- 6/5/2025
Who has final say with decisions when it comes to transactions- Breslow or Cora?
CBO Craig Breslow joins!
CBO Craig Breslow joins!
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hey, Craig, good morning.
00:02Good morning. How are you guys doing?
00:04We're doing well. Nice to get on the right side of things with the walk-off win yesterday.
00:11It was. It felt like we've seen that game played, I don't know, 25 times this season,
00:17and unfortunately we've been on the wrong end of it too many times.
00:21So, you know, I don't want to paper over some of the other problems that we all saw yesterday,
00:27but any time you have a chance to win a major league game, you need to take advantage of that.
00:32Teams generally have an identity.
00:36And so I wanted to ask you this morning, what would you say this team does well?
00:45Yeah, you know, I think we're struggling with that exact question.
00:50You know, I can tell you what we came out of spring training wanting to do well.
00:54You know, we thought we had a deep lineup that was going to hit the ball out of the park,
00:59but we were going to be able to compete in, you know, in two strike counts and push runs aboard.
01:03We're going to play clean defense.
01:05We were very, very deliberate in trying to improve our defense, especially on the infield.
01:12We knew we had a good defensive outfield.
01:13And we thought we were going to pitch, and we thought that starting pitching, you know,
01:17was going to be a real strength of this team.
01:20I think we've seen it in glimpses, but we haven't gotten the consistent pitching that we had all hoped for.
01:25I mean, are you basically just, like, flummoxed?
01:30I mean, this team was 500 last year and added Crochet and Bregman and a legit closer
01:38and are somehow currently much worse.
01:45Yeah, and we are constantly asking questions around what we need to do, what we can do better,
01:52how we create an identity to this team, you know, for every starting pitcher that has shown improvement this year.
02:00And Crochet obviously leads that list.
02:02There are some guys that have been inconsistent and struggled.
02:05And, you know, Bregman, before he got hurt, was everything we could have asked.
02:10Abreu got off to a really hot start.
02:12Rafi has been, you know, productive in the middle of the lineup, as we had expected.
02:18But then they're losing Tristan for the season and, you know, guys that haven't really found their stride yet have also plagued us.
02:26So I feel like, you know, for every opportunity to say this guy's giving us a little bit more than we thought,
02:31unfortunately, there's someone so far whose performance has been inconsistent.
02:35Craig, when you look at where you are in this situation, you know, you could potentially be out of it by the All-Star break.
02:42Cora says he doesn't know what to do or how to change things.
02:46Is there a possibility with everything being on the table that you guys might make a managerial change if things don't get better?
02:57We're always going to be anchored to what is best for the team.
03:01And we have a lot of confidence in Alex as the leader of this group.
03:04He's won in Boston as a player.
03:06He's won in Boston as a manager.
03:08We have conversations daily about everything that we can do to get us back on track.
03:13That's where our focus is, and that's where it will remain.
03:16Do you have full confidence that he has what it takes to turn this season around?
03:23I do.
03:24And when a team is struggling like we are and is falling short of the lofty expectations that we had set for ourselves,
03:33that fans had set for us, you know, I think we all feel a sense of responsibility and accountability,
03:40but we've got to figure this out, and that's where we're spending all of our time right now.
03:45Do you have accountability to maybe reevaluate the analytics you're using?
03:50Maybe it's not working in the way that you had hoped.
03:52Have you, especially with driveline, the offense, anything about what you have done
03:57that you feel like the front office needs to change in terms of the information you're having Cora synthesized in-game?
04:03Constantly, you know, I think we are and have to be constantly asking the same questions about our tools and models
04:16and information and philosophies, and a real challenge is trying to understand whether you are not executing the plan
04:27that you have in place successfully or you have the wrong plan.
04:31But I don't think, given what is happening on the field, any of us is in a position to say that we've got everything figured out.
04:38And that is true on the development side.
04:41It's true with our big league team.
04:44Curtis brought up the driveline approach to player development.
04:48With this team leading the league in strikeouts with runners in scoring position,
04:54is it time to reassess that and flip the switch there?
05:00Well, like I said, we're constantly reassessing.
05:05But if I were to say to you, well, what is the driveline approach
05:10and what part of that is try to ensure that with two strikes you're not putting the ball in play,
05:17especially with runners in scoring position?
05:19Like, what would be the answer to that?
05:20I think there's probably a mischaracterization around, you know, what exactly that means.
05:26So we would love, you know, kind of in your mind, what does that mean?
05:30I'm glad you're here to clear it up.
05:32I mean, I think if there's a misperception, it exists because you've intentionally gone out
05:38and hired everybody from the organization.
05:41And so we assume that that's approach when it comes to the hitting development of young players.
05:46If it's not, correct me.
05:49Well, I guess what I'm asking is, you know, this approach is spoken about like it's the boogeyman.
05:56But if I were to say, you know, the approach that we have to teaching offense is to say,
06:02hey, we've got to start with making great swing decisions, right?
06:04We've got to understand the pitches that we need to swing at.
06:07When we swing at them, we need to put them in play.
06:09And when we put them in play, we want to hit the ball hard enough that it matters.
06:12And when we get to two strikes, we need to compete like all hell to put the ball in play,
06:16especially when we have runners in scoring position.
06:18Is that something that you would say sounds like, you know, kind of we've got the wrong approach here
06:26or misunderstanding, you know, around what's important?
06:29I think we need our hitters to be extremely competitive in the box.
06:33We also need them to understand, you know, what type of balls in play tend to produce runs.
06:40And that's the approach that we've got.
06:42Craig, if we could go back and look at pitching from Tuesday, taking Chapman out after eight pitches,
06:47what was the reason behind that?
06:51We're trying to make sure that we're monitoring our reliever workloads.
06:55And obviously our bullpen has, they've been ridden pretty hard, you know,
07:01over the last couple of weeks as the starting pitching hasn't consistently pitched deep into games.
07:05And, you know, he, Chapman, is a guy who hasn't gone back out for a second inning, you know,
07:12in quite some time.
07:14And we want to make sure that we have him fresh and available to help us win as many games as we can this year.
07:20Craig, have you re-evaluated the approach in terms of whether it's workload for crochet
07:26or in-game strategy considering you're now 30 and 34 and the season could spiral?
07:35You know, so do you have, do you have to re-evaluate just the day-to-day approach
07:40because of where you find yourself in the standings?
07:45I think we do.
07:46And, you know, I think we want to balance the information that we have available to us each day
07:54that could affect that night's game with keeping one eye at least on the longer term.
08:00And we saw with Crochet, obviously, he had the shortened start against New York
08:05based on some information that we had available to us.
08:09And the other side of that was being able to push him in a game against Atlanta
08:14deeper than he had previously.
08:16And that's the balance.
08:17I think it's imperfect in all of these decisions.
08:21They warrant questioning.
08:24But whether it's me or Alex or anybody else,
08:28we're making the best decisions that we can with the information that we have in front of us.
08:32Craig, a little, you know, help or insight.
08:36Dial up the suicide squeeze,
08:38especially when you've got Speeds that's on third base.
08:40Maybe it'll bring that back.
08:43But the one question...
08:45That's from an all-city catcher, by the way.
08:47Yeah, all-city catcher.
08:48Jermaine Wiggins.
08:49Puts a lot of pressure on the pitcher and catcher,
08:52especially with your Speeds.
08:53You guys have a lot of speed.
08:54Wiggy was great at blocking the plate, if you know what I mean.
08:56But the one question I have,
08:58as a former player who's been on teams that weren't very good,
09:03how do you make sure that these guys aren't mentally checking out
09:08because they see there's really no light at the end of the tunnel
09:13or that light is starting to fade when you're talking about making the postseason?
09:17Yeah, there's a certain level of pride and competitiveness
09:26that anybody who plays for the Red Sox and puts the Red Sox jersey on
09:30to hold.
09:33And that pride needs to prevent anyone from giving up,
09:40from throwing in the towel on a season that, in reality, is still early,
09:45not early enough that we should be making excuses
09:47or think that things are going to turn around
09:49without taking consequential steps to make sure that that happens.
09:54But to play in the major leagues is a privilege.
09:57To put on this uniform is a privilege.
09:59And we need to hold our players accountable.
10:01They need to hold us accountable.
10:02And they need to hold each other accountable
10:04to make sure that that doesn't happen.
10:06Nessun removed the footage, so I can't watch it and figure it out.
10:10Just from your perspective,
10:11what happened yesterday with Jose Flores and Tyler Anderson?
10:18Yeah, that's a situation where when emotions are running high
10:23and there's probably frustration boiling over, you know,
10:27that adults kind of got into a heated conversation,
10:34you know, I think that's probably to leave it at that
10:36and know that both sides have moved on.
10:38Why was the video removed on social media or do you not know?
10:44I don't know.
10:45Yeah, I don't have much insight or control over that.
10:49When it comes to videos online, there were videos of Devers taking grounders at shortstop.
10:54We were all kind of scratching our head about that.
10:56Do you know why he was doing that?
10:58So he's taken ground balls typically at third, once a week, a couple times a week,
11:07just to get out there and be around the team and keep moving.
11:12You know, why he chose to move over a little bit to shortstop,
11:16I'm not totally sure, but I would not read too much into that.
11:19Alex Corris said last week, I don't know the exact day,
11:23that, quote, Devers is not having it, unquote, when it comes to playing the field.
11:29How frustrating has this been for you, given the injuries that have built up
11:34and his apparent lack of a desire to try and jump in?
11:40Yeah, there's frustration over a lot of things,
11:44most notably just not winning enough games and trying to do everything that we possibly can
11:51to put the team in a position to win more games.
11:53These decisions are, they're never simple, and the conversations are ongoing.
11:58And I understand that we're dealing with humans and, you know,
12:03all of the things that come along with that.
12:05But we'll continue to have conversations, you know,
12:08and make sure that those are ongoing because, again,
12:12any time we have a chance to do something that we think helps the team,
12:15I just have to remain anchor to that.
12:17But does it frustrate you that he doesn't want to do something that would help the team?
12:24I think best to keep that opinion to myself and, you know,
12:28in conversation between Rafi and me or, you know, Rafi and the team.
12:34And probably instead would shift the focus to the fact that
12:37Rafi is finding a way to contribute to this team, right?
12:40He's doing it by hitting in the middle of the order.
12:44But, you know, if there's an opportunity to help this team in other ways,
12:51you know, I'm going to remain anchor to try to push that.
12:56Mandatory Roman Anthony question of the week.
12:58When?
12:59Yeah, and it's a very fair question to ask.
13:05You know, the decision-making criteria haven't really changed,
13:09which is, you know, when is it best for Roman?
13:11When is it best for the team?
13:12And I understand that we're not winning as many games as we should be.
13:16And, you know, at times the lineup is struggling.
13:19But also, we need to make sure that there is a very clear runway
13:22for Roman to come up and contribute.
13:27And we have to balance what that looks like
13:30with the number of moving pieces required to get us there.
13:34Craig, it seems like that you and Cora are kind of on the same page
13:40to a certain extent.
13:42And that's most, you know, GMs and head coaches.
13:45But at the end of the day, there has to be a final decision-maker
13:50when you guys don't see eye-to-eye.
13:53Is that you or is that Cora when it comes to bringing guys up
13:57or maybe guys playing a certain position?
14:00Who's the final decision-maker?
14:03Yeah, Alex and I have really productive conversations
14:06about these things all of the time.
14:08Ultimately, as it relates to transactions and, you know,
14:12who the 26 guys are on our roster, you know,
14:16the final decision-making authority lies with me.
14:20But I feel like if I'm doing this job well,
14:23decisions are not made because I say so,
14:26but because we have passionate debates and conversations
14:32around what's best for the team.
14:34And then we pick a direction and we all commit to it.
14:38All right, Craig, thank you, as always, for taking the time.
14:41We'll talk to you again soon.
14:43For sure. Thank you.
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