Craig Breslow Plans To Attack These Needs At Start Of Red Sox Tenure

It didn’t take long for Craig Breslow to get to work after being introduced as chief baseball officer of the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox outrighted Justin Garza on Thursday, according to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, and while we’re somewhat joking in saying Breslow is already working the phones, the 43-year-old clearly has his work cut out for him.

He even said as much during his introductory press conference.

Breslow was asked which specific needs jumped out to him as he takes over in Boston. He gave it some thought, then responded with an answer anyone who has followed the Red Sox in recent seasons would understand.

“Yeah, without kind of delving into specifics — as I do have a lot to learn over the next few weeks, starting pitching certainly stands out as an area of need,” Breslow told reporters, as seen on NESN. “I think certain players coming back from injury will be able to sort of solidify the middle infield defense, and we’ll add to that. I think there are some guys internally that we’re excited about that may be able to take a step forward, but (defense) is certainly one.

“If you look at the overall construction of the roster, there’s a possibility that we can add a right-handed bat to even out some of the platoon asymmetry, but beyond that, we’ll figure it out in the coming weeks.”

It seemed like the Yale graduate had no problem giving in-depth answers throughout the presser, admitting the Red Sox would likely need to move current players in order to compete as early as 2024. Breslow also made the admission that pitching development has been an issue in Boston.

He’ll have the opportunity to start working right away, with general managers meetings beginning in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Nov. 7.