are there any more potential extensions to come?

Transcript

00:00it is the front office report for the first time this season with craig breslow the chief

00:05baseball officer of the boston red sox hey craig hey good morning how are you doing good how are

00:11you uh i'm good thank you um well uh a little off to uh a kind of a back and forth start here i

00:21understand the season is long but we were uh talking earlier about last night 14 14 k's and

00:29uh i believe this team leads the the league when it comes to strikeouts is that uh you know alex

00:36core has talked a little bit here and there about the weather uh takes a while to get guys going is

00:40there a concern there on your part uh you know i'd probably stop short of saying it's a concern

00:47it's certainly something that we're mindful of uh and this early in the season you try to find

00:53the right balance of uh sounding the alarms and also giving a chance for guys to to settle in

00:58um you know it's been cold the weather has been unfavorable but that's true for for both teams

01:03that are out there so uh you know it's definitely something that we're we're watching and monitoring

01:08and uh hopefully something that will um you know we can settle into and make sure that we're having

01:13good at-bats putting the ball in play regularly i mean a bit of a pitcher's duel last night i i uh

01:19you know but it's not like specifically last night it's not like it's uh all kinds of fancy stuff

01:25it's basically fastballs those guys aren't hitting yeah no i gotsman did a really good job

01:31um against us and you know i think as you're thinking about game planning against him he's

01:36got a dominant split he's been able to throw so that for swing and miss for a really long time

01:40had been a really successful pitcher in this league but you're right it was it was forcing

01:43fastballs that were beating us last night and um you know we didn't make the adjustment

01:47craig is baseball like all other sports we sit here and we talk about basketball the evolution

01:53in the game they shoot a lot of three-pointers do you feel like baseball like the evolution of it

01:58changes where a lot of these guys they're swinging for the fences fences what leads to

02:03more strikeouts where you see i think david or david ortiz has said that the guys are trying to hit so

02:10many home runs that they're either hitting home runs or striking out is that kind of like the new

02:14baseball with all these strikeouts uh you know i i would i think it's fair to say that in some ways

02:22offensive approaches have changed um that's probably driven by a better understanding of uh you know

02:31what what drives run production um you know ultimately how how runs are scored uh i also think though

02:38it would be unfair to ignore the advances in pitching development i mean guys are seeing night in and

02:42night out better stuff than they had at any point in the history of this game so when you put those

02:46two things together it does make for a pretty unfavorable offensive environment um but ultimately

02:52we've got to figure out a way to you know put the ball in play consistently have good at bats make sure

02:58that we're making good swing decisions and generally we've been making good swing decisions um you know

03:02we just need to need to continue to stay the course here craig uh there was so much talk about

03:07alex bregman and his position at third base going into the season three errors for him so far

03:12is there any worry there for him no i think um you know we've we've seen the range we've seen

03:19the ability to uh to to field the ball there the conversion right now is not what i think it will

03:25be some of the throws that he's uh you know he's given some some short hops uh over to first base and

03:30at times he's been bailed out by tristan romey at other times uh he hasn't but i think as he settles

03:35in will be okay um but he does bring a pretty stabilizing and calming presence uh to to the

03:41infield um you know so it's a longer term not worried about it and trust the track record there

03:46craig watching the clubhouse on netflix uh you look so comfortable on that cart getting doused with

03:53booze it looked like it happened all the time to you when you were in college but

03:56um we're trying to get our uh ken laird our uh our leader here to do the same reenactment but um

04:03i i just watching out um alex and yourself speak with rafael devers on that netflix series

04:11after he talked about the the talent issues on the team and then seeing his reaction to bregman seemed

04:18to be two very opposing views by the same person how how hard was it in the build-up to this year

04:26to convey to the players that you were invested in the team even if it appeared on the outside you

04:31were not yeah you know i think uh every one of those situations is is unique and complicated and

04:40difficult um because you are trying to balance what is best for any given individual with what

04:47is best for the organization and um you know i think what we have seen to date is that rafi is

04:53incredibly competitive he wants to win and he puts winning above everything else um but he's he's a

04:58prideful and emotional guy and that's exactly what you want out of uh an elite big leaguer and uh you

05:04know as we sit here today um rafi has accepted uh you know kind of the his role what is best for the

05:12team he's contributing um and he's been a great teammate um the way that he's interacting in the clubhouse

05:19the way that he's spoken up about what he thinks we're capable of accomplishing this season it's

05:23all been great um you know and i think uh everybody is is kind of well served by giving these things

05:30some time and space and allowing them to play out would any high in hindsight anything you would

05:35have done differently given how the the sort of start to the season or start to camp went with with

05:40rafi you know i think rafi and i have had some uh very very productive and honest and candid

05:51conversations i would you know if anything try to have more of those i think they're really important

05:56but that's that's true of any of the guys on the team um and i'm always willing to to share exactly

06:02the direction that we're headed and where each guy stands and can contribute there um but i think it's

06:08it's best to keep the conversations between rafi and me um just just between the two of us have you

06:13watched any of the clubhouse uh i have actually um yeah i uh i have seen it and uh i thought it was

06:24really really well done um you know i think the audience will appreciate the unprecedented access and

06:30the the look into what the the life of a baseball player or a staff member or front office person is

06:37especially over the course of 162 games baseball is so incredibly unique in that way no it was going

06:43inside with you guys really episode six i think really focuses a lot on you and your crew over

06:49there and uh it's it's it's really interesting trade deadline time uh i feel like a little concern

06:57that you might want to lighten the lighten the mood a little bit there in the uh in the room everybody

07:02nerding out the fellas uh like just waiting on your every word which i thought was great and the uh

07:09i the the app what did you guys develop it was so interesting to me the the you you have your own

07:15app what or whatever you just how you refer to it nerd wise uh on uh determining the the player value

07:25on wins losses etc did you guys develop that yourselves or somebody do that for you

07:31uh yeah so the the first thing is you know what we didn't um allow netflix to capture of course was

07:38the the beer shower in the carts after each trade um you know and so it was quite a bit lighter than

07:44maybe we would have let on but aside from that free pizza i'm assuming some pizza in the room you know

07:49yeah right we we yeah we developed all of these tools internally um you know and and the the

07:57deadline uh you know it's kind of the the one moment in in the season where all of these things come

08:02into focus and uh you know a handful of decisions are are magnified but you know i think hopefully what

08:10um what that episode did was show that there are hours and hours of work by so many different people

08:15across the office and oftentimes they don't actually lead to the execution of anything um but

08:21nonetheless we have to go through the exercise of you know having incessant conversation and

08:26understanding what the landscape is but uh to answer your question directly those those tools are

08:30developed internally and we try to understand the impact of of every move both on in our short-term

08:35kind of post-season odds and playoff picture but also the the longer-term position of the organization

08:40craig watching the documentary did you feel like it was a fair depiction of how that season

08:45played out and everything you guys struggled with

08:47i did um you know that was that was a concern i think of a number of players and and of me that

08:58if if greg and his group didn't do such a great job of fully integrating and embedding themselves with

09:06us then and if you only get these snapshots then you and you leave it to the audience to fill in the

09:12blanks then you could get a very different perception of of what happened but i think they were with us

09:16enough that it was a it was a fair and accurate depiction um you know of a season that had

09:21promise at certain points but ultimately was was disappointing lucas giolito got a start in

09:28worcester last night is he close to being back here yeah i think both he and and brian um you know are

09:35probably a couple to a few starts away from rejoining us and uh you know that should give us

09:41a boost and give us a little bit more flexibility and depth but they're also uh fitzy and newcomb have

09:47done a good job of stepping in and uh you know giving us a chance to win in each of the games that

09:52they've started for us sam kennedy said tuesday that ownership has been pushing you to get the future

09:58locked up uh are you done or you get you got more to do there well you know i think the the future is

10:07right for the organization um you know we've got a lot of young talent in the big leagues and uh

10:13hopefully a lot more young talent on its way we're always open to creative ideas uh and and avenues to

10:21ensuring that the the players we believe to be cornerstone members of this organization remain in

10:27right sox uniforms for a really long time um so i guess the answer is we're never really done

10:32he also said that they need to get you and mrs breslow a vacation uh i know sometimes uh sometimes

10:41you struggle when it comes to declaratively naming the top three but destinations that are under

10:46consideration uh sure um you know i i appreciated sam uh saying those those nice things and uh

10:57this job can be all-consuming and so trying to find some time to be present as a husband and a dad

11:03is is difficult um i'm not sure i can name three but you guys expect that because i haven't been able

11:08to round out the list of any any question that you've asked me but uh my wife and i um we actually

11:14honeymoon in in south africa and that remains probably the top vacation destination and in my mind spent uh

11:20an incredible 12 days uh between cape town uh on safari and malamala and then uh uh on uh in the

11:30seychelles uh to finish things off with a few days on the beach craig i know it's busy time for you but

11:35if you and the missus would like to come to bermuda the show is going for the greg hill foundation golf

11:40tournament yes ah okay uh that that seems like maybe something we'd be interested in okay hey

11:47craig we have wiki here who pressures all of us to not take flex time because he's like doing things

11:54for for ken is there anybody in the red socks that looks down on front office workers for taking a couple

11:59days uh no um oh good i think we all recognize how important it is that people get a chance to

12:10refresh the season is so incredibly long and the off season isn't actually time offered for the

12:16front office so um we recognize the importance of of the balance there all right well hoping to avoid

12:24the sweep this afternoon four o'clock first pitch on the shahs and star market red socks radio network

12:29and on the odyssey app and then are you making the trip to chicago i'm not uh actually um so i was with

12:37the team in mexico texas and baltimore i actually left after uh the monday day game in baltimore um and

12:44we won the last two so alex was actually joking with me when we got back home he said if if my wife

12:50kelly and i wanted to go to the capitol grill on him to get out of the stadium that was probably our

12:54best chance of winning games so i'm gonna give the uh the group some time yeah some time away from

13:00me i don't think they need me breathing down their throats this trip

13:02get the prosciutto mozzarella wraps that's the that's the reslow jinx we call that reslow jinx

13:08all right craig thank you we'll talk to you again soon

13:11sounds great have a good morning

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