Three Takeaways From Craig Breslow’s First Trade As Red Sox Boss

While the deal did not make headlines, Craig Breslow made a notable move in his first trade as the chief baseball officer of the Boston Red Sox.

Prior to Friday’s non-tender deadline, Boston dealt infielder Luis Urías to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for relief pitcher Isaiah Campbell.

After acquiring the infielder at the 2023 trade deadline from the Milwaukee Brewers, the Red Sox received a solid reliever for Urías instead of possibly non-tendering him.

Still in the early stages, there are three things to learn from Breslow’s first move to add to the roster:

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1. Breslow Is Ready To Trade
With needs such as a right-handed bat and starting pitching being prevalent for the Red Sox this winter, many potential additions have been discussed in free agency. At the same time, Boston has the pieces to make impactful trades as well.

From the start of his tenure at the introductory press conference, Breslow discussed his desire to seek improvement through trades. While the Red Sox will most likely make an impact in free agency, this move showed that roster areas can be adjusted through trades.

In this case, Boston flipped a player who was up for a contract decision into an addition to the bullpen. With what could be viewed as a minor move, Breslow has the assets and a top farm system to work with if a large move becomes a reality on the trade market.

2. Boston Adds Depth To A Strength
When rested in 2023, the Red Sox had one of the better bullpens in baseball. Key relievers such as Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, Brennan Bernardino and Josh Winckowski dazzled for Boston and locked down late leads. Even Nick Pivetta spent most of the summer as a reliever and flipped the script on his season with a dominant stretch in a multi-inning role.

That core of relievers returns for the Red Sox in 2024 and should be set up for another solid season if the starting rotation can go deeper into games and keep the bullpen fresh.

In the recent trade, Boston added another intriguing reliever to that group. In 27 appearances for Seattle last season, Campbell went 4-1 with a 2.83 ERA and a 3.32 FIP while striking out 10.4 batters per nine innings.

The 26-year-old right-hander gets plenty of spin on his fastball and features a quality slider that continues to improve.

Isaiah Campbell's 3Ks in the 7th pic.twitter.com/a8B2oRUOtW

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 8, 2023

With three years of team control, Campbell could make an impact in the Boston bullpen for multiple seasons.

3. More Activity Could Be Imminent
The baseball offseason often moves in stages. With Rule 5 Draft protections and non-tender decisions in the books, the Winter Meetings are right around the corner with several teams ready to make moves.

Particularly on the pitching side, counter-signings could be coming soon after the Philadelphia Phillies made the first major splash Sunday by re-signing frontline starter Aaron Nola to a seven-year deal.

As a result, the starting pitching market should pick up and more transactions will start to develop. As the calendar turns to December, Breslow and the Red Sox are ready to truly start working.