How Craig Breslow Weighs Red Sox Short-, Long-Term Success

The Red Sox are in the middle of the playoff race, and the big thing that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and his staff will have to determine is how deep they go before the MLB trade deadline.

Boston is tied with the Kansas City Royals for the third and final American League Wild Card spot before Thursday's slate of games. Alex Cora's side has been competitive against any opposition, and there could be at least two players who represent the franchise at the All-Star Game in Texas.

However, the Red Sox aren't looking too far ahead amid their hot stretch.

"What we focus on is we got a number of players playing incredibly well," Breslow said on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show." "We're making progress with guys like (Jarren) Duran, (Rafael) Devers, (Connor) Wong and (Tanner) Houck, who should all be All-Stars. It's a really exciting brand of baseball that our fans have embraced. I'm excited for that to continue, and I think the rest of us are as well."

Boston has a bright future ahead with the "Big Three" prospects lighting it up in Doube-A Portland, but Cora and everyone else in the clubhouse are striving to make the postseason and potentially make a splash. The long-term and short-term goals will be at the top of everyone's minds when trade deadline season draws closer.

"You're adding or you're not, but I think you can be mindful of the short-term and the long-term," Breslow said. "You look at the last 15, 20 years or so of this organization, there have been absolute peaks, and there have been last-place finishes. I think what I have been talking about for a couple of months now is building consistency and avoid this kind of boom-and-bust cycle that has plagued this organization for a while. And I think you have to look at the short-term and long-term to do that."

Names like Pete Alonso have been floated to the Red Sox, and it will have to be a wait-and-see how big Boston chooses to go before the trade deadline.