Red Sox’s Craig Breslow Pushes Back On Perceived Lack Of Experience

It didn’t take very long for Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to find himself in the head executive’s chair.

He doesn’t think that will be a problem, though.

Breslow was (re)introduced as a member of Boston’s organization at Fenway Park on Thursday, and though he took the fast track into a lead front-office role, the 43-year-old is confident that he’s prepared to lead the Red Sox.

“I’m ready to take on this challenge,” Breslow said, as seen on NESN. “I think the way I approach problem solving is transferable and scalable. I can also point to two things pretty specifically that will help me in this regard: one, the number of talented and experienced people in this front office, and two, the opportunities that I’ve had to learn from some of the most successful executives and people that I would call mentors in this game.”

The Red Sox have a wealth of talent in the front office, including executive vice president of baseball operations Brian O’Halloran, and assistant general managers Raquel Ferreira and Eddie Romero. It’s expected changes will be made, as Breslow hinted at hiring a general manager of his own, but those three have experience in Boston that certainly could help him make the transition. Oh yeah, Breslow got his start as an executive when three-time World Series champion Theo Epstein hired him, so his network is impressive enough.

The ex-big leaguer also knows what it’s like to play, which isn’t the case with most of his peers.

“The experience that I have does give me a unique perspective of what it’s like to endure the challenges of a major league schedule, a major league family and a major league coaching staff,” Breslow said Thursday. “I also have a great appreciation for the ability of retaining objective information, and to remain unbiased and consistent and disciplined.”

The 43-year-old isn’t that far removed from his playing days, having made his last Major League Baseball appearance for the Minnesota Twins in 2017. It was shortly after that he made the transition to the cubes, with Epstein hiring him to join the Chicago Cubs.

He might not have formal experience as a lead decision-maker, but Breslow is an Ivy League graduate, played more than a decade, worked in analytics, served as a lead assistant and ran his own department. It’s hard to have a better resume with “no experience.”